Chapter Fourteen

Once they were roughly ten miles from Indianapolis, Leah pulled up directions to the nearest Portillo’s and cued up her GPS.

“This will take us straight there,” she announced.

A half-hour later, they’d placed their orders and were waiting for their food. When their number was called, she beamed.

“I’ll be right back,” Larry said, and promptly returned with her chopped salad and his Italian beef sandwich.

“I propose a toast,” she said, raising her lemonade. “To surviving crazy exes.”

He clinked his glass against hers, and added, “And here’s to new beginnings.”

As they ate, they learned more about each other.

“I’m originally from Texas,” Leah told him. “I was born in Killeen, but we moved all over the place; my dad was Army, too. When he retired from the service we settled in Tulsa.”

“What made you choose Chicago for college?”

“It wasn’t my first choice,” she said. “But I got a scholarship that covered the first two years of school, so, it was kind of a no-brainer at that point.”

“I can see how that would influence the decision,” he admitted, and she grinned.

“But I can’t handle the winters up there,” Leah said, and shrugged. “As soon as I’m done with my degrees, I’m out of there.”

“Where were you planning on going?”

“Back to Texas, actually. Out of everywhere we lived, Texas was my favorite.”

“Interesting.”

“What about you? Where are you from?”

“Born and raised in Tampa, Florida. I’m the oldest of four - two brothers and one sister. It was never quiet at my parents’ house growing up. I’m amazed they survived all that noise with their sanity intact, to be honest.”

Leah grinned.

“Sounds like fun, though. I was an only child.”

“Maybe you can meet them sometime,” Larry said. “They’re a lot of fun.”

Wait… I’m confused. I thought there was a spark there, and then I kiss him and get no reaction, and now he mentions meeting his family?

“What?” he asked, seeing her frown.

“Nothing,” she said, “I just noticed I’m low on lemonade. Be right back.”

***

Leah got up and left the table abruptly, and Larry was left pondering what had just turned sideways between them.

She returned and they finished their meal, then walked out to the truck.

“Ready to keep going?” he asked, and she nodded as she put on her seat belt.

Uh, oh. What did I goof up? he wondered.

“You okay?”

“Sure,” she said, a little too brightly.

“Okay,” he replied, and backed out of their parking space.

But I know that tone, he thought, and things are not okay.

***

They had traveled another fifty miles when Leah cleared her throat.

“Um,” Leah stammered, flustered, and Larry glanced over.

“You all right?”

“No…yes… I guess, what I mean is…” she trailed off.

“Leah,” he murmured. “Just talk to me.”

“I just… I kissed you last night.”

Now Larry’s lips curved into a smile.

“Yes, you did. And?”

“And I was thinking… maybe I shouldn’t have.”

“Oh.” His smile faded.

“Man, I am messing this up,” she muttered under her breath, and tried again.

“I didn’t kiss you just to make you feel better. And I didn’t kiss you because of what I told you. I kissed you because I wanted to.”

“Okay, so, why are you saying you shouldn’t have? I’m confused.”

“Well, I kissed you, and well, you just… kind of… sat there. So, I’m thinking maybe you didn’t want me to, and I made you uncomfortable?”

He whipped his head to the right to stare at her.

“You think I didn’t want to kiss you?”

“Well… yeah,” Leah turned her face to the passenger side window.

“And if not, that’s okay. I thought there was something going on between us, but, I mean, if you don’t feel what you don’t feel… but then, you mention maybe meeting your family? So now, I am completely confused. Are we just agent and roommate-of-target, or friends, or what?”

The screech of tires had her looking over at him as he swiftly took the next exit, traveling down the service road until he found a strip mall parking lot, and turned in to the first empty spot he came to.

He shifted the truck into park as she nervously twisted her hands in her lap, looking out the window again.

“Hey,” he said softly, and she slowly turned her head to face him.

When she did, Larry cupped her face in his hands and planted a passionate kiss on her mouth that took her breath away.

He pulled away, but only to rest his forehead on hers.

“Leah, I’ve wanted to kiss you since the very first moment I saw you,” he said. “But I’ve had to hold back, for two reasons.”

“Okay… the reasons being?”

“One, I’m still on the job here. Until I get everyone at Creach & Langford into custody, I have to stay focused. If I don’t, the situation still poses a risk – to Shannon, and now also to you, because I care very much about you. And the wrong people could use that, use you to get to me. Does that make sense?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “What’s the second reason?”

“I thought you didn’t like me,” he said simply. “And who in their right mind would try to kiss someone they think hates them? Surefire way to get slapped, if you ask me.”

She giggled.

“So, what about last night? I would have thought that would have cleared up the second reason, at least.”

“Honestly? Last night, you shocked the hell out of me. All I could think was ‘man, this gorgeous woman is kissing me. She must really need her eyes checked’. By the time I realized it was intentional on your part, you’d gone inside.”

She laughed.

“You’re a goofball.”

“One hundred percent. But don’t ever, ever think I’m not interested in you romantically, Leah. Because you’d be so very, very wrong.”

“Okay,” she smiled, and kissed him again before pulling back. “Okay. So, now what?”

“We’re going to my office, and we’ll need to play it straight,” he said. “We found one leak. That doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be more. Everyone I work with, even Bruce, needs to think that you and I are interacting in a professional capacity only, agent to material witness, or as you put it, agent to roommate-of-target. Okay? It’s the only way I know I can keep you safe until this case goes to court besides take you back to the farm.”

“And after that? After all the bad guys are rounded up?”

“After that, be prepared to be kissed. A lot.”

She smiled.

“I can hold out until then.”

“Ready to keep going?”

“I’m not the one who skidded us into a parking spot,” she teased, and he laughed.

“Hey, I needed to put a certain misconception to rest, and I didn’t think you’d appreciate me kissing you while driving seventy miles an hour,” he shot back with a grin.

“Fair point. Onward.”

***

Thirty miles from his office, he picked up her hand and kissed it tenderly, then set it back down.

“What was that for?” Leah asked, even as she was glowing from his affection.

“Trying to stock up on how kissing you feels, to get me through while we’re in game mode,” Larry told her honestly, and made her heart do that crazy double-thump thing again.

He glanced over at her, and grinned.

“You have about twenty-five miles to stop blushing.”

“I’m working on it. Stop making me feel so good, will ya?”

Ten miles out, she could feel the shift in his demeanor, the emotional equivalent of discarding worn jeans to shrug on an impeccably tailored three-piece suit.

“Almost there,” he muttered.

“We can do this,” she assured him, even following up with, “Agent Fuller,” in her most professionally detached voice.

The corner of his mouth twitched.