I’d know.
With a groan, she grabbed the vacuum back off the cart and knelt down so she could stick the tube under the shelving.
As she vacuumed, something made a pinging noise in the tube. Crap. Was the universe trying to make things difficult for her, or what? Knowing she’d feel guilty if she didn’t check, she started to open the vacuum. She’d just check the bag for whatever had been sucked up then go. It was probably nothing. She pulled out the bag. With a grimace, she stuck her hand inside.
“So gross, so gross,” she muttered to herself, then she felt it. She grabbed hold of something.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She screeched and pulled her hand, along with half the fluff stuck in the bag, free. She coughed as she stared up at the man glaring down at her.
She just blinked at him, too shocked by his presence to be scared. How had she not heard him enter? Who was he? And why was he glaring down at her like she’d just murdered his dog?
She ran her gaze over him, taking in the expensive suit, the neat hair, and his deeply tanned skin. He was probably quite handsome when he wasn’t scaring defenceless women half to death.
“Who are you?” she snapped. A good offence was the best defence, right?
“Shouldn’t that be my line?”
It should?
“I’m cleaning this office, obviously. What’s your excuse?” Okay, she needed to chill. But getting scared half to death tended to make her grumpy.
“My excuse is that this is my damn office. And I expressly told Elsa to keep the cleaning staff out.”
Oh, shit. She swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat.
“I’m sorry. I was . . .” she trailed off, not wanting to get Gloria in trouble. After all, the other woman had swapped shifts to help her out. Although the fact she’d told her to clean this office when it was clear this man did not want anyone in here made Kinley suspicious.
“I was under the mistaken impression you wanted it cleaned.”
“I don’t.”
Really, was there any need for him to be so snarly? So she was cleaning his office? What was the big deal? There wasn’t even a hint of anything personal in here.
“And it doesn’t look like you’re doing much cleaning. You’ve made a huge mess.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from pointing out she’d only made the mess because he’d snuck up on her and frightened her half to death.
“I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up.”
He grunted. “Who are you? What’s your name?”
She sighed, resigned to the fact that she was probably going to lose her job. “Kinley Stevens. I just started working here two weeks ago.”
He just stared at her with those dark eyes.
“Um, I’ll just vacuum this up and get out of your way.” She went to put the vacuum back together and realized she still held whatever it was that had gone up the pipe in her hand. She studied the item in her hand.
It was a cuff link. She held it up. “Is this yours?”
He stared at her for a moment, and a small shiver worked its way up her spine from that cold glare. He wasn’t a big man. His shoulders were slim, and she was pretty certain he wouldn’t be much taller than she was. But he had an aura of command about him.
He snatched the cuff link from her hand. “Get out.”
Jeez. Hadn’t his mother taught him to say thank you? Ungrateful asshole.
“I’ll just clean—”