The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 70

Charley had his earbuds in, staring intently at a laptop screen filled with numbers and graphs. He was so focused he didn't even notice her walk in.

Lavinia sat down across from him. He glanced up, ripped a piece of paper from his notebook, scribbled a quick note, and slid it over.

[I'm in a breakfast meeting. Give me a minute.]

His handwriting was striking—tall, lean, and very clean.

Lavinia nodded, ordered a latte, opened her laptop, and started updating her resume.

Across the table, Charley rested his chin on one hand, speaking into his headset in a language she didn't recognize. The syllables were rhythmic and smooth, spoken at a relaxed pace, sounding almost like an ancient chant.

She listened for a while before she was about eighty percent sure it was Portuguese.

Last time in India, he had seamlessly translated Hindi for her. He spoke perfect, unaccented English. Now he was speaking Portuguese. Exactly how many languages did he know?

Portuguese is often called one of the sexiest languages in the world, and the resonance made his voice sound incredibly deep, like the low hum of a cello.

Lavinia stared at her resume, completely unable to focus on a single word. Her attention was entirely hijacked by his magnetic voice.

She was spacing out when she suddenly realized he had stopped talking.

Looking up, she met his gaze. He was watching her.

Lavinia blinked. "All done?"

"All done." Charley pulled out his earbuds and leaned back in his chair.

His eyes dropped to her neck for a fraction of a second. It was clean—no marks, nothing.

He picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

Lavinia pulled up the job listings on her phone.

"Zachary sent me a few openings. Take a look." She slid the phone over to him.

Charley took it and scrolled through the pages, reading them slowly.

Lavinia sipped her latte, waiting patiently.

Her phone rang.

It was an unknown number. Lavinia answered, and a delivery driver said Mr. Harper's luggage had arrived and asked if the lady of the house was home.

"I'm here," she said. She hung up and looked at Charley. "I have to go back."

Charley nodded. "Mr. Harper is moving back in?"

Lavinia froze. She had never told him Garnett moved out in the first place. He must have guessed it.

"Yeah." She stood up and packed her laptop into her bag. "I'm going to head out."

"Alright."

As she reached the door, she glanced back. Charley was still sitting there, his coffee cup empty.

He was looking down, his long fingers lazily spinning the ceramic mug on the table.

Round and round, tracing slow circles on the wood.