Page 36 of Karma

“Who is it?” she asked him.

He held up a hand. “Look, Montana, if she wanted to talk, she’d have picked up the phone. She’s doing better but still in a lot of pain.”

Liza winced, remembering yesterday’s awkward incident.

“Yeah, I’ll tell her you called,” Dare muttered. He hung up the phone and glanced at Liza. “I suppose you got that?”

She shut her eyes and sighed. “I asked him to meet me at the fair because he’s new in town. I thought I’d introduce him to some people.” She bit her lower lip. “When we got there, I realized he thought it was a date.”

Dare’s dark glare almost had Liza retreating to the edge of the bed. Something in that look was almost proprietary, but she refused to let herself read too much into it. Because if she did, and Dare was getting possessive over her, she’d have to end things sooner rather than later.

And she hadn’t gotten nearly enough of him to walk away just yet.

Chapter Seven

By Sunday night,Liza was well enough for Dare to leave, and by Monday morning, she was able to go to work. She didn’t make it to the office on time, but she blamed being late on a lack of sleep more than her head injury. She didn’t like the reason. Since Dare left after dinner on Sunday, she’d been restless and found herself tossing and turning until well after midnight.

She arrived at the office at ten o’clock on Monday to find that her employees were all waiting and worried about her. It warmed her to know they cared, and she had to admit they all seemed genuinely concerned. She hadn’t returned any phone calls over the weekend, which probably contributed to their worry. Luckily, Jeff was out at a job site, which let Liza put off any awkwardness until another time.

After reassuring everyone that she was fine, Liza holed up in her office, where the first thing she did was make a list of people she needed to contact and thank.

Dare being at the top. It still overwhelmed her how he’d stayed by her side. Sure they had chemistry, but nobody stepped up the way he had for eventual sex. No, Dare was a good man, and for some reason, that scared her even more than her abusive ex-boyfriend, Tim. Good men would eventually come to expect more, and she didn’t have it to give. Then again, he didn’t seem to be pushing or asking for much of anything.

Live in the moment,she ordered herself. That was what she did best.

So she’d have to find a way to thank Dare, and then she added Nash and Kelly to the list. A few minutes later, she’d received a phone call from Faith, who insisted she come to the house for dinner tonight—because, after all, why should she have to worry about cooking and food after working a full day? Unable to say no, Liza wrote down Faith and Ethan Barron as well. Dare’s family really pulled together for him, and again, she couldn’t help wondering why they’d put themselves out for her.

Family and friends are supposed to help each other,Dare had said. But they were his family. His friends. She was merely an injured outsider.

“Admit it, you’re not used to people caring, period.” She shut her eyes against the pain that thought caused, but it was the truth.

It was also the reason she hadn’t returned her parents’ phone call. They didn’t care how she was holding up—they only wanted to make sure she took care of Brian. If they cared so much, she often wondered why they hadn’t just stayed in town and handled him themselves, but the answer was obvious. He might be their favorite, but that didn’t mean they still weren’t the same two selfish people they’d always been. Why take responsibility when they had Liza to do it for them?

She rubbed her hands over her forehead, wondering if the pounding in her temples was due more to stress than the injury she’d sustained to the back of her head.

A knock sounded on her door. “Come in,” she called, grateful for the distraction from her thoughts.

The door opened, and Liza caught sight of a big spray of flowers carried in by Bianca. “Someone has a delivery,” she said with a smile and placed the pretty arrangement on Liza’s desk. “Who are they from?”

Liza hadn’t a clue. “Let’s find out.” She looked at the flowers and surrounding tissue paper, searching for a small envelope or clue to who’d sent it. “No card. How odd.”

“Maybe whoever sent them just assumes you’ll know who they’re from?” Bianca said, wriggling her eyebrows for emphasis. “Like a certain police officer who was extremely possessive over you the other day.”

Liza shivered at Bianca’s choice of words. She’d had enough of possessive men to last her a lifetime. “What do you mean he was possessive?”

“You don’t remember Jeff trying to get near you after you were hurt? Officer Barron wasn’t letting anyone close. Especially another man.” Bianca let out what sounded like a dreamy sigh. “I wish a hot guy would get all alpha over me like that.”

Liza shook her head, immediately regretting the motion. “I don’t remember much of what happened right after,” she said.

But she did recall Dare’s dark look when Jeff had called her home the other day. She’d thought his actions were protective, not possessive. Still, she’d never thought Tim’s jealousy over her college friends, women and men both, would have led where it had. No, she didn’t think Dare was anything like Tim, but the reminder put her on edge.

Since she didn’t intend to go down memory lane with Bianca, she deflected with a joke. “Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted the hit in the head that inspired Dare to come to my rescue.”

“Good point,” Bianca said, her eyes narrowing with worry. “Are you sure you’re up to being back?”

“I’m fine,” Liza assured her.

“Good. So are you going to call Officer Barron and thank him?” Bianca asked, settling into the chair across from the desk and staring at Liza.