Page 11 of No Small Sin

The footsteps came to a halt and I whirled around at the intrusion. I thought I’d need to act surprised upon seeing Beck again, but the utter shock I felt was totally real — and mirrored his own.

His dark hazel eyes skittered over what felt like every square inch of my body.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” He turned to Ijah, disbelief etched on his face.

Ijah turned to me. “You know Beck?”

I schooled my features to what I hoped would appear unaffected, maybe a little confused. “I don’t think so,” I squinted, scrunching my brows.

He turned back to Beck. “Beck? How do you know TK?”

“I… uh… thought she was someone else. I guess,” he said awkwardly. “I need to talk to you when you’re finished with your meeting… Meeting? Wait. Why did she see your ass? Is this a date?” He shuffled his fingers roughly through the fringe of his hair.

Was he bothered by that?

“No, it’s not a fucking date. It’s a job interview. And she saw my ass because Andrea doesn’t know how to wait for someone to answer after she knocks before slinging the goddamn door open.”

“Oh,” he replied. “A job interview? For what?”

I was certain my eyes were the size of dinner plates at this point. I looked at him pointedly over Ijah’s shoulder, urging him to please just shut the fuck up.

I cleared my throat. “Will I be working with Beck, Ijah? Should you introduce us?”

“Oh. Ah, yeah. I suppose so. Beck is… an office manager. Of sorts. We have a lot of behind-the-scenes business that needs to be attended to and he helps me with those types of things. Nothing you’ll ever need to worry about, of course.” He seemed a tad uncomfortable and I would for sure be using that to my advantage.

“Cool. I’m TK,” I said cheerily, reaching out to shake Beck’s hand. “Nice meeting you. I’ll be starting… tomorrow?” I turned to Ijah.

“Yes. Tomorrow,” He smiled politely, nodding once.

I turned back to Beck. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

He gave me an awkward smile that seemed to be more of a grimace and walked over to leave the way I’d entered. “I’ll come back once you finish up then.”

“Just a few more minutes,” Ijah assured him before the door clicked softly shut.

As soon as it did, I rounded on him.

“So,” I pulled out my cell phone. “I suppose I’ll need your number in case anything comes up. And you’ll need mine, of course.” I handed it to him. “If you’ll just add your contact info, I’ll text you my number.”

Hesitantly, he slipped it from my hand and eyed me suspiciously as his fingers ran over the screen. “I suppose.”

“And… if something comes up and I’m not able to reach you, I suppose I’ll need Blondie’s as well,” I jerked my thumb toward the door Beck had just exited through. “Won’t I?”

“I am not so sure you’d ever…” He started.

“You said yourself we’re like a family here, no?”

“What I meant was…”

“Did that not include Beck?”

“Fine.” His fingers danced across the screen for a few moments longer before he handed my phone back to me.

“Thank you, Ijah. See you in the morning!” I smiled brightly, waving as I all but skipped out the door.

I didn’t see Beck as I was leaving, but I was certain it wouldn’t be long before our paths crossed again.

I would make sure of it.

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