She sat and waited for him to walk around to her door, knowing better than to get out on her own.
Another of Duke’s infamous rules.
For a rough, tough biker dude he sure had a lot of rules.
He slid his hands around her waist then lifted her down. Definitely not normal employer-employee behavior. But then, Duke wasn’t a normal sort of guy. And he wasn’t like Ronny. She knew he’d never force anything on her. Trust had formed quickly after the way he’d looked out for her last night.
She was attracted to him. Even though the conversation in the diner was awkward and a bit terrifying for someone who had been hiding that part of herself for years, it also felt freeing to have it out there.
He knew. He wasn’t grossed out.
“I’ll get you a set of keys. But this one opens the front door. Don’t ever go through the back, it opens out into the alley behind all of these shops. In fact, I don’t want to catch you ever in that alley, all right?”
She looked around with a nod, noting a homeless man going through the dumpster outside the convenience shop. Sorrow filled her and she made a note to make extra food next time she worked in case he was still around.
Duke opened the door and showed her the alarm. Crap. Numbers weren’t her thing. She’d have to write the code down and work on memorizing it. He led her through everything. He wasn’t impatient, but it was also clear he didn’t want to have to go over anything more than once.
None of it seemed too hard, though.
“It’s up to you to keep the staff room clean and stocked,” he told her. “Take the trash out each night.”
“The dumpster is in the alley?”
“Yeah. It is. Just leave it at the back door and someone will throw it out.”
She nodded.
“We have T-shirts and sweatshirts with the shop logo on it for you to wear. Got some spares in my office. Probably need to get some smaller sizes for you. That’s it for now. You good?”
“I’m fine wearing whatever you have on hand.”
The front door opened and a big, bald man stepped in. He was huge, muscular, dressed in a white T-shirt and dark blue jeans. Tattoos swirled their way down his forearms and over his hands. Another tattoo peeked above the neck of his T-shirt. It was hard to judge his age, but she guessed he was in his late forties.
“Yo, Duke, what’s going on?” he rumbled.
“Madden, this is Sunny. She’s our new front desk chick.”
Chick?
“I prefer ‘front desk person’,” she said, sending Duke a look.
He just waved a hand. “Whatever. I got a client coming in soon. Need to set up my station.”
Madden walked into the staffroom and she followed, watching him turn on the coffee machine.
“Oh, I should do that.”
“No problem, darlin’,” he said with a smile. “We’re used to making do. Been a couple of months since Darlene ran off with her man and left us high and dry. Didn’t think Duke would hire anyone else. You know him?”
“Um, yes, we’re neighbors.”
Madden raised his eyebrows. “Huh.”
She wasn’t quite sure what that huh meant. “So, um, as well as putting on the coffee is there anything else, I can do before we open?”
“Duke didn’t give you much guidance, huh?”
“No.”