Sophie’s big eyes darted a quick look up at him just as a small chubby man hustled up to them and clasped Trevor’s hand. “So good to see you, my friend, and wonderful to finally meet your beautiful lady. Come right this way. I have a great table for you.” The man motioned for them to follow.
Sophie fell in behind the man, turning to look at Trevor with her eyes arched. “He knows you?” she mouthed at him. Trevor nodded and followed, watching the curls bounce loosely on her shoulders.
Dinner was exceptional, as he knew it would be. An hour later, they left the restaurant having consumed a bottle of wine, two wonderful dinners, and a shared dessert, which Sophie reluctantly ate because Trevor insisted.
“That was fabulous!” she admitted eagerly, her macadamia nut size eyes glowing.
“Glad you liked it. That’s one of my favorite restaurants. I eat there every Thursday unless work interferes.”
“Don’t you get tired of it?”
“No, they pretty much pamper me because I’m there so much. And I bring a lot of people with me.”
Sophie wore an unreadable expression as she asked, “A lot of girlfriends?”
He laughed. “No. Didn’t you notice that they thought you were ‘my beautiful lady’ when we arrived? I’ve been here with a lot of clients and coworkers, but not women.”
“I thought he probably said that to every girl you brought in there,” she remarked.
“I wish I had that kind of luck,” Trev responded as he opened the car door and held it for her. The wind was blowing gently. Another waft of the spicy perfume hit him as he eased the door closed and he caught himself, before letting out a groan.
With Sophie’s directions, they arrived at her apartment in less than fifteen minutes. “Just let me out here.” Sophie motioned to a fifteen-minute parking spot in front of the main entrance to the apartment complex.
“I’d rather walk you up if you don’t mind.” He didn’t just drop a woman at the door no matter who she was.
“It’s really not necessary.”
He frowned. It irritated him that she resisted such a little thing that was really safer for her in the long run. “Too bad.” He pulled into a short-term parking spot and got out of the car. By the time he had circled the car to open her door, she was already out and walking toward the entrance.
“You’re a little scary with that old-fashioned stuff,” she mentioned lightly.
“I wouldn’t exactly call good manners old fashioned. I was brought up this way and it’s just become second nature. I don’t notice I’m doing it most of the time but I doubt I’d stop anyway. It’s respectful.”
Trev glanced around the apartment complex, taking in her environment as they advanced up the stairs and approached the door to her apartment. Everything was pretty quiet.
“Thanks for the dinner and the company.” Sophie put her key in the door and turned it.
“I should thank you actually for saving me from lightning and for trusting me with your security issue.” It sounded dumb, he knew, but he was stalling. He watched as she opened the door and slipped partially inside. She turned and stood facing him in the doorway. The curls were escaping from the knot at the base of her neck; they framed her face gently. Trev grasped one of the curly strands in his fingers, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, “and if you ever need more help with that other issue, just let me know.”
“Very funny,” she shot back as she tossed her head to remove her hair from his grasp. “And what exactly would that entail anyway? Kissing me in front of my office for everyone to see? Or maybe feeling me up, too? Pretending to have sex?” He watched her face redden as she looked down at her shoes.
“I’m not much at pretending, but any and all of that sounds good to me.” He flashed a devilish smile and leaned in, putting his face and mouth directly in front of her. “Or would you prefer to take care of it yourself?”
Sophie answered with a question of her own. “Why do you do that?”
“What exactly?” he said softly, his lips barely moving.
“Get too close and then start doing that animal magnetism thing,” she answered breathlessly.
“I could say the same thing about you. Why do you do it?” The warmth was there, between them, smoldering gently.
“I don’t. I’m not.”
“Oh, yes you are.” It angered him a little that she was so beautiful and that he wasn’t immune to it as he should be. He could hear the warning bells going off and Cook telling him to back off again.
“No! I don’t do that. I’m not like that.”
