Guarding Cindy by Victoria Paige

Author:Victoria Paige [Paige, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 47872700
Publisher: Aces Press, LLC
Published: 2019-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

A box rested on the front porch.

It was the following morning after Cindy spilled her guts to Marcus about her childhood and her hang-ups with her dad. Her chest felt lighter, as if a boulder had been lifted off it. She’d never shared this with Izabel nor any of her boyfriends, an embarrassment she’d buried deep in her heart, and Marcus managed to pull it out of her within only a few days of his return.

This was what made the presence of the box more annoying than alarming. Her high of feeling liberated from her past was being weighed down by a suspicious package. She stared at it through the screen of her front door.

Curious, but not stupid.

Anxious, but not overly so, because of the man currently walking to her side.

A mug of coffee appeared beneath her nose, and she turned to look at the bearer of her morning caffeine.

“Watcha looking at?” Marcus asked playfully, but his smile slipped off his face when he spotted the questionable object on the porch. He handed her his mug and pushed the screen door open, padded up to the box and crouched in front of it.

His shoulders tensed as he flipped the lid open.

Cindy held her breath.

Marcus’s body started shaking and what suspiciously sounded like a chuckle reached her ears. He picked up the box, stood, and walked toward her, but she was already in front of him, peering into the box.

There, nestled on top of crushed manila paper, were four bottles of kimchi.

“Oh my God, Mrs. Jung, I’m gonna kill you,” Cindy exclaimed. Marcus strode into the kitchen and set the box on the counter.

“She was being neighborly.”

“I guess I’m still fizzy.” Cindy laughed while taking a good gulp of her brew. “She does things like this—leave me things on the porch. I don’t know why I didn’t think it was her.” She looked regretfully at Marcus. “Sorry I alarmed you.”

A frown knitted his brows. “Don’t apologize. You have every right to be cautious after the past few days.” His gaze returned to the bottles and a slight wariness stole over his features. “This is a lot of kimchi. What’re you going to do with all these?”

“I’ll give one to Izzy.” The uncertainty of how things at the office were left yesterday prickled her conscience. Her eyes met Marcus’s. “What?”

“Have you talked to Izzy this morning?”

“Not yet. I was about to call …” Her words faltered when Marcus glanced away, seemingly unable to meet her eyes. “Is there something I should know?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut, tried to smile and failing that, took a sip of his coffee instead.

Cindy rested her hands on her hips. “Start talking.”

“Not my place to say.”

“Did Gordy get fired?”

“No.”

Swallowing hard, she asked, “Did I get fired?”

An indecipherable look came over his face. “No.”

She crossed her arms. “Then what?”

“Sugar …” He lowered his mug and reached for her.

Cindy warded him off, circling the kitchen counter and putting it between them. Marcus didn’t follow, but his expression was enough to sink her gut.

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