I take another sip of coffee. “You’re right.” I glance at her clock. “How much time do I have?”
“Thirty minutes. You’re good.” She pats my chest. “I won’t let you oversleep.” Her smile… Just damn.
I watch as she stands and walks toward the door. “You could move your toiletries into my bathroom. If you want, I mean. Whatever.”
My gaze is on her legs as she leaves. Those heels. Fuck. Me.
I close my eyes and inhale slowly before shoving off her bed and heading to the master bath. Fifteen minutes later, I’m ready to go and find her in the kitchen. She hands me a second cup of coffee. “Bagel or toast or something?”
“Thank you.” I reach for the bagels and pop one in the toaster. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence.
She chuckles. “No worries. You’re here for the time being. You have to eat. Help yourself to whatever.” She lifts a brow. “However…”
I hesitate and meet her gaze. “Yeah?”
“Now that you know me better, don’t be surprised at what you might find in my kitchen or anywhere else in my apartment. Like I said, I don’t bring men here. Not ever. This is my getaway. My safe space. If a stranger came in and rummaged through my things, they would think I have a small child living here.” She smiles. She’s far less uncomfortable today. I’m glad.
I shouldn’t keep touching her, but I do. I cup her face. My voice comes out gravelly. “No worries. I won’t judge you. This is your home. Please, be yourself. Pretend I’m not here if you need to.”
She chuckles, not sounding amused. “Like that’s possible.”
I drop my hand to grab the bagel and slather it with cream cheese. “Do you think I could drive you to work and pick you up? We could be discreet about it.”
She giggles, a sound that goes straight to my cock. “Because you don’t trust me to stay where you leave me?”
I flinch and turn toward her. “That’s not it at all. And you’re not a prisoner. You can go anywhere you want. I’m just asking you to let me know so that I don’t have to worry. I can’t keep you safe if you go places without my knowledge.”
Her eyes are dancing with mirth. “And you think you don’t have a Daddy inside you?”
My eyes go wide, and I nearly choke on my bagel.
She laughs again and changes the subject. “Actually, now that you mention it, I do have a lunch meeting today. It’s at the Woodfire Grill two blocks south of the office. About ten of us will be there. We have a reservation.” She bites her lip and, for a moment, looks hesitant. “Do you think it’s safe?”
I nod. “Absolutely. What time is your lunch? I’ll go there at the same time, just in case. I’ll sit at the bar and keep an eye on you. You won’t have to mention me to a single person. Just pretend you’ve never seen me before.”
She stares at me. “You’d do that?”
I grin. “What part has you flummoxed?”
She licks those full lips now, distracting me. “All of it. Do you have time in the middle of the day to waste watching me eat with my coworkers?”
I frown. “It’s my job, Eve. I go where you go. Even if I need to remain in the background. Keep your phone in your pocket in case I need to message you. Otherwise, ignore me. Enjoy your lunch.”
She hesitates. “Okay. You’re sure? I could make an excuse and stay back in the office.”
I shake my head. “No. Eve. I don’t want your life disrupted. Not any more than it already is, I mean.”
I can say with absolute certainty that nothing could have prepared me for seeing Eve in action in her work environment. She may be small in stature, but she’s a force to be reckoned with when she puts on her power suits and those damn heels.
I follow her from her office to the restaurant and enter after her party of ten. As I take a seat at the bar, she glances at me briefly and smiles. Her face flushes, making my cock hard. Dammit.
For several minutes, she stands around with her coworkers, all of them talking in small groups while they wait for their table to be ready. I know immediately that she’s well-respected and well-liked. Everyone finds a way to get in front of her and secure a moment of her time.
She sits near the head of the table next to her boss, and I’m struck by how different she looks dining with her coworkers as opposed to last night at Davis’s. She sits tall, spine extended, legs crossed at the ankles as if she’s been trained by royalty. Confidence wafts off of her. She sips her iced tea and daintily eats her salad. All the while, she keeps up with no fewer than four conversations.
I can’t hear much from my distance, but I catch a word here and there, enough to inform me that they’re discussing numbers and tax laws. These people carry on animated conversations about loopholes as if they could orgasm on the details.
It’s interesting, and I have to force myself to keep a straight face while I eat. I’d look like a doofus if I sat here grinning.
I can’t stare at her because that would look suspicious too, but I rationalize even if the bartender catches me looking, he’ll just think I’ve got my eyes on a hot woman. He’d be right. But I’m here to watch other people, not Eve.
I glance around at everyone in the restaurant discreetly every few moments. I look outside the wall-to-wall windows too. After a while, I realize I’m going to need to draw out my meal because the luncheon isn’t going to end quickly.
I’m nursing a cup of coffee and pretending to scroll through my emails when I spot my suspect outside, the man who
