AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Strange, the affect she was having on him. Unexpected. And a bit unsettling. She was a fellow teacher, his coworker. He had firm rules about mixing work with his private life. He’d declined his attractive publicist’s blatant come-ons for that very reason. Yet, he couldn’t get Allie out of his head. Not just now because of the shower thing, but last night, too, and the night before that, and the night bef—
Hell. Probably since he first saw her at the airport last Sunday. Had that really only been six nights ago?
Worse than being a coworker, she came with baggage. A daughter, a rabid sister, a crazy grandmother, and per Allie’s own warning, a scary stepfamily that hated him sight unseen. Because of his book. A book he had researched for over a year, interviewing every possible witness and affiliates of witnesses he could find, poring over police reports and even interviews of the family and the accused. His book was accurate, and if—
“Find anything?”
He almost jumped off the couch. Allie was standing at the end of the room. He looked away and turned off the TV before he answered. “The first two were busts. I’m working through the third, but so far—” He finally glanced back at her and found his words had suddenly halted and he was giving the pretty, petite blonde a lightening-speed once-over. He hoped she didn’t notice. With a cough, he quickly continued, “That tape doesn’t look any more promising. As far as I could tell, there didn’t really seem to be anything interesting on any of them.”
As she walked toward him, her short, blue skirt flipped around her knees, revealing toned, shapely legs. Pink-polished toes peeped out of low-heeled sandals. Pretty, in an understated way. Until you got an eyeful of the full breasts that a white, form-fitting blouse accented to full advantage. Wow. Who knew? She’d done a damn good job at hiding those assets at work. No wonder, with all the horny-teenaged-male hormones floating around St. Andrew’s. Not to mention the adult males…
Sam felt decidedly underdressed in comparison in his shorts and long-sleeved T-shirt. But it wasn’t like he was going inside.
She sat down next to him on the couch, and sighed. “So, I’ve got squat.”
“Um. On the tapes…right.”
She didn’t acknowledge his subtle complement. Maybe it was too subtle… “Guess we should get going,” she said, sounding as excited about going to her party as attending a wake.
She fidgeted the entire twenty-five minutes it took to drive to Riverton, a small city at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley. Her nervousness increased the closer they got to their destination.
“This is a party for your nephew, right? The return missionary?” He hoped to distract her from her nerves.
She nodded. “Yep. Jared.”
“And Jared is your brother’s son?”
“Stepbrother,” she corrected firmly. “My dad married Peg when I was six. Ethan was sixteen at the time. We didn’t exactly hit it off. The last thing he wanted was a new sibling to compete with his mom’s attention—especially not a chubby, dorky sister who could open him up to ridicule from his friends. So Ethan decided to beat them to it.” A muscle in her jaw worked. “Laney came along a year later. She took a lot of the sting out of the whole stepfamily thing. She was like my own little doll.” Allie glanced out the window. “Take the next turn.”
He slowed down and took the corner. She opened the visor and looked at herself in the mirror, smoothed her index finger over her ruby-colored lips, and pressed them together. Then smoothed them again.
Did she know the effect she was having on him?
“Why don’t you go ahead and drop me off here?” she said when they turned into the small street where her stepbrother lived. There were dozens of cars already filling the driveway and the road.
“But isn’t that the house up there?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. There were about fifty blue and white balloons tied around the mailbox in front of a beige, two-storied stucco house, and a huge banner across the threshold that said Welcome Home.
“Yes, but—”
“You’re not trying to hide the fact you’re with me, are you?” he asked. She stared at him, and he couldn’t resist giving her a wide grin.
Her face flushed. “You promised, remember?”
“I said it’d be fine,” he corrected. He didn’t know why he was tormenting her. Other than that he loved the way her eyes flashed with emotion. He had no intention of causing the scene she so dreaded.
“You met my sister,” she pleaded. “And she’s the nice one.”
He took pity on her and pretended to relent. “Okay. I’ll be good. Very clandestine.”
Only problem was, as soon as he pulled into the driveway of the house next door, a blue Ford Taurus pulled up and parked behind them. A tall, stern woman stepped out of the car and slammed the door before turning her laser-like attention on their car, which he had idling while Allie climbed out.
Allie was half-way through the door when she spotted the woman. A small groan slipped out.
Uh-oh. This should be interesting.
“Allie, dear. I’ve been so worried about you.” The woman paused and looked back at the driver of the Taurus. “Yes. Go ahead and park there, John. It’s fine.”
With the woman’s attention momentarily distracted, Allie tried to get rid of him. “Thanks for the ride, Sam. I’ll call you later.” She slammed the door before he could respond. However, the older woman was not so easily diverted. She walked behind the Escalade even as Allie sprinted over to her.
