Chapter 17
“What in the world is this for?” Helen hissed, looking around at the desks and smooth walls. They’d gone through the door into what seemed to be a different world. Even the windows peered out at rough weeds but nothing like the piles of broken rubble that they’d just carefully picked their way through moments ago.
“I think this is what I was supposed to see when I eventually came through for an inspection,” Raj replied, his lips compressed as he considered the space. “If we hadn’t come in through the back way,” Raj gestured towards the door, “then I would have been impressed by this setup.” He walked around easily since the floors had been swept clean and there was a minimal attempt at landscaping outside the unbroken windows on this side of the building. “If I’d visited this place with Nathan and Paul, they probably would have driven in from the north end of the area,” he continued, peering out the window. “Nothing out front looks as bad as it does from the way we came in.”
“I agree,” she replied. Raj had just pulled off his jacket because of the dust, tossing it over a small set of chairs that had been displayed in a corner of the fake room. The knit shirt he wore was straining at the seams to maintain coverage of his shoulders and arms.
Did he know what he was doing to her? Did he remember the way she used to worship his shoulders during their previous time together?
“What’s over there?” he asked.
Helen couldn’t answer because she couldn’t seem to pull her gaze away from the man himself. He was just…incredibly drool-worthy!
Finally, her eyes followed him as he pushed through another door. This one took him back into the ruined area. He paused, bent down, then hefted a piece of wood and shoved it out of the way. Helen wasn’t aware of the new path he’d just secured because her eyes couldn’t seem to stop caressing his biceps. Had they been that big before? Her mind wasn’t strong enough at the moment to remember.
“Hey, look at this!” he called out.
Helen’s eyes reluctantly pulled away from his shoulders and arms to examine what he was indicating. Raj was bending down, examining a suitcase that looked armored. It was big – about the size of a large carryon piece of luggage. To everyone’s surprise, the top swung easily open.