After powering on the device, she opened to the eighth chapter in Fatal Deception. Recently she’d decided to reread Curt’s debut novel because she’d gone through it so fast the first time around she’d missed subtle details—details Gavin had brought to her attention the evening they’d discussed the book over dinner.
Was that really only a week ago?
Rather than start reading, she thought back. Yep, it had definitely been less than two weeks ago. They’d talked about the novel and Gavin’s prediction as to what would happen next based on the clues he’d picked up the same night she’d invited him to her parents’ party—an invitation he’d accepted with far less resistance than she’d expected. At the time she’d wondered why, but considering the turn their relationship had taken on the beach, she now suspected she understood. And it had definitely taken a turn the moment she slipped her arm around his waist.
Or had it?
True, in the very beginning she’d viewed him as nothing more than a friend, someone to meet for dinner or play golf with. Back then she’d even toyed with the idea of playing Cupid and setting him up with one of her cousins. And like a strictly platonic friend, she hadn’t cared whom he spent time with or whether a woman flirted with him when they were out together.
Leah didn’t know the precise moment, but she couldn’t deny that at some point long before her parents’ party something had shifted. She’d lost count of how many times she’d seen a woman flirt with Gavin or even simply send him a suggestive look and she’d gotten annoyed.
In fact, the very night she invited him to Newport for the Fourth of July, she had to remind herself that they were merely friends each time the waitress came over and did everything she could to catch his attention. And she really had done everything, including giving him her phone number, not that Leah had seen the waitress slip it to him. Gavin had shared the annoying detail as they walked to their cars after dinner, and when he did, the desire to demand he tear it up before they left the parking lot had all but choked her. Somehow she managed to keep the words from spilling out. Of course, it’d helped when Gavin admitted he’d left the note behind on the table because he wasn’t interested.
Leah considered herself an observant individual, yet somehow despite the emotional clues she’d experienced, she’d missed the writing on the wall. It had taken Gavin’s run-in with Tasha, of all people, to set her straight. The moment she’d seen Tasha standing so close wearing her I’m on the hunt expression, her emotions took over, and she’d moved in to protect what her subconscious evidently already considered hers.
She might not consider Tasha her favorite person in the world, but she definitely owed her one for giving her the proverbial kick in the pants she’d obviously needed. Too bad she couldn’t send the other woman a box of chocolates or some flowers with a thank-you note attached. Although she’d never in a million years do it, Leah considered the wording for such a card.
Dear Tasha, thanks so much for making me jealous last weekend. Without your help, I’d still have my head in the sand.
Yep, such a message would sum up her sentiments well.
Turning her attention back to the novel, she started on the first paragraph of the chapter. Memories from their walk on the beach after leaving Tasha pushed their way forward before she’d made it past the third sentence.
She’d only realized the transformation in her feelings last weekend, but when had things shifted for him? Had it hit him over the head the night she invited him to the party? Or had he realized it months ago?
She hadn’t analyzed their conversation before or after their first kiss. Now she wanted to. Leah tossed aside the e-reader and thought back. She might not be a genius like her cousin and able to remember every minute detail, but she didn’t forget much, especially when it pertained to significant events. Their time on the beach certainly qualified as being significant.
Leah replayed the afternoon, starting with the moment Gavin thanked her for rescuing him from Tasha. Before they moved from the deck, she’d been certain he wanted to kiss her. Instead of kissing her, he suggested they take a walk. Then before Gavin touched his lips to hers, he said something along the lines of there is no other place I want to be.
“And like an idiot I told him I’d been thinking of setting him up with Courtney or Juliette.” She shook her head as she remembered that. Really, who said that after they kissed a guy? Evidently ninnies like her did.
“Let it go. It’s not the first stupid thing you’ve ever said, and it won’t be your last.” But even if it had been a poorly thought-out statement, his response made up for it. He’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in someone else. Unfortunately, she’d cut off the rest of his sentence by kissing him. Back then she hadn’t wondered what else he had to say, but now she wished she’d let him finish.
***
The doorman opened the door as Leah approached. She hadn’t been back to Gavin’s condo since the night she caught Harry entertaining another woman. Instead, whenever she and Ga
vin got together they either met somewhere or he came to her house. Occasionally she felt guilty about that, but not guilty enough to risk running into Harry again. Thankfully Gavin had never complained either. Since he always came to her, she’d insisted on meeting him at his place this morning. He agreed with no argument, which she interpreted to mean he planned to get some work in this morning before they set out for the day.
As she crossed the empty lobby toward the elevators, a flashback to her last visit hit her, momentarily stopping her dead in her tracks.
Gavin’s nothing like Harry. I have nothing to worry about, she reminded herself as she stepped inside the elevator.
The doors were almost closed when a woman approached, forcing the doors to reopen. It wasn’t just any woman either. Leah mentally shook her head as Amy, the redhead she’d found with Harry, joined her for the ride up. Really, what were the odds of her running into the woman today, considering the number of people who lived in the building?
Amy pressed the button for the floor below Gavin, but her attention was focused on Leah. “Did you just move into the building? I thought I’d met everyone who lived here,” Amy asked.
“No, I’m just visiting a friend.”
“You look familiar. Have we met before?”
In a manner of speaking, yes. “Not exactly,” Leah responded. Before she could come up with a nice way of explaining why she looked familiar, Amy snapped her fingers.
“I know. I saw you at Harry Kincaid’s. You used to date him,” she said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “I’m so sorry. When he invited me up, I really didn’t know he had a girlfriend. If I’d known, I never would’ve gone.”
How did one respond to such an admission? “No need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault.” At the moment it was the best she could come up with.
The elevator doors opened at Amy’s floor, but she didn’t immediately exit. “I walked out right after you that day, and I haven’t seen the dirtbag since.”