He disconnected the phone, then turned back to Sabrina once more, angry at the sight of her visible hesitancy, and angry at himself for feeling so anxious. What was wrong with him?
He reached his hand out, relieved when she immediately stepped forward and took his hand in hers. “What do you need from me to fix this?” He asked.
Sabrina swallowed thickly. “Can you give me a hug, please?”
Cesare pulled her to him and held her close.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, pressing herself to him. When he squeezed her tighter to him in response, she immediately relaxed.
“You smell really good.” She mumbled into his shirt.
Cesare chuckled, leaning down to kiss the curve of her neck. “You smell like brown sugar. And beach salt.”
“I’m sorry, I overreacted.” Sabrina replied, pulling back just enough to look up at Cesare’s face. “You have been nothing but generous and kind, and I was rude and then I shut you out.”
Cesare closed his eyes for a split second with relief. “I could have talked to you first about the repairs. I thought it would be a good surprise, but I can see how that may have come off as overkill. You don’t owe me anything. The repair service has already signed the form I’ll send to my accountant for a tax write-off.”
“A cup of coffee.” Sabrina muttered.
Cesare tilted his head. “You want coffee? I still have a stack of cases I need to review, but I could order something to be delivered. What do you want?”
Sabrina gave him another long look, and Cesare watched as the last of her hesitancy melted away. “No, I’m fine. Thank you, though.” She answered.
Cesare squeezed her once more. “Let’s talk more after the team lead gives us a walkthrough.” He nodded towards a man standing on the other side of the room, reviewing paperwork on a clipboard, pretending not to listen. It would have looked quite convincing if the paperwork wasn’t upside down.
Sabrina went pink and stepped back, but to Cesare’s delight didn’t pull completely away.
“Mr. Stanley, thank you for everything.” Cesare spoke up, addressing the team’s supervisor. “Allow me to introduce to you Ms. Hamilton, the Director of Maine Marine Rescue. Ms. Hamilton, this is Mr. Stanley.”
“Call me Sabrina.” His tesoro smiled as she shook the other man’s hand.
“Joe.” He nodded. “If you’ll follow me, I can walk you through the upgrades we made. The front windows had considerable damage to sealing, were missing locks, and were a few decades old. So we replaced them with double-paned windows. Very secure and energy efficient.”
“They look well done.” Sabrina nodded, touching her fingers to one of the windows.
“We kept the originals intact as much as possible. Mr. Lombardi mentioned that the building has some historical significance.”
Cesare watched Sabrina blink up at him with appreciation. “It does, thank you.” She answered Joe, though her gaze was still stuck on Cesare.
“All the windows were replaced with double paned units that securely lock. They’re wired to a system that will go off if they’re opened when the security system is on.”
“Security system?” Sabrina frowned, looking at Cesare.
“You’re here all night long sometimes. If you’re sleeping in the back, you should have an alarm to alert you if someone tries to come in.”
“What if it’s someone who is supposed to come in?” Sabrina asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Cesare gave her a look. “Then you unlock it.”
“There’s also a camera in the main room and at the front and back entrances. They’re hard wired in- Bluetooth is easy to hack, but this is a closed system, so it would be almost impossible for someone to access, but if by some miracle they do, any unauthorized remote access will trigger an alarm just as if someone were coming through a physical door.”
Cesare nodded. “And what about the office?”
Sabrina stiffened.
Cesare soothed a hand down her back. “Trust me.” He pleaded quietly.
Sabrina released a pent-up breath, holding her tongue.
