Page 34 of Allie's Shelter
He glanced at her, hoping his expression looked trustworthy. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for believing me.”
“Least I can do,” he muttered, wanting to get away. Anything he said about Roberts hiring him would make things worse. He sent up a prayer that Rick was speeding up Interstate 95 and that he’d find out something to tie Roberts to these gangbangers who were gunning for Allie.
She cleared her throat and he watched her hands do that nervous thing again. “What are you thinking?”
“Too much. My mind is racing.” Her gaze slid back toward the window seat. When her cheeks turned pink again he had to wonder why her innocent blush after a not-so-innocent exchange still affected him after all this time. “Should I, umm, apologize?”
He leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest, and couldn’t help teasing her a little. “Are you asking for a chance to do better?”
She took his teasing in stride, with an eye roll and a little shake of her head. He was about to toss out a new challenge when she shot him a smirk charged with enough blatant desire he was aching for her all over again.
“Seriously, Ross.” The smirk disappeared. “I don’t expect you to stick around or keep track of me, no matter what the sheriff said. It’s my fight—”
“Not anymore.” He would not let her deal with this alone. She may not yet recognize she was a small piece in a larger puzzle, but his instincts were telling him this was far from the whole story. “Allie, based on what you’ve told me, there’s a lot more going on here. I’m not going to leave a friend like you alone on something like this.”
“A friend like me.”
Damned if he knew what else to call her. He nodded, not trusting himself to put his feelings into words at this point. He’d managed to put one foot in his mouth already, no sense shoving the other in right after it.
“Just because we haven’t seen each other in a while doesn’t mean—”
“You’re right,” she interrupted with a bright smile that wobbled a bit. “Of course you’re right. Thank you for not taking that the wrong way.”
“What?” He had no idea what to think of that statement.
“That, ah, kiss wasn’t meant as payment or anything.”
He resisted the urge to fight over that term. “Understood,” he said through gritted teeth, turning for the safety of the office. Coward. It was the only term that applied when a man retreated—repeatedly—from the same woman. He might be a coward, but this sort of conversation was beyond his ability right now.
He didn’t know how he felt about that kiss, other than blown away and ready to take her against any flat surface. No way he could say that and make it sound friendly or romantic, or whatever else a woman wanted to hear.
Because Allie wasn’t ‘a’ woman. A critical part of him knew she was ‘the’ woman. At least she had been before she’d simply faded out of his life. It was the kindest way to look at it. Some days he even convinced himself her abandonment had been for the best. He’d become a soldier with singular focus. With nothing and no one to go home to, he’d never hauled emotional distractions along with him on his missions.
He slumped into the desk chair and picked up the phone, but he didn’t dial. What the hell were they playing at here? She’d kissed him senseless, and rather than man up and tell her how he felt, he’d teased her and pushed her away.
Now who was reacting poorly in a stressful situation? He’d called her a friend. Who was he kidding?
He had to shake this touchy-feely mood or his FBI contact would read too much into his request. Ross wasn’t in the habit of going into negotiations with that kind of handicap. On military ops, they gathered intel, factored in the realities of obstacles human or otherwise, and made a plan to accomplish the goal.
The primary goal here was to clear Allie’s name and keep her safe while doing it. He appreciated her independence and her wish to know the particulars, but he wasn’t ready to burn the bridge out from under them.
Him! There was no ‘them’, couldn’t be right now. And regardless of any long-buried hope, there wasn’t likely to be a ‘them’ when this was over.
He took a slow, measured breath and dialed the phone.
* * *
Allie couldn’t stay indoors another moment. Trusting that Ross hadn’t been bragging about the privacy of the property, she decided a walk would be safe enough as long as she didn’t head toward the road.
She needed fresh air and room to breathe. Room to think. A skill that seemed to be eroding since entering his house. She’d had a plan right up to the near miss with that bullet. When Ross had appeared like some sort of avenging angel, saving her life, she’d lost any sense of control in this hellish situation.
Remembering his protective reaction to her earlier distress in the hallway, she found a pen and wrote him a note on the grocery receipt Eva had left on the counter. He would probably guess her destination, but she didn’t see the need to put him through the hassle.
Stepping out into the clean autumn air, she gazed up at the clear blue sky. This time of year was her favorite. South Carolina was always so green and the colorful leaves were a vibrant change, signaling the coming holidays.
She took the narrow path toward the lake, letting the trees surround her and enjoying the privacy and sense of security. Not as cozy as Ross’s embrace, but she knew better than to get used to that.