“Thanks, bye.” She ended the call.
“Forgot the alarm number?” the guy asked, leaning against the doorway and folding his arms over his thickly muscled chest. His hair was shaved at the sides and slicked back on top. His tattoos ran down each arm and she thought she saw glimpses above the neck of his T-shirt.
“Yes, Duke changes it every week and I just drew a blank.”
He grinned. “Yeah, he’s a real prick over security. I’m Ink.”
“Oh. Are you a friend of Duke’s?”
“Yeah. I’m a member of the Iron Shadows.”
Her stomach bubbled with nerves for another reason. “Right. Well, thank you. Did you have an appointment today?” She didn’t remember an Ink being booked in. She kind of thought she would. Then again, she couldn’t remember a four-digit pin, now, could she?
“Nah, the security company called me. I was around at the compound.”
“They called you?”
“Yeah, I own the company.”
“You do?” She stared at him in surprise.
He grinned. “I don’t look like the type of person to own a security company?”
“No, it’s not that. . .” she trailed off because it was exactly that. His grin grew as there was a screech of tires behind him. “Here comes Duke. Don’t think he’s too happy.”
Her eyes widened as Duke’s black truck pulled up and he jumped out. His face was like thunder as he strode to the shop.
Not too happy was an understatement.
Ink stepped to the side to let Duke in, but didn’t walk any further into the shop.
“Duke, hi!” she said cheerily. “I didn’t think you were coming in until later.”
Ink snorted. She looked around Duke’s wide body to glare at him. He just winked at her.
She started as Duke moved around the desk. Oh sugar. He wasn’t going to fire her over forgetting the pin number, was he?
“What happened? Are you okay?” He ran his gaze over her, as though searching for injuries.
“I’m fine. Why would you think I wasn’t?”
He took hold of her shoulders, looking like he really wanted to shake her. Then he drew his hands away and took a hasty step back. “Because I just got a phone call that the damn alarm was going off!”
And he’d been worried about her? That was really sweet. And it made her feel awful.
“I’m all right. I just forgot the number for the alarm.”
He gave her a slightly exasperated look. “Babe.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Where the fuck is Rory? I told him to come in early and open up with you.”
“Oh, ah, maybe he forgot.”
Or maybe he was just a prick who’d rather watch her mess up than help her.
Duke grumbled something under his breath as he turned away. He seemed to notice Ink for the first time.