“It is, although the charges haven’t been dropped.” Mrs. Nagy patted my knee. “If you’re a suspect, you should get a lawyer.”
My stomach shriveled at the thought. I couldn’t afford a lawyer. Probably not even a fake one like Leona’s actor friend.
“Zita tells me you’re a private investigator now and working on the case,” Mr. Nagy said, saving me from responding to his wife’s advice.
“I’m not exactly a private investigator, but I am trying to figure out who really killed Freddie.”
“With the help of a very handsome young man,” Mrs. Nagy added, a twinkle in her eyes.
I busied myself with drinking my tea so I wouldn’t need to comment on that detail.
Mrs. Nagy turned the conversation to the subject of Livy, and I stayed and chatted for a few more minutes before returning to my own apartment. I’d been back for only a minute or two when someone knocked on my door.
When I opened it, my heart did a little cheerleading dance in my chest.
I stared at Wyatt, suddenly not sure what to do or say. “How did you get in the building?” I asked in an effort to prevent a potentially awkward silence from stretching between us.
“Agnes buzzed me in. I wanted to check in and see how the new security system was working at the bakery.”
My brain froze. What was I supposed to do? Or say? Did he regret our kiss? Want another one? He wasn’t giving me any hints, but he did seem to be waiting for me to speak, so I scrambled to think of something to say.
“I’ve been thinking about our…” I tried to keep a grasp on my vague train of thought, but Wyatt was so darn distracting, standing there looking absurdly good in his faded jeans and dark blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“About our kiss?” he guessed, his slow grin heating me from the inside out.
“Yes. Wait—what? No!” I desperately backpedaled. “Our investigation! Not our…”
Überhot, super steamy, totally unforgettable kiss?my brain supplied.
Wyatt’s grin widened, and panic shot through me.
“Did I say that out loud?” I didn’t think I had, but my brain was crazy distracted, and the amusement with a dash of heat in his eyes had me worried.
“Whatever it was, I wish you had,” he said, “but I think I have an idea of what you were thinking, anyway.”
I really,reallyhoped not.
“You’re a mind reader now?” I grumbled, feeling snippy for some unknown reason. Maybe because I didn’t like the thought of being transparent to him when he was still mostly a mystery to me.
“Just observant. Especially when it comes to you.”
Some of my frostiness melted away. “What did you observe?” I couldn’t keep the question to myself, even though I sensed I was straying into dangerous territory. But it was a hot and magnetic kind of danger. Irresistible, like the man standing before me.
His eyes traveled down to my lips, and any ice left inside of me melted away, replaced by hot sparks ready to ignite into a full-fledged fire at any moment.
He met my gaze again before speaking. “I observed that you—”
“Beep beep!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when Theo spoke from behind him. I hadn’t even noticed her arrive.
Wyatt stepped into the apartment to make room for Theo. His hand brushed mine as he moved past me, and he took hold of my fingers for a fleeting moment, giving them the gentlest of squeezes before letting them slip out of his hand.
The sweetness of the gesture took my breath away.
I wanted to send a text to Jemma saying,I’m done for! Completely done for! Help!But it didn’t seem like the time to rush off to send a message in private, and I didn’t need Theo—who’d just sailed into my apartment like she owned the place—catching on to my thoughts.
Suddenly worried I was late to meet Livy, I checked the time on my phone. School wouldn’t let out for a while yet. Relieved, I set my phone back on the kitchen counter.
