a sports team, you're part of a group and you have instant friends."
"You're lucky you were always good enough to make the team."
"I suppose."
"Is that desire to belong to a team the reason you joined the air force?"
"Trying a little psychoanalysis yourself?"
"Perhaps. How'd I do?"
"Not too well. I joined the air force because I've always wanted to fly."
Somehow she'd already finished her entire sweet potato--giant slab of butter and all. She switched to her meat, a filet that nearly melted in her mouth. "Are you glad you did it?"
"Definitely."
"I'd love to see what it's like up there, in a jetfighter," she said.
"It's the most incredible experience in the world."
"Is it frightening, too?"
"It can be. It's definitely an adrenaline rush. You feel like you're traveling at the speed of light. Flying requires absolute trust in yourself, your plane, your commanding officer and flight crew. It's more of an act of faith than anything I've ever done."
She wanted him to go on, but he didn't. He smiled and lowered his voice. "You've got really pretty eyes."
Ava hadn't expected the compliment. Straightening, she swallowed.
"Thank you."
"How's your steak?" he asked.
"Perfect."
"Would you like another glass of wine?"
She shouldn't. She was beginning to relax, to feel warm and comfortable and even a little sleepy, but she said
yes,
anyway. "Sure."
"I'l flag down the waitress when she comes by."
"What about siblings?" she asked. "Are you an only child or..."
"I have one younger sister. She'l be a senior in high school."
"Are you close?"
"As close as we can be, considering the age difference."
"Has all the moving been more difficult on her than it was on you?"
"Yeah, she's had a few problems with it. Fortunately, my folks have 156
been settled in one spot for a while now."
The waitress came to check on them, and Luke ordered her another glass of wine. "Aren't you going to have one?" she asked.
"No, I'm okay."
When she heard that, she almost canceled her own, but the waitress had already left, and she didn't want to have to hunt her down. Besides, she didn't have to drive, and he did. It made sense. "Was your baby sister a surprise?"
"More like a much-wanted blessing," he said. "My parents had been trying to get pregnant for years, but couldn't manage to conceive. Then, the month after they stopped taking fertility drugs--
wham."
"So a surprise
and
a blessing."
"Definitely."
Ava took a swallow of water. "Where's your family now?"
"In San Diego."
"Do they know about...what you've been going through?"
He was nearly finished with his own steak. "Yeah, I told them."
The waitress arrived with her wine, and Ava thanked her. "How did they respond?" she asked when the woman was gone.
"They're supportive. I have great parents."
"You're lucky," she said, and she meant it. But she would've expected nothing less. This man had it all.
"How did you come to be living on a houseboat?" he asked.
She tasted her steamed vegetables and found them bland after all the other flavors. "It belongs to my father. Carly doesn't like to fish, and since she won't let him go anywhere without her, he doesn't have much use for it right now. I suggested he sell it, but I think he realizes this marriage might not make it, either, and then he'l want it back."
"He's planning for failure?"
She rested her knife on the edge of her plate. "Just keeping his track record in mind."
"I see." He dipped some more bread in the oil-and-balsamic mixture.
"Meanwhile, you take care of the boat for him."
"Yes, but I benefit from the arrangement, too. As you might've guessed, the work I do doesn't pay a lot, so it helps to have free rent. I 157
consider it his contribution to the cause."
"Living alone and in such a remote location doesn't bother you?"
"I'm not alone all that often."
"Right. You've got those two couples who dock their boats near yours some of the time."
"Most of the time."
The waitress came by, carrying a tempting array of sweets. She told them to save room for dessert. Luke promised her they would, then when she moved on, he said, "How close is your boat to that gas station?"
"About a mile."
He wiped his mouth with his napkin. "You walked a
mile
to meet me?"
"The delta's a maze. You never would've found it, otherwise."
He offered her another piece of bread, but she declined. "Where are all the rest?"
"Rest of what?"
"Houseboats. I didn't see a single one after I turned off Highway 12."
