Page 13 of SEAL's Harmony
Was she interested in him?Heck yeah. But it scared her, too. Especially after what she’d gone through with her ex. Ry waited as he held her hand. “I’m interested. Definitely. But maybe when we go out again, you should wear body armor.”
He chuckled and lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I’ll take that under advisement, my lady. I should probably get you back to work before your boss sends a search party.”
A moment later, Harmony’s phone buzzed with a text message. Her boss. She didn’t need to read it to know Wendy was why she wasn’t in her office.
“Yup, it’s like she heard us mention her.” Harmony smirked. “Thank you for the coffee and the company.”
“I’ll walk you back. This way, we get a few more minutes with you, right Whiskey? And here, take these for later.” Ry wrapped up the cookies and handed them to her. “Since you probably won’t get out for lunch, at least you’ll have something to snack on.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to bring them home with you?” Harmony asked as they headed back toward the bank.
“Nope. I need to stop at the store, anyway. Everything I left in the fridge is probably bad and will need to go in the trash.”
“If you insist. It’ll be a hardship to eat these, but I wouldn’t want them to go to waste.”
Ry chuckled. “Thank you for taking them off my hands.”
They’d chatted the entire way back and Harmony hadn’t tripped once. It was a minor miracle.
“I’ll call you later, okay?” Ry asked. He put his hand on her arm and they stopped outside the bank.
“Yes, okay. That would be great,” Harmony replied, and then she knelt and hugged Whiskey. Ry took her hand and helped her up and pulled her into his arms.
“Is it okay if I kiss you? I’ve been dreaming of this for the last month.”
“Yes,” Harmony answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ry tilted her chin up and her breath caught in her throat as he lowered his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle, but it still curled her toes and filled her with need. Then it was over. He stepped back, making sure she was steady before letting go of her arms. His dazzling smile and the twinkle in his eyes sent shivers of desire racing over her skin. She didn’t want it to end and barely stopped herself from reaching for him.
“I hope the rest of your day goes better than this morning did,” Ry said, and took Whiskey’s leash from her.
With one last pat for the fluffy dog, she went through the door Ry held for her.
Harmony stopped by Wendy’s office to see if she needed anything. She’d ignored the text other than checking to see who it was from. It’s not how she usually reacted at work, but what Barb and Harry were going through upset her. Couple that with her guilt that she’d caused it, and it made her want to vomit. Frustrated that her boss took the bank’s side, she shouldn’t have been surprised since the woman had worked there her entire career.Doesn’t anyone have empathy for others anymore?
It irritated the crap out of Harmony, and she wished she could take the afternoon off and spend it with Ry and Whiskey, but she headed back to her desk to get some work done. Although not the work she should have been doing.
Harmony spent the afternoon researching options for the Ericsons. The foreclosure paperwork was already in progress, but from what she read about Virginia law, they should still be able to fight it.
In between helping customers, Harmony spent hours on the internet poring through pages of real estate law and still found nothing to help the couple. Her stomach churned shoulders were tight with frustration and a jabbing pain in her eye meant a full-blown headache wasn’t far behind.
As she leaned back in her chair and stretched, she saw that it was already after five. No wonder she felt like crap, since the chocolate chip cookies Ry gave her were all she’d eaten. The day had been long and exasperating, except for her impromptu coffee date with Ry. Just thinking about it made her smile and eased a little of the pain in her head.
Holding on to that happy thought, Harmony straightened up her desk, locked the customer files in the drawer, and then grabbed her purse. Deciding to grab something for dinner on the way home, she headed out to the employee parking lot.
As she unlocked the door of her blue Chevy Malibu, she noticed something on her windshield. A piece of paper was tucked under one of the wiper blades. Grabbing it, she climbed into the car and locked the doors before she read it.
Hi Harmony,
Whiskey and I enjoyed our coffee date, and we hope to do it again soon. I’ll call you later.
Ry
xo
After reading it twice, she tucked it into her purse with a smile on her face. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad day after all. Turning on the radio to an eighties pop station, Bonnie Tyler’s voice belted out one of her favorite songs,Holding Out for a Hero. Harmony grinned as butterflies filled her stomach in anticipation of talking to Ry again. Maybe she’d finally found her hero.
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