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“Maybe I can—” he started to say as she kicked the bottom of the door harder then twisted the key again, earning a click as the door opened.
“The lock likes to stick sometimes. But it’s good,” she said and turned to smile sweetly at him.
“You realize that’s a fire hazard, right? You should let the landlord know so he can fix it.”
“Good point. I’ll get right on that,” she said with a tad too much exuberance for him to take her seriously.
“Liar,” he said, not trying to hide his smile.
She studied him with her own smile before nodding in approval. “You have a very nice smile, you know. You should do it more often.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“You do that.” She really had to stop looking at his mouth like that.
He didn’t have to force the smile from his face in the next tense seconds as they stood there staring at each other, the air between them charged with an energy that brought him a step closer to her, as if he might just lean down and close the space between them with a—
The sudden sound of paws scratching at the door behind her brought him immediately to his senses, and he quickly stepped back.
There was a flash of disappointment in her eyes as she opened the door. Then she leaned over to scoop her cat into her arms before turning to face him again. The two of them made quite the pair as they stared up at him.
He hated the gnawing need that only grew in his gut, wishing there could be more between them, rules be damned.
And just as he thought that, a red light seemed to flash in warning above her head.
Caution. Caution. Danger ahead.
“Have a good night, Waverley,” he said and took another step back, as if putting more distance between them would stop him from any taking any ill-thought-out actions.
“Night,” she said softly before stepping back and shutting the door between them.
He waited until he heard the deadbolt lock and the chain cross the door before he could bring himself to leave. Even then, it felt almost criminal to leave her alone in this place.
But she was a grown woman. She could make her own decisions.
Not to mention she was his client and his employee whose long-term residency in this small town was not guaranteed.
A very good reminder of why walking away right now was the only choice here.
In fact, the best choice he could make was to minimize the personal interaction he had with her if he wanted to keep his wits about him.
He shook his head at his near-miss.
Kissing that woman would only have stoked a stronger yearning for her, something that would be impossible to walk away from when it came time.
Still, it didn’t help ease his guilt.
Not just for leaving her confused at what had almost happened but for far more injury.
After all, had he not tipped the feds off about his suspicions regarding Spencer’s activity, she might still be living comfortably in Boulder without having undergone the hell of the past few months.
It pressed home how much he needed to find that son of a bitch and bring him and that money home.
For Waverley’s sake.
Chapter 14
“You have a good day, too, Maurice,” Waverley said a couple of days later, before hanging up the phone and writing the message down.
