to say hello until you were finished talking with her.”
His voice, that low tone, the way it played over her skin as if he were physically touching her, brushing her with his fingers when he spoke, sent a shiver of absolute awareness down her spine. She’d forgotten just how susceptible she was to him. When he walked, he was close, but he didn’t touch her. It felt as if he were stroking those long fingers of his over her body, her breasts, making them ache for him. She inhaled him with every step she took, and the heat from his body reached her. Warmed her. Somehow managed to find its way inside her.
She couldn’t allow herself to get distracted. She had a short window of time and Aleksei didn’t factor into it, no matter how much she wanted to see him and spend time with him. “Joan has problems at home, but her housekeeper, Alison, is an angel. She’s going to spend a few days with her, and all will be well.”
She let herself look at him again. Just a very small glimpse out of the corner of her eye as he prowled along beside her. The gorgeous woman he’d been talking to walked out with a small lift of her hand, but Aleksei seemed wholly focused on Scarlet, or he just plain ignored her—and neither seemed likely.
Absinthe shook his head, hoping he hadn’t blown his chances so early with Scarlet because he hadn’t called ahead. He’d been too eager, thinking only about getting there. He didn’t really know the rules of dating, because he’d never done it before, and truthfully, he hadn’t wanted to warn her he was coming. He wanted to see her face when he walked in. Now he realized he should have called her.
“I was hoping you would have time to go out with me this evening. It’s the first break I’ve had, and I raced here. I didn’t know I could get this evening off until the last minute. One of my friends stepped up for me,” Absinthe said truthfully.
Torpedo Ink was working hard to get the grocery store up and running so that Inez Nelson, who had lent her name to the business but had her own store in neighboring Sea Haven, could leave feeling they would make a go of the store without her. She couldn’t work in Caspar forever. Absinthe had given his time there, but it wasn’t ever going to be his thing and he told Czar that. He wasn’t a man to spend all his time indoors and around so many people. He doubted that any of them could manage the grocery store. Not even Lana, and so far, she’d been the best at training under Inez.
They desperately needed a manager and it was very clear to all of them that it wasn’t going to be someone from Torpedo Ink. Czar had finally agreed to look for an outsider. The club had a lot of secrets. Too many. The more people they brought in who worked every day with them, the more dangerous that could be—particularly if that person was observant as any good manager would have to be.
“I’m sorry, Aleksei. Really. I’d love to. I’m not just saying that because it’s short notice. I’m really booked tonight and can’t get out of it. I swear, ask me any other time, and I’ll make certain I’m free.”
Scarlet not only sounded regretful, but she looked it as well. Absinthe couldn’t believe the disappointment he felt. He had half expected to be rejected just because he’d asked her at the last minute and he knew women didn’t like that. He’d counted on the fact that Scarlet didn’t seem to be a bullshit kind of player. If she wanted to see him and she could—she would.
“Not certain I can get out of work tomorrow night, but if you can, I’ll move heaven and earth to try. Might have to sell my soul,” Absinthe promised, “but for you …” He trailed off and gave her a half smile, hoping to entice her into a conversation at least. “What time do you get off work?”
He knew her schedule. She wasn’t working. He couldn’t very well remind her of that. He could tell when he’d admitted he’d found out about her schedule the first time she hadn’t been flattered. It hadn’t occurred to her that he was coming from the coast and it took two hours or more. He could cut that down on his bike,