It had taken less than the walk between them to realize the man was not anyone she was friendly with. Never mind his balled fist or the smile that looked so forced.
However, Rose had been James’s biggest red flag. He hadn’t been able to see her face, but her body language wasoff. Considering James had seen her look more relaxed with a bomb strapped to the car they were sitting in and standing next to, her posture told him everything he needed to know.
Maybe he should have explained his bad vibes to the woman herself, instead of acting like some kind of jealous boyfriend. Instead, he’d simply given her a sandwich and been fine with not talking about the reporter again.
Now James couldn’t help but wonder again if Rose actually had a boyfriend, jealous or otherwise.
“Is someone coming to pick you up?” he asked, deciding to get right to the point. “If not, I don’t mind giving you a ride.”
Rose shook her head, eyes still on her phone screen.
“I didn’t know when I was going to be discharged, so nothing was set in stone for anyone to get me,” she answered. “I’m just letting the sheriff know I’m out right now. I want to see him before he benches me completely from the investigation.”
Her head turned with a swivel. Her eyebrow was raised.
“By the way, have you gotten any updates on the case? Has anyone asked you any more questions or anything?”
It was James’s turn to shake his head.
“I was told I would be contacted if anyone needed anything else from me. I also got a promise that I’d be called when the investigation was over so I could follow up with the insurance company for the shop.”
An expression he couldn’t place flashed across Rose’s features. She looked like she wanted to say one thing but decided against it in the moment.
“So you’re probably not working today, then, are you?”
That conversational swerve threw James off, but he answered quickly with a no. It surprised him further when she nodded to herself and smiled.
“Then I’ll take that ride,” she said. “But I have one condition first.”
James could have pointed out that giving her a ride was a favor, one that would help her out and not him, but the way she was staring up at him, almost excited, had his interest piqued.
He couldn’t help it. He asked her what she meant.
“What one condition?”
Wildcard Rose didn’t miss a beat.
“I need you to come home with me.”
Chapter Six
There were a few things Rose realized that maybe she should have earlier in the day. The first was a pretty simple statement.
She was too comfortable with James. They weren’t strangers anymore, but it wasn’t like they were friends. Seven Roads might have been small, but it wasn’t like they had been social beforehand. She knew of him, maybe even had shared a small nod or two in passing through the years, but that had been it. Even after the explosion, their status hadn’t changed much.
James had been there when she had woken up in the hospital, sure, but after their talk he had gone about his way.
Then, days later, he’d given her a sandwich.
Now he was giving her a ride. To her apartment.
A place she rarely invited anyone over to visit.
Was it because of what the sheriff had told her the last time they had spoken in the hospital?
“From what I know of James, he probably won’t boast about it…but I have to tell you that man went through a lot getting you out of the auto shop,” Liam had told her. “Or at least what was left of it. I pulled up to the scene with Price, both of us ready to dive in untilthe fire department showed up, but instead we saw him carry you out of that nightmare like it was nothing.”
Rosehadn’tknown that it had been James who got her out. He surely hadn’t said as much during their talk. It made her feel an odd kind of guilt. She had tried to play it off.
