Chapter 68 Chapter 68
Gage swore, tossing the folder onto the desk. He looked down at the mess and glared. His brain was completely A.W.O.L. He blamed that on only a few hours of sleep, seeing Kelsey’s naked body splayed on the bed was playing over and over and over in his mind.
He’d left the house before she got up, not sure if she’d want to see him.
His phone rang, bringing his focus back to the now. Devin’s number displayed on the screen. “Go ahead.”
“Hey, Gage. We’re going to be there tonight.”
Gage closed his eyes, he’d forgotten he’d have house guests.
“Gage?”
“Yeah, sorry, I’m here.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“What’s wrong?”
Sighing, he decided he should let Devin know what they were walking in to. “Kelsey’s going through her first cycle. It’s…”
Devin laughed, loudly. Gage was shocked, his friend wasn’t a really laughing person.
“Sorry,” Devin said, recovering his breath. “I just had flashbacks to the mind fuck I went through with Rayne.”
Clearly, Gage thought, Rayne wasn’t in hearing distance right now. “Yeah, it’s something, that’s for sure.”
“Kelsey still unmarked?”
Gage wanted to groan, or maybe whine, but didn’t. “Yeah.”
“Are you going to be okay with me near her?”
Staring at the ceiling, he thought about it for a minute before answering. “I think so. You’re mated and not even clan…” He fidgeted with the folders skewed on the desk. “Who knows? I’m having a bit of trouble with everything right now.”
“Maybe Rayne talking to Kelsey will help.”
“I won’t hold my breath.”
Devin laughed again and then paused. “Have you heard from Calum?”
“No.”
“I still haven’t heard from him.”
“Well, he’s in the back-country, and it is Calum…”
“Yeah. I swear I’m going to stick a tracker in him so we can see where the hell he goes.”
“Where doesn’t he go might be easier. Any more on what Tomas’s crew is up to?”
Devin sighed. “They’re all over the place. They’re not being picky about the types of two-form they want, and they’ve tried to snatch from just about all the clans so far.”
“Shit. I’d hoped he would have backed off.”
“No such luck.” He could hear voices in the background. “I have to go. We’ll see you tonight.”
“Okay. See you later.” He hung up and then stared at the mess on his desk.
“Any luck?”
Gage looked up to see Jake leaning against the doorframe. “No. I need that damn invoice this afternoon.”
“Did you take it to the house by mistake?”
Rubbing his forehead, he tried to remember. “I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you give Kelsey a call and ask her to look?”
Gage didn’t want to admit he was avoiding her. “Yeah.” He sighed. “Devin and Rayne are going to be here tonight. Let everyone know so they don’t freak out when they smell another shifter.”
Jake grinned. “I’m looking forward to meeting her. She’s all you and Blair talked about when you came back from the wedding.”
Not wanting to discuss mates and weddings, Gage stood up “You get that brake line fixed?”
Straightening, Jake nodded. “Just waiting on Gary to lend me a hand to bleed the line before I sign off on it.” He walked out of the office.
Sighing, Gage picked up his phone again. He dialed Kelsey, almost hoping she ignored it. She didn’t, her soft voice teased his ear.
“Hey, honey. Can you go look in the office for an invoice?”
“I’m in the office, what am I looking for?”
He rhymed off the name of the supplier. “It may have got stuck in one of the folders I brought over last night.”
“Okay, give me a second here…” he could hear her shuffling through them. “It’s not here. Would it be anywhere else?”
Closing his eyes, he blew out a breath. “I doubt it.” He pawed at the folders on the desk. “I can’t find the bloody thing, and I need it.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “I can come to the shop and see if I can find it.”
Gage realized what it was costing her to offer to come and help. “If you have the time, I’d really appreciate it. I can’t finish this invoice without it and can’t remember how much half the parts on it cost.” He rubbed his jaw. “It’s a huge account.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She hung up.
Standing, Gage looked around the office and shook his head. She was going to climb up one side of him and down the other when she got a look at the mess.
Cursing at himself, he bent to pick up folders he’d stupidly knocked on the floor. As he straightened, he spotted Kelsey in the doorway. Her mouth was open in shock as her eyes surveyed the mess.
“Did a cyclone come through here?”
He opened his mouth with the first sarcastic quip that came to mind, then snapped it shut.
She stepped into the room, moving toward him slowly. He searched her eyes for a clue to her mood. “Where’s the invoice you’re trying to finish?”
Pointing to the computer, he decided he couldn’t screw up a thank you. “Thanks for coming.”
Moving past him, she went behind the desk and moved files to find the mouse and clear the screensaver. “I was running out of things to do at the house.” Looking at the office, she raised an eyebrow. “The mess in here should keep me busy for a while.”
Deciding he was safe enough, he winked at her. “Anything to keep you from being bored.”
Holding out her hand, she looked at the folders he held. “You didn’t randomly start pulling files, did you?”
Handing them over, he gave her a half grin. “Only the ones that were active when the supply delivery came in.”
Glancing at the files, she frowned. “I can’t believe you guys don’t catalogue parts and prices in a database.”
Pushing the folders out of the way, he sat on the corner of the desk. He’d have discussed anything with her, just to be with her without tension filling the space between them. “Mom and Dad tried it last year, but neither are really computer savvy.”
She smirked and nodded. “I gathered that from the office at the house.” She smiled, a real smile that had his heart pounding. “That’s what I’ve been working on, cataloguing everything.”
Turning, she started clicking away on the computer, Gage had no idea what, mostly because he watched her more than the screen, and he was one of those tech illiterate people. He could text on his phone and program arms on the equipment, but put a mouse in his hand and his brain shut down.
“So, I linked the database I started at the house to the shop…”
He looked at the screen to see what she was explaining.
“If you need to search for a part, you type it in, if it’s in the database all the info will open.”
Grinning, he read the screen and saw the supplier info, part specs, count and several other tabs. “You did all this?”
She gave him a cheeky grin. “All by my little self.” She waved a hand at the screen. “It’s not complete, not by a long shot, but it’s a good start.” Tapping the folders on the desk, she raised her eyes and looked at him. “As soon as I clean up your mess, I’ll start entering stuff here. I’m only going back through the last year though; anything older would be useless.”
He was so distracted watching the animation as she spoke, he didn’t realize she was just staring at him. He cleared his throat. “You learn all this at school?”
Kelsey shrugged. “It wasn’t part of my major, but I took a few classes on the side.” She smiled. “So, I could finally show your dad the system I tried to talk him into using years ago.”
Gage laughed. “Well, he won’t be able to argue it if it’s already done.”
“Exactly.”
She sat there looking so pleased with herself, it was hard for him not to reach out and pull her close. “I’m proud of you, Kels.”
A surprised look appeared in her eyes. Shrugging it off, she motioned to the desk. “You get to help me go through all of this and refresh my memory for some of it.” She stood up and patted his shoulder. “And then you get to get out of my way.”
Moving past, he wondered if she realized she’d just touched him when she didn’t have to. Standing slowly, he was afraid to do anything that would set her off, he lifted his hands. “What do you need me to do?”