times, love.” He added a wink, and even though she knew the cheeky move was more an act than sincere, she couldn’t stop the shiver at the endearment. “I need to lay low for a few hours and I’m doing it here. Get over it.”
“Knox.” If she thought using his name would make her plea more personal somehow, she hadn’t given any thought to how it would make her feel. It slipped from her lips, wrapped in the breathless frustration of the moment, and she couldn’t deny she liked the sound of it on her lips and tongue.
The single syllable was hard and unyielding, like the man. Add on the unusual X at the end, and she had a sense of the wild and raw.
Also like the man.
“I can’t be a part of this.”
“You were anxious to be a part of things a few hours ago with your girlfriends.”
“I’ve been worried about them. Giving good friends moral support isn’t aiding and abetting a man with a gunshot wound.”
“I’m one of the good guys.”
“Are you sure?”
She’d seen his government badge and knew Lilah’s fiancé, Reed, had checked Knox St. Germain out through the Dallas PD database. So when had the whispers that the British officer wasn’t all he seemed taken root?
“Quite sure. You’ll be reimbursed for your time, trouble and your thousand-thread-count napkins.” He tapped his bloody shoulder with his free hand. “But for now let’s get out of the doorway.”
He’d cuffed the wrist of the same arm that had the gunshot wound, and no matter how hard she’d like to make him suffer for his asinine tactics, she reluctantly followed him back to the kitchen. The cuffs ensured there was minimal distance between the two of them, and a rush of awareness filled her at their nearness as they moved in lockstep with each other.
She’d dragged his body inside, pressed against hers, not more than fifteen minutes ago, yet even that hadn’t seemed as intimate as the small links of metal that bound them to each other.
“What are you doing here so late?” he asked.
“Cooking and finishing up some paperwork.”
“It’s almost midnight.”
“It’s a lot of paperwork.”
The words came out on a snap, and she decided to let them linger. While it wasn’t his fault she spent nearly her entire life focused on her business, she wasn’t done being irritated with him. And she certainly didn’t need the inevitable lecture he’d feel honor-bound to deliver about the evils of working too hard.
“It must be a lot to run your own business.”
Her gaze flew to his at the gentle comment, and the swinging door to the kitchen nearly hit her before he reached out and caught it with his free hand.
“Sometimes.”
“But worth it, too. Hard work is its own reward and all.”
She continued on through the door as he held it open and fought the urge to shake her head. She’d already spent far too many precious hours this month arguing with various family members about the high personal cost of starting a business, the latest just this evening with her mother. It was strangely unsettling to have a conversation in the exact opposite vein.
“I’m building a future for myself.”
Knox ran a finger over the counter. “Looks like you’re off to a stellar start.”
“You know catering?”
He grinned at that. “I know eating. Cooking the food is another matter entirely.”
“You don’t cook?”
“Love, I’ve never even turned on the oven in my flat.”
Again, that persistent shiver at the endearment fluttered over her nerve endings. “Ever?”
“Gas company keeps sending me notices asking if I want to turn off the line.”
Unbidden, a small giggle bubbled in her throat, especially as she recalled grumbling at the size of her gas bill the previous month. “So what do you eat?”
“Takeaway and sandwiches are my speed. Occasionally, if I get really ambitious, I’ll scramble up a few eggs.”
“Good thing you’ve left the gas on.”
“No doubt.”
He settled onto one of the stools she kept lined up against the large countertop that made up the center of her kitchen. Although the pasty sheen of white had receded from his features, pain still tightened the corners of his eyes and mouth, and she took the seat next to him without argument.
Unbidden, a wave of compassion hit at the mix of pain and exhaustion that she sensed even more than she observed. But it was that softening that had her going on the offensive.
“Why are you really here?”
“A gunshot wound isn’t enough?”
“I don’t mean here at my shop. I mean here in Dallas.”
“I’m doing my job.”
The urge to call him out was strong, but a quick glance toward their joined hands made her reconsider. Although she didn’t feel physical danger in his presence, she’d be rather shortsighted to ignore the barely leashed strength she sensed in him. And gunshot wound or not, Knox St. Germain looked like a man who could take care of himself and anything that got in his way.
So she’d wait and watch. And continue to puzzle through the issue on her own. Although she’d kept her own council, she’d questioned his arrival from the start, showing up at her friends’ store, Elegance and Lace, and claiming the auspices of Britain’s MI5.
“Those are awfully serious thoughts flitting through your mind, Miss Sanchez.”
The lilting, cultured tones of his voice seemed to fill up the darkened room, spreading out like a warm flow of lava. He was an attractive man—virile, strong and incredibly self-possessed—but add on the accent and he took on a sort of lethal sexiness.
She met a lot of people in her line of work, and few—if any—of them had ever churned her insides up in a whirl of nerves and need.
But maybe she could use that to her advantage...
Because in that moment, as her insides went to liquid at his voice, she sensed a solution to her two most pressing problems. She wanted to uncover the secrets of the man beside her. And she desperately needed a bit of relief from her family.
The question was, could she pull both off?
“I’m in a serious situation.”
“I won’t hurt you. And I’ll be out of your way soon enough.”
Gabby shot him her most beautiful smile and went to work, laying it on thick. “I know that. But—” She hesitated another moment before offering up a small sigh. “I wonder if you could help me in return.”
“What do you need help with?”
“I need to get my mother off my back.”
The words were out, floating around in her darkened shop like heat-seeking missiles with no place to land. Had she really just opened up on the most embarrassing thing in her life? And was she actually thinking of blackmailing an injured man, no matter how suspicious he seemed?
With a glance at the hard jaw that showed the lightest sheen of stubble and her mother’s earlier litany still echoing in her ear, Gabby knew the answer.
Yes.
A million times yes.
“What, exactly, does getting your mother off your back entail?”
“My cousin’s