As she hid in the shadows of Lucky’s hallway, eavesdropping like a sneak as he worked tirelessly in an effort to help her, she realized she felt all those things and more.
It’s crazy how much can change in the span of a few hours.
Ellie stepped a foot into the office but stopped before taking another. Sitting at a large, L-shaped computer desk, Lucky’s back was to her as his fingers continued to fly.
So focused on what he was doing, the brilliant man had no idea she was even there. Ellie used the stolen moment to study Lucky in his element.
Her pulse quickened, her lower belly tightening with desire as she watched the computer genius work his technical magic. His dark hair glimmered beneath the room’s overhead light, revealing its dampness from what she assumed was a recent shower.
Gaze lowering, she noticed Lucky had changed from his jeans and button-down into a pair of grey sweatpants and a worn, navy-blue t-shirt. The man’s earlier attire was sexy as hell, but this…
Seriously. Is there anything better than a sexy as sin man wearing grey sweats?
If there was, Ellie sure as heck couldn’t think of one. Especially when it came to this man.
“There is another chair here, if you’d like to sit down.”
The deep rumble took her by such surprise, she nearly jumped right out of her skin. “H-hey.” She attempted to recover from having been caught staring. “I didn’t mean to sneak in here. It just, uh…it looked like you were in the middle of something important, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
All three computer screens went black at the same time, and Ellie could’ve sworn she caught a glimpse of a smirk in one’sreflection a half-second before Lucky spun in his padded chair to face her.
“You’re not interrupting.” He sighed. “I’ve just been going through the security footage from your building and a few others nearby.”
“Any luck?”
“Yes and no.” Lucky ran a frustrated hand over the five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw. “The camera in your hallway shows a man approaching your door twenty minutes after we left for the club, but—”
“That’s good, right?” She took a large step forward. Previous thoughts forgotten, she looked down at his blank screens and back up to him. “I mean, if we have him on camera, then—”
“We don’t have his face, El.” Lucky’s disappointment was more than a little obvious. “Asshole wore all black, including a hood big enough to conceal his fucking face. He knew where the cameras were, and kept his head covered and down the entire way through the entrance, on the elevators, and as he walked to your door. Once he got there, the bastard turned his body to the camera while he broke into your door. He’s smart, I’ll give him that.” He pushed himself up to his feet and shook his handsome head. “Bypassed your system before the breach alert could be sent.” A humorless huff left his brawny chest. “Five seconds. The son of a bitch had five fuckingsecondsbefore the alarm would’ve been triggered.”
“So he’s smart.”
“Oh, yeah.” A muscle in Lucky’s jaw bulged. “I’d say our guy’s really fucking smart.”
George Ray Harvey was a literal genius.
“Can I see it?” Ellie looked to the monitors behind him. “The videos, I mean.”
Maybe if she saw him, she’d finally be able to prove it wasn’t.
Or maybe…maybe you’ll see him and realize you’re wrong.
Lucky’s gaze lingered a moment longer before he turned around and brought the center monitor back to life. A few clicks later, a video clip began to play.
She crossed her arms at her front and watched as the perpetrator entered through her building’s main doors. Even beneath the black hoodie and pants, it was easy to tell it was a man. A tall, fit man from what she could see.
But that was it.
He walked into the building. Kept his head down all the way to the elevator, and then again while he was inside. Ellie’s gut churned when the man in black strolled casually down the length of her hallway, and when he picked her lock and walked into her apartment, she felt like she was going to be sick.
Her sudden bout of nausea was twofold. Partially stemming from the confirmation that Lucky had been right. No matter where the arsonist was when he’d been seen on tape…there was still absolutely no possible way to identify the maniac.
The other part, though, the part that had her fighting the urge to react…
It could have been him.
Ellie wasn’t ready to concede to that theory just yet, but she also couldn’t rule him out. Not by what she’d just been shown, anyway. The man’s height…his build…