Page 19 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
She raised an eyebrow. She’d known Jeff since she was a kid. He’d worked for herabueloforever and had stuck by her when she’d inherited the shop. He was the first to enforce respect for her and never allowed anyone to question one of her decisions. While he’d earned the right to speak his mind to her, he usually did with a bit more tact. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Did something happen that made you hire Russo?”
It took a lot to keep the relief off of her face. Jeff thought they’d been robbed or there’d been an attempted robbery, which was why she’d hired Cayden. Not that there was something going on personally between Cayden and her. If it got out that she was sleeping with an employee, Trixie wasn’t sure what she’d do.
“No,” she told him with an honest smile. “TìoGreg stopped by a couple weeks ago and Cayden was with him. He told me, in his professional opinion, that he didn’t think much of our security. I basically told him to stuff it.” Jeff snorted, likely not doubting that was exactly what she’d done. “So, he offered me that deal. I was so confident that I took it, and you know how that turned out. Now, of course, Mr. Cocky and Sure of Himself is hiding in my office on his almighty throne about to spend a crap ton of my money to make sure our merchandise is secure.”
Jeff raised an eyebrow but thankfully didn’t comment on the nickname she’d given Cayden. “Russo seems solid.” He paused and then said, “He came in here with Greg?”
Trixie winced. Oops. Jeff was one of the few employees who knew about the halfway house. Damn it. It was Cayden’s first day and she’d already broken her promise not to reveal his history. She wasn’t used to having to keep secrets from her employees.
Jeff reached forward and squeezed her shoulder. “It’s okay. I won’t say anything, but it would have been nice to know so I can keep an eye on him.”
Trixie hesitated. What did it say about her if she said she trusted him, that Jeff didn’t need to keep an eye on him? What did it say about her if shedidask Jeff to keep an eye on him? Fuck. When did life get so complicated?
“Greg trusts him,” she said finally. “Otherwise he wouldn’t have pushed for me to hire him.”
Jeff nodded once. “All right. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to be watching out for you.”
She blinked. That was oddly worded. “For me?”
“I saw the way he was looking at you in the meeting, Trixie.” Lowering his voice, Jeff added, “I also saw how you were looking back at him.” Trix gulped. Fuck, had she been that obvious? Who else had seen? Jeff quickly jumped to her sanity’s rescue. “Don’t worry. I don’t think anyone else was paying that close attention,but the two of you might want to try studying something else in the room besides each other if you want to keep it on the downlow. Otherwise, it won’t be a secret much longer.”
Trixie dropped her face into her hands. Jeff had seen her at all sorts of stages in her life. Including her awkward tomboy phase as well as her attempt at cheerleading. He’d helped get her through herpapá’s andabuelo’s deaths. He’d threatened her prom date with a car battery to his testicles if he so much as looked at her disrespectfully. Jeff knew her as well as Greg and Peggy did. It should not be so embarrassing that all of them had picked up on her feelings for Cayden faster than she had.
Her voice muffled by her hands, she admitted, “I don’t know what to do. I can’t think when I’m around him. It’s like he’s put a damper on all my brain cells.”
Jeff let out a loud laugh, which only made her hide further into her hands. She was quite grateful the others were on lunch break this time of day and weren’t there to bear witness to her embarrassment. “I think that’s called lust, honey.” He patted her gently on the back. “I don’t know what’s between you two, and frankly, I don’t want to know. I still see you as the little girl in pigtails running after her grandfather, begging him to show her all the tools in his toolbox.”
Trixie risked a peek at her old friend from above her fingertips. His face was nothing but fatherly. It made her feel protected and loved rather than scrutinized and judged.
“My point, honey, is this is something you need to figure out for yourself.” He chucked her on her exposed cheek. “And just know I’m here to kick his ass if he dares to hurt you.”
It was her turn to laugh. She reached forward and hugged Jeff. Squeezing him tight, she said into his coveralls, “Thank you.” He still smelled like peppermint, exactly as he had twenty years ago when she’d started trailing behind herabuelo.
The door opened and closed behind her. She turned to see Cayden standing there. Jeff dropped a kiss to her head before he stepped back. As he passed Cayden, he stopped to say a quick word to the younger man and then walked out of the bay.
Cayden approached her. There was something…different in his eyes. She couldn’t figure out what, but whatever it was made her heart beat like a hummingbird’s wings in her chest.
He stopped just before her. She thought he was reaching to embrace her, only to be disappointed when she realized he was grabbing her oil rag out of her back pocket. Gently, he raised it to her nose. “Just when I think you couldn’t get any cuter, you go and get grease smeared on your nose.”
Her cheeks flushed but she let him clean her nose without objection. “What did Jeff say to you?”
“He told me to treat you like a princess or he’s going to kick my ass.”
She winced. “He caught on to how we were looking at each other during the meeting.”
Cayden smiled. “Glad it wasn’t just me then. I swear I had to pretend I had cement in my shoes to keep from going to you.”
That made her smile. “I was gripping the collection jar with the same purpose.”
“Are you going to explain the jar to me?” He returned the rag to her back pocket. She was disappointed when he didn’t so much as try to steal a squeeze. Cayden leaned up against the Ranger. Rather than jeans, he wore slacks with his button up Henley. She couldn’t decide which she liked his ass better in. And his tattoos were masterpieces, that shirt letting them be on display for her sheer joy and open perusing.
“It was somethingmiabuelostarted. Employees would make announcements with a happy or a sad dollar. That way his employees would learn about each other, and he could stock the good coffee and treats in the breakroom.”
“So you use the money to stock supplies?”
Trixie shook her head. “He did. I don’t. I collect it and, at the end of the year, match their funds a hundred percent and then I split it up evenly into a bonus for them. Last year one of Victoria’s kids graduated high school. It was voted that we use the collection money to buy her a graduation present. Yesterday Payton’s daughter was born. We already pulled from the collection to buy a baby gift.” She shrugged. “This way not everyone feels obligated to give gifts and such when things like that happen. With a small business like mine, sometimes those obligations can get pretty hefty, and I don’t want anyone feeling pressured to do more than they can.”
