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She sighed, and the sound echoed throughout the truck. “Fine. But I’m not coming now. Reschedule the photo for after five. I’ll meet you there.”
“Yes, I am the one giving orders now, Mom. If you had consulted with me first, I could have told you that sooner, but you assumed I would drop everything as I usually do. Not this time. I will compromise, that’s it.”
Nikole nodded. “Good. See you later.”
She shoved her phone into her purse. Sighing once more, she pushed her hair out of her face and leaned her head back.
Her eyes were closed, and a bead of perspiration gathered at the top of her forehead. Reaching over, I wiped it with my thumb.
She turned to look at me. Her brown eyes softened and this time her sigh was softer, less angry. “Thank you.”
I nodded and returned my attention to the road.
“She just pushes my buttons, you know. I don’t want to be this angry person with her, but I always am.”
“What was she like growing up?”
She snorted. “We don’t have enough time to get into that.”
I wasn’t sure why I asked. I didn’t want to talk about my past, either. But I wanted to understand her. I wanted to know if someone had hurt her.
“Some other time then.”
She nodded and looked out the passenger side window. A few minutes later, she wiped the side of her face, and a heat spread from my stomach all the way to my forehead. It was like her distress had lit a small fire within my chest and thawed a piece of my heart that had been frozen since Janine. Maybe even before her, if I was honest with myself.
I reached for her hand and held it while I drove. She squeezed back but didn’t speak. She sniffed and tried to discreetly wipe her nose with the edge of her coat sleeve. I shouldn’t have found it as endearing as I did. But it was so childlike and vulnerable.
Vulnerable.
There it was again. Only this time, I used it to describe her. Was vulnerability such a bad thing then? I didn’t think less of her for it. I shook the thought from my head. There was no time to think about it right now.
***
Nikole twirled a loose strand of hair with her finger. She had put her long hair into a makeshift bun using a pencil to secure it. She sat at my dining room table with her blue-light glasses on and an excited look on her face as she stared at her laptop.
She’d been enthralled with work for the past two hours. She usually worked with the door closed in her office, so I’d never witnessed how much she enjoyed her job.
Since returning to my place, I’d been reviewing the list Jager sent me. There were at least ten names I thought the police should take a closer look at.
When I checked my watch, I realized it was nearly five o’clock, and she hadn’t eaten anything in a while.
I cut a slice of blueberry pie and made her a cappuccino. We often stopped for coffee before work if we weren’t running late, so I knew how she liked it. One milk, two sugars.
I placed the plate and mug beside her laptop. She looked at them and then up at me. She blinked several times. Her brown eyes reflected blue from the screen. “Thank you. How did you know I was starving?”
I shrugged. “Because you usually leave your office for a coffee break around this time. And you’re not at your desk, so you can’t dip into the candy jar for your afternoon sugar fix. So, I thought this would be the next best thing. Alma made it. It’s really good.”
She speared the pie with her fork and broke off a large piece; the blueberry filling oozed out. She took a bite and closed her eyes. “Mmm… that is delicious,” she mumbled with a mouthful of pie.
It should have been funny, but the guttural sound of her groan only sent shivers straight down to my groin.
I turned around, afraid I would push the plate aside and make her groan with my mouth.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I stepped away. “We have to leave soon. I’m not sure if you’d like to change first.”
She looked down at the corporate suit she still wore. “I think this is fine. It’s professional.”
I nodded and ran a hand through my hair. Those black pencil skirts she wore may be professional, but they were fucking sexy, too.
