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They went into the room. Rye flipped the bolt. She switched on a lamp on the nightstand, then faced him, bristling. “Was it really necessary to throw my phone away?”
On the drive from downtown, he had asked to see her phone. Without asking why, she’d handed it over. Then before she could stop him, he removed the SIM card and tossed the phone out the car window.
“You want Goliad and Timmy coming after you again?”
“Their company might be preferable.”
He tapped his chest. “I’m the one who has the right to be angry. You don’t get to be mad till I’m finished.”
“Then get on with it.”
He tossed his coat onto the bed. “Your SIM card is intact. You’ve got all your data. You can buy a new phone tomorrow.”
“In the meantime a patient could have an emergency.”
“So check in with your answering service periodically. I’ll lend you my phone to call them.”
She simmered, and he let her. Then she asked, “How did you get my number to text me?”
“I asked Marlene for it. Told her I would let you know when I’d be going back up there to take Brady flying.”
“Have you gotten an update on him from her?”
“No. You?”
She shook her head. “I suppose it was she who told you about my dad?”
“I had assumed he was a cop. Ha!”
“You heard he was a thief, and thought ‘like father, like daughter.’”
“Prove me wrong, Brynn.”
“I don’t have to prove a damn thing to you.”
In angry strides, he walked toward her. “Aren’t I entitled to know what you dragged me into?”
“It’s irrelevant now.”
“Is it?”
“Nate has the box, doesn’t he?”
“What excuse did you give him for cutting out? Did you tell him you were meeting me?”
“No. I lied.”
“You’re good at that.”
Rather than taking offense as he expected, she looked chagrined and actually backed up to sit on the foot of the bed, shoulders slumped, head drooping. “Obviously not all that good,” she said ruefully. “You saw through me from the start.”
“Well, I was looking close.”
Her head came up. Their eyes met. Though neither moved, the space between them seemed to shrink. The atmosphere became weighty, teeming with the memory of one kiss.
“You had signed off,” she said, her voice barely audible. “Free to go. Why did you come back?”
He approached her slowly and, when he reached her, pushed the fingers of his right hand up through her hair and tilted her head back. “You know one reason.” He looked into her eyes in a way she couldn’t possibly mistake.
