True Nature

11

"Oh my gosh..." The unlikeliness of hearing that high-pitched, girlish gasp escaping Natasha's lips had me tilting my head back over my shoulder, baffled. My focus shifted from the tired coffee machine I was desperately trying to force to cooperate and landed on the entrance door, jaw nearly falling to the floor at the drool-worthy sight that greeted me there. For the record I wanted to disagree with her breathy murmur, but I couldn't be 100% sure that a little drool didn't escape my lips at that moment.

Tobias stood by the door in all his potent glory looking...well, ready to murder someone actually. Or, I supposed, looking more murderous than usual in his effortless, sexy way. He was dressed fashionably all in black, but his crew-neck jumper and jeans were utterly drenched with rainwater, dripping with enough that a small puddle was forming at the tips of his worn, black boots. He looked so put out by his situation that I struggled to repress a smile. His dark hair clung appealingly to the sides of his face, raindrops trailing down his sharp jaw and on to the strong column of his throat. He looked up at me through the droplets of water catching on his eyelashes and my breath caught in my throat at the seductive sight of him. He looked like some demonic angel on a mission with sinful intentions.

My heart began to palpitate dangerously as he started walking towards me. Dazed and out of sorts, I stupidly forgot what I was doing and didn't register the faint burring sound of the coffee machine running again until it was too late. I gasped, my eyes filling up with tears of pain as the mug I had been attempting to fill with coffee overfilled onto my hand, scalding it instantly. I released the cup hastily onto the counter and dashed over to the sink to run the burn under cold water. "Damn." I swore in frustration glancing down at the back of my hand which was slowly turning an angry red colour. A second later, strong masculine fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled my hand up into the light from the window to be examined. Tobias growled slightly under his breath, looking irked.

"Can't you be careful for once? Why are you always so clumsy?" He muttered under his breath, exasperated, but still loud enough for me to hear. "Every time I see you, you've befallen some kind of disaster." He put my hand back under the cold tap water and then moved to gently touch my neck, scanning it intently. I shied away, uncomfortable at his proximity and the intimate touch of his big, warm hand against such a vulnerable area. I had chosen to wear a collared shirt this morning to try and cover up the ring of bruises, but it was no easy task hiding the widespread damage. My neck looked terrible. "You fell over the first time we met too." He carried on. "And judging by the fact that you looked as though you'd been dragged through a bush backward then, I'm guessing it wasn't the first time that day either."

I sent him a dirty look out of the corner of my eye. Admittedly, the fall in the woods had been mostly my fault, my mind away with the fairies as usual. But as far as I was concerned, he was partly to blame for most of the disasters that had occurred since then. First, tripping in the corridor, then breaking plates at work and, now, spilling coffee and burnt fingers. Yep, definitely his fault. He was far too distracting for his own good.

"Are you ok?" Natasha asked worriedly, hurrying over to take a look at my hand. "I'll go get you some ice!" She breathed in concern and we watched as she slipped out, racing off to get ice from the freezer out back. Too aware of Tobias looming at my side to pretend otherwise, I left my hand to cool under the running tap, and reluctantly twisted my body around to face his direction.

"Can I help you?" I winced internally at how robotic I sounded. I highly doubted he was here for coffee.

He didn't comment though. "We need to talk." He hummed, expression cool. "I've come to pick you up."

I looked at him astonished. "But I can't just leave! Its only half 3 and my shift doesn't finish until 6." He couldn't be serious.

"Tell them something urgent came up. We have important matters to discuss." He shrugged nonchalantly.

I was getting ticked off at his domineering attitude. "You can't just show up at my workplace and expect me to leave with you because you say so." I said reasonably, working to keep my tone even.

"Sure, I can. Doesn't look like they need you here right now anyway." He stated, glancing around at all the empty tables with a small smirk on his lips. He was annoyingly not wrong. The cafe had been dead all day, no doubt due to the torrential rain going on outside, and at the moment we had exactly one customer. Archie, a local in his 60s, had been sat in one of the window seats for over two hours now and had told me twice already (with absolutely no prompting) that he wouldn't be leaving until the rain stopped, despite the fact that I told him it wasn't due to end until the early hours of tomorrow morning. Apparently, him and his wife had had a fall out over breakfast this morning and he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.

"That's not the point-" Tobias interrupted me before I could get any further.

"You owe me an explanation." He reminded me quietly, his gaze full of purpose.

I was saved from answering though as, thankfully, Natasha came back carrying an ice-filled towel in her grip. "Thanks Nat." I smiled gratefully at her, sighing with relief as the ice began to ease the ache in my palm. Her next words though had me revoking my gratitude pronto.

"Ms Hudson says you can take the rest of the day off if you like!" She beamed at me. "It'll be harder to work with a sore hand and the cafe's dead so..." She trailed off, nonplussed at the 'dear caught in headlights' look I was inadvertently sending her way.

"Excellent." Tobias nodded briskly, with a satisfied look. "My car's out front." He turned to me in expectation.

There was no escape, I thought, giving up. "Alright. I'm coming." Sighing, I scribbled down my work hours and grabbed my thin rain jacket from its hanger in the small utility room. Slipping it on, I waved to Nat who watched us go with a dreamy look on her face, and grudgingly followed Tobias out into the downpour.