Collins logged out of her tablet and tucked it away into the safe beneath her desk. She dusted off her business skirt as she headed for the door of Pepper's office and knocked gently before poking her head in.
"Do you need anything else, Miss Potts?" she asked once she had the older woman's attention.
"Actually…" Pepper blinked at her before rubbing a hand over her face. She looked more tired than usual, which concerned Collins. She wasn't aware of any issues with publicity or the Avengers team at the current time. "I could use your help with something."
"Of course." Collins agreed at once. Her brow furrowed.
Whatever was bothering Pepper had to be serious if the woman was asking for her help after office hours. After so many years working around the clock for Mister Stark, Pepper tried to ensure that Collins got an appropriate amount of personal time to destress from work.
"Would you mind having dinner with me upstairs?" Pepper widened her eyes beseechingly.
Collins' jaw dropped with surprise.
"With the Avengers?"
She had hardly met the team, and not even the whole team at that. It would be terribly awkward to sit down for a meal with them.
"It'll just be me and you while we work. I'd rather not discuss it here." Pepper assured her.
Collins felt some of the weight on her shoulders lift.
Pepper on the other hand, looked heavy-hearted.
"Miss Potts?" Collins moved into the office entirely now, shutting the door behind her and taking a seat before Pepper's desk.
Whether she had to bless out Mister Stark or face down the Board of Directors, Collins was prepared to go to battle for her boss. Pepper was the nicest and most considerate employer she'd ever had – and for that Collins could put aside her manners and show her butt to get things done.
"I'll explain upstairs." Pepper deflected. "Please trust me on this?"
"Always, ma'am." Collins offered Pepper a smile that turned into a grin when the expression on the CEO's face lightened.
"Thank you, Collins." Pepper said sincerely. "Meet me at the penthouse in half-an-hour or so? Feel free to dress comfortably - I'll be in pajamas."
"Hehe, I look forward to seeing your jammies. I expect them to be covered in Arc Reactors or I'll be disappointed." Collins teased, only half-joking. Pepper would be a sight in Iron Man man themed pjs.
The women split ways and Collins headed downstairs while Pepper took the elevator up.
Like so many of the SI employees who worked in the Avengers Tower, Collins lived on-site in the lower level apartments. It was a generously sized space and part of her package for working for Pepper. Settled on the corner of her floor, Collins had an extra large balcony that was - thankfully - on the front of the building and not adjacent to the obnoxiously large billboard on the backside of the Tower.
Collins hurried off the elevator and practically dove through her front door in her haste to be home. Despite being on a short schedule, she couldn't help but collapse on her couch once she was inside.
There was a shuffling sound from somewhere behind her, but she only turned her head lazily towards the sound.
A quiet jingling preceded the arrival of a little orange tabby, who leapt to the back of the couch and peered down at Collins. He blinked slowly at her and mewed.
"Hey, Ollie." She greeted him with a scratch behind the ears. "Sorry I can't stick around tonight. Be a good boy and take care of the house for me? If you're still here when I get back, you can spend the night."
In truth, Oliver wasn't really Collins' cat. He was a sweet stray who lingered around the hallways of the residential floors and found his way onto Collins' balcony at odd times in the night.
She had gotten into the habit of leaving the sliding door cracked for him if he found his way onto the balcony during the day and even left cat food and water out for him. It might have seemed foolish to some to care for a stray cat that likely belonged to someone else, but Collins adored the affectionate feline too much to shoo him away.
She had come first to California and then New York on her own and had no family closeby. She was too busy to care for a pet of her own, so if she had to mooch love off of someone else's cat, she'd do so gladly.
She needed some sort of connection to look forward to.
So, maybe she babied Oliver a bit too long before she could no longer stall. She rushed through her shower, skipping her hair for the night, and donned a well-worn T-shirt and a soft pair of sleep shorts that fell to mid-thigh.
She grabbed up her iPad and slipped on a pair of Nike slides and moved to leave. She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder for a last onceover of the apartment, and hurried back in towards her bookshelf. She bounced on one foot, scanning over her well worn collection before finding what she was looking for.
Collins only had one copy of Poe's works, a pair of teal books embossed with dull golden ink on the side and cover, but hesitated over the mass produced copy of The Lord of the Rings. She made a face and braced herself before selecting her box set that included The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, all bound in pale green hardcover with an illustration of Smaug and the Lonely Mountain.
