The well-worn, faded jeans he wore looked soft and comfy but fit him to absolute perfection. Baggy enough that he didn’t look like some hipster, but tight enough that they conformed to his ass like plastic wrap on a bowl of leftovers. The dark T-shirt he wore also managed to be both loose enough to look comfortable but tight enough to leave very little to her imagination. The man was ripped, and her fingers itched to trace every line and ridge of him.
He looked over and caught her staring. A smile stretched across his full lips, and Gina turned away, fiddling with the bag in her arms.
“If you’re so worried about someone breaking into this thing, why don’t you park it inside?” he asked.
“Gee, what a great idea, Officer,” she said, laying the sarcasm on thick.
“My name is Rick,” he said, giving her a seriously? look. “I’m off duty. You don’t have to keep calling me Officer.”
“All right. Rick.” She gave him a little smile and the surprised widening of his eyes let her know exactly how big of a bitch she’d been. She should probably lighten up. The guy might be a pain, but he was here to help her. And it wasn’t his fault she was embarrassed over being caught ogling him. She sighed.
“We have the delivery van parked in there. There isn’t room for both yet. Eric, the owner of the bakery, is expanding the garage but is having some permit issues. So until we get the addition, we can only park one vehicle inside. The van is a total custom job and would cost more to fix if it was vandalized. And would cost us more business. If the cupcake truck is out of commission for a day or two, it’s a pain, but not that big a deal. But if we can’t deliver someone’s wedding cake on time, we’ve got major long-term client problems.”
He nodded. “Good point. You set up some security cameras or something?”
“Yeah. But they haven’t done any good so far. Whoever it is knows where they are and has made sure their faces are never seen. Which is another reason why I’m so sure it’s Tony. But my swearing up and down that it’s him is my word against his.”
“And you really think he’d do something like this?”
She let out a sharp laugh. “In a heartbeat. He likes the little thrill of danger. Public places really do it for him. Being able to get back at me is icing on the cake for him. Pun totally intended.”
He might have grinned, but he turned his head too fast for Gina to tell for sure.
“I even stuck a nanny cam in there,” she said, following him around to the other side of the truck. “But he hasn’t been back since I installed that. Not sure how well it’ll work, anyway. I’ve got it set for night vision, but going by how much of a mess the weasel likes to make, he’ll probably knock it over, or something’ll get shoved in front of it. It won’t do me much good unless he’s in the perfect position.”
“Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t. Good thinking, though.”
“Thanks,” she said, unexpectedly pleased by the compliment.
“So.” He shoved his hands in his jean pockets and hunched his shoulders a bit. “Shall we head up to the roof? We can’t catch him if we’re hanging around the bait, after all.”
“True.”
He reached for the bag and for a second she thought about refusing to let him carry it. She wasn’t some helpless damsel in distress. She could carry her own stuff. But it was a good climb to the roof, and she was lugging the rest of her stuff as well. She handed him the bag and readjusted her backpack.
“Ready? Hey!” she said, when he immediately opened the bag and started riffling through it.
“Sorry, it smells so good. You brought me some cop food? I could go for a doughnut.”
She laughed and shook her head. She seriously doubted he spent much time munching junk food.
“Sorry. No doughnuts. There’s some brownies in there and probably a couple cupcakes. Hands off the baklava, though. That’s mine.”
“What, you mean this stuff?” he asked, grabbing a piece of baklava and popping it in his mouth.
“Hey!” She swatted at his rock-solid arm. “You don’t get bag-carrying privileges if you are going to steal snacks.”
“Sorry.” He licked some honey from his lips, not looking sorry in the least. “Damn, that was good.”
“That’s the only one you get, so I hope you enjoyed it.”
“Yep. I did. But since I’m the one holding the bag…” He popped another piece in his mouth.
“All right, we’re trading.” Gina snagged the bakery bag from him and shoved her backpack into his hands. “Let’s go.”