by Brenda Novak
“He’s planning for failure?”
She rested her knife on the edge of her plate. “Just keeping his track record in mind.”
“I see.” He dipped some more bread in the oil-and-balsamic mixture. “Meanwhile, you take care of the boat for him.”
“Yes, but I benefit from the arrangement, too. As you might’ve guessed, the work I do doesn’t pay a lot, so it helps to have free rent. I consider it his contribution to the cause.”
“Living alone and in such a remote location doesn’t bother you?”
“I’m not alone all that often.”
“Right. You’ve got those two couples who dock their boats near yours some of the time.”
“Most of the time.”
The waitress came by, carrying a tempting array of sweets. She told them to save room for dessert. Luke promised her they would, then when she moved on, he said, “How close is your boat to that gas station?”
“About a mile.”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “You walked a mile to meet me?”
“The delta’s a maze. You never would’ve found it, otherwise.”
He offered her another piece of bread, but she declined. “Where are all the rest?”
“Rest of what?”
“Houseboats. I didn’t see a single one after I turned off Highway 12.”
“Various places.”
“Then why not dock yours with some of them until your friends return?”
“I don’t mind being alone occasionally. I get to see more wildlife that way.”
“Sounds romantic,” he said.
“It is romantic. You should watch the sun come up through my bedroom window.” She’d said it impulsively and, thanks to the wine, probably a little too passionately. Sunrise really was her favorite part of living in the delta and on the water. But her words sounded like an invitation. He raised his head and stopped chewing.
“Sorry, that came out wrong,” she said with an awkward laugh and focused on cutting another bite of her steak.
“You didn’t mean it in a personal way.”
“No, of course not.”
“Right,” he said. “I understood that.” But she got the feeling he’d wondered, just for a second—that the image of them together had zipped through his brain—and it reminded her why she shouldn’t take his case. If she wasn’t careful, she’d wind up in bed with this man. Not only did that break the charity’s cardinal rule about not getting involved with clients, it threatened Ava on a whole new level. Because, for the first time in her life, she’d met someone capable of breaking her heart, and she knew it.
18
Ava wasn’t going to take Luke’s case. She’d made the decision. Now she just needed to figure out how to tell him. Maybe she could ask Skye or Sheridan to work with him instead. That would be a reasonable compromise, wouldn’t it?
But she knew part of the reason he’d offered such a large donation was because she’d already shown him how single-minded she could be. Her job was her life. Skye and Sheridan were equally devoted, but these days they split their time between work and home. They had husbands, families. Last week Sheridan had announced that she was pregnant, so she wouldn’t be putting in as many hours as she was now. Skye and Sheridan had all the cases they could handle, anyway. Hadn’t they, just this morning, discussed the fact that they needed help?
They’d chosen Jane to be that help, but Ava couldn’t turn Luke’s case over to Jane.
“What are you thinking?” Luke asked. Although they’d talked a lot during dessert, mostly about what he’d find in his file, they’d ridden in silence since getting back in the car.
“Nothing,” she said, but she remembered Luke walking her out of the restaurant with his hand lightly touching her back, the envious glance she’d received from the waitress, the way he’d opened her car door and handed her the leftover steak she’d had the waitress box up. He did it all so smoothly, so naturally, as if he’d do it for anyone. And he probably would. Which was what made it hard to object. She’d tried to pay for her own dinner, but the waitress listened only to Luke and wouldn’t take her money. Ava had also tried to sidestep his hand at her back and open her door, but he kept her so busy talking that before she knew it she was letting him put her in his car as if this had been a date.
It wasn’t a date. It was a business meal, she told herself. But it sure felt good to let a man take charge for once. Especially a man this capable. Of course, it would be even more enjoyable if she wasn’t so preoccupied with how to get him out of her life.
“You’re not going home to work, are you?” he asked.
“No, I’m too tired.” They’d eaten so much she was sure she wouldn’t be hungry for a week. But it had tasted better than her usual fare. Because she spent so much of her time immersed in her cases, she rarely cooked. She usually settled for an energy bar or a sandwich.
Not long after they’d left the restaurant, he noticed some fireworks in the sky and suggested they pull off the main thoroughfare to watch. He’d teased her that she could afford the time if she wasn’t going to work, and she was feeling too good to resist the suggestion.
Careful not to stand too close to him, she leaned against his car, just as he was doing, while the finale of some Independence Day show exploded overhead. The spectacular display capped an enjoyable evening.
Despite her initial reluctance, Ava felt so satisfied and mellow that she had difficulty summoning the courage to tell Luke she didn’t want to take him on as a client. But she was about to broach the subject when he noticed the goose bumps on her arms and insisted she put on a sweatshirt he took from his gym bag.
As she pulled it on over her head, she was enveloped in soft fleece that smelled exactly like him. And when he rolled the sleeves past her hands, she finally gave up on the idea of backing out. She didn’t relish the thought of dealing with McCreedy—or even being perceived to be on the same side—but for ten thousand dollars she could make it work. In any event, she couldn’t refuse Luke. Not when it came to taking his case. And, judging by the flutter in her stomach as his fingertips brushed her wrists, maybe not if it came to other, more personal requests.
