Witness Seduction

“Sorry for the mess,” she apologized. “I’m doing some renovating.”

He raised a brow. “On your own?”

“Yep,” she replied, gesturing for him to sit at the table tucked in the corner of the room. “I’m about to start the kitchen, which leaves me with, oh, every other room in the house.”

Caleb’s mouth lifted in a crooked smile. Marley’s breath caught in her throat. Wow. This man definitely needed to do that more often.

He sank into one of the tall-backed chairs and crossed his ankles. “You’re a do-it-yourself type then.”

“Of course. It’s not fun hiring someone to do the job for you.” She shrugged. “Way more satisfying knowing that I did the work.”

She flicked on the coffeemaker and opened the cupboard above the sink, pulling out two mugs. “So what brought a New Yorker all the way across the country?”

There was a long pause, and then he chuckled. “Checking up on me, huh?”

She turned around and met his knowing look. “What?”

“I never told you I was from New York.”

Heat scorched her cheeks. Shoot. Totally busted. How could she slip up like that?

“I called Debbie in Paris,” she admitted. “I just wanted to make sure you were on the up and up. They didn’t mention a renter before they left.”

“It was a last-minute thing,” he said, not offering further explanation.

The coffee machine clicked, and she poured the hot liquid into the mugs, glancing over at him. “Let me guess, you take yours black.”

His lips twitched. “How’d you know?”

“Just a feeling.” She dumped two spoonfuls of sugar into her cup, then walked over to the table and handed him his. Rather than sitting, she leaned against the counter again, blowing on her coffee to cool it.

“You’re just going to hover over me like that?” Caleb asked.

“I hate sitting down,” she confessed. “Probably because of my job. I’m on my feet all day, and I’ve gotten used to it. I go a little stir crazy when I’m in a chair.”

“So…” He held his cup in one hand, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Do you usually make sure everyone you meet is on the up and up?”

The blush returned to her cheeks. “Not really. I just…well, I like the Strathorns and I wanted to make sure…” Her voice trailed, and she made a wry face. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been having some trust issues lately.”

He appeared to mull over her remark, then raised his mug to his lips. She watched his throat work as he swallowed, her stomach doing a funny little flip. Caleb Ford oozed masculinity, even when he drank. She couldn’t help wondering if he’d be like that in bed, controlled, powerful.

As if he’d read her mind, he locked his eyes with hers. Little sparks danced along Marley’s skin. There were sparks in the air, too. Hard to ignore them, zinging back and forth between her and Caleb, heating her skin. Breaking the eye contact, she distracted herself by taking another sip of coffee.

“Yeah, I know all about those. Trust issues,” he clarified with a shrug. “To be honest, trust isn’t something I’m good at.”

She was suddenly curious. “Giving it, or getting it?”

“A little of both, probably.”

Before she could press for details, he glanced around the room, taking in the paint supplies scattered on the tiled floor. “So you’re starting with the painting first?” When she nodded, he said, “What else are you planning to do?”

Considering the grief Gwen had given her about these renovations yesterday, it was nice talking to someone who actually seemed interested. Before she could stop herself, she launched into a recitation of everything she planned to fix up. She was vaguely aware that she’d gone into babbling mode, but hey, at least it helped her ignore the rampant flames of sexual attraction threatening to burn down her kitchen.

CALEB WAS HAVING a very tough time keeping his eyes off Marley. Leaning against the counter in her faded jeans and curve-hugging tank top, with her golden hair up in a messy ponytail and her bare feet, she made a seriously alluring picture.

Her mere proximity made his body burn. Despite the odor of paint fumes lingering in the air, he could also make out a more subtle fragrance. Strawberries. The feminine aroma drove him wild. So did her legs, encased in that stretchy denim, and damn but she had cute feet—small and dainty with bright-pink toenails.

He imagined those legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his buttocks, and fought back a moan.

It had been a mistake coming here. He was pretty good at talking women into going to bed with him, but just talking to them? He sucked at it.

He sipped his coffee, using the pause in the conversation to figure out his next move. Okay, so he’d made contact, but sitting around in Marley’s kitchen wouldn’t land him any answers. He needed to get her talking about Grier. But though he’d been watching her for more than a week now, to her he was a stranger. And women didn’t open up to complete strangers.

He glanced at the sliding door on the other side of the kitchen, pretending to admire her backyard while he planned what to say. The sight of the oak tree in Marley’s fenced-in yard brought a flicker of guilt, as he realized AJ had set up one of their cameras in the tree’s enormous branches. As if someone wanted to hammer the point home, the branches rustled, sending a few leaves fluttering down to the grass.

Caleb shifted his eyes back to Marley. He opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. “Excuse me,” he said as he fished his cell out of his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID, saw AJ’s number and stifled a curse. “Do you mind if I take this?”

“Go ahead.”

He flipped open the phone and said, “Hey, Vic, what’s up?”

“I thought you were going to make contact later tonight,” AJ hissed.

“I was, but I decided to work on the chapters earlier,” Caleb said smoothly.

AJ let out an expletive. “I need you to get her out of the kitchen.”

“Are you still in New York?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Marley discreetly move to the sink to rinse out her mug.

“I’m in the freaking tree out back. Looking at your ugly face as we speak,” came the heated whisper.

It took all of Caleb’s willpower not to look through the sliding door again. Evidently the rustling he’d seen in the tree hadn’t come from a mischievous squirrel. The image of AJ’s huge leather-clad body up in those branches nearly brought a laugh to the surface, but he quickly clamped it down.

“What are you doing in Florida?” he asked with great interest. AJ had left the house next door an hour ago to grab some groceries. Now he was in Marley’s backyard?

“I was coming back and saw the camera dangling from one of the branches. Must have gotten dislodged. She always goes upstairs and does the yoga/shower thing after work so I figured I had time to fix the camera before she saw it, but then you just had to show up and bring her into the kitchen. And now I’m in the tree. The end.”

“Bird sanctuary, huh? Can’t say that’s my cup of tea.”

AJ swore again. “Just get her out of the kitchen so I can hightail it back next door.”

“Sure thing, Vic. I’ll email you the chapters by the end of the week so you’ll have them when you get back from your vacation.”

Caleb hung up the phone and rose to his feet, just as Marley rounded the counter again. To his dismay, she headed right for the patio door and peered out.

He came up behind her. “What are you looking at?” he asked as casually as he could muster.

“I heard you say something about birds,” she answered with a sideways glance. “It reminded me that I haven’t put seed in my bird feeder for a few days.”