Surprise had his shoulders hitting the window at his back.
“I don’t care if you think I’m crazy or not. It’s the truth. From the moment you walked out onto that patio, I knew you were the one I was waiting for—”
“You’re right; you’re crazy—”
Ginny jabbed him again. “Shut up! I’ve always known you were out there. Always … I just didn’t know who you were or where! Then you walked out on the patio, and I knew.” Ginny dropped her voice, pleading for him to understand. “I knew.” She jabbed him again. “Deny to yourself that you felt the same. Go ahead! I can’t stop you. But don’t lie to me and expect me to go along as if I don’t know what I felt.” Giving a particularly hard jab, Ginny leaned closer until she could feel his breaths against her lips. “And another freaking thing”—another pointed jab had him pressing back farther—“Don’t. Ever. Compare me to other women!” she snarled. “And don’t pick a fight with me when I’m driving. It’s not your call when you place your life in danger, not anymore. What you do affects me, too!
“I know what life without you is like. You’ve yet to find out what me not being in your life is like, but you’re going to find out.” Ginny angrily moved away from him, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind her. The sound echoed off the silence in the garage. Then a hard slam followed hers, rocking the car.
“What in the fuck does that mean?” Gavin shouted out to her retreating back.
“It means you’re going home! I’m calling Viper,” Ginny yelled back from over her shoulder, viciously punching the elevator key.
“You’re not serious.”
If she wasn’t so furious, she would have laughed at his confounded expression.
“Yes, I am.” Raising her chin high, she walked into the opening elevator. “You should be ecstatic,” she said snidely, punching her floor number before heatedly crossing her arms across her chest. “You only brought enough clothes for a few days; you won’t even have to wash them.”
Stepping past him when the elevator opened, Ginny walked to her apartment and keyed her code into the electric lock. Swinging the door open, she then gave a smartass wave of her hand for him to enter, preparing herself to wait while Gavin inspected the apartment.
A small squeak escaped her when she felt herself lifted onto her tiptoes as he took her upper arms to frog march her inside the apartment. Then Ginny felt her back pressed against the wall as Gavin clicked the lock.
Forced to lean her head back to look up at his grim features, Ginny stubbornly lifted her chin even higher, not about to take back a word she said.
“You’re the most irritating wo—”
Ginny narrowed her eyes on him in warning.
“—person I’ve ever met.”
“That’s plainly untrue. Rider holds that honor.” She disdainfully sniffed up at him.
Ginny could practically see the steam coming out of his ears as he tried to retain his passive façade.
“He’s now in second place, thanks to the most cockamamie nonsense I’ve ever heard coming from you.”
“Really!”
“For fucking sure.”
“I can prove it.” Her eyes dared him to prove her wrong.
“How?”
Was he freaking laughing at her? Any other time she would have been thrilled to see anything but the dead sea behind his eyes, just not when she was trying to make a point.
Bracing her hands on his chest, she shoved him back, well aware of the hard muscles under his T-shirt, and that the only reason she was able to move him back was of his own will.
With enough room to move, she took out her cell phone, pulling up the pictures she saved. Finding the one she wanted, she pressed, zooming it bigger before turning the screen to face him.
“See?”
Gavin’s lashes lowered as he stared at the picture. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”
“Is that you in the mirror or not?”
“Me?” Gavin grabbed her wrist, lifting the phone higher until it was at eye level.
“Is it you or not?” Ginny was glad of his hand on her wrist, afraid the phone would slip from her sweaty palm, and terrified he wouldn’t be able to see the same thing she had.
“Where did you get the picture of me from?”
Ginny was so relieved that she dropped her head to his chest. “Lily.”
Feeling the muscles tense under her cheek, she raised her head before he could pull himself away.
“What does a picture of me prove?”
“I didn’t know it was you until you came out to the patio. I just knew you were the man I was waiting for.”
“You’re crazier than I thought.”
“I’m from the mountains of Kentucky. We have superstitions we believe in. One is, if you look in the mirror at the bottom of a cellar steps, you’ll be able to see the man you’re going to marry. Lily took this picture Halloween night. Don’t you see?”
“Are you high?”
Ginny put her phone back in her pocket. “No.”
“This is ridiculous.” Abruptly, Gavin turned and began searching through the apartment before coming back.
“Save yourself the trouble of calling Viper. He’s too busy with the factory to worry about your drama. You’re stuck with me.”
Ginny stayed as still as a statue. She said what she had to say. Only time would prove what she was saying was true. Unfortunately, she was running out of that commodity, since her stalker was no longer content to stay in the background.
Gavin becoming a casualty was unacceptable to her. She wouldn’t sit back and watch that happen.
“Waiting for a storm to hit is fucking useless. It puts you at a disadvantage.”
Ginny didn’t shrink away from Gavin’s powerful body towering over hers. “What do you suggest?”
“Meet the fucker head-on. Ride the storm with me, and let’s find out who he is.”
“I don’t want to make you a target.” She really didn’t want him to leave, but then she didn’t want him hurt, either.
Gavin gave a smile that turned her blood to ice. “I was in the Navy; storms are what I’m best at.”
Chapter Twelve
“What are you wanting to do?” Making her way to the couch, Ginny sat down.
“We make him believe we’re a couple.”
“How do we accomplish that?”
“You telling Kimmy we are was a good start.”
“I didn’t exactly tell her we’re a couple,” she argued. “I just said that you were attached. She just assumed it was to me.”
Gavin folded his arms over his chest. “How did she get that impression?”
“Kimmy saw you and asked if you were the one taking Shade’s and Rider’s place.”
“And …?” he prompted.
“And …” Ginny guiltily lowered her gaze to his boots. “She asked if you were attached. Erring on the side of caution, I told her you were.”
“Why would you err on the side of caution?”
“Well, I couldn’t say for sure if you were or not, so I erred on the side of caution and told her you are.” She nodded as if that should make perfect sense to him.