Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,10
dragged myself to the lift.
“Night, Mr Grayson,” Nigel said too enthusiastically for the time of night.
“Night, Nigel.”
“Anything exciting tonight?” he asked as I swiped my card.
“Just paperwork.”
“Ah, damn.”
Nigel had this idea that Grace Grayson Security were like superheroes or something. That we spent all night every night protecting hot young women from alien invaders or the Russian mob or something equally ridiculous. And look, sometimes that wasn’t that far off base – not the aliens obviously – but our day-to-day was just driving people around and standing around while they did any number of fucking boring shit.
We were masters at blending into their world, but we didn’t belong. We got by on our express ability to go unnoticed. And for Tank that wasn’t as easily said as done; the guy was almost seven feet tall and wide. He wasn’t called Tank for nothing.
The lift doors finally slid open and I tried not to brush off Nigel’s enthusiastic goodnight. I wasn’t known for my friendliness, but I did try not to be an unmitigated arse.
I dropped my bag in my office and saw all the lights were on. I had a moment of panic as I heard rustling from the back. I stalked forward, my hand going to the holster under my jacket. And I was not expecting the sight that was waiting for me.
It wasn’t a burglar. It wasn’t some criminal assailant. It was my best friend’s little sister’s arse as she bent flat over the table and reached for something.
I froze, not sure what my mind was trying to think.
It was either going somewhere incredibly inappropriate as though she wasn’t my best friend’s little sister, or nowhere at all because she was my best friend’s little sister, and it just couldn’t seem to decide.
Amber was wearing tracksuit pants and one leg kicked like that was going to give her more reach. After a bit, she just lay down and groaned.
“I swear to all you hold holy, Geoffrey! Don’t make me come over there,” she muttered.
She pushed herself up from the table and huffed, and I dropped my hands to my side. As she turned, she caught sight of me, yelped and fell on her arse.
I blinked. “You okay?”
She scrambled up and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yep.”
She was wearing another of those huge woollen jumpers, the sleeves so long she had to constantly keep pulling them up. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun with wisps of hair escaping all over her head. Her glasses somehow managed to hide and magnify her eyes as she avoided looking at me.
Had she been any other woman in the world, I would have known what to do, what to say. I could have been witty, flirty, dismissive, possessive, professional, whatever the situation called for.
I could deal with flirty women. I could deal with intimidated women. I could deal with stunned and besotted women. I could deal with businesswomen. But this indifference was something, even at thirty, I had no idea what to do with.
I’d never seen it in any other person but her and it caught me off guard.
The only thing I’d ever wanted was to at least get along with the most important person in my best mate’s life. Amber meant more than the world to Hawk and I was nothing without Hawk. Our whole lives, I’d tried to work out how to get along with her for him and I just didn’t know where to start.
“You find everything okay?” I asked, cursing my voice for coming across so emotionless and uncaring.
I was just tired and the way she confused me made me annoyed with myself.
She nodded again and looked almost everywhere but me. “Yep. All good. Uh, thanks for…all this…”
I nodded. “My pleasure. Do you need anything?”
She shook her head. “I’ll pack this stuff up for you.” She pointed behind her to the spread of papers and books that were taking up most of the dining table.
I had to say the mess was a surprise. I’d somehow not noticed it. If she needed that much spread, I wasn’t surprised she wasn’t in the second office. As much as mess made my skin crawl, I could live with some papers on the table if it made her life easier.
“No. It’s fine. Make yourself comfortable.” I undid another button on my shirt like that was going to diffuse my discomfort. “Did you make any progress?”
She shrugged. “Depends what you count as progress.”