Chapter Sixteen
Mike swiped the steam from the shower off the mirror with his hand and then grimaced at his reflection. His face was remarkably free of damage but his torso was another story; swaths of deep purple bruising liberally peppered with red spots around his ribs and abdomen. Okay, so maybe it hadn’t been so smart to antagonize the big bastard about his chosen moniker, but come on – Mad Dog? Really?
The guy had come in hot and heavy with the body shots. Mike may have even been impressed with the level of skill. Too bad Mad Dog had a glass jaw. As soon as Mike had been able to get free, he’d retaliated with a hard right and that was all she wrote for poor Mad Dog, who’d dropped like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately, Mike was pretty sure he had a couple of cracked ribs for the trouble, though Tim had assured him they were just bruised. Good thing he didn’t have any major repairs scheduled for today at the garage.
Finished toweling off, he went to get dressed and wondered, not for the first time, if it was time to give it up. True, the money was damn nice, but feeling like he was in his eighties rather than his twenties? Not so much. Hell, just pulling a sweatshirt over his head had him hissing with pain.
“Suck it up, buttercup,” he mumbled under his breath. “You’ve got a fox to impress.”
With that thought firming his resolve, Mike glanced at the clock. Almost noon. Rin would be taking a lunch break soon and he had every intention of cajoling her into a picnic. The weather was fine – at least as fine as could be expected for Vermont in the winter – and he’d already called Lucy at the diner who was more than happy to get everything ready for him. He also had the perfect spot picked out, picturesque, romantic even, but not too far from her office so that she wouldn’t worry about getting back in time. Ginny had been more than accommodating when he’d called her to make sure he could steal Rin away for an hour. The older female had let out a giggle and a whoop before assuring him that she was happily on board to – in her words – help him, however she could, to woo and win his ladylove.
Now, if he could just manage to move without flinching. He considered slathering on his miracle ointment for all of two seconds before discarding it; the stinky stuff didn’t exactly encourage proximity and he wanted Rin close, not running away from his stench. As long as he didn’t move too fast, or jerk his torso about, he should be fine.
Twenty minutes later, Mike was just outside of Rin’s open office door and taking full advantage of her preoccupation with her work to just quietly observe her. Her thick black hair was loose today, left to fall over her shoulders instead of pulled back like she had been wearing it to work out. Her dark eyes were focused on the screen in front of her, and her brow scrunched slightly in a frown of concentration while she chewed absently on her plump lower lip.
Mike nearly groaned. What he wouldn’t give to be able to pull this incredible female into his arms and kiss her. Patience, he reminded himself. She’s been through an ordeal. She needs time to get her bearings. Let her come to you… It sounded good. His brain was completely on board with the plan – other parts of him… not so much.
Determined to keep all his parts in line, Mike broke out his brightest smile and tapped on the doorframe to get Rin’s attention. When she looked up, her face was so adorably bemused that he felt his chest squeeze tight and knew it had nothing to do with his bruises. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Rin shot back with a smile as she closed the folder in front of her and Mike felt his breath catch. That smile was so sincere. She was truly happy to see him and he couldn’t be more pleased. He knew he was now grinning like an idiot, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels and cleared his throat as he tried to muster some semblance of composure. “I thought you might like to join me for a picnic.”
Rin frowned, looking at the stack of folders on her desk, and her teeth once again sunk down into that luscious bottom lip. “I’ll have you back in an hour.” Mike assured her.
Ginny, proving that she had no qualms about eavesdropping, piped up from the next office over, “Go. Have fun you two. I’ll hold down the fort.”
It was all the prompting that Rin needed. With an excited grin, she grabbed her coat.
Once in Mike’s car, Rin chatted away, filling him in on her adventures at work the prior day, including her run in with Lulu the llama. He’d met Lulu, so he could sympathize. She sounded so adorably disgruntled while she told the tale, then disgusted, then resigned, while Mike listened with a goofy little love-sick smile on his face. If he could sit and listen to Rin talk for the rest of his days, he’d be a happy man. Boy, he had it bad.
The spot Mike had picked for their picnic was beautiful. Boulders of various sizes butted up to the stream that cut through the backside of Malsum Pass. Water was still flowing rapidly down the center toward a small waterfall formed by large rocks, though the stream’s sides were heavily edged with ice. Rin took it all in with a smile of wonder, immediately wanting to climb those boulders and explore.
As it turned out, she would get to climb at least one of those boulders. Mike laid a blanket down on one of the widest ones, its surface worn down by years of wind and water, so that it was nearly flat on top. It was about waist high for Rin, but with a little boost, she was up and sitting on the blanket, absorbing the scenery surrounding her. But she wasn’t so preoccupied that she didn’t catch Mike’s wince as he levered himself up onto the boulder to join her. She frowned but then mentally shrugged. Mike had a pretty labor intensive job as well as a physically demanding workout routine. Sore muscles were probably the norm for him.
Rin cleared her throat, ready to take the plunge and see if she could satisfy at least some of her curiosity. “Your note last night said you had some business to take care of. Did everything go okay?”
Mike was busy laying out the lunch containers from the diner and didn’t look at her when he nodded. “Yeah, everything went fine.”
A totally unsatisfactory response for someone who was digging for answers. “Did you need to tow another car?” Rin asked carefully, watching Mike’s expression like a hawk. If he said yes, it would be game over as far as she was concerned. After all, she had seen his wrecker parked in the bay of his garage.
Mike shook his head and shot her a quick grin before turning his attention back to their lunch and saying, “I do some odd jobs now and again to make some extra money.”
Rin could feel her muscles ease with relief. Of course. That explained everything. An explanation that was so simple, it should have been the first path her brain had taken rather than the much darker path of assuming Mike was involved in criminal activity. She really needed to get a handle on this new found suspicious nature. She’d made herself practically sick with worry for nothing. Finally, she could relax and let whatever this was between them, grow. In fact, she was so relieved, so pleased by his answer, that before she even knew what she was doing, she threw herself against Mike and kissed him.