Beyond Doubt (11 page)

“Food selection has nothing to do with maturity level.”

“It very well may.”

“It’s not like I’m the only one in the world who isn’t into seafood.”

“How do you know if you haven’t even tried it?” The smirk that appeared on his face was far too adorable for his own good, but it did nothing to convince me to try the slippery suckers.

I rolled my eyes.

“The smothered chicken sounds perfect.”

“That’s mature.”

“What?”

“The eye-roll over shellfish.”

“It wasn’t over the shellfish. It was over how very persistent you are. You’re quite controlling.”

“And you’re not? You’re wrapped so tight, I’m worried one false move and you’ll come undone.”

“I just might.” I stuck my tongue out quickly and rolled my eyes again.

And my heart nearly stopped when he did the same, revealing a tongue piercing. His smile grew as he waited for my response, and I saw a glint of silver reflect from his tongue once more. How had I not noticed before? A tongue piercing… a suit with a tongue piercing.

“Brandy, why are you blushing?” he teased.

I opened my mouth and then smacked my lips together, laughing.

He smiled, his eyes fastening on mine. “What’s this I hear about you not liking motorcycles? Have you ever tried riding one?” he asked, changing the topic.

I shook my head quickly, trying to regain clarity. “I’d like to see my thirtieth birthday so I tend to avoid things that might make that impossible.”

He whistled softly.

“What?” I asked.

“That must be a long list you’ve got going.”

“It’s not.”

“I bet it is.”

“It really isn’t.”

“So parachuting is out?” his eyes twinkled.

“Seriously? Come on. Who even acts like that’s part of normal activity?”

He shrugged.

“Are you telling me you’ve jumped out of a plane?”

“Many times. And look, I’ve even lived to tell you about it.”

“What did it feel like?”

“Incredible. The rush is something that’s pretty hard to replicate.”

“Is that why you did it? For the rush?”

“I did it because it was part of my job, but I loved it. The speed the body falls through the air…”

I shuddered just thinking about it.

“Too much?” he asked.

I laughed and nodded.

“So what’s the craziest thing you’ve done?” he asked, leaning back in the chair.

Hmm. The craziest thing I’ve ever done? This was going to be a challenge.

“You got anything?” he asked, snapping my attention back to the question at hand.

“I’ve got one,” I said.

“Spit it out.”

“I went up in a hot air balloon for my eighteenth birthday.” I sat back in my chair, completely satisfied with my answer.

“Not bad. Would you go again?”

He read right through me.

“Absolutely not.”

“I think that’s going to be my duty to you as your newest friend.”

“What?”

“Make you live a little, face your fears…”

I groaned just as the server came to take our orders.

“And it’s going to start with tonight’s meal. We’d both like the Pasta allo Scoglio,” Aaron said, handing our menus to the server.

After the server left, I looked at Aaron, who was completely amused with himself.

“I don’t like being forced into doing things,” I said, unfolding my napkin. “And I’m not afraid of shellfish so this shouldn’t even count. I just don’t like them.” I wanted to be mad at him, but he looked so happy I couldn’t be.

“I’m not forcing you. I’m only giving you a little push,” he replied. “And you can’t say you don’t like them because you’ve never tried them.”

“I don’t have to try them to know I won’t like them.”

“If you could look at me and tell me without a shadow of a doubt that you hated shellfish, riding bikes, and rock climbing then I wouldn’t push you into doing any of them. But by the sounds of it, you’re making an uneducated guess, which doesn’t sound very lawyer-like to me.”

I scowled at him. “How’d you know I’m going into law school?”

“I’ve got my sources,” he replied, his brow arched.

“Cole?” I asked.

“No. Not Cole. Not this time. So how’d you decide to go into law?” His question surprised me.

I glanced at the twinkle lights that outlined the patio and caught a glimpse of someone on the sidewalk staring in my direction. Our eyes met quickly before the shadow of a person darted into the night, leaving me with an uneasy feeling. I turned my attention back to Aaron who was waiting for my response.

“I grew up helping my mom in the non-profit law center she started and I loved it—everything about it. When I was in Junior High, I’d go in after school and help with filing and things like that. My friends thought I was nuts, and I probably was. As I got older, I helped to prepare the documents and quickly became infatuated with the stories that always came along with each case. I just knew I wanted to follow in her footsteps…help people who couldn’t otherwise help themselves. Good legal representation shouldn’t only be reserved for the wealthy, and I feel like so many people get penalized in the courts. I don’t know; I’m probably rambling.”

“No. I get it. I really do,” his voice softened. “It’s really refreshing to meet someone who knows what they want out of life.”

I laughed and took a sip of my wine. “Career-wise, yes. Every other part of my life is still up for debate.”

He laughed, but his eyes wore something else behind his expression.

“What about you? I know you work for your father, but I have no idea doing what or where you’ve been for the last ten years. Gabby mentioned that you and Jason met in the military?”

