Page 110 of ClickBack

Chapter 19

Giselle

Twenty minutes later, Jarrett calls again.

“Come downstairs.”

I sit up. “You’re here?”

“Front door.”

I look at the robe I put on after we hung up. The belt is tied twice. I undo one knot, which feels ridiculous, then leave the rest alone and go downstairs. My front windows face the street. Whatever he enjoyed seeing through his phone is not being offered to the neighborhood.

He stands outside with one hand resting on the doorframe. The SUV pulls away as I open the door.

“You changed,” he says.

“I added a layer. Some of us have neighbors.”

He steps inside, and I close the door behind him. “What happened on the call?” I ask.

“Graves needed to call the driver who was meeting us at my building. I had the address and confirmation on my phone. We were working out how he could get me here and still get where he was going.”

“You could have said that.”

“I thought it would take a minute.” Jarrett looks at my face. “You all right?”

“I spent too much of those twenty minutes thinking.”

“About me coming over?”

“About you hanging up.”

He takes my phone and sets it on the entry table. Then he comes close enough that I have to lift my head to look at him.

“I left where I was going to come see you, Zel.”

“I see that now.”

“Good. Can I see what I came for?”

I laugh. His gaze drops to the belt, but he waits while I loosen it myself. When he opens the robe, the look I remember from the video returns without a screen between us.

“Yeah,” he says. “Worth the drive.”

“You were already on the road.”

“Not this road.”

He kisses me with one hand at the back of my neck, easing the robe off my shoulders with the other. I let it fall and pull him closer. For several minutes, the only reason we make any progress toward the stairs is that he can walk and kiss me at the same time. I have lost interest in walking.

He bends to lift me. “Come here.”

My arms go around his shoulders. “I do have legs.”

“I noticed.”

He carries me upstairs, and I stop arguing with transportation.