Page 82 of Lure

Because I really needed something to do or I was going to lose my mind.

Chapter

Thirty

GRACE

“You can take a swim again if you want,” Alphabet suggested from where he was downing his second cup of coffee and studying his laptop screen. They’d wired three other monitors to it so he had a full screen display, though not quite the high definition for his system at home.

Folding my arms, I leaned against the opening that separated the dining room from the living area and beyond to the patio and the pool. “Think I’ll skinny dip in the sunshine where you can get a better view?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “That’s what we call a perk. But no…” He held his right hand up to shoulder height and covered the nail of his pinky finger with his thumb with the three middle fingers straight up. “Scout’s Honor, not the reason I suggested it.”

A laugh escaped me. “Tell me I can do something to help you.”

The devilish gleam in his blue eyes twisted me up inside. The heady combo of pleasure and apprehension had me sucking in a deeper breath of air.

“Too easy, Gracie-girl,” he said on a laugh.

“I amnot,” I retorted with a sniff. Haughty wasn’t my specialty but I could certainly pull off snob if I tried hard enough.

That snapped his interested gaze back to me. “Really? That sounds like a challenge to me.”

The temptation to roll my eyes was right there, but I settled for a careless shrug. “You never know.”

His low whistle was a reward in and of itself. “Noted.” Then he huffed out a breath. “As for helping, not a lot to do right now.” With a glance at his watch, he leaned back in the chair. “Really isn’t a lot for us to do until they start sending me info. Scouting and collection takes time.”

Right. “Then you don’t need to be stuck right there, do you?”

I didn’t miss how he stretched his right leg out. Now that I was more aware of the prosthesis, it proved more challenging to not see how his right foot didn’t shift when he stretched.

“No,” he said slowly before taking another long drink of coffee. “I want to get a few programs up and running so I’m doing my own scouting.” Lips pursed, he glanced at the computer. “I figured I’d do some more deep diving on your sister’s law firm while we had the downtime.”

My heart did a little fist bump with my ribs. “Can you set your bot thingies to do it?”

His eyebrows rose. “My bot thingies.” The corners of his lips were twitching. “Yes, I can set the bots to skim and search. They’ll collect information, but I’ll still need to go through it.” He downed the last of his coffee and then set the mug down. “Why?”

“Cause then you can come swimming with me.” Honestly, that hadn’t been the offer I intended to make. I’d been thinkingof getting him out of the house and going for a walk. We could take Goblin for one, it would do all of us some good.

The pool might be a lot better, though. The swim I’d indulged in the night before had helped… a lot. So, I didn’t amend the offer. Surprise filtered through his eyes and he blinked, then glanced from me to the pool then back again.

“I didn’t bring a suit either,” he warned in a careful voice. It wasn’t his voice that concerned me though, it was the shadow sliding over his expression. I wasn’t sure if it was uncertainty, fear, or something else. The fact it existed at all twisted my heart.

“Look, AB, if you have to do the skinny dip, then I can too,” I offered, determined to give him options. “If you want to use your boxers or briefs—really not sure what you wear but, whatever. I can grab a bra and panties. You’re right, they’re basically a bikini.”

His continued hesitation however had my stomach bottoming out.

“No pressure, though.” The last thing I wanted to do was make him uncomfortable. “If you really don’t want to swim, we can take Goblin for a walk. It’s going to be hotter this afternoon, but it’s still beautiful.”

“I don’t mind swimming with you.” The way he tested the words suggested he wasn’t one hundred percent certain of the response. “Just…”

He dropped his glance, his attention seemingly returning to the computer screens. Somehow, I didn’t think he was actually looking at them so much as through them.

The hesitation raked at me. Did I push him or did I wait? Did I try to offer to let him off the hook again? Indecisiveness twisted around me like barbed wire and it dug into my soul, gouging out wounds.

“AB,” I said, finally, unable to let him hang out there alone. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I was tryingto offer you a break. Once they start sending data and make the move later, you’re going to be glued to the computer.” I licked my lips. “So, you do what you need to do and don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll help if I can, you just tell me what you need when you need it.”

Then I pivoted to head back to the room where my stuff was. I was going to change into a sports bra and fresh panties. We didn’t have sunscreen, I didn’t think, so I needed to pay attention to the time out there.

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