"Various places."
"Then why not dock yours with some of them until your friends return?"
"I don't mind being alone occasionally. I get to see more wildlife that way."
"Sounds romantic," he said.
"It
is
romantic. You should watch the sun come up through my bedroom window." She'd said it impulsively and, thanks to the wine, probably a little too passionately. Sunrise really was her favorite part of living in the delta and on the water. But her words sounded like an invitation. He raised his head and stopped chewing.
"Sorry, that came out wrong," she said with an awkward laugh and focused on cutting another bite of her steak.
"You didn't mean it in a personal way."
"No, of course not."
"Right," he said. "I understood that." But she got the feeling he'd wondered, just for a second--that the image of them together had zipped through his brain--and it reminded her why she shouldn't take his case. If she wasn't careful, she'd wind up in bed with this man. Not only did that 158
break the charity's cardinal rule about not getting involved with clients, it threatened Ava on a whole new level. Because, for the first time in her life, she'd met someone capable of breaking her heart, and she knew it.
159
A
va wasn't going to take Luke's case. She'd made the decision. Now she just needed to figure out how to tell him. Maybe she could ask Skye or Sheridan to work with him instead. That would be a reasonable compromise, wouldn't it?
But she knew part of the reason he'd offered such a large donation was because she'd already shown him how single-minded she could be.
Her job was her life. Skye and Sheridan were equally devoted, but these days they split their time between work and home. They had husbands, families. Last week Sheridan had announced that she was pregnant, so she wouldn't be putting in as many hours as she was now. Skye and Sheridan had all the cases they could handle, anyway. Hadn't they, just this morning, discussed the fact that they needed help?
They'd chosen Jane to be that help, but Ava couldn't turn Luke's case over to Jane.
"What are you thinking?" Luke asked. Although they'd talked a lot during dessert, mostly about what he'd find in his file, they'd ridden in silence since getting back in the car.
"Nothing," she said, but she remembered Luke walking her out of the restaurant with his hand lightly touching her back, the envious glance she'd received from the waitress, the way he'd opened her car door and handed her the leftover steak she'd had the waitress box up. He did it all so smoothly, so naturally, as if he'd do it for anyone. And he probably would.
Which was what made it hard to object. She'd tried to pay for her own dinner, but the waitress listened only to Luke and wouldn't take her money.
Ava had also tried to sidestep his hand at her back and open her door, but he kept her so busy talking that before she knew it she was letting him put her in his car as if this had been a date.
It wasn't a date. It was a business meal, she told herself. But it sure felt good to let a man take charge for once. Especially a man this capable.
Of course, it would be even more enjoyable if she wasn't so preoccupied 160
with how to get him out of her life.
"You're not going home to work, are you?" he asked.
"No, I'm too tired." They'd eaten so much she was sure she wouldn't be hungry for a week. But it had tasted better than her usual fare. Because she spent so much of her time immersed in her cases, she rarely cooked.
She usually settled for an energy bar or a sandwich.
Not long after they'd left the restaurant, he noticed some fireworks in the sky and suggested they pull off the main thoroughfare to watch. He'd teased her that she could afford the time if she wasn't going to work, and she was feeling too good to resist the suggestion.
Careful not to stand too close to him, she leaned against his car, just as he was doing, while the finale of some Independence Day show exploded overhead. The spectacular display capped an enjoyable evening.
Despite her initial reluctance, Ava felt so satisfied and mellow that she had difficulty summoning the courage to tell Luke she didn't want to take him on as a client. But she was about to broach the subject when he noticed the goose bumps on her arms and insisted she put on a sweatshirt he took from his gym bag.
As she pulled it on over her head, she was enveloped in soft fleece that smelled exactly like him. And when he rolled the sleeves past her hands, she finally gave up on the idea of backing out. She didn't relish the thought of dealing with McCreedy--or even being perceived to be on the same side--but for ten thousand dollars she could make it work. In any event, she couldn't refuse Luke. Not when it came to taking his case. And, judging by the flutter in her stomach as his fingertips brushed her wrists, maybe not if it came to other, more personal requests.
