Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(10)

“Of course you do. I’ll see you tonight then?”

“Count on it.” He grabbed my face and gave me a deep kiss, enveloping me in his sweet scent. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’ll text you later with the time.”

“Okay.”

The horn honked again and Gabe groaned. “Go, before I have to go out there and teach him some manners.”

“He hates to be late.” I tittered and gave him another quick kiss. “See you later.”



. . .



I opened the door to the Range Rover and was greeted with a gust of fresh air conditioning laced with the scent of leather. Vance was dressed in all black, as usual, and the fabric of his T-shirt clung tightly to his hard bi-ceps.

“Patience is a virtue, you know?” I smirked.

His arm twitched, flexing sharp lines as he turned. “Hey, I don’t know what you’ve got going on in there, but I don’t like to be late.” Something foreign lurked in his eyes.

“We’re not going to be late, geez. What’s got your panties all in a bunch this morning? Rough night?” I fastened my seatbelt, and he put the car in gear. He hit the gas a little hard, throwing me back into my seat.

“My night was fine,” he said. His jaw held the same firm, tight line it had the night before.

“What, did some girl turn you down?” I asked with a laugh, hoping to break through his concrete exterior.

“No, some girl didn’t turn me down. I had a great night.” His words bit out with a clipped, hard edge. “I didn’t sleep well, if you catch my drift?” he added, softening his tone.

“Don’t tell me.” I’d heard enough of Vance’s sexual escapades over the years and didn’t need to have any more stories added to my memory bank. “Maybe we should stop and get some coffee.” I punched his arm and grinned, but his demeanor was still off. “Seriously, is something bugging you? You don’t seem like yourself.”

He smiled. “No, I’m fine. Really. We should get to Avery’s.”

“Did you call the office yet, or should I?” I pulled the visor down and checked my hair in the mirror then flipped it closed.

“I took care of it while I was waiting for you. Avery’s house alarm went off last night. The cops and the night crew checked it out. They aren’t sure what triggered it. They didn’t find anything, probably a short in the system, but we’re all set.”

We pulled in front of Avery’s gate. Everything was quiet. Neighborhood cars idled by going about their regular routines. Vance rolled down his window, hit the buzzer, and stared into the camera. After a short delay, we were buzzed in.

Avery met us at the door, and his face showed signs of fatigue, even his hair looked tired. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought Avery and Vance had hung out all night long.

“Everything okay, sir?” I asked.

“It was a long night. I assume you heard about the alarm going off?” Avery asked, walking away from us and into his office.

“We did, sir, in our morning briefing,” Vance chimed in.

We stood out in the hallway while Avery gathered some folders and closed them inside his briefcase.

“Something like that can certainly throw off an old man’s night.” Avery laughed. “But, no time to think about that now. Busy, busy day ahead. Let’s get moving.”

We began our usual course to the NBC’s downtown office. A short distance away from Avery’s house, I glanced at my side mirror. A black Audi with dark windows had fallen in line behind our car. I peered over at Vance. He stared in the rear view mirror and acknowledged it with a slight nod. The car remained behind us throughout the commute.

Vance pulled into the bank’s private parking garage—the Audi didn’t enter behind us. Avery’s neighborhood was filled with lawyers and high level executives; it was likely one of them also heading to work as well, coincidentally following the same path.

We pulled into Avery’s reserved space right next to the elevators on the third level of the garage. Vance and I stepped out of the car first and surveyed the area then he opened Avery’s door. I met Avery at his side then we all proceeded over to the dark hallway to the elevators. We stood waiting for its arrival, and I stared down at a wet section of concrete which smelled of urine.

The homeless sometimes snuck in overnight and took up residence there. The morning security guards had to shuffle them out before the executives arrived. My guess was we’d arrived only minutes after the shuffling, and the individual who’d been escorted out left the puddle as a parting gift. We took the elevator up to the top floor.

Vance and I ended up having an uneventful day. Avery had cancelled his afternoon meetings outside of the office after some major computer system crashed. I was able to gather through his secretary’s conversations that someone’s head was going to roll if the problem didn’t get resolved before the close of business.

Midday I’d received a text from Gabe. He’d gotten reservations at the trendy Mexican place we’d talked about that morning. I was counting down the minutes until I got to see him again. After two years together, I still couldn’t get enough of him.

When Avery emerged from his office a few minutes after six, he was surprisingly more relaxed than I would have thought. I, on other hand, was getting antsy about being late for dinner.