His words pulled me out of my admiration. He was sorry? “What are you sorry for?” I asked.
He took a deep breath. “I’m your boss, and my behavior was inappropriate, to say the least.” Despite his words, he wasn’t watching my eyes—he was watching my mouth.
I shook my head. “I’m the one who should apologize. My drunk daughter showing up here was what was inappropriate. I left you when you needed me. It won’t happen again.”
James’s eyes remained on my lips, unwavering.Just kiss me already.
Fuck it.
I stepped into his space, eager to find out for myself what he tasted like. James leaned in and I closed my eyes, preparing tofinallyfeel his lips on mine. My advance was interrupted by aclang, then the sound of the fire alarm ringing out across the silent bar. I jumped back, clapping my hands over my ears to reduce the piercing sound—it didn’t work very well. James winced, yanking open his office door and stomping toward the fire exit at the back of the building. I followed him, noting that the door stood wide open.
I could barely hear the door shut over the wailing of the alarm. James pulled his keys from his pocket, opened a panel next to the doorway, and finally silenced the ear-piercing noise. I pulled my fingers out of my ears, but my heart still pounded.
“What the hell was that?” Dani said, appearing behind us, voice muffled by the ringing in my ears. “Are you two okay?”
“You didn’t open this door?” James asked.
Dani shook her head. “I thought it was Ryder.”
“Ryder was with me.” James stiffened, then he was ushering me down the hallway by a hand on the small of my back, doing the same to Dani when we reached her. “You two need to go.”
We both protested. For someone so small, Dani was a firecracker, and wrenched her way out of James’sgrip to spin around and face him. I’d seen her throw a man twice her size out of the bar without breaking a sweat, so I couldn’t say I was surprised. “Not until you explain what’s going on,” she said.
I didn’t miss the way James kept his hand on me. “Those doors can’t be opened from the outside without a special device. If none of us opened it, then someone else was back here.”
It was my turn to speak up. I stepped out of his arm and faced him, but I found myself craving his touch again. “And you want us to leaveyouhere alone? Not going to happen.”
“I agree with him,” Dani added, planting her feet and crossing her arms.
I opened my mouth. “I can?—”
James cut me off. “I’ll deal with it. Both of you need to go home.”
The two of us started talking at once, the words lost as they clambered atop one another; I was telling him that I wasn’t going to leave him alone, and Dani—well frankly, I couldn’t decipher what Dani was saying.
James silenced us both with a single hand. “I said I’ll deal with it. What I won’t do is put you two at risk. I’ll stay here and check things out and if it makes you both feel better, I’ll call the police to Mae sure.”
“James—” Dani started.
“Dani,” James warned, voice dropping an octave.
To my shock, she clamped her mouth shut. In the short time I’d known her, I’d never seen her back down.
I cautiously looked back to James. My breathing was starting to even out, but my heart still pounded, each beat sounding off in my ears.
“Get in your cars and go home. Text me the second you get there. I’ll call you if I need anything else. I’ll let you know whether you need to come in tomorrow. Have I made myself clear?”
Dani and I looked at each other, then nodded. But I waited for her to step into the hallway before turning back to James. “That applies to you too,” I whispered in the most commanding tone I could muster—which couldn’t have been very impressive, considering how badly my voice shook. “Text me the second you’re safe, or I will come back.”
I could see the way his lips twitched and his eyes brimmed with mischief—he liked that I was challenging him. At least they weren’t red again. “Is that a threat, Clark?”
“It’s a promise.”
Dani and I walked to our cars together. Safety in numbers and all that. I fired it up, but instead of going home straight away, I circled the block and parked across the street, turning my lights out. The street was the kind of quiet that would’ve been peaceful, but was eerie following an unexpected event. The kind of quiet that made you hyperaware of everything because something wasn’t right.
I waited for the police to show up, but they never did. Instead, the lights turned off one by one. James exited the front of the building, locked the door, and got into his own car. I was confused—maybe even pissed off. Why wouldn’t he want to involve the police? Fire exits didn’t open themselves.Someonehad been in the bar with us.
I stayed in place and watched the building for another ten minutes after James left. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see. I didn’t even know what I’d do if I saw something, but I waited nonetheless. I jumped when my phone chimed, ringing out in the silent car. If I’d really been on a stakeout, I would’ve been really bad at it.