Apparently, she was as much of a fool as her mother, her father's other wives and the mil ions of women who'd ever let a handsome man convince them to forgo their better judgment.
Good thing Luke wasn't attracted to her. If her feelings weren't reciprocated, she didn't have to worry about the situation getting too far out of control, did she?
Ava climbed out of Luke's car almost before he could bring it to a complete stop. "Thanks for dinner," she said. "I'l be in touch on Monday. I 161
can't stand your attorney, so you'l have to--"
"Whoa!" he interrupted. "What don't you like about McCreedy?"
"I came up against him on a Murder One case a year ago and he tried everything in the book to get his guy off. When that didn't fly, he convinced his scumbag defendant to cop a plea, which got them a very favorable deal. So basically, because of McCreedy, a cold-blooded kil er wil soon be out on the streets, where he'l probably hurt other innocent people, like my client, who now has to live in fear."
"I can see where the two of you could be at odds," he conceded.
"I'm not used to working for the defense. So you'l need to be the go-between. I don't want anything to do with McCreedy or his investigators.
Make sure he understands that he's not to contact me."
"Okay." Luke gazed at the large, mountainous shape at the end of a rickety pier. Ava's houseboat looked old, but it was hard to tell much about it beyond that. There wasn't a single light on. They'd gone to dinner before dark, and she hadn't planned to stay out so late.
"We'l start by trying to document the self-abuse Kalyna's mother told me about," she said. "If we can prove she injured herself in the past, it'l take away the whole timing issue. We won't need to look for someone who could've come in after you left. A half hour is long enough for her to give herself a few bumps and bruises."
He had trouble imagining Kalyna beating herself up, but Ava had assured him there were plenty of documented cases of people engaging in such behavior. And when he thought about it, he realized it wasn't so different from cutting, which had become a problem among teens in recent years. "Good idea."
"Are you sure you can find your way out of here?" she asked.
"I think so."
"Drive safely."
She shut the door and began to walk away, but he lowered the window. "You really won't let me walk you to the door?"
"There's no need," she called over her shoulder.
"You're all alone in the middle of nowhere." He was pointing out the obvious, of course, but at this time of night he was reluctant to leave a woman in such a remote location, especially without seeing that she got in 162
safely. Maybe it was because he functioned, for the most part, in a protected environment, but this seemed...risky. Anyone could break into her boat, go aboard and rob her, rape her, kil her, and there wouldn't be a soul to come to her aid. Even the bait-and-tackle guy was away.
"This is my home. I'l be fine," she said with a laugh.
"Where do the scientists live?"
"A mile from the bait shop, on the other side."
He saw no buildings and no lights, just the glow of a half-moon grinning eerily overhead. "I don't have to go inside. I can take a peek through the door."
She pointed in the direction from which they'd come. "The highway's that way."
Damn, she was stubborn. Ava Bixby believed she could cope with anything.
Luke thought she should know better. Considering her job, she must have heard some real horror stories. He could understand why she might refuse to live behind barricades and locks, but this was right out in the open. Sure, it wasn't easy to find, and there weren't many other people around--none at the moment, as far as he could tell. But if the wrong man stumbled across her when her friends were gone...
He didn't leave. He sat with his engine idling so she'd at least have the benefit of his headlights.
Her footsteps echoed on the wooden planks of the wharf, fading as she moved away from him. Then she stepped onto the boat and was lost in the murky shadows.
The cicadas seemed to grow quiet as the wind picked up. Luke could almost hear the water lapping against her boat. It was a perfect night, and there'd probably be a glorious sunrise.
You should see the sun come up
through my bedroom window,
she'd said. Somehow, that sounded more appealing than he would've expected. Maybe Ava wasn't beautiful in the classic sense, but she had...something. Exactly what that quality was he couldn't say because she was about the prickliest woman he'd ever met.