Lina changes the music, pulling me out of my memories. I expect her to change it to something ridiculous, but instead she stops when she hears a song, and to my surprise, it’s a song I love. How did I forget that we had similar taste in music? I guess I’ve forgotten a lot of things over the years after what happened. That one bad thing had consumed all of the good, I suppose.
“What’s the plan for the bar today?” I ask.
“I’ll be doing orders today; see what I need in the inventory.”
I nod. There’s a moment of silence before she says, “Abe looks like he’s doing well.”
“He is. He took over our dad’s garage a few years back so my parents could retire. He pays for everything they need.”
“Is that where you work?” she asks.
I nod. “Abe likes to take the brunt of the work. He’s like my dad in that way. So I find myself with more time on my hands than I know what to do with—at least I did. Now you’re here and I can use that time to focus on you.”
Lina goes quiet and doesn’t say anything else until we get to the bar. Once we’re inside, she instantly gets to work. She keeps her head down, her focus sharp on what needs to get done. I admire her diligence. I recline against the bar, intentionally not helping, occasionally teasing her, telling her that I will gladly jump in and help if she would just ask. She ignores me, clearly set on not asking me for anything.
She climbs up onto the counter behind the bar and tries to reach for the old bottles on the top shelf. They’re just beyond her reach. I start to get frustrated because she’s about to fall if she tries to stand any taller on her tiptoes, and yet she’s so stubborn that she continues to refuse my help.
I move behind the bar because I don’t trust her balance at this point. “Let me do that,” I say to her, but in one last stubborn try to grab the bottle, she jumps. The motion throws her off balance. My heart leaps into my throat when I see her start to fall. I reach out and catch her before she can hit the ground, moving quickly and twisting so her head doesn’t hit the corner of the bar.
Her breathing comes in rapid bursts and she’s looking up at me with large, frightened eyes from the close call. Even though she’s safe in my arms, I’m still shaken up from the thought of her getting hurt. That’s when I realize that I still have feelings for her no matter how much I tell myself that I don’t.
Damn.
Lina continues to stare up at me as she’s cradled in my arms.
“You’re insane, you know that?” I say harshly, wanting her to get it through her thick skull that she can’t do this on her own. “You need to ask for help when you need it or you’ll end up killing yourself. I have no doubt you’re capable of a lot of things, but at some point everyone needs to ask for help.”
She’s still breathing hard, and makes no attempt to climb out of my arms. Instead her arms go around my neck, our warm bodies pressed against one another. That fear quickly becomes desire as my dick grows hard. I stare at her perfect lips, drawn to them. As I bring my mouth to hers, she moves her hand to block me, putting a barrier between us. She squirms until I let her go and set her on her own two feet. She dusts herself off, her bottom lip trembling as she does so. She’s trying not to show the same desire I feel too, but I know it’s there. I saw it on her face, felt it in the way her arms wrapped around me. She wants me just as bad as I want her but she refuses to give in. I guess some things never change.
“Thank you for catching me,” she says as simply as if she were thanking me for opening a door for her. She then sits at a table and starts to write in her little notebook.
“One week,” she says.
I blink at her. She looks at me with sheer determination and taps the piece of paper. “I calculate that all the things I need to do to get this place up and running will take me one week. It’s impossible for me to do it alone, like you said.” I stare at her a moment in shock. In her own stubborn way, she’s admitting she was wrong. She may even be attempting an apology. I’ll take it.
She continues, “With your help I might even be able to get it all done quicker.”