Her breathing grew shallow as her pulse skipped into an irregular beat.
He suddenly looked her way. A grin stretched his mouth, and he waved.
Her heart jolted. She jerked her head away. Why had she even been watching him? Surely she was too mature and grown now to be drawn to a man with a so-called bad boy appearance.
Of course she was. She forced a swallow down her dry throat, grabbed her purse, and exited her car with as much dignity as she could muster.
“Morning.” Cillian stood on the sidewalk waiting for her, thumbs hooked in his front jeans pockets and that confident grin still in place, as if he knew how attractive he was and didn’t mind using it against her.
Well, he didn’t need to know it worked. “I expected you would outgrow your dirt bike and motorcycle obsession with age. And maturity.” She added the last comment with an emphasis intended to suggest he hadn’t matured.
“Nah. I just graduated to nicer bikes. You really should take a ride with me sometime. You’d love it.”
She joined him on the sidewalk, trying to keep a safe distance between them. “You know I don’t trust those things.” She cast a suspicious glance at his motorcycle. “Much too dangerous.”
“I remember I got you to ride with me once. It was fun.” His eyes sparked, signaling what he meant.
She remembered, too. Her initial fear of falling, but then the thrill of their closeness. She’d never put her arms around a man’s waist like that before, feeling his warmth, his solid torso beneath her fingers. The experience had awakened feelings—uncontrollable, intoxicating feelings—she hadn’t known or imagined before meeting Cillian.
Feelings she was much better off without now. She preferred to keep her mind sound and her heart in check, lest she do something disastrous she would regret forever. Once was quite enough.
She reached for her usual unflappable tone and expression, lifting an eyebrow. “That was summer. It’s bizarre to ride a motorcycle in the winter unless it’s your only mode of transportation.”
“You know me. Never did like to follow the rules.” Challenge lit his gaze. “Cold never bothers me anyway.”
Did he intend a double meaning in that statement?
No, she would not be drawn into his games that led to him charming her into something when she knew better. “That may be, but your love of the cold doesn’t explain why you were following me. And don’t try to claim that you weren’t.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I heard about CareFull putting you on suspension.”
She hid a wince at his word choice. “It’s only a temporary leave of absence.”
“Sure.” His mouth angled in a closed smirk. “Anyway, I was headed to your house to check on you when I saw you pull out.”
“So you decided to follow me.” She stared at him. He’d have to do better than that.
“Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about the plan.”
“The plan?”
He nodded. “Now we’ll have time to figure out who killed Briscoe before McCully thinks of a way to pin it on you.”
The proposition brought the uneasiness back in full force, knotting her stomach. She certainly hoped the detective wouldn’t do anything of the kind. But she couldn’t interfere with his investigation any further. She would get in worse trouble than she already was. She needed time to think. “We? Don’t you have to work?”
“I get vacation time with this job. I’m taking it now.”
She blinked at him. “You can’t do that. You just started.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “They’re desperate for another clinical social worker. They know it and I know it. They’re not going to fire me.”
She shook her head, disbelief swirling in her mind. “How can you risk your job and angering management, especially so early on in your new position?”
His gaze darkened. “I don’t like what they’re doing to you.” There it was again. The look in his eyes that said he cared for her. Quite a lot.
A shiver passed through her. It must be the temperature. She pulled her gaze from his. “Well, I am not impervious to cold, so I will be going inside.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” He glanced up at the Life Pregnancy Care Center sign. “Something you’re not telling me?”
