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He reached behind her, lifted her backpack from the car, and handed it to her.
“Thanks.”
He closed the car door. “You’re welcome.”
She fumbled with the straps before shouldering it. Then lifted her chin. “Lead the way.”
He turned, locking the car, and beckoned for her to follow. At the shuttered entrance, he halted and slid the cover from the digital entrance pad. The keypad pulsed a soft blue as Griff typed in the code.
Metal clinked and slowly, the shutter ground into action, rising till it finally slid out of sight inside the door frame. Griff disappeared into the darkness on the other side. The air was cool and calming against his skin. This was where he was most comfortable, moving in the shadows with practiced ease.
When he turned, she was still on the threshold, hesitant to follow. Of course, she couldn’t see in the gloom.
“Lights.” Bulbs snapped on above his head, bathing the room in a golden glow.
She blinked, giving her eyes a moment to adjust. “Whoa.”
He tracked the path of her gaze. Seeing it through her eyes.
The entire ground floor space was a workshop. Motorbikes stood canted at various angles in various states of disassembly, making the path to the metal stairs treacherous.
He motioned with his hand. “Cut around those. Mind the bike chains.”
Her eyebrows arched dangerously, but she did as she was told, edging past the loose coil of chain from the bike he’d been most recently working on. He had a taste for speed and had little else to spend his money on. His gaze landed on his climbing gear, neatly stowed under the staircase. Especially now.
She cast an appreciative eye over his babies. “You like your bikes.”
“You know where you are with an engine.”
Her gaze flicked up to him for an instant, her lips pursing. She ran her hand over an orange fuselage. “KTM Super Duke. This is rapid.”
He paused halfway up the stairs. “You know your bikes.”
“Luke was a bit of a petrol head.” She removed her hand from the fuselage. “I used to sit on the chest freezer in our dad’s garage and chat to Luke while he tinkered.” She hugged herself, the memory clearly washing through her. “Good times.” Her voice was momentarily unsteady.
He wasn’t a totally heartless bastard. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about your brother.”
She blinked rapidly and pressed the back of her hand to the underside of her nose. “Thanks.”
Collected once again, her gaze landed on the beaten couch and huddle of blankets where he’d been camping out, unable to muster the will to crash in his own bed. He stomped upward to prevent her from asking awkward questions about his sleeping habits, or lack of. At the top of the stairs, he disarmed the second digital keypad.
“You have a lot of security.” She was right behind him and the waver was gone from her voice. This woman had her emotions on a tight leash.
He grunted. “Comes with the territory. Well, me casa es su casa.” His face was deadpan as he waved her in. Soft overhead lighting clicked on as she passed the motion sensors.
His apartment was silent. Accusing. A series of prints of peaks he’d climbed mocked him from the far wall. Frustration was a band of thick torment across his chest. He avoided coming up here for good reason. “I’ll just grab some things.” He stabbed a finger at his couch. “Sit.”
She swung to face him, her posture stiffening. “Would it kill you to be more polite?”
9
Jo pressed her tongue to the inside of her teeth till it ached. Did he have to make this so difficult? “You’re being paid well. Surely pleasantries should be part of that?”
He stared at her for the longest beat, his lips pressing into a bloodless line. Finally, he cleared his throat and patted the shabby couch facing a large wood-burning stove. “Look…” Something flickered through his gaze, something Jo recognized from her own sleepless nights, glimpsing herself as she shuffled downstairs to make tea and lose herself in the brainless ocean of shopping channels to deaden her mind. Pain.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. Whatever it was, he wasn’t sharing. “Please. Sit. I won’t be long.”
“Sure.” She sat where he pointed, tucking her backpack onto her lap, her knees bumping together. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
