was a hard no. She obviously hadn’t been paying attention to what he was saying with both words and body language if she thought he was so easily pushed away. She kept on talking as she moved toward the street. “This was a one-time deal.”
“I don’t think so,” Carl told her, confidence radiating off of him. “I tend to get what I want.”
She stopped and looked at him, her arm in the air as she waited for a cab. She looked absolutely adorable — and utterly out of place in her expensive suit and shoes. She gave him a confident smile, a smile he was sure she aimed toward her opponents in court.
“You better prepare for disappointment, Mr. Schwartz, because I don’t do what I don’t want to do.” A victorious smile shaped her lips as a cab pulled up.
Before she could reach for the door, he stepped up to the car, opening it for her. She gave him a roll of her eyes before she slipped inside, and then he leaned down, way down, getting his face very close, their breaths heating each other’s lips. He was utterly satisfied when her breath hitched and her eyes widened.
“I’ve been disappointed in life. I won’t be where you’re concerned,” he promised.
He didn’t allow her to reply. He simply shut the door, gave a couple of knocks on top of the vehicle, and the cab drove away. He smiled, knowing she had to be seething that he hadn’t allowed her the last word.
A smile was resting on his lips as he watched the cab speed away. He was interrupted from his smug thoughts as a familiar voice spoke. “I haven’t seen a man hold my daughter’s attention for that long in . . . well, forever.”
Carl turned to find Bobbi leaning against the side of the building, puffing on a cigarette as she smiled. She seemed to be stunned and impressed at the same time. He tended to have that effect on people.
“That’s because she hadn’t met me yet,” he said as he moved to stand next to her. “Do you have any advice for me?”
She laughed, then inhaled and sighed before releasing a large puff of smoke. “I keep trying to quit these damn things, and I do great at home, but then I come to work and smell them, and it’s all over,” she said with a laugh.
He nodded. He knew all about addictions. He’d watched many of his brothers and sisters suffer with them after all they saw on the battlefield. It had broken his heart to the core when his sister had overdosed. He struggled with the flash of that memory until Bobbi’s voice started up again.
“The best advice I can give is that her bark is so much worse than her bite,” she said as she put the cigarette out in the ashtray and walked back inside without saying anything more.
Carl walked away, his place a couple of miles from the bar. It was a beautiful night, and he was up for the walk. It would give him time to think. He wasn’t sure what was drawing him toward this woman, or where that was leading him, but he was sure she’d be at that bar the next night — and he was going to be there.
This had become about more than just one court case. This was a woman he needed to know more. He didn’t know why, but he had to know her. Hopefully that ebbed pretty dang quick. He shrugged internally. It always ebbed. The voice in the back of his mind was telling him the draw had never been this strong before though.
He ignored that voice. This would pass just as life continued to pass every single day no matter how much a person tried to stop it.
Chapter Five
The hospital waiting room was utter chaos, which was nothing new. In downtown Seattle there was always something happening, whether it was illness, accidents, or uprisings. The bottom line was the hospitals were filled to capacity a lot more than anyone would like.
Brooke Anderson led Joseph to a large waiting area where they managed to find a few empty seats. He was running on autopilot, allowing Brooke to take the lead. He was so panicked at losing his wife he could barely stand, let alone walk and think about where he was going.
“Sit, Joseph. We’ll know something soon,” Brooke gently told him.
He glanced down, the seats blurring before him, then he turned and sat, hoping