Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) - By Elizabeth Ruston Page 0,30
so don’t push me today. And I’d better see you doing your rosary or whatever that is for an afternoon slot.”
But when the schedule for the preliminary rounds was finally announced, Sarah groaned and dropped her forehead against Mickey’s chest. “Ten-thirty? Why?”
Mickey wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in close. Sarah lifted her head up again and gave it a hard shake.
“Okay, we can do this,” she said, extricating herself from Mickey’s arms. “I just need about fifty more cups of coffee.”
She went in search of Ellen to get a ride back to the hotel. Both of them still needed to change and get ready.
Ellen was busy arguing with Joe. “I told you you should have stayed with us!”
“What’s the problem?” Sarah asked.
“Our argument’s not until eleven,” Ellen said. “We’d still have time for one more practice, but Mr. Defiant here is at some hotel way on the other side of town, and won’t be able to get back until right before we go on.”
Joe looked at Sarah and shrugged.
But there was something about the look he gave her that she didn’t quite understand.
“Ellen, we need to get ready,” Sarah said. “Let’s go.”
“In a minute,” Ellen said. “I want to go look at the list first.”
“We already know who we’re all paired with—” Sarah started to say.
“I can take you,” Joe interrupted.
“No,” Ellen told him. “You’ll be too late. Just go back and change and meet me here as soon as you can.”
Joe ignored her and kept his eyes on Sarah. “Ready to go now?”
“Yes.”
The idea of getting away from Ellen even for the space of a short car ride to the hotel sounded too good to pass up. Even being free of Mickey for a little while would be good for Sarah’s nerves. She needed quiet and solitude, without people picking at her and talking to her. Burke didn’t seem to need to fill the air with noise. And he wasn’t constantly touching her the way Mickey was lately.
“I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” she told Mickey. “The three of us can ride back together.”
“Okay, but I’ll need at least an hour to do my hair and makeup,” Ellen warned her. “So try to be out of the bathroom before I get back.”
Try not to strangle you with my bare hands, Sarah thought, but she was too tired to bother answering.
“Ready?” Joe asked her.
Sarah led the way from the room.
Once they were in the car, she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. “I hope this isn’t too out of your way.”
“It’s not,” he said. “My hotel’s right next to yours.”
Sarah looked over at him. “But I thought you were way across town?”
Joe gave her a look back.
“Oh,” she said, smiling for the first time that day. “You just don’t want to have to practice again.”
“Would you?”
“God, no,” Sarah said.
They rode in silence for a few minutes before Joe said, “I tried to get you, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“As a partner. I was going to ask you at our first Moot Court meeting, but Hughes beat me to it.”
“Really?” A warmth flushed over Sarah’s face. But her nerves were still too raw to enjoy the sensation. She felt ready to jump out of her skin.
“So I did the next best thing and signed up for the same competition.”
“Joe, are you serious?”
“Hundred percent.”
“That’s . . . nice. But why?”
“You’re great at this,” Joe said. “I like watching what you do. I think we would have made an unbeatable team.”
“I like watching you, too,” Sarah admitted. She leaned back against the headrest again and closed her eyes. “Oh, well.” She tried to make it sound light, but the regret actually felt heavy.
“But we’re here now,” Joe said. “So let’s make the best of it.”
“How?” Sarah asked, yawning.
“For one thing, you can come take a nap in my room.”
***
She protested, but only a little. Joe waited in the car while Sarah returned to her room and quickly gathered up her suit and all her toiletries. Then he drove them the extra five minutes to the hotel where he was staying.
“This isn’t some trick, is it, Joe?” she asked as he let her into his room. “Because if it is . . . ”
He flipped on the light. “We have a little less than two hours before I should take you back. How long will you need to get ready?”