Ghostly Game, page 7
“I’m employed by the government in a security capacity. At the moment, I’m off for a while. I had quite a bit of vacation and sick time coming to me, and the boss was insistent I take it.”
She glanced up at him, amusement in her eyes. “Are you a workaholic?”
He shrugged, flashing another grin her way. “I live alone. Don’t even have a cat. I’m not that good of a cook. I do have a great rooftop though.”
Those green eyes studied his expression, and then she laughed. “You’re definitely a workaholic. Good excuses though. I especially like the one that you’re not a good cook.”
“I can cook,” he clarified. “I’m just not great at it. And who wants to cook for one person? I wouldn’t mind showing off my skills for you, which admittedly aren’t much, if we get that far. Cooking for two is far more fun than one. You any good in that department?”
“I watch the cooking channel, if that counts.”
The amusement in her voice sent heat streaking through his veins. Before he could reply, the waiter was there to take their orders. She was all about the soup and shrimp. She was also ready to try the house bread. He was willing to share that with her and gave his order as well. As the waiter walked away, he was shocked to see two members of his team take a seat at a table behind Rory.
Gideon knew it wasn’t a coincidence that Brian Hutton and Ethan Meyers had come to the restaurant. They weren’t following him. That meant something serious had to be communicated to Gideon.
“It has to count as much as my abilities do,” Gideon conceded. “You said you moved here recently. Where is your family?”
“I lost my parents a long time ago, and I don’t have any other family, so I decided to see as much of the United States as I could. Well, at least the parts that interested me. I don’t like the heat, so I tend to stay away from places that get really hot. I visit during the good weather. I wanted to see New Orleans, so I went during the cooler weeks.”
“That makes sense.” He took a quick scan of the table behind her. Brian signed, keeping his hands close to his chest. It was their private street code. Rory had been followed from her apartment building.
Gideon’s gut tightened into knots. Javier had assured him just a few days before, when they’d been in the bar, that she didn’t have a stalker. Now, in broad daylight, she’d been followed? He took care to keep his features clear of the alarm he felt. The man had been careful to stay a block or so back from her and in the shadows.
“What about you? Does your family live here in San Francisco?” she asked.
“It’s difficult to explain my family. The simple answer is yes. I grew up a street kid. No real home. The kids I hung out with eventually became my family. We ended up sticking together. Just up the street from where you work is a huge warehouse. Jaimie, a woman I grew up with and consider my sister, is a computer genius. The man you saw me with in the bar, Javier, he is too. Nothing gets by them. That warehouse is home to Jaimie and Mack and Rose and Kane, as well as the computers that allow us to do our work. Our family is still together, only now we work together.”
“That’s fascinating,” Rory said. “Are there more of you?”
He nodded. “Quite a few more. We get in each other’s business. Kane and Rose have a son now. We all take turns spoiling him. Rose acts tough, but she isn’t. She’s a marshmallow inside and doesn’t mind us giving Sebastian attention. She’s good about sharing him with us.”
“Your voice goes soft when you talk about Sebastian,” Rory said.
Gideon noted that her voice sounded soft. He liked that. Her green eyes certainly looked at him with approval.
“Why security?”
He should have been expecting that question. “We didn’t always feel safe on the streets. It wasn’t safe. We had to learn to protect ourselves and each other. It was a natural progression to protect others.”
Rory glanced toward the rolling waves, and Gideon took the opportunity to tap on his shoulder in code to Brian and Ethan. Where is the man following Rory now?
“That makes sense. Do you like living here?”
“San Francisco? The harbor? Yes. Jaimie found the place first. She was renovating the warehouse, and we all thought it was a great idea. I found a building that had survived the 1906 earthquake and fires but needed so much work it was condemned. It was four stories high, and the rooftop was so unbelievably cool, like a giant eagle’s nest. I had to find a way to save it. The building was an odd shape, built of brick. Everyone wanted to demolish it but me. I had to have it, which I suppose was silly, but I’ve never been sorry.”
He followed her right into the restaurant, Ethan coded.
“I know exactly what building you’re talking about. It’s beautiful now. You saved it from being torn down after all.” There was admiration in Rory’s voice. She reached out and brushed her fingertips over the back of his hand. “Saving that building wasn’t silly at all.”
His entire body reacted to that featherlight touch. He felt it like a hot streak of lightning rushing straight to his groin.
“I didn’t save it. I brought in a couple of experts who knew what they were doing to make sure it could withstand earthquakes and anything else thrown at it. Then Jaimie found a couple of other experts to design the outside to look the way it did back when it was first built, but with up-to-date seismic codes that we know are going to hold up when the earthquakes hit. I need open spaces, so inside, I wanted the spaces to flow into one another. In all honesty, I don’t spend much time on the lower floors. A service comes in to clean them once a week. I live mainly on the top floor and rooftop.”
“I’m not going to lie. I might have to keep seeing you just to see inside that building and go out on the rooftop. I rented a top-floor apartment just to get a rooftop patio,” Rory admitted.
