Page 8 of The Shapeshifter’s Secretary (Charmed Away Temp Agency #3)
CHAPTER EIGHT
It’d been two days since Tony’s fall at the restaurant, and Taron was worried that he’d still not gotten any better. He’d refused to go home that afternoon, forcing himself to finish out the workday despite the pain Taron could see in his eyes. And he showed up bright and early the next morning. Taron found himself hovering, and he couldn’t make himself leave his office for the life of him. He didn’t want Tony moving any more than he had to.
Picking up his desk phone, he dialed Avery’s extension. He said he’d figure out what to do about Tony’s desk chair the other day, but never got back to him. The smaller seat obviously wasn’t helping, based on how often Tony shifted uncomfortably. Taron may or may not have left his office door open so he could watch over his assistant and saw his discomfort.
The phone rang at least a dozen times, but Taron wasn’t deterred. He let it keep ringing until an annoyed and a little breathless voice answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Avery. I was wondering–”
“If this isn’t life or death, then I swear I’m going to hurt you,” Ozen warned in the background. Obviously, Taron had interrupted something. Not that he minded so much. If he avoided calling his friends whenever they were with their mates, he’d never see them again. Besides, they were at the office. They should leave that stuff to when they were at home.
“Life. We’ll go with life.” He spoke to both of them, since, obviously, Ozen could hear him. “Avery told me he’d ask around about getting a new desk chair for my assistant. He’s still in pain from the other day, and I don’t like that he’s experiencing added discomfort.”
“Oh. I forgot about that,” Avery said sheepishly. “Give me an hour, and I’ll find something, okay?”
Taron resisted the urge to complain. He couldn’t fault Avery for forgetting, the little author was very busy, and it wasn’t his job to act as assistant anymore. But Taron couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed. If he knew who to call, he would’ve done it himself. Unfortunately, the only person aside from Avanna who he thought to call was Avery. Who forgot. Ugh.
“Hold on. What are we talking about?” Ozen demanded.
While Avery filled him in, Taron leaned to see his assistant a little better. Since he rarely hung around here very often, he didn’t mind the wall between his and his assistant’s desk. Now that Tony was around, it bothered him that he couldn’t see the man. Maybe he’d have that wall removed. Or at least replaced with glass like Tony’s office wall. That way, he could check on him no matter what he was doing.
“Taron, office supplies are handled by the secretary pool,” Ozen interrupted Taron’s train of thought, his voice gruff but less annoyed than before. “I’ll have Collette handle it, and a new chair will be delivered by the end of the day.”
Relief flooded him. “Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ll let you get back to your canoodling. Tata for now.”
He hung up, pushing out of his seat and stretching his arms over his head. He was feeling a little restless. Maybe a walk would do him good. It was nearly lunch time. He could pick something up for Tony and get back here before the man even noticed. Taron had seen Tony’s sad little lunch the day before. It wasn’t nearly enough for someone his size. More was obviously better, and there was a lovely sandwich shop across the street that Isaac introduced him to. He wondered what Tony would prefer from there or if he should just surprise him.
Before he could sneak out, Tony stopped him, his tone bemused. “Going for a walk?”
Spinning around, Taron flashed him an innocent smile. “A short one, yes. Did you need anything while I’m gone? I can pick it up for you.”
Tony’s brows drew together in that adorable confused face he made. It always made Taron smile.
“I’m your assistant. Not the other way around. And you’ve got a phone meeting in like ten minutes. Did you want me to transfer it to your cell phone, or is it better to stay here?”
Taron’s shoulders slumped. He’d forgotten about that. He wanted to spoil Tony a little, not schmooze a potential investor.
“Any chance that call can be moved?” he pleaded.
Tony smirked, shaking his head. “Not without making the company look really bad. Ten minutes isn’t enough time to change the schedule. It shouldn’t take that long, should it?”
No… But by the time he was done, it’d be lunch time and Tony would already be eating his sad little lunch. Ugh. He needed an assistant specifically so he could spoil his assistant. Would Ozen let him have two assistants? That’d actually be kind of nice. He wouldn’t worry so much about Tony overdoing it. Watching him carry a stack of copies back to his desk the day before had given Taron white hairs.
Tony tipped his head, which knocked Taron back into reality. Right. He’d asked him a question.
“It’ll be at least an hour. Do you need anything before the call?”
Another flash of amusement. Okay, so maybe he hovered a little. Who could blame him? Tony was adorable and injured, and Taron felt a distinct and very new urge to take care of him. Normally, it was the other way around. He needed people watching out for him to keep him on track. Now he was side tracked by taking care of someone else. Ozen would be proud if he wasn’t so annoyed that Taron was trying to shirk his duties to try and duck out to order lunch for his assistant.
