by Haley Travis
smooth, he was also occasionally vulnerable. I could see how much emotion was in those
deep eyes, I just couldn’t interpret it yet.
Maybe everything had just been too much, too fast.
As I paced my purple and silver living room, I wondered how I could have been so cavalier
about suggesting that my friends have flings this summer. It was a lot harder than it looked.
Sensitive girls tended to catch feelings even faster than the common cold. My feelings for
Devin already ran deep, which is why it hurt so much to think that he might have a sinister
side.
I grabbed my phone. It was a bit early to call anyone, but Kate was the one most likely to
be awake at this hour.
“Kim?” she answered. “What’s up?”
I quickly explained the broad strokes version of my new apparent boyfriend, and the
incident at my work. It was far too convenient that the two senior video producers both
came down with food poisoning the same night in different restaurants, hours after I
mentioned to Devin that I might have been treated unfairly, I said.
“Good grief,” Kate muttered. “That’s a lot to unpack.”
“I know. I’m sorry to dump all of this on you.”
“Not at all, that’s what I’m here for. Just give me a minute to think.” I paced four laps of the room before she spoke. “Okay, has Devin done anything shifty in front of you? Used his
influence to treat anyone unfairly, or done anything illegal or immoral?”
“Not in the slightest. He doesn’t seem to ask for special treatment, but people seem to
assume that he’s somebody important. And he hasn’t explained why that is.
“That doesn’t mean it’s the mob,” Kate laughed. “Maybe the restaurant people all talk
amongst themselves, and everyone wants to win his business because he’s a great tipper.
And it sounds like if he likes a place, he spreads the word.”
“Well, yes,” I said. “I guess so.”
“You said that he’s wealthy, but didn’t mention his work. What if it’s something kind of embarrassing? Maybe he wants you to fall in love with him before you find out that his
family runs a toilet paper company or something.”
Laughing far too hard, it took me a minute to catch my breath. “I never would’ve thought of
that. Thanks.”
“Of course, he might not have a job at all,” Kate continued. “Maybe he’s embarrassed about
having family money and not having to work. Or maybe he thinks that you’ll judge him for it.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s possible.”
“It sounds like you’re going to have to have an awkward chat, and the sooner the better,”
Kate said, her voice taking on that slight big sister tone. “You said he treats you really well, and you absolutely click together. That is worth being a bit rude and asking him point blank
what the hell is going on.”
“You’re right. Thanks so much, Kate.”
“Anytime.” Her slight giggle made me smile. “You know what you would ask any of us. Did
you get some?”
From my embarrassed laugh, she already knew the answer. “You go, girl,” she said. “I
expect full details as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s going to be a couple of weeks before we’re all together again,” I said.
“You and Becca are leaving just as Joanna and then Laura are coming back.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure all of our adventure stories will keep,” Kate said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Thanks. Bye.”
No matter whether Devin was a bad guy who was into nasty, shifty stuff, or whether I was
just crazy and hypersensitive, after a few more laps of the living room, I resolved to just ask
him flat out. I was an adult now, and I should be able to have important conversations
without getting overly nervous.
Picking my phone back up from the table, I was about to call him when I heard rustling at
the sliding door to my balcony.
Ducking around behind the bookcase, I stared through the semi-sheer curtain. How did a
guy get on my balcony? It was only the second floor, so he must have climbed. Had he
been listening to my phone conversation? Had he been there all night?
Flashes of every horror movie that I should never have watched were making my stomach
clench. Fear ran in icy prickles down my spine. Was Devin spying on me? Could he have
sent someone to check on me? Didn’t underground people run background checks? I was
likely confusing too many movie plots as my mind spun in panic.
Trying to calm my shaking hands, I heard another rattle as the guy was obviously trying to pick the flimsy lock.
If he was a spy, he wouldn’t be trying to break in, because he would know I was here. But
come to think of it, it was a weekday, and I was usually gone to work by now. If anyone had
been watching my apartment, they would know that.
I was gripping my phone, my hands shaking wildly as I tried to unlock it, still not knowing
who I was going to call. I wasn’t quite sure if this qualified as an emergency, but I guess a
single girl alone could call 911 if someone was trying to break in, even if it turned out to be
someone who was hired.
After fumbling the password twice, the fear of being locked out of my phone was suddenly
added to the list.
Tears began to flood my eyes as I realized the only person I really wanted to call right now
was Devin. He wanted to take care of me. He wanted to be my boyfriend. I was pretty sure
that I was already in love with him. If I could just get my damn phone open, I could call him
so he could tell me what I should do.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
* Devin *
I gave up trying to sleep around six in the morning. After hitting the gym for a long, brutal
workout to drain the frustration from my body, I showered and dressed. I made a quick
coffee at home, but then couldn’t stand waiting any longer. At ten am, I pulled up in front of
Kim’s apartment building, and got out to stand in front of my car.
