Intrigue Me (10 page)

10

L
ISA
WAS
BUSY
typing up notes from what she’d learned from the nanny this morning. It rattled her that she hadn’t remembered the last third of their conversation. If Lisa hadn’t recorded the whole thing she would’ve been screwed. And even more angry with herself for this stupid obsession with Daniel.

She glanced at her cell phone. It was 6:00. He’d be calling her in the next ten minutes or so, right after he finished up at the clinic. They’d texted twice and then agreed upon a time when they could talk. She expected he’d bring up her leaving last night, though she wished he wouldn’t. The more she knew about Daniel and his demons, the stickier things would get between them. And since she hadn’t decided what to do about him or volunteering at the clinic, it was best they stayed away from personal issues.

This was so crazy. It should be a simple decision, a complete no-brainer. So why had she gone back and forth a thousand times since she’d left Logan’s office? Whether she stayed in it for the sex, or cut ties with Daniel right after she did the self-defense thing, the story could end only one way. His true colors would bleed out like a wound. Ironically so would hers. When he found out she’d lied about her name and why she’d been at the clinic...why would he stay?

But none of that had to happen if it was just sex. Sex with no private confession, no expectations, nothing too real. So why not just sex?

Was it ever just sex? He already knew she’d been a cop. However inadvertently, he’d told her about his father, his brother, the Center. No, in the end he’d break her heart.

Oh, God.

That kind of thinking was what really got her in trouble. They didn’t have that kind of relationship, so everybody’s heart was going to stay intact. No worries there as long as they both understood the ground rules.

She blinked at the bleary computer screen. Got up for another soda. Her apartment was so tiny she made it to the fridge in five steps. She really needed to go shopping soon, although her shopping lists were very tiny. Thank God for corner bodegas with their salad bars and ethnic eats.

Oddly, she didn’t resent that she could only afford this broom closet. A place with more natural light would’ve been nice but she was managing just fine.

Her phone rang and she quickly gulped down the mouthful of soda.

“Hello, Dr. Cassidy,” she said, glancing at the time. “You’re wrapping up early.”

“Hey, hold on a second. Another call.”

Lisa took another sip of soda, but he was back before she swallowed.

“Just Eve telling me my brother’s in France at a conference. Anyway, I’m not wrapping up early. Just the opposite. I’ve been running behind all day. Completely your fault, by the way.”

“What did I do?” Lisa spun around in her office chair, feeling the tension leave her body. His tone of voice was upbeat, friendly.

“The kids are all pretending to be Bruce Lee. Hector totally lost control of the waiting area.”

Lisa laughed. “God, I hope you’re kidding.”

“Let’s just say a boy who came in for allergies ended up being treated for a bloody nose and sprained wrist.”

She groaned. “That’s terrible. I don’t know what to say.”

Daniel chuckled. “Hey, at the end of the day, the clinic and everyone involved came out ahead. Did you hear about the guy you took down? According to the police, Kroger wasn’t just a meth addict. He cooked the stuff in a basement three blocks from a middle school.”

“Valeria texted something to that effect. I hope you didn’t mention anything about my being a cop?” The second the words were out of her mouth she wished she could call them back.

“No, Lisa,” he said quietly. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“I do know. Reflex. Sorry.”

“No problem. So, about the list of folks who signed up for your class...”

“Yeah?”

“Add two more.”

“Twenty-four? Jesus. I don’t know if I can even speak loud enough, let alone have all of them work on moves.” She wasn’t kidding. “Are you one of the latecomers?”

Daniel laughed. “That’s a big no.”

“Afraid I’ll show you up?”

“Oh, hell, that’s a given.”

Lisa laughed again. Why was this man so easy to talk to? Doubts, fears, everything seemed to drift away.

“I spoke to Eve yesterday and told her about what happened. Amazingly no one else got to her first. She was speechless.”

“I bet,” Lisa said, careful to keep her voice even. She knew Eve wasn’t a fan of hers and that was okay.

“You don’t understand. I’ve known Eve for ages. She always has a comeback. I told her she should go to your self-defense class.”

“Will she?”

“I doubt it. But she’s glad everyone else is going. Have you decided which evening’s going to work for you?”

