"My dad and I had a hard time connecting after my mom's death, too. I did have one person I could talk to—my cousin Marcus. But we didn't actually talk much; we just shot a lot of baskets and drank a lot of beer."
"How long did you stay in Texas?"
"About three weeks. Then I went back to Chicago and my job, but I was still so distracted, I eventually quit, probably right before they fired me. I jumped over to another newspaper and then an online magazine. After that, I did some freelance work. I couldn't settle in anywhere. But eventually I started to find some subjects that really interested me. I came up with some hard-hitting pieces, which eventually led to the big idea that turned into a book and maybe a movie one day."
"Your mom would be proud that you got yourself together and moved on."
"I hope so. What about you? What were those first years like after your dad died?"
"I had school to finish, so that was my focus. After I graduated, I got the job in Senator Dillon's office. He was new at the time, and the staff was young and fun. We had a good time together."
"But you were itching to get to DC."
"It only took me seven years," she said dryly. "I wasn’t sure it was ever going to happen, but finally it did." She paused for a moment. "You should let go of my hand, Patrick."
His fingers tightened around hers, and he gave her an endearingly sheepish smile. "I always have a hard time letting you go. The day we met—when we shook hands—it was like an electrical current shot between us. It was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I felt like I'd been waiting my whole life for you to show up."
She drew in a quick breath, remembering that moment in vivid detail, and how strong the connection between them had been. "But you did let go, Patrick, and you should do that now."
He slowly released her hand. "I wish we could spend time just getting to know each other, Dani."
"Why? What would be the point?"
His brows furrowed at her question. "We can find out what's going on between us."
"It doesn't matter what's going on. My life is here, Patrick. I'm finally where I want to be after so many years of waiting. I'm not leaving DC. I'm not quitting my job. There's a chance I'll get fired, but until that happens, I'm going to stick it out. Your life is—somewhere else."
"My life could be anywhere. Don't use my job as an excuse. I can write from any city in the world. If you don't want to see where this goes, then own it. But you can't say that, can you? You can't deny the insane attraction between us. I know you're as intrigued as I am."
She couldn't deny it, but she really wanted to. "I'm going to go home, Patrick."
"No, not yet. We're just talking."
"I'm done talking. There's no point. I know what I want—and it's not you. I'm owning it, okay?" She got to her feet and put her napkin on the table.
"What are you so afraid of, Dani?" he challenged, as he stood up. "Why do I scare you so much?"
"You don't," she protested, wishing she had a stronger defense.
"I told you before you're a terrible liar."
He had a way of seeing right through her. And she knew he wasn't going to let her go until she told him how she really felt.
"All right. Here it is. I'm afraid of caring about someone so much that I'm willing to change my life for them. I'm afraid of loving and losing, because that hurts like hell. And I know I'm jumping the gun by talking about love when all we're really talking about is sex."
"That's not all we're talking about," he said angrily.
"Isn't it?"
"No. If this were just about sex, we'd already be in bed together. I want more from you. I think you want more from me. That's what's so scary."
"That's the thing. You want too much. I'm afraid that you're someone who could make me want to throw all my ambition out the window just to be with you. Then where would I be?"
"With me?" he suggested.
"We don't even know each other."
"I feel like I've known you a very long time, Dani. But I want to know more. We don't have to decide anything right this second."
"You're making this too hard," she said with a sigh.
"Good. It should be hard. I understand your fear. I had second thoughts about coming here, tracking you down, and every time I say good-bye to you, I think this should really be good-bye. Then I wake up in the morning and all I can think about is when I'll see you next."
She put up a hand. "Stop. You cannot say things like that."
"It's the truth."
"If it's the truth, then let's say good-bye now and mean it."
"I can't. I need you."
"You don't need me to figure out anything. You can do this yourself."
"I do need you, Dani," he said, the husky note in his voice weakening her resolve.
When he stepped forward and put his arm around her, she told herself to push him away. But his mouth was so close, she could feel his breath on her lips, and her body was reminding her how great the last kiss had been.
If this really were good-bye, then what was the harm in one last kiss?
The question had barely formed when Patrick's lips touched hers, and just like before, the slightest touch of his mouth launched a firestorm of feeling and emotion and need. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss. If it were the last one, she'd make it count.
Patrick did so many things well, but kissing was definitely at the top of the list. His commanding, passionate tenderness was intoxicating. She felt heady and off balance, and so, so ready to tumble into bed with him.
But she'd just gotten done telling him it was over. She was going back to her life. He was on his own.
How could she change her mind now?
She had to say no.
It took every ounce of strength she had to end the kiss, to step away from him, to grab her bag and walk—not run—to the door.
"Dani," he said. "How can you walk away from this? Do you know how rare it is to feel the way we feel?"
Of course she knew how rare it was to feel so strongly about a man. That's why she was leaving. "Don't follow me, Patrick."
She slipped into the hall, letting the door bang shut behind her. Then she ran to the elevator, happy when the doors opened right away.
