"Ease up, lass." I tried to say it easily so that she wouldn’t take any offense.
She turned to me, her eyes burning with the kind of fire that I wouldn't expect from such a fragile looking creature.
She cleared her throat before speaking. "Mr. McCarthy, thank you for helping him. I really do appreciate it, but you don't know him, and it's certainly not your place to tell me to ease upon him." She turned to Liam, grabbing his arm. "Let's go, Liam," she ordered.
"You're really wound tight, aren't you, A Chara?" I said, smiling at her. “Maybe a session at the gym would do you well, you know, to blow off some steam.” I didn’t want to mention out loud the other ways to relieve her tension that flooded my mind.
"What did you call me?" she asked. Her eyes flashing with fire again, the embers reigniting on a dime. My smile grew wider as I admired how hot-headed she was.
I leaned back against my desk and crossed my arms, daring her to step up to me. I loved a good fight and hadn’t had one this exciting in ages. "A Chara. It means friend. Is that an offensive term in America?"
"It is when it's meant to be condescending. I think it’s time we made our way home," she directed the last part to her brother. He looked nervously between the two of us like he was loathe to be caught in the middle of yet another fight.
I started laughing at her indignation. I had to admit, I loved the fire in the girl. Most people were intimidated by me, but not this one. Even if she was, she had no problem hiding it. It turned me on, how she was small and delicate with the bravado of a bull coming out of its pen.
I walked toward her, wanting to rattle her cage a little, just for kicks. I stepped as close to her as I could, almost touching, but not quite. "Who's being condescending?"
She didn't step down. She straightened her shoulders, making me notice her pert tits in that slightly see-through t-shirt.
"You were, lad. Just because you helped my brother, that doesn’t mean we’re friends."
I laughed at the heat she was letting off with that stare.
"You're pretty adorable, like an angry kitten pretending to be a lion," I teased. Her face transformed yet again into an expression I wasn’t able to put my finger on, maybe sadness or pity. The fire drained from her eyes completely. I watched as her full lips formed a line and her pretty brown eyes narrowed. My eyes trailed down her curvy body before landing on her hands, which were balled into fists.
"Have I struck a nerve, sweetheart? I’m sorry."
"I'm not your sweetheart," she spat. The kitten had claws.
"Not yet," I said. I tilted my head to the side staring her down. Maybe it was because her face was so readable, she struck me as the kind of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, but whatever it was, it made me want to peel back the layers of her personality as much as I wanted to peel off her clothes.
She pointed her finger right at my chest, poking me. "Listen long and good buddy, that’s what we call non-friends in American. I am never going to be your sweetheart. Not in this life, and probably not in the next."
"Never say never, sweetheart. I'm a patient man, and I’ve yet to lose a game."
"I'm still here,” Liam groaned. “Can’t y'all do this nonsense when I'm not in the room?" Liam's voice broke our heated staring contest, and we both turned to look at him. He raised his hand in the air, "Sorry I said anything. Christ, carry on." He folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.
"We're done here, anyway," she said. She quickly turned away from me and headed to the door. Her back to me felt like a punch in the gut. I didn't want her to turn from me, didn’t want her to walk away. "Let's go, Liam."
"I'll see you tomorrow for your first shift," I said. I wanted to help the poor kid, but even more than that, I felt desperate to hold on to some part of woman who had completely intrigued me in a matter of minutes.
I watched as her hand stood still on the doorknob and felt the tension in my jaw. A few beats passed before she said anything. "I don't think Liam working here is the best idea." She didn’t even turn to look at me to reject the offer.
"What?" Liam demanded. "You said I needed a job to stay here. You got any idea how hard it is to find work in this town? This is the only chance I've got. You can't send me back Erin, you just can't. And fuck you if you’re gonna blow this for me."