“Where’s Ian?”
“I got him in early at the day care where he’ll be when I start school.”
“You could have brought him.”
“No. It’s good for him to be around other kids,” she said, putting her bag down on the kitchen table. She smiled at Josh. “And for me to get out of mommy mode for a while.”
“Now I’m going to have to raise your pay to cover day care,” he said, half-kidding. He was kidding, right?
“Josh. You don’t have to do that. You’ve been so kind to us. A job is more than enough.”
She stared up at him. His eyes were warm and a half smile lurked on his lips. Those lips that had brushed against her hair. Suddenly she was rendered temporarily incapable of drawing in a full breath. Oh, hell no. She crossed her arms and walked around him to the kitchen table. Simple. Just don’t look at him. Problem solved.
Except it wasn’t. He came to stand beside her. Close beside her. Now she could smell him. Ivory soap and man. He bumped his arm against hers in a friendly gesture.
“Listen, I’ve been there,” he said in a low voice. “Alone and just needing a lifeline tossed. Sadie did that for me. If I can help in any way, big or small, I’m only paying it back. Okay?”
Tears clogged her throat and her vision went blurry for a moment before her warning system began wailing. Do not look vulnerable. Do not look weak. She straightened and smiled up at him. Wondered why he’d been alone. No, she couldn’t think of that right now.
“Thank you. Now, I can only work until school starts in the fall. Is that going to be okay?”
“That’s perfect. By then, I should have enough people trained to take over the office work myself.”
“So, show me what to do.”
* * *
SHE WAS SMART. Josh noticed that immediately. He began with the Cleaning Crew philosophy and what his expectations were for both the crew and the customers. As he began outlining her responsibilities, she took a yellow legal tablet and began taking quick, efficient notes. A page for what to tell prospective customers. Another for what to tell applicants. When he showed her how to set up the personality testing, she asked to take the tests herself so she would be better prepared to answer questions. He found himself wishing he could hire her permanently.
He also found himself wishing he could smell her hair again. Now he was wishing she’d brought Ian. That way, there’d be a messy, noisy reminder of why he needed to rein in his hormones. He had to get away from her.
“I’m going to get some work done. You’re on telephone duty.”
Through the morning, as he tried to get his inbox under some sort of control and wade through the accounting, her soft sexy voice drifted down the hall as she answered calls. Not helping his concentration. Thanks a lot, Lena. She probably made these forms as complicated as possible just to screw with him. A grin crossed his lips as he thought of Sadie’s best friend and financial manager. She was just as big a part of the Crew’s success as he was and she knew it. He couldn’t hate on her too hard.
At noon, he wandered to the kitchen thinking about taking Mickie out for lunch. He stopped at the sight. The smell of Sharpie ink hung heavy in the air. She had a pile of file folders on the table and the stack of papers he’d dropped in the bottom drawer of the empty file cabinet. His I’ll-get-to-it-eventually pile.
“What’s all this?”
She smiled up at him and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I got bored waiting for phone calls. I found all these loose, so I’m making files for each client.” She tapped the papers. “These are your contracts, Josh. Both for services and the behavior agreement. They shouldn’t be lost.”
An unexpected laugh appeared at the sight of her looking at him so sweetly yet so sternly. “You’re absolutely right. Thank you. It’s on my list of stuff to do.”
She held out a hand, palm up. “Give me the list. It’s what you’re paying me for.”
“Later. Now it’s time for the first-day-of-work tradition of going out to lunch on the boss.”
“Go out? For lunch? Like a real grown-up?” She clasped her hands to her cheeks. “I’m not sure if I remember how to do that.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s one of those riding-a-bike kind of things.”
He had planned on a quick run up to Subway, but seeing her reaction made him reevaluate. “Do you like Middle Eastern food?”
“Don’t know. Never had it.”
“Well, that settles it. Al-Amir on Main, it is. Uh, ever ridden a motorcycle?”
“Nope.”
“We can take the car if you want. Parking the bike is so much easier.”
“If you have a helmet. I’d rather not splatter my brains across the street.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t put anyone on my bike without one.”
* * *
THIS WAS A day of firsts, it seemed. First day on the job. First time eating Middle Eastern food—whatever that was going to turn out to be—and the first time on the back of a motorcycle. Part of her was screaming-mommy horrified that she was putting Ian in jeopardy of becoming an orphan, but the other part was too busy realizing she was clinging to her new boss like a barnacle as he navigated the city streets. At a red light, he looked back at her.
“Just relax. Lean when I lean.”
Uh-huh. Not a single part of her relaxed. Not with her knees clamped against his hips and her hands clenching his middle. It was all she could do to keep her fingers from playing with the ridges of his abs. Happy for the helmet that covered her face, she gave in to a wicked smile for her thoughts. For the first time in a very long time, she was having fun. And feeling like a woman. The bike went over a small bump and she bounced forward, right up against that back. She clenched harder at his waist.
“You okay back there?”
“Yeah.”
No. Her heart was pounding and she was having a hard time catching her breath. She wanted to get laid. Now. By him. In the worst possible way. It had been practically since Ian was conceived. A pulling, aching need spread through her. The bike made a sharp turn to the right and she clung to him. This did nothing to help her get her mind off jumping him.
The second the bike stopped, she scrambled off while he secured it. Her trembling fingers fumbled at the helmet strap.
“Let me get that,” he said. His fingers brushing against the side of her throat stoked her need to painful levels. When the helmet lifted away, a frown creased his face. “You’re flushed. Did it scare you that much?”
“No,” she lied. “It was exciting. I liked it.”
Dear sweet baby Jesus in the manger. Stop it. Take a breath. Act like an adult. You don’t need this. But she couldn’t help it. It felt good to pretend for a little while. Pretend she was a normal person. Pretend she didn’t have a care in the world.
* * *
BY THE TIME they were seated, Josh noticed two things. One, Mickie had stopped just inside and scanned every face in the restaurant. Two, she sat with her back to the wall. Interesting. Especially since she wasn’t from Columbia and supposedly didn’t know anyone here.
By the time they’d placed their orders, the flush had faded from her cheeks, but her gaze still darted to the door every time it opened. Time to do some fishing.
“Where’d you move here from?”
Her eyes met his briefly before she focused on bobbing her straw up and down in her water. “Asheville.”
He