After Gina introduced herself and Dean, he hung back and let the professionals do their job. While the woman peppered her with questions, the man took some pictures, and dusted the door handle and visible surfaces of the desk for prints. He cautioned not to get her hopes up since even most petty criminals these days were at least smart enough to wear gloves.
“I still don’t have any clue why my office,” she told them. “Other than the mess they made, nothing was taken. Not even my computer was moved, or appeared to have been unlocked from security mode.”
Officer Mueller finished with the desk and sidestepped to study the laptop. “I can process the lid for prints here, but if it hasn’t been moved, I doubt we’ll find anything. If you want us to check the keyboard, then I have to send it in to the lab.”
“How long would that take?”
“A week, maybe closer to two.”
Dismay wrinkled her forehead. “I have all my work on there. Besides, if they were wearing gloves like you said…”
“Exactly, but still, it’s your call. Right now, we’ll finish up here and file the report. It’ll remain open in case any similar B&E’s are filed or you have any more issues.”
“I’d rather keep my computer. I was packing to move out of the office anyway.”
Officer Nilsen nodded, then advised her to err on the side of caution and change all her passwords, as well as get new credit cards.
Forty-five minutes later, they gave the all clear to clean up, crisscrossed the door with crime scene tape simply to act as a deterrent since she couldn’t lock her door until the glass had been replaced, and departed for the elevator.
The bleak expression on Gina’s face tugged at Dean’s heart, but one blink later it was gone and she squared her shoulders. He was about to offer to follow her home when she swept the papers on the conference table into a stack, then overturned one of the boxes with her foot so she could drop them inside.
“You’re doing this now?” he asked in surprise.
She swept her gaze over the mess on the floor that had been trampled numerous times by them and the police. “I can’t leave it like this.”
He supposed he understood. She kneeled down to start cleaning up the floor. After a quick glance at his watch, he took a knee across from her. When she lifted her head toward him, he raised his eyebrows. “Do you care what kind of order these are in?”
“No, but you don’t have to stay.”
“If you’re staying, I’m staying.”
“Dean—”
“I’m not leaving you here alone.”
Her eyes shimmered in the light from above, but she quickly lowered her gaze while reaching for more papers. “Thank you.”
The relieved emotion in her voice triggered a primal reaction deep inside. He wanted to pull her back into his arms and promise to keep her safe. And how crazy would that be seeing as how they hadn’t even known each other a week ago?
He concentrated on the work in front of him. Though it hadn’t even crossed his mind at the moment when he insisted on staying, now he found himself scanning the pages his fingers collected. Nothing looked even remotely damning, and after a while, he stopped looking.
Within half an hour they’d filled six boxes and picked up all the broken glass. Gina went to her desk to collect her laptop. “I might as well take all this stuff home now. Do you mind helping me carry everything down to my car?”
“Sure.”
Once the door was propped open, he slid two boxes out into the hall and ducked under the X of yellow tape. Gina slid the rest of the boxes out and then joined him with her laptop tucked under her arm. Working together, they transferred the boxes into the elevator and down into the backseat of her car.
She turned to him, keys in hand, driver’s door open. “I appreciate all your help.”
“I’m following you home.” At the first shake of her head, he reasoned, “You’re going to need help carrying them inside, right?”
“I can get them. Really. I feel bad for how much I’ve inconvenienced you tonight.”
“It’s not an inconvenience, Gina.”
“Liar. I know how busy you are.”
He shrugged, then cast a furtive glance around the lot before leaning closer to stage whisper, “If you want the truth, I’m still hoping you change your mind about the dare.”
The guilt in her expression disappeared as she laughed. “Well, okay, then. If you’re only helping for your own benefit, I’m fine with using you for manual labor.”
He smiled as she got in her car while he walked around to get in his. She’d laughed, and honest humor had brightened her eyes, but not before her gaze dipped to his mouth. He’d bet she would be thinking about kissing him during the entire drive to her house.
When she parked on the street outside an old, rundown apartment building, the fun his imagination was having with his libido flew right out the window. The area was much too dark for any young woman living alone to come home to at night. When he carried two boxes to her one—plus laptop, leftovers, and dessert—through the sufficiently lit, secured entrance, his concern was only slightly alleviated.
It rose again when she led him up two flights of stairs, one of which had a burnt out bulb. Her apartment was two doors down a dingy hallway. She braced the box against the wall by her door, balancing it on her raised knee as she inserted the key in the lock.
He tried to hide his frown as she went inside and leaned her back against the wall to hold the door with her foot so he could pass through. The small studio apartment was very minimalistic in the furniture department, but other than that, everything appeared tidy and clean.
The door banged shut, and she walked past him to set the box in her arms on the floor near the small island that separated the kitchen and living room while doubling as a dining area. She moved one of the two beat-up wooden stools to give him room for his armload.
On their way outside for the rest, he managed to bite his tongue until they were back in the shadowed hallway. “I don’t like this place.”
She glanced over her shoulder with a smile that contained more humor than defensiveness. “Well, we can’t all afford seven thousand square foot mansions.”
