Unlikely Knight

Chapter One

The break room was empty except for Gwen and the crumbs falling down her shirt as she took the first bite of her granola bar. Inside her bra, they were digging uncomfortably into her skin. It didn't help that she was annoyed because she'd forgotten her lunch back at her apartment in the first place. She grimaced and put the granola bar down, wondering how long it had been in the vending machine. She brushed the crumbs from the assignment in front of her that had her in such a frazzled state that she was making stupid mistakes, like forgetting her lunch. Gwen tried to adjust her bra inconspicuously, hoping the assaulting crumbs would fall out of their place.

Breathing in heavily, she tried to forget about them and focused on her assignment, a soap advertisement for a class she was taking on her way to becoming a graphic designer. The project was to make a robust and compelling image that would make anyone go out and want to buy the product – even something as mundane as bar soap. It had taken six different sketches before she could settle on an idea she liked. And if it weren't for the store-wide contest that had just ended - with the winner receiving two tickets to Joust, a medieval knight show - she might not have come up with anything. She was a total sucker for anything to do with kings, queens, jousting, and old-time chivalry. She'd been dying to go ever since she'd heard about it. She didn't win; Tanner, a guy she worked with won instead. She was happy for him, even if she was a tiny bit jealous. Tanner had been asking Gwen out for months, but something about him made her unsure if she wanted to date him. She wished she could have pinpointed it instead of sitting on the fence and coming up with pathetic excuses as to why she couldn't go out for dinner or drinks with him each time he asked. 

She looked at the almost finished image of a knight in his typical shining armor in front of her. He was spattered with mud and standing under a rain cloud lathering himself up. She had captioned it with, "Sometimes even your knight in shining armor needs a little clean up."

Satisfied with how her drawing was coming along, she wiggled uncomfortably in the plastic chair, the crumbs digging in. She put the pencil crayon down. Her eyes darted around the room as she bit her lip. Feeling confident no one would come in, she unbuttoned her shirt past her bra. Her hand quickly reached down and swiped the crumbs from one side of her bra as she breathed a sigh of relief. She went to get rid of the ones from the other side when the break room door swung open.  A guy she had never seen before stormed in, noticing her immediately, his eyes immediately dropping down to her open shirt.

Gwen slowly removed the fingers from her bra and coughed under the amused wide-eyed stare of the stranger. 

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked. The thirsty grin on his face told Gwen everything she needed to about him, but still, she blushed under the gaze.

"Crumbs, stupid crumbs," said Gwen, stammering over her words. She cursed herself, especially since she couldn't decide if it was because he was jaw-dropping hot or because she was so embarrassed she had been caught. "Who are you?" she asked, quickly fumbling over her buttons.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he answered, catching Gwen off guard.

"Great," she mumbled to herself.  He's good-looking and knows it. She pulled on her coat, zipping it up to her chin. "You know that customers aren't allowed back here," she added, noticing he was not wearing the typical red button-down shirt and khakis every employee was required to wear. Instead, he was dressed in a white v-neck t-shirt that showed off the tattoos on his defined arms and a pair of worn jeans that hung loosely around his hips.

"I am painfully aware of that."  

Gwen was unsure if that meant he worked there or not. People were always coming and going, and sometimes it was hard to tell.