She forced herself to meet Razor’s gaze. “I don’t know if you remember me, I’m—”
“Tabby,” he breathed out the name. “You’re Tabby.”
3
Tabby was here.
In his office.
What was she doing here now?
Was she here to commission a bike for her new man? Unless she was here for herself? But no, she was tiny. Delicate. He couldn’t imagine her on a bike.
The protective instincts that she’d stirred the night he’d met her reappeared.
He couldn’t stand assholes who picked on those weaker than them. His hands clenched into fists.
Easy. That bastard, Luther, is dead.
He wished he’d done it himself, though. Jared Bartolli, her cousin, had killed Luther. Something he should have done long before then.
The last time he’d seen her, she had been traumatized. Abused and beaten. He’d wanted to do whatever he could to ease the fear on her face. It had killed him when she’d decided to leave with her cousin.
He hadn’t gotten it then. Didn’t get it now.
But right now, that didn’t matter. Not when she was sitting across his desk from him.
She was so serious as she stared at him, that it made his heart ache. Life was so short. Too short to spend it being sad.
Fuck, listen to him. Getting fanciful in his old fucking age, wasn’t he?
Practically philosophical. Maybe he should look at writing this shit down.
Life according to Razor: A guide of what not to do.
Tabby shifted around, giving him a nervous look. Her cheeks were pale. She appeared tired. Worried. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight braid.
Suddenly, he realized he was just sitting here, staring at her. Fuck. No wonder she seemed like she was about to bolt. He cleared his throat and she half-jumped out of her seat.
“You don’t need to be scared of me, Tabby,” he told her. Then he rolled his eyes at himself. Her husband had been the lowest fucking scum in the pond. Of course she was nervous. She didn’t know him well. Sure, he’d never touch a fucking hair on her head, but she didn’t know that.
He cleared his throat. “I’d never hurt you.”
“I know that,” she whispered. Then she gathered herself, straightening her shoulders and staring him in the eye. Her transformation surprised him and made him inexplicably proud. She was obviously intimidated by him, but she was trying to push that aside. “I wouldn’t be here if I thought that.”
Studying her, he tilted his head to the side. Why was she here, then?
“If you’re here for a bike, then—”
She shook her head, her ponytail flicking back and forth. He wondered how long her hair was when it was down? Really long, he was guessing. “I’m not here for a bike. Not right now, anyway. Maybe one day.”
Okay, then. So . . . something occurred to him and he leaned forward. “Are you in trouble? Do you need help? Are you trying to escape from your cousin?”
Surprise filled her face. “Why would I need to escape from Jared?”
“I know who he is,” he reminded her.
“I don’t need to escape Jared. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
Hm. He wasn’t so convinced. He’d thought about trying to contact her, but then he’d remembered the look on her face as she’d said goodbye. The firmness in her tone as she’d told him she would be fine.
She wasn’t his to worry over. Just because he’d felt protective of her, didn’t mean that she owed him anything.
“Why are you here after all this time?”
She jumped slightly, even though he’d spoken in a calm voice.
“I’m not here for a bike, and I’m not here for help or to escape my cousin. He’s not a bad man.”
“So, why are you here? Haven’t heard from you once all this time. Thought you must have thrown my card away.”
“I tried to,” she whispered. “I probably should have. I shouldn’t even really be here. It was a stupid idea.” She stood and started moving towards the door.
“Tabby,” he said in a low voice. “Freeze.”
She stilled. He’d expected she might. But he didn’t want her obeying him because she was afraid. No, he wanted her to obey him because she wanted to.
That thought came as a surprise. He wasn’t interested in her.
Sure, she was gorgeous. But she was also a lot younger than him. Vulnerable.
Turning, she glared at him fiercely. There was something in the way she held herself that told him that while she wasn’t completely confident in her own skin, she was getting there.
He was fucking proud of her.
“Why are you here? You kept my card, I’m guessing. Looked me up. Decided to come here. You’re not really going to leave without assuaging my curiosity, right?”
“Right,” she whispered. “Well, I’m actually here about the job.”
The job? What?
Oh. Hell.
His eyes widened. “You want a job? Here?”
“Yes.” She nodded woodenly and it was clear that she was braced against rejection. “I saw it advertised and I wondered if you had filled it. But you likely have. Or you probably want someone with more experience. I don’t have any. I’ve never even had a job before. I’d probably be crap at it.”
His eyes widened as she continued to talk.
“Sorry,” she finally said. “I’ll just leave now.”
“Tabby, wait.” She continued to walk through the outer office towards the door. “Tabby, come back here.”
Turning, her hands clenched into fists at her side. “It was a stupid idea and I apologize for wasting your time. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She was timid. Shy and quiet. His guys were rough. They swore a lot, the things they talked about weren’t for her ears. And some of his clients weren’t much better.
She had no experience. Not great when there was a lot he needed her to do quickly.
She was gorgeous and sweet. He’d prefer someone that his guys wouldn’t drool over.