“I’m okay. Thanks for asking. Do you need anything?”
A date. With Tony. And perhaps a trip to the doctor to do something about the wincing. His assistant tried to mask it, but as a shapeshifter, Taron was excellent at reading subtle facial expressions. The poor man was in pain and it drove Taron nuts that he couldn’t do anything about it.
Since it was unlikely that he could have either of those things, Taron went after something he could get more easily and felt as necessary as the rest of it.
“Just another one of your gorgeous smiles to tide me over. I’ll have to close my door for this meeting, and I’ll be in there all alone without your glorious presence to brighten my day.”
Okay, so maybe he was flirting a little. A lot. He was flirting a lot. He couldn’t help himself. Especially when it made Tony blush like that. Still, he got what he asked for when a small smile flitted across the man’s face, even as he ducked his head to hide it. So precious. What he would do to be able to take that man home.
“You spoil me, a thaisce. I’ll be in my office. Let me know if you need anything.”
The meeting went well, despite Taron being distracted and annoyed that he couldn’t see his assistant. He wrote a note while on the call to see about replacing that wall with glass because he hated being separated like that.
He went looking for Tony the minute he hung up, grumbling to himself when he noticed Tony’s desk was empty. Of course, it didn’t take him long to find him. Tony was too injured to go far. He was in the breakroom, carefully leaning over to grab his bagged lunch from the fridge. Taron watched him like a hawk, worried leaning over like that would hurt him, but he straightened easily enough and didn’t even jump when he noticed Taron watching him.
“How’d it go?”
A layer of tension he hadn’t realized he’d had slipped from Taron’s shoulders, and he relaxed, smiling at his assistant. “Good. When you’re done with your lunch, I’ll have you join me so we can write up notes on it and send it down to Isaac to draw up the contract.”
“Should we do that right away? You don’t think you’ll forget parts?”
He probably missed parts just because he was so distracted, but he was sure he had the gist of it, and he didn’t want to interrupt Tony’s lunch. “It’ll be fine. The contract won’t be that complicated. Eat your lunch.” Anxiety rippled through him as he watched his assistant lower himself with a pained grimace into a chair to eat. He couldn’t just sit there any longer. It would drive him insane.
“I need to make a phone call. Enjoy your meal.”
He spun on his heel, hurrying back to his office before he completely lost his cool and carried the poor man off to the nearest hospital. Humans might not have good insurance, but employees of Spellbound did. And even if they didn’t, Taron could afford to get Tony the care he needed. He just hoped he didn’t chase the man away in the process.
He dropped into the chair behind his desk, picking up the phone and dialing out to a number he rarely used. Most supes avoided physicians like the plague. Taron especially didn’t like people using their magic on him. It gave him the willies. But this call wasn’t for him. He didn’t know much about healing magic and humans, but it was worth a shot.
“Doctor Chapman’s office, how can I help you?” a feminine voice said in greeting.
“Good afternoon. This is Taron Cunningham. I’m calling to request a home visit from Doctor Chapman. Today, if possible.”
The druid would be used to making house calls. Some supes were secretive by nature and didn't want anyone to know they were being seen by healers, so they requested the physicians come to them instead. It was more discreet than going into a public office.
“Is this an emergency?” the woman queried.
Not technically. But Taron wasn’t willing to wait. It was Friday. He didn’t want Tony suffering all weekend long.
“It’s not an emergency, but it’s urgent. I’m willing to pay for him to come after hours if necessary.”
Ugh. It’d be a hell of a payment, too. For normal appointments, you paid with money like everyone else. But if you requested special favors, you had to offer special payments in exchange.
The woman hummed, and he could hear clacking like she was typing on a keyboard before she spoke again. “After hours isn’t necessary. He has a free hour at four p.m. Does that work for you?”
Awesomesauce. That meant he didn't have to stall Tony from going home because his shift didn’t end until five. “That’s perfect, thank you. I’ll request that he come to my office, if you don’t mind, and I’ll have a badge waiting for him up front.” He rattled off the address, though Doctor Chapman had been to Spellbound before and already knew where he was going.
“Alright, I have that appointment scheduled. He’ll see you in a few hours. Have a pleasant afternoon, Mr. Cunningham.”
“Thank you.”
He hung up, relief making him slouch in his seat. He might be overstepping a little bit, Tony hadn’t ever offered anything about his injury besides explaining his limitations, but Taron was sure with enough pouting, the sweet man would forgive him. Hopefully, anyway.