Dangerous to Her by Virna Depaul Page B

stunned by his statement. When she couldn’t seem to come up with a response, he took pity on her and changed the subject. “You wanted to be an artist when we were together, Mattie. What happened to that dream?”
    She hesitated, then settled back into her seat. “I still paint. I just grew up and realized that to support myself, I needed to do something more practical.”
    “I guess it would be hard to be an artist with a daughter to raise.” It was subtle, but he saw the way her eyes immediately shuttered. “What, you don’t want to talk about your daughter, either? Why?”
    The angle of her chin became mutinous. “Why do you?”
    “This isn’t a police station or a courtroom, Mattie. I’m not interrogating or cross-examining you. Who knows, if this evening goes well and we can put the past behind us, maybe I can even meet her sometime.”
    “That’s never going to happen,” she said.
    He stared at her, hurt despite himself. “Which part? Putting the past behind us or meeting your daughter?”
    She said nothing for several tense moments, then forced a smile. “Look, Dominic. We had two months together ten years ago. You’re practically a stranger to me now. But despite how I’ve been acting, there’s no reason we can’t be civil to each other for the rest of the month. You’ve done your part to try to mend things between us and I can do the same.”
    Reaching out, she covered his hand with hers. “Okay?”
    He immediately curled his fingers around hers. The sight of their joined hands made his chest hurt. So did her comment about them being strangers. It made him want to pull her against him and remind her just how intimately acquainted they were and could be again. Instead, he squeezed her fingers once more, then let go to sit back. “You’re right, but as coworkers we shouldn’t be strangers either. So ask me something. Get to know me again.”
    “Anything?” She looked dubious and he didn’t blame her in the least. “And you’ll answer? Truthfully?”
    “I’ll answer unless there’s a job-related reason why I can’t. How’s that?”
    “Not much of a guarantee, that’s for sure.” She seemed to ponder his words before shrugging. “What the heck. It’ll be nice to be the one asking questions for once. How long have you been rock climbing?”
    Surprised at her choice of question, he said, “About eight years.” He held up a hand and grinned sheepishly. “And yes, before you ask, I deliberately followed you to the gym that day. Seeing you again blew me away and I just didn’t want to let you go yet. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
    She arched her brows but let his comment pass without responding. “Do you ever climb real mountains without a safety line?”
    He hesitated for a second but eventually opted for the truth. “I have a few times, but lots of people do it. It’s called bouldering, Mattie. And I’ve worked my way up to it. I wouldn’t do it if I truly thought I’d be at risk.”
    “Right.” She studied him for a minute before continuing. “So what about this job? Why are you here temporarily? Why at all? Somehow, I think your talents are being wasted here.”
    Relieved that they’d somehow gotten past the last disastrous minutes, he thought about her question. He hadn’t made any headway on Joel’s murder. Hadn’t found anything implicating Judge Butler, his staff, or Guapo. But he couldn’t say any of that to Mattie. Instead, he simply said, “It’s a standard rotation for all sheriff’s deputies. Like I told you before, I go where I’m needed.”
    “Until something better comes along?”
    He sighed even though there’d been no edge to her words, only curiosity. “Until my usefulness is tapped out,” he corrected. “Sometimes it’s not about moving on to better things, but about no longer being needed. Or about doing more harm than good if I stay.”
    He hoped Mattie heard what he was really trying to say. That he’d left her to insure