And yet . . .
Standing, he sighed. Then he realized she’d already left. Fuck. He raced out of his office, through the other room and outside, where he spotted her opening the driver’s door on a late model beamer.
Fuck. She’d driven a hundred-thousand-dollar car into this neighborhood and left it here? The boys must have kept an eye on it for her while they were working.
“Tabby, I said wait.” He was too old to chase after her.
She froze by the door, but she wouldn’t look up at him. Her gaze was kept on her feet.
Fuck, he hated that.
“Tabby, look at me.”
“It was a stupid idea. Don’t know what I was thinking. Why would you want me to work for you? Idiot.”
Oh, fuck no.
He scowled, then went to reach for her chin with his finger. Until he remembered her bruised face after Luther hurt her. And how she’d curled into herself. How often had she been abused by that asshole?
He wouldn’t touch her without her permission. Not when he didn’t know her well.
“Tabby, don’t talk about yourself like that,” he told her in a low, coaxing voice. “I don’t like it. And it’s definitely not true. You are not an idiot.”
She slowly raised her head, her hazel eyes meeting his. “I am, though. I’m sorry you wasted your time.”
Again, he raised his hand then dropped it. A stricken look filled her face before it disappeared. She’d likely learned to hide her emotions.
“I think the question should be, why wouldn’t I want you?” he asked her.
She held up her fingers, ticking them off. “I’ve no experience. I’ve never had a job. I don’t know a thing about motorbikes. Or about any systems you might use.”
“You know, seeing as you’ve never had a job, you might not know how a job interview works. But generally, you tell a prospective employer all the reasons why they should hire you, not all the reasons they shoul
dn’t.”
He grinned to let her know he was joking. He got a small smile back. He took that as a victory.
“So, you have anything good to tell me about yourself for why I should want to hire you?” he asked after she was silent for a good few minutes. He was going to hire her. He didn’t know how she’d gotten out from under Bartolli’s thumb, but she had. And he wouldn’t allow anyone to take advantage of her. The world was a fucking harsh place, which she knew all too well. If he could shield her from some of that, though . . .
“No,” she told him.
Fuck. That hurt. She couldn’t think of one good thing to say about herself when she should be full of them? That was just wrong. On so many levels.
He wanted to change that.
“Except, I’ll work hard. I promise. I can learn things quickly, and I’ll keep working at it until I do. I’ll come in early and leave late. I have no life, so that’s not a problem.”
He ran his hand over his face and looked back at the shop. Fuck. This was probably a bad idea. But he’d had people help him when he’d needed a start. And there weren’t many people who’d hire a twenty-something-year-old with no experience or skills.
“Okay, how about this? You start at eight, finish at four. We’ll do a trial of a month, make sure it all works out. After three months, if you decide to stay longer, you get a raise. Okay?”
“You mean . . . I have the job?” she whispered, looking so shocked that it actually hurt him.
“Yeah, you have the job. Although there’s something I have to tell you. The guys that work for me, they don’t have the best pasts. Some of them have been in jail. Others were in gangs. They’re all trying to turn their lives around, but you should know what you’re dealing with.”
“I can deal with that.”
“You won’t be out in the garage much, anyway. You’ll deal mainly with me or Dart. He runs the place when I’m not around. I’ll introduce you to him tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” she said again. “You won’t regret this.”
“I know I won’t. Now, is this the only car you have?”
She blinked up at him. Lord, she was gorgeous. So beautiful, it was almost like someone had drawn her because she was too perfect to be real.
“Um, yeah. Is there something wrong with it?”
“Just sticks out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood. I don’t want you leaving it on the street. Drive it into the lot. All right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Razor is fine. Go home. Get some rest. I’ll see you at eight tomorrow. Not before, though, understand?”
“All right. Should I wear anything in particular?”
“No dress code. Just wear something comfy.”
She gave him a nod and climbed into her car. He forced himself to move, telling himself that he couldn’t watch her drive away. And that she’d be fine.
She didn’t need him going all over protective on her ass.
Much as he might want to.
Christ, now he needed to go have a chat with the guys about toning their language down around her.
That was going to go over well.
She celebrated her new job with pizza and chocolate milk. She might have a new addiction.
“Cheers, Snappy.” She held up her glass of milk to her toy turtle. Maybe she should think about getting an actual turtle. Her mom had bought Snappy for her when she was little. He was pretty much the only thing she had from her childhood.
“Maybe a turtle is too much commitment right now. I could get a goldfish. What do you think?”
She’d never had a stable enough life for a pet. But maybe it was time to start turning that around. Yeah, maybe she’d look into a goldfish. Perhaps one of those fish tanks. That could be quite fun.
“Things are looking up, Snappy. I think this could be the turning point. Razor is, well, he’s sexy as hell. But I shouldn’t really notice that, right? He’s my boss.”
It had kind of hurt when he’d gone to touch her, then pulled his hand back. She shouldn’t take it as a rejection, but she did.
