“You’re different now,” she said. His steps weren’t as heavy, he was smiling, but behind it was a seriousness. He wasn’t taking this lightly, even if she was trying to. It was better than stressing over the unknown.
“Thanks,” he said, walking in the back door she’d been holding open for him. She’d thought for sure he’d balk about going through her neighbors’ yards, but he hadn’t. She’d parked in her garage, gone out the back entrance and waited for him before she unlocked her door and shut the alarm off. “What’s so different?”
“You were moody on that first visit. Like you were there because you were being forced.”
He laughed. “I was being forced.”
“True.” She set her purse down on the counter. “So what is it you need to look for here? As you can see, the alarm was still set.”
“Walk me through your house,” he said.
She wanted to say no but thought of what Gary said and knew her grandfather would be called. She’d rather not deal with that right now. The best thing she could do was get a better grasp of this situation and lay some ground rules. She was thinking Ian wasn’t one for rules. Did her heart rate pick up thinking that? Damn it.
“Follow me,” she said, leading him through the entire downstairs. Nothing looked out of place. She’d know if it was.
She was trying to see it through his eyes, and all she saw was “cold.” Everything was where it was when she left this morning; everything was high end and it all screamed class. When had she turned into her mother?
That was a depressing thought. She was thinking she went too far over the edge of change back then.
“Your office?” he asked, nodding to two glass doors.
“Yes. Go on in.” He was picking up flowers, inspecting pictures on the walls, making her nervous. “What are you doing?”
“Just looking. I doubt there are cameras or bugs in your house.”
“There better not be,” she said. “Nothing more than the ones I had installed.”
“Where are they?” he asked.
“You can’t see them?” she asked, lifting her eyebrow.
“Give me more time and I will. This is just a quick sweep.”
She laughed. “I’ll point them out later. Nothing is out of place here, just like I figured.”
“Take me upstairs.”
“Now you’re pushing it.”
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. A cocky pose for sure, his biceps flexing with that move. If she was salivating, she wasn’t admitting. “If I wanted you upstairs for anything other than looking out for your safety, I wouldn’t have asked. I’d just bring you there myself.”
The chill she felt moving up her spine wasn’t anticipation, was it? It shouldn’t be, but she knew damn well it was. Risk equaled reward. She was thinking being in Ian’s arms would be one hell of a reward.
There was nothing to see in any of the bedrooms upstairs either. Nothing other than her personal space where he commented, “I like this area better than the rest of the house.”
“Why’s that?” she asked, even though she shouldn’t have. Shouldn’t be encouraging him at all. His opinion on her decor had no purpose in this tour.
“Because your house looks like Dr. Mason’s home in general. Your bedroom looks like Cam’s space.”
He didn’t need to explain. She knew that too. Her bedroom was splashes of dark vibrant colors. A place where she felt more alive, rather than relaxed. Most people went for the opposite, but not her. She liked the energy of excitement in her room, even if she didn’t experience it often. It reminded her of a piece of herself she’d locked away to become the well-respected Dr. Mason.
“So, I suppose the least I could do is offer you some food.”
He laughed. “I knew you’d feed me.”
***
Ian was sitting in the kitchen watching Cam fill a pot with water. She’d taken out a bag of tortellini and a package of ground sausage from her freezer, a jar of spicy marinara out of her pantry. “It’s a quick meal,” she said, “nothing gourmet. You’ll have to get that in a restaurant.”
“It’s better than I do for myself and much appreciated.”
She was frying up the sausage, the water on the stovetop waiting to boil. There were herbs and spices he had no clue about being tossed in with the sausage and the aroma in the kitchen was causing him to salivate.
Yeah, it was the food doing that. Not Cam standing there in yoga pants and a loose shirt she’d changed into. He hadn’t expected her to do that. Not something that casual and comfortable, but he was glad she felt relaxed enough to do so.
Her house wasn’t much of a surprise to him. But her bedroom sure the hell was. It matched the person who had black nail polish on her bare toes that she was flashing at him right now.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“Water is good,” he said.
“Help yourself,” she said, dumping the sauce over the meat and tossing it all together.
He opened her fridge and saw bottles of water all neatly lined up, along with everything else in there. She was more than organized. This bordered on obsessive-compulsive. Just for the hell of it, he shifted a few things in her fridge to see her reaction the next time she opened it.
He didn’t have long to wait. “Would you like a salad?”
“If you’re making it for yourself, sure; otherwise don’t go out of your way.”
She burst out laughing when she opened the door and looked inside. “I am not OCD. I like things organized. Did you think I’d start to fidget because you moved my milk over an inch, switched my yogurts around, and left the egg carton open on me?”
He was impressed. He figured she’d catch the yogurt and eggs, not the milk. “Just wanted to see how sharp you were.”
She pulled out some lettuce and tomatoes, a bag of shredded cheese and some cucumbers. “Sharp enough,” she said. “I pay attention. Just like I would have known if something was out of place in my house, and it wasn’t.”
“Good to know.”
Once dinner was done, they sat there quietly eating. “Something on your mind?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m trying to figure out how to bring it up. Give me a few minutes to work it out in my mind.”
“It has to do with us dating, right?”
“Make-believe dating,” she corrected.
He grinned at her. Whatever made her feel better about it, but he was taking advantage of this if he could. He wasn’t stupid either. He’d seen her assessing looks at him when she would rather he didn’t. She put up a token resistance with Gary over this, but not big enough in his eyes.
He’d thought before she had a wild side to her with her toenails painted, but now after seeing her bedroom, he knew she had a side to her that she was keeping hidden. The question was—why?
Of course, he had no clue what was really going on. Why Gary mentioning he’d make a few phone calls would be the deciding factor for her giving in. He’d have to figure that one out on his own because he had a feeling she wouldn’t be cluing him in on it.
“So what’s on your mind?”
“I just don’t want you to think this is more than it is. You’re supposed to be protecting me—even though I don’t need it. Nothing more.”
“I’ll be the judge on if you need protecting and for now you do. Until this trial is over or we find out who is doing this, you’re going to be seeing a lot of me.”
She frowned and the squeaking of the balloon deflating that was his ego was probably only being heard by him. “I need my space.”
“Do I look like I’m in your way?” he said to her from across the island they were eating at.
“No,” she said quickly.
“Then what’s the problem? I know there is nothing about me that would make me the type of guy you’d ever get involved with. Let’s see how good of an actress you are.”
Just because he’d seen her looking at him, didn’t mean he was crazy. She was out of his league. Out of his universe, but he was going to enjoy the time they had together regardless.
“I’m not snooty. I’m not judgmental,” she argued.
“Are you trying to make me feel better, Doc?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re playing with me, aren’t you?”
“I’ll let you decide that. You said you were sharp.”
He stabbed his tortellini with his fork and winked at her. This assignment was going to get interesting.