“The hell you don’t,” he said. “I mean aren’t. Look at you. Shit, your eyes are inviting me in but you’re pretending you don’t want it.”
“Stop talking like that.” She put a hand to his chest, pushing him back, but he just moved in closer.
“Then stop looking at me like that,” he whispered.
Trev couldn’t help himself then. She was gorgeous. He crushed his lips to hers, gently at first but in seconds he was overwhelmed with the need to taste more. He pressed his mouth harder against hers, thrusting his tongue between the fullness of her beautiful rounded lips and rubbing the wetness of her mouth. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, feeling the warmth of her chest and hips sear into his. Somewhere in the back of his brain, common sense told him to back off but the rest of him didn’t listen. He wasn’t very gentle and didn’t intend to be. He wanted a response and was determined to have it. He knew she felt it, too. He wanted her to kiss him back. He put his other hand behind her neck as his lips wandered over her face and nibbled at her ear. He heard her suck in her breath sharply. He returned to her mouth, her lips were plump and open, inviting him in again. He should stop, he told himself again. Stop. Just do it. Back away.
Then Sophie grabbed the sides of his face with both hands and strained his mouth to hers, her tongue feeding on his. Caught off guard, Trev staggered against the doorjamb, steadying himself against the hard lumber as desire surged through him. Sophie moaned a low pitched, sexy sound and he matched it with a guttural groan that escaped without his consent. The kiss deepened and his lips were throbbing from the feel of her tongue against his. Is this really happening? he asked himself. She was insatiably sensual as she clung to him. He tried to string some rational thoughts together and remind himself that he was in control. This needed to end. But she had her fingers tangled in his hair and was pulling him in. Her hand moved up the inside of his shirt to his back. Wait, he thought. Who, exactly, is in control, again?
Trev pulled back, gulping air, forcing distance between them and disengaging himself from her grip. “Yeah,” he teased, “not an ounce of animal magnetism in you.” His breathing was ragged as he bent down and playfully bit her lip. “Good night, Henry.”
Trev removed himself from her doorway and descended the steps to the parking lot. The faster he got away from this apartment complex, the more likely he wouldn’t do something really, really foolish. Like sleep with a suspect. Kissing her was stupid enough. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t look back. Too dangerous. He knew he was treading on thin ice and could just imagine what Cook would say next time. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. At the moment he didn’t care. She had practically devoured him. Unfortunately, he realized he would let her do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, he wanted her to. Control? Who was he kidding? He had to go and fast.
Chapter Eight
Lenny listened to the mumbling of voices at the door, knowing it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. He needed to act quickly and get out of her apartment, preferably without being seen. Most definitely with the reports she’d brought home. There was no way to explain breaking into his boss’ apartment, so he had to get out. Now. He had already made the adjustments to the system to clear the trail and rectify the reports earlier in the day. He just needed to destroy the printed copies she’d run. They were the only copies, and once she ran them again, she’d just think she
made a mistake, or at least that’s what he expected her to do.
He heard a little more commotion. What do you know! It sounded like she was making out with that consultant guy her friend had been talking about! He grinned a little at the thought of kissing Sophie Henderson. She was definitely a hottie. Everyone at the office thought so. One of the new guys, Thomas Brand, had even tried to make a play. Idiot. Never get personally involved at work. It was a recipe for disaster. She took care of him pretty fast, kicked him to the curb without a thought. Too bad the dumb schmuck didn’t recognize what hit him. He still followed her around like a puppy.
He heard a little bit of moaning and some words and then the door shut.
Her footsteps went into the kitchen and a thump echoed as her keys and purse were deposited on the counter. He burrowed back into the closet as far as he could, hoping there was nothing in this room that she’d need. He let out a quiet breath of relief as the footsteps continued into the next room and then the water turned on. The clatter of her shoes hitting the floor confirmed that he had a small window of time to make a move. Apparently, she was going to take a shower. A part of him wanted to see if he could get a peek but that would be too dangerous. Right now, he just needed to get out, get the documents, and get as far away as possible.