She needed to get out of the hotel, put some distance between herself and Patrick, and breathe a little.
* * *
Patrick swore under his breath. How the hell could she run away from him after that kiss?
He understood that she was scared, because he felt shaken himself. But he didn't want her to leave like this. He wanted to at least talk to her some more.
What could he do? She'd made her choice.
He turned back toward the table, and that's when he saw her computer on the bed, where she'd put it when they started to eat.
He grabbed it and ran out of the room, almost ridiculously happy to have an excuse to go after her. She couldn't fault him for bringing her back her computer.
When he got to the ground floor, he jogged through the lobby and out the front door.
Dani's apartment was only two blocks away. She'd walk there, and he couldn't be too far behind her.
His heart sped up as he saw her getting to the next corner. He sprinted down the block.
He was a dozen feet away from the intersection that Dani had just stepped into when a car came racing down the street. He heard the roar of the engine before he saw it. Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
He saw the car…he saw Dani…and he knew in that instant that the vehicle wasn't going to stop.
Dani froze, the headlights pinning her in place.
He rushed forward with as much desperate speed as he could muster, knocking her out of the way just as the car bore down on her. He could feel the heat of the engine as they hit the pavement hard and rolled toward the curb. Luckily, the car kept going, missing them by inches.
A couple walking their dog rushed toward them, the older woman asking if they wer
e all right.
He thought he was okay, but Dani was staring at him in shock. He got up, then helped her to her feet. She leaned on him, still shaky.
"What just happened?" She looked from him to the couple.
The woman said, "That car almost ran you down. You're bleeding, dear."
Dani looked down at her scraped knees in bemusement.
"You want me to call 911?" the man asked. "I wish I'd gotten the license plate of that car. He must have been drunk, speeding down this road like that."
"I'll call the police," Patrick said, helping Dani up onto the sidewalk. "Thanks for stopping."
"You two take care," the man said, then he and his wife continued down the street.
Patrick grabbed Dani's hand. He wanted to check her out, see where she was hurt, but he didn't want to stand on this street corner. They were too vulnerable. "We need to get to your apartment. It's closer than the hotel."
"All right," she said, licking her lips, as she looked down the street. "Where did the car go?"
"I don't know, but I don't want to be here if they come back."
She stared at him in bemusement. "What—what are you doing here, Patrick? You weren't supposed to follow me."
He suddenly realized her computer had flown out of his grip when he tackled Dani. He let go of her hand long enough to grab it off the ground. "You left this in the room. I thought you might need it for work tomorrow, so I came after you. It's a good thing I did."
"Did you see who was driving? Did they just run the stop sign?"
He knew she was hoping for a yes answer to that question. "It's possible it's one of those coincidences that seem to follow us around."
"The ones you don't believe in," she said, her eyes still wide and panicked. "Someone just tried to kill me, didn't they?"
Fourteen
"Let's discuss this when we're inside." He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked quickly down the street.
Once inside the apartment, he locked the door while Dani walked around in circles, obviously still shocked. Her face was white. Her green eyes were huge, and she was not at all steady on her feet; there was too much adrenaline running through her body to allow her to sit down and take a breath. There was also blood on her legs from where she'd hit the pavement. He couldn't solve all her problems, but he could take care of that.
"I'll get a towel," he said, moving toward the bathroom. He ran some cold water on a hand towel, found some antibiotic ointment in the medicine cabinet and took both back into the living room.
Dani was now staring out the window, her arms wrapped around her body as if she were freezing cold.
"Why don't you sit down?" he suggested.
She didn't move; he wasn't sure she'd heard him.
"Dani?" he pressed.
She took in a deep breath, then turned away from the window, walked to the couch and sat down.
He tended to her knees as gently as he could, but he had a feeling she wasn't feeling much of anything right now. Tomorrow would be a different story. She'd landed hard, and so had he, but he'd had jeans to protect his legs; she hadn't.
"I hope I'm not hurting you," he told her.
"It's fine," she said in a dull voice.
She wasn't anywhere close to fine. "Do you hurt anywhere besides your knees? What about your hands? Your wrists?"
"I'm okay—I think. I can't really feel anything."
He didn't see any other obvious injuries; hopefully, her knees had taken the worst of the fall. He wished he could do more than just fix her scrapes. This whole situation was his fault. He never should have gotten on the plane and come to DC. He never should have involved Dani. He never should have kissed her so hard tonight that she wanted to run away from him.
But all that said, he couldn't walk away from her now so she'd be safe. It was too late for that. Someone knew they were together. Maybe they thought Dani already knew too much. Or maybe it wasn't what she knew; perhaps it was just their relationship. Hurting Dani, someone he was obviously working with, might be a warning to him.
He shuddered at the thought of how deadly that warning would have been if he hadn't gone after her. He set the towel on the coffee table and sat down next to her.
