Page 48 of Damaged Protector
“We’ve got about thirty minutes,” Hawk said. “Let me show you around.” He tapped on a wooden door with a gold nameplate that read Diaz, and a male voice called for us to enter.
The office inside had two large dark-wood desks set facing each other. A woman rose from one, her long black hair, braided down her back. Her brown skin had a slightly reddish undertone, and her high cheekbones indicated that she was probably of Native American descent.
When she walked toward us, her gait was slightly off, and I glanced down to see a prosthetic right leg peeking from beneath her trousers.
“I’m Tazanna Diaz, but you can call me Taz,” she said with her hand outstretched. We shook, and then she aimed her thumb over her shoulder. “That hottie back there is my husband, Woody.”
He stood and came to stand beside his wife. Woody Diaz was about six feet tall, a handsome Latino man with dark, wavy hair. “You must be Mallori. We’ve heard so much about you from Cam.”
“Only the good stuff is true,” I quipped, and they both laughed.
Someone knocked on the door, and Taz almost knocked us all over to answer it. “That’s gotta be our Door Dash order from the amputee restaurant.”
The… um… what?
She took the order from the driver and carried two bags of food to her desk, filling the room with the aroma of pancakes and fried meat.
“Did you say the amputee restaurant?” I asked in confusion.
“Yep,” Taz said, opening a container and dumping about half a gallon of syrup inside. “IHOP.”
I almost choked on the laugh I attempted to swallow because I should not laugh at that!
“Told you that joke was lame,” Woody said, his lips curling into a smirk. “But I guess it’s better than the StubHub one.”
Unable to help myself, I allowed a small giggle to escape before covering my mouth with my fingertips. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
“It’s okay,” Hawk said. “You can laugh. Taz fancies herself as a bit of an amputee comedienne.”
“I’m fucking hilarious,” she said around a mouthful of pancake before narrowing her eyes at her husband. “And the StubHub joke is golden.”
“Mallori is going to physical therapy school in the fall,” Hawk informed them.
Taz’s eyes brightened. “Really? I had the best team of physical therapists and occupational therapists when I was learning to walk again. It really makes a difference when you’re surrounded by people who want you to succeed.”
“And ones who can put up with your crazy ass,” Woody said, though the affection in his voice was unmistakable.
Taz threw a biscuit at him, and it bounced off his forehead and onto the floor. He mumbled something under his breath while picking it up and tossing it into the trash can.
“What was that, dear husband?”
He turned to face her and crossed his arms over his wide chest. “I said, that was your biscuit, so don’t ask for mine.”
“But the baby loves biscuits,” she purred, blinking up at her husband with her almond-shaped brown eyes.
“Then the baby’s mama shouldn’t act like a brat,” he retorted.
“Here they go,” Hawk said from the corner of his mouth. “Let’s get out of here before we see something we can’t unsee.”
“What does that mean?” I asked once we were back in the corridor.
“They’ll go back and forth for a few more minutes, he’ll give her his biscuit, and then they’ll have make up sex on one of the desks.”
“Oh.” There wasn’t much more I could say to that.
“Happens a few times a week. I think they pick fights with each other on purpose so they can have naughty office sex.”
“So they’re expecting a baby?”