Page 138

That brute grunted his agreement from the opposite side of the room.

Trevan tacked to the wall like a burly, foreboding painting.

Hulking, muscled arms crossed over his chest and one leg hooked over the other at the ankle.

Tattoos rippled across his flesh as he watched the store like a hawk.

I thought it was overkill.

The constant scrutiny and surveilling after the unwelcomed prezzie at my door.

There hadn’t been anything out of sorts since then, and I’d chalked the whole thing up to error.

Sure that the hourglass had been delivered to the wrong person. It was probably an awesome gift that someone was missing.

“Keep telling her that it’s my job, and she won’t listen,” Trevan grumbled. “Think she’s just as stubborn as you.”

“Me, stubborn?” Penny gasped in feigned offense. “You have to be the most stubborn man I’ve ever met.”

That time, it was Trevan’s turn to appear offended, but I wasn’t so sure he was pretending. Still, his voice was gentle, a tease wound in it like he’d known the woman his entire life.

“What are you talking about? I’m the most easygoing guy around.”

“Pssh,” she spluttered with a wave of her hand. “You’re about as flexible as a steel post.”

“Blasphemy.” He laughed as he pushed from the wall. Not fooling a soul since his gaze skated across the front windows again.

“You dupe no one with those jovial grins,” she said. “I’ve got your number, buddy. Pretty sure Elena does, too.”

“I’ve got all his numbers.” Sass tumbled out with the shimmy of my shoulders.

Hot eyes raked down my body. The way they’d been doing constantly when he thought I wasn’t looking.

At the apartment and in the breakroom and back at my family’s house.

I swore, I wasn’t making it up this time.

Swore over the days that it had amplified.

That thing that boiled between us, though Trevan was giving it his all to keep it tapped under a lid.

One thing I knew for sure was that today his stare had been lingering a whole lot longer on my bare legs since I was wearing a short black skirt with my lace-up Docs. That was when it wasn’t hitched to the big, red-sequined apple in the middle of my white tee.

Kind of the way I was hooked on his presence right then. Caught up in a trance elicited by the man’s electricity.

Like he was some kind of superhero and could hold me frozen with nothing but the penetrating heat of his eyes.

Okay, fine, some would say the villain, but he would never be that in my mind.

“I’m going to grab my purse and call it a day. It seems you two need some privacy.” Penny’s voice cut through the thick tension, and I jerked my attention away and shouted toward Penny’s retreating form as she headed down the hall.

“We’d better cut out of here, too. Trevan just has hangry eyes.” It seemed the best way to explain away whatever the heck it was that had been firing between us all day. “The man needs to be fed every four hours or else he goes all grumpy and surly. Well, even more so than usual.”

He sent me a scowl.

“I bet he’s craving a big, fat juicy steak and the apple pie I have planned for dessert.”

Trevan nearly growled.