Aye, I love teasing her—and surprising her.
"Don't sneak up on me," she says, and lightly slaps my arm. "You scared me half to death."
"At least it was only halfway."
"Not funny." She grumbles out a sigh. "Why are you spying on me?"
"You seemed absorbed by whatever you're doing."
"And scaring the shit out of me sounded like a good plan?"
"Didn't mean to frighten you." Surprise her, yes. Terrify her, no. I did too good a job of it, I guess.
She swivels her chair sideways to the desk, laying one arm on the desktop.
I stay right here, bent at the waist, my face a foot from hers. I might also be giving her a wry smile. "You can tell me. Whatever it is. I'm good at keeping secrets."
She gazes at me with her eyes wider than usual, though not enormously wide. For a moment, neither of us says anything. The silence goes on for so long that I can't stay quiet anymore, especially when she bites her lip. I place the pad of my thumb on her lower lip and press down. Her lip pops free of her teeth.
She sits up straighter, clearing her throat.
"Don't be anxious," I say. "I won't think less of you, no matter what it is."
Calli glances at the computer, clicks a mouse button to bring up a website, and faces me. As she drums her fingernails on the desktop, she bites her lip again. I reach out to touch her mouth like I had before, but she releases her lip a second before my thumb would've touched her.
I withdraw my hand.
She groans in resignation. "I've been looking for a job. I'm unemployed and have been for months. My savings will run out very soon, and I have zero prospects for employment."
"That's your shameful secret?"
"It's not a secret. I hadn't gotten around to telling you is all. 'I'm an unemployed pauper' isn't something I tell everyone I meet."
"You don't need to be ashamed of having no money."
"I'm not ashamed of being poor. Not being able to find a job, that's another thing altogether." She drums her fingers on the desk. "I have a master's degree in library science, but I've never had a job that required it, even when I worked in a library. Today, I'm considering a part-time secretarial position in Alaska. It's nobody's fault, but it sucks and it's demoralizing. Not the kind of thing I'm dying to share with the world."
I drop into a crouch beside her. "I know how you feel."
"Guess you do."
"Why not ask your family for help? Surely, they'd be glad to step in."
"The man who balked at accepting his brother's help is encouraging me to accept the aid of my family."
"I'm twice a hypocrite, eh?" I shrug and sigh. "Donnae mean to be. But you did trick me into taking Lachlan's charity, so…"
"I owe you a personal humiliation of my own?" She puckers her lips, struggling not to smile. "We sure have a strange relationship, don't we?"
"But it works for us, doesn't it?"
"Suppose it does."
I stare at her for a few seconds, feeling rightfully stunned by what she just said. "You called this a relationship."
"No, I—I meant in the general sense, not like we'reina relationship."
"Ah, of course." My gaze flicks to the computer screen and back to her. "The job search seems to be making you tense."