CHAPTER 2
Charlie
Meeting up with Gavin today made me wish I was the type of woman who could flirt and charm a man, so he’d be interested in dating me. Not that I had the slightest clue about how to lure a guy into asking me out. And up until today, the truth was, I’d never had the slightest interest in doing so.
For the most part, I lived for science and my research. They were a lot more interesting to me than attracting a man. Except that something told me this wasn’t just any man.
For some reason, this particular guy was…different, and for the first time in my entire twenty-eight years on Earth, I wished I was more experienced at the whole dating thing.
As usual, I hadn’t bothered much with my appearance. I’d braided my hair to keep the annoying mess out of the way. I wasn’t wearing even a tiny bit of makeup. I never did. I was a science nerd, and spent most of my day in the lab working on my research. Nobody really paid attention to how I looked, and the men I worked with hardly noticed me unless I had something to say about a research project. And after a long day at work, I headed home to take Ripley out for a run.
No men.
Nowhere in my life.
And that had suited me just fine.
Until now.
I didn’t know how to handle my instantaneous attraction to Gavin. He was handsome, and dressed casually, which only made sense if he was here to exercise his dog. He had on an old leather jacket over an indigo T-shirt, along with jeans that were lovingly worn and fit him perfectly, like they were his go-to pair.
With hair that was several shades of brown and blond, it was difficult to put an exact name to the color of his thick, cropped locks. His jaw was whiskered, like he’d been too distracted to shave for the last few days. Still, he owned the scruffy look, and that made him all the more handsome because he was confident without being pretentious.
By far, the feature that stood out the most for me was a pair of stunning, intelligent blue eyes that seemed to see into my soul.
And he liked my dog. How could I not like a guy who not only got along with Ripley, but who had a crazy mutt himself? Any man who didn’t care whether his dog looked like a mishmash of different breeds and resembled a small bear with long fur had to be a nice guy, right?
“Was Thor a shelter dog?” I asked politely.
“Was it the impossible-to-determine mix of breeds that gave him away?” Gavin’s blue eyes sparkled as he gave me an easy smile and casual shrug. “I’ve always liked the idea of giving something or someone a break when the odds didn’t seem to be in their favor.”
My heart skipped a beat as those beautiful eyes focused totally on me. “Well, if I had to guess, the odds were in Thor’s favor the day you found him.”
“I bet the same could be said about Ripley.” Gavin sat down on one of the benches and waved at me to join him. I sat down at the other end of the bench as he continued. “I work from home, so I decided some company might be nice. I just wanted a normal sized dog, but I came home with a pony. He just kept barking at me, insisting I take him home—so I did.”
I laughed because I couldn’t help myself. He was pretending he was a pushover, which my instinct told me probably wasn’t true. His gaze had been constantly moving before he’d focused on me, surveying his surroundings as though he needed to be aware of everything and everybody nearby. “He must have been so sad to be there, all cooped up in a kennel with little hope of getting adopted.”
“Completely,” Gavin said unhappily. “The poor boy looked absolutely miserable. He was overjoyed just to get a little attention, and I knew that very few people would consider a dog his size. I just couldn’t leave him there.”
“I think it’s sweet,” I argued. What kind of guy adopted the most pathetic dog at the pound? It’s exactly what I’d done when I went to find a canine friend to bring home.
My adopted dog had been cowering in a corner all by herself when I’d approached her. One sad-eyed gaze and a few doggie kisses later, and she’d come home with me.
“Thor’s still young, and his energy level wasn’t really part of my plan, but…” Gavin shrugged and gave me another one of his charming smiles. “We manage okay, I suppose.”
I couldn’t help but smile back, feeling far more relaxed than I’d have expected to with a complete stranger—and a damn handsome one at that. “Do you plan everything?”
“For the most part, yeah. But sometimes other things take priority.”
“I get that.” I tended to be a planner myself, but sometimes things got derailed by surprises. “So… what kind of work do you do? Must be nice to able to work from home.” I was curious to find out more about Gavin.
Even though he paid me plenty of attention, it was hard to miss that he was still watching his surroundings. I wouldn’t exactly say he was nervous, but it was clear that he was well aware of anybody who came and went from the park.
“Internet security,” he answered vaguely. “Nothing too exciting. Spend my day writing code, for the most part.”
“So you keep people’s information safe on the web?”
“Businesses mostly.”
“So you’re a computer geek?” I teased.
His smile widened. “Guilty.”
