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I’d just taken my coffee to my desk to start working when I heard the door close down the hall, and I looked up to see her come into the living room. I sucked in a breath as I saw her in the leggings and fitted shirt that showed off her luscious body. I had to swallow the lump that formed in my throat at the sight of her, and I had to look away just in case she saw my eyes dragging down her body to where they shouldn’t be.
“Good morning.”
My eyes snapped up to her as she walked into the kitchen to grab a mug, and I couldn’t help sneaking a look over at her. When she rose up on her toes and the edge of her shirt drifted up over her midriff, I felt my heartbeat against my rib cage like I was in the ring with a prizefighter.
“Morning,” I said, careful not to throw off the careful dynamic that we were apparently starting to rebuild. I snuck a look over at her as she turned back to look at me, leaning back against the counter and letting her shirt ride up over her waist a little more.
My mouth went fully dry at the sight of her navel. It was taking all of my self-control to keep from going over to her and sliding my hand along that perfect, flat stomach, holding her gaze as I snuck it up under her shirt and bra, finally fondling those beautiful breasts I’d seen only days before.
I looked away from her, focusing on my computer again. I needed to get my head out of my ass and focus on what was in front of me, but her presence seemed to fog everything up. All I could think of was what it would be like to have her in the kitchen, on the coffee table, and on the floor in front of the fireplace…
Suddenly, I thought of what I could do that would put some necessary space between us. Getting up, I walked over to the kitchen with my mug and reached for the coffeepot to top off my drink. She watched me as I did it, taking me in without a word.
“I was thinking…” I said, watching her carefully for a reaction. “I need to go check on some of my cameras and such. Do you think that you’re up for a hike?”
The edges of her mouth tugged up a little bit, and she nodded quickly. “I’d love that. Are we taking Bucky?”
“Of course we are,” I said, smiling at her. “When we get back, I’m going to head into town for a bit. I want to see if I can figure out what Alex is up to. I don’t like not knowing where he is.”
She shut her eyes tight for a second before opening them, blinking a few times as if she was trying not to cry. I almost reached out to take her into my arms—not entirely selflessly—when she nodded curtly and turned away from me. I leaned over the island, wanting so badly for her to come back over to me and tell me about what she was feeling.
At that second, she did turn around, blinking a little again. “You’re gonna need a picture of him.” Without looking at me again, she walked over to the computer terminal at my desk and pulled up my browser, typing in the web address for a Los Angeles law firm called Fringer and Associates. She clicked on the partner page and scrolled down to a photo halfway through the list; the guy there was good-looking in a cookie-cutter way. He reminded me of Jerry Maguire but less wholesome. There was a coldness behind his eyes that made me doubt the possibility of him ever saying, “You complete me.”
“That him?” I asked, going over to stand next to her. The smell of her hair seemed to be coming off her in seductive waves, and I was careful not to let her see me taking a deep breath of her scent.
“Yep.” She turned away from the computer. “You should probably print out one of those to take with you or something.”
“No need,” I said, taking out my phone and typing in the web address. I didn’t want to have a printout of that asshole’s face sitting in my pocket when I could just easily have a tab on my phone’s browser that I could close, and more than that, I didn’t want it around my house, triggering her and making her feel vulnerable.
I tucked my phone back into my pocket and smiled at her. “Ready to go?”
She set off down the hallway, a new light filling her eyes. “Let me just change my shoes.”
* * *
As I drove around the Ridge in my truck, keeping an eye out for any new faces, I thought about how quickly I adjusted to this a new normal. After so many years of staying alone in the cabin, keeping everyone at arm’s length like the plague except for Bucky for company, I was having a hard time settling into myself as I thought of Macy alone in the cabin, without me. She’d promised that she wouldn’t leave the house itself, saying that if Bucky got restless, she would stay in the backyard to throw his ball for him, but it still made me nervous.
On our hike we’d actually talked. I’d asked her more about her art, and she’d told me about art school. She tried to describe her style to me, but since I had the worst visual imagination in the world, I just didn’t really get it.
“If I had my old phone, I could show you,” she said, giving me a sad smile. “But I even deactivated my Instagram when I left home.”
“I haven’t had an Instagram in seven years,” I said, shrugging.
“That tracks with your hermit self,” she said, laughing.
It had physically hard to keep from touching her when I’d dropped her off back at the cabin, but I knew that she probably needed at least a little bit of a break from me at this point. It had been a long couple of days together, and it was a small enough space that we were very aware of each other.
I was very aware of her, and I wanted to continue making her feel at home.
I shook my head as I drove to the little café around the corner from Macy’s apartment where Alex’s voicemail had said that he would be waiting for her. Being that it had been several days, he probably wasn’t there anymore, but at least I could go in, talk to the staff, show his picture around, and see whether anyone had seen him. The owner Maria wasn’t someone I knew well, but she was a sweet lady I’d seen around town once or twice, and Macy had mentioned talking to her a few times. She could be a good ally. At least, that had been my plan when I parked on the street and walked into the café, trying to seem as casual as possible.
It turned out to be a good thing that I’d been affecting such a cool attitude because I hadn’t expected to see a familiar smug face sitting at a table near the entrance of the shop as soon as I walked in. My stomach sank as soon as I saw him, that face so horribly and instantly recognizable as he looked up from the laptop screen in front of him. He looked at me with a hungry expression that sent nausea coursing through me. At the same time, though, I was satisfied when I saw his face fall a second later, and I walked up to the counter to order a cup of coffee.
Today, it wasn’t Maria standing there. Instead, it was an unfamiliar blonde teenager with a name tag that said Brooke, whose eyes kept flicking hopefully to Alex. I wanted to tell her that he was bad news, but I couldn’t give him any hints that I knew about him. Getting my coffee from her, I went and sat at the free table near him, pulling out my phone and opening some emails that I needed to answer about new cyber security gigs people were inquiring about.
“How’s it going, man?”
I glanced up from my phone to see him looking over at me with an easy smile. I plastered a grin to my own face and said, “Good. You new in town?” I allowed my drawl to creep more heavily into my voice than usual, hoping to disarm him.
