Page 33 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
He turned from the dishwasher. In his T-shirt and jeans, he looked so much more approachable. Most people found him cold and intimidating, but she was beginning to see more. He might not play by the rules, but he was a good guy to have on your side. ‘Give it at least a week. News cycles are getting shorter and shorter.’
‘So until then we just wait?’
‘You wait. I make moves.’ He glanced at the clock over the microwave. ‘The evening news is about to come on. Can you tune it in? I’m going to find my laptop.’
He finished his pie as they watched the news together, flipping from channel to channel. Genieve tried to watch it from Brody’s point of view. The story remained consistent, focusing on the hotel-room break-in. Only one channel had garnered the interview with Samuel, but each station somehow managed to catch a photo of the infamous mummy arm.
‘It was a good idea,’ she admitted.
‘I know,’ Brody said as he surfed the internet.
Still pictures of her graced the upper right corner of the news screens. In each of them she was on the senator’s arm, confirming the fact that they’d been together for a while. That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
‘I like the green one,’ he murmured.
‘The green what?’ she asked.
He was already head-down again, reading something new that made him frown. ‘Dress,’ he muttered.
And so it went.
They watched the local news and then the national news. Brody scoured his email and sent out a few missives. At one point, he even took a call from Samuel. When Genieve had held out her hand to take the phone, he held up a finger to his lips.
He didn’t even want Gunderson to know where she was.
She plopped back against the pillows on the sofa. She wondered when he was going to break up with the senator for her. She wound a strand of hair from her ponytail around her finger. She knew she was in a strange line of work, but his didn’t seem much better.
Finally, he closed his laptop.
She glanced at him sitting at the other end of the sofa. His legs were stretched out in front of him with his feet propped up on the coffee table. Did he realise he’d been barefoot all evening? Because she’d noticed. Inside the walls of his castle, she was seeing the Black Knight without his armour. ‘Did I miss anything?’ she asked.
‘Not from our side, but it appears Nina had a visit from Detective Morgan.’
‘That’s not news.’ The man used every excuse he could to put himself on her boss’s doorstep. This time, though, the fireworks might not have been so pretty.
‘Are you doing all right?’ he asked after a bit.
She flipped to another channel, but didn’t see anything she liked. ‘I’m bored.’
The night was young. She hadn’t gotten much more sleep than he had, but she wasn’t tired. She’d spent most of the day alone, and she was used to being around people. She felt like she’d used double the energy being alone all day and having to entertain herself.
‘You’re nervous.’
She sighed. He was right, and the two weren’t a good combination for her. ‘It’s dusk. Can I go plant that last petunia?’
He drew his feet off the coffee table and put his laptop where they had been. ‘Tell me where it goes.’
She directed him from behind the line of the sliding glass door and then had him water them all. He cleaned the grill before coming inside and making sure the door was locked firmly behind him. He drew the curtains. With the windows covered, they were truly alone together, locked away from the rest of the world.
‘OK, what do you want to do?’ he asked.
She lifted an eyebrow. ‘You don’t need to strategise or move any more troops?’
‘We’re at a good holding point.’ He put his hands on his hips. ‘What’s it going to take to use up all that energy going on inside you?’
Her pulse quickened. She could think of one thing off the top of her head. It would relieve all kinds of tension and help them both sleep.
‘There’s workout equipment downstairs,’ he said.