I decided that calling her would be more gentle than ringing her buzzer. “Hello?” Her voice
sounded shaky.
“Hey, baby, it’s me. Did you sleep all right?”
“Did you send the guy on my balcony?” She sounded frantic.
Every muscle in my body stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
Her voice was almost a whisper. “The guy on my balcony. You didn’t send him to spy on
me?”
“Kim, go into your bedroom and stay away from the balcony door.”
I was already running around to the back of her building. There, on her second-floor
balcony, was a young guy in a black hoodie trying to jimmy open the sliding door. It was far
too easy to leap up and swing over the railing. His arm was pinned behind him, with his face
against the brick wall before he even realized he had company.
My growl behind his ear made him start to shake like a leaf. “Do you know who’s apartment
you’re breaking into, asshole?”
“No, man, I…I was just after the stereo.”
Pulling my phone out, I called the non-emergency police line, which I always had handy from
my bouncer days. I kept just enough pressure on him to scare him to pieces, without injuring
him in any way as long as he didn’t resist.
The cops arrived fairly quickly, and Kim let me march the punk through her living room and
down to the apartment
lobby. They cuffed him immediately, and I noticed that my suit and
the business card from the bank pressed into the officer’s hand definitely made a difference
in their speed as they got the loser out of the building.
“Thank you, sir,” the officer said. “We’ll be in touch with you tomorrow to get an official
statement, but this kid is a known offender who is clearly violating his parole, so it should be fairly quick.”
After shaking his hand, I turned around to see Kim lurking by the elevator. I escorted her
back into her apartment and sat her down on the couch.
“We’re going to have a little chat about getting you a safer place to live, but first, I need to know–”
She burst into tears, burying herself in my arms. Stroking her back, I held her tightly. “It’s
okay, baby, it’s over.”
Rocking her gently, I wished that I could take some of her stress away. “Can I make you
some tea?”
Kim shook her head, burrowing into my shoulder. “Please, just hold me for a minute.”
“Sure.” Stroking her back, kissing the top of her hair, I murmured, “Why did you ask if I sent
the guy?”
She began crying harder, which absolutely broke my heart.
“Whatever I did, I’m so sorry,” I murmured against her hair. “I’ll do absolutely anything for
you, sweetheart. I just need you to calm down, take a breath, and tell me what you need.
Did you think I sent someone here to check if you needed a security system?”
Kim shook her head against my shoulder, then finally sat up, reaching for a tissue on the
coffee table and wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry I freaked out,” she said softly.
“You can always freak out as much as you need to with me,” I said, rubbing her back.
After a few slow, deep breaths, Kim finally looked into my eyes. “I was scared that maybe
you sent someone to spy on me,” she nearly whispered. “I was worried that you were into
some shady things, and wondered if you were checking up on me.”
I was so stunned that I actually couldn’t speak for a moment. “Why would you think I was
checking on you? If I wanted to know something, I would call you.”
Her fingers nervously twirled her left earring. “I couldn’t help wondering if you were some
sort of, you know…criminal. One of those people that just gets the job done no matter what
rules they have to break.”
“Holy shit – baby, why would you think that about me?” I tried to keep the tension from my
voice, but I was clearly upset, and trying to decide how offended I should be.
Her big brown eyes looked up at me sadly. “When I mentioned that the senior video
producers at my work got all of the best jobs, they suddenly got food poisoning. From two
different restaurants. And you know everyone in the restaurant industry, apparently.”
“Sweet Jesus,” I murmured, pulling her back into my arms. “I swear I would never do
something like that. I actually made a few calls and asked around. There were food
poisoning incidents at five different restaurants that night, and they all have the same fish
supplier. There are a bunch of chefs looking into it.”
“Oh. Sorry.” She sat up straight again, looking worried.
“Kim, please – tell me why you’d think something like that about me?”
“Um… You never mentioned what you did for a living,” she stammered. “You kept deflecting
the question. So I had to wonder if you were trying to make me fall for you before you told
me the truth.”
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a business card and placed it in her hand. “I’m an
accounts manager at a bank. I shuffle money around. It’s completely boring to everyone
else, but I actually like it, and I’m really good at it. My father sort of pushed me toward it,
and got me the job, when he got worried about me being a bouncer.”
Taking a deep breath, I realize that she needed the full truth. “A couple of my friends were
working extra hours at real lowlife places. Bribes, drug dealing, sneaking underage people
in. For a few months I kind of tipped back and forth trying to decide what side of the fence I
wanted to be on. Then I ended up a boring banker.”
