Even now, he could see how affected she was by that one little touch, but she was in denial.
That was fine. There was no need to rush his little human. He’d wait for her to come to him, and if his instincts were right, it wouldn’t be long.
A few days later, there hadn’t been any more incidents, and Lindy was getting used to having Magnus around.
She was also getting used to fighting off her own sexual attraction, which seemed to grow with each passing day.
She was currently watching quietly out of her office window as Magnus helped Mike rebuild an engine, and Magnus was leaned over the hood of the car, his magnificent, taut, muscular ass pressing against his tight work jeans.
Her eyes worked their way down his long, strong legs, then up to what she could see of his shoulders and arms.
She shuddered, releasing the tension of watching him. It wasn’t like her to get carried away. Even with Ed, she’d let go more because it was a welcome distraction after losing her dad and because it had made her feel less alone.
But she hadn’t really been emotionally intimate with him. When he’d betrayed her, it had hurt more that he could do that to her father and that she could be so stupid than it had hurt her heart.
Perhaps because her heart had been closed after her dad had died. She tried not to think of it because it made her want to shut down. She felt her chest, wondering how love could be such a literal physically crippling pain at times.
She couldn’t think of it too often or she’d crumble and want to crawl back in bed, and there was too much to do. She was grateful for her work, as it kept her busy and focused. There was no time to collapse, and as time had gone on, she’d gotten stronger. She had focused on saving the business and not letting down her remaining employees.
If that had left a gap in her life where enjoyment or pleasure should be, so be it.
But now Magnus was filling a little of that gap, and it was odd having someone to talk with over dinner again. Someone to smile at and care for. Even Perky seemed happier, coming to greet them both when they came home at night, wagging her little tail and bouncing like an excited fluff as she waited for Magnus to hold her.
It was like even she could tell there was a different feeling in the house. More hope and happiness. Lindy supposed her dad would have liked Magnus, too, dragon delusions or not.
She didn’t know how seriously to take the dragon talk. She was able to just sort of block it out, like she blocked out a lot of things in life in order to function.
She accepted there was a possibility that something was truly different about him, and the axe thing did point toward what he’d said about where he came from. But right now, she was just trying to get things done and adjust to life in his presence.
And trying to resist embarrassing herself by jumping on him.
Like her, she’d noticed he liked being at work, that it seemed to distract him in good ways.
When he was around her, he seemed happy, but once in a while, she’d heard him pacing in the living room and gone out to see what was happening.
She’d seen him staring out the window and then sitting on the couch, rubbing his hands over his face, sighing, and looking at the muted TV with a dazed expression that reminded her of the first night she’d met him.
She’d been worried when he first pulled up on the side of the road because he’d seemed a little out of it.
Living with him, she’d seen little hints of it and wondered what had happened to cause it.
It wasn’t the haze of drug use, but the haze someone got when the past intersected with the present in bad ways. When someone was trying to block out a memory.
She got the same look when she thought of her dad, how he’d suffered in his bed, becoming someone she didn’t know.
Once again, she had to wonder if love was really worth it.
She could love Magnus, she thought, if she let herself. But that was risky, and if she really let herself get to know him, the burdens he was carrying, she had the feeling she’d never be able to pull back from him again.
And then what if something happened to him?
Her heart couldn’t take that kind of pain again.
She moved away from the window, still lost in her thoughts, and went back to sorting some papers and stapling completed invoices.
She heard a knock at her office door, and before she could answer, she saw Tommy come in. He pushed a hand through his hair nervously and then shut the door behind him, locking it.
Then he walked over to her window, pulling down the shades.
She looked at him, confused. He was young, but he’d been working at the shop since before her father had died, and she’d considered him a friend. He wasn’t nearly as young as he looked, and right now, his handsome features were pulled into a petulant, unpleasant expression that sort of made her want to unlock the door.
She got up to do it, but he blocked her way with folded arms, backing her up until she fell back into the chair. She looked up at the window, realizing Magnus wouldn’t be able to see her with the blinds closed.
Damn, had she come to be that dependent on him?
“I need to take the rest of the day off,” Tommy said.
That was it? Why did he need to lock the door to say that? He’d been asking for time off a lot lately, though, and she couldn’t really let him off while they were behind. “Tommy, we need you here. I’ve been letting you off a lot lately, but—”
“If it was Magnus, you’d let him off, right?” he asked in a bitter, sarcastic tone. “Because you’re fucking him, right?”
“You watch your mouth,” she snapped. “I’m still your boss.”
His mouth twisted, and he lunged forward angrily, slamming his hands down on the desk on either side of her. “I’ve had my eye on you for years, but you never noticed, and that new guy comes in and you’re slobbering after him like a dog in heat.”
Her eyes widened in disgust. She’d never heard him talk like this, never guessed such gross words hid under that quiet, pouty demeanor. “I never thought of you like that, Tommy. You’re my employee.”
He leaned in until their faces were close, trapping her against the chair, much bigger than her even though he wasn’t a very muscular man. She was very much aware of being a woman right now, and she hated it.
“So you’ll look at some employees, but not others? Where’s your loyalty?” he hissed. “Oh well, not like it matters. Pretty soon, this shop will be nothing but an abandoned wreck, and you’ll be begging me for help. We’re going to burn it to the ground, and you’ll have nothing.” He ran a hand over her collarbone and down toward her cleavage. “You’d be wise to make a friend in me. We can start right now.”
She shuddered and cringed away, trying to figure out her next move.
8