He moved the clothes aside and placed a forefinger in the door slot to ease it open. He peered out and saw nothing, heard nothing other than the running water in the other room. A small jangle from the hangers above clanked as he rolled his large frame out of the closet and rose to his feet. A dress had clung to his shoulder and he flipped it away as he looked around the room, then out the window searching for the fastest way out of the apartment. Damn apartment has only one access … and it’s the front door. He grabbed a stack of papers from the room he was in and shoved it inside his jacket, then eased himself toward the kitchen. There was a stack there too; he’d have to get them both. A small creak from the floor stopped him in his tracks. He stood still for a second to see if it had been noticed. Nope. The shower was still running and there was no indication of movement from that direction. He tiptoed into the kitchen and snagged the papers, adding them to the ones in his jacket. He zipped the jacket up and moved toward the door.
Clump, clump, clump, clump. Someone was running up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. The footsteps pounded closer and closer to the apartment. Then there was pounding on the door! Shit! Shit! He searched the room frantically for somewhere to hide, a window to climb out of, another closet but found nothing. More pounding at the door and a voice this time. “Sophie, answer the door!”
He ducked into a crevice formed beside a weird looking cabinet and the wall just before a loud, wood-splintering crack! shattered the silence. He didn’t dare look out. Better to stay behind the cabinet.
A scream echoed down the hallway. She was yelling at the guy now. Trevor. His name was Trevor. The guy had seen him through the window. Shit! He knows I’m here! No time to wait. Gotta get the hell out of here.
He slid the cabinet out again. Good, they were arguing back in the back. Go. Now. As he slipped out from behind the cabinet, it swayed, then tilted. He didn’t stop to see what happened next. He ran.
He jumped through the opening Trevor had made for him in the door, and pounded toward the stairs as fast as he could. A crash behind him said the cabinet had tipped over. He lunged down the stairs taking them in fours, barely touching down as he jumped from one to the next one. He prayed he didn’t lose his balance before he got to the bottom. He was way too old for this acrobatic shit. Thankfully, a couple of years as a volunteer firefighter had trained him to descend stairs like these.
As he touched bottom, he sprinted toward the street, wheeling right as he got to the corner and slipping into the closest backstreet he came upon. He’d have to circle back for his car, but fortunately he’d parked it on the next block, so getting out should be no problem.
He reached into his jacket and felt the papers there. Good. Every one of them still in his possession. He smiled as he drove to the nearest all night printing shop and deposited them in their shredder bin before calling in a report.
Chapter Nine
Outside Sophie’s building, there was little activity. A few cars passing, but not slowing down. As Trev strode toward the car, the lights of the passing traffic cast a highlight across a man standing in the shadows on the other side of the street. He looked a little startled, but his face wasn’t familiar. Trev reached for the door of his car to get in, but then he followed the man’s gaze upward and froze. The man was watching Sophie’s window. There was a man in her apartment! Specifically, in the guest bedroom — and he was moving around as if he was trying to hide.
Trev flashed back to the shadows on the corner but the man that was watching was gone. Trev raced into the apartment building and bounded up the stairs. He had turned the mic off and left it in the car earlier. That was stupid. He needed backup. He punched the speed dial on his phone. When the voice on the other side responded, he blasted out, “There’s someone in Sophie’s apartment!”
“What? Who?”
“I don’t know. He’s in her guest room!”
“Does she know?”
“No. I just left her. I saw him as I was getting into my car.”
“Get her out of there! Now! We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“I can probably get him.”
“Don’t be stupid. We don’t want her in the same shape as Bob. Just get her out.”
At the top of the stairs, he pulled the gun from his ankle holster and crouched outside her door. It was quiet inside. That was good. Maybe. Trev pounded on the door. He waited what seemed like forever for a response and pounded again. “Sophie! Answer the door!” No response.
