Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

“You’re upset.”

“Me? Upset? What could I possibly be upset about?” Her voice was steeped in sarcasm, and his eyes were wary as he considered her words.

Oh.

He really didn’t know what she was upset about. That took the wind out of her sails and made her consider this from his point of view. The dumb, clueless man was following the rules. She was the one off-script right now. No wonder he looked so confused.

“I’m…” She sighed. “I’m not upset. Not really. I just thought that when we were alone we wouldn’t have to pretend that nothing has happened between us.”

“I wasn’t pretending that nothing happened,” he said, looking baffled. “I’m not sure what you expected from me, Vicki. I’m on duty. And the agreement was that there would be nothing intimate between us while I’m working. I took that to include conversations like this.”

“This is weird. Don’t you think it’s weird? It’s not normal, right?”

“What would you consider normal?”

“Not this.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel, the knuckles going white. “You want to end our agreement?”

If not for those white knuckles, Vicki would have thought his tone unconcerned, as if he didn’t care either way. But those clenched hands told an entirely different story.

He didn’t want her to say yes.

That was…it was something. And perhaps she was grasping at straws, but she’d take those white knuckles and his unspoken truth over opting out, any day.

“No,” she whispered. His hands relaxed, the only sign that her reply affected him in any way at all. “Not yet. I just have to get used to the eccentricity of our arrangement, that’s all. I didn’t know what to expect. Last night was amazing and, because I want more of that, I suppose I’m willing to embrace the weirdness. For now.”

He nodded, an abrupt up and down movement of his head. His eyes held hers for a moment longer, before he said, “You look pretty. That’s one of my favorite dresses.”

Well, how unexpected and wonderful.

Maybe she was like an eager puppy, happy for any bone tossed her way, but the reluctantly ceded words meant the world to her. And the knowledge that he had favorites among her dresses was sweet.

She glanced at the long, sea-foam green sundress she wore, with its sweetheart neckline, thin straps and the button-down bodice and vowed to wear it for him more often.

“Thank you, Ty.”

His lips thinned. He looked like a man who already regretted paying her the compliment, but she didn’t care. He had said it, and she appreciated it.

Vicki made Ty another one of those buttonhole flower things for his lapel.

She shyly offered it to him about an hour after opening shop, and Ty stood quietly while she pinned it to his jacket. He didn’t know why she’d made him another one, and he damned sure didn’t know why he liked the silly things so much, but the gesture made him feel…appreciated.

Valued.

Seen.

Liked.

Words that were laden with so much emotional heft, they weighed him down. He hadn’t needed to be appreciated or seen or liked by any woman in the past. And he for damned sure knew he had value to the people he worked for and with. He was valued. He didn’t need a ridiculous sprig of flowers to tell him that.

And yet…

He shook his head, impatient with himself.

And yet nothing! If she wanted to waste her time and her products, creating stupid little buttonholes for him, that was on her. He would wear it, but he refused to let it mean anything to him.

That resolution did not prevent him from unconsciously stroking the soft petals of the pale, yellow carnation every damned chance he got.

If the flowers confused him, then he was thrown for a fucking loop after lunch when Josh unexpectedly flipped over the closed sign on the store door. They usually only closed for Mama Nishiyama’s meals, and Josh hadn’t brought any food today. Ty was baffled when Linda and Josh brought plastic plates and forks to the anterior of store, where he was sitting, and grinned broadly at him.

“What’s happening?” he asked, rising from his chair, confused.

“Ready?” Vicki’s voice called from her office.

“Yes!” Linda replied.

“Three, two, one…” Vicki counted just before they all broke into song.

“Happy birthday, to you! Happy birthday, to you! Happy birthday, deaaar Tyyyyy! Happy birthday, to you!”

What the hell?

Ty’s jaw dropped when Vicki gingerly made her way toward them, a chocolate sheet cake carefully balanced in her hands. The damned thing was overloaded with lit candles—a fire hazard if he’d ever seen one—and the words Happy Birthday, Tyler had been piped in white frosting.

He blinked and swallowed past the massive lump in his throat. Linda popped onto her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek, and Josh thumped him on the back in congratulations.

Vicki had a big, beautiful smile on her lips, and Ty couldn’t drag his eyes away from her lovely, beaming face.