His brown eyes watch me from behind his glasses, then his lip quirks slightly. “Peer pressure.” He cracks the can open. “Are we in high school?” I watch his fingers as they tremble on the can. I hate that my first thought is how nice they are—big hands, graceful fingers—even if they tremble slightly. This guy could use some stress relief. He’s wound so fucking tight.
Not that I helped any today.
“Unless you have a medical, religious, or moral reason why you can’t?”
“What if I just don’t want to?” he challenges, but I see the ghost of a smirk on his lips.
“Not good enough.” My sigh is heavy. “If you don’t want to, fine, but I’d like you to. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.” His eyes dip down to my knee. This little shit. “Don’t you dare make a joke.” There’s a ghost of amusement in his eyes. It relaxes me some.
With a slight tilt to his head, he takes the can. “Just don’t tell the boss.”
“Believe me, I won’t. She’s scary when she’s angry.”
“You both have that in common,” he says, taking a sip. “I’m sorry about earlier. I um, I wasn’t snooping. Well, I was, but it wasn’t like malicious or anything.”
“Innocent snooping?”
“More like casual curiosity. I was trying to see what needed cleaning and then I saw the jerseys on the wall. Were you a hockey player?” I nod. “Wow. That’s really cool. When did you stop—” He looks down at my knee. “Ah, oh. Um. I see.”
“I got injured back in December.”
“Have you had surgery?” I nod. “Your knee still looks bad.” Those big eyes grow bigger. “No offense. I just mean, it’s really swollen.”
“I’ve been on it more than I should.”
“You should really elevate it with some ice. Alternate between ice and—” His eyes meet mine. “Right. Never mind.” He takes another sip. “Please don’t fire me,” he says softly.
“I’m not going to fire you. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I’m just tired of people taking advantage of me because of who I am. We have to have ground rules, though.”
He leans forward. “Anything. Anything at all.”
“One. Please don’t steal from me or snoop through my shit.”
He looks down at his can. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to. I just got distracted and I, yeah, I’m sorry. I really wasn’t trying to steal. I would never.” He takes another sip. “This is really good.”
“They’re sours from the local brewery. This one is raspberry marshmallow.” He giggles. “What?”
“Just—” He shrugs. “A big man like you drinking raspberry-marshmallow beer is a funny to me.” He grins a little wider as if he’s thinking about it. “Sorry, brain tangent.” There’s a soft blush that hits his cheeks in the firelight. It’s... cute. He’s all nerves, awkwardness, and nerdy curiosity, and I really wish I didn’t find it as endearing as I do right now.
“What?”
He shakes his head. “Sometimes weird stuff pops into my brain. I’m picturing you as a lumberjack drinking a pink cocktail, and I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Excuse me,” I growl. His wide brown eyes meet mine with a spark of fear. “I am one manly son of a bitch.” His lips press into a line before he laughs. “Just ask my niece. I am a seasoned tea party connoisseur.”
He grins at the lip of the can before he takes a sip. “I can see you in a princess dress.”
“Damn straight.” I smile. “One year, Lianna wanted to be Sebastian from theLittle Mermaid, but my sister got sick, so guess who was appointed Ariel?
“No!” He laughs while taking another sip.
I nod. “Hottest damn mermaid this side of the country,” I laugh. “Finding a purple shell bra in my size was a real challenge.” Felix laughs harder and I like the sound of it—airy and light.
Real.
Maybe it’s the fire and the way the light hits his face, but I’m relieved to see his eyes relax.
Don’t be like him.
