AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She frowns.
I turn to Charlie and shake his hand. “Well, we’re sorry to bother you, Mr. Smith. We’ll be leaving now so you can get right back to your work in the garage.”
Allie gives him a nod and forces a smile. “Thank you for your time.”
I usher her out of the house. As soon as she’s out the door, though, Charlie grabs my arm.
“Don’t let her go in the garage,” he whispers to me.
I don’t ask why. I’m guessing he’s hiding some guns there. Or some drugs. Maybe smuggled goods. Maybe a corpse. Whatever it is, I know it can’t be seen.
“As soon as we leave, take your stuff and get out of here,” I tell Charlie.
He nods.
I leave him and go after Allie, who’s already on the sidewalk. She looks sullen, no doubt still disappointed that she didn’t get any new leads here.
If only she knew how close she is. Too close.
Suddenly, she stops and turns her head. I tense when I realize she’s looking at the garage, which has its door open.
Fuck.
“That looks like the motorcycle Grae used to have,” Allie says as she starts walking towards it. “I borrowed it once. Well, borrowed isn’t the word, I guess. I – ”
I pull her against me, place my hand on her cheek, and kiss her lips firmly.
It’s the best thing I can think of to stop her on such short notice, considering that knocking her unconscious isn’t an option.
Allie doesn’t react. It’s as if she’s been frozen in place. A moment after I pull away, though, her arm comes swinging. Her palm hits my cheek. Hard. Considering it’s the same part of my face her brother hit, my skin stings.
It doesn’t hurt as much as the look of disappointment on Allie’s face, though.
“Sorry.” I feel compelled to apologize. “I couldn’t stand to see you sulking.”
A lame excuse. But right now, I can’t come up with anything better.
At least Allie isn’t sulking anymore. Just mad. She clenches her jaw, purses her lips and marches off to the car.
I let out a breath. Thank God she didn’t go to the garage.
As I glance that way, I see Charlie standing behind his motorcycle, wearing a sheepish grin.
I can’t stand it, so I go to the car. Allie is already behind the wheel, gripping it with both hands. She doesn’t even look at me as I slip into the passenger seat.
I sigh. Something tells me she’s going to be mad for a while.
Chapter Seven
Allie
Why did Cain have to do that?
I groan in frustration as I let myself drop on top of the queen-sized bed, my arms outstretched.
As I revel in the warmth and softness of the cotton covers – thank goodness we were able to find an Airbnb listing that had nice beds – my mind acts like a projector, sending the image of Cain kissing me onto the cream-colored ceiling.
My very first kiss. And it was all wrong.
The place was wrong – there’s nothing romantic about kissing outside someone else’s garage. The time was wrong – that kiss came out of nowhere and right in the middle of work, too. Most of all, the reason was wrong. I mean, what kind of man kisses a woman just because she’s sulking? Well, maybe if you’re in a relationship, but not if you’re just – What are we? Colleagues? Business partners? You don’t just go up to someone you work with and kiss them because they’re sulking. I wouldn’t. It’s just… not right.
That’s why I got mad, when I got mad. When Cain kissed me, I was surprised, shocked even, so much that I couldn’t move. And I was confused. I didn’t know what to think. I acted on instinct when I slapped him. I regretted it as soon as I realized what I’d done. But then he opened his mouth and I just wanted to slap him again.
I place my hands on my forehead. Why did he have to say that?
Maybe if he had worded it differently, said that he wanted to make me smile because I looked down, which I was, I wouldn’t be so mad. I’d still be annoyed, but not mad. Maybe if he’d smiled afterwards, I wouldn’t even be annoyed. I wouldn’t have slapped him, for sure.
But Cain didn’t sound like he really wanted to kiss me. And now, he’s acting like he never did, like he wishes he hadn’t.
I run a finger over my lips. Was it that bad for him? I’m sure he’s kissed plenty of other women before. They must have been better. I mean, I wasn’t moving, so he was practically kissing a statue.
I shake my head. Why am I feeling guilty? I didn’t do anything wrong. Cain was the one who sprung that kiss on me. He sneaked up on me like he always does. How was I supposed to kiss him back?
