Numbers Never Lie (Crimson Romance) (11 page)

“I didn’t really need your help. I can take care of my own problems,” she said.

“Then why did you put me in the position of playing the part of a non-existent boyfriend?” He arched a brow at her, unsmiling.

Sophie shrugged and turned to look out the front window. “I don’t know. You were there, and you were just so … ”

“So, what? So safe?” His interest was piqued.

“No. So … so … sexy! Okay?” She blurted it out. “There. Is that what your ego wanted to hear?”

Trev was startled at first. Then his lips twisted into a grin. “That’s not really what I expected to hear, but I guess I like it.”

“Shut up. I’m sure you’ve heard that before.”

“No. I’ve been called a lot of things, but that’s never been one of them.” He observed her obvious discomfort. He would catch hell about this when he talked to Nate again. The guy was probably laughing his ass off just listening. He pressed the button to turn off the listening device. They’d just have to let him wing it from here. “So, did it measure up?”

“Measure up? What do you mean?”

“The kiss. Did it meet expectations?” He quirked an eyebrow, enjoying the fact that she squirmed a little under his scrutiny.

“Stop it, Trev. You’re messing with me.” She twisted a curl between her fingers and looked out over the dashboard, averting her eyes.

“That’s not an answer, Henry. You sidestepped the question.” He pulled the curl from her hand and looked at it briefly before shifting his eyes to hers. “Did the kiss fulfill your goal to ward off your friends?”

“Oh.” Her fingers were fumbling against each other now as she averted her eyes from his. “Yes, I suppose so — as fake kisses go.”

“There was nothing fake about it, Henry, but go ahead and tell yourself that if you want to.” He watched her fidgeting with curiosity, his eyes glancing slowly across her face and down to her lips. “I’m hungry.” He wanted to change the subject. This repertoire was interesting but uncomfortable. He wasn’t one to discuss this type of thing, never had been. He usually bought the girl a drink or two, maybe dinner. If luck smiled on him, he got to spend a few hours in bed with her and then he left. Sophie wasn’t the type for that. The only woman he ever stayed with, well, that didn’t turn out so great. Trev pulled the keys from the ignition and opened the door to get out of the car. “Come on, let’s eat.”

He left her sitting in the car and came around to open the door, not looking at her as she stepped out. She wasn’t making it easy, though.

“What’s the plan now?” she challenged him.

“No plan. I’m hungry. I’m going in here to eat. If you don’t want to come, then you can leave or wait in the car,” Trev explained. As much as he liked looking at her, he wasn’t interested in any more tap dancing around whatever they had going on.

“Wow, you’re a real charmer.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” he answered smartly.

“That’s a relief, because you were failing miserably.”

Trev held the door for Sophie to enter the restaurant in front of him. The strong smell of garlic and oregano hit them. He stood in the entry, his chest almost touching her back, and he got the hint of that spicy perfume again for a second. He leaned down to speak softly in her ear as he stood behind her at the door, “I liked your first description of me better, anyway.”

Sophie’s big eyes darted a quick look up at him just as a small chubby man hustled up to them and clasped Trevor’s hand. “So good to see you, my friend, and wonderful to finally meet your beautiful lady. Come right this way. I have a great table for you.” The man motioned for them to follow.

Sophie fell in behind the man, turning to look at Trevor with her eyes arched. “He knows you?” she mouthed at him. Trevor nodded and followed, watching the curls bounce loosely on her shoulders.

Dinner was exceptional, as he knew it would be. An hour later, they left the restaurant having consumed a bottle of wine, two wonderful dinners, and a shared dessert, which Sophie reluctantly ate because Trevor insisted.

“That was fabulous!” she admitted eagerly, her macadamia nut size eyes glowing.

“Glad you liked it. That’s one of my favorite restaurants. I eat there every Thursday unless work interferes.”

“Don’t you get tired of it?”

“No, they pretty much pamper me because I’m there so much. And I bring a lot of people with me.”

Sophie wore an unreadable expression as she asked, “A lot of girlfriends?”

