“So, Corrie… you like animals?” The stupid question is out of my mouth before I can stop it as I perch my ass on the edge of my desk in front of the two women. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to use small talk, and I’m obviously rusty.
“I love animals, especially the otters! I didn’t kidnap Chris and Lincoln. Please don’t fire me,” Corrie begs, tears filling her eyes as her chin quivers, and she looks at me like I just killed her family.
“See? She didn’t do it. And now your suspicions made her cry,” I complain to Harley, because I don’t like it when women cry, and Harley is the only other person in this room currently not crying who I can blame.
Harley closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers for a few seconds before looking at Corrie. “It’s okay. I already saw how much you love animals when you came and got them to feed them,” Harley reassures the young woman in a much kinder voice than mine, flipping open her notebook to an empty page. “Can you tell me the last time you saw Lincoln and Chris?”
“She saw them the same time I did,” I butt in. “The night before they went missing, when we locked them in before we went home. I told you these interviews are a waste of time.”
Harley clicks and unclicks her pen several times, glaring at me from her seat before she finally speaks to Corrie again. “I see from my notes you were hired by the owner a few weeks ago via email, correct?”
“She sent in her resume, there was an email interview, and she started three weeks ago, reporting directly to me,” I immediately fill in, making Harley click her pen in silence a few more times.
I interrupted the first time, because I was annoyed Harley was asking an employee a question I could have easily answered for her, without wasting anyone else’s time. But then I stopped being a dick for five seconds and remembered Harley is thinking like a detective, and I need to give her slack.
Now I’m just doing it to piss her off, because it’s fun for me.
When Harley glances at Corrie for confirmation of my answer and Corrie gives her a silent nod, Harley jots a few things in her notebook before continuing.
“Which animals at The Backyard do you have any kind of interaction with?”
“Alpacas, cats, horses, ducks, chickens, dogs, cows, goats, deer, miniature horses, rabbits, and, of course, otters,” I list quickly, the clicking of Harley’s pen now louder than the clicking of the otters’ nails across the floor when they all run in here at the same time. “So basically, all the animals here.”
Corrie is looking nervously back and forth between Harley and me, and I’m pretty sure she’s more scared of Harley than she is of me right now, so one point goes to me. Too bad I have to immediately deduct that point on account of the fact that I’m a little scared Harley might kick me in the balls she looks so ticked off.
“If you can’t sit there and be quiet, you’re not doing these interviews with me,” Harley says with a bright smile, probably to put Corrie at ease, even though she’s saying these words through clenched teeth.
“It’s cute you still think I’ll let you interview my employees without me, sweetheart.”
Oops. It sure was nice enjoying being alive for a few minutes.
“Listen, dick hole—”
“Wait,” I stop her, holding up my hands. “Is it dick hole, or dick tits? I’m gonna need you to be consistent if we’re going to find Lincoln and Chris.”
Harley glowers at me when I throw her own words back at her. I can’t take my eyes off her, even when I see Corrie start to rise from her seat out the corner of my eye. I forgot how much of a turn-on it always was to watch this woman get fired up.
“If this is a bad time, I can come back—”
“Sit!” Harley orders, her annoyed eyes still locked on mine while she points in Corrie’s direction.
“Hey, ease up on my employees. You don’t have to be so mean and scary,” I speak in a placating voice. “It’s okay, Corrie. You can go.”
“You, shut up,” Harley says, her pointing finger swinging in my direction before glancing at Corrie. “And you, sit down. I mean, please and thank you.”
Corrie looks at me, and I gently shake my head at her, which makes Harley growl. Poor Corrie doesn’t know what to do, as she helplessly gets up, sits back down, and gets up again.
I really miss Chris and Lincoln, and I want to find them as soon as possible, but this is the most fun I’ve had in ages. It’s the first time in a long time I don’t feel the heaviness of guilt and regret weighing me down.
“Are you going to waste much more time here? I’ve got otters to find,” I fake complain, looking down at a watch that doesn’t exist on my wrist.
That does it. Harley jumps up from her chair and steps up to me, and I remain perched on the edge of my desk so we’re eye-level.
“I have had about enough of your mouth! Zip it!” she demands.
“So you’ve been thinking about my mouth?”
“No! Fuck off and be serious.”
Her eyes give her away when they flicker down to my mouth, which I tip up easily into a smirk, watching Corrie quickly sneak out of the room when I glance over Harley’s shoulder.
“Go to dinner with me tonight.”
Harley looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, and maybe I have. I’ve never asked a woman on a date before. I’ve taken women to fancy dinners just to put them in a good mood before the sex I knew we’d have, but I’ve never actually just sat down and enjoyed a woman’s company because I wanted to. No woman has ever made me want to enjoy her company until this woman walked into a bar and hit on me five years ago.
“Didn’t I just tell you to be serious?” Harley complains.
“I am being serious. Have dinner with me tonight.”
She studies my face for a few seconds, and when she realizes I am, in fact, very serious, she scoffs.
“We’re not going on a date. You don’t want to date me. Stop being annoying or I’m going to punch you in the dick.”
What I don’t like is the way she says I don’t want to date her. Like it’s the most ridiculous idea in the world anyone would want to.
“I feel like you’re just being difficult, because you think it will scare me away.”
She looks at me with a duh expression on her face, and I lean the upper half of my body closer to her.
“Sweetheart, you’ve been difficult since the day I met you, and I still followed you around like a fucking puppy. You know, after you hit on me,” I add.
“Still living in the city of Bullshit on Delusion Street, I see,” Harley replies before shaking her head at me and sighing. “We’re not going on a date. Aside from the fact that I don’t like you, I’m not good with dating, or boyfriends, or any of that bullshit. I’m a little busy, and I tend to forget about guys easily. You’ll be just like all the rest. I’ll forget you exist, and then you’ll get all butthurt about it.”
Standing up from my desk, I quickly snake my arm around Harley’s waist, pulling her body up and against mine. She immediately grabs onto my shoulders for balance, and I have to remember how to fucking breathe, having her pressed up against me like this, so soft and warm and smelling so damn good. She’s breathing heavily, her mouth is still dropped open from the little shocked gasp that left her when I pulled her to me, and her eyes keep darting down to my mouth.