I could make room for this on the agenda.
He swallowed audibly in the whispered space between us. The hum of the heater went away, along with the whistling howls of the snow through the tired, creaking vents. Only a low-level buzz of electricity vibrated between us. I felt powerful. Fearless. His gaze moved to my hairline before coming back to meet my eyes. Sure, I wished my hair wasn’t currently half cut, causing a mullet effect, but other than that …
“You really aren’t afraid of me at all, are you?” he said, head dipping ever closer like this mere GP between us kept him from understanding me.
This time, my gulp filled the quiet space. I shook my head slowly once, watching closely as he pulled in his lips to bite at them briefly. “Nope.”
My nipples hardened along the fabric of my bikini, making me hyperaware that only a fewverythin layers separated us.
“Hmm.” He stepped back. “You probably should be.”
I let out a breath from my stinging chest and had no warning for what happened next.
In one fell swoop, I was scooped up and thrown over his shoulder. (I was right about that.)
I yelped and kicked my feet wildly.
I hated being manhandled like this.
At least ninety percent of me hated being manhandled like this.
Seventy-thirty max, definitely, sort of hated it.
“Put me down!” I yelled.
“Sorry, Bee.” Without any effort, still while bracing me on one shoulder, he bent and grabbed my overnight bag and carried me out of the bathroom. “I did warn you.”
“But my hair …” I whimpered.
Chapter 6
Owen
Bee fought and kicked,thrashing around as I carried her through the building, past the tourist knickknacks, around the deep red of the scratched vinyl booths of the snack bar, and back toward the launching dock.
I hefted her up higher, repositioning her unexpectedly heavy overnight bag so that I could radio down to Azi. “Hey. Can you call Benny and tell him I got Bee, and we’re headed down? I got my hands full at the moment.”
The entire time I coordinated with Azi, Bee hollered nonstop. “This is kidnapping! I won’t go down without a fight! You aren’t the boss of me. Oh, how much are those chile socks? No. Not the time. Unhand me!”
“I can hear that.” Azi laughed. “Who was it?”
“Bee.”
“Are you saying ‘bee’ like a bumblebee?”
This was not happening again.
“Bee Perkins,” I ground out. “Works at Grizabella’s.”
It was hard enough to manage her, let alone trying to explain things to Azi. How could he not know who she was? What was wrong with this town?
“I don’t know who that is,” Azi said.
“Typical,” she grumbled. Bee groaned and relaxed her muscles so she was somehow both harder and easier to handle.
Unexpected protectiveness surged in me. It was one thing for me to be enchanted and annoyed by her, but it was another thing entirely for Azi to have never noticed her. As far as I was concerned, this was mostly his fault. I mean, aside from it being very obviouslyherfault. Where had she been when he closed up shop earlier? Had he not seen her? I was close to snapping at him, the anxiety of the upcoming trip down the tram making me irritated.
“Are you ready to get us down?” I asked instead of scolding him.
