I smiled at him. “Thanks,” I muttered then looked at Tack and wiped the smile clean off my face, something he saw which made him press his lips together at the same exact time his eyes lit with what could not be mistaken as anything other than humor. “The order,” I announced curtly, holding out the papers and pen. “You can look over it. The notes Eloise gave me are on top. And there’s a pen so you can make any changes.”
I knew there would be changes so when he reached out with his left hand to take the papers and pen from me, I took a quick step away and went on, “You can bring it back to the office and I’ll make any changes before submitting it.” I looked at the boys and finished, “Sorry, gents, and thanks. You can go back to talking now.”
I started to turn away and found my progress halted when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and I found myself three feet from where I was half a second before. I also found my front plastered against Tack’s side, his arm an iron band around my waist.
“Brick and Dog won’t mind I look at this here, Red,” Tack told me when I tipped my head up to stare at him.
I heard his words but had no response since I was pretty certain my lips were parted in shock and surprise that he was suddenly holding me plastered to his side. I was also pretty certain my eyes were wide for the same reasons. And lastly, I was definitely certain I forgot just how hard and lean his body was because feeling my soft one pressed to his rock-solid one acutely reminded me of this fact.
Before I could recover, a rough voice came at me and I dazedly turned my head to look at the dark-haired guy. “You the new office girl?”
“Uh… yeah,” I answered as I put pressure on the arm around my waist, something which made the iron turn to steel.
“Brick,” he stated.
I nodded, still putting pressure on the arm. “Hey, Brick.”
“Dog,” the blond man said. My eyes went to his face to see his gaze on Tack’s arm around my waist and a grin playing at his lips.
I’d seen them both at the party but I hadn’t met either of them. I also had a feeling they’d seen me at the party with Tack and very likely had seen me walk to the Compound and disappear inside it for hours, also with Tack. And therefore, standing in the Colorado sun, in the forecourt of Ride Custom Cars and Bikes, pressed to Tack’s side with his arm tight around me, I had the feeling they were getting the wrong impression.
I fought the blush that was creeping along my skin and said, “Hey, Dog.”
Then I said no more.
Therefore, Brick asked, “You got a name?”
My body tensed and my eyes went to Brick. “You can call me Red.”
The steel arm tightened around my waist and my neck twisted, my head tipping back as Tack growled, “Only I call you Red, Red.”
“Why do you only call me Red?” I asked.
“Because only I do,” Tack answered.
I tipped my head to the side. “Is that really your answer?”
“Only one you’re gonna get,” he replied.
I stared up at him and he stared down at me. Then I gave up.
“Whatever,” I muttered, looking away, pulling again at his arm and not getting anywhere.
“So, again, babe, you got a name?” Brick asked and I looked up at him to see he was smiling.
“Is the name on your birth certificate Brick?” I asked a question I was pretty sure I knew the answer to.
“No,” he gave me the answer I was pretty sure I knew.
I looked at Dog. “Is your name really Dog?”
“Nope,” Dog responded, also smiling.
I looked up at Tack and pulled again at his arm and again it was ineffectually.
“And you? Did your parents name you Tack?”
“No,” he answered.
“Okay then,” I turned to the boys, “since it’s nicknames all around, I’ll answer to whatever you christen me.”
“Whatever we christen you?” Dog repeated.
“Sure,” I told him on a shrug. “I invite you to be creative.” Dog and Brick looked to each other and grinned but I looked to Tack and demanded on a request, “Can you let me go? I have an Employee Handbook to write.”
“No,” he answered and I felt my eyes narrow. He ignored the narrowing of my eyes and went on, “Darlin’, this order is totally f**ked up.” And he shook the paper in his hand.
“I know that,” I informed him. “I told you I didn’t know what I was doing and I was going to screw it up. That’s why I brought the pen, so you could make amendments.”
He grinned. “Not enough room on this paper to write all the amendments, Red. How could you f**k this up so much when I wrote down everything I needed?” Then he shook the papers again, my eyes went to them and I realized the Sanskrit notes were his.
“Those are your notes?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I can’t read Sanskrit, Tack.”
“It ain’t written in Sanskrit, Red.”
“You have worse penmanship than a doctor,” I informed him.
“I can read it,” he informed me.
“Of course you can, you know what it says. To me, it’s a bunch of scratches and squiggles and since I don’t know anything about car and bike parts, I couldn’t guess very accurately. So you need to take some time and write out the changes…” I paused and concluded with emphasis, “Legibly.”
“Eloise hired an office girl who don’t know shit about cars and bikes?” Dog asked Tack and I looked at him.
But it was Brick who answered for Tack. “Eloise hired an office girl who wears f**k-me shoes and skirts. Who cares if she don’t know shit about cars and bikes?” Then Brick looked at me. “You just take your time, sweetheart, you’ll get it.”
“Thanks,” I smiled at him, deciding to ignore his comment about my skirt and shoes being of the “fuck-me” variety. I thought they were cute and girly but I was a woman, they were men. Men, I knew, thought way different from women and most of these thoughts, I knew, centered around sex so obviously cute to a woman would be something else to a man.
“You need any help, I know all about car and bike parts,” he offered.
I kept smiling. “Thanks, that’s sweet.”
“That’s me, I’m sweet,” Brick smiled back and it was then I felt Tack’s body get tight. My head turned to look at him again and I saw that his neck was twisted and he was looking beyond Dog. My gaze followed his to two men walking from the door of the Compound toward our huddle. They were the two men Tack had been talking to the day before. And they were two men who didn’t look laidback and welcoming like Brick and Dog. In fact, they looked so not laidback and welcoming that they were more than a little scary.