Makay laughed, wanting the song to never end. Everywhere he touched made her flesh tingle, even through the layer of her shirt. Dancing always made her feel hot, so her dress was sleeveless, but tonight, with him, it didn’t help. She felt on fire.
“So, what do you do?” she asked.
He pulled her gently to the side to escape an enthusiastic couple, who were trying out some clumsy ballroom dancing moves. “I’m an electronics engineer at Honeywell Aerospace. I design communication electronics.”
“That sounds way better than studying accounting.”
“Accounting, eh?” He held back his head to stare down at her, a bemused smile on his face. His eyes traveled slowly over her body, bringing heat to places Makay forgot she even had. “You don’t look like an accountant, at least not tonight.”
“Well, I would have tried working for the FBI,” she said dryly, “but I have Nate, and in the end he needed me a lot more than the FBI does.” Makay couldn’t believe she’d brought her brother up. Was she purposely trying to sabotage any opportunity for a love life?
“Nate?” he asked on cue.
What should she say? The truth? Or at least part of it—no one needed to know about the neglect or the drugs that had been a part of their lives. Usually she told men that Nate was hers because he was hers in every sense of the word that mattered. If she stopped to think about it, Nate telling the girl outside his school that she was his mother wasn’t so different from what she told potential dates. But she had never cared about a man’s response before tonight.
“Nate is the boy you met yesterday. My brother.” She felt deceitful as she said it, as though she was purposefully disowning Nate, so she added hurriedly, “He lives with me. I have custody.” He didn’t need to know more. She already felt too vulnerable.
“Really? Wow. Seems like a nice kid.”
She waited for more questions about Nate, but apparently that was it, and when the dance came to an end, he didn’t make excuses or walk away.
“You up for another one?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said past the feeling of connection that had suddenly risen between them. It was hard to speak when electrical explosions seemed to be going off inside her head and various parts of her body. She’d never felt this way before, not when anyone touched her or looked at her. For the first time she understood what people meant when they said they felt compelled to be with someone, and she wasn’t sure she should like it as much as she did.
“Well, don’t look now, but here come my sisters. Probably to check you out.” He glanced across the room and then at her again, his brow doing that furrowing thing that made him seem so serious. He leaned forward. “Look,” he said, the words tumbling from his lips, “I’m going out on a limb here and saying that I’m glad Nate is your brother. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, and I was beginning to think I was one of those weirdos who have a thing for married women.”
Relief poured through her. “Married women who like to cheat, you mean.” She added a wink and a little attitude to the response because it felt right.
He threw back his head and laughed. “Even worse.”
“Nope, I’m definitely not married.” At halfway through her sixteenth year, when she would have had to get pregnant in order to be Nate’s mother, she’d been far too busy trying to feed herself and finding a place to crash each night to even think about sex. And having been on the other side of adoption, one that didn’t work out so well, she would never have been so careless.
“Oh, great, here they are.”
A flurry of introductions as the DJ screamed into the microphone and another song began.
Time passed. Makay didn’t feel it flying by, but some part of her was aware and dreaded the end. Tessa and the others soon found them and the two parties joined. Makay scarcely noticed as she had eyes only for Harrison. Before she knew it, the last song was announced and Harrison took her hand as they started for the exit. Everything felt surreal. He seemed perfect, not to mention taken with her. She liked his sisters and brothers-in-law, even the big one who kept stepping on her feet whenever they danced in a group. She loved the cleft in Harrison’s chin, his dimples, the cowlick near his left temple. The crazy warmth his gaze sent through her body.
As they passed the table where the cans of diced tomatoes still sat, he grabbed them and handed one to her. “To remember me by.” His head bent to her ear. “I mean, this night. Because I’m sure hoping you won’t have to rely on memory where I’m concerned.”
Delicious goose bumps shuddered down her back. “Thanks. I’ll try not to eat them.” She winked and clutched the can tightly.
Outside, she shivered a little at the breeze whipping in from the west. Her black dress wasn’t much protection, but Harrison put an arm around her, drawing her out of the stream of people, several of whom seemed more than a little drunk.
