“But if I have somebody who knows how to work everything I might as well add a little something for everybody.”
“Exactly,” he winked. “Thanks, beautiful.”
“You’re welcome, handsome,” she patted his arm before doing a motion as if she were zipping up her lips and tossing the key away. He followed the same motion and their private promise to each other had been sealed.
“If you ever want to get into weights I can show you the bench press machine. I straddle a woman really well.” He winked. “While I spot you of course.”
“And here I was thinking you spot from behind the bench.”
“I do it from behind just fine too.”
She laughed. “Get back to work and put your mind on something other than sex.”
He laughed at her. “Later, he left her standing there. She shook her head and smiled.
Greg bit his jaw to keep from causing a scene. Right now he wanted to knock that guys head off. She couldn’t possibly go for his type. There couldn’t possibly be something starting up between the two of them; could it?
Something else was on his mind. Clair planned on moving? She planned on opening her own studio? He wondered where she was going and if she would leave her house behind. She had obviously put some work into making it a home; he didn’t imagine she’d leave it. He could ask those questions later. Right now he was just happy she seemed to be making plans for the future. Making plans meant she wasn’t thinking Levins was going to kill her. She trusted him to keep her safe, maybe, but he’d take that maybe over a definitive no any day.
By the end of her shift they all landed back at her place. She took first shower and he waited patiently for his turn. When she surfaced from the bathroom she was in sexy black pants again, but this time she wore a fitted jean vest without a shirt underneath, slightly healed dance sneakers and her hair was up in a ponytail.
“Whoa,” he said as he looked at her slender form. Her breasts weren’t hanging out, they weren’t even visible with the cut of the vest, but the imagination had room to work.
“We’re going out tonight, and I have to dance.” She reminded him. He hadn’t forgotten.
“Do you ever stop?”
“When I’m done with everything I need to do, yes.” She turned to walk away from him. That was the second time in the course of the day where she’d been ready to walk away from him, ending the conversation as if he weren’t still ready to keep talking. If he hadn’t been quick she would have been down the stairs before he could say anything.
“What about dinner?”
“You can eat when we get there.”
“What about you?”
She turned to him. He could see the look of exasperation in her eyes. “I get a free meal with the dancing so I’ll eat after.”
“Nice setup,” he said.
“Generous,” she added. “Tony B has helped me so much that I’d do this even if he weren’t making sure I got a meal thrown in with my appearance.”
“You get paid right?”
“No,” she laughed again. “This isn’t about the money. Friends help friends. It’s what they do.” She turned once again and left him. This time he didn’t try to stop her with conversation.
“Friends help friends,” she had said and she was right, but somehow it felt like a major blow to his conscience. Friends didn’t ditch friends, that’s what she might as well had said because that’s how he heard it. Guilt was eating him from the inside out and he was pretty sure that cannibal was going to be the death of him.
Chapter Three
The weekend had been busy, and then she was back at work on Monday. By the time Tuesday rolled around she was thankful for her day off. She cleaned first, as she always did. She made sure she used Murphy Oil Soap on her wood floors, which she always got down on her knees to do by hand. She hadn’t planned on the process taking as long as it did. It didn’t usually take her four hours to clean her house, but Janet wasn’t exactly up for a Clean Person award. She started cleaning at two in the morning. With everybody sleep she had room to work. Of course, Greg seemed to be in tune with her wake up schedule and he was up before she could finish what she was doing. She warned him to be careful on the steps, she had just cleaned them.
“Can I help?”
“You can get Janet’s two day old dishes out of the sink; that would be great.” Clair wasn’t the type to leave dishes in the sink. She usually came down and did them even if Janet hadn’t, but the past couple days she had been so busy that she barely had time to do the normal everyday maintenance cleaning behind herself let alone somebody else. Of course with Janet nothing was about maintenance cleaning, it was full blown, get in and get dirty cleaning. How one person could make such a big mess in just a few days was beyond her scope of understanding.
“Anything else other than the dishes I can help you with. Breakfast?”
If he were making a flip remark about her weight again she wasn’t in the mood this morning. “You can tell that woman to clean up behind herself. I don’t have time to play maid.” Okay, so her tone of voice was laced with hostility, but she really was upset. She warned him; she didn’t function well in a dirty house. She couldn’t stand it. But maybe it was more than that, she couldn’t stand Janet. She couldn’t stand the clothes tossed on the bathroom floor, the dishes—with food still on them—left in her kitchen sink, the breadcrumbs underneath her kitchen table, the dried makeup around the bathroom sink, or the ring starting to appear around her beautiful tub. She didn’t want roaches, rats or any other creature that thrived in those conditions. She didn’t want to spend her entire day off cleaning. She didn’t want to have to spend another day passing the bathroom and seeing filth. If she did she’d probably scream, or kill her, and then all their problems would be solved because she’d definitely be some place Levins couldn’t get to her.
