“Are you kidding me?” Gil wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “I just got here.”
“If you’d run more often instead of spending all your time in the pool—”
Gil punched Luke’s shoulder. “We’ll see who comes out on top the next time there’s—”
“A what?” Faith teased. “We don’t get a lot of opportunities toswimto the rescue around here.”
Gil wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they moved toward his car. “Not many opportunities torowto the rescue either, Mrs. Powell.”
The trio ahead of them were laughing and not paying one bit of attention when Zane pulled Tessa into his arms. He had things to say, but all that came out of his mouth was, “Princess.”
He’d intended the hug to be quick, but now that he had her in his arms, he couldn’t find the motivation to release her. This was not a friendly embrace. He knew it, and by the way her breathing had accelerated, she knew it too.
This was dangerous. For both of them. They’d agreed on friendship and nothing more.
But... they hadn’t said friends forever. They’d said friends for now. That had been some time ago.
Friendship was still the safest choice, but was it still the best choice?
Tessa’s hands squeezed his waist, and she lifted her head. He looked down. If he moved an inch, and she moved an inch...
Her smile was conflicted, and she took a half step back. “We’re going to need to have a long talk, but this isn’t the time or place.”
“Agreed.” He slid his hands along her arms until they found her fingers. “But we will be talking. Soon.” Her eyes widened as he laced his fingers with hers and squeezed before releasing them.
He stayed close as they wound through the chaos, and if his hand occasionally brushed hers, and if hers randomly flitted across his, that couldn’t be helped.
They climbed into her SUV, and due to their location near the front of the backup, and with the help of the responding officers, they were one of the first to slip through when a lane was cleared enough to allow for passage. They didn’t talk until Tessa stopped at The Chipped Saucer. “The coffees will be cold, but I ordered them. I need to pay the bill.”
Zane didn’t say anything as he followed her inside. “Special Agent Reed,” the twentysomething male barista called out when the bell rang over the door. “Thanks for having that agent call and give us the word. We held off on the drinks. Give me ten minutes and we’ll have you ready to roll.”
“Thank you, Toby.” She pointed to two chairs in a cozy corner. “We’ll wait here.”
“Sure thing!”
When they sat down, she studied Zane’s face. “You called him.”
“I did.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“What are we doing, Zane?”
The question wasn’t rhetorical, but he had no good answer. “I don’t know.”
She stared at a random spot on the floor. “Just to be clear, I can’t deal with messing us up.”
She’d voiced his deepest fear. “I can’t either.”
After another minute of silence, she dropped her head back and her gaze went to the ceiling. “Do you think the wreck was intended to impact me? Because that seems... I don’t know. I can’t get my brain around it. What would be the benefit of me having a car wreck? There could be no guarantee it would kill me. As messy as the accident was, there were no fatalities on the scene. The worst thing I saw was a broken leg. Not that I want to have a broken leg, but what’s the point?”
She looked at him then. “This isn’t like what happened with you, Luke, and Gil. That man shot at you. He tried to kill you. Not that we knew who was behind the attacks at the time, but still. Someone shoots at you, you can usually assume they’re trying to put you in the ground. Someone stages a wreck? What are they hoping to gain from it?”
Before he could answer, she continued. “And yes, I appreciate how much of aprincessI sound like, assuming everything is about me.”
“You aren’t that kind of princess.”
