Calculated Risk (Blackbridge Security 5)

She asked me here, but I can’t decide if this is some sort of date. It feels like a date. I want it to be a date, but I’m not sure where her head is at. Maybe she’d rather sit here and talk about work than go home, and if so, that makes me wonder just how much she’s downplaying her fear after the break-in at her house.

“And you think I’d get in the truck with a total stranger?”

“I’m just saying you had options, and I think I corrected the issue when I called you the next day.”

“You called because you felt bad?”

I clamp my mouth shut.

“Really?” she snaps with a light laugh. “Someone else told you to call me?”

She plops her back against the back of her chair making me realize she was leaning in toward me despite a full two feet of table separating us.

“The guy at work who set up the class firmly suggested that I call you and tell you that you and your friend were welcome back,” I explain, not going into detail about why Wren was so adamant about her attending.

“Wow, and here I was softening up to you because I thought you wanted me in class.” She’s teasing me, but I can still see a flash of embarrassment for making her feel unwelcome that first evening.

“I’m glad you came back, Hayden. It’s been nice having you in class.”

“As nice as having Gayle? She’s missed two classes.”

I don’t want to think about Gayle right now, but according to Wren when I asked him about her absence last week, he couldn’t find anything on her since the Tuesday before. Her credit cards haven’t been used. She hasn’t been arrested or hospitalized, but telling her that we’re tracking the woman from the group opens me up to her possibly asking other questions, and I don’t want to have to lie to her. I also know that the truth could possibly make her jump up from the table and never want to see me again. Knowing why she’s in class started as a way to ensure we helped the women that need help the most, but now it makes me feel a little dirty.

“Maybe she thinks she learned all she could. It’s a beginner’s class after all. I’ll check with Adam and see if maybe she signed up for a more advanced class.”

She smiles, seeming appeased with the lie.

The evening goes on, the two of us making small talk and getting to know one another, but that teasing, flirty smile she threw my way earlier never reappears, and when I walk her to her car, I keep my distance when really I just want to wrap my arms around her and hold her against my chest.

I regret now that she asked me out first.

“So, class on Thursday?”

“I’ll see you then,” I tell her, opening her car door when she stands and lingers for a few seconds.

Does she want me to kiss her? God, I’d pay money to be able to read her mind for just thirty short seconds.

She gives me a little wave before climbing into her car. Like a fool, I watch her taillights disappear before making my way to my own vehicle.

Chapter 16

Hayden

I’ve been up for hours when I hear the knock on the door. Not because I’m an early riser, but because I just can’t sleep. Despite tossing and turning all night, I knew I couldn’t stay in bed all day. It would only throw off my schedule.

I got up just as the sun started peeking through my curtains and plan to stay up all day, and maybe at bedtime, I’ll be exhausted enough to get a good night’s sleep.

Since it’s Saturday, I’m already halfway through my routine of cleaning everything in the house. I swipe a hand over the wet spot on my t-shirt from washing the individual pieces of my coffee maker as I inch toward the door. I creep up to the peephole a little leery of who could be at the door, and gasp when I see Quinten standing on my front porch step. A slow smile crosses his face, and I know that he heard my reaction from the other side.

“C-Can I help you?” I ask through the door as I swipe at my messy hair.

“It’s Quinten, Hayden. I found a solution to your problem.”

I have no immediate idea of what he’s talking about. We spent over an hour chatting at the diner, but I was careful to make sure I didn’t complain too much, remembering Parker telling me once that men don’t like it when women constantly bitch. I found myself wanting Quinten to like me, to want to spend more time with me. I didn’t want to complain all night and chase him away.

“Okay… what problem? And how do you know where I live?”