Already Taken (Laura Frost FBI)

CHAPTER FOUR

Laura looked up from the steering wheel to see a familiar view in front of her, one she hadn’t even realized was going to be there. She’d driven on autopilot. She didn’t even remember getting back into the car, setting off, or driving here.

She must have known she needed support, and taken herself subconsciously to the one place she knew she was likely to get it.

It felt strange, coming here without Lacey, her daughter. Lacey and Amy had become such good friends ever since Amy was adopted by her uncle, Christopher Fallow. Their playdates had started as an excuse for Laura to check up on Chris, make sure that he was a good person. She’d saved Amy’s life twice—once from kidnappers who thought the governor was a good target for ransom, and once from the homicidally violent governor himself. But once Governor Fallow had gone to prison, Laura hadn’t been able to let the case go. She didn’t want to wake up one day and find that yet another person who was supposed to look after Amy’s life had finally ended it.

That was how it had started off. Now…

She found herself in front of the house, walking on autopilot still, knocking on the door before she could even think about whether this was a good idea.

“Hey,” Christopher said, opening the door with one hand while putting a dishcloth over his shoulder with the other. He looked downward as if expecting to see Lacey, then back up at Laura again. At the same moment, she realized she was still wearing the dress she’d had on for their date a few hours earlier. She hadn’t gone back for the shoes, too dazed to think about it. She’d put on some boots she found in her trunk to drive. He, meanwhile, was still in that smart shirt, the sleeves rolled up now, his brown hair just a little mussed from whatever he’d been doing since he got home.

Maybe this had been a mistake.

“Um,” Laura said. She wasn’t really sure how this was supposed to go. She hadn’t dated since breaking up with her ex-husband, Marcus, and this thing with Chris was new. Incredibly new. In fact, she still wasn’t really sure that it was anything, only that she wanted it to be.

A frown of concern fell over Chris’s face. “Are you alright?” he asked. When she didn’t immediately answer, still flustered and fumbling for a response, he stepped aside and beckoned. “You’d better come in.”

Laura glanced around as she entered; the house was unusually quiet. Chris led her into the kitchen, switching on the hall lights as they passed through. “Amy?” she asked, only able to formulate one-word thoughts for the moment that weren’t crippling anxiety about having made the wrong choice by coming here.

“She’s sleeping over at a friend’s house,” Chris said, getting a couple of mugs out of a cupboard and switching on his coffee machine. He clearly could tell that she needed it. “I thought it would be better that way, just in case our date ran later than I expected.”

Laura winced, sitting down on a stool at the kitchen island. Her feet hurt from running barefoot across the overpass and walking back to her car afterwards. Her head was still pounding despite the painkillers she’d taken. She briefly considered asking Chris for something stronger, since he was a doctor—but she discarded the thought immediately. As a recovering alcoholic, strong drugs that might take away her inhibitions or leave her groggy were a very bad idea.

“I take it the end of our date wasn’t the end of your night,” Chris said. He was matter-of-fact about it, not jealous or judgmental. He set a steaming mug of coffee in front of her, which she wrapped her fingers around gratefully.

The warmth reminded her that she’d been cold, too, out there. She shivered a little. “I had to go after Nate,” she said. “Nathaniel, my partner. Ex-partner. My point is, we’ve worked together a long time.”

A flicker of a smile passed over Chris’s face. “Sounds complicated.”

“To say the least,” Laura said, then shook her head to clear it. “We had a fight recently. A few months back. He never got over it, requested a transfer. But we’ve been friends and partners for years, so I’ve been trying to convince him to let me back in. It was… a stupid fight.”

She was leaving out a lot, she knew. She had to. She’d never told anyone about her abilities until very recently. The first, a relative stranger who served as a tester, freaked out and acted like she must have been making it all up. The second had been Nate. He’d swung from disbelieving to not wanting to be around her pretty fast.

There was no way she could handle that kind of rejection twice in one night. Chris was a nice guy, but Laura wasn’t going to take the risk.

“So, you went after him tonight to try and convince him to stay?” Chris asked, sipping at his coffee. Laura took his cue and did the same. It was too hot, but it made her feel better almost instantly.

