Chapter 30
thirty
quite the mouth
F or the first time in weeks, Ryan looked forward to work. Not the work itself, of course, but who he would see today.
He pulled into the parking lot a half hour early and her ancient Beemer was already parked in a visitor spot. A smile planted itself on his face as he removed his helmet and hurried to the doors.
Elissa stood next to them, staring down at her phone, but looked up as he approached. A flush painted her cheeks the perfect shade of pink, highlighting her freckles, and she grinned at him as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Good morning”—he stopped himself from calling her beautiful by the skin of his teeth—“Ms. Wright.”
“Good morning, Mr. DeMarco.” Her voice was husky. He did that to her.
Ryan unlocked the door and held it open. Elissa walked through and stopped at the reception desk. He locked the door behind him. Nobody without a key would arrive for another twenty minutes. He dropped his stuff at his desk.
“I didn’t expect you so early. Can I get five minutes to start the coffee before we pull what’s missing?”
“Sure. Sorry, I guess I take ‘first thing’ pretty literally. I can wait here if?—”
“It’s just coffee. And I’m glad you’re here. Come on.”
She followed as he led the way. Elissa’s subtle perfume wafted over to him, invading his personal space and filling his thoughts with things that didn’t belong in the workplace.
He tried taking a deep breath to clear his head, but it only further suffused his senses with her. Shit, this wasn’t working.
“Did I thank you for being so understanding and helpful on Thursday?” she asked as he loaded grounds and water into the machine.
“I believe you called me your ‘knight in shining armor,’ but I could be misremembering.”
“Ah, yes, now that you mention it, I do recall saying something to that effect. It shouldn’t have happened, though. Leo’s old enough to take his medicine without anyone making him.”
“Trust me, I know from experience. Teenage boys are stupid. They resent anything they have to do and will gladly suffer any consequences. The more my parents pushed me to get good grades, the fewer homework assignments I turned in.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I hated they didn’t trust me. I wanted to be different. Hell, I still don’t know all the reasons why. I was stupid. Once I got to college and they were no longer breathing down my neck to get things done, when I was doing what I wanted, I did fine.”
“Makes sense. I was terrified to disappoint mine. They had their hands full with Leo being sick and Ami being a brat. I tried hard not to be a problem.”
“I can see that.”
Elissa’s spine straightened, and a cloud flowed over her open expression. He’d said the wrong thing. Shit.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. Let’s find these files.”
The file room was at the far end of the hall, and Elissa followed in silence.
“I’m not insulted,” she said quietly as he unlocked the door. “It’s just…I kinda wish I had screwed up once in a while. I feel like I missed out.”
“Maybe you did. But I missed out on lots of things after getting grounded for my screwups, so we’re even. You got a list of what we forgot?”
They entered the file room, and he turned to find her holding out a piece of paper. He took it with a smile, one she returned.
“Silly of you to assume I wouldn’t.”
“I did not assume, I was being polite.”
“Sure you were.”
She sat in a familiar shabby desk chair someone had recently tucked next to the door. It squeaked as she twisted this way and that. He turned away before she could see his smile widen.
Ryan read over the list. “I don’t remember these on the original list. It may take me a few minutes.”
“No worries—it must’ve been confusing getting this stuff ready while also learning everything you could from Val.”
“Yeah, and I was tired. I’d been covering a couple of Saturday shifts at Nopalitos, too, so this is my fault.” He waved the paper in her general direction before finding the first filing cabinet.
“These things happen.” She spun in the chair again, and it squeaked. Why was the sound so familiar? “Hey, your friend Iz…”
Ryan steeled himself. There were often lots of questions about Iz.
His own family bombarded him when Iz was finally comfortable coming out more broadly.
He didn’t know how Mateo handled it, but the questions always made him doubt the integrity of others.
He thought she’d handled Iz’s appearance Thursday night well, but maybe she disguised her prejudices.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask before I left. What are their pronouns?”
The tension left his body so quickly he almost slumped on the floor.
“They/them.” Ryan clutched the first file tightly. “Iz uses gender neutral pronouns. How did you know?”
“I’m trying to be a better ally and educate myself. I would’ve asked Iz, but Leo called.”
