“Comedy.” She snuggled into his arms.
Damn, how would she ever say goodbye to him?
***
“Reagan, can I speak to you for a moment? Privately.” Without waiting for her answer, her boss walked into her office and shut the door behind him.
“I’m kind of busy here.” She barely gave Lionel a glance. She’d struggled to sleep after receiving those flowers, and now it was Monday morning, and she was now fighting a fog of fatigue.
The five cups of coffee she’d already had hadn’t seemed to help, and now she was feeling slightly ill. Still, perhaps a sixth cup would be the charm. She hit the intercom button. “Hey, Tara, could you grab me another coffee. You want something, Lionel?” she asked, pleased she’d managed to remember he was there.
He shook his head abruptly. “I need to talk to you.”
“Go ahead.” She turned back to her laptop.
“Reagan. Please, look at me.”
She turned back to him. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat, and she thought he almost looked nervous. She couldn’t imagine why. “It’s about your, ahh, guard.”
“My guard? Oh, you mean Tiny? What about him?” She’d told Lionel everything so he’d realize why Tiny needed to be here. Everyone else thought she’d gotten a few threats and that Tiny was her overprotective boyfriend. She didn’t know if anyone actually believed them, but she didn’t care.
She couldn’t imagine why Lionel would want to talk to her about Tiny.
“He’s, umm, look I realize I agreed to his presence here, but that was before I realized how disruptive he would be.”
“Disruptive? He’s not disruptive.”
“Not everyone agrees. I have had some complaints about how intimidating he is.”
“Complaints? From who?” she half-raised her voice.
Lionel sat then straightened the cuffs of his suit. “Now, you know I can’t tell you that.”
“I just want to talk to them. Reassure them.” Tell them exactly what she thought about their complaint.
“The complaints were made in private. The fact is we can’t have your bodyguard here disrupting everyone.”
“You want him to leave? He’s not going to like this.”
Lionel fidgeted in his chair. It was an annoying habit of his.
There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called out with a frown.
Tiny walked in holding a takeaway cup from the cafeteria. “Here you go.”
“Lionel’s received some complaints about you being here. He thinks you’re disruptive.”
Tiny turned to her boss, who paled. “Umm, well, you see…”
“I need to stick close to Reagan,” Tiny said mildly. “She’s been threatened.”
“Yes… well… that’s why I thought that perhaps you should work from home, Reagan. Just while this threat is being sorted.”
Reagan frowned as she took a sip of her drink. “This isn’t coffee.”
“No, it isn’t,” Tiny agreed.