Aaron nodded and shifted uncomfortably as he debated what to tell me. I could tell his mind was running a mile a minute, and I hoped I’d be able to crack through at some point, someday.

“We did. We both were at a point in our lives where we needed to see the world, really experience it, and the military provided that.” He let out a sigh. “And more.”

The server placed our plates in front of us and asked if there was anything else we needed, which there wasn’t.

“It was a wake-up call for me. I had a pretty easy life up to that point, and I don’t think I really thought everything through when I joined…”

“Yeah?”

He nodded and his eyes darkened with his admission. “But it gave us both the start we needed,” he continued. “One thing I knew for sure when I got out was that I didn’t want to re-up. We had come up with an idea for civilian surveillance using an app, and it turned out to be something that was missing in the marketplace, so we got several lucrative offers. The last one being from my father. Jason wanted the cash and out of it completely. He was never really into the company past the idea. But I wanted to stay on and see the business through. I was able to negotiate that into the sale, and the rest is history.”

“So what do you actually do now that it was brought into the fold of your father’s company?”

“I oversee development and manufacturing.”

I pulled my phone out of my purse and swiped the screen until I came to our home security app.

“Are you telling me that this is yours?” I asked, pushing it in front of him.

He nodded.

“Well, then that explains why Gabby’s father was so quick to put it in our condo. It’s pretty cool. Except that it doesn’t work.” I flashed a smile.

“What do you mean? Are you filing an official complaint?”

“No. I think it’s user error. We screwed it up somehow a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to connect since.”

“I’ll check it out sometime,” he said, finally grabbing his fork and loading it with pasta.

“So you’re more than just a pretty face?”

He cracked a smile and shook his head as he continued eating. I glanced down at my plate and tried to get up enough nerve. As I wound the linguine around my fork, avoiding most of the shellfish, I took a bite and was completely blown away by the flavor.

“This is delicious,” I said.

“I told you I wouldn’t lead you astray.”

“Yet.”

He flashed a grin but his eyes caught something behind me. My stomach knotted at the thought of him being incapable of having one meal without scouting the female selection surrounding us. Fighting the urge to look behind me, I took another swallow of wine and hoped it would help relieve the jealousy that so easily swept in. I had to get over this if we were only friends.

Aaron quickly glanced at me and then back behind me. Unable to hold it in any longer, I waved at him.

“I’m over here.”

His lips broke into a smile. “Yes, you are, and you’re very hard to miss.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what’s so interesting behind me? Or should I ask who?” I raised a brow.

He grinned as his eyes relayed some sort of internal victory.

Damn him!

This friend thing wasn’t going to work. I was an all or nothing kind of girl.

He leaned in close and whispered, “It’s getting late. We should probably get you back home. We can’t let this night turn into anything more.”

And with those words my hidden hope of being more than friends with him were shattered. I nodded and followed him out the restaurant.

Gabby and I piled out of the elevator into our hallway, groceries in hand for our delicious dinner tonight after a grueling workday. I was making chicken fajitas and couldn’t wait. We both worked out at lunch in anticipation of tonight’s meal, and I was just thrilled to have Gabby at home for the night. Since she started seeing Jason, she’d spent most nights there, which was fine since all I seemed to do was study. As we neared our door, I saw a little box on the floor.

“What’s that?” Gabby asked.

I slid the key into the door and stepped over the tiny box, putting the grocery bags on the foyer table.

“I’ll grab it,” I told Gabby as she stepped over it, trying to balance her purse and groceries.

I picked up the box, which was wrapped in gold foil and had a black ribbon crisscrossed on top.

“Looks like chocolates,” I said, grinning. “I guess Jason misses you already.”

Gabby turned around beaming as she held a bag of tortillas. “He’s so sweet.”

I handed her the box and she lifted up the tag.

“Um, Brandy. These aren’t for me. It’s addressed to you and there is no sender.”

My blood turned ice-cold as I shoved the grocery bags onto the counter.

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“No. Why would I be?” she asked, unwrapping the foil.

“Don’t eat them,” I almost barked.

“Why?”

“I’m probably being paranoid, but some weird things have been happening.”

“And now you’re telling me?” Gabby rested her hand on her hip, clearly not pleased.

“You know those flowers I got?”

She nodded.

“I really don’t know who they came from.”

“I thought Shane, your ex, sent them?”

I shook my head. “And I’ve been getting really weird texts and phone calls. At first, I thought maybe it was someone playing a trick on me, but I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Should we go to the police?” Gabby asked.

“And say what? Someone sent me flowers and left a box of chocolates. Can you help?”

Gabby laughed and shook her head. “Good point. But the messages and texts seem like something to report.”

“The messages have been completely nonsensical and never actually addressed to me so it could just be a fluke. Maybe it’s Shane messing with me.”

Gabby’s expression relaxed. “Maybe it is.”

I searched for my cell in my purse and quickly texted Shane, but after I sent the message I knew it made no sense.