part, but no need to dwell. “But I think we’re done here. Nice meeting you, Ryker.”
Finally freeing myself from his hold, I hurried away. The last glimpse of his face before I headed out the door showed surprise giving way to a blank, harder expression that reminded me a little of Parker, and not even the hint of a grin remained.
* * *
As I’d predicted, Parker was back in his office when I arrived. I guessed he must have stepped out earlier for dinner or something before returning. It didn’t surprise me. He seemed to work twenty-four-seven.
The cab back from the bar hadn’t been nearly as fun as the motorcycle ride there, and I hoped the smell of stale cigar didn’t cling to me the way it had clung to the inside of the car. But by the time the ride was over, I’d rebraided my hair and tucked it up into a bun.
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” Parker said once I’d dropped off my purse at my desk and entered his office.
I was busy studying the boxes stacked in the corner, but his apology took me aback and my gaze swiveled to meet his.
“Um, it’s fine,” I said after a moment. This apologetic and polite Parker was new. Well, I guess that wasn’t exactly true. He was always polite, professional—almost to the point of being cold and indifferent. But apologies were definitely new.
“I thought it might be easier for you to do these in here rather than at your desk,” he offered.
That would be way easier, actually. Parker’s office was huge and there was plenty of room for me to spread things out on the floor rather than try to put it all on my desk.
“Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”
I headed back to my desk to get my hand scanner, notebook, and tags. All files coming in were logged by hand and tagged with a bar code sticker. The bar codes were then scanned and uploaded to a database somewhere before being sent to another department that stored the actual documents into digital format. Cataloging was tedious and time-consuming, but essential.
“I’m heading upstairs to meet with Hinton,” Parker said when I came back in, naming the vice president of the international division. He kept odd hours as well.
“Sure, okay,” I replied, only half listening as I headed for the boxes and set my supplies on the table. Wow. It was going to be a long night. Should’ve put my wine in a to-go cup.
Parker left and I decided to kick off my shoes for crawling around the floor. I untied the scarf from around my neck and set it aside, the fabric now irritating me after having worn it for nearly fourteen hours. Kneeling on the floor next to the tower of boxes, I heaved a sigh and dug in.
* * *
Two hours later I paused for a break. I eased back onto my heels, trying to stretch out my back. It had been too quiet in the office, so I’d turned on the stereo Parker kept in the corner on one of the many bookshelves lining the back wall. Hidden speakers around the room now softly played jazz piano. I never changed the station from the satellite radio Parker had it tuned to and had grown to like the same music he did.
There were approximately twenty piles of paper, sorted by type of document, surrounding where I knelt on the floor. Closing my eyes, I rubbed the back of my neck and stretched, arching my spine and trying to ease out the kinks from hunching over for so long. I let out a groan as my muscles protested.
Someone clearing their throat made me jerk around in surprise, only to see Parker had returned. For a brief moment I could have sworn he was staring at my chest, but then he blinked and our eyes met and I thought I must have been mistaken. Like I said, Parker was always professional with a capital P.
“How’s it going?” he asked, tossing a thick file folder onto his desk.
“Not too bad,” I said, glancing at my stacks. “I’m halfway through the third box, so probably faster than I’d originally thought.”
Parker discarded his jacket, tossing it onto the leather sofa before sinking down into its depths. He loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt, then rubbed a hand over his face in one of the few gestures of tiredness I’d ever seen him make.
Getting to my feet, I