I continued giving her pointers and helped her practice for a good fifty minutes. “Okay, let’s do one more before we’re done for the day. What would you do if someone came up behind you and grabbed you in a threatening bear-hug move?” I demonstrated by standing behind her and wrapping my arms around her front. I waited for her answer, expecting her to say she would struggle or kick.
“You smell entirely too good. It’s so distracting.” Her tone was light-hearted and playful, but there was a serious undertone.
Despite wanting to remain composed, my mouth quirked up on one side in a lopsided grin. That was not what I had expected her to say, and I had to wipe the smile off my face before I responded in kind. If I encouraged any flirting, this could go south really fast. “Come on, be serious. I’m attacking you. What do you do next?”
“Hmm, let me think.” There was laughter in her voice, and I had the sense she was stalling so I’d keep my arms around her. Admittedly, it felt nice to hold her like this, and for just a moment, I allowed myself to relish the feeling. Alarm bells started going off in my head as the seconds passed. Danger. Danger. Time to get as far away as possible. Suddenly, I let go of her and walked to the other side of the room, running a hand through my hair. “You’re good for now. We’ll come back to this one another day.”
Her eyes widened, and she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?”
“Nah, you’re fine.” I kicked an invisible pebble and looked anywhere but at her eyes. “We’ll pick up where we left off next time.”
“Sure, okay.” She shrugged and lowered her head as if disappointed. “I’m sorry if I—”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” I smiled, not wanting her to think I was rejecting her outright. I wasn’t, but we couldn’t continue like that as long as she was a client.
And then I was completely blindsided by a question that came to me, appearing out of nowhere. When she was no longer my client…what then?
Could I see myself with someone like Kayla Keller?
Chapter 10
Kayla
I’ve uncovered something terrible, and now I have to find the courage to go to the police.
I read the words, trying to make sense of them. What did Daniel find out? And was it somehow related to his death? Those thoughts circled through my mind again and again until I wanted to scream. Why hadn’t he written more? I had no clue where to even begin with this.
Well, that wasn’t completely true. The obvious place to look first was his job since that was where he spent most of his time, but it seemed unlikely that it would have anything to do with his work. He used to joke about how boring his job was. He had enjoyed financial planning, but it wasn’t the type of career that carried an adrenaline rush. It was stable. Secure. Uneventful. And from what he told me, not very exciting. At least, that had been his perspective.
All that said, I had nowhere else to look, and since Robert and Daniel had been coworkers and friends, I decided to have lunch with Robert to see if he had any idea what Daniel could have been referring to.
My heart squeezed in my chest as I walked through the doors of Robert’s office. I hadn’t been here since Daniel passed away and seeing the familiar lobby brought back memories. I had often stopped by at the end of the day to see Daniel, and we would leave from there to go out to dinner. Sometimes we met up with his coworkers, and on days when Daniel had to work really late, it wasn’t unheard of for me to bring my laptop and hang out with him at the office until he was done. I did it so I could be near him, and he loved having me around.
Troy followed close behind as I waved at the secretary and walked through the doorway to the back offices. She smiled and waved me on. Robert had told her I was coming and would meet him in the back. He rounded the corner, and his countenance warmed when he saw me. That warmth quickly evaporated when his gaze landed on Troy, and he instantly stiffened. His brows lowered and his eyes narrowed as if Troy were some hoodlum off the street. Oh, brother. Why did he have to act like that? If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was jealous, but he had nothing to be jealous about. Troy was a perfect gentleman and kept things strictly professional. Our session going over defense moves reinforced that one hundred percent. The man hadn’t taken my bait at all. I’d pushed the line when I told him he smelled good, wanting to see what he would do, but his only reaction was that I needed to “be serious.” It had been sobering and more than a little disappointing to realize the attraction was one-sided, and I’d basically made a fool of myself.
“Glad you came,” Robert said, his shoulders finally relaxing as he stepped closer. He smelled of coffee and peppermint candy, scents I’d come to associate with him as he always had one or the other. His propensity towards caffeine explained his high metabolism and endless energy, but at least he’d cut down in the last year.
“Me too.” I was nervous about the discussion we were about to have, but I figured he probably wouldn’t know much, otherwise, he would have given that information over to the police a long time ago. “I appreciate that
