“What’re you doing here?”
“Well, that’s gratitude,” Ink drawled, not seeming to take offense at Duke’s growly tone. “I rushed over here when the alarm went off to check on Sunny-girl here.”
He knew her name? Oh, Duke had said he was going to tell everyone at the club about her. For some reason that thought made her blush.
“I’ll just go start the coffee. Um, feel free to go about your business.”
She waved her hands at them both. Duke gave her an incredulous look. “Go about my business?”
She bit her lip, feeling that blush growing deeper.
“I’ll take some coffee, Sunny-girl,” Ink told her.
Duke scowled at him. “She’s not here to make you coffee. Besides, we’ve got a meeting.”
“I thought you might want to move it here, so I texted Reyes while you were checking out Sunny.” Ink grinned and she blushed at his innuendo. Duke had just been concerned that she wasn’t harmed. Nothing more.
Duke grumbled some more. Then he turned and headed to his office. “Make a big pot of coffee, Sunny. And when Rory gets here, send him the fuck in.”
Ink grinned at her as he walked past. “I take my coffee sweet and creamy, doll. Bit like you.”
Wow. That was so cheesy. She just rolled her eyes before walking out to the back room to get everything ready. After putting her stuff in her locker, she took a moment to steady her nerves. She hated upsetting Duke. She didn’t want him to regret hiring her.
She looked up as Rory strolled in.
“Coffee started yet?”
She clenched her hands into fists. Be nice. “Not yet. Duke wants to see you.”
Rory narrowed his gaze. “What? Why? Isn’t he supposed to be having some secret club meeting?”
She was pretty certain that Rory was jealous of Duke.
“It’s been moved to here.” She didn’t say anything more, just made a pot of coffee before heading out to the front room again.
Where was that bit of paper with the pin number on it? She got down on her hands and knees to start searching around. She didn’t want to admit to Duke that she’d lost it, she was in enough trouble with him as it was.
Ah, there it was. She spotted a piece of white paper beneath the desk and started crawling under the open space, grabbing it just as the buzzer indicated someone was coming through the door. She started wiggling back.
“Hello, down there.”
She sat up, misjudging where the surface of the desk was and bumping her head.
/> “Owie!” she muttered without thinking, reaching up to rub the sore spot while staring up at a large guy wearing a black, tight tee, and worn blue jeans.
To her surprise, he crouched down so they were nearly face-to-face.
“Ouch, that looked like it hurt,” he said with surprising sympathy for such a cold-looking man.
“I’m okay.” Aware of how unprofessional she was acting, she tried to scramble to her feet, only to bump into her chair and send it flying across the room on its wheels.
“Oh, whoops.” She turned back to look at the man with a grimace. “Um, hi, I’m Sunny, can I help you?”
“Hello, Sunny,” he replied. “I’m Reyes. I’m a friend of Duke’s. He back in his office?”
“Ah, yeah. He’s a little busy right now.” She winced as she heard Duke yelling at Rory. She moved over to get the chair, wheeling it back behind the desk. Reyes leaned against the counter, seemingly in no rush.
Reyes raised his eyebrows. “Seems like he’s upset.”