She grinned suddenly—this time she knew what she was doing, he could tell. The heat in her eyes was replaced by a friendly glimmer. A challenge. “Come on. People will watch the video. They’ll tell their friends to watch the videos. And then they’ll buy the fruits of your labor.”
Tav took a step closer to her, and that step was so natural that he realized he’d been holding himself away from her the entire time. He leaned in a bit, caught a hint of that scent that seemed so out of place in his workshop. “Are you saying you want me to use my sexy body to hawk my wares, Freckles?”
She held his gaze for a moment, then her head moved an inch closer to his . . . as she burst into laughter. Her forehead grazed his shoulder, and when she lifted it away, there were tears of mirth in her eyes and a smudge of metallic filings on her forehead. “Can you say that again? Please?”
Tavish crossed his arms over his chest, mostly to resist the urge to wipe the smudge away.
“Muh sexay buhdy,” she said, squaring her shoulders up in what he supposed was an imitation of him, then broke character as laughter took her again. “I’m sorry, that’s really adorable.”
He would have kicked her out if he wasn’t enjoying her uninhibited joy so much. And she had called him adorable. Not a descriptor he’d had tossed his way in recent years.
“My sexy body,” he repeated, laying the burr on thick, and was rewarded with Portia’s renewed laughter. He turned and started cleaning his workspace so she wouldn’t see the broad smile on his face.
“I’m sorry. You can make fun of my accent too if you want,” she said.
“Oh, I don’t need your permission, dude,” he replied, knowing he sounded more Valley Girl than New Yorker. “Did you need anything else?”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “You’re cool with me relaunching the site, then?”
“Do what you want, Freckles. I don’t know much about tech shite, but what you’ve made looks good, professional, and like it took a lot of work. Thank you.”
She stared at him and he shifted uncomfortably. He could be an arse, but was praise from him that off-putting?
“Thank you?” she said.
“Aye.”
“Oh! Your ludditeness reminds me. I stopped by Mary’s shop again and she had a book for you.” She pulled a small velvet sack from her shoulder bag and handed it to him.
“Mary’s catering to the hipster crowd now, is she?” he asked, running his hand over the bag.
“Oh, the bag’s mine,” Portia said. “I mean, she is trying to bring in some new business, actually. That’s what I was talking to her about. But she said it was a rare book that you’d been searching for a while, so I thought maybe it should be handled with care.”
Tavish rubbed his thumb over the book, feeling the velvety fabric covering it bristle beneath his fingertips. He could make Portia out to be a pain in the arse all he wanted, but she was a pain who had tried to do right by him so far. The least he could do was try to be cordial and act like a grown man in control of his libido.
He grabbed a tissue, reached out, and roughly swiped away the smudge from her forehead. Not exactly treating her like a delicate flower, but he didn’t want to know what her skin felt like beneath his fingertips. If he knew that, he’d have to find out more. He’d always found it hard to let go of anything his curiosity snagged on, and he was certain Portia wouldn’t be the exception to that rule.
“What—”
He turned the tissue, showing her the metal filings, and she drew the heel of her hand over where he’d swiped, looking at him with those wide eyes again.
“Thanks. For the book. And the website, and all,” he said gruffly.
She gave him a quick nod, turned on her heels, and then stopped, looking back over her shoulder. “Thanks for trusting me to do this.”
Then she was gone.
Chapter 7
[International Friend Emporium group chat]
Ledi: Portia. What is this video? I just woke up, my brain isn’t ready for all of this.
Nya: fans self I never thought I would enjoy watching a man use a power tool, but perhaps access to the Home and Garden channel here in the States has warped my brain.
Portia: that’s my boss guys
Portia: THAT’S MY BOSS
Portia:
Nya: Wait, this is the jerk you’ve been going on about for three weeks? Girrrrrrrrl. You said he was attractive, but you’ve been holding out.
Ledi: Um. I love Thabiso very much, but your boss could get it. Hold my crown. limbers up
Portia: What have I done to deserve this speedbump on the road to Project: New Portia?
Ledi: . . .
Ledi: Do you want the annotated list or the summary? I have to finish this thesis but I can find the time.
Portia:
Ledi:
Nya: Is everything else going okay, besides your boss being fine af?
Ledi: Nya, where are you picking up this lingo? You need to stop hanging out on Tumblr.
Nya: I can’t win. You made fun of me when I said a man steams my headwrap.?
Ledi: LOLOL
Portia: LMFAO
Ledi told them about the latest Thesoloian intrigue, something involving goat poop recycling, and her studies. Nya recounted her latest dates and the newest dating simulator game she’d found—Byronic Rogues from Mars. Portia gave them an update on the armory’s website and shared a bit about her deep dive into researching the building that housed the armory and the martial arts school. She was digging much deeper than she had to, but this was the kind of thing that excited her—random useless minutiae. People had assumed that her constant schooling was a way of avoiding reality—she couldn’t blame them, since her perennial studies had been paired with drinking and partying—but she mostly just really loved learning.
When their conversation petered out, she switched over from the messenger app to her social media; the little red notification bubble had a number in the hundreds and was ticking up as she watched.
Whoa.
She tapped into the notifications tab and began scrolling through the dozens of responses and shares.
@girlswithglasses @dideyedothat OMG, you maced him? Girl, how do you even still have a job??
@girlswithglasses @dideyedothat LMFAO Macing your boss on your first day? #internshipgoals
@girlswithglasses @dideyedothat This was hilarious! I can’t wait for the next update! (And I wouldn’t trust you with any swords either, beloved.)
@girlswithglasses @dideyedothat You need to get on that haggis. Just trust me on this.
@girlswithglasses @dideyedothat Ooo, is that your boss’s back in that selfie? I would spray him all right, but not with mace. #sorrynotsorry
Portia’s first post for GirlsWithGlasses’s adventure section had finally gone up and it was a huge success if her notifications were any indication.
She scrolled through the reaction GIFs, messages of encouragement, and people playfully dragging her after reading her account of her first days of her internship. She was still mortified, but turning the experience into something useful eased her embarrassment.
She switched over to the armory’s account and noted that their follower count had gone up by five hundred and it was still early in the day in the US.
Impressive, Reggie. Her sister’s site really was doing well, since that five hundred was likely a fraction of the people who’d read the post.
She scrolled through GIFs and chose an animated one of a large man struggling in vain to pull a sword from a stone. Hello new followers! Hope you enjoyed our apprentice’s post on @GirlsWithGlasses. Stick around, we have lots of exciting stuff coming your way soon! she typed out, then hit send.