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Hepushed open the door and his eyes snapped to her, darting up and down her body as though searching for signs of harm.Hetook a step in her direction.Francescaput down her bat and turned away.Sherandomly moved some papers on the desk, afraid that he might try to do something stupid like hug her.Sheattributed the jump in her heart rate to post-burglary adrenaline.
Hisvoice edged with anger and concern, he asked, ‘Didthey hurt you?’
‘Iwasn’t here.’
‘Whatdid they get?’
Shefilled him in.
Hebent down and inspected the lighting stands. ‘Insured?’
‘Mostly.’
‘Whatdoes that mean?’Standingup, he pinned her with his umber gaze.
‘Itmeans that most of the thingsIhave are insured.Icouldn’t insure everything.Tooexpensive.’Unfortunately, that included her back ups.Theurge to curl up on the floor and hide almost overwhelmed her.Shefought it, forcing herself to stand straighter instead.
Heshook his head and muttered something under his breath.
Shecrossed her arms. ‘Ifyou’re going to be like that, then you can leave.’
Krishmirrored her body language. ‘Noway.We’repacking up and taking your things over to my new office.Van’soutside.’
‘Whatnew office?’
‘Isigned the lease yesterday.’
‘Thanks,Krish.ButI’mfine here.Itold youI’mnot working with you.’
Hethrew his hands up in the air. ‘Francesca.Thenew unit is secure.It’salarmed.Youcan’t leave your stuff here.Halfyour door is missing.’
Annoyingly, he was right.Thethieves had done a great job of cutting through all her padlocks and they’d taken a chunk out of the door when they’d kicked it in.Anemergency locksmith would be expensive.Moneyshe didn’t have on top of the cost of data retrieval and the pest control.Damn.
‘Ugh.’
‘Isthat a yes?’
Neitherof them moved, and after a pause, he said in a higher-pitched voice, ‘Thankyou,Krish, for dropping everything and coming to help me.I’mso grateful even thoughI’mreally crap at showing it.’
Sheclicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, but the ghost of a smile hovered on her lips.Healways knew how to make her laugh.
Hecontinued in a deeper voice, ‘That’sokay,Francesca.Mypleasure.Whatare friends for?’
‘Thank.You.’Sheenunciated each word and performed a sarcastic curtsey. ‘Mysaviour.’
‘You’rewelcome,’ he said, bowing over his praying hands.
Shebet he was loving that he could help her.Anothernotch on his chivalric belt.Thisrobbery wasn’t leaving her many choices with the dent it would put in her savings.Evenso, she said, ‘I’mgoing to pay you rent money untilIcan get this cleared up.’
‘Really, don’t worry about it.’
‘No,Krish,Iinsist.’
‘Ifit makes you happy.’Blowingout a weighty breath, he dropped to his knees, crawled under her desk, and unplugged the remaining monitors. ‘Let’sget started.I’vegot boxes in the van.’
‘Wheredid you get a van so quickly?’
‘It’sConnor’s.’
