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“Great. I was hoping I’d catch you before then. Grab the laptop out of my home office. It’s a MacBook. Top drawer of the desk. Bring it back here. Brian’s going to swing by, and he wants to have a look at it.”
Her eyebrows knit. “Your PI wants to look at your laptop? Why?”
“He said it might help him figure out what’s going on with my case. Looks like someone might have nabbed my password and used it at some point, and he wants to look into it.”
I don’t need to tell Gwen Temple anything about my business with my PI. And yet, the information just fell from my lips.
What is going on?
“Interesting,” she says. “So, this mystery of yours has something to do with computers, hm? Sounds more work-ish than I suspected. Maybe it’s not as personal as I thought.”
“Work-ish?” I tease. “That must be another technical term.”
“You know it.”
I can’t tear my eyes away from her.
I don’t want her to leave.
A ball of paper hits the side of my head. When I look over at Jordan, he’s got his arms back behind his head like before. He looks as guilty as any grade-school kid trying to get away with shooting spitballs. I know he threw that crumpled wad of paper at me.
These guys have been my buddies for ages. We get along because we have fun together. I’ll get him back for this sometime soon, and I can’t wait for that moment to come.
Gwen giggles. “Well, I guess I should leave you guys to your ‘work,’ ” she says, with bunny-ear quotes. “If this can even be called work. Looks more like friends hanging out and goofing off to me.”
She’s dangling bait out in front of us.
Jordan’s the first to take it. “Aw, Gwen. We research these episodes for weeks. This is harder than it looks.”
Leo chuckles. “Ha. Right, man. Your research is usually nothing but a page of chicken-scratch notes.”
“Man, my genius is all up here.” Jordan taps the side of his head. “Anyway, at least I do my own research. Leo’s genius is back at that clubhouse he calls an office. Tate is the brains behind his operation.”
Gwen reaches the door. “Tate is a smart guy.”
Leo holds up his hands. “Hey, I know, I know. But I hired him, so I get to take some credit. Just like this idiot should take some credit for finding you.” He leans across the table to punch my arm.
Gwen looks at me.
The look pierces my heart; I feel it shooting through me. Her eyes hang on mine. “He didn’t exactly find me.”
“No?” Leo says.
She shakes her head. “More like we were thrown together.”
“He’s a lucky guy,” Leo offers.
I reach for the door Gwen’s already opened and hold it wide for her.
I’ve never been the type to hold open doors for others, especially not here at work. This is my company headquarters. Other people should hold doors for me, not the other way around. But right now, it’s like some force beyond my control has taken over my body. I’m possessed—by her.
I watch her walk to the stairwell door. She places her pale, delicate hands on the bar that runs across it.
“Still boycotting the elevator?” I call to her.
It’s like I don’t want the conversation to end. No matter what, I want to hear her voice again, hear her tinkling, brook-bubbly laugh again, feel her eyes on mine.
She satisfies me with a look over her shoulder. “For some reason, I have some extra energy to burn today.”
