“I’ve got that covered, but thank you,” Rory said, rushing for the elevator.
Gideon, she’s on the move,Javier reported.She’s being followed again. Same man. He’s staying way back. He’s not the only one watching her. Two cops. Undercover, dumb enough to think no one’s going to make them. I spotted them going into her building earlier with two other cops.
Gideon moved across the roof to the street side of his building, staying in the shadows of recesses he’d had built into the thick railings. It didn’t take him long to spot Rory. She was beautiful, totally feminine, moving with her natural grace around the few people on the sidewalk. She had her head up, and she wore a long skirt that flowed over her hips to her ankles. A sweater buttoned down the front clung to her breasts and ended at her midsection,drawing attention to the fact that she had a small waist. Her hair cascaded down her back in a riot of curls and waves.
Gideon pressed his palm over his heart and forced his gaze from her. He was looking to find the man following her. It didn’t take long to spot him. It was definitely the same man who had been in the restaurant. He was about a block and a half behind her, staying in the shadows, keeping to the doors and alcoves, his gaze on the two undercover cops more than on Rory.
The two detectives—Javier had identified them as John Westlake and Leo Carver—were watching Rory as she walked from her apartment to his building. Gideon didn’t like the idea of anyone spying on her, not even the cops. He was aware a body had been removed from her apartment complex. Since it had become apparent to other members of Gideon’s unit that Rory was important to him, they had set up surveillance on the complex. Javier had made it his mission to keep Rory under his eagle eye once they realized someone was following her.
Gideon could see Javier talking and laughing with a group of teens. He stood right next to the cop car, obscuring the detectives’ vision of Rory as she stopped at Gideon’s building and put the code in to unlock the door. Gideon couldn’t help smiling as Westlake shoved open the passenger door and leapt out onto the street in an attempt to see around the group of teenagers who had stopped in the wrong place. With much more dignity, Carver got out onto the sidewalk. Rory had already disappeared into the building.
Cursing, Westlake shoved through the crowd of teenagers and hurried up the sidewalk to try to catch up with Rory. He seemed to forget he wasn’t wearing a badge or a uniform or driving an official vehicle. Led by Javier, the teens flipped him off and shouted curses at him. Carver got back into the car, leaving Westlake to stomp back on his own, muttering curses back at the teens andflinging himself into the car, glowering at his partner. Carver drove away.
Gideon found himself grinning. He knew Javier would follow the man stalking Rory. Gideon could enjoy himself with the woman he’d been looking forward to seeing all day. He looked around his rooftop to make certain he had everything ready for her. Two comfortable chairs close to the firepit, which was already lit, the flames burning low. His night flowers were in bloom, looking beautiful, the blossoms turning their petals up toward the moon. Even the weather had cooperated, giving them a relatively clear night so the stars could be seen.
The trapdoor opened slowly. Gideon knew he should help, but he found himself frozen, unable to move a muscle, watching Rory’s face come into his line of vision. She was really here in his home, on his rooftop, meeting him. He’d never been open to relationships at all. In fact, he knew he was a very closed-off person. He had been since he’d been that boy who was homeless with the other street kids. He’d seen too much, had been betrayed too many times. To be in any kind of a relationship, one had to have trust. He had lost that ability far too many years ago.
His first sight of her face and that hair of hers, with the moonlight shining down on her, robbed him of his ability to breathe. There was no air left in his lungs. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t stop. “You’re so damn beautiful, Red,” he whispered. The wind brushed across his face, and he hoped it carried his silly words away from her and all they admitted about the way he felt.
Her lips tipped upward, and if she could have gotten any more beautiful, she managed it. Her smile lit her entire face. The green in her eyes became even more vivid, deepened into a brighter emerald.
Gideon forced himself to break free of his frozen state andhurried to help her off the staircase and onto the roof. He took the basket from her but didn’t let go of her arm.
She tilted her head to look up at him. “Thank you for being understanding. I was hoping you’d wait for me.”
“I would have waited all night to see you, Rory.” He couldn’t help the sincerity in his voice, although he was afraid he was going to creep her out with his intensity.
She gave him another smile, and it eased the knots that had gathered in his belly. He really wasn’t good at this. He’d watched Kane with Rose and Mack with Jaimie, but there wasn’t a lot to guide him into the newness of a relationship. Mack had known Jaimie from childhood, and Kane had a history with Rose before the others had ever known her.
He hadn’t learned a thing from observing the couples together, other than that they didn’t seem to be able to keep their hands off each other, and the men were extremely protective of the women. That seemed to exasperate the women. Gideon understood Kane and Mack. He felt protective toward Rory already. As far as keeping his hands off her, the chemistry was explosive, and he didn’t dare get too close and test it until she knew he wasn’t about having a one-night stand with her or just using her and then walking away.
He took the picnic basket from her. “Food is always appreciated, Red, but you didn’t have to go to the trouble, especially when something clearly happened to make you late.”
Gideon led the way to the area he’d set up for the picnic. He’d made certain the space was surrounded by his plants to make it more intimate, although the rooftop was extremely private. This area had the best view of the harbor and out to sea. The plants gave them some protection from the wind.
“This is so beautiful, Gideon.” She spun in a slow circle. “I’m on the third floor. Having a view from the fourth floor really makes a difference.”
“I have a throw blanket for you just in case it gets cold.”
“I’m sure the firepit will keep me warm enough, but that was very thoughtful,” Rory said. She took the chair closest to the planters and held out her hands to the fire. “You wouldn’t believe what’s been happening at my apartment complex recently.”
She told him about the police detective, Peter Ramsey, being shot and killed that first day he’d come to her bar when she’d been late. She disclosed that Dustin Bartlet, a man living in the apartment building, had been found dead a couple of days later. She finished by filling him in on what happened that day.
“You’re telling me a cop was killed there the other day, along with a man you knew, and now another man’s body has been discovered?” He didn’t let on that he had all that information already.
Rory nodded, her green eyes fixed solemnly on his. “Yep. Ret was in the garbage chute, wrapped in plastic like a mummy. Someone had killed him by putting a plastic bag over his head. It was really disgusting. When the detective was shot, my friends and I were in the lounge. We like to meet for coffee and visit when we can. It was our day to sort junk mail. The next thing we know, we hear the guns going off, and the cop staggers in with blood all over him.”
“You didn’t tell me any of this,” Gideon pointed out.
“Well, no,” she conceded. “I thought it was over. I didn’t know they were going to find Ret in the garbage chute. Poor little Moses is traumatized for life. He was playing with his brother, sliding down the chute, which they were not supposed to be doing, and Moses got stuck on top of Ret’s head.”
Gideon sighed. “Red, your life is crazier than mine.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Red? You keep calling me Red.”
“Your hair. Dark cherry–colored. I can’t help but think of you as Red.” He flashed a smile he hoped didn’t make him look like more of an ass than he already felt like.
He was discovering he wasn’t the kind of man who courted a woman. He was more the caveman type, like Javier. If he could, he’d just keep his little redheaded woman safe in his home and persuade her he was the right choice for her—somehow.
