“Fish,” she said. “Thank you for looking after me last night.”
“I didn’t do nothing,” he said, laying a hand on the counter. “Boss took you from me minute I got you through those doors.” He side-nodded toward the elevator. “Kicked me out after you bit him… I don’t know what he did after. I got a text this morning saying we weren’t to mention it again.” Leaning closer, he was smiling when he whispered. “You’re not making that part easy.”
She’d bitten her boss? A lump formed in her throat that could only be mortification. She couldn’t begin to figure out why she’d have done something like that. Where did she bite him? Was she afraid? Shyla didn’t remember fear, but couldn’t think of another reason she’d take a chunk out of someone with her teeth.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, edging closer. “Why would I want to hurt him?”
One side of his mouth curled higher than the other and his eyes slunk toward the window like he was trying to contain the amusement dancing in them. “I don’t think you were trying to hurt him, not by the way you were whining and rubbing yourself all on him.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Her mouth opened in shock at her own impudence. “Oh my… I was…” She’d thought she was embarrassed that morning. That was nothing to what she felt listening to Fish. Her jaw stayed slack as her hand slipped under her bangs to support her forehead. “I was…”
Fish rubbed her forearm for a second then went back to his carton. “I don’t think the boss minded that much. It’s not like you were trying to kiss him or grabbing his junk or nothing… Least not while I was around.”
He closed the carton and put it back in the fridge.
While her other hand joined the first to cradle her forehead, Shyla bent over the counter, sinking her elbows into the plastic wrapped clothes. Being bold with a man wasn’t in her repertoire. She’d never spent any time with Score, they weren’t friendly. Yes, she’d been aware of him in the brief time she’d seen him, and he was attractive, but he was more man than a woman like her could handle.
Jumping into something with a man like him was definitely off the cards. Her lack of experience with the opposite sex was something she’d always regretted, but it wasn’t an easy thing to remedy while stuck in the suburbs surrounded by people who were fifty and sixty years her senior.
Maybe she could build up to a man like Score. Start with someone simple and uncomplicated, like a store clerk or a bank teller. A wrongfully convicted felon from one of the country’s most infamous crime families was not a good first step into the world of romance.
Squeezing her eyes closed, her hands descended from her forehead to her eyes. What was she thinking? Score wouldn’t look at a woman like her. It didn’t matter that her saliva glands went into overdrive whenever he was near. Being attracted to him was a natural female response. He had to be used to it.
Admitting to her attraction wasn’t easy. She couldn’t be sure that’s what it was. She only had two clear memories of being around the guy. Once from across the room, and the other time was… Shyla was ashamed of her intrusion. The image of him more than half-naked in bed was imprinted on her mind.
Score had more experience with her than she did with him. He’d remember what happened after taking her from Fish. Shyla had no recollection of it. He must have changed her dress and removed her shoes. She couldn’t even remember being undressed. Someone was responsible for the towels in the laundry room too, and she’d definitely thrown up. There hadn’t been a mess on the bed or floor, so either he’d been at her side to take care of her, or he’d cleaned up afterwards.
Either way, her boss had gone above and beyond for her. She had no idea how she’d ever repay his kindness… or look him in the eye again.
The sound of the elevator doors opening straightened Shyla up. The delight of the blue ocean beyond the windows enraptured her for a few seconds delaying her finding out the identity of their newest guest.
“What you doing in there, boy, making a mess?” Beeks’ voice came from behind her. He walked around to pull out a stool and sat down in front of her. “Where’s the food? Miss Bellamy?”
“Hmm?” she asked, dragging her attention away from the windows to look at the scowling lawyer. “Oh, I… I haven’t made any food, I… I haven’t been out.”
“There’s some food in here,” Fish said, going back to open the fridge up. “Might be able to make something… Score will be hungry when he wakes up… he’s always hungry when he wakes up.”
Shyla was still trying to figure out if she was fired or not. “Mr. Beeks—”
“Just Beeks, Shyla,” he said, retrieving his phone from his pocket. “And Fish is right, you’ll want to rustle up something for your boss…” He lifted his eyes over his phone to give her a pointed look. “Something that says he was right to take a chance on you, given that you’re not making the best impression so far.”
“Hey, I gotta ask,” Fish said. “How come Shyla gets a day off tomorrow and I ain’t had one yet?”
Beeks dropped a hand to the counter. “A day off? What day off?”
By the way the lawyer had just looked at her, Shyla assumed he knew what transpired last night. “I thought I was fired,” she said, getting no hint of understanding from him.
His judgement could have something to