She hoped Mister Cooper would appreciate the choice - and that he would be there for her to make good on her promise - and tucked them into her bag as well before heading back out and up the elevator to rejoin Pepper.
She found herself pushing the time limit a bit, but Collins didn't think Pepper would mind too much.
"Knock, knock?" Collins called out as she stepped off the elevator.
"Hey, Doolittle!" Mister Stark called jovially as she rounded the corner to the living room. He grinned at her and offered her a high five. "Come to hang with the big boys? Say, have you met Cap?"
Captain America smiled at her awkwardly as Mister Stark dragged him closer and presented him to Collins like a father giving his daughter a new doll.
Collins stifled a snicker and waved at the tall blond.
"I haven't had the opportunity yet. Collins Cunningham, sir." she said lightly, trying not to be too weirded out by a literal textbook hero.
"Steve." he corrected quietly. "None of that sir stuff needed."
He offered her his hand and Collins shook it firmly. Something about him reminded her of her grandfather and her face softened.
"Steve." she reaffirmed. She looked behind them at the third man waiting in the kitchen. "Hi, Doctor Banner. How have you been?"
"As well as I can be." Doctor Banner jumped, not expecting Collins to address him. He fidgeted with his fork, eyes shifting between Collins and his plate like he couldn't decide which one merited more attention. He finally focused on Collins. "You, uh, cut your hair?"
"Oh, yes. My split ends were killing me." Collins blinked in surprise. It was a barely noticeable cut, no more than an inch or two to shape the style. She didn't think anyone would have noticed.
"It looks good." Doctor Banner lowered his eyes back to his plate, seemingly out of words.
"Indeed!" a familiar accent boomed from behind them and Thor grinned at them as he emerged from the hallway. He inclined his head to her. "Lady Collins is most fetching."
Collins blushed tomato red.
"Thanks, y'all." she coughed, casting her gaze around desperately. "Uh, is Pepper around?"
"She's waiting in the bedroom." Mister Stark took pity on her, though he seemed much too amused for his own good. He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at Collins playfully. "Not as sexy as it sounds - she's got paperwork for you."
Mister Stark would think something like that, what with his apparent allergy for paperwork. It was rather like positive and negative charges on a magnet. Wherever there was paperwork waiting, Mister Stark propelled himself away.
"You say that like some people don't have secretary kinks." Collins threw teasingly over her shoulder as she headed down the hall, waving at the boys.
Mister Stark's laughter rang out behind her, a quiet chuckle from Doctor Banner mixing in with the sound.
Collins smiled to herself as she came to a stop in front of the last door in the hallway, knocking quietly as she always did before sticking her head in.
"Miss Potts?" she asked again, just as she had earlier.
"Collins!" Pepper looked up from the pile of paperwork surrounding her on the bed. She waved the younger woman further in. "Come in. Get comfortable. I ordered your favorite Chinese food."
She pointed at a few little boxes resting on the table by the windows and Collins groaned appreciatively.
"And Mister Stark said this wasn't gonna be sexy." she muttered and collapsed into one of the plush sitting chairs by the table. She glanced over at Pepper to make sure she had her own food before digging into one of the containers.
"... I'm afraid to ask." Pepper stared at her before shaking her head. "Thank you for coming. I was too worried to talk about it in the office where anyone could barge in. I've found some… inconsistencies with our data. I need another pair of eyes to take a look."
Collins' brow furrowed and she hurried to swallow a bite of lo mein as she ran through the implications.
"Wouldn't Mister Stark or one of the SHIELD agents be better suited for this?" she asked seriously. If it was a breach in security in the matters of Iron Man or the Avengers, Collins would seriously be out of her league. She rarely worked in the matters of superheroes and the politics that came with them and wasn't sure what to look for in terms of their data records.
"They're not as familiar with the data as you are." Pepper shook her head and Collins was assured it was more of a Stark Industries matter from that statement alone. "I want to keep this as in-house as possible. I was hoping that it was just an error, but my gut tells me that it's more…"
Collins raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Sabotage?"
"I'm not sure. But I can't ignore my instincts after everything that went down with Ob-" Pepper caught herself. "With Stane."
Collins went still.
The catastrophe of Obadiah Stane had been long before her time with SI, but it seemed that the shadows of the past were still prominent with Pepper and Mister Stark after such a terrible betrayal.