After cleaning was grocery shopping. Thankfully she had still made it to the store before the rush. There were certain times of the day when she wouldn’t even accept payment to go in the direction of the grocery store, let alone into it. Certain hours of the day that store was like Disney World without the fun. She had tried to go later in the morning once, the ten to one o’clock crowd was ruthless in the way they pushed baskets. She learned quickly that the rules of shopping changed during those times and if she wanted to make it out unscathed she had to guard her toes, heals, legs and anything else she wanted to walk out the store with still in tact. Any time after or before those hours was safe.
With her shadows in tow she was sure to get some things they might want to eat. Janet had complained incessantly about the lack of meat in the house, the lack of junk food, the lack of everything really. While Clair wasn’t about to stock her house with junk, she did offer to buy some meat that Janet might want to eat. She figured paying for their food was the least she could do given they were trying to keep her alive. Although her generosity only went so far and she quickly realized she had to put Janet on a budget. She bought the meat, a few loaves of bread, some cold cuts, and Janet was responsible for anything else she wanted. Janet wanted Twinkies. God, she hoped that didn’t mean she was going to be eating Twinkies in the bedroom. She could just imagine what the room would look like, covered in cream filling and little specks of gold.
Quickly she made a new rule, “no eating outside the kitchen,” she had said. That is no eating outside the kitchen unless they were outside of her house.
Greg was going to pay for his own food, and there was a part of her that wanted to let him, but she didn’t. It was just as easy to put his food on her bill. Despite what had happened over the last ten years, he was here now; trying his best to keep her safe and she hadn’t exactly been making it world class easy for him. He was, ironically, easier to shop for, less demanding, less complaining, just easy. She hadn’t expected that. She had always thought men would be the harder of the species to buy food for, especially men who ate meat. She envisioned her freezer being full of things like ribs
and slabs of beef, but he seemed to be more of a chicken and fish guy much like herself—not that she was a guy, just that she liked the same food combinations. Or maybe he had opted for those foods because of her. Maybe he didn’t want her stuck with food she wasn’t going to eat when they left. She had bought beef for Janet so that she could have hamburgers and fries practically everyday so she already knew if they wrapped up the case sooner, rather than later, she was going to have to either have Janet take the food with her or she was going to have to get rid of it. She didn’t eat beef, couldn’t stand the smell of it actually, and had no intention of keeping it in her house.
She bought a frying pan for Janet to cook her burgers on; she would let her take that with her when she left too. There seemed to be a lot of things she found herself buying to accommodate a woman she didn’t even like and that drove her grocery bill up nearly a hundred dollars. There was no way she could maintain that spending level, especially not on a weekly basis. No, she made it clear to Janet that this was a one time event.
By Tuesday afternoon she abandoned Janet and Greg to the downstairs while she practiced routines upstairs. Duvall assured her she would be there for the class on Wednesday. “Oh joy,” she had mumbled. Janet’s bad dancing was throwing her entire back row of dancers into chaos. She was going to have to put her off to the side…the far side, where she wouldn’t be in anybody’s way. She had offered to take her through the routine at home, kind of a private lesson of sorts, but Janet wanted to spend time with Greg. Of course she did. Janet and Greg were an item and he’d spent most of his time trying to protect her. She guessed she would have skipped the educational lesson in those circumstances too…or maybe not. She would probably be more concerned about falling on her behind in tomorrow’s class and making a fool of herself than spending time with her lover.
Clair couldn’t understand why the woman needed to sit in her classes anyway. Greg was at the gym all day and given the fact that he seemed to watch more than he worked out there really wasn’t a need for two agents. She hadn’t had any luck convincing Duvall of that fact.
After her shower Clair had her own version of dinner while Duvall had a burger and fries and Greg had a sub sandwich he’d made on her cheese bread roll. “I forgot to mention, agent…sorry, Greg.” He looked annoyed, as if the slip of her tongue was going to push him over the imaginary edge. “I’m dancing tomorrow night.”
“Again?”
“Yes, again. It’s an event that I promised to do months ago. Anyway, a friend is on his way over so we can do one last rehearsal.”
His eyes narrowed and his jaw locked, which she imagined was considerably hard to do since he was still trying to chew the food in his mouth.
She watched his throat work as he struggled to swallow before speaking. “His?”
“Yeah, I dance with guys,” she said as if that should have been obvious. But then she remembered that he’d only seen her dance with groups, except at the country bar. At the bar most of her work had been in line dances, but she’d done a couple slow dances with a few of the students she’d taught, and one of the regular patrons. “Anyway, it’s not a big deal. I’ve known him for a few years so he’s safe. I’ll be upstairs, you can stay down here.”
“Not likely,” he said.
“He’s not Levins. She’ll be fine,” Duvall said. For once Clair was actually in agreement with her.
“Listen to the woman,” she said. “She knows of what she speaks.”
“Shadow,” he said. “Where you go, I go, remember?”
