targeted.
Peering through the window, I tried to think if I’d left anything out on the seat, but the only thing I had that I considered to be valuable was my phone, and that had been safely tucked away in my bag inside the gym with me. So it just didn’t make sense. Glass shards spread across the passenger seat, the floor mats were tossed around haphazardly, and the map book I usually kept under my driver’s seat was ripped up. It was almost like someone was mad and just trying to do damage for some reason.
God, what a weird day this was turning into.
There didn’t seem to be anything missing. I shoved the pieces of map book out of the way, practically threw myself onto the driver’s seat in a huff, and drove home with the car as it was. What could I do about it in the parking lot? If I stared at it any longer, I was going to cry, and that was something I just didn’t do in public. Not a good badass image to project. What sounded good was a lukewarm shower, some time to cry on my pillow and a nap before work. I needed some cooling-off time before dealing with the problem.
An image of Ryder, my knight in shining armor from last night, came to mind. His intense green eyes and tough, not-to-be-fucked-with deadly silent demeanor somehow inspired confidence, and I felt better.
As though my thoughts manifested the man, I saw him sitting at one of the common-area tables by the pool in the courtyard, and my heart kicked up a beat. It was both exciting and disconcerting that he was just as devastating to my senses as I remembered.
He was reading the paper, with a bottle of water sitting in front of him. Black hair damp and wearing swim trunks, he looked like he’d just taken a swim. Unfortunately, he’d already put on a white logoed T-shirt, which was stretched across his muscular chest oh, so deliciously.
The view was letting me forget about my problems for the moment and just enjoy.
Disappointingly, as I came through the security gate, he didn’t even look up. I was deliberately making a lot of clanging noise, you know?
Hmm.
I thought about bypassing the courtyard completely and just going up the side stairs to my apartment. However, there seemed to be an invisible rope strongly wrapped around my sense of free will, commandeering it, and I found my feet carrying me toward him anyway. He sighted me over the rim of his paper and lowered it, startling me with his darkly grim expression. He did a split-second inventory of my clothing and gym bag before returning to my eyes. It was like he was mad at me. It gave me pause. I wasn’t sure what to make of his mood and questioned whether to continue toward him. Maybe he wanted to be alone? Not be bothered?
In for a penny ... I proceeded with caution.
“I—I just wanted to thank you for your help last night,” I offered hesitantly. “That could have gotten really ugly.”
At first I thought he wasn’t going to say anything. He was just looking at me with a firm scowl and those commanding green eyes, but then he tossed out “Yeah.”
It was a noncommittal reply, and I couldn’t gauge what his general feeling was about the encounter last night or his feelings about me standing there in front of him. I suddenly wished I had Cynthia’s femme-fatale moves from the night before. I wished I could glide over with sophistication and confidence and be able to sling some clever conversation that would get his attention. But on a good day I’d have trouble meeting that order, much less on a day where I felt out of the norm, where too many unpredictable events were presenting themselves. I decided the best course of action was retreat.
“Well, um, I think I’ve interrupted your...reading.”
“Yeah.”
Damn that word.
I stepped back, ready to save face. “I’m sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to say thank you. It’s one of the hazards of the job, I guess. Guys like that get drunk and think they can just grab what they want—”
“Can’t say I blame
Peering through the window, I tried to think if I’d left anything out on the seat, but the only thing I had that I considered to be valuable was my phone, and that had been safely tucked away in my bag inside the gym with me. So it just didn’t make sense. Glass shards spread across the passenger seat, the floor mats were tossed around haphazardly, and the map book I usually kept under my driver’s seat was ripped up. It was almost like someone was mad and just trying to do damage for some reason.
God, what a weird day this was turning into.
There didn’t seem to be anything missing. I shoved the pieces of map book out of the way, practically threw myself onto the driver’s seat in a huff, and drove home with the car as it was. What could I do about it in the parking lot? If I stared at it any longer, I was going to cry, and that was something I just didn’t do in public. Not a good badass image to project. What sounded good was a lukewarm shower, some time to cry on my pillow and a nap before work. I needed some cooling-off time before dealing with the problem.
An image of Ryder, my knight in shining armor from last night, came to mind. His intense green eyes and tough, not-to-be-fucked-with deadly silent demeanor somehow inspired confidence, and I felt better.
As though my thoughts manifested the man, I saw him sitting at one of the common-area tables by the pool in the courtyard, and my heart kicked up a beat. It was both exciting and disconcerting that he was just as devastating to my senses as I remembered.
He was reading the paper, with a bottle of water sitting in front of him. Black hair damp and wearing swim trunks, he looked like he’d just taken a swim. Unfortunately, he’d already put on a white logoed T-shirt, which was stretched across his muscular chest oh, so deliciously.
The view was letting me forget about my problems for the moment and just enjoy.
Disappointingly, as I came through the security gate, he didn’t even look up. I was deliberately making a lot of clanging noise, you know?
Hmm.
I thought about bypassing the courtyard completely and just going up the side stairs to my apartment. However, there seemed to be an invisible rope strongly wrapped around my sense of free will, commandeering it, and I found my feet carrying me toward him anyway. He sighted me over the rim of his paper and lowered it, startling me with his darkly grim expression. He did a split-second inventory of my clothing and gym bag before returning to my eyes. It was like he was mad at me. It gave me pause. I wasn’t sure what to make of his mood and questioned whether to continue toward him. Maybe he wanted to be alone? Not be bothered?
In for a penny ... I proceeded with caution.
“I—I just wanted to thank you for your help last night,” I offered hesitantly. “That could have gotten really ugly.”
At first I thought he wasn’t going to say anything. He was just looking at me with a firm scowl and those commanding green eyes, but then he tossed out “Yeah.”
It was a noncommittal reply, and I couldn’t gauge what his general feeling was about the encounter last night or his feelings about me standing there in front of him. I suddenly wished I had Cynthia’s femme-fatale moves from the night before. I wished I could glide over with sophistication and confidence and be able to sling some clever conversation that would get his attention. But on a good day I’d have trouble meeting that order, much less on a day where I felt out of the norm, where too many unpredictable events were presenting themselves. I decided the best course of action was retreat.
“Well, um, I think I’ve interrupted your...reading.”
“Yeah.”
Damn that word.
I stepped back, ready to save face. “I’m sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to say thank you. It’s one of the hazards of the job, I guess. Guys like that get drunk and think they can just grab what they want—”
“Can’t say I blame
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