Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

“Ahem.” He glanced over his shoulder at her attention seeking throat noise. “I’m just going to the uh…bathroom.”

Ugh, she really didn’t have to announce it. The unisex, staff only, single cubicle bathroom was in store and perfectly safe.

“Sure.”

“Just to…y’know, rinse my face. Sleepy.” She immediately regretted the blatantly fake yawn she added for effect.

He raised a quizzical brow.

“Righty-o.” She pushed to her feet and scooped up her phone in the process. “I’ll be off.”

“Okay.”

“I shan’t be too long.”

Shan’t? What the hell? She was even starting to sound like Nan in real life.

“Okay.”

“Uh…” She blushed and gave him a weird salute. Oh, please God, kill me now. “Bye.”

She scuttled out of the office and into the adjoining bathroom as fast as she could. She had Bella on FaceTime once the door was shut and locked behind her.

“What do you mean, I felt him up? Him who?” She whisper-screamed the questions when Bella’s face popped onto her screen.

“Hello to you, too.”

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Vicki begged, ignoring her friend’s chirpy greeting.

“Nope. Your fingers totally went a-wandering all over that man’s ripped abs. You managed to get your hand between his shirt buttons and onto his bare skin.”

“Oh, my God! Are you serious? Are you sure you weren’t just drunk and imagining things?”

“I remember it clearly.”

“How humiliating,” Vicki moaned and shut her eyes in horror. Touching someone who was essentially an employee, against his will, was sexual harassment pure and simple. No, more like sexual assault. And being drunk was no excuse.

“I also remember his very impressive hard-on,” Bella said her voice a little too loud. It echoed around the cubicle, and Vicki winced before frantically decreasing the volume.

“Wait.” Had she heard right? “His what?”

“The guy had a stiffy—about the length of my forearm—running down his thigh.”

“Seriously?” Okay, the question sounded entirely too eager. But seriously?

He had probably responded to the stimulus. Many guys would. It didn’t excuse her actions. She was going to have to apologize. And maybe not mention the fact that Bella thought he’d had an erection.

“Yep. He pretended it wasn’t there though. I don’t know how he walked with that thing getting in the way, but he managed it.”

Of course, he had. Ty was professional to his core, and an unwanted erection would not prevent him from doing his job.

“This is so bad,” Vicki whispered covering her forehead with her free palm. Her headache was now full blown thanks to this news. “How can I face him after this?”

“Well, it happened on Saturday, and I take it you’ve seen him a few times since then, right?”

“Yes.”

“And are things weird?”

Were they? Things seemed slightly off, but not too strange.

“I don’t think so. Okay, maybe a little. I mean, this morning he used my name for the first time since I’ve known him.”

“Really? That’s weird.” Bella’s eyebrows rose. “What did he call you before?”

“Miss, ma’am, Ms. H, Miss Hollingsworth, Hey you…” Vicki itemized, before grinning wryly. “And probably That annoying little bitch to his friends.”

Bella chuckled.

“And he called you Victoria today?”

“Vicki.”

“That’s interesting. It could signal a change in his perception of you.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Anxious? Excited? Relieved?

“Being on friendlier terms with the man who spends most days with you can’t do any harm. Don’t you think it’ll make life a lot easier for both of you?”

“Possibly.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Vic,” Bella said sympathetically. “You were all over the place on Saturday. I doubt he thought anything of it.

Somehow that just made it worse, but Vicki forced herself to nod. She dragged the semblance of a smile to her lips.

“Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Pete and I will be unpacked and ready to entertain this week,” Bella said. “I was hoping you could come around for dinner after work on Thursday?”

“Uh. Yes, sure. I may be late though depending on how things are at the shop. Thursdays and Fridays are usually crazy. Worse now that I’ve had to fire the shop assistant.”

“Really? What happened?”

Vicki explained the situation, and Bella’s eyes grew large and round through the telling.

“I can’t believe Tyler sat on that information for over a year.”

“Well, interfering in the way I run my business is hardly part of his job description, is it?”

“True and since he is such a stickler, one wonders why he chose today to say something about it?”

“He did have to help out in the shop last week, thanks to her absence. Maybe he was pissed off about that?”

“Possibly…” Bella looked like she wanted to add something but—after a small hesitation—she shook her head and smiled. “Thursday?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Lovely. I’ll see you then.”

Vicki disconnected the call after a final goodbye, and stared apprehensively at the closed bathroom door. She was going to have to face him. She couldn’t hide in here indefinitely. She had work to do. Best to suck it up and deal with it. Apologize like the grown ass woman she was.