Razor just grinned at her. “Razor will do.” He studied her closely. “Now, you want a coffee? Because I do.”
“Um, yes, but I’ll make them.”
She expected a comeback from him, but he just nodded. “Won’t say no to that. I take it black with one sugar. I think it’s a yes, but do you mind having Luna hang with you?”
He glanced down at where she was patting the dog without even realizing it.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
That night, she went online and bought a vibrator, some lube, and a clit tickler.
Please, let that help her.
And please, don’t let Jared find out she was spending his money on adult toys.
5
Razor had just climbed out of his truck when he heard the scream.
With the music and other noise from the garage, he knew the others likely wouldn’t have heard. Opening up the back his truck, he pulled out his baseball bat. No, he didn’t play baseball. But he did carry around a ball and mitt as well, just in case he was ever questioned about it.
Luna started barking as he opened the office door. It was kind of sweet how attached she’d gotten to Tabby in a short while.
He raced in, the bat held high as he stared around, searching for the threat.
To his shock, Tabby was standing on the desk while Luna continued to bark at the small kitchen area he had set up in here. It was basically just a bar fridge, microwave, and coffee machine, along with a cupboard to store stuff.
“What’s going on? Why did you scream?”
He lowered the bat, his heart racing as he realized there was no immediate threat.
“Luna, quiet,” he ordered in a calm voice as he walked closer to Tabby. The normally composed and serious girl was trembling and pale. She’d worked here for a week and a half now, and he hadn’t learned much about her. She kept to herself mostly, not talking much unless it was work-related. He’d invited her out last Friday night for drinks, but she’d declined. Not that he blamed her. She probably had better things to do with her time than hang out with her workmates.
So it was a surprise to find her up on the desk, looking like she was about to vomit.
“Tabby? You okay?”
“N-no.”
“What is it? What happened? Did someone threaten you?”
Luna was still sniffing around the kitchen area. And it suddenly clicked. “Wait, are you up there because you saw a—”
“Mouse!” she cried, pointing.
He started to turn, but then he found himself holding a trembling woman. She wrapped herself around him, legs clasping his waist, her arms strangling his neck.
“Mouse! Mouse!”
Luna was barking excitedly as he put one arm around Tabby, his other hand still held onto the baseball bat. The damn mouse shot across the floor. Luna, rather than giving chase, bounced up and down, pouncing as though she thought this was some great game.
It was utter chaos.
And so it was at that moment that Reyes walked in the door.
“Well, this isn’t something you see every day,” Reyes said with amusement.
* * *
She knew she was being ridiculous.
It’s just a mouse, Tabby. An itty-bitty mouse. Can’t do you any harm.
But it could run up her leg. A mouse had done that to Luther once. He’d been wearing his boxers around the house. They’d been a size too small and they’d put everything on display. The sausage and the mounds of mashed potatoes.
Wait . . . she didn’t think that was the saying. Oh, whatever. It didn’t matter. The last thing she wanted to think about right now was Luther’s dick.
“Did she just say that she was thinking about Luther’s dick?” Reyes said. She remembered him from that night at Millie’s house. He’d been there along with Razor. Back then, he’d stared at her with pity. Right now, he was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
Maybe she had. All it had taken was a mouse to send her over the edge.
“No! I didn’t! I don’t want to think about his dick at all! I wish I’d never seen it. Oh Lord, I’m losing it. I’m so sorry. It’s just, this mouse once ran up Luther’s leg when he was standing around in his boxers. And he tried to get it off and it bit him. Not on the dick. I wish it had. That would have been a reason to cheer the mouse on. No, it bit him on the hand. And then the bite got infected. It was gross. And I didn’t want it to bite me! I’m so sorry, Razor! I know this is so unprofessional,” she wailed.
Luna let out a howl at her words, obviously in sympathy.
Oh, Lord. She was making such a fool of herself. This was terrible. She didn’t dare look at Razor, not wanting to see how horrified he was at her behavior. So she turned to Reyes. He was a good-looking guy, but a bit scary. And she was acting like an idiot.
“Luna, quiet,” Razor told the dog firmly.
Luna stopped howling and then looked up at Razor, her tail wagging back and forth.
“You want me to go get some mouse traps?” Reyes asked.
Razor sighed and shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got some in the shop. I’ll grab ‘em.”
“I’ll get them, man. You take care of this.” Reyes’ lips twitched. Was he laughing at her?
Probably. She was making a spectacle of herself.
“Tabby, gonna put you on the desk, okay?” Razor said gently.
Not okay. She was happy where she was. Maybe a bit too happy. Yeah, she should probably let go of him. She couldn’t spend the rest of the day in his arms.
As nice as that sounded.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Razor set her down on her desk and she forced herself to let him go. She eyed the corner where she’d last seen the mouse.
“Tabby, eyes on me.”
Her gaze rose at those words, surprised at the firm tone. Not that she could blame him, she was acting like a lunatic. “Tabby, a mouse will only bite if it feels cornered.”
She knew that. But it still didn’t make her feel any better. She didn’t want it to run up her leg. She should have worn tights today.