"... of course." Collins agreed quietly, moving closer to the bed. "Where do we start, Miss Potts?"
Pepper watched her proudly.
"Good girl. You take this stack. Highlight anything that seems off to you."
"You got it, boss." Collins gave her a thumbs up and retreated back to the table with her papers to get started.
They worked long into the night, quiet in their single minded focus to find any blips in the system they were so familiar with. Their jobs weren't all organizing parties and cultivating the public image of their company, but going above and beyond for the company their lives revolved around in all its messy glory. There was a lot of work that Collins and even Pepper still did that often went unnoticed and unappreciated by the public, but too much of their time and effort had gone into the company for them to idly sit back and let someone try to sneak in with unknown intentions.
Collins was reminded of the weeks that followed Pepper's kidnapping and the time she and Mister Stark had been put on mandatory medical leave. Collins had forced her way back to their side and ran things as best she could while going between hospital rooms and temporary apartments as they all tried to pick up the piece of their lives lost in the destruction of the Malibu mansion.
Collins had left her family in the middle of the holidays for her work and, though she had felt guilty about cutting her time with her parents short, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. The look of relief on Pepper's face and the appreciation in Mister Stark's eyes had been more than enough reward for her work.
And the bonuses, but Collins felt like she was more than the material in that case.
"Making good progress?" Pepper whispered as she rose from the bed, stifling a groan as she stretched.
Collins startled and sighed. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she emerged from the trancelike state the seemingly endless lists of data had left her in.
"I think so." She murmured and handed Pepper her notes. "It looks like someone's been skimming off the top of the advertising department. It's barely enough to be noticeable, but SI is big on presentation. These numbers definitely don't match those standards."
Pepper frowned as she flipped through the papers, a rainbow of highlights marking out the odd activity and little comments from Collins littering the margins.
"Make a note to pull Sanders out tomorrow." Pepper ordered, handing the papers back to Collins to organize. "If she's noticed the same, she might have some suspicions or answers."
"Yes, ma'am." Collins nodded and used a binder clip to fasten the stack securely. "Also, there's something odd about these data records…"
"They're on your files, too?" Pepper interrupted her, a note of exasperation in her tone. She raked a frustrated hand through her hair, sending the strawberry blonde locks tumbling in disarray. "I'm seeing more data access for some employees that don't make sense. They haven't logged extra hours, so there's no reason for it."
Collins bobbed her head in agreement.
"It's so random, too. I've got reports of excessive access from everywhere from IT to HR." Her brow furrowed.
"Okay." Pepper sighed, raising her hands in surrender. "Let's take a breather and then come back and compile this. We'll finish up and continue from there tomorrow. I don't want to see you in the office until after lunch. You deserve a lie-in after this."
"Only if you do the same, Miss Potts." Collins grinned cheekily at her boss.
"If I make it through Hurricane Tony." Pepper snorted. "Who hasn't been up here to bother us at all… I'm going down to the lab to make sure he didn't blow himself up… Again."
"Sir is currently asleep at his station, Miss Potts." JARVIS' cool voice informed them. "Shall I wake him?"
"Thank you, JARVIS. I'll take care of him." Pepper deflected.
"Of course."
"In that case, I'll make myself some tea." Collins announced, standing with a yelp when her legs went shaky. She shook her head and caught herself on the edge of the table. "I need caffeine if we're gonna power through this."
The hallway was dimly lit, the hour much too late for the team to still be wandering around the floor, and was only illuminated by a pair of LED strips along the baseboards of the walls. Collins padded her way towards the kitchen slowly and silently, wary of accidentally waking someone.
So focused was she on staying quiet, she nearly missed the fact that the kitchen was already occupied.
The quiet clearing of a throat drew her gaze up to a familiar pair of green eyes.
She jumped in surprise, her mouth opening and closing in her best impersonation of a fish.
"Oh, hi there, Mister Cooper!" Collins exclaimed nervously. She winced and slapped a hand over her mouth at her loud volume, casting a wary look over her shoulder at the hallway.
No one stuck their head out of their rooms to yell at her, so she thought she was safe for the moment.
"Miss Cunningham." Mister Cooper greeted her, a hint of bewilderment in his expression. "What a pleasant surprise to find you in our kitchen this evening."