He laughed. “No. Didn’t you notice that they thought you were ‘my beautiful lady’ when we arrived? I’ve been here with a lot of clients and coworkers, but not women.”

“I thought he probably said that to every girl you brought in there,” she remarked.

“I wish I had that kind of luck,” Trev responded as he opened the car door and held it for her. The wind was blowing gently. Another waft of the spicy perfume hit him as he eased the door closed and he caught himself, before letting out a groan.

With Sophie’s directions, they arrived at her apartment in less than fifteen minutes. “Just let me out here.” Sophie motioned to a fifteen-minute parking spot in front of the main entrance to the apartment complex.

“I’d rather walk you up if you don’t mind.” He didn’t just drop a woman at the door no matter who she was.

“It’s really not necessary.”

He frowned. It irritated him that she resisted such a little thing that was really safer for her in the long run. “Too bad.” He pulled into a short-term parking spot and got out of the car. By the time he had circled the car to open her door, she was already out and walking toward the entrance.

“You’re a little scary with that old-fashioned stuff,” she mentioned lightly.

“I wouldn’t exactly call good manners old fashioned. I was brought up this way and it’s just become second nature. I don’t notice I’m doing it most of the time but I doubt I’d stop anyway. It’s respectful.”

Trev glanced around the apartment complex, taking in her environment as they advanced up the stairs and approached the door to her apartment. Everything was pretty quiet.

“Thanks for the dinner and the company.” Sophie put her key in the door and turned it.

“I should thank you actually for saving me from lightning and for trusting me with your security issue.” It sounded dumb, he knew, but he was stalling. He watched as she opened the door and slipped partially inside. She turned and stood facing him in the doorway. The curls were escaping from the knot at the base of her neck; they framed her face gently. Trev grasped one of the curly strands in his fingers, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, “and if you ever need more help with that other issue, just let me know.”

“Very funny,” she shot back as she tossed her head to remove her hair from his grasp. “And what exactly would that entail anyway? Kissing me in front of my office for everyone to see? Or maybe feeling me up, too? Pretending to have sex?” He watched her face redden as she looked down at her shoes.

“I’m not much at pretending, but any and all of that sounds good to me.” He flashed a devilish smile and leaned in, putting his face and mouth directly in front of her. “Or would you prefer to take care of it yourself?”

Sophie answered with a question of her own. “Why do you do that?”

“What exactly?” he said softly, his lips barely moving.

“Get too close and then start doing that animal magnetism thing,” she answered breathlessly.

“I could say the same thing about you. Why do you do it?” The warmth was there, between them, smoldering gently.

“I don’t. I’m not.”

“Oh, yes you are.” It angered him a little that she was so beautiful and that he wasn’t immune to it as he should be. He could hear the warning bells going off and Cook telling him to back off again.

“No! I don’t do that. I’m not like that.”

“The hell you don’t,” he said. “I mean aren’t. Look at you. Shit, your eyes are inviting me in but you’re pretending you don’t want it.”

“Stop talking like that.” She put a hand to his chest, pushing him back, but he just moved in closer.

“Then stop looking at me like that,” he whispered.

Trev couldn’t help himself then. She was gorgeous. He crushed his lips to hers, gently at first but in seconds he was overwhelmed with the need to taste more. He pressed his mouth harder against hers, thrusting his tongue between the fullness of her beautiful rounded lips and rubbing the wetness of her mouth. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, feeling the warmth of her chest and hips sear into his. Somewhere in the back of his brain, common sense told him to back off but the rest of him didn’t listen. He wasn’t very gentle and didn’t intend to be. He wanted a response and was determined to have it. He knew she felt it, too. He wanted her to kiss him back. He put his other hand behind her neck as his lips wandered over her face and nibbled at her ear. He heard her suck in her breath sharply. He returned to her mouth, her lips were plump and open, inviting him in again. He should stop, he told himself again. Stop. Just do it. Back away.