“I really think I’m going to ace this job. It’s going to be fun.”
4
She wasn’t having fun.
And she definitely wasn’t acing this job. In fact, she thought it was fair to say she pretty much sucked at it.
Three days she’d been here and she didn’t have a freaking clue what she was doing. She’d barely seen Razor. She’d figured he would show
her what to do, but instead, this condescending jerk called Matthew had given her an hour-long whirlwind tutorial on everything she needed to know, then left her to it.
Apparently, he used to have her job, but he’d recently moved on to somewhere else. He’d come in specially to train her so she didn’t feel she could ask him to explain everything again. She also didn’t want to call him when she was stuck. So, she spent a lot of time online trying to understand the accounting software they used and looking up the different mechanical parts and terms.
Maybe it would have been easier if Razor had been in the office. But he was out in the shop, working frantically on a custom job that they’d gotten behind on. She’d seen him on the first day when he’d introduced her to Matthew. But otherwise, he’d been mostly absent.
She knew he felt bad, he’d apologized. But why should she expect any special treatment? She was an employee. She’d claimed that she’d be able to learn quickly and that’s what she’d do, damn it.
She wished she didn’t feel like an idiot for not understanding any of this, though.
“Tabby.”
She looked up as Razor walked in, rubbing the grease off his hands. He looked slightly stressed. Quickly, she swallowed her mouthful of granola bar.
“Hey,” she said quietly.
“Reckon you can call around and find me a part? I’ll get one of the boys to pick it up.” He drew a piece of paper out of his back pocket. She looked down at his chicken scrawl in dismay. What the hell did that even say?
“Can you read it?” he asked.
“Not really.”
He huffed out a laugh and moved around behind her. Bending over, he placed his hand on the desk and she got a whiff of his aftershave.
Oh, Lord, help her.
Was it weird that she hadn’t felt any real arousal in years, yet his scent, his closeness, sent her body into overdrive?
She was pretty sure that she shouldn’t feel this way about her boss.
“Did you get that?”
“Yep, sure.” She crossed her fingers because she hadn’t heard a freaking word.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He eyed her. Then he told her what he needed again, while she could feel her face heating. He knew she was fucking this up, that she hadn’t been listening.
Crap. Do better, Tabby.
“Sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I have this.”
She didn’t. She really didn’t.
“Good. Can you please grab the guys’ lunch orders too? It’s gonna be a long day and I want to keep them happy. Take the money from petty cash.”
“All right.”
“Anything you need? Matty go through everything with you all right? He didn’t seem to be here long, you must pick up things quick.”
She nodded, while her brain screamed at her to confess that she had no idea what was going on.
“You know where the list of preferred suppliers is?”
No clue.
But it seemed like something she should know, so she nodded again. By now, she was crossing her toes as well. Not literally, but it was the thought that counted.
“Do you want me to do the lunch orders first or find the part?” she asked.
“Find the part, first. When you do, tell Tommy, he can go get it.”
Great. Weasel Dick. Her favorite person.
All the guys that worked here were rough around the edges. She’d only met them briefly when Razor had taken her on a quick tour on her first d
ay. But Tabby was used to being around coarse men. And she knew the worst thing you could do was show fear.
“Um, Tabby?” He looked at her strangely.
“Yes?”
“Is there something blue on your ear?” He reached out and rubbed at her ear.
Oh God. Oh God.
Mortification filled her and she knew her face went red. He raised an eyebrow as his lips twitched.
“Maybe.” Was this really happening? This couldn’t be happening!
“There a reason why there’s blue stuff on your ear?”
“Smoothie accident,” she muttered.
“A smoothie accident?” he drawled.
More like a smoothie disaster. After her jog this morning, she’d decided to make herself a healthy smoothie, with blueberries and a banana. Only, she obviously hadn’t put the lid on properly. It had blown off, spraying blue juice everywhere. By the time she’d cleaned up the kitchen, she’d been running late. She could have sworn she’d washed all the blueberry off her, though.
Obviously not.
“Yeah, I didn’t put the lid on properly. It exploded everywhere. I thought I had gotten it all.”
“Think it’s all off now,” he reassured her. “You’ve got to watch those blenders.”
“Yeah, I’ve figured that out.” To say that her experiments in the kitchen were going well would be an outright lie.
After Razor left, she slumped down in her seat, banging her head lightly against her desk.
Dummy.
After finally finding the list of preferred suppliers, she called around to find the part and wrote the name of the place and address on a piece of paper for Tommy.
Right. Now to go find Weasel Dick. Grabbing a pen and paper, she figured she’d also take everyone’s lunch order at the same time.
She found Tommy out the back having a smoke break. She frowned. Everyone was frantically working inside and he had time to smoke? That didn’t seem right. But she shook it off.
“Hello, sweetness,” he said in a fake-deep voice that he probably thought sounded sexy.
Fierce Daddy Page 3