Squeak, squeak, squeak .
Oh, oh no. Now he remembered why the chair was so familiar. It had been his grandmother’s, and it had a nasty habit of?—
Before he could warn her, the arm of the chair fell off and Elissa tumbled out, knocking into the file room door. It slammed shut. With his keys on the outside. Fuck.
“Are you okay?” He rushed over. Whether they were trapped in the file room was less important than if Elissa had been hurt.
Her face was bright red, but she rose to her feet and brushed off her skirt.
“Nothing hurt but my ego. That was embarrassing.”
She pulled on the handle, but the door wouldn’t open. She pulled again more forcefully.
“I think we’re stuck,” he said. “My keys were still in the lock.”
Elissa beat at the door. Wham, wham, wham. Pause. Wham, wham, wham.
Ryan walked up behind her and placed his hand over hers, stopping them mid-wham. “Stop.”
She whirled around and lifted her hands to his chest, her small fists curled as though she would soon pummel him the way she had the door.
The color drained from her face, and for a second, Ryan was certain she was going to faint. He slid in next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist so he could catch her if she did. He led her to a much more reliable chair on the other side of the file room.
“Put your head between your knees.”
She looked up with wide eyes before she did as he said. Ryan kneeled in front of her, holding her hands and rubbing slow, soothing circles with his thumbs.
“What’s wrong, Elissa?”
Elissa took a few deep breaths before answering. “I don’t do well when I think things are out of my control. Being locked in a room I can’t get out of sets me off. It’s not claustrophobia, exactly. If the door hadn’t been locked, I would’ve been fine.”
“Control freak. Cool.”
She sat up straight and pulled her hands away.
“I am not?—”
“A joke. A bad one.”
She glared at him.
“Sorry.” He gave her his best puppy dog eyes and sweetest smile. “I did mention I’m an asshole, right?”
Her expression softened as he stood and gave her some space.
“How come you aren’t freaked out?”
“My whole childhood was planned for me. The instant I had any say in what I did, I let chaos reign. I go with the flow. Plans have a way of unravelling, anyway, and I like not knowing what comes next. As your knight in shining armor who specializes in chaos, what can I do to help?”
“Get me out?” Her gaze darted to the door.
“Sure, I’ll try, but no one else is due in for a few minutes.” Ryan knocked on the door. “Hey, anyone out there?”
He tried twice more, but nobody came to investigate. Looking at Elissa, with her wild eyes and too-pale face, he knew they couldn’t just wait patiently. He kneeled in front of her again and took her hand. She let him.
“How about a distraction instead? You can help me find these files. We’ll try again after.”
He glanced at his watch. Seven thirty-two. In ten to twenty minutes, several people would arrive, including his aunt, who was usually in by seven forty-five. Nearly everyone else would be in by eight.
“Okay.”
“You need the list?” he asked.
“No, I have it memorized. Show me where to look.”
He set her in front of the first filing cabinet while he worked next to her, pulling some documents for a small apartment complex near the air force base.
Ryan kept glancing over at her. Her color was returning to normal, and the panic had left her eyes, but she still looked shaky. Maybe something else to distract her.
“Are we still on for Thursday night?”
“Yes, absolutely.” She said it so forcefully, it was as if she was trying to convince herself as well as him.
“Need anything from me?”
“Whatever you have so far. See where you are and then we can plan.”
“Plans are for pussies.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I have one of those.”
He snapped to attention, whipping his head around to find her pretending to ignore his reaction. But a tiny crease in her lips gave her away. At least her anxiety had lessened.
“For someone who doesn’t swear, you have quite the mouth on you, Elissa Wright.” He pulled the last file on his list.
“You have no idea.”
“Care to show me?”
Ryan was teasing. Mostly teasing, trying to distract her. He’d swear on a stack of bibles he’d meant nothing by it. But before he could blink, Elissa Wright had grabbed his tie and pulled him down until her lips were a hairsbreadth from his.
“Yes.”
Elissa closed the minuscule distance between them and pressed her lips to his. Dropping the file, he placed a hand lightly on her waist and drew her body closer as the heat of the kiss flooded his system.