Actual Stop by Kara A. McLeod

what I was feeling for Lucia, let alone tell Lucia whatever those feelings might be. I refused to be manipulated into making a declaration that—if and when it became necessary—should be for Lucia’s ears only.
    Allison’s expression melted into something almost tender, and it was clear she’d taken my silence as confirmation. I didn’t want to argue, and I didn’t want to offer explanations. Instead, I stared at her, daring her to contradict what she thought she knew, daring her to speak aloud the comparisons I could barely stand to have echo in my head. The silence as we looked at one another stretched on for an eternity. The connection was familiar, intimate, and altogether inappropriate.
    “She’s a very lucky woman, Ryan,” Allison whispered softly. “I hope she knows that.” For a fraction of a second, I’d have sworn her expression bordered on pain, but it fluctuated so swiftly I couldn’t be positive I’d seen it at all. But that was stupid. What would she have to feel bad about?
    “Thank you.” That’s right. My feelings for her are tentative and underdeveloped compared to my love for you, but she’s getting the best I have to give.
    Fortunately, the waitress chose that moment to bring our breakfasts, breaking the spell and giving us both the opportunity to pretend our conversation had never happened.

Chapter Nine

    The rest of the day passed fairly well, considering our rocky start. We were unbelievably busy, which helped a lot. This trip was so last-minute, and we were swamped with a million tasks. That made it easy to ignore whatever had once been between us and allowed us to interact with one another with relative ease. Well, relative for me. Allison never had any problems interacting with anyone easily.
    By the time we finally finished all our meetings, I was almost able to forget our earlier conversation in the diner. Almost. But things were comfortable between us for the time being, which was all that really mattered.
    As we walked out of the field office, Allison bumped my shoulder lightly with her own. “Nice save.” She cast a sidelong glance in my direction, a small smile on her lips.
    “What?” I readjusted the shoulder strap of my bag so it didn’t bang into my hip quite so much when I walked.
    “That note you scribbled on my note pad about getting the loading dock cleared around the back of the building. I’d completely forgotten about that.”
    I shook my head. “No, we talked about it earlier.”
    “I know, but I’d forgotten to mention it in the meeting. What if we’d adjourned without bringing it up?”
    I shrugged. “No big deal. We still have a few days. We’d have figured it out.”
    “Ryan, it’s Saturday night. If we hadn’t told the sanitation department today that we wanted them to remove all those giant dumpsters from the arrival area, they wouldn’t have done it. If the motorcade rolled up on game day and couldn’t park because dumpsters were in the way, I would’ve gotten my ass handed to me.”
    “Oh, come on. Stop exaggerating. We would’ve found somebody to take care of it. You can’t tell me no one has emergency home numbers for those guys. I would’ve tied a rope to them and pulled them away myself if I’d had to. Can’t have anyone touching your ass, now can we?”
    Allison rolled her eyes and stopped, tugging gently on my arm to get me to break my stride as well. I opened my mouth to protest but was silenced by her fingers pressed lightly to my lips. “Just say ‘You’re welcome,’ would you?” she said softly, looking into my eyes.
    A shiver went up my spine. Her feather-light touch on my lips was warm, and I had to fight the urge to give her fingers a soft kiss. I wrapped my own fingers around her wrist and slowly removed her hand. “You’re welcome.”
    “That’s better.” Her eyes held mine for a moment longer before she finally broke the contact and resumed her gait. “Give me a lift to my hotel?”
    “Sure.