Page 96 of The Auction
What the heck did that mean? Was he afraid he would be tempted by whatever work this guy was offering?
Wait, did I care?
Sadly, yes, I did. It seemed we’d reached the stage of Stockholm Syndrome where apparently I’d developed feelings for my prisoner. I had zero plans of letting him know that. And truthfully, I was going to maintain a certain level of self-denial because admitting something more than basic human desire seemed…too risky.
Especially given he was standing in the alley behind a bar talking to an old Navy buddy about possibly taking some kind of job. A job which I’m pretty sure couldn’t be done remotely.
“Take my number,” the man said, handing Creed a card. “Just to have it. One of those, break in case of emergency things.”
Creed said nothing, but he did take the card.
“You were the best,” the other man said. “In a few years you’ll forget that.”
“Tell my wife that. She thinks I was bottom of the barrel because I wasn’t with STS.”
“Your wife, huh?” the older man said. “Would that be the young woman with the straight hair that’s about to fall out that back door?”
Creed didn’t bother to turn around. “That’s her.”
“She’s real pretty. Wish you luck with that, son.”
“Thank you, sir. Now if you don’t mind. This is date night.”
The older man laughed. “Fucking date night. You were stone cold and now it’s date night. Okay, I won’t bother you. But just keep the card. You never know.”
He turned back down the alley, tipping his cap to the smokers and without another word, he was gone.
I stepped outside the bar, my stealth abilities obviously compromised.
Creed turned around and shook his head.
I lifted my hands in exasperation. “How did you know it was me?”
“Babe,” he said, walking toward me. “I can smell you.”
“Okay, I’m not wearing any perfume so you better take that back. Hard.”
“It’s not a scent like that. It’s just…you. I can differentiate people by smell. It’s a thing I do.”
“Like horse whispering,” I mused.
“Something like that. And before you ask, that was an old boss, looking to see if I wanted to take on some project work. I passed.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard the whole thing. Before you smelled me.”
He dropped a heavy arm around my shoulders andguided me back inside. “Come on, let’s get back to this list of yours.”
“Finally,” I said. If he was going to ignore his old boss in favor of staying on the farm, then I was, too. “You’re going to take me seriously about the list?”
“What about oral?” he asked, his arm tugging me around the neck. “That on the list?”
“For me,” I said, wrapping my hand around his back, because I needed some place to tuck into as we went through the door together. “For you, the jury is undecided.”
“But I haven’t even had a chance to make my case,” he said, with real sincerity.
TWENTY-THREE
JULIETTE
