Page 19 of The Billionaire's Special Relationship

But as soon as she ran up to his car, and he saw that desperate look on her anguished face, he knew he was fooling himself. That kid wouldn’t run game on a fly. He knew it as if it wasn’t just his impression, but an actual fact. “Yes?”

“They won’t tell me where they towed my car. They won’t tell me anything. And my whole life is in that car.”

“Are you homeless?” Stuart asked her.

Tabby didn’t expect that question.“Homeless?” Why would she be homeless? “No.”

Then what did she mean by her whole life being in a car, Stuart wondered. It made no sense to him. Or was it hyperbole to make a point?

“I hate bothering you again,” Tabby continued when she could tell he really didn’t want to be bothered anymore. And she hated to beg anybody. But she didn’t see where she had a choice. There was nobody else to help her. “But if you go inside and talk to them, maybe then they’ll do something.”

Although he still didn’t want to be bothered, that look on her face, and the fact that in that town she was probably right, made him agree. He closed his car door again, pressed the lock to lock it, and then reluctantly followed her back into the station.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When Tabby grabbed his hand, told himshe’s over there, and then hurried him over to the property clerk window, he could hardly believe it. She had no clue who she was manhandling. She just knew this man could help her get her car back and that was her singular focus. And in a way, that only made her even more worth it in his eyes.

But what Stuart also saw in her eyes, as she all but dragged him to that window, was desperation. Because he knew what that looked like too. To be in such an economic state that the least hiccup could cost you everything was nothing new to him. He was born into that kind of life. His father would lose a piece of job and they were homeless again. Or his mother would get arrested for drug possession and they were scrounging for food to eat again. That young lady was desperate and, as far as she could see, he was all she had.

“You again?” the clerk said as soon as she finished with another customer and then it was Tabby’s turn. “I told you I don’t know where that car is.”

Stuart moved up beside Tabby. “What trucking company towed it away?” he asked the clerk.

Tabby could see how the clerk hadn’t expected somebody that looked like he was a manof authority to plead her case, but that still didn’t weaken her resolve. “I have no idea,” she said to Stuart.

“The police department ordered the tow, yes?” Stuart asked her.

“I have no idea,” she said.

“Call Chief Newfield. Tell him Mr. Jacobs is here to see him. Again.”

When he dropped the name of her boss, Tabby could tell she was stumped again. But she was about to refuse that order too. That was when the desk sergeant came over. “What’s the problem, Mr. Jacobs?”

“Miss--” Stuart looked at Tabby. He couldn’t remember her name.

“Tabby,” she quickly said, then realized he needed her formal name. “Tabitha.” But he was waiting for her last name. “Tabitha Morgan,” she said.

“Miss Morgan’s car was towed by order of this police department. She needs to pick it up. But your property clerk is claiming that she has no idea where she can pick it up.”

The sarge gave the clerk thatyou’re barking up the wrong treelook as he ordered her to do her job. “Find out which tow company has her vehicle,” he ordered her.

“Yes sir,” she said like a woman who still didn’t want to do her job. But she got on the phone.

“If you need anything else,” the sergeant said, “let me know.”

AlthoughStuart didn’t thank him for doing his job, Tabby did. “Thank you,” she said. She was too grateful for the help to pretend it was no big deal. It was a very big deal to her.

But as they sat on that bench watching the cops bring in the people they were arresting, and when it appeared that it was going to take much longer than just a few minutes for that clerk to get the information she needed, Tabby began to feel bad that she was wasting his time.

She looked at him. He had eyes so blue that they looked like an ocean on a clear day. Or the sky on a perfect morning. And his eyelashes were almost as long as hers. She realized, in that moment, that it was the first time since that day in Argyles that she actually looked at him. It was the first time she realized just how attractive he was. And it kind of threw her.

“I’m sorry about this.”

He knew what she meant so he didn’t try to pretend otherwise.

“You don’t have to wait you know.”

“Oh yes I do,” Stuart responded. “The moment I walk out of this door, you may never get the information you need. I’m staying put until they give you what you need.”