“I’m a science nerd, so I respect that,” I answered, starting to feel more and more comfortable talking to Gavin.
“What do you do exactly?”
“I’m a research scientist in a biotech lab. I get to analyze the genomes from a variety of organisms and determine if a particular DNA sequence can be used in a more creative way—like getting a cancer cell to cannibalize itself so the cancer goes away, or manipulating viruses into doing something they weren’t programmed to do. Not exactly an exciting profession…unless you’re a scientist.”
The truth was, I found my work to be fascinating, not to mention the research was important. Every discovery was a step closer to helping to cure people in the world living with different diseases. My hope was to find ways of suppressing certain diseases, to keep people from getting sick in the first place. But once I started talking about my field of study, I could see my friends’ eyes start to glaze over. Which was why I rarely talked about what I was doing to very many people.
“So you’re brilliant?” Gavin concluded, bumping his shoulder against mine teasingly.
I watched as our dogs got tired of wrestling with each other and headed to the doggie water fountain before answering, trying not to blush. “I’m not that smart.”
“Now you’re just outright lying to me, ‘cause we both know that’s a load of bullshit.” He shook his head, teasing me. “I bet most guys are so intimidated by you, they just don’t know what to do other than crawl back to where they came from.”
“I wouldn’t say they’re intimidated,” I countered. “They’re actually…bored.”
Hence, the reason I very rarely dated. I had yet to find a man I had much in common with. And if they were smart enough not to be intimidated or bored by me, then there were other issues, like they were jerks, or simply weren’t interested.
Yeah, I knew guys weren’t all like that, but I had yet to meet a boy who checked even some of the boxes, who wasn’t already married or involved in a serious relationship. I was pretty much convinced all the good ones were taken, and I was going to be the oldest virgin walking the face of the Earth.
“Well, I’m not the least bit bored,” Gavin replied. “I think you’re gorgeous. I know you’re smart. And you like dogs. Can’t say you could be any more perfect, Charlie.”
I turned my attention from our dogs back to Gavin, wondering if he was being sarcastic. Before I could ask, I saw the molten heat in his eyes as he looked at me, and it made me jittery in a way I’d never felt before.
Part lust.
Part fear.
Part longing.
I swallowed hard to rid myself of the ginormous lump in my throat before I said, “I’m not attractive. I’m pretty much invisible to everyone except my friends and family.”
“Then everyone else must be blind. But I’ll tell you what…” he said in a husky voice. “I can see you clear as day, and I stand by what I said.”
Evidently, he did, if the determination in his voice was anything to go by. Maybe that was why he made me so nervous. He pretty much knew nothing about me, but yet the way he looked at me suggested he thought I really was attractive.
He’s the first guy who doesn’t make me feel like I don’t measure up to his standards.
I didn’t need a therapist to tell me that most of my feelings of inadequacy came from my father. I’d spent most of my life feeling like I was nothing more than a nuisance to my father… that I didn’t measure up.
He’d always wanted a boy—but he got me. And then when he finally got the son he’d been dreaming of, tragedy stole him away just seven years later—and I lived with that guilt every day. My mom then died of cancer two years later, though truth be told, she too had been withdrawn after my brother’s death.
I’d spent my entire life trying to make my parents happy, yet it hadn’t mattered how many academic awards I’d gotten, or how much I accomplished. My mother remained consumed by her grief, and my father would never accept the fact that I lived that tragic day, and my little brother died. My presence only served to remind him of that, every time he laid eyes on me—and he’d never let me forget that.
“I think Thor wants his ball.” I nodded at Gavin’s furry friend who was waiting not-so-patiently beside his master, relieved to have a distraction from my thoughts, even if my sadness was harder to shake. Yet, I managed a smile, not wanting to ruin what was turning out to be a great day.
The beast was wiggling with excitement, obviously waiting for Gavin to do something. Since the canine’s eyes seemed fixated on the ball beside his owner’s thigh, I was assuming he wanted Gavin to toss it. I found it funny that Ripley seemed to be just as excited as Thor, even though she wasn’t really a fetcher. My girl was just feeding off Thor’s excitement.
Gavin let the ball fly with a powerful throw that had the two dogs scrambling after it, although I’d have to say that Ripley was just more or less following Thor’s lead.
“I think my girl is in love,” I said with a sigh as I watched Ripley start to tussle with Thor over the ball.
“Thor is fixed.” Gavin shook his head with a laugh. “I’m just mentioning it because I guarantee that he’ll eventually try to hump her and I don’t want you worrying about it.”
