weekend long? With David? “What exactly do you mean?”
“I’ll come over to your place. The kids can play together while we work. I’ll even spring for pizza so no one has to cook.”
“I thought you were worried about the kids playing together?”
“Maybe I spoke too quickly. Playing with your kid may be helping her get past missing Hunter.” He clasped her elbow and guided her toward her car as if it was a done deal. “What is there to argue with? Everyone’s happy.”
Happy? She wasn’t sure about that. But she couldn’t argue with his logic. Her case was teetering right now, with a verdict that could go either way without any real sense of certainty, of closure. They needed to uncover the truth.
And she couldn’t delude herself into ignoring the flutterof excitement in her stomach at the prospect of spending more time with David.
* * *
David followed Sophie’s gold sedan, weaving through the Friday rush-hour traffic. Would their weekend together actually bring him the answers he needed? And would those answers convict Caleb? Or implicate someone else?
He only knew that seeing Ricky Vasquez had swept away any reservations. This had to be done. It was the right thing, the only option left.
And it wasn’t like he could act on the rogue attraction to Sophie anyway, not with two children and her grandmother underfoot. They would work all weekend long. Period. End of sentence. No more getting worked up over the scent of jasmine. For God’s sake, he wasn’t some out-of-control teen.
He clicked on his turn signal and changed lanes. Billboards littered the roadside with everything from casinos to alien Area 51 propaganda. Flying test missions in this area was actually easy with so many wack jobs eager to write off anything out of the ordinary as an outer space phenomenon.
If only he could write off Caleb’s flight catastrophe to little green men.
Hauling his focus back to the present problem—a blond bombshell lawyer who drove like they were on the lawless roads of Iraq. He pinned his eyes on her car and stayed close to her bumper. Easier said than done between rush-hour traffic and tourists driving haphazardly. Even Sophie seemed to be weaving in her lane as she powered down the road. Was she still suffering ill effects from thebump on the head? She’d definitely missed most of last night’s sleep.
Damn it, he should have insisted on driving her again. They were still fifteen minutes from home. He considered calling her cell…but that would be more likely to distract her.
The stoplight turned red just as Sophie cleared the intersection. Shit. He hit the brakes and watched her surge forward.
And swerve sharply.
Her back tire blew out, sending her fishtailing into oncoming traffic.
S IX
Sophie snapped back in her seat, her vision full of air bag blossoming in front of her. Her car pinwheeled, then slammed into another car with the sickening crunch of metal on metal. Pain exploded through her hard and fast.
And then everything went still.
“Sophie,” David’s voice shouted from outside her car, on the passenger side. “Are you okay? Speak to me, damn it.”
“In here. I’m all right.” Sore, but everything moved and nothing was trapped. She pushed on her door, except it was bent inward and didn’t budge. “I can’t climb out.”
“Hang tough. I’m coming in.”
Smoke tinged the air. Panic stirred. “Is the car on fire? Is anyone hurt?”
“You’re going to be fine, and as far as I can tell, everyone’s stepping from their vehicles unharmed.” His steady voice came through over the creaks and thumps on the passenger door.
She noticed he didn’t say the car wasn’t burning. What if he was injured pulling her from her crushed car?
Bile stung her throat. She shifted to kick through the passenger air bag to the door, to help, to do something other than be helpless.
The door groaned open. David filled the open space and she stopped short of kicking him. His
“I’ll come over to your place. The kids can play together while we work. I’ll even spring for pizza so no one has to cook.”
“I thought you were worried about the kids playing together?”
“Maybe I spoke too quickly. Playing with your kid may be helping her get past missing Hunter.” He clasped her elbow and guided her toward her car as if it was a done deal. “What is there to argue with? Everyone’s happy.”
Happy? She wasn’t sure about that. But she couldn’t argue with his logic. Her case was teetering right now, with a verdict that could go either way without any real sense of certainty, of closure. They needed to uncover the truth.
And she couldn’t delude herself into ignoring the flutterof excitement in her stomach at the prospect of spending more time with David.
* * *
David followed Sophie’s gold sedan, weaving through the Friday rush-hour traffic. Would their weekend together actually bring him the answers he needed? And would those answers convict Caleb? Or implicate someone else?
He only knew that seeing Ricky Vasquez had swept away any reservations. This had to be done. It was the right thing, the only option left.
And it wasn’t like he could act on the rogue attraction to Sophie anyway, not with two children and her grandmother underfoot. They would work all weekend long. Period. End of sentence. No more getting worked up over the scent of jasmine. For God’s sake, he wasn’t some out-of-control teen.
He clicked on his turn signal and changed lanes. Billboards littered the roadside with everything from casinos to alien Area 51 propaganda. Flying test missions in this area was actually easy with so many wack jobs eager to write off anything out of the ordinary as an outer space phenomenon.
If only he could write off Caleb’s flight catastrophe to little green men.
Hauling his focus back to the present problem—a blond bombshell lawyer who drove like they were on the lawless roads of Iraq. He pinned his eyes on her car and stayed close to her bumper. Easier said than done between rush-hour traffic and tourists driving haphazardly. Even Sophie seemed to be weaving in her lane as she powered down the road. Was she still suffering ill effects from thebump on the head? She’d definitely missed most of last night’s sleep.
Damn it, he should have insisted on driving her again. They were still fifteen minutes from home. He considered calling her cell…but that would be more likely to distract her.
The stoplight turned red just as Sophie cleared the intersection. Shit. He hit the brakes and watched her surge forward.
And swerve sharply.
Her back tire blew out, sending her fishtailing into oncoming traffic.
S IX
Sophie snapped back in her seat, her vision full of air bag blossoming in front of her. Her car pinwheeled, then slammed into another car with the sickening crunch of metal on metal. Pain exploded through her hard and fast.
And then everything went still.
“Sophie,” David’s voice shouted from outside her car, on the passenger side. “Are you okay? Speak to me, damn it.”
“In here. I’m all right.” Sore, but everything moved and nothing was trapped. She pushed on her door, except it was bent inward and didn’t budge. “I can’t climb out.”
“Hang tough. I’m coming in.”
Smoke tinged the air. Panic stirred. “Is the car on fire? Is anyone hurt?”
“You’re going to be fine, and as far as I can tell, everyone’s stepping from their vehicles unharmed.” His steady voice came through over the creaks and thumps on the passenger door.
She noticed he didn’t say the car wasn’t burning. What if he was injured pulling her from her crushed car?
Bile stung her throat. She shifted to kick through the passenger air bag to the door, to help, to do something other than be helpless.
The door groaned open. David filled the open space and she stopped short of kicking him. His
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