Harrison’s hand stroked her cheek, his blue eyes roaming over her face. “Can I see you again?”
“Yeah.” It was all she could say. Behind him Tessa and Brette were making driving motions and pointing at him. Belatedly, Makay remembered that she’d driven herself and could offer him a ride home as her friends were hinting.
Yet was that what she wanted? The night was perfect, but in the morning there was always Nate. She didn’t know anything about Harrison, not really, and she wasn’t about to entrust her heart and certainly not her body to him. Well, at least not all of her heart, because something had already clicked within her. She couldn’t pretend he was just another faceless date.
Her friends were still making motions, but she shook her head slightly and they stopped, their faces disappointed but accepting. She breathed an internal sigh of relief that they would trust her judgment. What kind of friends would they be if they didn’t?
“Come on, Harrison,” his sister Rhonda said. “I have a babysitter, remember?”
Harrison’s hand tightened on Makay’s. “I gotta go,” he murmured.
The younger sister, Tianna, leaned forward, her long hair brushing Makay’s shoulder. “Forgive him if he’s awkward. I promise, he’s worth it.” Louder, she added. “Hope to see you again.” Then she smiled and left with the others, her small hand gripping her husband’s big arm.
“I’ll come in a minute,” Harrison called after them.
The parking lot was quickly emptying, though Tessa and Brette still hovered nearby. The tension was killing Makay. She wanted him to kiss her and yet she didn’t want to be like the dozen or so couples she saw clinging together as they found their way to their cars.
“Your number?”
He punched it in as she gave it to him, and seconds later her phone rang from the tiny concealed pocket at the waist of her dress. He grinned and disconnected. “Wanted to make sure I got it right.” Make sure he got it right or that she’d given him the correct number? At the moment it didn’t seem to matter.
He moved closer, his mouth angling down, his eyes holding hers. “Goodnight,” he said, a second before their mouths touched, her world colliding with an emotion that felt as wide as the universe.
He made a noise in his throat and pulled back. “I’ll see you.” He stepped away, waving his can of tomatoes briefly as he finally turned and strode through the line of cars.
Makay smiled and watched him disappear from sight.
Tessa and Brette converged upon her. “Well?” Tessa asked.
Makay hesitated before admitting, “I like him.”
“Whoo-hoo!” Tessa said. “I knew it. I mean, everyone can see the vibes coming off you two.”
“Yeah, like tentacles off an octopus,” Brette said. “Uh, only not tentacles and not an octopus. I mean, it was just like in the movies when the hero meets the heroine for the first time.”
“Actually, it wasn’t the first time. I met him before. On Thursday after I picked up Nate.” She told them about her grocery bag splitting.
“Oh, so that’s why he had those cans,” Brette said. “I wondered where that came from. Anyway, tonight was when you connected. Hard to do with a child around, or at a grocery store.” She rolled her eyes. “So we’ll forgive him for not making magic at your first meeting.”
“I remember that moment with Gage,” Tessa said, gazing off into the night. “That instant when I first realized there was something between us. We were in Vegas, pretending to get married so I could get my trust fund. I came down the stairs at the hotel, and he’d shaved and I saw his face and . . .” She sighed. “Of course, I thought he was probably going to kill me for my money at the time.”
Brette laughed. “Shut up, Tessa, this isn’t about you.”
Tessa laughed. “I want to hear all the juicy details, Makay.”
“What details? You were all here. You saw everything.” Makay reached in her pocket for the single key she’d taken off the ring and put next to her phone. “Time to go, ladies. It’s too early to tell anything about Harrison.” Now that he was gone, her sense of self was returning. Things like this simply didn’t happen to people like her.
“There’s Gage with the Jeep.” Tessa motioned to Makay. “Don’t go anywhere yet. He’ll insist on following you to make sure you’re in your car before we leave. He doesn’t trust these places.”
“Smart man,” muttered Brette, as she hurried to the Jeep. “Nice to meet you, Makay!”
“You, too.” Makay touched Tessa on the arm before she could leave. “Thanks for making me come tonight.”
“You work too hard.”
