Chapter 3
I kept my arms close to my sides as I walked the few
blocks to the address Mindy had given me, making sure to walk toward the
outside of the flow of traffic, near the road.
And away from any stray charms.
The park was in the middle of the city, shaded with
the synthetic leaves attached to the facsimiles of trees that were installed
there. Real trees would not only be too
pricey, but would have to be guarded continuously.
Which would pretty much defeat the point of having a
public park.
At least the grass was real.
I looked down at the card to verify the number.
It was a discrete brick front building on a narrow
plot of land, the real estate here so expensive I knew even that much cost a
pretty penny.
The buildings on either side were just far enough away
to be in line with building regulations.
One was a lawyer’s office, the other a dentist’s.
This one was not so clearly marked.
Or marked at all.
The only reason I knew it was the right place was because it fell
between the numbers on the buildings on either side.
Stepping out of the crowd, I opened the waist-high
gate and climbed the short steps up to the heavy metal door. When I couldn’t find a doorbell, I finally settled
for giving the smooth metal surface a few firm knocks.
I waited, not hearing anything from inside.
I pulled off my sunglasses as I looked around the
small landing trying to figure out what was niggling at the back of my
mind. Something was just a little off…
The door swung open, cutting off my train of thought.
I took an involuntary step back.
Physically, he wasn’t overly tall, around six feet. Though all of it was hard with muscle from
what I could see. His biceps strained
the sleeves of the olive green t-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders. Black jeans outlined the taught muscle of his
long legs and my eyes stopped at his feet, which were startlingly bare against
the dark wood of the floor, the smooth brown skin in mellow contrast to it.
I looked back up to the baleful glare that had first
made me step back, the light brown eyes tinged with a hint of red piercing
under the dark slashes of his eyebrows.
The dark shadow of a beard framed a full mouth and his
nose was strong with the slightest hook to it.
It gave his face a smoldering sensuality that I’m sure turned heads.
With his darker coloring, I would have expected his
hair to be black, but it was a silky brown a couple of shades lighter than his
eyebrows and eyelashes and a few shades darker than his skin. It was long enough to fall over his high
forehead and brush his eyes.
He ran his hand impatiently through his hair, shoving
it back and giving me a flash of a dark tattoo peeking out from the bottom of
his sleeve.
“Yes? Do you
want something?” he said brusquely, his eyes moving behind me to scan the
street.
“I’m looking for a Simon Birch?” I asked hesitantly,
suddenly unsure whether Mindy had been trying to be helpful at all.
Those unnerving coppery eyes shot back to me as he
took a closer look, eyes quickly scanning me.
He raised a brow.
“Mindy gave me your address. She said you might be able to help me,” I
said, taking another step back. “But I
think she might have made a mistake. I’m
sorry to have bothered you.”
I flashed him an insincere smile and turned to step
down.
A large hand clamped down on my shoulder.
“Wait. Come in.”
I turned back to him and he let go, no longer giving
me that glare, though he still didn’t exactly look welcoming. The doorway behind him led into a dark
interior the light didn’t quite penetrate.
I wasn’t reassured, but I had nowhere else to turn.
He followed me in, close enough that I could feel the
heat of his body along my back.
Closing the door, he shut out the bright light of
day. I twitched a little at the snick of
the lock sliding into place.
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