A Profiler's Case for Seduction - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,4
seemed to pierce through her, as if he could ferret out secrets by merely looking deep into her eyes. And she had a lifetime of secrets about who she had been, about where she had come from, secrets that she wasn’t about to share with anyone ever.
“Divorced a long time ago,” she replied. “And before I moved here and began my higher education, I was working as a waitress and going nowhere fast.”
“It’s admirable that you decided to make a change,” he said encouragingly.
“Thanks.” She looked down at the tabletop and tried not to remember that it hadn’t really been her who had made the decision that she needed to make a change, but rather two people who cared about her.
She gazed at him once again. “What about you? Married? Single?”
“Single and divorced,” he replied with a quicksilver frown that danced across his forehead and then quickly disappeared. “This kind of job isn’t conducive to relationships. During my brief marriage I saw more of my team members than my wife, Sarah.”
“That’s too bad.”
He smiled. “Actually, we parted as good friends. I have my work and she has hers as a journalist in Dallas, and we share a three-year-old daughter.” His smile faded and the focus in his eyes grew hazy.
“What’s her name?” Dora asked.
He didn’t reply. It was as if he were lost to the here and now, lost to place and time. “Agent Flynn?”
His eyes regained focus and he straightened in his chair. “Sorry about that. I tend to get lost in my head sometimes, and please, make it Mark.”
“I asked about your daughter’s name,” Dora said.
“Grace. Her name is Grace.”
“That’s nice. So, you’re from Dallas?”
He nodded. “A little apartment in Dallas is my legal address, but I’m not there very much. I’ll only be here in Vengeance until we wrap up these murders by getting the guilty in custody.”
She’d understood that the moment he’d identified himself as an FBI agent. In town to do a job and then he’d get back to his life in Dallas, a life that had nothing to do with hers here in Vengeance. Once again she recognized that this was safe...he was safe and wouldn’t screw her up with a single cup of coffee.
No matter how attracted she was to him, he wouldn’t be around to tempt her into old, bad habits that would derail her. She could never allow that to happen.
“So, are you also investigating Professor Grayson’s kidnapping?” she asked.
“We’re all working to seek answers both in the murders and kidnapping case.”
“Why were you at the lecture this morning?” she asked, curious about his presence in the theater.
“The topic of sociopaths always grabs my attention. I just stopped in on a whim, but a phone call vibrated my phone and I had to leave to take the call.”
“Would you like my notes from the lecture?”
He smiled at her, the smile that wove heat through her entire body. “I suddenly feel like I’m nineteen again and sharing notes with the sharpest mind in the class.”
Dora laughed. “Sharpest mind. Wow, I definitely have you fooled.”
“I doubt it,” he countered easily. “I saw how diligently you were taking notes and it’s not the slackers who take a lecture so seriously.”
A blush rose into her cheeks as she saw the approval in his eyes. “I take my education very seriously.”
“As you should,” he agreed, and took another sip of his coffee.
Dora checked her watch. “I also take my job at the bookstore very seriously since it is part of what pays the tuition, and unfortunately, I’ve got to go.” Although she still had a few minutes to spare she felt the need to escape his disconcerting and gorgeous blue gaze and the sexy curl of his smile.
She stood and grabbed her laptop and her purse and then lifted the foam cup of the remainder of her drink. “Thanks for the coffee.”
He also got to his feet. “Thanks for the company,” he replied. “This has been a pleasant break from business as usual.”
“But it’s time to get back to business as usual,” Dora said briskly. He followed her outside the coffee shop and they stood for a moment on the sidewalk.
“I’ll guess I’ll see you around campus,” she said. “Thanks again for the coffee.”
“You’re welcome.” He murmured a goodbye as she turned to head in the direction of the bookstore. She could swear she felt his gaze burning in the center of her back until she turned left on the sidewalk that would take her out