Read Online Guarding the Treasure by J. K. Zimmer - Free Book Online

his car, watching his every move. Kevin gave a wave as he walked up the steps. He made a fist and pounded hard on the front door.
    “Hey,” he yelled loudly, turning slightly to see the effect on the faithful neighbor. “I know you’re in there, so you better open up,” he smirked, trying not to blow his cover.
    Sophie swung the door open, already laughing at the sound of his voice. “Kevin, that’s not very nice,” she whispered, giving Jeffrey a neighborly wave. “He’s a good guy—he watches out for me,” she said, holding the door for him.
    Kevin looked at her, a grin still on his face. He knew what Jeffrey wanted, and if he had any brains in his head, he would have taken a few different tactics to get it. But the guy was too late now, Kevin thought, giving Jeffrey one last look as he closed the door. He wasn’t giving any guy a chance to get too close to this girl. He was going to do everything he knew how to win this beautiful college professor.
    “What’s in your hand?” Sophie asked, still laughing at the way he had messed with Jeffrey.
    “I decided we’d celebrate your diary tonight.” He pulled out a bottle of chilled white wine from the brown bag.
    “Mr. Gates, I thought you didn’t drink!” She laughed, taking the bottle to the kitchen.
    He followed close behind, admiring the view. “Usually I don’t, but this is a special occasion, and besides, I needed it to finish an undercover news article about local businesses carding for controlled substances. I paid for it myself, so I thought I’d keep it.”
    Her laugh still lingered from his antics with Jeffrey, and now this. “So how did our fair city do in complying with the law?” she asked, popping the cork and pouring a small amount into two coffee cups.
    “Tune in at ten, my dear, for the answer to that cliff-hanging question,” he said over the rim of his cup. He rarely talked about work and wanted to keep it that way. The fewer people knew, the safer they would be—at least that’s what he’d been taught and what he’d practiced for the last several years. And why talk business when he could admire how snuggly Sophie’s skirt fit over her body, and how completely gorgeous she was, top to bottom? He took another drink, swallowing slowly. His eyes, as well as his thoughts, continued to travel as she moved around the kitchen. Her eyes seemed darker tonight, and the way her hair brushed her cheeks gave a shy seductive look to her face.
    She gets better every time I see her , he thought, wishing his hands were holding her close and his lips were pressed hard onto hers.
    “You look amazing,” he said with a whisper.
    “What did you say?”
    He cleared his throat. He needed to go in a different direction, fast. “I was thinking we could read, or at least attempt to read, from the diary tonight,” he said, tipping his cup back to get the last drop of wine.
    “What about dinner? It’s ready unless you’d like to eat later.”
    “No, now is great,” he said, taking the mitts from her. He lifted the dish from the oven and placed it on a waiting cooling rack.
    “So what can you tell me about this Professor Smith?” he asked, tossing the mitts on the counter. Kevin wanted information about this Smith guy and the trip that surrounded the diary. He wanted to know everything about her pending vacation.
    Be casual , he directed himself, and don’t be too obvious in the way you get information from her . The last thing he wanted was for Sophie to think he didn’t trust her to handle her own plans or that she was a poor judge of character in being flattered by the invitation of some unknown professor. He just wanted to do some checking, ease his mind, and make sure this would be a safe thing for her. He waited for some kind of response, but he just looked at him with those I’m not telling you anything right now eyes. He smiled. In time, Kev, in time, he told himself.
     
    “Dinner was wonderful, Sophie,” Kevin said, his arm