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How could she have forgotten?
He tried to stop thinking about her over the past few days. Heck, that morning while walking Kermit and scooping cat litter, he’d convinced himself that the attraction he’d experienced nights before had been a figment of his imagination.
But he knew he lied.
Addy was a cool drink of water after walking a desert… otherwise known as Home Depot with three kids.
Maybe the kids were driving him bonkers, but he suspected the desire to see Addy was more than craving an adult’s company. If he’d had wanted that sort of stimulation, he’d have taken Shannon Whatever Her Name Was up on her coffee invitation after dropping Charlotte at St. George Day School yesterday morning. Of course, the bored Shannon had had more than caffeine on that agenda. Something in her eyes said, “Let’s have a play date.”
But he didn’t want to have a play date with Shannon or any other “single” mother in Charlotte’s preschool class. He wanted a work day with Addy.
“Hey,” Addy said as she climbed from the cute little Volkswagen that somehow looked too cartoonish for such a serious woman. “I’d forgotten we said we’d work on repairs today.”
Disappointment gave him a little sock. He’d thought she was attracted to him several nights ago. Something had ignited between them… but maybe his lack of sleep from being kicked by Chris who’d climbed in bed with him that night had his mind playing tricks on him.
Addy’s shoulders were tight and something in her expression worried him. She looked so different from the way she’d looked before. Today she looked spooked.
What could possibly make a woman look so haunted?
Addy pushed a few tendrils of hair from her eyes and studied the big man looking down at her. She hadn’t actually forgotten Lucas. She had, however, temporarily forgotten about the greenhouse and repairs. Messages from Robbie Guidry did that. Rattled her so she forgot to stop for milk or pay her water bill on time. When she got reminders from the man who’d stalked her, attacked her, and attempted to kill her, it put her off balance for several days which is why she’d canceled on Wednesday night and stayed inside. Even taking the letter by Lt. Andre’s office stirred anxiety, and it took constant reminders to her brain that Robbie was behind bars and she had control of her life.
But how much longer would he remain behind bars?
She inhaled and exhaled, knowing she had no control over when Robbie Guidry would get out of prison. But it would be soon.
Lucas approached her as if she were made of glass. She willed her thoughts to settle.
“You okay?”
She stiffened. “Of course, I am. Busy morning at the shop, that’s all.”
She lied because she didn’t want to talk about her life. About how she’d been a victim. That was her past.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Something’s wrong.”
“Not really. Just have a lot on my mind.”
“What do you have on your mind?” His question wasn’t soft. He pried into her thoughts, and she didn’t want him there.
“Nothing. Let me change and then we’ll get started.” Addy pulled her purse out of the car, pausing to slide the cellphone out of a side pocket. She’d texted her father to let him know she’d talked with Lt. Andre yesterday, but he hadn’t replied. But then again he didn’t check text messages often—they seemed beyond him. She didn’t want to call because then her mother would know something was up, and Addy hated when her mother worried. Maybe she’d drive out to New Orleans East and see if she couldn’t corner her father and share what Andre had told her.
Addy’s father was her go-to man. When she’d first received an anonymous drawing of a single brown-eyed susan, she’d reported it, but with no evidence the drawing came from Guidry, there was nothing more to do. Still, Don Toussant kept track of the evidence and haunted the parole hearings trying to make sure Guidry didn’t get out until he paid his entire twenty-five-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon, attempted rape, and attempted murder. They were a team… a team who couldn’t do much else but wait.
Addy dragged her gaze back to Lucas, whose dark eyes weighed and measured her.
“Something’s off with you, Addy. You seem scared. Did something happen?”
Those wordsyou seem scaredcaused embarrassment to flood her. Why was he pressing her? Prying? Asserting himself? “How I feel is none of your concern. I don’t like people shoving their nose in my business. I said I’m okay.”
Lucas raised his brows. “Sorry. I’m just trying to be neighborly. I thought maybe it would help to talk about what’s bugging you.”
She stopped on her voyage to the back door, yanking her keys from her purse as she turned back toward him. The anger pressed beneath the shame slipped out. “I don’t need you to do that. I didn’t invite you into my life. I didn’t even invite you to fix my greenhouse. You’re the one who insisted. So respect the fact I don’t want to talk about my day with someone I don’t even know.”
Lucas didn’t say anything. Merely lifted a dark eyebrow and studied her more intently.
Something about the way he looked at her made her want to apologize. Because she knew her words were defensive and hard. Still, she’d learned too well that guys who pressed a woman or who wouldn’t take no for an answer were often demonstrating predatory behavior. So Addy was always firm when a man wouldn’t respect her boundaries.
Yet, she knew deep in her bones, Lucas Finlay wasn’t harmful to her. At least not in the way Robbie had been.
