“No!”
“Okay. Okay.” She jerked her hands against her chest as her eyes widened. Then she giggled. “It wasn’t an invitation, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just needed to know if the door should stay open in case CT shows up. That’s all. Nothing else.”
What was she talking about? What invitation? What—
A light went on in his brain. She had him so confused he couldn’t stay one step ahead of her. And she wasn’t even trying. Well, she didn’t need to know he was flustered. He’d learned to bluff with the best of them.
“I know that’s not what you meant,” he said. “And for your information, I figuredyoumight like some privacy. So, I said no on keeping the door open.”
“Sorry. Guess I misunderstood.” She rolled her eyes. “But, since you mentioned privacy. Are there security cameras set up inside this house? I mean, are we being filmed all the time?”
“No. What would make you think that?”
She shrugged. “You said this house was ultra-secure. To me that means cameras, burglar alarms, hidden weapons, and…I don’t know what all else. All I know is I don’t want you spying on me.”
“The only security cameras that run full-time are outside around the perimeter of the house. But there are a few security panels that can be activated if I think someone’s broken into the house.” He understood her concern, but a part of him felt insulted. “Just for the record, I’m not some pervert who’s set up cameras to spy on you.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sounded like it.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Sorry. You do this all the time. For me, this is a little overwhelming.”
“That’s okay. I accept your apology.” Uh-oh…the moment the words left his mouth, he knew they had been a mistake. “You should—”
“I’d accept your apology, too, if you ever gave one,” she said sharply.
All he could do was stand there and stare into her sassy green eyes. She stared right back at him. Seemed as if they stood there forever, but couldn’t have been more than half a minute. She might be right about him never saying he was sorry, but damned if he planned to say it any time soon. In fact, never. He didn’t do sorry. At least not in words.
But he couldn’t keep a you-got-me grin from tugging at his mouth. She shook her head and turned, closing the connecting door behind her.
He caught the edge of the door right before it shut completely. “By the way, you mentioned losing your passport, but we never really talked about it. Did you say it was the same day that you were fired?”
Her expression took on a serious look. “Yes. I remember handing my jacket, purse, and laptop bag to the boss’s administrative assistant when I arrived for the meeting. When I got home that evening, my passport wasn’t there.”
“Are you sure you had it with you?”
“I’m almost positive. Anytime I fly, I follow the same routine. I keep my purse in my small carry-on tote. Once Security does the whole ticket and passport scan in the security line, I take the time to put them both in my purse before stepping through the scanner.” She sighed. “I must have forgot.”
“But if you had your ticket to get on the plane, logic says you’d put both in your purse.”
“Exactly.” The pinch of her brows indicated she was searching for an answer just like him. “Unless the passport fell out when I removed my ticket at the gate.”
He leaned against the doorframe. “Possible. But if that happened, wouldn’t the passport have fallen inside the small carry-on?”
She nodded. “Should have. But I swear I checked everything in every bag that evening. The passport was nowhere to be found.”
Once he talked with Josh later tonight, he’d have a better idea of any red flags regarding the publishing company she’d been working for. For now, though, he was satisfied Liz and he were in a place he knew how to defend. One that was safe, and very few people even knew existed.
“You said the assistant took your things. Did she always do that?” he asked.
“Yes. Every time I went for a meeting with the boss.”
“Were there a lot of meetings with the boss?”
“More than at my other publisher. But they’re all different.”
“Was it the same assistant each visit?”