Ironically, he wasn’t entirely sure how long he’d be able to either. But that was neither here nor there. “What you can afford doesn’t bother me, Gina, other than it doesn’t seem safe.”
“Well, until I can afford somewhere else, this is it for me.”
“Are you locked into a lease?”
“Six months.”
“And how far into it are you?” he asked as she held the apartment door again.
“One month.”
Shit. He set his boxes down before moving aside so she could plunk her single one on top. She took her jacket off, and twisted to sling it over one of the stools. He was instantly distracted by the way her sweater formed to her curves, and then he caught a glimpse of pale skin at her hips. No freckles that he could see. His hands itched with the urge to feel if it was as smooth as the sweater looked soft. Like her thigh. Just about the time his gaze started to dip lower, she faced him again.
Eyes up, man. After his dare and the reminder, he wanted her to come to him. Outright drooling over her wasn’t the way to accomplish that goal.
She crossed her arms as she sat on the stool, and he noted right away the defensiveness he’d expected earlier. “I have a safety chain and a deadbolt, and I’m always watchful and careful. I’ll even wedge a chair under the door handle after you leave.”
“The fact that you feel the need to do that bothers me even more.”
“That’s only because of what happened at my office.” She glanced toward the door. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” If you asked him, he thought she was trying to convince herself as much as him. He moved a step closer and braced a hand on the counter. “Because you could always stay at my place. As you pointed out, I have plenty of room.”
“Yeah…except even with
all that room, you’ve only got one bed.”
He shrugged, doing his best to keep a straight face. “Is that a problem?”
A smile tugged at her lips even as color tinted her cheeks. “For you, I’m betting not.”
A sideways glance took in her small bed across the room. “It is twice as big as yours, if that helps?”
He turned back and would swear by the look in her eye, she remembered the size of his bed.
“Nice try, but no.”
“Bet I could convince you to agree with me,” he challenged with an exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows.
She laughed. “You could try.” Her laugh cut off and her eyes widened. “Wait—I did not mean that the way it sounded.”
“Sounded like a dare to me.”
“No.” She shot to her feet, and then had to catch the stool to keep it from toppling to the floor. Once it was set straight, she avoided his gaze. “You keep your dares and bets to yourself.”
“Afraid I’m right?”
Her hair swayed as she shook her head while skirting around him. “It’s probably time for you to go home.”
His turn to chuckle as she headed for the door. He pushed away from the counter and followed, absurdly pleased by her evasive words and actions. Teasing her was fun, and even better, she’d confirmed she wasn’t immune to him at all.
He saved that knowledge for another time and stopped on the threshold. “All kidding aside, if you ever need a place to stay, any of my guest rooms are open to you.”
“Thanks.” She hugged the edge of the door as he stepped out into the hall. “And thank you again for all your help tonight. And for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t forget that chair under the doorknob.”
“I won’t.”
His gaze locked with hers. He wanted so bad to lean in and kiss her. There was even a soft light in her eyes that told him despite all her deflections, she’d probably let him.
Much as he wanted to, the problem was, one touch of her lips was bound to scramble his mind all over again, and he’d never want to leave.
He stepped back and slipped his hands in his front pockets. “See you tomorrow?”
Her smile faded a bit as she nodded. He let his gaze skim her face one last time. When it lingered on her mouth, with those lips that he knew would taste so much better than the Limonchello bread pudding, he forced himself to turn and walk away before temptation overrode common sense.
Chapter 13
“Fess up, have you kissed him again?”
It was Friday afternoon, and even though she was at the far end of the house, and there was no way either Dean or Liz could hear Britt’s voice coming through the cell phone pressed to her ear, Gina glanced toward the open door of the guest room.
Had she kissed Dean again?
Oh, she’d come close. So damn close the other night. Twice.
But the Wednesday morning after their dinner, she’d sent him a text and avoided the house for the day. Instead, she’d done some planning for the great room, then focused on picking out paint colors to go with the design themes for the guest bedrooms, finished packing up her office, and shopped for more beds and accessories in the afternoon. Other than a late morning return text from him to make sure her night had been uneventful, she hadn’t heard from him.
Yesterday, about the time she’d convinced herself that was a good thing, he’d popped in while she was painting in the first bedroom on the main floor. He’d handed her the debit card for the house account, and all it took was a brief brush of his fingers and his sexy grin to make her wish she’d taken the opportunity to accept his dare when it was in the palm of her hand.
As he’d left the room, her gaze had devoured every inch of him, from his mussed brown hair all the way to his bare feet. Well, truthfully, she hadn’t gotten much further than the ass of his jeans, but figured the bare feet were a pretty safe assumption. She had yet to see him wearing shoes in his house.
“No, I did not kiss him again,” she answered Britt. Technically, the denial was a lie because she hadn’t told her friend about the second kiss the night of the art show. “Why would I?”
“Um, because he’s damn hot and you both seemed to really enjoy the last one?”
“Who’s hot?” Joel’s indignant voice demanded in the background.
