Sounds Like Obsession (Sounds Like 1)

I shook my head. “No. Actually, Kelly is one of those miracle unicorn babies. They told us both the stories so many times. After years of trying to get pregnant they decided to adopt. That’s when I was matched with them. And then when I was in the first grade—surprise. My mom found out she was pregnant with Kelly. It was kind of crazy.”

“Sounds like it. Have you ever tried to find them?” he asked. “Your birth parents?”

“When I was in high school I became obsessed with it. I wanted to know what they looked like. How they made such a hard decision. I wondered if they wanted to meet me. If they ever thought about me.” I sighed. “I think I got distracted in college and honestly was so absorbed in myself I just stopped looking, but I’ve started trying again. Just little things. I haven’t hired a private investigator or anything, but ever since my dad died it’s been more important to me. I don’t know if I can explain it.”

“Yeah. I get that. I’m not adopted, but I can imagine you would want to find your biological parents. It makes sense.” He refilled our coffee cups with the carafe the waiter had left. “You know I might be able to help you out.”

“How?” I added enough cream to lighten the dark coffee to a caramel color.

“I have access to every database you could imagine. The FBI has a wide reach”

“What? Really? You do? They do?” I was tripping over my words.

He leaned into the table. The cups rattled with the weight of his forearm. “I can’t break any laws, you understand.”

I nodded quickly. “Of course not. I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”

He grinned wickedly, and I wondered how much of AJ was a rule breaker. A bad boy. A man with a throw-caution-to-the-wind attitude. Was that why he wanted to be in the FBI or was it to stop people who walked on the more dangerous side of the law? Maybe he liked to flirt with darkness more than I realized.

“I’ll see if there is something I can do maybe to help you get a lead or something.”

“That would be amazing.” My stomach did a somersault.

“No problem.” He leaned back in his seat.

I didn’t know what to say after that. He had given me a gift in the form of hope. There was nothing concrete or tangible. It didn’t mean that I didn’t feel it. The possibility. The potential that I would have information about my biological parents. It was incredible.

The waiter waltzed over and slid the check toward AJ. I offered to pay, but he turned me down.

“I’ve got this. I owe you this cup of coffee.”

I laughed. “Ok. Fine. I’ll accept that.”

“Plus, I like taking you out. Does this count as our first or second date?”

I looked upward, pretending to think. “Hmm. We didn’t go to the party together, so that can’t be the first date.”

“But the second half of the night should count. The part in that empty townhouse.” I saw his eyebrows lift. I giggled. If all our dates were as hot as last night with AJ I knew I’d fall for him so hard and so fast it would defy logic.

He stood from the table and I met him at the edge of the patio dining. He looked at me and I wondered if our date had ended. I dreaded going home without him.

He took my hand in his. “Where to next?” he asked.

I smiled widely. So much my face practically hurt. I thought about all the things we could on a summer day in D.C. The museums. The parks.

“How about your place?” I suggested.

“Hell, yes.” He lifted me toward him and I clung to his neck. “Come on.” He tugged me behind him and we took off around the corner toward AJ’s apartment.

Chapter Sixteen

“Mechanical issue? What the hell is wrong with this flight?” The man behind our row raised his voice. I peeked at him between the slit in the seats. “I’ve already missed my connection. Now this shit. I want vouchers. Lots of vouchers,” he yelled.

He made the woman next to him uncomfortable. She shifted her elbow farther from him.

“Where are we going to land?” AJ whispered to me. “What has Jelly Bean Jack said in the marketplace? Do you have a location for us?”

I shook my head.