“Waiting for my partner,” I answered and his brows shot up.
“You got a partner?” he asked.
“Yup,” I replied.
“Since when?”
“Since a couple of hours ago.”
“I give it a week,” he muttered, his eyes sliding back to the TV.
I hoped it would last a day. I worried it would last a month.
I moved to a chair, sat my ass in it, lifted my boots up to rest crossed at the ankles on the coffee table scattered with Retreat brochures and settled in. I killed time by calling Serena to make sure she was okay (she was, kind of). Calling Knight and leaving a message that I’d connected with Creed and we were on the job. And last, calling Live to check in to make certain he wasn’t beating himself up too much. The last call lasted a while because he was beating himself up too much and it took some time and an arsenal of my teasing to get him to feel better.
I’d barely flipped the phone shut on Live when I heard a tap on the window and I looked there to see Creed outside, crooking a finger at me.
“The summons,” I said to Clyde. “Gotta go.”
“Don’t come back now, ya hear?” Clyde returned and it was my turn to roll my eyes since he was full of it. Sure, if his bosses found out he was doing what he was doing, he was shit out of luck and a job. He was also a survivor so his bosses would never learn and he averaged a hundred extra dollars a week for doing nothing so he’d keep doing it. Unfortunately, he’d also keep bitching about it.
I didn’t bother with a wave or retort as I walked out and stopped on the sidewalk next to Creed.
“Well?” I asked.
His answer was to turn the camera’s back to me with an image on it.
I leaned in and checked it out.
“Whoa, soccer dad likes pony play,” I murmured. “Ride ‘em cowboy.” I heard Creed’s chuckle and looked up at him. “How’d you get in?” I asked.
“They had other things on their mind and the TV blaring loud. Got in through the bathroom window,” he answered and I felt my eyes get big.
“Shit, man, those are high and tight.”
“Upper body strength and determination go a long way,” he replied.
He was not wrong about that and visibly had the former while the latter was demonstrated on the camera.
“Right on,” I stated, lifting up my hand in an invitation for a high five.
He stared at my hand and didn’t move.
“Seriously?” I asked. “You gonna leave me hanging?”
His sky blue eyes came to mine and again I held my breath as his hand moved. He gave me a high five but when his big hand clapped against mine, it stayed there. His fingers shoved through, linking with mine, bringing our hands down. Then he shifted them so we were palm to palm, fingers curled around the sides. This he took straight into another shift where we had our fingers curled together from tips to knuckles in our palms. He then used my hand to pump our arms twice so hard, I was forced to take a step into him.
Then he let me go.
I forced air in my lungs.
Then I joked, “I’m learning good things about you, partner. Jive handshake master. I like it.”
He shook his head grinning, tossed the camera in the air, my hands shot out to catch it so it wouldn’t fall and, seeing as I was engaged in this endeavor, he had the chance to start sauntering toward my girl.
I took a moment to watch mostly because his shirt hung really good from his shoulders. It was untucked so it mostly covered his ass but his movement hinted at a fine one. And I was coming to the conclusion I seriously liked his boots.
Once I processed this information, I followed him.