“Dean Daley.”
“Why are you looking at another guy?”
Gina smiled as her friend’s laugh came over the line. “Oh, settle down. I still go to bed with you every night, don’t I?”
This time her husband’s response was low and muffled. She heard a brief, hushed exchange, then her friend’s laughingly whispered, “Go away.”
Then Britt spoke to her in a normal voice again. “Seriously, the guy chased you out of the bar. Then he showed up at the gallery for less than ten minutes, just to talk to you, and you’ve been avoiding my calls. You can’t tell me something didn’t happen that night.”
“Your husband’s investigative skills are wearing off on you.”
“I knew it! Tell me.”
“He accused me of working with Jackson to try to steal programming ideas.”
“What?” Affronted disbelief rang in Britt’s voice.
“Yeah.”
“And you still took the job?”
Gina sighed, all humor gone as she sank down onto the end of the bed delivered just that morning. “I need the money, Britt. Grace kinda screwed me over, and most of my clients were from Jackson’s circle.”
“Why didn’t you say something?
“I’m dealing with it.”
“Did you call your parents? Because if you don’t want to open that can of worms, we can help.”
“I appreciate it, but really, I’m working through it.” She forced a laugh. “Literally.”
“Well, then, how is the job going? He doesn’t still think you have any connection to Jackson, does he? I’m guessing not, otherwise he wouldn’t have hired you.”
Ha, right. “I’ve only seen him once in the past three days, so I’m not sure if he’s changed his mind or not. Anyway, he can think whatever he wants to think. I know what’s true, and that’s all that matters.”
Not really, but she wasn’t ready to admit that out loud yet, even to her best friend. She did tell her about the office break-in, but left out Dean’s presence, then spent the next couple minutes convincing her she wasn’t in any danger. After the ordeal Britt and Joel had gone though almost two years ago, Gina understood her concern.
Her own unease had been high at first, but it was diminishing a little more each day. She still didn’t have a clue why her office had been the only one, and hadn’t heard anything more from the police. A thorough check of her computer at home didn’t find anything suspicious, either. She’d followed the officer’s advice to change her passwords and ordered new credit cards, though at this point, she suspected it’d been a random act of vandalism—and a petty one at that.
As her friend ended their conversation, she reminded, “You said in your text you wanted to ask me something.”
“Forget it. It’s nothing.”
“Britt, don’t give me that. What?”
“I was going to ask you to babysit tomorrow night, but with all you’ve got going on, I don’t want to bother you.”
“Are you kidding? I’d love to watch that sweet little guy of yours.”
“You’re sure? I know it’s last minute, and a Saturday night…”
“Positive. I’d planned on working, so it’ll give me a break from my life. What time?”
After agreeing to be at their place by six p.m., Gina hung up and slipped her phone back into her purse.
“Looks nice.”
She spun around at the sound of Liz’s voice from the doorway. “Thanks. There are a few more things I want to do, but it’s almost done.” After one final glance around the room, she scooped up her purse and the light jacket she’d needed that morning. “As for me, I am done for the day, so I’m going to h
ead out. Um, by chance is Dean in his office?”
Liz shook her head as they walked down the hall. “He left a little while ago for a meeting in Boulder.”
“Oh.”
No, she didn’t care that he hadn’t even taken a moment to say bye before leaving. And so what if he’d been shut in his office when she’d arrived so she hadn’t gotten a chance to say good morning, either. She was better off keeping her distance.
“I guess I’ll see him on Monday, then.” Maybe.
“I’ll let him know.”
“Thanks.”
The redhead had been a lot friendlier ever since that initial meeting when Gina had assumed she was Dean’s jealous girlfriend. The little interaction she’d seen between the two had been more like a brother-sister relationship, so maybe she’d read her wrong that night.
“Any exciting plans for the weekend?” Liz asked as they came to a stop at the front door.
“Babysitting for a friend, and working.” She laughed at the other woman’s raised eyebrows. “Hey, right now, that’s all the excitement I need in my life.”
She couldn’t help a glance through the kitchen, toward Dean’s study. Realizing the direction of her thoughts, she quickly pulled her gaze back. “How about you?”
“Nothing tonight, but tomorrow I’m going with the guys to a client dinner party. I don’t get to dress up much, and I found this great outfit the other day, so it should be fun.”
“Do you have a boyfriend to go with you?” Gina asked before she could help herself.
The redhead’s gaze shifted away as she shrugged. “The guy I’m seeing can’t make it, so I’m acting as Dean’s date.”
She kept her smile in place. She shouldn’t care one bit, and hadn’t she just thought that Liz and Dean treated each other like siblings? “Have a good time. I’ll see you on Monday, too.”
On her way to her car, she couldn’t help but think with a frown, Now who’s jealous?
* * *
Gina gathered the packages out of the trunk of her car after shopping on her way home. Not that she’d have admitted it to Dean, but at night there were times she didn’t feel entirely safe in her new neighborhood. And she certainly didn’t trust purchases made with his money to be left in her car all weekend.
Trust by Design Page 9