“Definitely not tomorrow. Not only do I have to get up at a horrifying hour the following morning, I need some time to put together a plan for the class.”

Silence lasted long enough to give her a bad feeling before he said, “Hey, I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable last night.”

“Stop. I wasn’t uncomfortable. I had a great dinner, I loved your stories, and as for the rest, I think you know how much I enjoyed that. I know I left with just a note, but I honestly had to go home. You see? Everything’s fine.” She took a breath. “No offense, but you need to stop going to restaurants where people know you so well.”

“You’re absolutely right. McDonald’s it is.”

She laughed and he did, too. But it didn’t escape her attention that she’d ignored an ideal window to tell Daniel she couldn’t see him again.

* * *

D
ANIEL
FELT
BETTER
hearing that laugh of hers. “I should be free in an hour. Want to get something to eat?” he asked, hoping she’d say yes, but not counting on it. She did say work was getting intense.

“Tempting as a burger and fries sound, I’m swamped. I’m trying to finish up a report so I’ll have time for the class.”

That made perfect sense but he was still disappointed. God, he was behaving like a child. He wanted Lisa all the time. That was new. And not very pleasant. He liked feeling as though he had the upper hand.

“Where are you?” she asked. “It doesn’t sound like the clinic.”

“I’m out back. There’s an alley with a dubious reputation, but I’m at the entrance, so no muggers yet. Also, someone has chickens, because I hear a lot of clucking.”

“Oh, man, too bad. That sounds like a terrible place to have phone sex.”

He dropped his cell phone but caught it before it hit the ground. “I can throw someone out of an exam room. Won’t be a minute.”

That laugh again. It made his entire day.

“Nah,” she said. “Maybe next time.”

He hadn’t even known that was exactly what he’d wanted to hear. “You bet. Next time.”

* * *

T
HREE
DAYS
AND
A
smattering of text messages and phone conversations with Daniel later, Lisa was still a bundle of nerves as she saw the group of women standing on the grass at Peterson Park. It hadn’t helped that yesterday she’d worked on a stakeout from just after dawn until midnight, and today her attempt at a nap had mostly been her worrying, only horizontally instead of vertically.

On the plus side, the park looked like a great place to hang. There was a legit baseball diamond complete with stands and lots of trees. Lots of picnic tables, too. Most of them filled with families. Little kids were running around with balloons; a few were crying. There’d been a park near her house when she was a kid, and she remembered the feeling of picnics and innocence. Walking past all that helped her shoulders relax and her chest to stop tightening. Then Valeria saw her and waved and in a blink, the tension returned.

She recognized a lot of folks. Mrs. W. to start with, and nurses she’d met and some fellow volunteers. She didn’t know all their names, and when she got closer, she noticed more unfamiliar faces—and there were a lot more than twenty-four. She’d give Valeria grief later.

As she reached the group, she realized that despite his joking around, she’d expected Daniel to be there. The part of her that wasn’t scared to pieces was worryingly disappointed.

“Here she is,” Valeria said, rocking tight gym shorts and a tattered sleeveless white T that showed off her tats. “For those who haven’t met her, this is Lisa Pine. Our resident hero.”

Lisa smiled, but it jarred her to hear the phony name. “Hey, everyone,” she said, raising her voice. “First, can everyone hear me?”

Someone in the back yelled, “We can’t hear you.”

A few minutes later Valeria and Josie, an attractive young woman who turned out to be Valeria’s way more conservative sister, had the group seated in a half wheel with Lisa as the center spoke. Everyone could hear and see her. After one last big breath, Lisa began.

“Here’s the plan,” she said. “I’m going to talk to you awhile about listening to your intuition and how to be vocal in an uncomfortable situation. Then I’ll answer questions if you have them, and finally I’ll show you some basic moves that are easy to master and have saved a lot of women.

“A very smart man who’s a leader in the field of self-protection often starts his lectures by asking, ‘If you heard there was a weapon proven to prevent most crimes before they happen, would you run out and buy it?’ The truth is, you already own it. He calls it ‘the gift of fear,’ but I prefer to call it ‘the gift of intuition.’

