Then her expression changed and she lit up like a Christmas tree. Her lips spread in a smile I recognized as her signature man-eater grin. She fluffed her hair and wiggled her shoulders, causing her shirt to droop suggestively low exposing an inappropriate amount of cleavage.
“Garrett!” she squealed in delight. I turned around to find my disastrous one night stand standing behind me with some sort of power tool in his hands. He looked dirty and sweaty and obnoxiously attractive.
Well damn it all to hell.
Garrett gave Gracie a lazy smile. “Hey,” he said, the low timber of his voice doing strange things to my insides. I purposefully turned back around, hoping that he hadn’t noticed me.
“Hey, Riley,” he said in a tone that dared me to ignore him. I lifted my hand in a wave without facing him. I resolutely opened my folder and tried to focus on the words blurring on the page in front of me. I felt the back of my neck flush and my ears burned hot.
“Do you work here?” Gracie asked in a high-pitched voice that could cut glass. Clearly Garrett’s seductive charms were working on my friend.
Garrett walked around until he was stood directly in front of my desk, making ignoring him impossible. He was doing this on purpose. He looked down at me, with an amused smirk on his face. He was enjoying my discomfort. In fact, he seemed to be loving it.
“I sure do. I’m part of the crew working on the renovations,” he said, still looking at me, even though he was talking to Gracie. I met his eyes directly and even though my face was most likely bright red I met his bold gaze head on. I would not let him see me sweat.
“Oh, that’s great. We’ll get to see you all the time then,” Gracie said, trying to get his attention. Unfortunately for her, we were too busy playing the first one who looks away is a *.
“Super,” Garrett responded dryly, looking as though he wanted to laugh. Oh fuck this. I got to my feet.
“Gracie, Damien, you want a coffee?” I asked. Sure I was giving him the satisfaction of seeing me run but at that moment I didn’t care. I just needed some breathing space. Because seeing him again, so soon after our night together, was like dunking me in a molten fire pit. I tingled from my scalp to my toes with an awareness of the way this man had touched and kissed me, even though my mind was still hazy with the details. Clearly my body remembered all too well.
And I did not appreciate the reminders here of all places. This was my internship. My world. And Garrett did not belong inside my happy little bubble. Seeing him threw me in ways I couldn’t explain.
“I’ll come with you,” Damien said quickly. I had to suppress my groan. Could this get any better? I looked at Garrett again, whose amusement had faded. Damien reached out to touch my arm but I moved away before his fingers could make contact. Something flashed in Garrett’s eyes and his face darkened dangerously. He flicked his eyes from me back to Damien and he almost seemed to be working through something in that head of his. Seeing him focus on anything was more of a shock than finding him working here.
But one thing was for sure, his nonchalant demeanor was noticeably absent as he stared down my oblivious ex-boyfriend.
“Garrett, when is your next gig? I hate that I missed the last one,” Gracie said excitedly and I used that as my cue to leave. With Damien on my heels, I hurried to the break room.
“Ri, wait up!” Damien called out and grudgingly waited for him to join me. “You okay?” he asked, peering at me closely. Despite how horrible our end was it didn’t change the fact that Damien Green knew me better than most. He knew when I was rattled. And I was most definitely feeling rattled.
I gave him a thin smile. “Fine. Just need some coffee. You know I’m like Dawn of the Dead until I get my caffeine,” I replied. Damien smiled back tentatively, looking a little antsy. His eyes darted around the room, maybe looking for any possible weapons. The boy already knew what I was capable of with a lamp at my disposal.
“I mean are you okay with us doing this together. I know it’ll be..”