Apparently, she was as much of a fool as her mother, her father’s other wives and the millions of women who’d ever let a handsome man convince them to forgo their better judgment.
Good thing Luke wasn’t attracted to her. If her feelings weren’t reciprocated, she didn’t have to worry about the situation getting too far out of control, did she?
Ava climbed out of Luke’s car almost before he could bring it to a complete stop. “Thanks for dinner,” she said. “I’ll be in touch on Monday. I can’t stand your attorney, so you’ll have to—”
“Whoa!” he interrupted. “What don’t you like about McCreedy?”
“I came up against him on a Murder One case a year ago and he tried everything in the book to get his guy off. When that didn’t fly, he convinced his scumbag defendant to cop a plea, which got them a very favorable deal. So basically, because of McCreedy, a cold-blooded killer will soon be out on the streets, where he’ll probably hurt other innocent people, like my client, who now has to live in fear.”
“I can see where the two of you could be at odds,” he conceded.
“I’m not used to working for the defense. So you’ll need to be the go-between. I don’t want anything to do with McCreedy or his investigators. Make sure he understands that he’s not to contact me.”
“Okay.” Luke gazed at the large, mountainous shape at the end of a rickety pier. Ava’s houseboat looked old, but it was hard to tell much about it beyond that. There wasn’t a single light on. They’d gone to dinner before dark, and she hadn’t planned to stay out so late.
“We’ll start by trying to document the self-abuse Kalyna’s mother told me about,” she said. “If we can prove she injured herself in the past, it’ll take away the whole timing issue. We won’t need to look for someone who could’ve come in after you left.
A half hour is long enough for her to give herself a few bumps and bruises.”
He had trouble imagining Kalyna beating herself up, but Ava had assured him there were plenty of documented cases of people engaging in such behavior. And when he thought about it, he realized it wasn’t so different from cutting, which had become a problem among teens in recent years. “Good idea.”
“Are you sure you can find your way out of here?” she asked.
“I think so.”
“Drive safely.”
She shut the door and began to walk away, but he lowered the window. “You really won’t let me walk you to the door?”
“There’s no need,” she called over her shoulder.
“You’re all alone in the middle of nowhere.” He was pointing out the obvious, of course, but at this time of night he was reluctant to leave a woman in such a remote location, especially without seeing that she got in safely. Maybe it was because he functioned, for the most part, in a protected environment, but this seemed…risky. Anyone could break into her boat, go aboard and rob her, rape her, kill her, and there wouldn’t be a soul to come to her aid. Even the bait-and-tackle guy was away.
“This is my home. I’ll be fine,” she said with a laugh.
“Where do the scientists live?”
“A mile from the bait shop, on the other side.”
He saw no buildings and no lights, just the glow of a half-moon grinning eerily overhead. “I don’t have to go inside. I can take a peek through the door.”
She pointed in the direction from which they’d come. “The highway’s that way.”
Damn, she was stubborn. Ava Bixby believed she could cope with anything.
Luke thought she should know better. Considering her job, she must have heard some real horror stories. He could understand why she might refuse to live behind barricades and locks, but this was right out in the open. Sure, it wasn’t easy to find, and there weren’t many other people around—none at the moment, as far as he could tell. But if the wrong man stumbled across her when her friends were gone…
He didn’t leave. He sat with his engine idling so she’d at least have the benefit of his headlights.
Her footsteps echoed on the wooden planks of the wharf, fading as she moved away from him. Then she stepped onto the boat and was lost in the murky shadows.
The cicadas seemed to grow quiet as the wind picked up. Luke could almost hear the water lapping against her boat. It was a perfect night, and there’d probably be a glorious sunrise. You should see the sun come up through my bedroom window, she’d said. Somehow, that sounded more appealing than he would’ve expected. Maybe Ava wasn’t beautiful in the classic sense, but she had…something. Exactly what that quality was he couldn’t say because she was about the prickliest woman he’d ever met.
A light went on. She was in. Putting the transmission in Reverse, he wheeled around and headed home. But he’d barely reached Highway 12 when his phone rang. He thought maybe Ava was calling him with some detail she’d forgotten to mention, but when he checked caller ID, he knew it wasn’t her.
Ava rested her head against the inside of the door. Dinner was over; Luke was gone. Thank goodness. Now she could put him out of her mind and get on with her regular life, at least until Monday when she’d have to delve into his case again. Then he’d be front and center for a while. But she’d make quick work of it. Prove Kalyna’s injuries were self-inflicted and use that to convince the prosecutor to drop the case. Easy. She’d be a hero. Luke would have his life back. And McCreedy would lose out on a lucrative fee. Then she wouldn’t have to face any more of Luke’s devastating smiles. And maybe after a few months she’d forget him altogether.
Suddenly she realized that in her haste to get out of the car, she’d walked away wearing his sweatshirt. He hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even tried to get it back, which was nice of him. But she didn’t particularly want to think of him as “nice.” Hard enough to battle “drop-dead gorgeous” and “sexy as hell.”
Turning toward the mirror in her entryway, she gazed at herself. AIR FORCE was emblazoned across her chest in big block letters. She was infatuated with a rock-hard military guy. Who would’ve guessed?