Gideon couldn’t help exchanging a smile with her. “Some people have a problem with heights.”
“I never have. I don’t like to be inside very much,” she said. “When I was a little girl, I was trapped in an attic, and it was very stuffy. There were no windows and there was so much dust. I couldn’t get out.” She hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. “You may as well know now, I have the worst lungs. You know I have asthma, but it’s really bad. I can barely breathe sometimes and need to use a breathing machine to give myself treatments. I thought I was going to die in that attic, and ever since, I can’t stand closed-in places.”
Her green eyes stared right into his, defiantly waiting for him to pass judgment on her. She expected him to think less of her because she wouldn’t be able to keep up with a physically fit man. That much was written all over her face. She hadn’t wanted to use her inhaler in front of him when he’d walked her home from the bar. That hadn’t made sense to him.
“How terrible for a child to be trapped like that, especially one already having breathing problems. I don’t have the excuse of breathing problems, and I have trouble with claustrophobia. I can control it, but it takes an extreme amount of concentration and discipline.”
Her gaze didn’t leave his, not even when the waiter placed their food in front of them. He cursed himself silently for giving too much away. She was waiting for more. If he gave her more, that could lead to even more, and just about everything about his adult life was classified now. He couldn’t share that with her. He wanted her in his life. He wanted to hook her deep, draw her in. Keep her. Again, that red flag went up because the connection between them, the chemistry, was growing stronger and stronger, but he chose to ignore the warning.
Gideon sighed. “I told you, I grew up on the streets. I didn’t have the best childhood. Things happened when I was a kid.” How best to blend the past and present? He said it fast. “I joined the military. Got my school paid for. When I served, I was taken prisoner. Tortured. Kept in a box and buried to my neck. Bad things happened. Luckily, I had my family. They came for me.”
Her eyes instantly went liquid. Her lashes fluttered and went down, concealing her reaction. “How terrible. I didn’t mean to bring up such a bad memory, Gideon.”
“It isn’t one I ever forget, Rory.” He indicated her soup with his fork. “We’re getting to know one another. These are things we’re going to run into. My past isn’t always pleasant. Getting accidentally locked in attics and nearly dying isn’t either.”
“You’re very fit.”
“I do security work. It’s in my best interest to be able to move fast when needed.”
“I’m never going to be able to run.”
He could hear the warning in her voice. He arched an eyebrow at her. “My woman isn’t required to do security work with me, which means she never has to run if she doesn’t want to. In fact, I’m one of those overprotective men who prefers to know she’s safe bartending and having fun with her friends while I’m on assignment.”
That earned him a smile. Not a huge one, but still a smile. He could tell she was into him. He didn’t know why she would be, but he’d take it. He’d take anything he could get from her. The chemistry between them was intense. He wasn’t the only one feeling it. The heat flared strong.
He’d managed to brush his fingers against hers twice, and both times, every nerve ending in his body jolted alive. Little sparks of electricity crackled between them. Each time they did, her vivid green gaze would jump to his and a hint of color would steal into her cheeks. Her breathing changed, and those lashes of hers fluttered irresistibly.
He wasn’t going to make any mistakes with her. She was leery, feeling her way with him, expecting him to reject her. He didn’t understand how a woman as beautiful and intelligent as she obviously was could possibly expect rejection from men.
“I hate to break it to you, but bartending isn’t always the safest profession.” There was a teasing note now.
He gave her a real Gideon growl. “I saw that for myself the other night when half the men in the bar were hitting on you. I worried that you might have stalkers.” He gave her a little frown. “You don’t have stalkers, do you?”
“Not that I know of. When I say bartending isn’t the safest profession, it’s more because fights break out. Or sometimes we spot jerks putting something in a woman’s drink—or even a man’s drink—and we intervene. That’s always risky. We try to be discreet, but if we’re found out, the consequences can be ugly.”
“Have those things happened?”
She nodded. “This is great food. How come I didn’t know about this place?”
She clearly wanted to change the subject. Gideon debated and then allowed her to get away with it. He looked around the restaurant, keeping it casual. He spotted the man watching Rory right away. He was dressed in a suit and was sitting at one of the smaller tables for two situated against the far wall of the patio in the shade. He was in the darker shadows, but Gideon took in every detail of his appearance and filed it away.
The man was close to forty, or maybe he’d already crossed that mark. He was fit, rough looking. Nervous but trying not to show it. Looking around, not just fixating on Rory. He didn’t have his phone out, taking pictures. He just sat in the shadows, watching her. Watching Gideon. Studying him. Looking around as if he might be in danger.
Was it possible the man was watching over Rory? Shadowing her for a reason other than stalking her for his own purposes? He seemed more interested in the people around him and those coming onto the patio rather than Rory. He waited until Rory was studying the rolling sea again and the antics of the seagulls before he signaled to Brian and Ethan the various possibilities.
Using telepathy was easier and safer than code, but not everyone on their team was able to have the natural pathways without a strong bridge. Gideon was a strong telepath, but practicing code was something they did to keep sharp, so they could use the form of communication out in the open anywhere and never be seen.
