Chapter 9
Knox
“Honest, I just want to get a few ideas down.” It’d only take a couple of minutes tops. “Should I use the kitchen table?”
It was amazing what a glass of wine and no gremlins could do for creativity.
The people in my head were bouncing around like rabbits, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to help them murder someone or have mind-blowing sex.
Ugh, and I didn’t even want to think about what the aliens were getting up to.
It was getting harder and harder to ignore them.
Rohan seemed to find me funny for some reason because he was pinching his lips together as his eyes sparkled, but he quickly shook his head as he rose from the couch. “No, I’ve got an office you can use. It’s just empty space right now, so that’ll be more convenient than the table.”
Would it be my office or was I borrowing his?
Wait.
It was empty at the moment?
“How do you get an empty office?” Didn’t they collect stuff like magic? At the very least, shouldn’t bills and mail be piling up? Had he just moved in? “Does it at least have boxes? Even just empty ones?”
Rohan sighed and raised one eyebrow as he held his hand out for me. “I’m not even going to ask.”
Well, that was one of us.
I was definitely confused enough to ask even though he didn’t seem to have any idea why the whole thing sounded so bizarre.
“You really don’t even have boxes in it?” How was that even possible? Maybe that was where he kept his suitcases? “I can work around boxes or suitcases.”
It wasn’t hard. I could work around a lot, but Rohan laughed again as he pulled me up from the couch and started leading me through the house. “You are adorable.”
Technically that sounded like a good thing, but I found myself frowning. “No, I’m not.”
His chuckle didn’t sound like he agreed. “Okay, you’re not adorable.”
That didn’t feel any better.
“I’m not.” I was a serious author with a gremlin problem who was finally getting enough orgasms.
I was not adorable.
Rohan shrugged. “I agreed with you.”
I was trying to figure out how to explain that agreeing with me was just rude without making him not want to fuck me later, but he distracted me again as he led me down a small hallway behind his stairs toward a room that I thought was his guest bathroom.
It was not.
It was the strangest office I’d ever seen in a house.
“It’s really empty.”
How was that possible?
At first, all I could take in was the big desk and a low bookshelf that ran along the wall behind the desk, but once I pulled my gaze away from that, I could see the marks on the walls where things used to be hung and the indentations in the carpet where there used to be other pieces of furniture.
I wasn’t sure if knowing it used to have stuff in it made it better or worse.
“What happened in here?” My very serious question had him chuckling. “It’s like the office apocalypse.”
Did he have office gremlins?
Were they a thing?
Before I could ask—and decide how worried I should get—Rohan pulled me into his arms to protect me from the gremlins. “I used to own my own business. When I sold it, I decided to retire and I wanted to turn this room into something more fun. I just haven’t figured out what to do with it yet.”
“It’s an office.” He was insane. “It was already fun but you broke it.”
Offices were not meant to be this...this ugly.
It had to be feeling lonely and plain and very sad.
Rohan’s chest jerked but he managed not to actually laugh out loud.
I was trying to decide if I was offended or if he’d been polite when he distracted me by explaining some of the issue.
“It was filled with files and charts and stress, so when I sold the business, I wanted to start over in this room. I was actually trying to decide if it should be a gym space or something weird like rich people do...a puzzle room or something stupid like those wrapping paper rooms.”
Well, that would be better than an empty office...maybe?
Puzzles?
Wrapping paper?
“No.” It wasn’t better. “That’s tragic.”
On so many levels.
Shaking my head, I sighed and pointed toward an empty corner. “There should be a big chair over there so you can watch me work when I want subtle attention and not big attention.”
Duh.
“And on the wall behind the desk, you need an antique map of the world or one of those dogs playing poker paintings...something classy like that.” Anything but a blank wall. “I’ll even help you pick out something modern that looks like an elephant painted it if you want.”
I could be helpful.
“Don’t pigs and monkeys paint too?” If something could paint, shouldn’t that mean it got paid? If they got paid, didn’t that mean they should pay taxes? “I have questions about that but I’m not going to get distracted yet.”
I’d look them up online later once I needed to procrastinate.
“I can’t wait to hear your questions.” Rohan sounded so sincere I wasn’t sure whether to smile or frown, but before I could figure it out, he distracted me again. “What should go over there? Another shelf?"
"Whatever that thing is behind your desk, it’s not really a shelf.” It was too short for that title. “But I’ll use that for storing notebooks and pens and, oh, I’ve got these cute little notebooks that I’m going to take to the next book convention I do.”
We were going to need to buy some lamps for it too.
Oh, did he like lamps?
