High Octane (Texas Hotzone 2)

“Thank you,” Sabrina said, her chest tight. She darted into the closest restroom and locked the door, then dropped against the wall, letting her purse fall to the floor. Inhaling and exhaling, willing her body to calm. Somehow fighting tears. She didn’t want to cry in public.

When finally she could breathe, Sabrina opened the envelope, her hand shaking. There were no pictures. Just a letter.

I knew who you were the day I saw you at the mayor’s press conference, but I had to be sure. That’s why I took your purse. To check your ID before I approached you. I intended to return it while you were on the dance floor, of course, but you came back too soon. But either way, I confirmed you were the Sabrina Cameron from New York that I’d read and followed, the Sabrina Cameron who was a champion for the people. Not afraid to go places others wouldn’t dare tread. I knew you would help me. I knew you would prove that my husband was innocent. But you didn’t help. You were too worried about hiding. You’ve changed and it saddens me. Well, now you’re exposed. You made me tell your secret. My husband was undercover and the mayor was involved. He can clear my husband’s name but he refuses. Now, it’s in your hands. Give my kids back their hero. He deserves nothing less than a hero’s remembrance.

Sabrina looked for a phone number and found nothing. She had no way to reach this woman. And she had tried to help her, she wanted to help her. She should have been faster, dug harder. Involved her father. This was a mess and she felt to blame. Guilt had her back to not breathing, darn near hyperventilating. Suddenly, she felt as if the room was closing in on her. Sabrina yanked open the door and strode to the elevator.

Jennifer was getting off the elevator as Sabrina got on.

“Oh, Sabrina. I saw the paper, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”

Somehow, Sabrina kept a calm facade. “Can you follow me to my car?”

“Sure.”

Thankfully, Jennifer didn’t say a word until they were inside the car, as if she knew Sabrina was hanging by a thread. The minute they were inside, though, with the doors shut, the tears came. Jennifer hugged her, a real friend. Something she hadn’t ever felt she had. It made her cry more because she knew she’d clung to the past.

Sabrina spilled everything to Jennifer, about Ryan, the letters, everything, but mostly, about Ryan. “So when he asked me what I wanted, I just… I froze. It wasn’t that I didn’t know I wanted him. I was on the spot. We had been talking about my parents and they’d upset me. I didn’t want to talk to them. I didn’t want to feel what they make me feel.”

“Did you tell Ryan that?”

“In the wrong way,” Sabrina said. “Really wrong way.”

“So tell him again. Tell him you want him.”

“He isn’t going to believe me,” she said, swiping at the wetness on her cheeks. She dug a tissue out of her purse. “He won’t. Because I didn’t say I wanted him first. And now it does look like I want back in politics with that story in the paper today.”

Jennifer brushed hair from Sabrina’s eyes where it clung to the dampness. “I was afraid for you when you were getting involved with Ryan, because I thought he wasn’t capable of falling in love. But I saw him at that bar the night you were in trouble, hovering over you, all puffed up like a protective bull, and I knew I was wrong.”

Sabrina blinked through the tears. “You think Ryan is in love with me?”

“Don’t you?”

“I don’t dare hope right now,” she said. “Not after what just happened between us.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” she said. “Tell him you love him. Because we both know you do.”

She did but she was scared. “He won’t believe me.”

Jennifer’s eyes twinkled. “I have a plan.”

Sabrina wiped away her tears. “But look where your last plan got me.”

Jennifer grinned. “Exactly,” she said. “Now I have to get to work but that doesn’t mean my plan isn’t in action.” She darted from the car and Sabrina watched her rush toward the elevator. Her friend had filled her with hope. Hope that she could sort this out. Hope that she could make things right with Ryan. Which meant firmly exiting the past. She pulled out her phone and dialed her parents. When she went to Ryan, she was going to be able to tell him that she knew what she wanted. And so did everyone else.

19

RYAN SPENT THE DAY trying not to think about his fight with Sabrina, and failed miserably. By sunset, feeling fouler than a horse with a thorn under its saddle, Ryan concluded a long afternoon in the Hotzone’s warehouse, inspecting equipment for the next day. He tossed the final packed chute against a wall with a hard thrust of energy, expelling frustration. Yep. He was just plain foul. In fact, he’d wager to say he downright put the F in foul.