Loverboy (The Company #2) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,97
with it.”
“That might work,” Gunnar says cautiously. “I want to do some more digging, though. There might be a reason she wants to hurt you.”
“Besides her being a complete and total psycho bitch?”
“Well, yeah.” Gunnar strokes my hair. “I’ve been looking into her. And I think her mother used to work at Paxton’s. Maybe her mother got fired, or something.”
“Really?” I gasp. “Is that Saroya’s problem?”
“Not sure yet. But I’ll find out what I can.” He drops a kiss onto my head.
“Thank you,” I say, noting my position, which is just a few inches shy of reclining in his lap. I’m supposed to be cutting ties with Gunnar and looking out for myself. Oops. “Can I have that footage? I’m going to send it to Spalding.”
“It’s in your email inbox already,” Gunnar says.
I extract myself from his embrace and fetch my phone. The email is right there. I save the video to my phone and then write a new email, attaching it. Spalding, look at this please. It’s important.
Then I tap his number and dial, hoping to leave a voice message.
But the jerk picks up. “Posy! Is something the matter? I thought piemakers went to sleep before now?”
“Usually,” I snap. “But tonight I got a very disturbing video off our security system. Spalding, you’re not going to like hearing this. But Saroya is trying to interfere with my business. She broke a window, and probably planted vermin on the premises. Then she called the health inspectors—”
“Posy! That’s nonsense. Saroya wouldn’t—”
“Check your email. I just sent you the proof. And—” my head is practically exploding as I start linking together the possibilities “—she may have been responsible for my break-in, too.”
“Posy! This is crazy talk—”
“—Not as crazy as she is. Go check your email.” I hang up on him. And then I power my phone all the way down, so he can’t call me back.
“Wow,” Gunnar says. “Strong move.”
It was, and now my hands are shaking. I pace back and forth across the living room rug. “I will not be his doormat any longer. I thought pouring a bottle of vintage champagne over his head in the middle of a fancy restaurant would have gotten him out of my life. But he’s still right next door. With his …” I take a deep breath instead of letting loose with an ugly stream of words. Although Spalding deserves them all.
But Aaron doesn’t. And I’d lay odds that he’s listening downstairs.
“What’s the connection?” I ask. “Between Saroya’s mother and the restaurant?”
“All I know is that she used to work there,” Gunnar says, standing up beside me, and putting his hands on my shoulders. “But we’ll know more soon. And I hate to point this out, but the fact that Saroya is turning out to be a jealous nutter is actually good news.”
“How?” I gasp.
“It means that your recent problems are probably unrelated to the criminal that Max is hunting down.”
“Oh.” I gulp. “I suppose that’s a silver lining.”
Gunnar pulls me into a hug, and I relax against his broad chest without really meaning to. But it feels so good. His broad hand strokes my back. “I missed you.”
“Why?” I scoff. “I’m a wreck. My business is always on the brink of disaster. I get up at five every morning, which isn’t all that fun. My ex’s girlfriend is trying to sink me. It’s just long hours and drama here all the time. You hate my city. And you never wanted to set foot in my shop at all. You don’t even like coffee!”
“But I like you, in spite of the coffee and the drama. I miss curling up with you after a long day. I miss talking to you on my break.”
“You miss the pie,” I grumble, not willing to believe it.
“That doesn’t make me a bad person,” he whispers. “It takes a lot of calories to build all this muscle.”
I laugh into his shirt collar. The things he’s saying are so seductive to me. I don’t really need a man in my life. But I sure want this one, damn it.
“We’re not over, you know. This wasn’t just a convenient fling.”
“Yes, it was,” I argue. “It’s about to become really inconvenient. You’ll see. In a few days you’ll be back to your old life, and you’ll forget about me.”
“Look, I don’t have the details figured out yet,” he admits. “But I want to try to see you. And if you’d let your guard down for five minutes, you’d want to as well.”