“I have to.”
“I know. But we need to do this more often.” She waved her hand in dismissal. “Well, not
this
exactly, because I am starting to feel I’m growing out of it, but something. By the way, how do you like Brette?”
“I like her a lot.”
“I knew you would. Look, I happen to know she’s been thinking about staying at her mom’s and getting a roommate. It’s not in a super great area, and Nate would have to change schools, so I don’t know if it’d work out, but I’ll suggest you, if you want.”
Makay glanced behind her at the Jeep, where Brette had already disappeared into the backseat. “I couldn’t afford that. And you forgot about Snoop.”
“Well, I think the house is paid for, and I bet the rent wouldn’t be too high. You could supplement with groceries. Brette normally works full time and mostly eats out, so that would save her money. I don’t think she’d want a dog in the house, but there’s a yard. Anyway, it’s an idea.”
“Maybe.”
Tessa nodded and dashed for the Jeep, apparently still full of energy at two in the morning. Makay wondered if Gage liked that about her and decided he probably did. Makay herself was riding on a wave of . . . of what? Hormones? Anticipation? Fear? She really didn’t know.
Gage followed her to the Sebring, and she was glad he did since she had to pass a cluster of men who looked pretty soused. Even if she’d brought her gun, she wouldn’t risk drawing it unless her safety was threatened, especially around people who obviously weren’t in control of their faculties. Ugh. Definitely not attractive—what were they thinking? She waved at her friends and ducked into her car.
The tiny apartment in Mesa seemed too big without Nate, and Makay couldn’t sleep. Her flesh still seemed to tingle. Maybe Harrison would never call. Things like that happened all the time. She’d always been able to tell herself that she’d accidentally given the guy the wrong number, but she wouldn’t have that excuse with Harrison.
Yet if he hadn’t planned on calling, he certainly wouldn’t have tested out her number, right? For as many men there were who didn’t call, there were just as many women who didn’t give out the right number on purpose. He’d wanted to be sure.
I’m a basket case,
she decided with a sigh.
Finally, she took out the manila folder from her backpack to start memorizing the information Lenny had given her. She’d call him again tomorrow and see if she could find out anything extra. Maybe she could pinpoint another time to follow him. She still needed to review the video on her computer. Maybe she’d do it in a few minutes if she didn’t get drowsy.
Let’s see. How old do I have to pretend to be?
She scanned the date of the birth.
Hmm, that’s odd.
Her eyes went to the name of the hospital and the adoption agency. Her puzzlement turned to stunned disbelief. The date of the baby’s birth, the hospital where she’d been born, and the adoption agency involved were exactly the same as her own. She went over the information again, but it didn’t change. Something was wrong here. It had to be. But there was nothing she could do about it tonight.
Putting aside that disturbing information, Makay loaded the video she’d taken of Lenny onto her computer. She reviewed the clip five times, and only after figuring out how to zoom in did she
think
she caught sight of a folded square of paper in his hand. Was that a note he picked up? There certainly wasn’t anything there after he passed, but she’d had the camera pointed at him and not at the car until he passed it so she didn’t know if something had been there before. Did that car belong to the target whose birth child had been born on the same day as Makay? Or had Lenny been there for a completely different reason?
One thing was certain: she had to find out more about the target.
At fifteen, after tracing her birth to Phoenix by means of the Internet and a little creative subterfuge, she’d turned to Lenny in the hope of discovering more. He’d given her the name of the hospital and the adoption agency, but the birth certificate he’d found had been altered and he had no more to offer. He’d promised to keep looking, and she’d spent two years under his spell, bouncing between friends or living in a cheap motel, paying her way with money she earned from his schemes. She’d also gone to school, forging excuse letters when she went out of town for a job with Lenny. That she somehow managed to graduate from high school had nothing to do with her father or stepmother.
Lenny knew her birth date, and he would have recognized the name of the hospital.
If it’s a coincidence, why didn’t he say anything?
A tremor shuddered through her. He’d said this file had an actual client, and Makay had felt sorry for her. What was he playing at? Was this a way to somehow secure her cooperation?