I would like a relationship with him.
Proof: see above.
He would like a relationship with me.
Proof: ????
“Hey, I never got your order,” Grace said at her shoulder.
Kat grabbed the piece of paper and shoved it into her purse, extremely glad that it was difficult to see a blush on her dark skin. Because she was most definitely blushing—and feeling like a complete idiot.
“Um, coffee is fine,” she finally stammered.
“Coming right up. You like cream, right?”
Kat nodded as Grace walked away, trying to steady her breathing. She really shouldn’t list personal things like that in the middle of a busy café. Did she want to be found out?
She finished her coffee in record speed, suddenly feeling like the walls at Trudy’s were closing in on her. She needed some fresh air. She needed to get Grace’s words out of her head. And she most definitely needed to stop thinking about Gavin Danvers and how he felt about her, because God only knew if the man was capable of any kind of deeper feelings.
But as luck would have it, she wasn’t going to get to stop thinking about the man of the hour that easily. Just as she was leaving Trudy’s, she saw him and Emma walking in her very direction. When he saw her, he seemed taken aback, like he was surprised to see her in this very town. She almost snorted. Did he really think he wasn’t going to run into her in a town of fewer than three hundred people?
“Hi, Mr. Danvers, hi, Emma,” she said with a small wave. “How are you?”
Emma had her hair up in what Kat thought was supposed to be braids, but she wasn’t entirely sure. After Gavin had greeted her in his usual gruff way, Emma opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then thought better of it.
“How’s your weekend been, Emma?” Kat asked, ignoring her frustrating father.
“Okay,” the girl murmured. But then her eyes lit up as she added, “We found some kittens at the back of Mike’s. There are five of them. All black.”
“Oh my. I love kittens. You’ll have to show me. Is the mom black, too?”
Emma nodded. “Dad says they’re probably four weeks old. They still have blue eyes, too. Did you know cats’ eyes change as they get older?”
Kat glanced at Gavin. He shrugged, like he didn’t know who this chatterbox of a girl was in front of them.
“I think I did know that. I had a black cat when I was a kid. Her name was Snowball.”
Emma frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know, but I didn’t name her. We got her from the pound, and she didn’t respond to any other name.”
“Come on, Emma. I’m sure Ms. Williamson needs to get home,” Gavin said.
“No, not really. I’m just taking a walk.” Kat glanced at Gavin, but he was making a studied effort not to look at her. Lovely. Now he’s just going to act like we never kissed? This day keeps getting better.
Seeing that Gavin didn’t seem all that interested in continuing to chat, Kat added, “I’ll see you later, then. Maybe I’ll come by to see those kittens, okay?”
She pulled out her phone as Gavin and Emma walked in the direction of the café. It had become a habit, checking her email and her messages if she found herself wandering around alone. Marcus hadn’t replied yet, for which she was rather grateful. But as she perused her email, she noticed that she’d gotten another message from what seemed like the person who’d threatened her the day before, although the email address was different.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered under her breath. Then fear congealed in her gut when she saw that this email was accompanied by a drawing that involved a man shooting a woman as she sat at her computer. Everything around her faded away, until all she saw was that stupid drawing, probably made in Paint. But her heart pounded all the same.
“Everything okay?”
She whirled to see that Gavin hadn’t gone inside Trudy’s yet. “Why are you still here?” she blurted. She almost laughed at his expression. “Sorry, that was rude. Everything’s fine.” She tried very hard to make her voice even, but she could hear it waver.
Apparently, so could he. “Really? Because once again I find you swearing at your phone, and you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is it the same thing you got last time?”
Kat was about to lie and say it wasn’t, but she knew Gavin could probably see past any pretense. Emma was looking at them both, her forehead crinkled in confusion.
“Yeah, same thing. It’s just annoying, like I said. Don’t worry about it.” She put her phone back into her purse, but she realized she was shaking so badly that she almost dropped it. Dammit, now was not the time to lose it.
Gavin stepped closer to her, touching her on the arm. “You don’t look all right,” he said in a quiet voice. “Tell me what’s happened. Let me help you.”
“What’s happened?” Emma asked. “Are you okay, Ms. Williamson?”
Kat swallowed back the fear. “I’m okay. Just a little unsettled. I didn’t get some good news.”
“Emma, why don’t you go inside Trudy’s and find Grace? I’ll be in in a sec.” Gavin watched his daughter enter the café before turning to Kat. “Now tell me what happened.”
Once again Kat found herself handing over her phone, but this time, she wasn’t embarrassed. For some reason, having Gavin know about what was happening allowed her to calm down somewhat. She could breathe again. And seeing his thunderous expression when he saw the email? She knew he’d do anything in his power to keep her safe.
That was something she’d never experienced before.
“What the ever-loving fuck?” He swore some more, grinding his teeth until Kat was sure he’d have only dust for teeth
