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“We’ll let her know up-front our interest has to do with her business, but that we aren’t comfortable with further discussion unless we can meet face-to-face. I would also emphasize our need for complete confidentiality, but we can’t force her to keep quiet. That’s the risk we take.”
Her brow furrowed. She nodded. “Do you feel it’s a worthwhile risk?”
“I do.” Because he’d been thinking about it all afternoon and, after considering every aspect through the eyes of the law, he saw that her plan was their best option. With his last caveat. “I’m going to give Alistair a copy of the picture you have from the daycare and ask him to keep an eye on The Bouncing Ball parking lot, looking for a single man with a child who resembles Jackson in the age-progressed photograph.”
Her eyes opened wide. “That could mean a couple of hours of surveillance a day, Johnny. I can’t ask you to pay out that much.” And then, “I don’t have a ton of cash, but I’ve got some. And a huge limit on my credit card that I can use for a cash advance. I can also get a line of credit on my house.”
“I intend to pay for it myself,” he said. “Since it was my idea...” And since he could easily afford it and he knew she couldn’t.
The quick shake of her head had him reaching deeper.
“I’m going to be acting as your lawyer, Tabitha. It’s within my realm to do this. I can use it as a tax write-off. And, if you’d like, I can always bill you later.” He congratulated himself with a gulp of beer on that one.
“For your services, too?”
She was definitely keeping him on his toes. “If you’ll bill me for design time for the Angel’s logo, and personal-shopper time for my clothes and take the salary I should be paying you for working the truck... Actually, you should be getting a percentage of the proceeds, so, yeah, we can work that up.”
Tabitha’s chuckle stopped him.
“You win, Johnny. Alistair’s full bill goes to you.”
The urge to kiss her right then and there struck again. Kiss her hard. And long enough to last them back to the hotel, where he could get her naked and...
“So, who makes the call?”
He blinked. Saw their waitress approaching with her salad and his scrod. Fitting. Apt. He felt like a scrod.
“You, as my attorney, or me?” she asked. Then, as their dinner arrived, she sat back to allow room for the bowl to be placed in front of her.
Johnny salted and peppered his dish. “Do you want to call?” he asked when his mind was once again fully focused on her quest. And off her person.
“I can.”
The reply, though completely typical for them, frustrated him. “I’m asking what you want.”
“Oh. Then I want to,” she said. “I’m not helpless.”
The statement was so out of the blue, he stopped midbite to say, “I never thought you were.”
“I know.” She hadn’t started to eat yet. “I just need to make sure I remember that, too.”
Strong, confident, capable Tabitha was insecure. More, she’d exposed a bit of her private self to him. He was glad. And he wasn’t.
With his completely unexpected attraction to her, coupled with these odd moments of charged conversation between them, things were getting more complicated by the second.
His brain told him to walk away. He had every right to—and no business continuing down a road that would only lead to a dead end when his sabbatical was over.
He could do it now. Or later, back at the hotel, which would be the decent thing to do. Let her down someplace that wasn’t in public. Offer to provide an attorney in his stead. Carter Simmons would be good. And owed him a favor.
Yeah, Tabitha would get her son back and he could be on his way.
That thought passed all his mental checks. And with not one brain cell did Johnny believe he was really going to walk.
He was where he was and he was staying.
He’d just lost all appetite for the food on his plate.
Chapter Six
