them and held out a bouquet of what looked like a somewhat motley assortment of wildflowers and weeds to her. “These are, uh… these are for you.”
Tentatively, she took them, blinking at him over the tops of the bedraggled stems. “What are these for?”
Clint scratched the top of his dark head, his short hair grazing his fingertips as he looked down sheepishly. “They were Ashley’s idea.”
“We picked them outside just for you!” the little girl said, her smile wide and beaming.
It was so contagious, Tara couldn’t keep from grinning herself. She did love fresh flowers, even slightly-past-their-prime ones like these. Ashley tugged free of her dad and walked over to Tara, staring up at her with wide eyes. “Do you like them?”
“Yes, I do. Thank you for picking them for me.” She crouched down in front of the little girl. “How have you been?”
“Good!” Ashley looked around the office, then at Tara’s arm. “How’s your bullet wound?”
“Uh, sweetpea,” Clint said, stepping up behind his daughter and taking her by the shoulders. “Maybe you can go over there and sit on the sofa and play with your iPad for a minute while Daddy talks to Ms. Crumb?”
“Her name’s Tara, Dad,” Ashley said, rolling her eyes like he was the silliest person ever. “And my battery’s low. I need a plug.”
“Um, right.” Clint tugged his daughter over to the small loveseat against the far wall of her office, right next to an outlet, then pulled a power cord out of his pocket and got Ashley plugged in and situated before coming back to stand in front of Tara. “I’m sorry about all this. I just really wanted to talk to you about what happened at the rally. If you have a minute, that is.”
“Oh. Sure. Okay.” She gestured toward the empty chair in front of her desk that Judy had occupied earlier. Tara slid into her own seat, glad for the desk between her and him. Not that she thought he was dangerous—well, not in a likely-to-attack-her sort of way. But damn, he was way too good-looking for his own good. Hers too, and keeping some distance from him was probably a good thing, considering her core had gone all tingly at the first sight of him. “How did you find me here?”
“Well, actually, I tracked you down through the company roster.” He gave a self-deprecating grin and her stupid heart flip-flopped. Tara crossed her arms atop the desk as an added barrier against his mega-watt charms. “Not in a stalker kind of way, just because I’m trying to work out for myself exactly what happened the day of the shooting and wanted to get your perspective on all of it.”
“Daddy,” Ashley said from the loveseat. “I’m bored.”
“Play with your iPad, honey,” Clint called back over his shoulder. “Like Daddy told you.”
“But it’s boring—I’ve already played all the games on here.”
Tara bit her lip at Clint’s uncomfortable expression. He was clearly having a hard time with his kid and she took pity on him. “How about if I ask my assistant to give you a tour around the place, Ashley? Would you like that?”
“Yes!” The little girl bounced off the loveseat, leaving her iPad behind, and raced over to Tara. “Would you really do that? Do you have cool stuff here, like solar panels and water generators and wind turbines too?”
“We do, and my assistant would love to show them to you.” She grinned at the little girl’s enthusiasm. It reminded Tara of herself at that age. True activists were born, not made, she’d always thought. “We’ll need to get your daddy’s okay first, though.”
Clint looked more than eager and relieved to take her up on her offer. “Yes. Absolutely she can go, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Not at all.” Tara made a quick call out to Judy, and soon the woman and Ashley were off to tour the facilities. There would doubtless be some gossip for the rest of the day over the little girl who came to visit Tara’s office—but she could deal with that later. Once they were alone, Tara sat back in her chair again and smiled across her desk at Clint. “Sorry. I just thought our conversation might be better had out of the listening range of smaller ears.”
“No. That’s great. I totally agree.” He crossed one ankle over his knee and rested his beefy forearms atop his muscular thighs. Man, the guy was built like a superhero and seemed just about as perfect too, saving