Then Sophie grabbed the sides of his face with both hands and strained his mouth to hers, her tongue feeding on his. Caught off guard, Trev staggered against the doorjamb, steadying himself against the hard lumber as desire surged through him. Sophie moaned a low pitched, sexy sound and he matched it with a guttural groan that escaped without his consent. The kiss deepened and his lips were throbbing from the feel of her tongue against his.
Is this really happening?
he asked himself. She was insatiably sensual as she clung to him. He tried to string some rational thoughts together and remind himself that he was in control. This needed to end. But she had her fingers tangled in his hair and was pulling him in. Her hand moved up the inside of his shirt to his back.
Wait,
he thought.
Who, exactly, is in control, again?

Trev pulled back, gulping air, forcing distance between them and disengaging himself from her grip. “Yeah,” he teased, “not an ounce of animal magnetism in you.” His breathing was ragged as he bent down and playfully bit her lip. “Good night, Henry.”

Trev removed himself from her doorway and descended the steps to the parking lot. The faster he got away from this apartment complex, the more likely he wouldn’t do something really, really foolish. Like sleep with a suspect. Kissing her was stupid enough. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t look back. Too dangerous. He knew he was treading on thin ice and could just imagine what Cook would say next time. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. At the moment he didn’t care. She had practically devoured him. Unfortunately, he realized he would let her do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, he wanted her to. Control? Who was he kidding? He had to go and fast.

Chapter Eight

Lenny listened to the mumbling of voices at the door, knowing it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. He needed to act quickly and get out of her apartment, preferably without being seen. Most definitely with the reports she’d brought home. There was no way to explain breaking into his boss’ apartment, so he had to get out. Now. He had already made the adjustments to the system to clear the trail and rectify the reports earlier in the day. He just needed to destroy the printed copies she’d run. They were the only copies, and once she ran them again, she’d just think she made a mistake, or at least that’s what he expected her to do.

He heard a little more commotion. What do you know! It sounded like she was making out with that consultant guy her friend had been talking about! He grinned a little at the thought of kissing Sophie Henderson. She was definitely a hottie. Everyone at the office thought so. One of the new guys, Thomas Brand, had even tried to make a play. Idiot. Never get personally involved at work. It was a recipe for disaster. She took care of him pretty fast, kicked him to the curb without a thought. Too bad the dumb schmuck didn’t recognize what hit him. He still followed her around like a puppy.

He heard a little bit of moaning and some words and then the door shut.

Her footsteps went into the kitchen and a thump echoed as her keys and purse were deposited on the counter. He burrowed back into the closet as far as he could, hoping there was nothing in this room that she’d need. He let out a quiet breath of relief as the footsteps continued into the next room and then the water turned on. The clatter of her shoes hitting the floor confirmed that he had a small window of time to make a move. Apparently, she was going to take a shower. A part of him wanted to see if he could get a peek but that would be too dangerous. Right now, he just needed to get out, get the documents, and get as far away as possible.

He moved the clothes aside and placed a forefinger in the door slot to ease it open. He peered out and saw nothing, heard nothing other than the running water in the other room. A small jangle from the hangers above clanked as he rolled his large frame out of the closet and rose to his feet. A dress had clung to his shoulder and he flipped it away as he looked around the room, then out the window searching for the fastest way out of the apartment.
Damn apartment has only one access … and it’s the front door.
He grabbed a stack of papers from the room he was in and shoved it inside his jacket, then eased himself toward the kitchen. There was a stack there too; he’d have to get them both. A small creak from the floor stopped him in his tracks. He stood still for a second to see if it had been noticed. Nope. The shower was still running and there was no indication of movement from that direction. He tiptoed into the kitchen and snagged the papers, adding them to the ones in his jacket. He zipped the jacket up and moved toward the door.

Clump, clump, clump, clump. Someone was running up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. The footsteps pounded closer and closer to the apartment. Then there was pounding on the door!
Shit! Shit!
He searched the room frantically for somewhere to hide, a window to climb out of, another closet but found nothing. More pounding at the door and a voice this time. “Sophie, answer the door!”

He ducked into a crevice formed beside a weird looking cabinet and the wall just before a loud, wood-splintering
crack!
shattered the silence. He didn’t dare look out. Better to stay behind the cabinet.