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“But… but you helped me out tremendously this afternoon by listening to me vent before distracting me.”
“And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.” He kept his eyes on mine, not even remotely fazed by my pleading stare. “Speaking of helping you out, as long as you’re feeling better now, we’ll head back to Harper Security Ops so you can get your car. Then I’ll have you give me your address, and if it works for your schedule, I can stop by after work tonight to check out that laptop for you.”
He was going to make a house call? I couldn’t think of anything I would have wanted more than to have Landen in my space like that, but I didn’t want him to have to come there to work. “I can bring it by your office, if you’d prefer. I don’t want you to have to go out of your way.”
Landen waved his hand in the air dismissively. “It’s no problem at all. I really don’t mind. Unless… unless you don’t feel comfortable with me coming to your house. If so, I completely understand.”
I didn’t know what came over me, but my hand shot out in his direction, my fingers curling around his forearm. “Oh, that’s not it at all. I… I have no problem with you coming over. I just didn’t want to inconvenience you.”
For a few beats, he merely stared at me without saying a single word. Just before it got awkward, he glanced down at my hand on his arm, cleared his throat, and insisted, “You’re not an inconvenience, Iris.”
My teeth bit down on my bottom lip, and I slowlypried my hand away from him. After taking a deep swallow, I said, “Okay. Tonight, then. But you need to stay and have dinner with me. I’ll cook.”
His lips curved into a smile, his eyes lighting up. “That works for me.”
“Thank you for lunch today.”
“You’re welcome.”
Following a moment of tension-filled silence, Landen stood and held out his hand to me. I hesitated for only two or three seconds before I placed my hand in his and allowed him to lead me toward the exit.
My belly was trembling the entire way home.
ELEVEN
Landen
In all the years that I’d been working as a private investigator, I hadn’t ever wanted to demonstrate just how good I was at my job until now. Until I had the opportunity to do something to help her.
Iris Gibson.
Gorgeous, funny, and sweet Iris.
I’d waited years, whole entire years, to find this woman. And though I’d had moments when I’d attempted to impress her as we worked out together at the gym, I realized there was a very big difference between being able to astound someone with your body versus astonishing them with your mind.
While I didn’t think it hurt my case to have some physical prowess, Iris seemed like the kind of woman who’d be far more amazed by my mental capabilities. Being wildly successful herself, I didn’t think she’d ever want someone who wasn’t as capable in their own career.
And now, after all this time of wanting to have the chance to see and spend time with her outside of the gym, I finally had the perfect opportunity.
But it didn’t matter.
Despite having all the skills necessary to uncover some weird technical glitch with her emails, I wasn’t going to be able to do anything but leave Iris disappointed.
Grimacing, I rubbed the back of my neck. As I sat there, staring at the computer screen while willing something to present itself, my stomach dropped.
If what I had to tell Iris now was going to be any indication to her of my skills, I didn’t think I’d be scoring any points. God, what an embarrassment. What an epic failure. I had this little window of opportunity, and I bombed it. Not because I couldn’t do what I told her I would, but because I couldn’t deliver results.
“What does that mean?”
At the sound of her sweet voice, I tore my attention away from the laptop and glanced up at her. There was a concerned but hopeful look in her eyes, which only made me feel worse.
After having spent months and months of wanting nothing more than a moment like this, I was going to be the man to crush that hope for her.
“What does what mean?” I countered.
Iris, sitting across the table from me in her farmhouse, swept her hand out in my direction. “Your face.”
My brows shot up, confused and questioning. “My face?”
