The little building we were in was part of about ten such office buildings ranging from our electric company to a hair salon.
At any given time, the food truck had at least one lady in line with foil in her hair.
Then there were the teenagers that worked at the hardware store two down from my building. They were too young to know what exhaustion was, but there they were getting their own coffee along with pastries.
Fifteen minutes later on the dot, when I arrived back with two coffees, a chocolate chip muffin, and a cinnamon scone, Jennie looked to be much more alert.
“What has you looking all perky?” I asked as I held out her coffee.
She took it and placed it on the corner of her desk as her eyes went down the hall to where the big boss kept his office.
“While you were gone, the big boss showed up,” she whispered.
My heart started to pound.
“You mean the one that was hurt yesterday?” I asked.
She nodded her head. “That one! And he doesn’t look hurt! He looks just fine!”
I licked my lips and tried to decide whether I should run down the hall and see for myself if it was really Liner, but I forced myself to sit in my office chair, unmute my phone, then start delicately eating my scone.
It was when I was two bites into my muffin, scone demolished in a nervous ‘I didn’t taste it at all’ devour, that they finally came out of the office.
I didn’t have to see the rest of the body.
All I needed to see was that familiar pair of scuffed up motorcycle boots to know it was him.
My heart started to pound, and moments after his body emerged, his eyes moved to meet mine.
It took paramount control to keep me in my seat as he made his way toward me.
His face didn’t betray a single thought or feeling, meanwhile I was sure that my smile was going to burst free of my face.
And don’t even get me started on the man that followed him.
I liked my boss and all, thought he was great, but with Liner in the room, he didn’t even get a single glance.
“Great news!” my boss, Eric, said. “We’re going to go get some lunch with a few of the crew members. Y’all are coming since we won’t have any crew members to dispatch. We’ll be gone for an hour or so. We’re going to set the phones as away while we’re gone.”
Eric might’ve been looking at me. He might not have.
I didn’t really know.
Liner’s eyes were sparkling, though, as if he read my mind.
“Oh, sorry, darlin’,” Eric jumped. “Mr. Paldecki, this is our newest employee, Wren. Wren, this is the company’s owner, Mr. Paldecki. You were on break when I introduced him to Jennie.”
I found myself standing up and holding out my hand almost on auto-pilot.
Liner’s hand was already extended toward me, and it took a massive amount of control not to just pull Liner toward me as he pretend shook my hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said softly, eyes boring holes into mine.
I licked my lips. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Lies. All lies.
“Jennie, can you get the phones set up?” he paused. “It’s kind of a long process. So Wren, if you want to take Mr. Paldecki and show him around for a bit, I’ll get the crew called and have them meet us at Deck’s for lunch.”
Wren. My name was Wren now.
I was nodding my head even though I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“Yes, sir,” I said softly. “I can do that.”
Eric nodded his head and walked away, and Jennie went to work setting something up that I had no idea what was required to do it.
I should probably be paying attention since eventually I’d be doing that sort of thing myself at some point, but my heart was pounding, and I wanted nothing more than to throw myself at the man standing in front of me expectantly.
“Where to first?” he asked.
Then his hand was on the small of my back and I was leading him down a side hallway that led to the outside forecourt area where I sometimes took breaks.
It was a little covered patio-like area where Eric took his smoke breaks. It was outside but huddled in between the buildings so not much could be seen other than a little bit of sunlight filtering through the roof and the very tall wall.
The moment that the door closed behind us, I whirled and found myself pressed up against Liner’s body.
Seconds after that, I was being thrown against the building and Liner’s mouth was coming down onto mine.
My hands automatically went to his biceps to steady myself, and he broke the kiss off just as abruptly as it’d started, only this time with a curse.