He was, like always, occupied with a book. This time, he seemed to be reading something a bit more modern while he enjoyed a late meal.
It was an odd hour to eat, Collins thought, glancing at the clock on the microwave that told her it was nearly midnight. But then again, this was New York, not Alabama. The hours kept here were an entirely different world from her little hometown which closed down at eight o'clock.
"A bit unusual for me, I know." Collins agreed and fidgeted awkwardly as she eyed the stove. She gestured towards the kitchen. "Do you mind if I make myself some tea?"
"Not at all." Mister Cooper waved her in and rested his chin in his palm, looking her over with interest. "Are you not working? I have yet to see you in such… casual dress."
He was one to talk. Despite the late hour, he was still dressed in day clothes, though for once not in the suit Collins had begun to associate him with. He still wore dark slacks, but had traded out his button ups and jackets for a black roll neck sweater the same shade as his hair. In the low light of the kitchen, the green of his eyes seemed darker and glassy, like shining marbles.
The most distracting part of his change in attire was the way he had pushed up the sleeves of his sweater, baring well-toned forearms that drove Collins to distraction.
"I am, actually." She cleared her throat, wondering what part of her brain found the sight of the veins in his arms attractive. Some latent vampire obsession from her youth, perhaps. "Pepper and I have been going over some paperwork, but out of the office calls for something a little more comfortable, don't you think?"
She made her way over to the cabinets, cursing her choice to wear shorts of all things when she had to look through the lower cabinets for the tea kettle.
"It becomes you." Mister Cooper mused, turning to watch her. "Even without the sleek manner in which you present yourself professionally, you are still a very winsome woman."
"O-oh, thank you, Mister Cooper." Collins stuttered, hiding her face behind the cabinet door. A vivid blush grew across her cheeks and she desperately cast her thoughts around for a way to change the subject. "Um, I have those books I promised you! Just a moment if you please."
She fled the kitchen at once, abandoning her tea kettle on the counter for the safety of Pepper's bedroom.
Collins took a moment to fan herself and blamed her sudden sensitivity on the late hour and lack of sleep. What good would it do her to swoon everytime Mister Cooper complimented her, especially since the man never seemed short of compliments for her.
She pulled the promised books from her bag and checked her reflection before heading back to the kitchen. At least her blush had begun to fade.
Mister Cooper's face lit up at the sight of so many new books and he accepted them from her reverently.
"Oh, my. That is lovely indeed." he praised, running a long finger over the gold lettering of one book. He grinned up at her from beneath his lashes. "You have my thanks for your generosity."
"You're very welcome, Mister Cooper." Collins managed without a stutter and offered a smile of her own, pleased with his reaction.
A comfortable silence fell between them as she returned to the tea kettle, Collins focused on her tea and Mister Cooper fixated on skimming the books she had presented him with.
It was almost domestic and for a very brief moment, Collins entertained the idea of having this for herself one day: spending a late night in the kitchen with her partner while they exchanged comments about their favorite books and shared a cup of tea.
She glanced wistfully at the book Mister Cooper had abandoned on the counter and wondered if it was another collection of poetry he might quote one day.
She wondered if she'd ever have someone like him to quote poetry to her.
"Forgive me if I overstep, Miss Cunningham," Mister Cooper interrupted her daydreams, "but do you often grace the Avengers with your presence at mealtimes?"
"Not often, no." Collins blinked at the sudden question. She shrugged. "I usually only come up if Pepper asks me. Even then, we usually end up eating in her and Tony's room. It's a bit awkward being a regular gal eatin' dinner with superheroes."
She stared blankly at the wall, the idea of sitting squished between Thor and Steve making her shudder with anxiety. She'd probably do something embarrassing like choke on her soda and have it squirt out her nose.
She made a face as she pulled the tea kettle from the stove.
"I can see your point. It is their loss, then, to be deprived of one so clever as you." Mister Cooper mused, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Surely one of the Avengers has a keen eye enough to see the treasure before them?"
"Oh, um, heh…" Collins raised her eyebrows so high they were in danger of becoming one with her hairline. Was he suggesting she was a potential girlfriend for someone on the team? How would that even make sense? She deflected the idea. "I wouldn't know about that. The guys are charming in their own way, but I'm not disillusioned enough to try and catch their eye."