“You’re not boring,” she said quickly, grabbing my hand. “Not at all.”
“My job is kind of boring, and that’s okay. It’s not my life. My life is this city, and checking out events and places every week. So no – I’m not into anything shifty. Absolutely nothing
that you couldn’t tell your family about. All right?”
Kim nodded, her misty eyes locked on mine. “Devin, I’m so sorry. I think I freaked out
because everything was so passionate at lightning speed. I’m not used to anybody being
this intense. I’m sorry I jumped to insane conclusions.” She swallowed hard as if she were
pushing the tears down. “I’ll be more direct and just ask next time, I promise.”
Holding her hands in mine, I leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead. “I know. I’m sorry,
sweetheart. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you so hard, so fast. I’m trying to be all smooth and in control, but all of these new emotions are surging out in weird ways.”
She stared at me, blinking twice.
“I had to grit my teeth not to tell you last night. I love you. But I don’t expect you to say it, I just hope that you–”
“I love you too,” she breathed.
Pulling her against me, her lips caressed mine in a soft kiss, shimmering with promise.
Lifting her, I sat her on my lap so that she was closer. “Kim, we can take this at any pace
you like. If you just want to date twice a week for a while, or if you want to move into my
place immediately, whatever you want.” I chuckled. “You already set up video shots, do you
want to call all the shots with us as well?”
She smiled, finally relaxing as she smoothed her hair. “How about we just play it by ear?”
“Anything you like.” Glancing at her clock, I saw that it was nearly noon. “May I take you out
to lunch?”
“Sure.”
“What are you hungry for?”
Kim stared out the window for a second, thinking. “Something simple. A burger, maybe.”
Nodding, I grabbed my phone, sending a quick text. “Table by the window so that you can
look out over the water. Do you like red wine?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have them decant their recommendation for wine with a burger. Let’s go.”
“I’ll need two minutes to change,” she said as she jumped up.
“Perfect. That will give me time to take photos of your balcony door and all of your
apartment windows. I’ll have my security guy come by tomorrow to lock everything down.”
Her bright, sweet laugh filled the room. “Of course you have a security guy.”
“Baby, I always have a guy. I want to give you everything, and that includes the experts I’ve
found over the years.”
Leaning in to kiss me, she whispered, “Red, black, or purple?”
“Depends what for.”
“Lingerie. So that after lunch we can go have a little nap at your place.”
“Surprise me.” Grabbing those perfect hips, I pulled her into my lap again, kissing up her
throat until she moaned. “I just need a little taste before we go, baby.”
“Anything you want,” she gasped, as I teased her breasts through her thin t-shirt.
“Anything?” She nodded. “Okay then. I’m going to need you to tell me
if I smother you with
too much affection, because the things I’m feeling for you are just going to get worse.”
“Or better,” she giggled.
As she melted into our kiss, I felt her relax completely. Bringing my lips to her ear, I
breathed, “I love you, sweetheart. I’m going to make you so happy.”
“I love you, too. And since you have a guy for everything else, I’m going to be your best girl.
Okay?”
“Perfect.”
EPILOGUE
* Kim *
*** Six Months Later ***
I should have known that something was up when Kate sent me a text suggesting that I
wear my black and hot pink flowered dress to our usual Thursday night drinks.
It had always been a very casual affair, with the girls coming straight from work, often in
simple jeans and a hoodie. But I guessed since it was the dead of winter, she had figured
we could all use a little tropical flair.
It was odd to see a slick black limo parked in front of Julian’s Pub, but I didn’t think twice
about it. I’d been excited all week, thinking about Friday night. It was the six month
anniversary since Devin and I had started dating, and I felt like he had something more than
dinner planned for us.
Moving into his incredible home after just three months was a gigantic step for us. Then it
was another big step for us last month when we both had to deal with our work’s busy
seasons aligning. For two weeks straight, we barely saw each other, which taught us how
to communicate better through text and voicemail.
So I had a feeling he might do something big for our half-year anniversary. Perhaps a mini-
vacation somewhere warm.
As I walked toward our big round table, I noticed that the girls were all wearing bright
tropical dresses as well. My friends instantly waved and squealed much louder than usual. I
was less than ten minutes late, so they couldn’t have been hitting the shots already.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“No questions, just obey,” Kate said, taking my arm before I could even slip my coat off.
They dragged me outside, into the back of the limo, where a bottle of champagne was
already open. Becca poured carefully, placing a glass in my hand.
“We don’t have much time, but we can always bring the rest of the bottle with us,” Joanna