Some people had very weird opinions on lighting, but if he still had a boob fixture up on the ceiling in the empty room that was pretending to be an office, he probably wouldn’t notice random lamps appearing.
Oh, would that make me a light gremlin?
What had we been talking about?
It hadn’t been lamps.
Fixing the office. Yes.
“Oh, that means we’ll need a taller shelf for actual books.” Much taller. “And wide. It should be wide.” I stretched my arms out as I took a step forward and studied the room.
And it needed an area rug so my feet would be comfortable when I paced because there wasn’t nearly enough padding under his carpet.
Wait.
There’d been something else I was going to ask.
Stepping away from Rohan, I started circling the room so I could figure out what I’d forgotten and what else he would need to redo his office. Halfway through the circle, I figured it out. “What business did you have?”
Yes, he said he’d sold his business.
“Have we already talked about that? I probably should’ve asked you why you had so much free time before this.” As I turned back to look at Rohan, he had an odd expression on his face. “What?”
“What was your first guess about why I could help you?” He still looked like he was trying to decide if he was going to frown or smile, so I decided to take the question very seriously. Rohan was helping me with my gremlin problem and he’d found my kitchen, so it was the least I could do.
“Well, bouncers only work at night, so I thought that might be reasonable because you manhandle me very well without hurting me, and it’s a learned skill that’s just not taught anywhere.” He’d be very good at that job.
“Oh, and you look like you could be a rich playboy who’s decided to rebel against his family in seriously sexy ways, so I wasn’t sure if I should’ve packed a suit or something like that earlier.
If you have to whisk me off to a fancy ball, we’re going to have to stop by my house first.” There just hadn’t been room for my tux without taking out something I knew I’d need.
“And for a few seconds, I thought you could work for the mob, but I don’t think we have any in this area.” His shrug made me question that assumption. “Okay, then that goes back on the list, but it’s a low possibility. You don’t seem like the break someone’s kneecaps type or the accounting type.”
Based on my reading, I wasn’t sure there were any other jobs in the mob, but I might be wrong.
“Hmm, what else? You cook really well. You might own a restaurant but I discounted that because you realized right off the bat how high-maintenance I was.” No one with a job like that could put up with me for as long as he had without screaming.
I’d gone out on one very short date with a cranky chef.
Never again.
“Your brain is a fascinating place.” Rohan finally smiled and shook his head again like he was either amazed or clearing out fuzzy brains. “I owned a trucking company. I was not in the mob, but I can promise you this area is more interesting than you imagined.”
Oh.
“Really?” He was tempting enough that I forgot about measuring out the space for bookshelves and walked over to him. “What kind of interesting? Do we have one family in the area or two?”
Were they on the edge of a war?
Were the heads of the families trying to hide their love?
Had someone been kidnapped yet?
Rohan barked out a laugh as I cuddled up to him. “The look on your face. No, naughty boy. No distractions. You wanted to work and get words in. Remember?”
Ugh.
“But you were a bouncer once too, right?” I knew I was right, but he had to say it before I could win. “I bet you were a good one.”
Rohan shrugged as I ran my hands up his chest, imagining how sexy he’d be frowning at everyone and crossing his arms so his muscles bulged. “We’ll see. But first, you work.”
How was that fair?
Oh, maybe if I was annoying enough he’d glare at me and threaten to toss my drunk ass out of the bar?
I could pretend to be drunk.
But maybe I could try something simpler first?
“If you answer, it will give me more creative juices to work with.” Yes, that sounded very true but I wasn’t sure it’d get him in the right mood. “That’s not a lie, either.”
Just in case he needed confirmation.
“I think anticipation will give you even more encouragement.” Rohan’s lips curled up in a smirk as he wrapped his arms around me and seemed to be doing his best to ignore my fingers. “Get your work done and then I’ll show you if you were right.”
Oh.
Ignoring the shiver that raced through me, I tried to think of the catches I needed to be careful about. “Show me, meaning a scene that leads to orgasms for both of us and...and penetration and...and being cuddled...and maybe a shower together depending on how dirty we get.”
Or if I just couldn’t stay awake.
We’d see how that worked out.
Rohan was trying not to smile and doing a terrible job of hiding how much he wanted to tell me that yes, my ideas were perfect. “I think those are fair requests, but I’m not making any promises until I see work being accomplished.”
He was worse than Lori when it came to being a hard-ass.
But since his rewards were going to be better than getting the good chocolate in the mail, I nodded and stepped back out of his embrace since he was slightly distracting. “Deal.”
Sticking out my hand, I gave him a good handshake when he took mine and I ignored his grin. “Then I will be expecting my list to begin as soon as I stop talking to the people in my head.”
Now...where had I left my laptop?