“Who here has ever had an experience where you felt something was off about a person or a situation, but you didn’t want to make waves, or look like a jerk, but in the end, things really did go wrong?”

Every hand rose.

“The trick to learning how to trust your intuition is to think of it as your secret weapon. First comes the feeling. It might be a strange sensation in your gut, or the hairs on the back of your neck might stand up. Intuition is your body’s early warning system and it’s your subconscious at work. In nanoseconds, your awesome brain, which does most of its heavy lifting without you being aware, notes body language, smells something weird, hears a sound that doesn’t fit, and makes you feel uncomfortable. The problem isn’t that you don’t have intuitive feelings and thoughts. It’s that we’re trained to ignore them. Dismiss them.”

Everyone seemed interested. Most of the women were leaning forward, nodding. It felt pretty wonderful, which she hadn’t expected. She’d given a few talks at schools when she’d been in uniform. Mostly about stranger danger, but also about drugs or sometimes about being a cop. She’d liked those assignments because she’d felt they made a difference.

The rest of the talk seemed to fly by. At first she asked the ladies to hold their questions, but she gave that up quickly. It wasn’t orderly and there was a surprising amount of laughter, but it was all good. Really good. Until she was in the middle of explaining some of the different types of martial arts, and one of the nurses, Beverly, let loose an ear-shattering wolf whistle, exactly the kind they’d discussed during the discussion on harassment. A few others started catcalling at someone behind her.

She spun around and her heart did a little flip. It was Daniel, dressed in normal gym shorts and a short-sleeved T. He looked good. A little pale, but the definition in his legs made up for it.

The noise settled pretty quickly, though, with everyone still in the semicircle. When Daniel joined Lisa he said, “I’m so glad I didn’t disturb the lesson. That would have been terrible.”

“Sorry, Dr. Cassidy,” Beverly said with a grin. “None of us knew what great legs you had.”

“That’s amusing, Ms. Chin.” He shook his head at all the laughter, then faced Lisa. “I apologize. I really didn’t think I’d bring the proceedings to a crashing halt.”

“Not at all. You’re the vital piece this class was missing.”

From the tilt of his head and the half grin, he knew something was up. “Vital piece, huh?”

“I was just about to show some basic self-defense moves, and I needed someone to help me demonstrate them.”

“You mean you need a punching bag?” He sounded resigned.

“There won’t be any punching. I promise.”

He shook his head but she knew he’d be a great sport. So did everyone else, it seemed, by the look of glee on their faces. At the clinic, most everyone treated him with a respectful distance, and he was the only doctor not called by his first name, but he didn’t seem to mind the teasing.

Lisa instructed everyone to stand, and while they got to their feet at varying speeds, she took advantage of the moment and whispered to Daniel, “Are you up for this? I shouldn’t have volunteered you.”

He leaned in close. Close enough that she felt his breath on her cheek. And said, “Bring it.”

* * *

D
ANIEL
TORE
HIS
gaze away from Lisa’s skintight leggings and bright pink T-back sleeveless shirt. So far he’d managed not to get an erection. But he was definitely playing with fire. The glint of challenge in her steely blue eyes didn’t help. Hell, he thought being an hour late was enough. The next half hour was going to be a long one.

He put his doctor smile on. The one he used for meetings. It didn’t matter that he wanted to grab Lisa’s hand and start running. Nowhere in particular. The first place they found where they could kiss as long as they liked.

Someone laughed about something, bringing him back to reality. To the fact that they were most definitely not alone.

“Dr. Cassidy, could you come over here, please?”

He walked closer to the group and to Lisa. “The most vulnerable places on a body begin at the head. Eyes, ears, nose and neck. Then we move down to the groin, the knees and finally the legs and feet. The position of the attacker and how close or far he is makes all the difference. If he’s close and within striking distance, you could strike his nose with your hand or knee him in the junk. Sorry, Doctor.”

“No problem,” he said, absolutely certain there was a very big problem.

“These are a couple of moves that you should practice,” Lisa said, paying him no mind. “Not on a person unless you’re in a certified self-defense class. I used to practice in the mirror. It looked stupid, but it worked. Or you can help each other, as long as you remember to move slowly and carefully. Like this.”