“Hey, eyes back on me.”
Whoops, she hadn’t realized that her gaze had strayed to the corner again. She raised her eyes to meet dark gaze.
“It’s more scared of you than you are of it.”
Was he sure about that? Because she wasn’t. She was pretty damn scared. Although, she was starting to feel more than a bit foolish. It was just a mouse. She was far bigger than it.
“Sorry for embarrassing you.”
“You didn’t embarrass me,” he reassured her.
That was kind of him to say, but she wasn’t sure it was true.
“Sorry for jumping on you.”
His lips twitched. “Can’t say I was expecting it, but you don’t have to be sorry.”
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Hurt me?” Uh-oh, now he sounded offended. “Just how would you hurt me?”
“Well, I kind of just flung myself at you. I didn’t hurt your back or anything, did I?”
His gaze narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you implying that I’m not strong enough to hold you up?”
“I’d never imply that.” She shook her head. Nope. Not her.
He grunted. In satisfaction or annoyance, she wasn’t sure. “Damn right, you weren’t implying that. Because I caught you just fine.”
The door opened and Reyes walked back in. His intense gaze moved over her before he looked at Razor and held up two mouse traps still in their packaging. “Found these. They do?”
Razor nodded. “Tabby, do you remember Reyes?”
“Ah, yes. Hi.”
Reyes nodded to her. Then he turned to Razor. “She’s shaking.”
Razor eyed her.
“I’m fine,” she said, embarrassed that Reyes had noticed.
Razor moved around her desk and opened up her snack drawer, rustling through it. What was he doing? He came back with her emergency chocolate bar.
Then he opened it. She gave him a disgruntled look. She would have shared if he’d asked, but it seemed a bit presumptuous to just open it and help himself, right?
But then he held a piece up to her mouth. “Open.” Reyes made a strange noise and Razor turned to look at him. “Got something to say?”
“Me? Nope. Never.”
Razor grunted.
She stared at him in shock. He’d gotten the chocolate for her? Why?
“Tabby, open your mouth,” he urged.
Her mouth opened before she even thought about it. But she didn’t want chocolate. Only as soon as the sweet, creamy goodness hit her tongue she felt better.
“You just need a bit of sugar to settle down,” he told her, breaking off another piece and feeding it to her. If he was trying to settle her, he was failing, because having him feed her like this was awakening something else deep inside her.
“That’s enough for now. Have a feeling we might need the rest of this later.” He wrapped up the chocolate and put it away. “Tabby, why don’t you go home early? I’ll set these up before I leave and hopefully catch the mouse overnight.”
“I’ll be all right here,” she told him, licking her lips. As long as she kept her legs up at all times.
He shook his head. “There’s not much left to do. I’ll be in the office now, anyway. Go home.”
“Will the . . . will the trap hurt it?”
His eyes widened and he stared at her. “What?”
“Will the trap hurt it? I don’t want it to be hurt. Just for it to not be here. With me. You won’t hurt it, will you?”
Both of them were staring at her incredulously.
“I thought you were scared of mice?” Reyes asked.
“Well, yes, but I still don’t want it hurt.”
* * *
She didn’t want him to hurt it?
Was she kidding right now? But the look on her face said she wasn’t. She was perfectly serious.
He still couldn’t believe that she’d thrown herself at him like she had. Mostly, she shied away from touch. Although, she seemed to be growing more at ease with him.
Still, it had been a shock to find her pressed up against him. A nice shock.
Stop thinking about how much you enjoyed holding her. Perv.
“Um,” he said, mind scrambling.
“We’ll go get some humane traps,” Reyes suddenly said.
That shocked him. He raised his eyebrows at Reyes, who gave him a calm look back.
“You will? But that’s a hassle for you.” She worried at her lip. He hated when she did that. When she got that look on her face like she was expecting someone to yell at her. Or worse.
That bastard, Luther, had a lot to answer for.
“Why don’t you go get some,” he suddenly suggested.
“I . . . are you sure you don’t need me?”
He nodded. “Go get the traps, bring them back. Then go home.” He firmed his voice, giving her a look that told her he meant business.
To his surprise, she actually gave in.
“All right,” she whispered. Then she looked to the corner where the mouse had run to and carefully got to her feet.
He thought about offering to carry her, but that probably wasn’t appropriate.
Reyes stepped aside and opened the door for her. She paused and gave the other man a surprised look. Razor hated that she wasn’t used to simple courtesies. That having someone do something for her surprised her.
“Nice to meet you, Tabby,” Reyes told her.
“You too,” she whispered. He noted that she took a wide berth around the other man. Reyes noticed that too, his eyes narrowing.
When she was gone and the door was shut, Reyes turned to him. “Got something to tell me?”
“Nope,” Razor replied, knowing what he was implying. “She’s an employee.”
“Hm, when was the last time you fed one of the guys chocolate because they were a bit shaken up?”
Razor glared at him. “She was upset.”
“Hm. She’s jumpy.”
“Wouldn’t you be? With the life she lived?”
