“Good enough, but keep in touch. I’ll be taking Peyton by the hospital to check on her sister and I’ll see if anything’s rattled Wagner’s cage. First, though, we’re going to take another look at the place where the hit-and-run happened. If any of you find anything at all, no matter how insignificant it might be, give me a shout.”
“By the way, the other leads you suggested we check out? Nothing there.”
“Good. Excellent. Thanks. Keep at it.”
“Okay. We’ll call if we hit pay dirt anywhere.”
Blaze disconnected and put the phone in his pocket. When he rose, he held out his hand to Peyton, wrapping it around hers. Instead of heading toward the exit, though, he stood there for a moment, studying her.
“What?” She frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“I hope not.” He blew out a breath. “Listen, Peyton. I just have to get this out there.”
Every muscle in her body tightened. What’s wrong?
“Get what out?”
“If I was out of line before with that kiss, just tell me now. I committed to handling this case for you and that’s the priority. I’m damn sure no one else can or will want to cut through the bullshit out there like Galaxy. Plus somebody’s throwing some muscle into this to keep people from doing just that. We want to do this, and I know we can.”
She studied his face. “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”
“But I don’t want there to be a problem between us. I never come on to clients like that. None of us do. It’s an unwritten rule. If you want one of my partners to take over, I’ll just step aside. You won’t even have to deal with me. Just please tell me everything’s okay and that I didn’t overstep.”
She stared at him for a moment, stunned at how nervous he was about it, then burst out laughing. He stared at her until she finally stopped and caught her breath.
“Sorry. I think that was all the tension catching up with me. No, you weren’t out of line. Not even a little. In case you didn’t notice, I was as into it as you were. Is it something I usually do? Absolutely not. Is this a normal situation? Again, no. Would I change one thing I did? No once more.” She stopped and caught her breath. “This whole business is throwing things out of whack, but I am not one bit sorry about that kiss. I wanted it as much as you did, and you have to know it wasn’t one-sided. Not by any means, so don’t apologize. If it makes you think less of me, well, I can’t help it.”
She halted, silently telling herself it was time to shut up.
Blaze let out a long breath then smiled and stroked his fingers down her cheek.
“This is so off the wall for me,” he said. “Maybe I jumped in with both feet, but I’m not walking away from it, and I’m glad you aren’t, either.” He brushed a light kiss on her mouth. “Damn glad.”
She smiled. “Good.”
“Okay, then.” In the next minute, he was all business again. “Listen, Peyton. Before we hit the hospital, I want to drive by the scene where the disaster happened. Rocket checked it out already, but I want to see for myself. You up for a ride, or you want me to take you back to be with your sister now?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I want to go with you. I looked at it as well, but I want to know what you see from your perspective.”
“Then let’s go see what we can find out.”
He held her hand as they walked to his car. For the first time since she’d received that phone call in the middle of the night, Peyton began to think that they would find answers and someone would be made to pay for what happened. As they headed back into the city, she pulled out her cell and called the hospital.
She glanced at Blaze while she hit the speed dial for the number.
“I know it’s a waste of time, but I always call for reports when I’m away from Brianne for any length of time. If anything happened, they’d contact me right away.”
“Not a waste if it puts your mind at ease. Brianne’s situation is so unpredictable. She could wake up any time, right?”
She breathed a sigh of relief when the nurse she spoke with told her there had been no change in Brianne’s condition.