“Since you don’t follow me into the bathroom, and you didn’t follow me into the dance studio an hour ago then I don’t see where it matters.”
He shrugged. “The bathroom was your choice for off limits, not mine. I can assure you I’d follow you there too if I thought I needed to.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up his hand and kept talking. “As for the dance studio, who says I didn’t observe for a while?”
He hadn’t. She was sure of that because she would have seen his reflection in one of the mirrors. Unless…”You were hovering outside the door weren’t you?”
He shrugged again. She wanted to hit him. “Just for a little while. I figured you’d be okay up there on your own.”
How long exactly was a little while? “Well I’ll be okay this time too.”
He shook his head no. “You won’t be alone this time. I’ll observe. Besides, you can try out the moves in front of an audience.”
She would have protested, but he was right. They could test out the moves, but it wasn’t exactly as if he could give any advice after seeing any of them. He wasn’t a dancer, and from what she could tell he didn’t know much about dancing at all.
“You know, this isn’t some type of “me Tarzan, you Jane” relationship—”
“Relationship,” his lips spread into a slow, devious grin. “Now that’s progress.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s what you said.”
Infuriating…was the man always that infuriating? And how dare he flirt with her…provided he was actually flirting with her. She thought about it for a moment and decided he wasn’t. When Greg was in a relationship he was committed one hundred percent. Besides that point he didn’t like her. He ditched her years ago, that was a sure sign he wasn’t interested in friendship let alone more. And now, every second he had a chance he made some snide comment about her body. No, he wasn’t flirting. He was just being a pain in the behind.
The doorbell rung, breaking any sarcastic comment she could return of her own, not that she had one ready anyway. Greg had knocked her off balance for the second time since he’d been in her home and no snappy comeback was going to redeem her from the fall she had taken.
“That’s Kyle,” she nearly ran from the kitchen and he was right behind her. Before she could open the door he had his big hand planted against the frame, stopping her.
“Don’t,” he said through gritted teeth, “ever do that again.”
“I was just getting the door.”
“And if it’s Levins on the other side…then what?”
“I doubt he’d ring the doorbell,” she reached her hand out to get the door. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her mid-action.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She was probably turning three shades of red right now, but she couldn’t help it. He was making her angrier by the second.
“Don’t ever usurp my position on your protection again, Clair. If you do, so help me God, I’ll…” his voice trailed off as he looked out the side window. He had his hand on his weapon, the big gun tucked in the waistband of the back of his pants. She was too busy processing the fact that he had just uttered the second non completed threat to her since he’d been there.
Greg didn’t have to complete his sentence. She could tell from the tone in his voice and the look on his face that he was one hundred percent business right now. She didn’t ask what he’d do if she didn’t follow orders because knowing Greg it would probably involve forcibly removing her from her house and putting her some place safer.
“It’s not him.”
“I know.” She said with a hint of annoyance. She had told him she was expecting somebody. She let Kyle in and told him to go on up. She wanted to give Greg a piece of her mind, but Greg didn’t plan on sticking around to hear what she had to say. After he made sure the door was locked he was already on his way up behind Kyle.
She followed behind them. She could set some new boundaries after Kyle left. It would probably be best because the argument she was sure would ensue was going to be loud and hostile. The words, “don’t ever put your hands on me again,” were at the tip of her tongue and she planned to let the jerk hear that first. Then she could move on to how tacky it was to use his badge and authority to get what he wanted, followed by the “don’t ever threaten me again” statement she was itching to make. The jerk!
“What’s going on?” Kyle waved his h
and toward Greg, who had permanently attached himself to the wall in the corner. At least he would be out of their way.
“My shadow,” she mumbled before waving dismissingly. “You know about the murder of my sister.” She hadn’t told him; he had done a Google search on her and found out. While she wished he hadn’t done that she couldn’t stop people from reading public information.
“Yeah.”
“Well the guy broke out of prison, and the agent over there just wants to make sure I’m safe.”
“God, Clair. I’m so sorry. Do you want me to stay over?”
“No,” Greg answered before she could. She was going to say no anyway, but now she was thinking maybe she’d say yes just because he said no. This was her house and he was being a jerk—a really big jerk. God, she was so angry with him right now she could barely concentrate on dancing. She was currently using all her strength to keep from turning around and telling him what she thought of him, asking him the question that had been on her mind for the last ten years, and basically kicking his ass out of her house. Not that she thought he would go, because he wouldn’t, and if she really thought about it she shouldn’t want him to. Greg wouldn’t let Levins kill her, she may not have trusted him with anything else, but she trusted him with that; she trusted him with her life.
“It’s crowded here already. You see his shadow is downstairs.”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “I get it. Well, if you’re not in the frame of mind…”
“I am, and you know it.” Maybe she really wasn’t, but it was too late for him to get another partner and tomorrow’s event was important for him. “So, let’s do this. As long as you’re comfortable dancing with a girl who has added shadows.”
Dangerous Obsessions Page 5
