Sabrina's Clan by Tracy Cooper-Posey Read Free Book Online Page B

faint blush on her cheeks
    “Hey,” he said, working to keep his voice low and non-threatening.
    She glanced at him and stepped into the skirt. “I have a breakfast meeting,” she said.
    It might even be true. For a woman her age to be made a director of anything spoke of wholesale dedication to her career. She wasn’t marking time until she got married and had kids, which many women were who would rather die than admit it out loud.
    “Sabrina,” he said, trying again.
    She pulled her shirt on and turned to look at him with a resigned expression.
    “Last night was great,” he said gently.
    “It was,” she agreed evenly. There was wariness in her eyes.
    “And now it’s tomorrow,” he said.
    She glanced at the clock. “Damn,” she muttered and started buttoning the shirt.
    He wasn’t going to be able to compete with the clock or her priorities, he realized. So he got to his feet and moved to stand in front of her. He considered for a moment grabbing a robe and covering up, because naked would put the wrong emphasis on what he wanted to say, but he didn’t know where his robe was. He wasn’t sure he still had one. It had been a long time since he’d used it, if he did.
    She bit the corner of her lip and looked at him again. Even with only traces of makeup left, her big, black eyes were still the most arresting feature she had, among a whole swag of more than stellar attributes, including her ability to slap down a challenge and shame a man into trying to win against her.
    “I don’t know what last night was,” he said carefully. “Not even on my side of it. It came out of nowhere.”
    She let out a breath and nodded. “It did.”
    Her admission felt like a tiny victory to him. He held back his reaction. She was on a tight leash as it was. “What happens now…if anything happens now…I’m going to leave up to you,” he said carefully. “Call me. Don’t call me. I’ll cooperate either way.”
    For the first time since she had woken, she looked at him with something close to frankness. “ So romantic,” she breathed.
    He nodded. “It’s not supposed to be. Look, you were dealing with something last night, something that has nothing to do with me. Not yet, anyway. I think…no, I know that for a little while, I helped. Yes?”
    Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to. It was basic trial procedure, one of the few things he had retained from his dusty and interrupted legal training. Only now he was feeling his way, going on instinct. Sabrina defied stereotypes and he had no idea how to deal with her other than making it up as he went. She was that different.
    A small smile touched the corner of her generous mouth, lifting it. “Yes, you helped,” she admitted. “Although that wasn’t why I—”
    He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I know that,” he said quickly. “I don’t think either of us knows why we ended up here. We did, though. It was good. It was better than good, Sabrina.”
    She was back to studying him with her big eyes, not letting a sliver of her feelings or thoughts show. He imagined there were directors sitting across the board table from her who had faced that expression and felt just as lost.
    He ploughed on. All he could do was finish saying what he wanted to say, then leave it up to her. “I don’t know what was going on. It wasn’t just sex and I’d like a chance to figure out what the rest of it was. That is, if you’re at all interested in finding out, too.”
    There, he’d said it.
    She frowned and opened her mouth to speak and he knew she was going to do the “it’s been great” speech. Disappointment speared him.
    It was also when his phone rang, out in the kitchen, where he had dropped it on top of his jacket last night. He wasn’t sure if the perfect timing was a positive or a negative. “I’ll be right back. It’s just… I have to take the call. There aren’t a lot of people who have my phone number and none of them call