My brows furrow as I meet Ford’s gaze in the half-cleaned mirror I’m working on.“Should I be worried?”
“Of course not, my sweet,”—he takes a step toward me—“innocent,”—his hand finds my wrist—“June.”He winks.“This way.”
Okay, I have a feeling I definitely don’t want to know why this room was missed, but I follow him anyway.He leads me to another spot in the maze and waves his arms to a particularly dirty batch of mirrors.“And this is why we sent the cleaners home.”
“I’m sorry, what are you trying to show me?”I ask.
“Keep looking.You'll figure it out.”
“Figure what out?”My jaw hits the floor.“Wait, is that?—”
“Yup.That’s an ass.”
A giggle erupts, and my cheeks heat.Sure enough, a pair of two round, lime green orbs is imprinted on the glass, along with one smeared, sky blue handprint at head height.It looks like it was from a person who was balancing themselves against the smooth surface while holding the lime green orbs with their opposite hand.
“Okay, seriously?”I say with a laugh.
“Yeah, apparently my little sister caught them in the act from the cameras, so Roman shut it down, then left the task to me to clean up since he did me a favor after—” His mouth snaps shut, and he clears his throat.“We should keep cleaning.”
Uh, what was that?
My forehead wrinkles as I take him in.Did Ford just filter his words?As in, the Ford Harden who has no filter and says whatever comes to his mind come hell or high water?Uh-huh.Yeah, he’s most definitely keeping something from me.
I step in front of him.“You were saying?”
He shakes his head.“Nothing.”
My eyes thin.Yeah, I call bull crap.“What kind of favor did Roman do for you?”I ask, replaying his statement.“Wait, did you say cameras?”
A grimace spreads across Ford’s stupidly handsome face.“Maybe?”
Piecing together what exactly heisn’tsaying, I gasp.“Ford, were there cameras?When you and I, you know?—”
“Roman erased the footage, I swear.”
I smack his chest with the damp rag.“Ford!”
“I’m sorry I forgot to tell you.”
“I asked if anyone could see us!”
“No, you asked if anyone could walk in,” he counters, “and I said no because they couldn’t.”
“Yeah, because why not host a virtual event of you feeling me up, am I right?”I all but squeal.Seriously, the man deserves to be smacked upside the head.Oh my gosh, if there is video evidence of Ford sucking on my boobs, I’m going to curl up in a ball and die.I shouldn’t find the whole thing amusing, and maybe if I didn’t share the moment with Ford, I’d be more frustrated, but for some reason I can’t explain, it’s kind of…comical.Ridiculous, but comical.I shake my head and wipe at the corner of my eye.“I cannot believe Roman saw that footage.”
Reaching for my wrist, Ford slowly lowers my hand and juts out his bottom lip.“I’m sorry, June Bug.”
“Sure, you are.”
“I really am,” he reiterates, sobering ever so slightly, giving me a glimpse of his sincerity.
I could make him grovel.I could yell at him for lying to me or keeping the truth hidden, but honestly, I don’t even really care.Not when I can feel his sincerity and regret about the whole thing.“I forgive you.”
Relief flashes in his emerald eyes.“Yeah?”
“Mm-hmm, but only because—what is that?”My attention catches on something behind him, and I move forward to inspect it.A little black ball of lacy fabric smeared with bubble-gum-pink neon paint is tucked at the base of one of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors.Is it another rag?Maybe from before?What in the world?I bend down to pick it up before jerking my hand back like it’s a venomous snake at the last second.
Nope.Definitely not a rag.
