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His mouth spread into a full smile, and something tugged deep inside her. He rubbed the side of his neck and her eyesdrifted to the tattoo there, a dark skull with dollar signs for eyes and she shivered at the sight.
“I can’t afford to pay you,” she rushed out.
He scoffed. “I don’t need money, beautiful.”
Indignation fired her up. “Don’t call me that.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Why not?”
“If you want to come to the shelter, you can’t call me that. It’s unprofessional. You’ll call me Rebelle.”Shit, where did that authority come from?
His eyes darkened, his voice thick when he replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
There was a pause where they just stared at each other and something approaching hysteria crawled up her throat under the intensity of his gaze.
“So, do you want to or not?”
“Want to what?”
“Volunteer!” she snapped.
His grin spread again, and she realized he was toying with her.God he’s infuriatingly smiley. “I guess I have some free time.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He nodded. “What time do you usually get there? You were there pretty early the other day.”
Shit.No way could he find out she waslivingthere.
“Get there by eight,” she said, giving herself an extra hour to make sure she was up and ready and had tidied away her sleeping bag and hidden the evidence in the storeroom properly.
“I’ll see you at seven fifty-five,” he said, and she frowned. “Sleep well, Rebelle.” The way he said her name riled her, slowly rolling the syllables over his tongue like he was enjoying their flavor. He smiled at her one more time before he left, waving to Taylor and Beau who stood there looking dumbfounded.
When the door to the bar closed behind him, tension released from her shoulders and she pushed out a slow breath, like she was blowing out her candle, just like Justine taught her.
“You can take off now, sweetheart. I got it from here,” Taylor said, coming up next to her.
Rebelle just nodded and handed Taylor the glass she was drying and Taylor smiled at her.
“If you ever wanna talk about boys, I’m totally down.” The redhead waggled her eyebrows.
“Talk about boys?”
“Yeah, gossip with the girls. Christy and Justine too, I know they’d love to spend more time with you.”
“Thanks, but I’m not atalk about boyskinda girl,” Rebelle mumbled.
“Doesn’t just have to be about boys. Just think about it, we’re here if you need us.” Taylor shrugged and ushered Rebelle out from behind the bar. “You need Beau to take you home?”
Rebelle shook her head. “I’m fine, thanks. So can I come back?”
Taylor laughed. “Of course, I’ll give you a couple of shifts a week, just tell me when you can work and we’ll sort out the schedule.”
Rebelle left the bar and began the long walk back to the shelter, wishing she hadn’t left the truck at home to save on gas.
She’d done it. She’d made it through her first shift.
She’d been around people, men in particular, and she’d only had to use her breathing techniques a couple of times. She should feel great but her brain was preoccupied with the fact that Will was going to be at the shelter in the morning.
