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But his job wasn’t to rush into danger. His job was to prevent it. He was damned good at it, too. And, given the work Potomac specialized in, it was a job that never let up. He thought of the pile of files threatening to topple off his desk and gritted his teeth.
“So we’re here to watch a race in the middle of the workday? Great. My birthday gift is that I get to work all night.” He grimaced and turned toward Leilah. “No offense. I love to watch you drive, but—”
Omar chuckled. “You’re not here to watch a race.”
Ryan pinned his best friend with a look he normally reserved for opposing counsel and recalcitrant clients. “Then why, pray tell, are we here?”
“You’rehere to experience the thrill of barreling around a racetrack at speed. Happy birthday, brother.”
Ryan’s voice came out strangled. “I’mwhat?” He cleared his throat while praying he’d misunderstood.
Leilah gave him an understanding smile. “If you just go with it, I think you’ll enjoy it.”
He eyed the Ferrari, which sat like a powerful beast waiting to pounce. “I’m not … driving, am I?”
“No, I’m driving. Your job will be to hang on to the dashboard and try not to cry.”
Omar snickered.
Ryan’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way to back out gracefully. It was clear that they’d interrupted Leilah’s schedule. Omar, Jake, and Trent had probably gone through a lot of trouble to arrange this gift and keep it a secret. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but, at the same time—
“—Stop trying to come up with a way out. You need to do this. We got you this gift because we all agree you need to live a little.” Omar cut him off as though he could read his thoughts.
“You got me an experience that risks death so I can live? Do you see the inherent contradiction?”
“Seize the day, brother,” Omar said. “Try a little excitement.”
Ryan inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. To the Khans, it probably looked like he was trying to control his temper. In fact, he was trying not to puke.
Finally, he spoke. “Did you, Jake, and Trent ever stop to consider that my life is more than sufficiently exciting? Unlike you three boneheads, I didn’t retire from a high-risk career. I’m not missing my fix of danger. I don’t enjoy jumping out of helicopters, pretending to be a drug dealer, or tracking down terrorists. I enjoy the law. Applying established precedent and legal principles to problems in novel ways gets my juices flowing.”
Omar faked a yawn. “That’s sad, my man.”
Leilah checked her watch, then interjected, “Listen, you two. I reserved the track for twenty minutes. The clock starts ticking whether we’re sitting at pit out or not. So, Ryan, you need to decide if you want your birthday gift to be an expensive squabble with my brother or an exhilarating thrill ride with me.”
He turned his attention to the diminutive driver tapping her toe on the pavement. Her eyes glittered with amusement.
“Exhilarating thrill ride, huh?”
A smile spread across her full lips. “Definitely. But I promise you’ll be safe with me at the wheel.”
“I don’t doubt your skill,” he told her.
It was true. He didn’t. They’d teamed up to help Potomac with a mission before he’d even worked there. He’d been searching the home of a murdered Navy admiral when someone broke into the house. Leilah had been waiting in the SUV, engine running. The moment Ryan ran out of the mansion, she’d flown into action. As they sped away, pursued by armed men, he’d been terrified. But never for a moment had the fear been about her driving. No, the overarching thought running through his mind as their followers shot at them had been that he would never forgive himself if anything happened to the gorgeous daredevil beside him.
Now, looking into her bright eyes, he felt his resistance dissolving. She kept her gaze fixed on him and jutted out her right hip, waiting.
“It’s only twenty minutes?” He asked.
“Yes. Surely you can spare a half an hour away from your legal principles and precedents,” she teased.
He couldn’t believe the words even as he said them. “Yeah. I guess I can.”
Omar clapped him on the back. “That’s the spirit, Hayes. You’re gonna love it.” He turned to his sister. “Can you give him a lift back to campus afterward? I have a meeting starting in a few minutes.”
“No problem.”
“Perfect. And don’t forget to run the in-car camera. We’re gonna pop popcorn and have a screening at the office to watch his reaction.”