Surely they would want someone with a stronger personality and a more athletic drive than a bookworm masquerading as a personal assistant. Even her job title suggested that she was more of a follower than a leader - a superhero should have a partner capable of standing strong at their side and be able to take charge when they needed to.
"Such humbleness." Mister Cooper tsked. He was intent on following that line of conversation. "I believe you're underestimating your worth, my dear. But I find it hard to accept that none of these… fine young men have caught your eye. Thor, perhaps? Or maybe the gallant Captain America?"
"Oh dear god, no!" Collins blanched at the idea.
The horrible memory of state required PE videos was enough to give her both second hand embarrassment and the familiar dread that came from being expected to run a mile in a small time frame.
She wished she had been brave enough to skip school during those days.
"My, what staunch refusal." Mister Cooper laughed. "Surely you have more patriotism than that!"
"I'm plenty patriotic, but Steve's much too 'golden boy' for my taste." Collins snorted, pouting at the idea.
Actually, when she thought about it, Mister Stark had been quick to introduce her to both Thor and Steve. Was he just being a good host, or did he think her type was tall, blond and built, too?
"Oho? Does the good little girl in her tower carry a torch for the roguish type?" Mister Cooper teased, a wicked gleam in his eyes. His smile quirked up to a rakish degree and Collins felt her heart skip a beat at the sight.
"What do you know of me to decide if I'm a good girl or not?" she tried to quip back, but the words were too breathy and a touch besotted for the intended effect.
"Are you inviting me to find out, darling?" he challenged, leaning forward out of his chair like he intended to chase her down.
Collins blushed red again and turned to fumble with the cabinets. She chose a mug and hurried to put her tea together so she wouldn't have to meet his eyes.
"What's with the sudden interest in my love life, anyway?" she asked shrilly. She coughed and tried to adjust her tone to something more playful than distressed. "Am I just that dull?"
"On the contrary - I find it difficult to believe one such as yourself doesn't have an army of suitors waiting at her door." Mister Cooper, it seemed, was bound and determined to keep her just on this side of bumbling bashfulness.
It would be up to her to force a change of subject.
Her eyes squinted thoughtfully. Maybe she could throw him for a loop too.
"Oliver would never let them in." she said slyly, watching him from the corner of her eye. "He's very possessive."
Mister Cooper sat up a bit straighter, frowning a bit before his expression smoothed back out into passive interest.
"... oh?" he asked lightly.
"Yes, he's terrible about any dates I have." She turned away from him, biting her lip to hide a smile as she stirred some sugar into her mug. She would have preferred a glass of cold, sweet tea, but she found she often had to make do on her own in New York. "If I'm gone too long he'll yell and leave scratches all over my legs."
Mister Cooper bristled at once, rising to his feet with eyes flashing. He drew close to Collins and took her by the elbow, his touch deceptively gentle.
"He dares to lay a hand on you?!" he growled in a surprisingly soft voice. "Where is this cretin that I might give him something to truly bellow about!"
"Right now? He's in my apartment." Collins struggled to keep a straight face. His concern and outrage was touching, but she was too far into her joke. "You can't miss him - he's about a foot long and covered in bright orange hair."
"... I beg your pardon?" Mister Cooper stared at her blankly, his brow furrowing as indignation was replaced with confusion.
"I'm teasin' you, Mister Cooper." Collins bit her lip to stifle a cheeky grin. She laid a hand on his arm in an attempt to soothe him. "Oliver's my cat. Or, rather, a stray that's attached himself to me."
Mister Cooper stared at her a moment longer, touching her hand for a second, before turning away with a huff. He seemed put out with her, but the corners of his eyes had crinkled with barely hidden amusement.
"Hilarious." he rolled his eyes as he returned to his seat, leaning over the countertop and pointedly looking away from Collins.
"I'm sorry. It's my little payback for insinuating Steve's my type. Now, would a good girl do that?" Collins snickered as she teased him. She joined him at the counter with her tea in hand, choosing to keep an empty barstool between them for propriety's sake. "Still, it is nice to know I'd have someone in my corner if that was the case."
"After that bout of mischief, I may reconsider, darling." Mister Cooper warned her. There was a twinkle in his eyes, once again a pale jade.
"And here I thought you were a knight in shining armor." Collins ribbed, her upper body twisting so she could watch him better.
