“Yeah, I know.”
“You could tell? It was that obvious?”
“No,” his smile broadened a little, “I’m just really good at picking those kinds of things up.”
“Yeah? You’re not like a mind reader or anything, because that would be super embarrassing.”
“Oh?” An eyebrow arched slowly. “Why’s that?”
“Oh, you know…” Because I checked out your arse. Because I was struck momentarily dumb when you walked into the room. Because you smelled so good when I was sitting next to you in the cart. “Because if I’m getting pissed at you, I don’t want to get sacked for mental insubordination.”
“Right, well, feel free to call me whatever you like in the sanctity of your own mind. Hey, chuck me your car keys, and I’ll give you a hand moving in.”
“You don’t have to…”
“I don’t want you to have to carry those boxes all by yourself. It’s fine, it’ll go faster if I help.”
3
Which is how I ended up with Finn running boxes up the stairs and inside the house, my car parked round the back. I went to try and carry some of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, I was left to start unpacking my meagre possessions while Finn worked up a sweat. I tried not to look as his shirt began to stick to his chest, though I did nearly drop some plates because I was so busy ‘not looking’. The final straw came when he stopped, whipped off his shirt and closed his eyes, standing underneath the ceiling fan to cool down.
Y’know in the old cartoons, where you see the wolf’s eyes bug out and his tongue roll out like a carpet? Pretty sure that was an accurate representation of me, because he was everything his clothes had hinted at. He wore a white wife-beater singlet but still, the taut muscles of his arms caught my gaze as they followed the vein that ran down the inner side of his bicep to his forearm. I could see the slight shift and bunch of his abs under the thin, damp fabric. He opened his eyes a slit, smiling slightly at me as I tried to jerk mine back to something more appropriate.
“There any water in the fridge?” he asked.
Did I imagine a husky rasp to his voice? No, must be wishful thinking. He walked into the tiny little kitchenette, close enough to brush me, and I fought back a shiver. I could feel the cool air of the fridge and the sound of a cap being twisted. I was thirsty, I thought, real thirsty. I turned around and tried to squirm past him and see if there was any more water. “Here,” he said, passing a half empty bottle.
“Oh, it’s OK, you must be hot…”
“Here.”
“No really.”
“Take it.” This was delivered as a gentle command. He pushed the bottle into my hand, his fingers brushing mine. I felt that familiar, low down shiver in my body. Parts of it twitched in response to this little gesture.
“You’re the boss,” I said.
His smile widened at this. I swallowed a mouthful of water, the moment becoming too loaded for me to do anything else. He seemed to watch every movement. I pushed the bottle back into his hand and then stepped around him, leaving the kitchen. “Look, this feels…really awkward and probably premature, but I feel like I need to clear the air. Are you…?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it. He was gorgeous and I was ...me.
“Attracted to you?” he said. "I thought that was obvious.”
“I wouldn’t go assuming that. Clarifying is probably a good idea. I… well, look at you. You’re smoking hot, but I need a job, like really need a job. I was on my last little stash of cash, which might have gotten me to the next town over and that’s it. I can’t afford to fuck about with the boss.” His eyebrows shot up. “Not like that! Though I guess eventually like that… Fuck, I’m not doing this very well.”
“You’re worried about the job if you have anything other than a professional relationship with your supervisor.”
“Yeah.”
“Talk to Kelly. She’ll talk about this in detail tomorrow.”
“OK.”
“I’ve gotten everything out of the car, so I should go anyway. I think I’m about ready for a really long shower.”
“Oh.” I knew he was inferring something, but I didn’t get far enough to try and work out why. All of a sudden, my mental slideshow was flashing up its estimations of what that would look like, water sliding lower and…
“Head over to the mess shed at 6, it’s the first one on the right down this road. Don’t be late, or you risk going hungry. Nerida will probably find you, though.”