“Fuck it,” Trev muttered as he threw his shoulder hard into the door, splintering the doorjamb. Ironically, it had been his support as he had clung passionately to her just minutes earlier. Now, he had just destroyed it. A scream came from the back of the apartment. He advanced quickly down the hallway, firearm raised. He looked into the room that he’d seen through the window but no one was there. The closet door stood open and some clothes lay on the floor in a heap — but no intruder. The hangers swayed back and forth. Whoever was there couldn’t be very far. He swung back toward the hall just as Sophie sprinted out, tying a towel around her and dripping.
She screamed again, then stopped when she recognized his face. “What are you doing, Trevor?” Her hair was matted in bedraggled strings of water that trailed down her shoulders and her face.
He stopped running, looked around her bedroom, his firearm still poised and ready. He smelled the steam and soap from her shower.
“What are you doing with a gun in my house?” she blurted.
He darted his eyes back to her face briefly. “There was someone in here. I saw him from the window.”
“What! You were looking in my window?”
“Yes. I mean no. I saw a shadow in your guest room. I thought you were in trouble.”
“So, you broke down my door and barged in here like the Mod Squad!” Her eyes were huge. She was screaming at him and backing away, squeezing the towel tighter around her.
“Shut the fuck up. There’s someone in here! I saw him. Come on.” Trevor grabbed her hand and started dragging her. She leaned back, resisting as best she could but he was too strong. Keeping the towel in place severely hampered her ability to resist. Still, she dug her feet into the carpet as she braced her full weight away from him.
“No! You’re flailing a gun around. Who the hell are you?” She was terrified. “I’m not going anywhere with you! I’m calling the police!”
“Yes! Yes, call the police. Here.” He tossed his phone to her. “I’ve already made the call but go ahead. Then get some clothes and come on! Now! I’m telling you there was someone in here. You’re not safe.”
Trev advanced into her bedroom, opening drawers and grabbing things. He pulled out a T-shirt, pantie
s, and a pair of running pants. He stuffed them down the waist of his pants, looping them through his belt, for lack of a better way to carry them. Then he grabbed Sophie and hoisted her, towel and all, over his shoulder. With his gun still raised and one hand holding her on his back, he started moving back toward the door of the bedroom to leave.
A loud crash reverberated from the living room. Steps thundered out of the apartment and descended the stairs.
“Did you hear that?” Sophie blurted as Trev plopped her back on her feet and started down the hall. By the time he got to the railing of the stairs, all he could see was a dark shadow disappearing down the street. He ran back and yanked his phone from her hand. He hit the speed dial again and raised it to his mouth.
“He’s running down Gifford Street behind the apartments, heading west. Are you close yet?”
“Two blocks away.”
“See if you can catch him. I’ll get her out. I think I saw a tan colored jacket and blue jeans, but that’s all. He was under the overhang of the steps and I didn’t get a good visual.” He looked up to see Sophie staring at him, her mouth gaping. “Hey, Nate?” he added, “There might be two. I saw another guy watching on the street opposite her apartment before I came up. Brown hair, rough looking. About five-ten, muscular. Dark jacket and jeans. The baggy type.”
“Who are you?” Sophie yelled.
“I’m the guy who just saved your fucking life.” He didn’t want to spend a lot of time explaining — not now and definitely not here. He narrowed his eyes, challenging her to argue further. “Now, let’s get you the hell out of here.”
“Okay. Okay. But don’t you dare pick me up like a sack of potatoes again.” She was trembling now as she held a hand out in front of her to keep him at bay. The shock of what just might have happened sunk in. “I can walk.”
“Good. Then, let’s go.” Trev grabbed her hand and glanced around the room. He yanked her with him, moving quickly out of the apartment and toward the stairs, his gun still ready in his other hand.
Numbers Never Lie (Crimson Romance) Page 9