“You’ve disappeared on me, little lady.”
Oh. I had a tendency to do that around him, because, you know, hotness.
“Sorry. Duh. One of those days. You know what I need, right?”
He grinned, turning to set the coffee machine bubbling away with my usual coffee. He stocked the mocha ones I liked, even though he made some snarky comment about them every time he made one for me.
“I’ve got you well trained, Harley.” He winked at me, and leaned on the counter, while the air filled with the scent of my coffee weakness.
“So, what are we up to today? You weren’t booked in, right?” He didn’t need to check his books, because he was an organisational demon. He never missed a trick, and never had to look up who was due in and when.
“I just… the brakes are sticking a bit. I was wondering if you’d take a look for me? If you’re busy, I can-”
“Nope. Never too busy to keep a valued customer safe, Caroline. We’ll get that sorted for you.”
He turned to grab my finished coffee, grimacing as he passed it to me.
“Here’s your sweet shop flavoured crap.”
I found myself giggling as he rolled his eyes. “You know you’d love it if you tried it.”
“Hello hello, who’s this sweet thing?” I tensed the instant I heard a voice behind me. The guy was too loud, too gruff, and when I spun on my heel, because I didn’t like the idea of someone unknown being behind me, I realised he was huge too. I gasped as hot coffee spilled on my fingers, and the paper cupfell onto the polished concrete floor with a splash that coated my new boots too.
“Ow ow ow!”
“It’s okay, little lady. Just get over here.” Harley was already leading me into the small restroom just off the shop, so he could get my stinging fingers under the cold water.
“Rocket, you wanna clean that up? There’s a cleaning cupboard in the-”
“Yeah yeah, I remember. Sorry I startled you, love. I’m a prick sometimes.”
I hissed with pain as the cold water fought with the burning itch in my fingers.
“He’s telling the truth,” Harley murmured close to my ear, sending a little shiver down my spine, and frying the last of my brain cells or neurons, or whatever the hell got fried when hot men got so close.
“Huh?”
A low chuckle filled my ear next, as he turned my hand over, pushing it further under the painfully cold water.
“He’s definitely a prick sometimes. Pretty often, actually.”
A giggle bubbled up, despite the shock and pain of the last five minutes.
“He is?”
“Oh yeah. All the time, actually. Also, never play pool with him, because he’s a freaking hustler too.”
I turned to look at Harley, wanting to see his expression while he was being cute and playful, although I knew he was just doing his best to calm me. It hit me then that I was perfectly calm, even though I was in an enclosed space with a bigger body than me taking up most of it.
Our proximity put my face so close to Harley’s that I couldn’t actually focus on him, but I could see the deep darkness of his eyes, focused on mine, and despite myself, I leaned closer. Mylips touched his, and we both hissed in a shocked breath. Why was I shocked? I was the one forcing my lips on another person.
I pulled back, wrenching my hand away from the water, flicking icy cold drops in both of our faces as I retreated against the wall.
“God, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I’m a freaking idiot!”
Harley reached out, resting a hand beside my face, not moving fast, not ringing any alarm bells in my head, even though, how could he?
“Take a breath, little lady. It’s all good. Lucky you didn’t get a sip of that chocolate monstrosity first though, or I’d be able to taste it.” His tongue dipped out to wet his bottom lip and I wanted to drag him closer, but this was my problem and I knew it. Social cues. I couldn’t read them well. I couldn’t… people weren’t easy for me, because my reactions weren’t always the appropriate ones. I tried. I really tried, but it was just something in my head that made me react strangely sometimes.
