Relentless(12)
He lets out a deep sigh. “I’ll stop stalking you at the café.”
“And you’ll never try to kill me again?”
“I can’t promise that.” The sexy smile on his face makes my heart race and, for once, I’m a little worried about the security of my secret.
Chapter Six
Relentless Scheming
CORA JOHNSON CAN TAKE UP to twenty minutes to answer her front door. Sometimes she doesn’t hear the knocking and other times her joints ache too much to move swiftly. I have a key to her apartment—“In case I croak,” she told me, when she handed it over—but I purposely leave it in a drawer in the kitchen. I can’t help being a little superstitious, even though life has shown me that there is no order to the universe.
I knock once more and the plaque on the door rattles. The truth is, though I gave Cora the plaque for her birthday, I hoped it would serve as a reminder to me every time I walk out my front door. Where we love is home. After eight years of being kicked around, I had a home and people who loved me. Sometimes, I don’t know who I miss more, Chris or his mother.
Cora needs to hurry up and answer this door or I’m going to be late for work. I knock again and the door above my head opens. I don’t look up, but I can hear Adam’s feet tapping the steps as he descends. I cast a sideways glance at the bottom of the staircase, just to watch him from behind as he walks to his car, but he’s walking straight toward me.
“Good morning, sunshine. Did you get in some quality meditation time this morning?”
I try not to ogle him as he approaches me looking impossibly fresh and ready to tackle a day at the beach in his gray cargo shorts and Quiksilver tank top, which shows off the defined muscles in his arms.
“I did. I’m just checking in on Cora before I head to work.”
“Maybe she’s still asleep.”
“Cora is up before the sun every day. It takes her a while to answer the door sometimes, but I have to get to work.”
He places his hand on my shoulder as his eyebrows furrow. “You look worried. I can check on her for you.”
That one sentence coupled with the look of concern and the feeling of his hand on my shoulder takes my breath away. “Really?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll walk you to work and I’ll check on her when I get back.”
“Walk me to work? I don’t need you to do that. I walk to work every day. It’s literally four hundred feet away from here.”
“I know, but I have to take this stalking gig seriously.”
I wish I didn’t feel even the slightest bit excited by this, but I am just a girl, and apparently I am easily impressed. Now I’m angry with myself when I should be annoyed with him.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
I storm off and round the corner toward the front of our little three-apartment complex and quickly make it to the sidewalk on Lumina.
“Where’s your friend? I thought you were roommates.”
The chill morning air that rolls in from the ocean is slightly briny and I inhale a deep, cleansing breath. The ocean breeze is definitely one of my favorite things about living in Wrightsville.
“She’s visiting her parents this weekend. I couldn’t go with her because I’m working today.”
“Do you always work on the weekend?”
“Pretty much. It’s been months since I got the weekend off. I don’t really have much else to do and I’ve got rent to pay.”
“Are you working next Saturday? I want to take you somewhere.”
“Yes, I’m working both Saturday and Sunday next week.”
We’re just a few feet away from the café now so he speeds up to open the door for me.
“Can’t you ask for the day off?”
“No, not to go on a date.”
“Who said it was a date?” he says with a grin and I roll my eyes.
I stop next to a display of espresso machines and lean in closer so I can whisper. “I can’t take a day off. You saw how I screwed up the other day. I’ve been doing that a lot lately and I need this job.”
He narrows his eyes as if he’s contemplating this information then he nods. “I’ll take care of it.”
“No! You have to go check on Cora.”
I grab fistfuls of his shirt to push him toward the door and he smiles at my feeble attempts to make him move as he stands solidly still.
“All right. Just tell me what I need to check on.”
I release his shirt and give him all the details to check for at Cora’s: check the cupboards to make sure she hasn’t run out of instant oatmeal packets; check the refrigerator for expired foods; make sure the cat hasn’t been getting into the trash bins; make sure none of the faucets are left running; and make sure her enormous Maine Coon, Bigfoot, has enough food and water.