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“You’d think so. But it’s not the army, is it?”
“Hey, do you want to have a coffee? I mean, you already have one, but do you have time to sit down?”
Aaron looked at his watch. He’d told Lewis he’d be twenty minutes. This job just kept getting worse. “I’d really love to, but I can’t. I’m actually on an assignment right now.”
“And you’re getting coffee? Boy, you FBI types really take your job seriously.” She grinned.
“I know. Believe it or not, it’s out of character for me to be so casual while at work. I really do take my job seriously. It’s just this assignment.”
“That bad?”
He smiled. “Perhaps you won’t be surprised to hear that I had a minor mishap at work. Acted a tad unprofessional.”
“Don’t tell me you got detention again.”
“Something like that. My punishment is I have to do this babysitting job.”
“Ouch. Who’s the poor sucker you’re looking after?”
“There is this professor who works around the corner. Professor Davis. Apparently, he got it in his head that the work he’s doing is so important he needs protection. Cancer research. Not sure who’s going to attack a guy working on cancer research.”
Sydney’s cheeks flushed. “Professor Davis?”
“Yeah. Syd Davis is his name. And because I got in trouble on another job, I’m stuck holding some guy’s hand while he looks in his microscope.”
“Oh.” Sydney cleared her throat. “That sounds awful.”
“Anyway, my partner is waiting for me over there, so I’ve gotta get going.”
“That’s fine. I should probably get going too. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
She hurried out of the café and by the time Aaron realized he really wanted her number, she was gone.
“Hopefully, the day has nowhere to go but up,” he mumbled as he pushed out the door.
Chapter5
Sydney let outan uneasy breath as she melted into the crowd. She had never been so glad to enter the busy street. She felt safe hidden among the throng even if she could still feel Aaron’s eyes drilling into her back as she fled down the sidewalk.
The reprieve would be shattered when FBI Agent Aaron Pritchard and his partner came barging into her lab with his preconceived notions of the work she did. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, but her childhood memories of a heroic boy had been shattered, and she only had herself to blame.
Of course her memories were those of a little girl. She had conjured up some false idea of who Aaron should be and she couldn’t be surprised that that wasn’t the man he’d grown into. Instead, he was a moody, arrogant, self-absorbed whiner.
But it wouldn’t reconcile with the teenager she remembered. As a young man, he had a strong conviction of right and wrong. Not to mention he had put himself on the line for her on more than one occasion. Maybe it was one occasion too many. She didn’t need him to keep coming to her rescue.
She paid no attention to the other pedestrians who jostled their way down the sidewalk as she recalled the night she could never forget when he’d barged into her house. Her dad had been drunk and dangerous and could have easily sent him to the hospital. He’d done it to her mom more than once.
Aaron was lucky to get out the door with a boot to his backside. He risked a lot to help her and her mom, and she’d always be grateful. But now he was only a jaded shadow of his former self, and the childhood crush that had awoken the butterflies in her stomach only a few minutes ago had been thoroughly crushed.
She hurried past a suited man at the front door, who gave her a strange look, and she ran up the stairs and down the hall to find Dr. Pallon.
“Christopher Pallon,” she said, bursting into his office.
“Uh-oh. I’m in trouble. You know, no one has ever used that tone with me except my mother. What have I done?”
“Whoever you called to organize protection for me, you need to call and unorganize it.”
“Why? Has something changed?”
