Chapter 9
Ava slid a color-coded paperclip onto the final stack of receipts and set it in place on the coffee table. She sighed, rested her hands flat on the floor behind her, and leaned back.
“Wow, I had no idea that after spending four more hours on this, we’d only get through the sorting part of the job.”
Richard stretched his arms high over his head. “No kidding.” He proceeded to stretch his legs out before him, one at a time, while twisting his foot at the ankle, something he’d done several times since they started.
“The floor isn’t a comfortable place for you, is it?” she asked, feeling guilty now for suggesting it. Not that they had many options.
He gave her a sideways glance. “Is the floor comfortable foranyone?”
Ava chuckled and shrugged. “It is for me.” She looked over the room and confirmed what she and Richard had surmised back on their first day: the small desks at either far corner of the office had very limited surface space. But as she glanced to the other side of the room, along the same wall as the entrance, an idea came to mind. “You know what? Let’s try something.”
“You mean tomorrow?” Richard asked through a yawn.
“No, I mean right now. If it works, we can sit there tomorrow.” Ava got to her feet and grabbed the legs of the rectangular coffee table where they’d rested the paperwork.
“Whoa, whoa, let me help you with that.”
“It’s not heavy.” She proceeded to slide it toward the fireplace, which was along the same wall as the entrance.
Richard was quick to take over when he joined her. “Where are we going with this?”
“Just bring it up to the hearth,” she directed. “If the table is tall enough, and the hearth is short enough, we can sit up to it like a big, long desk.”
“Right,” Richard said, sounding impressed. “Good thinking.”
“Thanks. Let’s try it out.” She took a seat at the far end of the fireplace hearth, a stone structure framed a good bit off the ground, and Richard sat on the opposite side. As they each slid in toward the center, Ava gauged the distance between her knees and the coffee table that stood just inches away from her bent legs.
“I think it’s going to work,” Richard said. He pulled the table toward them, nodding when it cleared their legs.
Ava glanced down to see that he’d flattened his legs, but they were still tucked nicely under the table.
“It won’t clear your knees?” she asked.
“No, but this is still a whole lot more comfortable than hunching over the table from the floor.”
“And,”Ava added as she peeked toward the office door. “We’re kind of hidden. Anyone who comes in might not even see us.”
“That’s true,” Richard said. Was it just her, or was his neck splotching red? “That gives me an idea,” he added.
Ava tried not to get distracted by the masculine, spicy scent of his cologne. Or by the incredible color of his hazel eyes so up close and personal. Trails of warmth danced around her heart each time he held her gaze like this.
“We’ve hardly touched our candy,” he noted, “and I seem to remember the fact that you’ve never seen what most of America considers a totally epic film.”
“You’re calling The Goonies an epic film?”
Richard lifted his finger. “That attitude just proves that you’ve never seen it.”
“I already admitted I’d never—”
But Richard wagged his finger. “Uh, come on, now. Pirates, buried treasure. The tale of One-Eyed Willie…”
“Okay, okay,” Ava said. “You had me at pirates. I always loved pirates.”
Richard lifted a brow. “Piratesandcowboys?”
Ava scrunched her face in contemplation. “I never said anything to you about cowboys.”