He did the same, pressing a hand to his heart. "You wound me, Miss Cunningham. Am I not of a more princely manner?"
"Well, you're sure confident of yourself, at the very least."
"You have no idea."
They grinned at each other and a comfortable silence fell between them as Mister Cooper rose to dispose of his dinner and Collins enjoyed her tea, lulled into a sense of drowsiness.
She longed for cool bed sheets and a plush pillow and hoped that she and Pepper could finish up their work quickly so she could get back home.
"Very well," Mister Cooper interrupted the quiet, "tell me what kind of man catches your eye if you're so stout as to be elusive of romance."
Collins blinked lethargically and her tired brain struggled to catch up with the sudden reemergence of their previous conversation.
It was unlikely… but could Mister Cooper be so invested in her love life because he was interested in her?
Collins turned her face up to look at him.
He had returned to the counter, but stood standing, his hip resting against the barstool while he watched her. He looked almost like a cat ready to pounce, his pupils wide and bent forward a bit to watch her response closely.
Collins sat up a bit straighter beneath such intense scrutiny.
"Um, I don't know…" she bit her lip thoughtfully, tugging at a stray curl of hair. "I really don't think about dating since I'm always busy. Kind, I guess? To me and others that deserve it. Someone who respects me enough to not argue me to death about my views or my work ethic. I went out on a date once with a guy who thought he could turn me to dreaming about being a housewife after one night."
She had no desire to be a housewife. She respected her mother for it and knew it was no walk in the park like so many thought, but Collins needed a fast paced and busy lifestyle to avoid the ennui of life. She was nowhere near ready for settling down with a family and wanted to do so much, visit so many places before it became difficult to pack up and go when the urge struck her. She enjoyed the serenity of a private home without someone to fight with over chores and decor.
Whatever nice, Christian boy her family hoped for her to fall in love with and start popping out babies with wasn't in her plans.
"So seems to be the trend here." Mister Cooper mused, making a face. "It is a shame so many women are belittled for having a love and a passion for their crafts."
"You're tellin' me." Collins snorted, relieved that he could understand the point. She felt a little more at ease sharing her opinion now. Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in. "I don't think so many women would end up jaded if they were treated with real acknowledgement for their thoughts and interests. I've often been told my love for Lord of the Rings was fake and I was just tryin' to impress some guy. I'm not interested in someone who can't see the story past 'roadtrip with swords and axes'. I get so disappointed when someone lies and says they appreciate the same things I do when all they want is to get in my pants."
She woke up a little more towards the end of her rant and turned her face back to Mister Cooper sheepishly, wondering if she had shared too much of herself.
But he only nodded in agreement, sitting back down, this time in the seat Collins had left between them.
"I've known the type." he confided bitterly. "Fanciful women who know nothing more than my face or station and have no further interest in educating themselves to show a true connection."
"Miss Bingleys, all of them." Collins nodded sagely, reminded of an early scene from her favorite love story.
"I'm afraid I don't follow."
Collins froze, turning to Mister Cooper with wide eyes.
Could she have heard that right?
"... sir, you have just broken my heart immendably." she breathed, leaning away from him. Her brow furrowed in exaggerated distress. "What hope have we now for friendship now after such a faux pas? And I thought you to be well-read in literature."
"Oh dear," he chuckled and began grinning at her dramatic display. His eyes sparkled though his expression was contrite. "I've made a grave mistake, it seems. I take it that was a reference to a favorite piece of writing? My most sincere apologies for my ignorance."
"Apology acknowledged, but I'm afraid I can't accept it at the moment." Collins sniffed and met his eye. "I'll lend you my copy of Pride and Prejudice so you can see the enormity of the situation and reconsider your life choices."
It really was a shame to miss out on such a story in romance and Collins' own pride was wounded by her reference falling short.
"Indeed?" Mister Cooper looked delighted by the prospect of another book. "Are we to be on unsteady grounds until then?"
"So it would seem."
"It will call for another visit from you to me to deliver your book." he pointed out.
"Then I'll have to find a reason to come upstairs again, won't I?" Collins challenged, jutting her chin out and sitting up tall.
Mister Cooper was quiet for a moment, his eyes running over her appreciatively.
Collins worked hard to contain her blush this time.
"I look forward to it, Miss Cunningham." he finally murmured, grinning widely.
"As you should, Mister Cooper." Collins grinned back.