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“What?” Her mouth popped open.
“Like this.” He grabbed hold of an empty crate with one hand and dragged it against the wall.
He stepped up, grateful the alarm was within reach. He pulled his pocketknife from his cargo pants and inserted the blade into the first screw.
“We can’t do this. It’s breaking the law.”
He caught the first screw, glanced down. She was flapping her arms in his direction like a deranged chicken, her breath forming foggy pants in the night air. Damn. Cute as fuck when she was riled, too.
He dropped the screw into his pocket and started on the second one.
“Griff. Did you hear me?”
“I heard you, Jo.” He moved on to the third screw. “But I’m not listening. I need boots. My feet are cold.”
She spluttered. “That doesn’t make it okay. Isn’t there a friend’s house we can go to? Someone you know?”
“Going anywhere people know me isn’t an option right now. That option died when those fuckers rocked up at my house.” The fourth screw popped free. He studied the alarm wires, lifting them with the blade of his knife so he could get a closer look.
The soles of her shoes scraped the lot. Blessed silence.
Holding his breath, he sliced his knife through a wire. The blue light above his head blipped out. Griff grinned. Still got it.
He jumped down from the crate.
Jo glared at him. “Why are you smiling?”
The padlock was an easy fix. He rotated his knife till the lock pick sprang free. He jerked a thumb upward. “Alarm’s off. Now, we can go shopping.”
13
Jo followed Griff into the store. Inside was dark, and it took a minute or two for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. She stared up at the shelving fifteen high stacked with cardboard boxes. The print was too hard to read in the poor light, but Griff wasn’t looking.
He snagged her hand and steered her toward the front, where he pushed through the staff entrance to the sales floor. Here it was easier to see as moonlight filtered in through the large floor to ceiling windows. The air was dry with the scent of canvas and rubber. Tents and camping supplies on their left. Clothing and footwear on their right.
“This way.” Griff tugged her right.
She ignored the warm clasp of his hand as much as she could, which was impossible if she was honest. He was the most infuriating man she’d ever met and yet his presence increasingly dominated every inch of her awareness. It made no sense, thinking about a man she didn’t even like. Except he’d protected her without hesitation at his house. Risked his life to keep her safe.
Which was his job.
But still.
She’d glimpsed the man under the maddening exterior. The picture of him in the mountains at his apartment, joy brightening his face. There was more to his story than he was letting on. She saw how cautious he was with his left arm. Perhaps there was a connection?
Griff scanned the boxes stacked along the wall before pulling one out. He popped the lid and dug a pair of heavy-soled walking boots out of the green tissue paper. He grabbed wool socks from a nearby display stand and ripped the price tag off before pulling them on.
He winced as he rolled the sock over his left foot, his eyes screwing shut tight.
“You’re hurt.” She dropped to her knees and helped tug the sock over his heel.
“I’m fine.” A muscle pinged in his jaw.
“Sure you are.”
“Perhaps you could find me some Advil in the first aid section while I get my boots on?”
Jo pushed up to standing, too aware of his pallid color. The man was hurting, but he wouldn’t let her help him. She gritted her teeth. Perhaps that was karma. He was, after all, helping himself to anything he wanted in the store. “Of course.”