I snorted. “Ripley is fixed, too. And that’s why I got a female. I hate the whole humping-the-leg thing. It’s so annoying.”
Gavin started coughing hard, and I wasn’t sure whether he was choking or laughing.
“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.
He held up a hand. “Yep. I’m fine.”
Gavin seemed recovered, so I assumed he was just coughing. “You sure?”
He nodded. “Do you always just blurt out anything that comes into your head?”
I thought about his question for a moment before I replied. “Not always. But I didn’t think you’d mind. Did I say something wrong?”
He grinned at me. “Not at all. I like it. I don’t exactly get a lot of conversation in my line of work. It’s nice to have somebody to talk to who doesn’t have a problem saying exactly what they’re thinking.”
“I can relate to that predicament,” I mused. “I don’t have much family around here, and all my friends are busy with work and starting families.”
He didn’t look at me. Gavin seemed focused on a guy across the park who was casually leaning against a tree.
Finally, he asked, “Your job must keep you pretty isolated, huh?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much. I spend a lot of time in protective gear running tests and studying samples. There’s generally not a lot of conversation at work, and if we do talk, it’s about our project.”
“Your project… what exactly are you working on?” Gavin asked as he continued to eye the man across the park from us.
His question caught me a bit off guard. No one had ever wanted to know any of the details when it came to my work. Maybe it was his way of showing me he was interested. “It always changes, depending on the project we’re on, but at the moment, I’m developing vaccines for potentially deadly viruses.”
“Nothing secret?”
“No. Not really. Why?” Okay… maybe this was getting just a bit odd.
His blue eyes locked on mine. “Charlie, I know you really don’t know me. But I need you to do something for me. Okay?”
I frowned at him, just noticing that the guy Gavin was watching was slowly moving closer to us.
“Do you have a leash for Ripley?”
“Yes.” It was hanging from the back pocket on my jeans. I was literally sitting on it.
“Call her and put on her leash.”
“Why?”
“Please just do it,” he rasped.
He called Thor, and the two pups raced back to us together. Gavin was quick to pull a short leash from inside his jacket and clip it to his pup’s collar. I did the same with Ripley just on instinct.
I had no idea what was wrong with Gavin, but he’d suddenly become deadly serious. It prompted me to do what he told me to do.
He stood and held out his hand, and I didn’t hesitate to grasp it as I got up. “Gavin, what’s wrong?”
“Walk with me,” he insisted.
His pace was brutally fast, his long legs eating up so much ground as he moved forward that I was trotting next to him with Ripley in tow.
We went through the gate of the park, and walked directly to a vehicle parked on a side street. Gavin pulled out a set of keys and with a click of a button, he was opening the cargo area of a luxury SUV. Thor took the jump into the vehicle easily, but Ripley hesitated. Without missing a beat, Gavin picked her up and placed her with Thor in the back, then lowered the cargo door.
“I’m sorry to scare you like this, but we need to go,” he said urgently.
“I can’t just leave with you,” I argued. That would be insane.
“You have to, Charlie. I don’t have time to explain, but I swear on Thor’s life, you’re in danger. Your life depends on it,” Gavin answered huskily. “Please. I’ll explain as soon as we’re out of here and you’re safe.”
I’d been a city girl most of my life, and I knew better than to hop into a vehicle with a man I didn’t know. But my gut instinct told me I could trust Gavin, and with his words sending a shiver of fear down my spine, I hopped into the car the minute he opened the passenger door, hoping I hadn’t just made a huge mistake.
“Seatbelt,” Gavin insisted as he got in behind the wheel, started the SUV and shot out into traffic. “And I need you to pull the battery out of your phone.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked breathlessly as I buckled myself in, and started fiddling around with my cell battery.
“Shortly,” he answered abruptly, his focus on driving and checking out the surrounding area.
“For God’s sake, Gavin. Tell me what the hell is going on. You’re scaring me.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” he replied remorsefully. “I’m truly sorry. I was hoping I’d have time for you to learn to trust me before this all went to hell.”
I rolled my eyes. “Obviously I do trust you or I wouldn’t be in your car with my dog.”
“Yeah. That’s a very bad idea by the way,” he chastised with a hint of one of his smiles, which eased the knot in my gut just a little.
“You’re stalling,” I told him.
“Maybe. But that’s because there’s no easy way to tell you this.” He entered the freeway and gunned the engine.
I growled in frustration. “Tell me what?”
“That somebody wants you dead.”