Her breath wasn't as ragged now, but her eyes were still a little cloudy. He took her hand in his. Her skin was ice-cold, so different from the last time they'd touched.
"I froze," she said, her gaze meeting his. "I saw the headlights, and I heard the engine, and I didn't know which way to go."
"You would have moved in time."
"I don't know," she said doubtfully.
"I do. I've seen you in action before—when you saved my life in the park. Today, I got to return the favor." He squeezed her fingers, happy to feel a little more heat coming into her hand. She was coming back to him. "You're all right, Dani. That's what's important."
"Why would someone try to run me over?"
"It could have just been a drunk driver." Right now he was more interested in reassuring her than speaking the truth, but Dani wasn't having it.
"No, you were right when you said there aren't any coincidences, at least not about this kind of stuff. What do we do now?"
He hadn't had enough time to think of their next move. He wished it could be his move and not theirs, but he didn't think that was possible anymore.
He let go of her hand and ran his fingers through his hair as his thoughts raced around in a maddening circle. Finally, they slowed down long enough to settle on one thought. "I think we need to get out of town."
She met his gaze in confusion.
"And go where? I have a job, Patrick."
"It would just be for a few days—let things settle down. We'll have a chance to figure out what we know, because someone obviously thinks we know something."
"What would we do? Hide out somewhere? That doesn't sound like you. And it's not me, either. I don't want to let someone stop me from living my life."
He could see the fight coming back into her eyes, and he liked it. "Trust me, we're not going to stop living or stay in hiding for long. Just a few days, and those few days could be put to good use. The people we need to talk to are not here in DC—at least not all of them. I think you know where we need to go."
"Texas," she breathed.
He nodded. "It's where MDT is. It's probably where Tania Vaile is. The plane crashed in Texas. If we're going to find any witnesses to that, they'll be in Corpus Christi. And didn't I hear that the senator is going back this weekend for his annual Fourth of July bash? I'm betting his top level Texas contributors like the Packer brothers have an invitation to that party."
"Yes, you're right. Senator Dillon and the senior staff will be in Texas this weekend and the Packer brothers and their families are invited to the barbecue along with other notable Texans. The mayor goes to the party. Usually, the president of Texas A&M is there as well."
"So it's a big deal."
"Huge. I met the Packer brothers at one of those barbecues a few years ago."
"There you go."
"But I can't go to the barbecue. I'm not invited this year. Erica limited the invitations to senior staff only."
"We'll find a way around that or we won't go to the barbecue. But it looks like the show is moving to Texas, and I think we should get there before they do. I'm tired of being behind. I want to run from the front. I want to be unpredictable. I'll look into flights."
"Wait. I don't know…"
He saw the worry in her gaze. "You don't have to commit to anything right now except getting out of town. Tomorrow is Friday. Call in sick. Make it a three-day weekend. You can do that, can't you?"
She slowly nodded. "I can do that. I would feel better getting away and having a chance to catch my breath."
"Good." He pulled out his phone.
"Let's go tonight, if we can. I don't think I'll sleep at all if I stay here."
"I'll see what I can do."
She picked up her computer from the coffee tab
le. "I wonder if this will still work." She opened it up and then blew out a breath of relief as it turned on. "Thank goodness. I didn't back up the paper I was working on earlier. I really didn't want to lose it." She shook her head. "Silly to worry about losing a paper when I should be thinking about how close I came to losing my life."
"You're trying to maintain a sense of normalcy. There's nothing wrong with that."
"Who do you think was driving that car, Patrick?"
He paused in what he was doing to look up and meet her gaze. "It could have been anyone, Dani. I doubt it was someone we'd recognize. The people we're dealing with don't do their own dirty work."
"That's true; like the man who attacked you in the park. I wonder if he was killed because he failed to take you out. I wonder what happens to the person who didn't run me over tonight. Does he or she end up dead in an alley somewhere?"
He frowned, not liking the dark route her thoughts were taking. He'd wanted her to see that not everything was a coincidence, but now she'd gone to the other extreme. "I doubt that."
"But you don't know. You have no idea what's going on."
There was a note in her voice that told him she was reliving the fear again. He set his phone down and put his hands on her shoulders. "You're okay, Dani. And we will figure this out. We're as smart as anyone, maybe even smarter. They've had the advantage up until now, but we're going to change that. We have leads to follow. We have people to talk to. This isn't over, but when it is, we're coming out on top."
She stared back at him. "You're so confident, Patrick. I want to believe you."
"Believe me."
She took several deep breaths. "Okay."
"Okay," he echoed, happy to see the panic receding from her eyes. He grabbed his phone again and searched the airline schedules. "No flights tonight, but there's a six a.m. flight tomorrow."
"Let's do it. I'll pack a bag and then we can go back to your hotel and get your things. After that—I don't know… maybe just go sit at the airport? I really don't want to stay here, and I'm not sure your hotel is safer."
Summer Rain (Lightning Strikes Book 3) Page 17