Sweet Surrender (Sweet #1)(14)

He leaned in closer and trailed a finger down her cheek. “I’m counting on it.”

His mouth hovered temptingly over hers. Her gaze flickered over his face. She could see the pulse in his neck. He swallowed once then twice and slowly pulled away as if he’d just undergone an epic battle with himself.

A surge of disappointment knifed through her. He wasn’t going to kiss her. She smiled shakily. “See you then.” She turned and walked into her apartment, turning only to give him a small wave.

He stood, unmoving, watching her until finally she shut the door. Once fully inside, she sagged against the door and closed her eyes.

You are such a chickenshit.

She could have just kissed him. No law said she had to wait on him. And he’d wanted to; she could tell that much. She mentally replayed the sensation of his tongue sliding over her finger. She could easily imagine his mouth on her body, moving delicately across her rib cage, to the underswell of her breast and then finally to her ni**les.

A groan escaped her as her br**sts ached, a tingle knotting the tips into taut beads. Hard to believe that just the other night she’d enjoyed mediocre sex with John. Now in light of what she felt Gray could give her, her past experiences paled in comparison. And she hadn’t even gone to bed with him yet.

Yet. A giddy smile curved her lips as she shuffled toward her bathroom. Yet implied intent.

CHAPTER 6

Gray yawned and stretched tired muscles as he let himself into his apartment. He’d only get a couple of hours’ sleep. If he was lucky. But the phone tap on Faith’s office phone was in place, and all that remained was for him to get into her apartment to bug her personal line.

A twinge of guilt nipped at his gut as he palmed the key he’d lifted from Pop’s office. Pop kept spares of all the apartment keys there, and so Gray had taken the one for Faith’s apartment.

He needed to get in today as soon as she left for work and return the key before it was missed.

As he shed his shirt and tossed it on the couch, he saw his answering machine light blinking. Knowing it could only be from Mick or one of the guys from work, he shuffled over and hit the Play button.

“Gray, it’s Mick. Call me no matter what time you get in.”

Short and sweet. There was an urgency to Mick’s voice that woke Gray from his lethargy. Glancing at the clock, he shrugged and picked up the phone. Mick had said no matter what time it was.

A few seconds later, Mick’s disgruntled voice fed over the phone line.

“I didn’t send you down there to party. Where the hell have you been?”

Gray sighed in irritation. “I was getting the phone tap in place. Can’t exactly do that in broad daylight. Now what is so all-fired important?”

“Samuels was spotted in Huntsville earlier today. Woman was with him.”

“You think he’s on his way here?” Gray asked.

“I think it’s a damn good possibility. Stay close to the girl. I bet anything Samuels and the mother are headed straight for her. They probably set up the meeting when the mom called the other day.”

Gray frowned. Was that what had Faith so edgy? And did she have any idea what her mother was involved in, or was she just acting the dutiful daughter?

“I’ll keep my eyes and ears open, Mick. You know that.”

“Just wanted you to know,” Mick said gruffly. “Let me know if the tap turns anything up.”

Gray hung up the phone, not liking the implications of what Mick had reported. Was Faith involved, or was she just being used by her manipulative mother?

He scrubbed a hand over his hair and then rubbed his palm down his face. Maybe he’d call in sick tomorrow. That would give him time to slip into Faith’s apartment after she left for work, then he could return home to get some sleep.

He trudged into the bedroom and set his alarm for six. Two hours. He’d sleep for two hours then get up and wait for Faith to leave.

When the alarm went off, Gray groaned and slapped his hand over to stanch the annoying cacophony. After several long minutes, in which he argued the need to get up at all, he finally swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there, face buried in his hands.

Knowing that Faith would leave at seven sharp, as she did every morning, he got up and headed for the shower.

At six forty-five, he called Pop’s cell phone and told him he was home sick for the day. After enduring a gruff lecture to get plenty of rest, Gray hung up and nursed his cup of coffee.

At six fifty-five, he moved to the living room window that overlooked the parking lot and nudged the curtain aside so he could see Faith’s car. As expected, at seven, she hurried out of her apartment and got into her vehicle.

One down, three to go.

He kept vigil by the window until one by one, Connor, Nathan and Micah also got into their trucks and headed off. Knowing he needed to be quick, he retrieved Faith’s key from the kitchen table and slipped out of his apartment.

He didn’t waste any time looking around. He didn’t want to arouse suspicion. When he reached her door, he slid the key into the lock and went inside.

As he scanned the living room, he grinned. Weren’t most women supposed to be neat freaks? Clutter abounded, and it looked as though she performed a striptease on the way to her bedroom. Pieces of clothing lay tossed aside, forming a path from the door toward the hallway.

His gaze focused in on her computer several feet away. It sat atop a wooden desk, piles of paper and books scattered across the surface. Her screen saver hadn’t come up yet, and what was pictured on the monitor gave him serious pause.