Chapter 5 #2
“Make sure you hydrate,” I called out. “Just because we worked out in water doesn’t mean you didn’t sweat.” We’d started the class early so we could enjoy the benefits of working outdoors before it got too hot.
“Aye, Captain,” Mr. Murphy said with a jaunty salute, but made no attempt to move faster. He was the nosiest of the bunch and disguised it poorly.
Romero chuckled under his breath as he turned his attention back to us. “Which one of you is Kit?”
I raised my hand like a dutiful kindergartner during attendance. “That’s me.”
Romero’s pen paused, and he glanced up. “Is that short for something?”
“Kitty cat, I bet,” Archer said with a soft purr in his voice.
Ray snapped his head in his partner’s direction. “Maybe you should go sit with the water aerobics class. You weren’t here to witness any of the events.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Romero said. “I’ll get your statement later as well.”
Instead of getting annoyed, Archer’s mouth curved into a delighted smile. “No problem.” He gestured for the rest of the security staff to follow him too. The female residents, and even a few of the males, straightened in their seats and preened as the security team approached.
“Okay,” Romero said. “Where were we again?”
“Kit is my nickname. It’s short for Atticus.”
“Ah, got it,” Romero said. “Can I have your full name for the report?”
“Atticus Livengood.”
Romero met my gaze again. “Livengood?”
“Yeah, but you can’t tell it by the way my day is going,” I teased. When my gaze connected with Ray’s, I realized that maybe things weren’t all bad.
“Can you spell your last name for me?”
“L as in loser,” Chad said. “I as in idiot.” But that was as far as he got before Ray leveled him with a death stare.
Arousal spiked my blood and made me tremble. I’d hoped it was a delicate, imperceptible reaction, but Romero noticed and asked if I was in shock. That got Ray’s attention, but I ducked my head before our gazes connected again.
“No,” I said with a dismissive snort. “Just coming down off an adrenaline spike.”
Ray stepped closer and lifted my chin, forcing me to look at him. Dark eyebrows knitted together, and worried eyes searched mine. “Do you need juice or something?”
I would’ve shaken my head, but I liked the feel of his thumb and forefinger on my chin too much. “I’m fine. This was just a tremendous shock.” And I didn’t just mean the shit with Chad. Ray was here. At Silver Maple. What were the odds? Of all the retirement villages in all the world, he walked—
“I don’t know why you’re shocked,” Chad said. “You’ve had this coming for six months.”
Ray withdrew his hand and turned to deal with Chad, but Romero stepped between them. The officer signaled for two of Ray’s security team to come over, then instructed them to move Chad to the opposite side of the pool deck and drop him in a chair to wait.
“I can’t let you assault a man whose arms are tied behind his back,” Romero said.
“Then cut him loose.”
Romero’s lips twitched at the corners, but he refrained from smiling. “You don’t mean that.”
Ray rolled his shoulders and winced. I moved closer to inspect his injury, but he shook his head. “I’m fine.” He looked at Romero and nodded. “And you’re right. I didn’t mean it.”
“So, is this a domestic dispute that’s spilled over to your workplace?” Romero asked me.
The question caught me off guard and stiffened my spine. “No. This is the first time I’ve laid eyes on Chad or even spoken to him in six months,” I explained.
“And the question is irrelevant,” Ray told Romero. “It wouldn’t change the fact that Mr.—” He looked to me for help.
“Clark.”
“Thank you,” Ray said to me before addressing Romero again. “It wouldn’t change the fact that Mr. Clark broke the law by vandalizing Mr. Livengood’s car, no matter his reasoning.”
I didn’t like how Ray referred to me so impersonally, especially when the choice to do so felt very personal.
I wanted to believe “Mr. Livengood” was his way of maintaining professionalism by not drawing attention to the fact that we’d almost met up to fuck.
No. Those words, Mr. Livengood, were two bricks in the wall Ray was building between us.
“You’re right,” Romero conceded before shifting his attention to me. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was victim blaming. That wasn’t my intention.”
“I appreciate it,” I said.
Romero asked us both a few more follow-up questions before moving on to speak to Chad.
I wanted so badly to be included in the conversation so I could do damage control, but Romero wouldn’t let me.
I had to watch from the opposite side of the patio, but luckily, it seemed like the officer cut Chad off anytime he wanted to veer off topic.
“Ex-boyfriend, huh?”
Ray’s voice was much closer than I’d expected.
I let out a mouselike “eep” and whipped around to look at him, stubbing my bare big toe on the tip of his boots.
I would’ve hissed and maybe sworn a blue streak if I weren’t almost nose to nipple with his right pectoral muscle.
God, the urge to lean forward and nip that hard bud was overwhelming.
“Sorry.” Ray’s hands landed on my hips to settle me, and I forgot to breathe when he left them there.
Don’t look up. Don’t look up. Of course, I didn’t listen. I lifted my chin up to stare into his denim-blue eyes. I rarely knew what the hell would come out of my mouth, but I shocked even myself when I blurted, “Lobelia.”
Dark eyebrows knitted again as Ray closely scrutinized me from head to toe. His gaze met mine once he finished, and Ray looked moderately relieved not to have found obvious signs of distress or illness. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Um, it’s a shade of blue,” I said. “Like vintage, medium-wash jeans.” I gestured to my own eyes like an idiot and further damned myself by adding, “It matches your irises. I know because I actively searched for a name to describe the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen.”
Ray blinked a few times, maybe in astonishment or perhaps to signal a rescue. Clink, clink went the bricks as Ray stacked them higher. “Um, I’ve only thought of my eyes as blue.”
“That descriptor is too pedestrian. They’re so pretty.”
A dark blush bloomed across Ray’s chiseled cheekbones. I averted my gaze before I blurted weird adjectives to define their jagged masculinity. But then Ray surprised me when he said, “I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if your eyes are brown or green.”
I snapped my head up and locked my hopeful gaze on his. “They’re hazel-brown.”
“Yeah, I see that.” The word was a soft whisper that caressed my spine and made me shiver. Ray’s fingers pressed harder against my hips, as if he wanted to pull me closer. “With tiny gold flecks around the pupils.”
I blinked rapidly, much like Ray had, but it was definitely from surprise. I didn’t need rescued. I searched my surroundings, suddenly afraid someone had misinterpreted my gesture, and locked eyes with Archer. He watched us with a wicked smile on his face and an impish gleam in his eyes.
“Um, is your friend okay?” I asked. “He looks maniacal.”
Groaning, Ray dropped his hands from my hips and stepped back without so much as looking in Archer’s direction. “Ignore him. He’s harmless, I swear.”
“If you say so.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Ray looked everywhere except at me. “I, um…” he said, gesturing across the patio to where Archer and the rest of his security staff watched us with unabashed curiosity. “Need to talk to my team.”
“Of course. I’ll see you around, yeah?”
Ray turned then, giving me his full attention.
Blue eyes trailed down my chest at a glacial pace, and that’s when I remembered I’d only worn a pair of thin swim shorts to class.
I begged the universe to show me kindness for once and not let me spring wood right there in front of him and our audience.
Ray’s gaze grew hotter with each passing second, and I could almost feel my skin sizzle by the time he reached my belly button.
Oh no. Oh no. Don’t get hard. Don’t get hard.
“Everything okay over there, Hawk?” Archer yelled from across the patio.
Ray jolted and stepped back, his gaze snapping up to meet mine for a few moments. He looked dazed, confused, and more than a little turned on. That made two of us, pal. “Um, yeah.”
“What?” Had I asked him a question?
“You’ll see me around.” Ray’s words came out thick and rough, like the texture of the new bricks he added to the wall.