“No,” Laura said, then realized immediately it was a good cover story for the truth and backtracked. “Well, yes, but that’s not what happened. When I found him, on a bridge over the rail tracks, he was with someone he’d arrested years ago. The criminal managed to lure him there by pretending he had insider information from his time in prison. He actually wanted to kill him. I got there just in time to stop him from pushing Nate over the edge.”

“How did you stop him?” Chris asked, his eyes wide. He glanced down at her dress, and Laura did the same to realize she’d managed to dirty it up pretty well when she made her desperate tackle.

“I launched myself at him and tackled him to the ground,” she admitted.

“Jesus!” Chris exclaimed. “Are you alright? Any injuries?”

“No, no,” Laura said, waving him away. “I’m fine. I just used up a lot of energy and gave myself a headache.”

Chris nodded in understanding. “Wow. That sounds like a lot. Hopefully the coffee will help—after this, I’ll get you a water so you can rehydrate. How about a snack? Some fruit, maybe?”

Laura couldn’t prevent a smile from slipping onto her face. So this was what it was like to date a doctor. “I’ll be fine, Dr. Fallow,” she said.

Chris made a sheepish face. “Can’t help it,” he said. “It’s a reflex. All those years of training, you know?”

Laura smiled deeper and shook her head. “I’m not complaining. Not really. It’s… nice. To have someone care.”

Something softened in Chris’s expression, his brown eyes flicking over her with sympathy in that assessing way that he had. That was probably a doctor thing, too. She couldn’t understand, now, how she’d ever thought that there was a risk of him being anything like his brother. Though they shared some similarities in their looks, their manners and behaviors couldn’t have been more different. “If you refuse my official advice to eat some fruit, then can I at least interest you in a slice of cake?”

Laura pretended to think about it. “Hmm. I bet it would be good for my blood sugar.”

Chris rolled his eyes and laughed. “I hope you like carrot cake. That’s all we have.”

“Good enough for me.” Laura shrugged. She wasn’t really hungry after the meal they’d eaten together earlier, but she wasn’t joking about the blood sugar. The cake probably would help her to balance out a bit.

Chris clattered around his kitchen, bringing out two plates and then unearthing a cake from underneath a dome, taking out two slices. “I got this from Amy’s favorite café,” he said. “Better not tell her we ate them without her. I might have to pretend it was fairies.”

“Cake fairies?” Laura chuckled.

“They’re vicious little things,” Chris said, handing her the plate and a fork. “We’re lucky we didn’t see them. They might have taken our eyes out.”

Laura made a horrified face. “Maybe don’t tell that part to Amy.”

Chris laughed heartily. “No, maybe not.”

Laura sighed, a deep breath in and out. She was feeling better already. Yes, her feet still hurt and her head still ached, but she was warm, with all the hydration and nourishment she needed, and Chris was good company. Sympathetic, kind, caring. Exactly the kind of person you leaned on when you needed someone.

She hoped this wasn’t a sign that she was getting in too deep, too soon.

“So, how did you leave things with Nate?” Chris asked, taking a bite of his cake. “Are you on good terms again now you’ve saved his life?”

Laura sighed and shook her head. “He thanked me. But… I don’t think he’s going to want to see me for a while. He’s still processing everything.”

“Processing?” Chris frowned. “What’s there to process about a fight? Can’t he just… accept that you disagree and move on?”

Ah. Laura had gotten herself into a muddle with the story she’d told him and the truth. “I guess he always thought we shared the same views,” she said, internally complimenting herself on a good save. “Now that he can see we’re different after all, I guess it was a shock. I don’t think he’s angry anymore, really. Just… dealing with it.”

Chris nodded sagely. “Then you’ll be partners again before you know it.”

A ghost of a smile flitted across Laura’s face. “I hope you’re right,” she said.

Her watch buzzed on her wrist, making her jump. An incoming call. Where had she even put her cell? Laura cast around for a moment only to discover that she had brought her purse in with her, something she didn’t remember doing, and that it was on the floor. She hopped down from the stool at the island and pulled it out, groaning at the caller ID.

Rondelle.