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She locked up the front doors, wedged the steel rods in place and turned off the illuminated Bears Den letters on the front of the building. Next Mack switched off the open sign and pulled the blinds down over the front windows. She tried to take every precaution and give thieves no reason to want to break in. Some people said that giving them the ability not to see inside only made them more curious but she didn’t care. She believed what she wanted. Besides, everyone in town knew her so why would they want to break in?
With everything in the bar off, she opened the door to her office and let out a scream then turned her back quickly.
“Damon, I am so sorry, I totally forgot you would be back here.”
Shit, walking in on the man she just hired to find him naked was a site she didn’t mind seeing but at the same time shouldn’t have seen at all.
“Mack it’s okay, you can turn around.”
She was afraid to. If she did and he was still void of clothes, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from getting another glimpse of his well-hung package. As his employer, that was not a wise choice. Too bad too, because she really wanted badly to look, and not stop looking.
She jumped when his hand touched her on the shoulder.
“Mack, it’s safe to look, I promise.”
Now she was just embarrassed. She turned around, trying like hell to avert her eyes with no success. When her glare connected, his package was indeed covered.
Oh, thank you Lord.
“I really am sorry Damon. I have a nightly routine of turning everything off and locking the bar down then doing paperwork in my office and not once did I think before just walking in here.”
First day on the job and she’d already betrayed his privacy.
“I get it, this is your place, I’m not mad so give yourself a break.”
She moved over to her desk in the corner of the room and turned on the desktop. Tomorrow was payday so she would likely spend a few hours in front of the monitor going over figures. Maybe she could print out the hours and take everything to her apartment to work on. Damon probably wanted to go to bed.
“Hey there’s a t.v. in the wardrobe over there and I do have streaming hooked up to it just in case you wanted to watch. I promise I won’t be in your hair long. I’ll take my work up to my apartment.”
“Not necessary, I’m just gonna hit the pillow and crash. You can keep working there, it won’t bother me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Totally. Today was a long day. I won’t have any trouble falling asleep.”
“Well if you’re sure.”
She pulled the chair from her desk and sat down. True to his word, Damon crawled into the twin bed that was clearly too small for him, covered up with a blanket but left a leg hang out and was asleep the next time she looked at him. At least it made her feel better about having to work and invade his space. It was too hard to transport the computer upstairs. She left it down in the office for a reason. She needed to have a life, even if only a few hours of it, away from the bar.
She’d made a deal with him for his services in exchange for room and board but she still didn’t feel right about not giving him actual monetary compensation. They’d had a profitable night and no catastrophes, mainly thanks to him so she reserved fifty dollars in an envelope that she hid in her desk drawer in case she ever had the chance to pay him cash.
With her work done, desk light off, and the computer shut down, Mack quietly pushed in her chair under the desk. She passed the bed on the way to the private stairway that lead to her apartment, and couldn’t help but fix the blanket he’d shed when he shifted on the small mattress. The room really was big enough for a full-size bed, she’d only kept the twin because it was free.
Resisting the urge to run her fingers along his hair covered arm, she made a fist and turned away when his hand reached out to grab her wrist. She gasped, ready to react when he pulled her to sit on the side of the bed.
“Thank you.”
“For what.”
“Everything. The job and a place to sleep.”
“It’s not a big deal. You did great tonight and it was a relief to focus my attention elsewhere.”
Her wrist felt like it would go up in flames where he’d been holding on to it. His hands were hot and she could see a light sheen of beaded sweat all over his chest as he sat up bringing him into her personal space.
“Glad I could help. I’ve worked in a few bars in my time.”
“So, Damon, what’s your story?”
