Chapter 9 #4
Jared gave a tiny guilty nod, glanced once at his uncle’s stony face, and quickly looked away.
“Okay,” Casey continued. “Show them to your new mates to prove that you’ve done it, but tell them you got caught and you’re being charged.
They can’t prove otherwise, but it ought to be enough to make sure Coopers and Co.
doesn’t become their new favorite place for initiations.
Make me out to be a right hard nut, someone they won’t want to bother messing with. ”
A ghost of a smile played on Jared’s lips. She really hoped she wasn’t wrong about him. “And do yourself a favor and ditch those new mates of yours. You can do better.”
“Are you certain?” asked Ajay.
“Yeah, those guys sound like arseholes.”
He laughed in spite of the situation and said, “I meant are you certain about not wanting to take it further?”
She nodded, feeling ridiculously pleased to have made him laugh. “I know you did,” she said. “And I am. Don’t make me regret it.” This last bit she aimed at Jared. “Seriously, think about the kind of friends you want.”
Jared looked uncomfortable. She got it—peer pressure was hard at any age. But he seemed like someone who’d already had his fair share of trouble; she reckoned he could do without adding more.
“What about Nigel?” Jared asked.
“You’re going to tell him what you did when you give his keys back,” she said.
Jared blanched. “What if he evicts Ajay and me?”
She was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that Nigel wouldn’t do anything so rash.
He’d be pissed for sure but most likely in that grandfatherly, disappointed kind of way.
He didn’t give up on people either. It was one of the many reasons she liked him so much.
But she didn’t say any of this to Jared.
Let him sweat a little. He needed a greater consequence for his actions than simply cleaning some glass.
Fessing up to his landlord ought to do it.
“That’s a chance you’re going to have to take,” she said somberly.
“He needs to know, and it would be better if he hears it from you.”
Jared didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded his assent into his mug and mumbled some further apologies.
Ajay sighed loudly. “Right. Let’s clean up the mess you made.”
Jared glared at his uncle but stayed silent. As far as Casey and the store were concerned, the problem was now solved, but it was clear that there was still a lot to be worked through between Ajay and Jared. She didn’t envy them.
“I’ll show you to a bucket and sponge,” said Casey with a brightness that wasn’t mirrored back.
As they filed out of the office, Ajay offered her a pained smile. “Thanks,” he said. “I really appreciate this.”
When she met his eyes, he held her gaze, setting off those sparks in her stomach again.
She swallowed and waved it away as though it was no big deal.
“I don’t think going the official route would have benefitted any of us much,” she said.
She found it hard to tear her eyes away from his face and she liked the way he seemed intent on studying hers in return.
He cleared his throat as though suddenly remembering himself. “Maybe not,” he agreed. “But still, I’m grateful. I owe you one.”
The prospect of Ajay owing her one thrilled her, but she only smiled and said, “No, you really don’t,” and added jocularly, “This one’s on the house.
” Because being owed a favor by a man she found attractive was a surefire way to land her heart in trouble.
Better just to keep this thing all business.
—
Casey left them to it and cracked on with her own work.
The kid was humiliated enough without having her breathing down his neck.
It was just as well that he couldn’t see Margo also following them around, loudly critiquing the quality of Jared’s cleaning.
She kept shouting to Casey that she should come and “have a word” with him, but Casey chose to ignore her.
Though she was working away from them, sound carried in the empty store and there was no mistaking some of the choice words that nephew and uncle were hurling at each other as they cleaned.
A couple of hours later Ajay tracked her down in the clothes department.
“We’re all done,” he said, smiling sheepishly, though Casey noted that the person who ought to be feeling sheepish had stayed back, determinedly avoiding eye contact as he skulked beside a rail of festive jumpers.
“Great.”
“I put the cleaning stuff back where it came from.”
“Thank you.”
Ajay ran one of his hands over his close-cropped hair and Casey noticed how long and slender his fingers were.
Piano player’s hands, she thought to herself, and just for a second imagined those hands playing her…
She blinked, and tried to ignore the delicious way her stomach tightened at the thought.
“Maybe I could buy you breakfast sometime, to say thank you.”
“You don’t have to,” she said too quickly.
“I’d like to,” Ajay pressed. “I’m a newbie around here, it would be nice to make a friend.” He smiled shyly at her; his big brown eyes twinkled in the abundance of fairy lights strung from the ceiling beams.
Oh! They could be friends, she told herself. The friend zone was a safe space. “In that case, a breakfast sometime would be lovely.”
—
Casey let them out of the staff door and locked it behind them.
The idea of spending time with Ajay made her want to giggle and twirl her hair—not so easy with a pixie cut.
When he smiled at her it was like being warmed by a sunbeam, and if she did something to elicit a smile from him, her stomach thrilled as though she’d won a prize; it was a heady sensation and one she sensed she could easily become addicted to.
As if it wasn’t enough that he was tall, dark, handsome, and a man in uniform, he also had to be caring, protective, and honorable—surely it was unfair to inflict such a man upon a woman practicing abstinence.
—
In the aftermath of the Sam circus, she had made rules for herself for the sake of her heart, her anonymity, and her sanity—no snogging, no one-night stands, not even flirting was allowed under her edicts, nothing that could lead to her being vulnerable.
Did she miss intimacy? Sure. But to be truly intimate with someone, you needed to trust them and her trust reserves had been stripped bare.
As such, she had diligently stayed off the dating grid for nearly three years, but if she kept bumping into Ajay like this her resolve was going to be severely tested.