Page 114 of Smoke Screen
“Yeah. She freaked—for good reason—that this guy had her key. She said she leaves her keys in her desk drawer all day. We figured someone swiped them.” He pointed at the laptop. “I found this right before we called you down here.”
Zeke shifted to Cruz. “Do we have anything on the nephew?”
“I don’t. Rohan is checking out employees.”
“Let’s not wake him up. There’s nothing we can do now, anyway. First thing, we’ll call Thompson. See if we can run over there and show him this. Maybe the nephew will be working and we can ask why he stole Maddy’s keys.”
Maddy rolled over,sliding her hand across the mattress in search of Phin and all that luscious warmth she wanted a whole lot more of.
Empty space.
She opened her eyes, let them adjust to the bit of artificial light sneaking under the closed door.
She rolled to her back, shook off her brain fog and reached for her phone on the nightstand, the movement lighting up the screen.
3:57.
And no Phin.
A night owl. Or early riser. Something she most definitely was not. But she wouldn’t go there. Wouldn’t start making mental notes, analyzing every aspect of the relationship—if it was a relationship—and picking it apart.
For once, she’d force herself to take it slow. To not fall too hard, too soon.
For now, she’d focus on finding Phin. Dressed in the T-shirt he’d given her to sleep in, she walked to the door, her feet sinking into the deep fibers of the area rug.
To avoid possibly waking him up if he’d fallen asleep on the sofa, she carefully eased the door open and peeped into the living room.
No Phin.
Huh. He liked to work at the bistro table. He’d mentioned that. She left the bedroom, checked the table.
Nothing. A quick search yielded an empty bathroom and balcony and no note.
Phin was gone.
At least he trusted her, but who did that? Left her in his own bed without at least letting her know?
Don’t analyze.
There were at least a hundred reasons he’d leave. The first being he knew she was exhausted and didn’t want to wake her. Which, eh-hem, makes him a nice guy.
But what now? Should she go back to bed? The one that wasn’t hers. Or return to the guest suite?
Phone still in hand, she found Phin’s name in her contacts. Before she could tap the icon to call, the apparently unlocked entry door came open and Phin stepped inside looking seriously sexy, with his hair poking in odd directions and a jaw covered with dark stubble. The wrinkled T-shirt and shorts only added to the just-rolled-out-of-bed look. Only Phin could make it all look … inviting.
“Hi.” She held up the phone. “I was just calling you.”
“Hi, yourself.”
His gaze slid to his T-shirt and held there for a second, his eyes narrowing while he pursed those amazing lips that had taken her on one heck of a ride a few hours ago.
Too bad she couldn’t read minds because the way he was looking at her might be regret.
Might also be yearning.
Time would tell. “I just got up.” She conjured a hopefully playful smile. “I thought you left me.”
Smile or not, the minute the words left her mouth, she hated herself. Hated what probably sounded like paranoia. Or desperation.
