Page 45 of Forever Finds Us
I hated the feeling inside my chest as I dressed, thinking I knew Gina well enough to be comfortable around her, but I also wanted to be nothing but professional with her. There would be no ambiguity about who we were to each other. We were coworkers and colleagues, nothing more.
And when Tab and I entered Coffee Shot and saw Gina waving across the café at us, even colleagues felt like too much.
I’d forgotten how striking Gina was, with her long, black hair, blue eyes, and perfectly toned body, but I felt no attraction to her anymore. All I felt was uneasiness and exhaustion, knowing how much I’d come to dislike working with her.
Warring against that, wild anticipation rushed through me because Coffee Shot wasn’t far from the sheriff’s station, and I hoped once again for a glimpse of Roxanne.
Looking over my shoulder and out the café window, I thought, Just one glimpse. It’s all you need. One secret smile. Just seeing Roxanne would fill me back up after a week of taking care of Merv, of paperwork and glaring computer screens, phone calls, and decision making, and now this meeting with Gina.
One look from Roxanne would wash away the guilt that ate at me every damn minute of the day.
But I saw no sign of her, so, resigned, I moved across the café, and Gina stood as Tab and I approached her table.
She didn’t extend her hand to Tab, but she took mine and held it a little too long to be appropriate or comfortable, looking in my eyes and dipping her chin. When she let go, she smoothed her hand over her ass, tucking her skirt as she sat again, but she was also trying to force my attention to her body. It was a move she’d used on me many times.
My eyes tracked Gina’s as I held a chair for Tab and then sat next to her. But I wasn’t looking with interest. It was more like I was a rabid guard dog, getting ready to growl and bite if she pushed me too far.
“Gina, nice to see you again,” I said.
Tab dove right into work. “I printed out the files you sent, Ms. Scott.” She handed a thin file folder to Gina, and Gina took it from Tab’s hand, but her gaze never left mine. She was studying me, trying to ascertain what had changed with me. Since we last spoke, everything had changed in my life.
“Thank you.”
“Okay,” Tab said, probably sensing the tension between Gina and me. “Well, I guess that concludes my duties for this meeting. Enjoy your dinner.”
Tab stood, and Gina flashed her a curt and impatient smile.
“Thanks, Tab,” I said, interrupting the possessive stare Gina had fixed on my face. “I’ll call you first thing tomorrow. We need to check in with Bea and Clay at the inn site, and we can start scheduling interviews.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Tab said. She saluted me and walked to the counter to order a green tea latte, her usual.
Nodding at the folder in front of Gina, I said, “Shall we go? We can have a look at that at the restaurant.”
“Of course,” Gina purred. “It’s so good to see you, Brand. I’ve really missed your smile.”
If she only knew that the smile she was professing dramatically to miss was a practiced one. It wasn’t the same smile I reserved for Roxanne or for my family when I was truly happy.
As we stood, Gina grabbed her purse and the laptop case she’d hooked over the back of her chair with the housing plans she’d soon be showing me and came to my side. I reminded myself to be a gentleman, and I guided her toward the exit with my hand at the small of her back. She smirked and straightened, pushing her breasts out in front of her and arching her back just enough to make every man in the café take notice of her ass.
I held the door open for her, but just before Gina stepped over the threshold, a woman rushed in.
Roxanne’s name left my mouth when we made eye contact, and my heart began to race.
I had been wrong that just one look would be enough to sustain me, because as I took her in, noticing the flicker of our secret flashing through her brown eyes and a tinge of excitement blushing on her cheeks, the need I felt to hear her say my name and cry out when I made her come nearly knocked me on my ass.
Roxanne’s eyes traveled the shape of my face, but then they landed on Gina in front of me and my hand still held out toward her.
I wanted to tell Roxanne how much I’d missed her all week, but I didn’t. That would’ve been inappropriate in this business setting, so I said, “Hello, Deputy, nice to see you,” but I hoped she could hear the need I felt for her in my voice and read it on my face.
She opened her mouth but said nothing, and as Gina sighed with annoyance at Roxanne blocking her path, Roxanne focused once again on my hand at Gina’s back.
I nodded at her, knowing she’d understand my silence. After all, it was what Roxanne wanted, and I followed Gina into the bright, autumn afternoon.
But it felt like fifty kinds of wrong not to reach for Roxanne, not to push Gina out of our way and kiss her in the sunshine.
The last place Roxanne belonged was in the shadows.
Chapter Seventeen