Reyes frowned. “Why the fuck did Bartolli not do something about that asshole she was married to?”
“Because he’s an asshole.”
“I don’t know. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t hold with violence towards women. Apparently, he’s not like his old man.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You’re defending him?”
“No. I don’t know him. Just telling you what I’ve heard. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that she’s here?”
Razor frowned. He’d told the others on Saturday night that he’d hired her. He’d already had four calls from Millie asking how Tabby was doing, and if she wanted to come to Reaper’s with them one night. He’d promised to ask her.
“You think she’s been planted? By who? Jared Bartolli? What reason would he have to do that?”
“I don’t know. I just find it odd.”
“You see plots everywhere. I think it’s likely she saw the ad for the job and thought she’d try her luck since she knew me. She doesn’t have any experience or other references, so likely no one else would hire her.”
Razor shook his head. “You were suckered into hiring her, weren’t you?”
“She’s a hard worker and a quick learner,” well mostly, “I’m glad I hired her.”
“All right. But just be careful. I don’t know if there’s any reason why Bartolli would send her here, but I still think we should be cautious. Yeah?”
“Fine. How is Emme?”
“Good. Getting a bit frustrated by the fact that she has to have a constant guard.” All of the girls were being closely watched after Mr. X kidnapped Jewel and gave her a warning for Markovich. Back off or he’d retaliate.
Probably a good thing Razor didn’t have anyone special to protect. Because if he had someone like that and she was threatened, he’d lose his fucking mind.
“Things will be better once we can figure out who Mr. X is.”
“Yeah, but Emme will always have to be watched, because of who her father is. She gets it. Just sometimes it’s hard for her.” Reyes shook his head. “But yeah, I’ll sleep better once we know who this asshole is. Then we can take him out.”
“Heard anything from the Fox?” he asked quietly.
“He’s following up on a way of getting into the auction. Said it’s taking him longer than expected.”
“He’ll get there.”
Reyes just grunted. None of them were exactly fans of the Fox, Duke especially. But he did get results. How he went about getting those results was definitely not legal. But Razor wasn’t going to question his methods. He might be a bad guy, technically. But since he was using his skills to take out worse guys, didn’t that make him more gray than black?
Or had Razor lived so long in the gray he could no longer see anything else?
Damned if he knew.
“So, you ever gonna tell her that wasn’t a mouse?” Reyes asked.
“Hell, no. Could you imagine her reaction if she knew it was a rat?”
Reyes just grinned, then he sobered. “If you like her, Razor—”
“It’s not as simple as me liking her, and you know it. There’s her past. The fact she works for me. And the threat from Mr. X.”
“We can guard her. If she’s who you want.”
Razor shook his head. “It would be selfish of me to start anything with her. It’s my job to protect her.”
“You’re never selfish, man. And maybe it’s time to stop punishing yourself for the past.”
“Her safety is more important than my happiness.”
“I think you can have both. Just think about it.”
“Something smells good.”
Tabby looked up with a small smile as Razor walked into the office. Luna glanced up and wagged her tail as he patted her head.
Tabby was heating up her lunch. She’d made it last night and although she hadn’
t tasted it yet, she had to say that she thought it smelled good too.
In fact, she was feeling pretty upbeat about this cooking thing now. She’d mastered scrambled eggs and French toast. Okay, they weren’t the hardest thing to cook. And they were only breakfast foods. But she’d come a long way from food poisoning and blueberry explosions.
“Would you like some?” she asked.
Since the mouse incident two days ago, she’d been avoiding him as much as possible. It helped that he was still busy out in the shop helping the guys catch up on their orders. What had she been thinking, jumping into her boss’s arms like that?
Yikes.
“Wouldn’t want to take your lunch,” he told her. Although there was a hopeful look on his face.
“It’s all right. I have plenty.”
She pulled out the microwave dish and opened the top.
“Careful,” he told her, gently pulling her back as steam rose. “What is it? Chili?”
“Yep. I cooked it in the crockpot last night. I haven’t eaten any yet, though.” She put some into two bowls. “Oh, and I have some cornbread. I bought that, though.”
She passed him some cornbread that she’d wrapped up in foil and brought with her.
“Can’t wait to try it.” He sat on the sofa they kept in the office for when people had to wait. Which wasn’t very often. She sat at her desk, where she usually took her lunch. She stirred hers, waiting for it to cool. But Razor dipped straight into his. She waited impatiently to hear what he thought.
She hoped he liked it.
“Milk.”
“What?” she asked. His voice was croaky so she didn’t think she’d heard him correctly.
But he’d already set the chili down and jumped to his feet, racing over to the fridge. She watched in amazement as he grabbed some milk and gulped it down. Straight out of the bottle .
Sweat glistened on his forehead as he turned to her. He strode over and grabbed the spoon right out of her hand, then he picked up the bowl of chili.
“Hey! What are you doing?” she asked. She stood, prepared to chase after him. What was his problem? She hadn’t even gotten to taste the chili and she’d been looking forward to it. She thought chili might be her signature dish. It hadn’t been hard to make and she’d managed to put her own unique twists on it.
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