“Grey gave his seal of approval and that’s really all you needed, but we like to be thorough. You’ll have a keycard next week and everything you need to access the rooms. Just let us know your availability and we’ll take it from there,” Ryan said, cutting off the depressing thoughts that she hadn’t had in a while as he handed her his card.
“Thank you,” Sloane said, forcing a smile as she accepted his card, absently noting that he was a lawyer.
“Just give me a call if you need anything,” Ryan said as she watched Chase roll into the foyer and
Kept going, shooting her a glare as he went. Resigning herself to the ten-minute glare-fest on the drive home, she threw Ryan and Kylie, who was already back to mumbling, “Why did they use this form?” a smile.
“I’ll get this done by next week,” Sloane said, holding up the application as she headed for the door.
“Sounds good,” Ryan said with a warm smile as she walked outside and
“Take me home,” Chase said hoarsely, drawing her attention to find him sitting near the car, staring across the street. Sloane opened her mouth to tease him about using the magic word when she saw his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, even as she reached into her bag for his pain medication, noting how pale he’d gone. Sloane followed his gaze and found a beautiful woman with long blond hair staring right back at him, looking like she’d seen a ghost.
“Just take me home.”
Chapter 19
“I don’t think this is going to work,” the small woman with incredible eyes said as Grey glanced up from the volunteer application that she’d filled out with a crayon.
“And why’s that?” Grey asked, leaning back in the incredibly comfortable chair that Kylie helped pick out for him.
With a heavy sigh and a sad shake of her head, she gestured between them, “This thing that’s going on between us.”
Nodding solemnly, Grey said, “I was afraid that was it.”
“You felt that too?” Nikki James, the small woman who’d been ordered to serve community service for walking up to a perp that she’d testified against and kneed him in the balls in front of the judge who’d decided to release him, asked. That had led to the judge throwing her in jail for the night and sentencing her to community service with the promise of taking away her private investigator license if she fucked up.
“I mean, how could I miss it?” Grey said, running his eyes over the beautiful woman with long curly brown hair, the most intense green eyes that he’d ever seen, the tight black T-shirt that hugged the generous curves of her breasts, worn jeans that gave away the fact that she wore an ankle holster, the black hiking boots, and couldn’t help but note that she wasn’t his type.
Not at all.
He liked tall women with blonde hair, pale blue eyes, dainty features, long legs, delicate women that loved to be pampered and this woman…definitely didn’t fit that description. But there was still something about her…
“This attraction is just too overwhelming. I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to ignore it,” Nikki said with a heavy sigh, looking bored as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket.
“I’m not sure either,” Grey said, taking the coin out of his pocket that he never went anywhere without and began flipping it over the back of his fingers as he studied the small woman.
“Then I guess this can’t happen,” Nikki said with a sad shake of her head as she focused on her phone.
“I guess not,” he murmured in agreement, watching as she tapped her fingertips on her phone, noting that they were filed down to an efficient length.
“I’m disappointed. Are you disappointed?” Nikki mumbled absently as he sat there, continuing to flip the coin over the backs of his fingers.
“I’m devastated,” he drawled.
“Me, too,” Nikki said, sighing heavily with a firm nod. “Me, too.”
“I don’t know how I’ll get past this,” Grey murmured.
“It’s going to be one of the most difficult things that I’ll ever have to do,” Nikki said with a sad shake of her head, never taking her eyes off her phone.
“It really is.”
“We’ll get through this,” she said only to add, “Somehow,” making his lips twitch.
“You know what would help me get through this?” he asked.
“What’s that?” Nikki mumbled absently, frowning down at something on her phone.
Grey reached over and plucked the phone out of her hand, absently noting that she was playing an online Scrabble game before he placed it on the coffee table between them.
“Getting through this intake,” Grey said, leaning back in his chair.
“Really? Because I was planning on getting through this with alcohol and poor coping skills,” she said, blinking at him.
“Oh, I plan on doing that too, but this will help ease the pain until then,” Grey said, making those plump lips that he had to admit he liked twitch.
“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Nikki asked, giving him a pitying look.
“I mean, can you ever be sure of something like this?” he asked, continuing to flip that coin as he watched her take note of the move before that gaze that didn’t seem to miss a thing moved around his office quickly before focusing back on him.
“True, but this just seems like something we should avoid,” Nikki said, nodding solemnly.
“And how would you suggest that we do that?” Grey asked, watching as Nikki reached over and picked up her phone.
“Besides alcohol and poor coping skills?” she asked, sliding her phone back in her pocket.
“Yes, besides that,” he said as he watched her pull a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
“You could sign off on my sheet,” Nikki said as she held up the piece of paper the court had given her to keep track of her hours.
“I could…” Grey said, letting his words trail off.
“Look,” Nikki said, pausing only to sigh, “given this overpowering attraction that we’re struggling to ignore, I think it would be for the best if we cut our losses and try to move on.”
“It will be a struggle,” Grey murmured in agreement as he gestured for her to hand him the paper.
“It really will,” Nikki said, handing it over.
“I’m not sure how I’ll get through this,” Grey said with a sad shake of his head as he crossed a few things out, changed a couple of things, and made a few notes before handing it back over.
She took the sheet back with a smile only to sigh with a sad shake of her head and murmured, “After everything we’ve been through?”
“I’m just not ready to let you go yet,” Grey said, flipping the coin into his palm before sliding it back in his pocket so that he could focus on his schedule, looking for a spot to fit the woman that intrigued him in.
“Is that why you doubled my volunteer hours?”
“And why I’ve added therapy to your community service requirements,” he pointed out.
“Can you really do that?”
“Looks like I can,” Grey said absently.