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"Yep. Sam hooked you, all right, Gray. I feel for you."
Rubbing the back of his neck, David stood from his sitting position at his desk and stretched. "I'm not getting any younger. Jesus, I can't even sit here and work for more than an hour without getting stiff."
Gray laughed. "I know what you mean."
Snatching the notepad from his desk, he handed it to Gray. "Write down this gal's name and address.”
As Gray scribbled across the yellow paper, he resumed his seat at the desk and typed in the computer password.
Gray stood and dropped the tablet on the desk. Grinning, he said, “Let me know if you need Sam to start calling in her girlfriends. See you in the morning.”
“Yep. Thanks for the referral, Gray,” he absently replied as his emails populated the screen in front of him. After answering 30 emails and checking his figures for the estimates he’d completed today, he pulled the tablet toward him. His heart sped up at the first name written across the top.Kiera.
The name from his past. The name that left a knot in his stomach over what could have been.Kiera. Pretty name. She could never be the beauty of the Kiera he remembered. Gray didn't say much about her, other than she had recently moved here and started working for him at Kinkaide and Associates as an architect, and she needed a security system installed. That was David’s game.
Ripping the sticky note from the top of the pad, David slid his cell phone into his shirt pocket and strode toward the door. He’d pop over there in the morning, after his workout.
3
Standing at the window of her second-story condo, Kiera felt restless. Moving probably wasn't the best idea; now here she was in a new city without anyone for support. These past few years had been a special kind of living hell. To make matters worse, it had rained every day for the past three days. She felt trapped, afraid, and lonely. A loud knock on her door made her jump away from the window. Kiera slowly padded to the door, breathing slowly to calm herself—opening and closing her fists to work off some of the tension.
Peering through the peephole, she saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with silver in his dark hair. The small opening didn’t allow her to clearly see his face. Frozen in place, butterflies taking flight in her tummy, Kiera licked her lips and took a breath. "Who ... who is it?"
Grabbing the badge hanging from his belt, the man held it up to the peephole, so Kiera could see he was with Haggerty Security—the company Gray had told her about. “Haggerty …”
Swinging the door open, she froze. "David," she whispered. Looking into the deep blue eyes she’d dreamed about since college, her throat dried up.
"Kiera." It came out as a croak. Clearing his throat, he repeated in a stronger voice, "Kiera." He straightened and continued, "I wasn't expecting to see you."
Her hand fidgeted at her side, then awkwardly rose to shake his.
"It's nice to see you again." Her voice quivered.
"Yes. It's nice to see you as well," he replied as he wrapped his large hand around her smaller one. The touch sent jolts of lightning through her body, and he quickly pulled away.
Placing her hand over her heart, she stepped back to allow him entry into her condo.
A nervous smile played on her lips as she watched him step through her door, filling the space in the most erotic way. She hadn't been here long enough to envision him in this space, her space. Eventually, she would have. She envisioned him in every space she had ever lived. Compared other men to him, always.
As he walked past her, she caught the scent of clean male, light fragrance, and a scent so uniquely David, and tingles ran along her spine and straight to her core. Damn.
Turning her head and unsure how to proceed, she asked, "Do you want something to drink? I've made raspberry tea.”
He chuckled. “You still drink raspberry tea?”
She giggled, “Yes. I’m afraid I’m addicted.” Her fingers lightly pinched her pants at the seams and released. Laying her hands across her stomach, she stepped across the wooden floor to the refrigerator.
He chuckled again, and she heard the tightness in his voice. “No, thank you.”
She turned with the pitcher of tea in her hand and set it on the table. She watched him glance around her new home, his free hand fisting and opening. His Adam’s apple slid up and down his neck, and she was unable to look away from his still-handsome face. Faint lines had etched themselves into the skin around his eyes. The Vandyke he wore was mostly gray, but it added a sophistication to his face. His hair which had been dark back in the day was now mostly gray, neatly cut, and still completely covered his head. It appeared he wouldn’t go bald like his father had at a very young age.
He broke the silence that had fallen. “Was there anything specific you needed in the way of security, or just a system in general?"
She set the glass on the tabletop and folded her hands together in front of her. "I just ..." Clearing her throat, she started again. "Life's been tough. I just need to feel a sense of security. I'm in a strange city, and I live alone. Gray recommended that I have you come here and offer some suggestions on what would be appropriate."
He nodded and stared into her eyes. "Did Gray tell you my name?"
Slowly shaking her head, she said, "No. He didn't. He just said his friend owned a security company and he would call you and ask you to come over and take a look if I was interested. After he spoke to you, he told me to expect Haggerty Security, but I never dreamed it would be you."
