Page 33 of I Hate You More

“I could always get it from your application,” he warned.

“There’s no need to resort to such tactics. If you want my number, I already told you that all you have to do is say the word.”

He couldn’t pretend not to know what word they were talking about. “Do you want the gift or not?” he demanded.

She gave him her phone number, watching carefully to see how he reacted, but in this, as in most things, he didn’t make it easy.

Her phone chimed with an incoming message. Had it been any other man offering to send her mysterious gifts via text, she’d have assumed she was about to be the recipient of an unsolicited dick pic. Where Spencer was concerned, she had no such fears. She doubted he’d send one even if she expressly asked for it.

“An audio clip?” she asked as soon as she opened up her phone. “Is this one of those dog whistle apps? Because I tried that, and it doesn’t work. Wheezy just whines and covers his ears.”

“It’s not a dog whistle app” was his unhelpful reply.

Curious, she pressed the play button. Much to her surprise, his voice came through loud and clear.

“Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise.”

She darted a quick glance at him, but he was as impassive as always.

“Sit. Sit. Stay. Stay. Heel. Heel.”

The stern and careful repetition of these commands continued for the length of the recording. It was much better than anything Ruby had hoped Eva would be able to get for her, but that was what alarmed her. What had Eva told him to get him to give in so easily?

When the recording was finished, however, he didn’t look like a man who’d heard anything unpleasant. He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck instead. “I’m supposed to tell you that this in no way cancels your deal with Eva—and if it does, then I’m supposed to forcibly take the phone from you so she can renegotiate. I think she’s really looking forward to her weekend away.”

Ruby laughed, surprised to find that it wobbled around the edges. “She told you?”

His answer was a rueful smile. It was lopsided, one side of his mouth twisted higher than the other, and the sight of it made her heart lurch. Everything about this man was so carefully protected, as though he’d been born inside a metal shell.

But when he smiled… When he laughed…

Gah.It was like getting a glimpse of what lay beneath. Ruby was sure there was something soft and squishy in there—something worth uncovering.

“Let’s just say you didn’t choose the best spy for the job,” he said. “Eva is great at a lot of things, but subtlety isn’t one of them. She popped around the corner at work every couple of minutes to ask me questions that she’s known the answer to since she was three.”

Ruby couldn’t help but make a comparison to her own workplace dynamic. Harry had a tendency to pop up, too, but usually because he had a snide comment to make or he wanted her to mop up bodily fluids. “It must be a riot to work alongside her every day,” she said wistfully.

Spencer gave a start of surprise. “It is, actually. I can’t imagine doing any of this without her. She has a way of making everything ten times better than it would be by myself.” He hesitated before adding, “I don’t know what it is, but you have that ability, too. These past few weeks have been…fun.”

Ruby couldn’t have been more shocked if Spencer had confessed to be a time traveler sent through the eons to right the wrongs of the future.She’dbeen having a good time trying to beat him at his own game, it was true, but this was the first sign Spencer had shown of feeling the same.

As if there was nothing more to be said on the subject, he nodded toward the sliding glass door. “Did you want to let them in so we can test the recording? I’d open the door myself, but it’s on Caleb’s side.”

“He’s not home. I told you. He went on another one of those mysterious dry-cleaning errands.”

“I know, but it’s his side regardless of whether he’s here. We have a code.”

Ruby wasn’t sure whether to tell Spencer the truth: his brother’s code was a lot more relaxed than he let on. In the past few weeks, they’d held several dog-training sessions while Spencer was at work, and Caleb had shown no such qualms about stepping over the line. He’d furnished her with drinks and snacks from Spencer’s mini fridge. He’d run around the entire house with the dogs and snooped through Spencer’s drawers. He’d even used the bathroom like a decent human being.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Caleb had laughingly said. “He spends so much time at work and getting ready for the dog show that I practically live here by myself.”

She glanced down at the duct-tape line separating her from Spencer. At most, there were three feet between them, which was a reasonable distance for a conversation like this one. From the way Spencer was careful not to draw too close to the line, however, they might as well have been miles apart.

With a lurch, she realized that any distance from Spencer was too much. A smart woman would approach Spencer as one would a baited bear. Cautiously, carefully, and in full protective gear.

As had already been established, Ruby was not that woman. And Spencer, she suspected, was not that man.

“You really won’t come over here?” she asked as she took a wide step back. “Under any circumstances?”