“I imagine it looks like a hole-in-the-wall outside. You barely notice it when you walk past it,” he said aloud. “Living here, I started noticing the locals hit it hard for lunches and dinners. I just followed them.” He flashed another grin. “When you’re a man and you’re hungry, you tend to do that kind of thing.”
She looked back at him and sent him another small smile, reaching for the bread. He pushed the butter closer to her, and she didn’t hesitate to slather the salted garlic butter onto the warm slice of freshly made bread. He liked that about her too. She ate real food and enjoyed it. He liked watching her enjoy eating.
The wind tugged at her hair as if trying to pull at those dark cherry strands she’d insisted on taming. She’d gathered her hair into a knot and then twisted it, tried her best to flatten it with two decorative combs against her scalp at the back of her head so that only the top of the knot showed the waves of cherry red shining in the sun. The more the tendrils escaped, the more he found he liked it.
“I’m going to have to bring my friends here,” Rory said. “Cindy was just telling me the other day that she couldn’t find anywhere close with decent food the boys would eat. She’s a single mom with two children. She would love this restaurant, and it could be a place she could occasionally bring the kids when she was too tired to cook. It isn’t that far from the apartments either. Thank you so much, Gideon.”
He’d been concerned that she might expect him to bring her to a nicer place, an expensive place, but she hadn’t batted an eyelash when he’d brought her to what appeared to be a dive from the outside. She’d looked up at him with that killer smile that had the potential for giving him a heart attack and had gone right on in with him.
“How bad were you injured on the last mission—or whatever you want to call it—you went on before you took your leave?”
She asked the question quietly, almost casually. She pushed food around on her plate, but her green eyes were steady on his face. He didn’t want to start off their relationship by lying to her.
“Was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Got tagged in a couple of places.” He moved to ease his body and realized he’d probably done so a couple of times, just as he’d done in the bar and when they talked together in the Koi Garden. He gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I told you I wasn’t good at this. Give me a little time. I’ll get better at it. You weren’t supposed to notice. I’m not healed yet. Everything’s tight. I would normally hole up on my rooftop, but I wasn’t taking the chance that someone else was going to swoop in behind my back and steal you out from under me.”
She laughed. He loved that sound, could listen to it for the rest of his life. “Because so many men are rushing to take me out that you had to worry. In all honesty, Gideon, I’m glad you came in when you did and asked me out. But you didn’t answer my question, as sweet as that is. I’m persistent when I want to know something. ‘Tagged in a couple of places’ tells me nothing at all.”
“I suppose it doesn’t.” Deliberately, he looked around the room as if on a covert mission. He lowered his voice, so she had to bend her head to his. “This is our first official date. You come out with me again, I can give you that information; otherwise, it’s classified, and I can get into a lot of trouble divulging that to you.”
She burst out laughing again, just as he knew she would. “You are so full of bullshit. But since I really want to know and I want to see your rooftop, I’m committing to another date.”
“On my rooftop?”
She hesitated the slightest bit, but he was aware of it. She nodded her head. “I’ll bring a picnic.”
“Would you prefer to bring someone with you rather than coming alone? It’s a big step coming alone to my place on a second date,” Gideon said, giving her an out.
“Technically, it can be considered our third date. And since you gave me the idea in the first place, I’ll just send pictures and the address to all my friends. If you’re a nutjob, they’ll all know you were the last one to see me.”
“I can live with that.” He took another slice of bread. “How many friends do you have?”
She laughed again, and Gideon found himself laughing with her. He’d never felt so relaxed in his life. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her. Everything. The expressions chasing across her face, what each meant. The little shifts in her moods, what those signaled. Why she didn’t have the confidence she should in herself. Why she moved around so much. He wanted to unlock every mystery for himself. He wanted her to stay.
* * *
The women were waiting for Rory in the lounge, all five of them. Her friends. They were eager to hear every word. She could see the hope on their faces that Gideon really was a good man. The minute they saw her face, all five of theirs lit up. Janice’s and Pam’s expressions held more caution than the others, but they still looked happy.
“He continues to be awesome,” Rory announced as she threw herself into the chair opposite Lydia. “He couldn’t have been better. I looked for flaws, really looked for them, but he was so nice, in fact even nicer than he was the first time.”
“Are you going to see him again?” Sally asked, handing her a coffee. “I’m coming to the bar. If you can meet men like him there, I’m totally going to hang out with you.”
“I’m definitely going to see him again,” Rory said. “As for meeting men like him at the bar, I think he’s a fluke, entirely one of a kind.” The smile faded. “Having said that, I’m not certain I should see him again.”
Cindy scowled at her. “Why in the world would you even hesitate, Rory? You’re clearly attracted to him. You say he’s nice. What’s wrong with him that you’d worry you shouldn’t see him?”
“I knew it.” Janice jumped on her hesitation. “He doesn’t work, does he?”
“Probably a total con artist,” Pam concluded.
