Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Beth watched as Gideon escorted her to a car. Once there, they turned to each other, and Gideon took both of her hands and spoke to her with an urgent earnestness. They were both in profile to Beth, who watched with unashamed interest as the woman nodded at whatever Gideon was telling her. Gideon released one of her hands and tugged something from his back pocket—a handkerchief maybe—and dabbed her cheeks with the cloth.
The woman’s face crumpled and she launched herself into his arms. He hugged her briefly, then closed his hands around her upper arms and gently pushed her away and gave her a wry grin and a stern head shaking before waggling a no-no finger at her.
The woman appeared to laugh and covered her face with both hands. Gideon smiled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. More words, more tears from her.
The woman lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders and finally climbed into the back of the waiting car.
Beth had noticed that about his lady friends. They always arrived in cabs, or Ubers. Or with drivers. They never drove themselves. Odd.
The car drove off and Gideon stood for a moment, watching it leave, hands tucked in his back pockets. Then, as if he could sense her gaze, his head turned and he looked directly at her office window. Beth shrank back in horror. She was certain he couldn’t see her, but it was disconcerting nonetheless.
He kept staring for a long while—what the hell was he looking at?—before his shoulders lifted and fell in what appeared to be a heavy sigh. He removed his hands from his pockets to do a couple of quick cross body triceps stretches. The movement tugged his shirt up and showed off a sliver of smooth skin between the waistband of his jeans and the white fabric of his t-shirt.
Gah! Get thee behind me, Satan!
No…wait. Come over here, I want to touch. I want to pet. And taste. Lick…
Aargh!
Beth pushed herself away from the desk, adding a little too much strength to the movement and causing her desk chair to roll halfway across the hardwood floor before she could react.
Well, that was her concentration shot for the rest of the day. Luckily, she was ahead with her work and could afford a short break. She kicked off her shoes. Cat often told her that it was silly to wear high heels when she worked from home, but dressing for a day at the office activated her work brain and helped her focus.
Her doorbell rang and she blinked. She wasn’t expecting any deliveries. And that was the only reason anybody would be at her door in the middle of a work day.
She frowned. Maybe the Delfino kids had kicked their ball into her front yard again. They were polite children, always asking if they could have their ball back instead of just taking it. No wait, it was too early, they were still at school. So, who—
The doorbell rang again. For a smidgeon longer this time. It was followed by a trio of short raps on the wood.
Seemingly indicative of a growing impatience in her unexpected, and definitely unwelcome, guest.
She shook her head, a little irritated now. She didn’t appreciate changes to her routine. And when she saw the tall figure through the stained-glass window panes, she stifled a groan. She should have known it was Gideon. The impatience alone should have given it away. Beth quickly turned to shut her office door, not wanting him to know how much of his porch she could see through her windows. Then again, she could see quite a bit through the curtains in her living room as well…but that wasn’t something with which to concern herself now.
She rubbed her suddenly damp palms down the front of her skirt and tugged open the door.
“Gideon.” She was proud of that greeting. Cool, full of poise, nothing to indicate that she’d been staring at him nearly every day since he’d moved in, that he’d never been far from her thoughts in the three weeks since it had happened. That she hadn’t just watched him wish a poignant farewell to one of his clients.
“Lizzy.” His abrupt greeting was accompanied by a perfunctory nod. He wasted no time on small talk. Instead launching straight into his reason for being here. “One of your gutters is loose. The wind will pick up tonight and be at gale force by tomorrow. It’s going to tear that gutter clean off if you don’t have it fixed.”
“Oh.” That must be what he had been staring at. “I wasn’t aware of that. I’ll get it sorted out, thank you for bringing it to my attention.”
“It’s lunchtime on a Friday. I doubt you’ll find anyone willing to fix it this afternoon. Not without paying ridiculous rates.”
“I suppose not.” She chewed on the inside of her lip as she tried to figure out what she should do about this. A loose gutter would be hellishly noisy in the wind. And potentially dangerous if it were to tear away. It could break one of her windows. Or worse, one of her neighbors’ windows. What if it hit someone? Or smashed into a passing car? The situation seemed more dire with every passing second.