He rolled his eyes, and I took off to get my schedule from Brock. We didn’t need to meet and talk before my shifts anymore because I knew enough to get started on my own. So, it was odd when I found him sitting at his desk, glasses perched on his nose as he typed on his computer. I knocked on the already open door. He looked up, smiling when he saw it was me. A welcome smile for no reason was an odd sign.
“Morning, Grace. Here. Sit down.” He motioned to the chair across from his desk. “How was your weekend?”
I sat, confused as hell. I looked around, making sure no one was around us. “Um, yes?”
“Why the hesitation? Is there something you don’t want to share with me?” he asked, a dark tone hiding beneath the calm words.
“No?”
His eyes narrowed, lips pursing before he shook his head. “You don’t sound confident, but it doesn’t matter.” He grinned, full force at me. It startled me how much his face changed. God, he was outrageously attractive. It wasn’t fair. “Today is going to be awesome.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?” I held back questions about why in the hell we were doing small talk when that was something we never did. Ever. For any reason.
“Because we have four thousand dollars to spend on equipment.” He clapped his hands and looked expectantly at me. I raised a fist in the air, waving it around.
“Yay!” I said, sarcastically.
“We are going shopping,” he mocked, making a squeal at the end. It was careless, goofy, and endearing. “This is the best day ever.”
“Your valley girl is showing. Can you tuck her back in?” I joked, earning another grin in response. “Where do we shop?”
“Oh, just you wait and see. You’re going to love it.” He stood up, clad in athletic pants and an old team shirt. God, he made the simplest things look good.
“I don’t enjoy shopping,” I admitted, but he had already left the office. Okay, then. I followed in the direction to the supply closet and let go of my filter. “You’re more strange than usual today.”
He didn’t reply. He just laughed and opened the door to the closet. “I appreciate the kind words. I really do, but trust me on this. You’re going to freak out.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” He ushered me into the room and shut the door, so it was just the two of us. The air cackled. "Uh, what are we doing in here? Don’t get me wrong, I like hanging out inHarry Pottertype spaces, but this is sort of dingy.”
“Dingy?” he said, his voice way closer to me than I remembered him standing. “I cleaned it out this summer. It is not dingy.”
“Sort of, no offense. You have one grainy light bulb, and the shelves aren’t organized.” I took a step away from him, grabbing the clipboard from his hand. “Are we doing inventory?”
“Step one is always knowing what you have and what you need.” He stepped toward me again, his arm brushing mine. “Look, this is what we ran out of first. I want you to rank what we need as a priority before a want.”
He pointed, impressing me with his organization and tracking skills. “Doesn’t Jess do this?”
“No. I handle the equipment. She works part-time for me, part-time for the front office guys. I prefer to handle everything. I’m a control freak.”
“Shocking revelation,” I mumbled under my breath, getting a chuckle from him. I looked up, eyes wide at his laughter, and he winked at me. What the hell? Flustered, I shook my head and went back to the list. “Anyway, I think we need gauze, wound wash, Neosporin.” I checked the list and looked back at him. “There isn’t a whole lot we need.”
“Hence, the reason for my excitement. We have fun money.” He clapped his hands again, grinning wildly. “I thought we didn’t need a lot, but I still want to do a full inventory in here before we go. Plus, stores aren’t open for another hour.”
“Sounds good.” I turned and went to the back corner to check the cleaning supplies to make sure none were expired. I squinted at the furthest one, seeing the date scratched out. “Hey Brock, when was the last time you bought this?”
“This summer,” he said, his voice directly behind me. I froze, going stiff as a board. Then, he put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about those. I had to check those last week when I needed a can of disinfectant. I would start with the blood clean up.”
Then, he squeezed my shoulder, twice, letting his hand drag down my arm.
Once the goosebumps disappeared, I went to the next shelf and saw all the dates were for at least another year. I marked it on the chart, seeing him bending down real low. God, his ass. I couldn’t imagine how many women threw themselves at him when he’d played football. It had to be constantly, even now. Suddenly, I had a thought. “You were quarterback, right?”
He laughed, turning around to look at me. “You really don’t know?”
“I’m messing with you, Brock Anderson, QB for the Illinois Railers for three years.”
“Okay, well, why do you ask?”
“Thought just came to me. I did some more research on you, and you were phenomenal.” I raised my brows and went back to the list. “Honestly, I’m curious. What pushed you into Athletic Training?”
