Page 14 of Isolated (Harper Security Ops #21)

The words were there, right on the tip of my tongue, ready to spill out.

I wanted nothing more than to tell him that it had been incredibly difficult for me to go home every night feeling so great about so many other things in my life and hating the state of my romantic life.

For a moment, I imagined telling him I occasionally fantasized about coming home from work—or the gym—to find that he’d met me there, so he could ravish my body and hold me close all night.

“The water heater has been the only pressing issue,” I lied.

Landen gave me a look that indicated he believed I was holding back from telling him the truth, but fortunately, he didn’t call me out on it. “That’s good, I think. Only a minor inconvenience.”

Before I could respond, our server arrived with our lunch orders.

Despite the overwhelming sense of despondency that I felt about work and the nerves I experienced being here with Landen, I forced myself to dive in and eat with him.

If nothing else, I could always look back and remember having this time with him.

Once we’d both taken a few bites, Landen said, “So, I’ve got a question.”

“What is it?”

“If you don’t want to share, that’s okay, but when we were in my office earlier, you said something about feeling like everyone at work is giving you dirty looks because of a consultant. What’s going on with that?”

A rush of air left my lungs before I shared, “Alan was hired as a means to improve efficiency…”

I went on to tell Landen everything I knew about Alan, why he’d been hired, and what had happened not long afterward.

I told him about the way my coworkers looked at me now whenever I walked by, simply because they viewed me as the enemy, now that I was going to be part of upper management.

Of course, I assured him that I hadn’t had any part of the hiring of the consultant, nor had I been aware that jobs were on the line as a result.

When I finished sharing, he sent me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry it’s been so rough lately, Iris.”

“It’s okay. I appreciate that, but to be honest, I feel better now that I’ve had the chance to talk to someone about it.” I let out a sarcastic laugh. “I think that keeping it all bottled up hasn’t helped at all.”

In a move I hadn’t been anticipating, Landen reached across the table and covered my hand with his.

The size of his hand compared to mine and the comfort I felt when he offered a reassuring squeeze led to warmth hitting the center of my chest and spreading throughout my body.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if my cheeks pinkened.

Landen offered a friendly smile. “If you ever need to talk, Iris, I’m always here. I can be a good friend to you outside of the gym, too.”

I would have given anything for that, anything to be able to see this guy at normal times throughout the week.

And since he offered, I didn’t want to brush it off.

If there was a way to find the silver lining in this situation at work, I’d happily accept it as being more time with Landen. “You’d do that?”

He jerked his chin down. “Of course. Unless… unless you’d prefer to just have me take a look at your laptop, and we keep our friendship to our mornings at the gym.”

I hoped that wasn’t what he wanted, because I was too eager for more.

“No! No, not at all. I… Gosh, Landen, I’d love nothing more than to have another friend, especially someone outside of my job.

As you know, I moved here two years ago.

And I’ve spent a lot of my time working, so it’s no surprise my two closest friends work with me. ”

Something that looked a lot like contentment washed over his expression. He didn’t hide that satisfied smile as he shared, “Most of my closest friends are the guys I work with, too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

I smiled back. He was such a breath of fresh air. “Thanks for not making me feel like I’m crazy. Do you think it’s because I’m genuinely not crazy, or is it because you’ve dealt with such extremes at work that this doesn’t seem so bad?”

Landen arched a neatly groomed brow, his eyes roaming over my face with such curiosity. “You’re not crazy, Iris. I’ve never once thought that, and it has nothing to do with this situation you’re dealing with at work.”

So, had he thought about me in other scenarios, or was I reading too much into that look on his handsome face? It couldn’t just be a misconception on my part, though. Landen was showing me tremendous kindness when he had no reason or obligation to.

Nodding, I replied, “I appreciate you saying that. It’s a huge relief. At least I won’t have to worry about getting dirty looks at the gym, too.”

“Well, it’s not like there’re many people around when we’re there anyway,” he reasoned. “But even if there were, you’d have nothing to worry about.”

The last bits of tension that had been lingering finally left me. “So… you really don’t spend your days following around cheating spouses?”

Landen laughed. “No.”

As we finished our meal, he shared a bit more insight into the actual work he did, and I was surprised to learn that very little of it had anything to do with cheating spouses.

In fact, I was quite alarmed to learn how dangerous some of the cases he’d worked on had been.

I’d recalled hearing about quite a few of the things that had happened in Steel Ridge, but I’d never really put two and two together and realized that Landen—and the men he worked with—were partly responsible for bringing so many criminals to justice. He really was a hero.

When we finished lunch and our server had brought over the bill, I immediately reached for my purse. Treating him to a meal would be the least I could do. But before I could pull out my wallet, Landen had already taken out some cash and tossed it onto the table .

“Hey, that’s not necessary,” I told him. “You should let me treat.”

He shot me a look that indicated he might have been reconsidering whether I was losing my marbles. “Absolutely not. This has been my pleasure, Iris.”

“But… but you helped me out tremendously this afternoon by listening to me vent before distracting me.”

“And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.” He kept his eyes on mine, not even remotely fazed by my pleading stare.

“Speaking of helping you out, as long as you’re feeling better now, we’ll head back to Harper Security Ops so you can get your car.

Then I’ll have you give me your address, and if it works for your schedule, I can stop by after work tonight to check out that laptop for you. ”

He was going to make a house call? I couldn’t think of anything I would have wanted more than to have Landen in my space like that, but I didn’t want him to have to come there to work. “I can bring it by your office, if you’d prefer. I don’t want you to have to go out of your way.”

Landen waved his hand in the air dismissively. “It’s no problem at all. I really don’t mind. Unless… unless you don’t feel comfortable with me coming to your house. If so, I completely understand.”

I didn’t know what came over me, but my hand shot out in his direction, my fingers curling around his forearm. “Oh, that’s not it at all. I… I have no problem with you coming over. I just didn’t want to inconvenience you.”

For a few beats, he merely stared at me without saying a single word. Just before it got awkward, he glanced down at my hand on his arm, cleared his throat, and insisted, “You’re not an inconvenience, Iris.”

My teeth bit down on my bottom lip, and I slowly pried my hand away from him. After taking a deep swallow, I said, “Okay. Tonight, then. But you need to stay and have dinner with me. I’ll cook.”

His lips curved into a smile, his eyes lighting up. “That works for me.”

“Thank you for lunch today.”

“You’re welcome.”

Following a moment of tension-filled silence, Landen stood and held out his hand to me. I hesitated for only two or three seconds before I placed my hand in his and allowed him to lead me toward the exit.

My belly was trembling the entire way home.