Page 19 of Six
Grabbing her device, she pulled up the app connected to the security cameras to see Gavin’s SUV making its way up her drive. She frowned as she watched him park, then slide from his seat. In jeans and a T-shirt, he looked better than any man had a right to. It didn’t hurt that he appeared to be carrying coffee and what looked to be a bag of pastries.
He jogged up the steps of her porch and rang the bell. She considered ignoring him—having him in her house wasn’t something she was looking forward to—but then she spotted the label on the cup. Her favorite coffee.
Still, she debated. Was she really going to sell her soul for a cup of coffee? The thought made her smile. Apparently, she wasn’t above a little bribery among colleagues, or whatever they were, because she was definitely considering letting him in. The doorbell rang again and with a growl, she threw the covers off and stalked downstairs. She might be getting coffee out of this deal, but that didn’t mean she was happy about him showing up.
She flung the door open and glared at Gavin.
“Good morning,” he chirped. Then wisely, he held out the cup holder so she could see the latte with her name on it.
She held his gaze as she reached for the cup. Once she had it securely in hand, she turned and stomped to the French doors leading out to her back porch. Throwing them open, she stepped out into the cool morning sunshine.
“You need to reset the security, Violetta,” Gavin called. She ignored him and took a sip of her latte. Octo Coffee, one of her favorite places in Cos Cob, made the best coffee on the eastern seaboard. They also made excellent pastries.
Spinning to face Gavin and demand the pastries, she was startled to find him right behind her. He’d set the bag and second cup of coffee down, and his free hands came out to steady her. His fingertips slid under the hem of her short sleep shirt and rested against the top of her boxers. The rough skin of his palms gripped her waist.
“You need to reset your alarm, Violetta,” he said.
She reached up and gently pinched his top and bottom lips together. “You’re interrupting,” she said, holding her drink up. He arched a brow but said nothing more. She took another sip of her coffee while his hands remained at her waist, and her fingers remained on his lips. She was well aware their positions were crossing a line she hadn’t intended to cross, but he smelled good, and his lips felt nice under her fingers. Beyond that, she hadn’t had enough coffee to contemplate anything more.
“Security system, Salvitto,” Gavin said through his pinched lips. He sounded ridiculous, but he did not appear to mind having her fingers on his mouth.
“Give me thirty more seconds,” she said, lifting her cup and taking another sip. Although when his thumbs started caressing the skin at her waist, she didn’t think she’d need the rest of her coffee to wake up. He was doing a damn fine job of sending sparks of adrenaline, and attraction, through her.
Slowly, she let her fingers drop from his lips, and her palm came to rest on his chest. Her hand was on the opposite side as his heart so she couldn’t feel it beating, but she could feel Gavin’s tight breaths.
She glanced up to find him staring down at her. His gaze dropped to her lips, and his fingers flexed on her waist. Abruptly, she stepped away. She did not need to fall under his spell and much to her chagrin, she realized that it wouldn’t be all that hard to do just that.
Thankfully, he took her distance in stride and reached for the pastries. “I’ll give you all of these if you go reset your alarm,” he said, holding the bag out.
She rolled her eyes and swiped the bag from his hand before he knew what hit him. It was cute he was concerned, but he’d need to learn not to barter with pastries. It was a sure way for him to get taken down. “When I answered the door, I used a code that automatically resets the alarm thirty seconds after the door closes,” she said, digging through the bag. “It helps with things like deliveries, or whenever I’m carrying stuff into the house and have my hands too full to stop and deal with the alarm.”
Having removed his own coffee from the cup holder, Gavin took a sip as he turned and considered her house. “You have a different system on your back door?”
“I have a setting that allows me to determine which of the five doors into my house I want the alarm on for. It’s currently set for all but this one,” she responded, gesturing to the open door between her porch and living room that they’d walked through. “What are you doing here?” she asked, once she’d selected abombolonefrom the bag. The doughnut-like pastry had been a favorite afternoon treat when she was a little girl, but it served as a breakfast delight just as well.
“You’re here, so I’m here,” he said, withdrawing acornettisprinkled with raw sugar from the bag before taking a seat on the porch swing. Thecornettihad been her second choice, but since Sylvia made her some the day before, she was happy to leave it to him.
“Why aren’t you at work?” she clarified, taking a seat on the small couch perpendicular to the swing. When she curled a leg under her, she realized how little she had on. Her short T-shirt barely reached the top of her rolled-up boxers, and her boxers most definitely showed a lot of leg. She stared at her bare thighs, debating whether to change. Then she decided, fuck it, it was too much work to go to for someone who invited himself over when he knew damn well he wasn’t particularly welcome.
“I work when you work,” he said. She lowered herbomboloneand stared at him. “Well, to be accurate, I mostly work when you work. I do pop in on occasion when you’re not there so it’s not obvious to the rest of the staff that my schedule is tied to yours.” When he finished, he took a sip of his drink and stared out toward the ocean as if his response answered anything.
Her eyes narrowed. “Does Mitch know why you’re really here?”
Gavin took a bite of hiscornettiand shook his head. Once he’d swallowed, he answered. “He’s a smart guy. He’s probably figured something out, but as far as the British Army is concerned, he’s just following orders, too.”
Well, that put a pause on some of Six’s resistance. Not because she suddenly trusted Gavin. But if, unlike hers, his cover story was being kept secret from Mitch, then he had some powerful people behind him who wanted him here.
“Fanculo,” she muttered before ripping a bite off herbombolone.
Gavin chuckled and started to gently rock the swing. “You’re starting to realize this isn’t going to go away, aren’t you?”
She slid him a narrow look as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Are you cursing me in your head? And bycurseI don’t mean swear, I mean curse me with like saggy balls or something?”
She couldn’t help it—her lips twitched. “I wasn’t thinking anything as drastic as that, but I’ll keep that one in mind.”
He chuckled, then took the last bite of hiscornettibefore turning to face her. “What have you found out about Jeremy Wheaton’s death?”
