Page 24 of Under Daddy's Spell

“And the putrid smell of trash, don’t forget.” To which she couldn’t help but giggle. ?

Chapter Nine

IT RAINED ALL THE NEXTday and was still pouring when Jordan showed up after closing with an umbrella in hand. He kept her dry, holding it as she got into the car, then shut it, getting soaking wet when he returned for her two bags of trash. Standing in his doorway with rain dripping from his nose and hair, he lifted his chin to her wave as she passed in that cool way some men have.

The showers hadn’t moved on, and the humidity hadn’t lessened the following day. The cheap plastic thermometer behind her front counter hadn’t budged from seventy-eight since Jordan lowered the set temperature. She was on edge, her staff hot and irritable, especially Angie, who had to steam milk all day and deal with the oven. It seemed like all her customers were in a bad mood, probably because they had to walk a mile in the rain because of the unauthorized squatters in her reserved parking spaces.

Tessa couldn’t afford for them to be upset, especially since some who used to linger over their coffee and leave with a bag of books weren’t because the store was uncomfortably warm.

She tried Mr. Thompson for the tenth time. Still nothing.

At her wit's end, she decided to take Jordan up on his offer. Maybe mano a mano would be more effective than someone the age of his granddaughter trying to get him to do something he didn’t want to do that would cost him money. She'd really be ticked off if she found out he was blowing her off because she was a woman. Right now, with sweat trickling down her neck and between her boobs, if testosterone was what it took to get a service call, so be it.

Disregarding the corkscrew curls that had escaped her ponytail and were clinging to her sweat-dampened skin, she slogged tiredly next door. The heat was draining; she’d never know how landscapers or road crews who laid hot asphalt stood it, especially in the middle of summer.

The cool air that greeted her when she entered Jordan’s lobby felt incredible. It also ticked her off. Something was wrong, and she needed to get to the bottom of it.

“Is Mr. Cooper in?” she asked the pretty receptionist who hadn’t been there on her last two visits. Tessa could tell she was brand new because she looked a little frazzled by the constantly ringing phone and didn’t bother to ask who she was or what she wanted. She simply pointed to the door marked office at the back of the gym.

Barbells clanged, a blender whirred, the elliptical and treadmills hummed, and in the background, “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters played at the agreed-upon decibel level. She tuned it all out as she walked to the door, pulling her clinging collar away from her damp neck for the hundredth time that day, and knocked.

She heard a faint, “Come in.” At least, she thought she did. It was hard to tell because, right then, someone let out a bloodcurdling roar behind her. Tessa spun, expecting to see a charging Viking horde or something equally menacing. Instead, she saw a giant bear of a man, red-faced with the strain of bench pressing so much weight it bowed the metal bar. He didn’t stop the combination shout/growl/roar until the prodigious weight landed with a crash onto the rack with his spotter assisting.

Still unable to figure out why someone felt the need to lift three times their weight, or, in this guy’s case, two times—no exaggeration, he was enormous—Tessa turned to the door and, rather than knocking again, stuck in her head.

“Jordan?”

In the process of stuffing files into a briefcase, he looked so completely gorgeous in a navy-blue suit and light-blue tie that closely matched his eyes, she almost forgot why she was there.

He glanced up but only for a second. “Sorry,cher. I’m running late. I'll miss my flight if I stay and talk even for a minute.”

“That’s right. You’re going out of town.” He’d told her that Monday night. Between the dumpster kiss, the dreamy state that had followed, and all her headaches at work, it must have slipped her mind.

“I’ll be back Saturday around midday. We’ll discuss whatever it is then.” He zipped the case closed then came around the desk toward where she stood in the doorway. “If there’s a problem, you can always take it up with Seth. He’s my right-hand man and is authorized to do most everything I can—business-wise.”

He wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and hauled her up against him. “I put him in charge of making sure someone walks you to your car every night, so be my good girl and wait for them.” After kissing her forehead, he smacked his lips. “Mm... Salty.”

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