“Can you come help me with something real quick?”
“Give me a second to log my time and then I’ll be right in!” I stuck my leg out to stop my chair’s motion and sat up straight, pulling up my timecard form. Double clicking on my email icon next, I cringed at the number of unread notifications.
“How was your evening?” I asked, making my way toward her office. “Want me to start coffee first?”
“Yes, please! Will you grab my prints while you’re in there?”
“Sure.” It was just Evaline and me down here, but there were three offices, so we’d spent a day transforming the office in-between us into our official break room. I’d brought in a mini fridge I’d owned since high school, and she brought in a fancy coffee machine.
She couldn’t offer me more than thirty hours a week or pay more than minimum wage, but I still considered myself lucky. Sometimes when we were slow, she even looked the other way and let me study.
Inhaling the aroma of the brewing coffee, I grabbed an orange off the table, snatched the papers off the printer, and marched into her office.
“Oh, honey, that skirt looks good on you.”
“Thanks! I found it at the thrift shop downtown last week. I snagged my hose when I climbed into my vehicle this morning, but I didn’t feel like going back in to change into pants.”
“If anyone ever figures out how to make a cheap pantyhose that doesn’t get runs every time I sneeze, I’ll die a happy woman.”
I laughed, sinking into a chair and handing her the printed documents. Evaline was crazy, but I adored her. As blond as could be and coming in at barely five foot tall, she was a petite woman all the way around. If I looked up “delicate” in the dictionary, I was pretty sure Evaline Grayson would be a synonym.
“What can I help you with this morning?”
“I need help figuring out how to set up an account on a website, but we’ll get to that in a second. I actually wanted to tell you, Jim and I were talking this morning, and he has a few new jobs he’d like you to do.”
I’d been in the process of peeling my orange but paused at the name. Jim was Evaline’s husband, and he happened to head the security side of the company. “What does he need me to do?”
“Do you remember the big case we took last week?”
“The one about all the credit card fraud claims at the fast-food place?”
“That’s the one. Jim and Tony finally finished all the interviews yesterday, and he’d like you to transcribe them.” She pushed her glasses higher up her nose, worry lines appearing on her forehead like she truly thought I might say no.
“I don’t know how great I’ll be at it, but I can do it. Was that all?” I tossed the peel in the garbage and pulled off a few chunks of fruit, shoving them into my face.
“He wants you to apply for an Unarmed Guard license this week so you can take over a few shifts at the community college.”
I choked, burning citrus juice shooting straight up my nose. I gasped, patting my chest and blinking away tears. “What?”
“We’re picking up companies faster than people are applying. We’re understaffed, and he’s hoping you can pick up an occasional weekend shift.”
“Me though? Like…seriously, me? He wants me to take a guard shift at the college?” I was not an intimidating woman. I ran from spiders and peed myself when I saw snakes. I was not, in any way, cut out to be a guard.
“You have the educational background to qualify for it, and it’d only be when we have no other choice.” She smiled at me, but it was a forced expression, and it was clear she didn’t exactly agree with her husband on the matter.
“Okay, I guess. But I’m only available for a day shift on Saturday.”
“That’s perfectly fine. I’ll let him know your answer and send over the information for the license later this afternoon.”
I knew I was still sporting a grimace as we discussed the rest of the day’s schedule, going over client deadlines and the transcription assignment. My primary responsibility was running background checks, but we were getting in so many new clients I wondered how I’d fit in anything else when I only worked there thirty hours a week.
I’d been starting, stopping, rewinding, and replaying an interview for about an hour, and was diligently concentrating when fingers curled around my shoulder and warm breath tickled the back of my neck. Goosebumps erupted across my skin, and not the good kind. More like the kind you get before an evil spirit appears.
I’d been sitting hunched over my keyboard with my legs crossed in my chair, so when I slammed into the back of my chair, I smashed my knees into the underside of the desk and nearly tipped over. Ironically enough, it was the bear-sized grip still attached to my shoulder that kept me steady.
The feel of his breath stuck to my neck, and I slowly lowered my headphones and looked up at the man standing behind me. A few inches over six feet, Rob Spencer stood above my seated form like a fucking skyscraper on steroids. The guards and security technicians who sometimes came through the office had even nicknamed him after a famous, bald-headed wrestler.
A solid decade out of the military, Rob still maintained a high and tight haircut and always kept his sharp jaw shaved clean. He was thirty-eight and could have been an attractive man, if he wasn’t such a goddamn creep. Just being alone in my office with him was sending all sorts of bad vibes up my spine.
“Something I can help you with, Mr. Spencer?”
“As much as I enjoy hearing you say my name that way, darlin’, I’ve told you a hundred times to call me Rob.” He smiled at me, and he had the nerve to caress his thumb along the top of my arm. I looked down at his hand and back up at him.
“Rob. Something I can help you with?”
“Many things.” He smirked, and I vomited slightly in my mouth. “But today I’m actually here to help you.”
I leaned away from him far enough to send a signal for him to drop his hand. “What?”
“Your unarmed guard license.”
“Oh.” I turned away, pulling random background requests from the stacks on my desk and looking them over even though I’d already finished them. This couldn’t be happening. I didn’t want him here. Did Evaline know he was here? She knew how I felt about him.
He circled me, folding his large body into the cheap, wooden chair in front of my desk and crossing an ankle over a knee. He looked ready to settle in for a while, and my stomach roiled.
I’d never forget my first day of work, how he’d walked up behind me similar to how he’d just done, and I’d smiled up at him, humming with the excitement of starting my first job within the criminal justice field.
I remember my smile twitching as he stepped into my personal space, remember trying to bury my personal issues and stay polite. I’d introduced myself, but instead of shaking my hand, he’d kissed it. And not some brush of the lips. He’d actually left a wet film on my knuckles. And when he’d moved to leave, he purred in my ear. Fucking purred.
Each and every meeting since had only furthered his level of ick. Looking across my desk at him now, I had the sudden desire to throw my stapler at his face. “Are those for me?” I asked, finally noticing the papers he’d been holding in his non-harassing appendage.
He handed them over, and I made sure to keep our fingers as distanced as possible as I took them. It was an application packet for the license. “I offered to train you, but Jim said you can only work Saturdays.” His lip curled on one side.
Rob worked part time at a hardware store on the weekends, thank God. “I appreciate the offer. So, is this all?” I asked, wiggling the application.
“Yeah, darlin’, that’s all you got to do. Send over an email when you’re done, and I’ll figure out who I can schedule you with to shadow.” He pushed up off his knees and stood, leaning over my desk.
I flinched back, but he continued reaching over and gently pulled on one of my curls. “Have a good day.”
The door to the hall had barely shut before I was barging into Evaline’s office.