She told herself to take off the sweatshirt and put it somewhere safe so she could return it to him. But as she pulled it off, she couldn’t help pausing for a few seconds to breathe in the masculine scent that lingered.
At least now she knew she was normal. At least she hadn’t grown old before her time as she’d feared. She had the same sexual appetites and desires as other women her age. It was worth meeting Luke just for that, wasn’t it?
Or maybe not. Was it better not to crave—or to crave and not be satisfied?
“Luke?”
The sound of Kalyna’s voice came through his Bluetooth and put Luke’s teeth on edge. He’d never hated anyone in his life, but he was pretty sure he hated her.
“What do you want?” Ignoring his sudden tension, he thought of the sack in his trunk. He’d purchased a recorder this morning, but it wouldn’t do any good to stop and get it because the store he’d got it from had been out of AA batteries. He’d planned to pick some up from another store, but he’d taken Ava to dinner instead, and now he had Kalyna on the phone again and no way to prove that she’d called or what she said.
Except for the possibility of a witness. Swerving around, he headed back to Ava’s. Maybe he could get there before she went to bed and before Kalyna hung up….
“I have something to tell you, something important,” she said.
He went right through an intersection that had a stop sign. Thank God for the absence of other traffic. “You’re dropping the case?”
“That depends on how you react.”
Perhaps Luke should’ve felt hope, but he didn’t. He could tell this wouldn’t be good. Kalyna’s voice was too smug, too excited. Dread sat in the pit of his stomach. “What is it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“No.” Suddenly incapable of driving, he slammed on the brakes. “I don’t believe it. You’re lying.”
“I’ll send you proof if you want.”
“Shit. Tell me it’s not true. Tell me this is one of your vindictive games.” No wonder she’d dared to call him back. She had an excuse, a very sympathetic excuse.
“Are you that unhappy?”
Now he knew she was insane. How could she even dream he might be anything other than completely distraught?
“Because…I’m thinking maybe we should make the most of it,” she went on.
He sat in the middle of the road at a dead standstill. “Make the most of it?” He could barely get the words out. He knew that if he raised his voice, he’d be yelling his head off.
“Right. You know, for the sake of the baby.”
He’d been so relieved to enlist Ava’s help, so sure she’d be able to make a difference. But no one could save him from this. So what did he do now? His worst fears had been realized, what he’d been worried about ever since he’d learned of the semen they’d found at the hospital. Until this moment, he’d thought there might be a chance the condom had simply failed. But he knew better. Kalyna had sabotaged it. She’d tried to talk him out of using it in the first place, and when that didn’t work, she took other steps. She’d obviously hoped for this outcome all along. “You told me you were on the pill.”
“I must’ve forgotten to take it that day.”
“One day probably wouldn’t matter.”
“It could. That means this is God’s will. Every baby’s a miracle, Luke. Every single one. Even a rape baby.”
“I didn’t rape you!” And this baby was no miracle. This was worse than any nightmare he could imagine. He’d rather be caught behind enemy lines, alone and unarmed with his plane in ashes, than facing a lifetime of dealing with Kalyna as his child’s mother. “You did this to me on purpose!”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. You targeted me.”
“How can
you blame me for this?” she said. “You’re the one who forced me, Luke.”
“Quit saying that! It’s a lie.”
“I’m just trying to accept it. In my mind, a baby changes everything. A baby means we should set our conflicts aside and try to get along.”
He wasn’t sure it would do him any good to reach Ava. Kalyna wasn’t telling the truth. What she was saying was crazier than hell. But he continued driving to the houseboat because he had no better plan. “That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not. You could love me if you’d give me a chance.”
“Why me?” he asked. “There are other guys out there. You can’t want to be with me that badly. You know me in a professional sense, but not personally. Not really.”
“I know how you touch a woman when you want to bring her pleasure,” she said, talking in a seductive whisper. “I know the expression that comes over your face when—”
Eager to stop her before she could conjure up any more bad memories, he broke in. “Because we slept together once. That’s it. That’s not knowing me!” He pushed the accelerator to the floor. It wasn’t safe to go so fast on these dark narrow roads. He wasn’t familiar with them and didn’t want to hit a possum or a deer. But making sure Ava heard Kalyna suddenly became all-important. She had to understand how grasping and desperate the woman was.
Kalyna’s voice grew more strident, almost challenging. “I know lots more than that. I know you always buy your gas at the Chevron station near the base. I know you buy a pack of sunflower seeds and an energy drink before you go to the park to play ball on Monday nights. I know you’re a great catcher because I’ve watched you behind the plate.”
Shocked by the details she’d been able to provide, he racked his brain, trying to remember when he might have mentioned the Chevrom station or sunflower seeds or baseball. “When? It’s not as if I’ve ever invited you to the park, or even told you I was playing.”
She didn’t answer. She was still rattling off various facts about him. “I know you love egg burritos from Del Taco, that you carry sports equipment in the trunk of your car and that the girl in your wallet is your little sister. I know your parents live in San Diego and would be thrilled to hear they’re going to be grandparents—”