Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,93

wouldn’t be a problem.

Now she was back in Houston, waiting for the furniture truck to arrive. Ready to start her new job, her new life.

Waiting for the regret to set in.

She had left Los Angeles, given up the near-perfect weather and living a few blocks from the beach. But in truth, she’d been ready to leave long before now. Aside from Laura, she’d made only a few close friends, most of them at work. She would miss Mary Wilson and her neighbors Penny and David, a young couple who lived next door.

After she and Michael had broken up, she’d been ready to make a change, find a new challenge. Then Laura had gotten sick and needed Claire’s help. After her friend had died, there had been Sam’s welfare to consider, getting him settled somewhere while she tried to secure an adoption.

Then Sam had disappeared and Claire had been desperate. Once she’d come to know Ben, she had realized living with his dad would be the best option for Sam. While Ben had been home recovering from the shooting in El Paso, Claire had started making arrangements to move to Houston.

She had made a promise to Laura. She owed it to Sam.

The only real drawback was Ben. Every time she thought of him, her heart hurt. She’d known she was falling in love with him. The moment he had stepped off the boat with Sam in his arms, she had fallen completely over the edge.

She was in love with Ben Slocum. And it was never going to work.

Determined not to think about him, Claire set the potted plant up on one end of the breakfast bar. If it weren’t for Sam, she could go back to L.A., or perhaps somewhere else, but the truth was, Sam needed her.

The only real surprise was that Ben seemed to need her, too. Not that he would ever admit it.

Claire turned at the sound of a knock at the door. The apartment was on the first floor of a two-story complex with a shady yard out in front. Each unit had a single-car garage, and the unit was roomy, with two bedrooms and two full baths, a modern kitchen with granite countertops and a breakfast nook. The living room and dining area had sliding glass doors out to a small enclosed patio.

When the weather warmed up, she looked forward to using the apartment-complex pool, something she hadn’t had in L.A.

The knock sounded again and she started for the door. She expected the moving van to arrive within the hour, but she hadn’t heard the truck pull up. Instead, when she opened the door, Michael Sullivan stood on the porch.

“Hello, Claire.”

Surprise hit her. She had forgotten how handsome he was, how boyishly appealing he could look with a lock of brown hair falling over his eyes and a smile tipping up the corners of his mouth. “Michael. For heaven’s sake, what are you doing in Texas?”

“May I come in?”

“Of course.” She stepped back, inviting him inside. “My furniture hasn’t even arrived yet. It’s supposed to be here this afternoon.”

Dressed in khakis and a yellow polo shirt, Michael carefully wiped his feet on the mat and walked into the apartment. She couldn’t help thinking of Ben, his face streaked with black paint and covered head to foot in swamp water, hard-edged and tough, more masculine and appealing than any man had a right to be.

“I went to see you when I got back to L.A.,” Michael said. “The landlord told me you’d moved to Houston.”

“Sam’s here,” she said lamely, as if that were answer enough.

“You said the guy in your apartment that night was his father. Why isn’t Sam living with him?”

“He is, but...it’s complicated.”

“I realize you and Laura were close. But isn’t giving up your job and moving to another state a little over-the-top?”

She stiffened. “I promised Laura I’d look after Sam. It’s a promise I intend to keep.”

“What about Slocum? I know the two of you traveled across the country together looking for the boy.”

“How did you know about that?”

“I know a lot of things, Claire. I know about Sam’s abduction. I know Slocum and a guy named Tyler Brodie found him and brought him back. You were with them. I’m a reporter, remember?”

“Then you understand why I moved to Houston.”

He glanced around the near-empty apartment. “You aren’t living with him. Are the two of you involved?”

“No.”

“Yes.” Ben appeared in the doorway and pushed open the door. She hadn’t realized she had left it ajar.