Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(102)

Her breasts came against his shoulder blades, and her hand automatically came around his waist. A spark of something sweet hit when their bodies came in contact. The kind of sweetness that made her feel small against his large frame. The kind that made her wish she’d put on a little makeup, and done something special with her hair.

Her breath caught. Attraction. But holy hell, she was attracted to a human. Or at least someone who was mostly a human.

“Sorry.” She stepped back, but not before she heard his breath catch or before she took in a nose full of air. He smelled like raw wood, like outdoors, he smelled … good.

He moved into a small office, pulled a contract out of a drawer, then dropped into a chair. His butt had barely landed when he swiveled the chair to the left, giving her his right side. Did he do it automatically? Or was he more self-conscious because he thought she’d been staring at his scars?

He pushed the paper and a pen to her. She dropped into the chair and pulled the paper closer to read it. It was simple and short.

She signed it. And filled out the request for information. And when she looked up she realized she was smiling again. I think you’re worth more than that.

His earlier words moved around in her head, leaving a trail of something sweet in their wake. Was it sad that it had meant so much?

Probably, but she’d take it.

He ran his fingers over the edge of the desk. “I guess I’ll see you in two weeks.”

Two weeks seemed like a short time for her to get three more jewelry sets made, but it suddenly seemed like too long of a time before … before seeing him again. Before peeling off the layers of Brandon Hart and discovering his secrets. And for some unknown reason, she really wanted to know his secrets.

She heard the seconds tick by on some clock close by. And with every tick marking time, the more awkward it became. Him. Her. Staring at each other.

Her phone dinged with another incoming text. She remembered Cary, but he didn’t feel so important right now.

“I look forward to working with you,” Brandon said and that sounded like a send-off.

She nodded, got up, got all the way to the door, then couldn’t help it. She looked back. This time he was the one caught staring. At her butt.

He lifted his gaze, and a touch of boy guilt—the look good guys got when they were caught checking you out—flashed in his eyes. He continued to gaze into her eyes, but he still kept his left cheek turned just so she wouldn’t see his scar. Somehow she wanted to convince him he didn’t have to hide from her.

“You need something else?” he asked.

Yeah, answers. Lots of answers.

She should leave. Go while the getting was good. But damn it. Instead, she turned completely around and faced him. “Could you use some help getting the place ready?”

He picked up the pen, clicked it once, and hesitated. “I … I don’t have the funds to pay right now.”

“I didn’t ask you to pay me.”

He still hesitated and clicked the pen one more time.

Afraid he was going to turn her down, she spoke up. “I’ll see you tomorrow around ten.” She took off feeling the buzz of excitement and clueless as to where she’d gotten the gumption to push, but somehow proud that she had.

As she stepped out of the hall, she heard the musical sound of the chimes playing.

Moving quickly, she collected her jewelry, storing it in the suitcase, fearing he was going to come out and shoot down her plan.

Finished in less than a minute, she picked up her case. The chimes were still playing. Glancing over at them, she saw them moving back and forth, yet a cold stillness seemed to fill the room. She cut her eyes up to the ceiling, thinking a vent must be pushing in cold air, but there wasn’t any vent. There wasn’t any air flowing, but the chimes shifted gently and played a song.

As she moved closer to the door, she looked back over her shoulder toward the hall leading to the other side of the house, half expecting to see his sister. She wasn’t there, but her were sixth sense said someone was watching.

“Bye,” she called out as she walked out the door.

“Later,” she heard him say.

She got into Holiday’s silver Honda, still feeling as if someone watched.

Starting the car, she put it in reverse. Her tires crunched on the gravel and she backed out of the driveway. She was putting the car in drive when she spotted Linda, Brandon’s sister, standing at the side of the house staring down at the small unkempt flower bed. Fredericka waved but Linda didn’t see her. She started forward, right as a cop car pulled into the house’s driveway.

She inched away slowly, slow enough to see the two uniformed cops walk up to Brandon’s door and knock. Slow enough to see him open the door. Slow enough to see his devastated expression.

Was Brandon Hart in some kind of trouble?





Chapter Four


“I got it.” Fredericka walked into the office to drop off the car keys before she went to work on her jewelry.

“I knew you would.” Holiday smiled.

Fredericka inhaled, not wanting to think about yesterday—about Marissa, her father, or even Cary. But from the moment she’d pulled into the parking lot, the joy she’d found at the gallery had been leaking out of her. And the pain that was her past was slowly filling her soul.

For years, she’d kept that pain buried; why did it have to rear its ugly head? Especially now, when she’d finally taken a step to building her own way in this world.