Hands on her hips, she angled her head. “And you can tell me why you were following me.”
“You know, it’s kind of hard to have a meaningful conversation in this downpour.” He offered a grin to defuse the tension.
“Come on.” She took his hand, and they rushed over to the café across the street.
Tori stepped through the glass door first and a jingle announced their presence. The small internet café was empty except for an employee—the barista—arranging mugs. The space felt warm and welcoming, and the aroma of fresh coffee filled the air.
The barista glanced up and waved them over. “What’ll it be? And it’s on the house.”
“Really?” Ryan angled his head.
“Sure. You two look like you could use a free cup of joe today.”
Tori chuckled.
Ryan’s shoes squeaked as he made his way to the counter. He glanced at the menu, his mind on anything but coffee. “A regular coffee for me.”
“Cappuccino macchiato for me.” Shivering, Tori hugged herself.
“Give me a minute to make a call.” Ryan tugged out his cell, grateful it had remained dry, and moved to stand by the glass storefront.
He stared at the gray sky’s relentless payload while he made his call. Would he see the vehicle again? Was someone following Tori—someone else? He contacted dispatch and reported the type of vehicle that had tried to run her down. He didn’t think he’d mistaken the vehicle’s intent. Still, without a license plate there wasn’t much more to go on. Deputies could be on the lookout in the area and they would go from there.
When he ended the call, he turned his attention back to the café and spotted Tori in a booth against the wall, a fusion of bar towels wrapped around her. She’d taken off the jacket, which hadn’t exactly been waterproof enough for this deluge. The blue T-shirt she wore was soaked. He approached and smiled down.
“The guy was really nice.” She gripped the mug with both hands to warm herself. “He brought me this towel and is bringing some more. Said business had been slow today.”
“I’d think more people would be here getting coffee in this weather,” he said.
She shrugged and sipped on her cappuccino. He slid into the booth, next to her, forcing her to scoot over, then reached over to grab his plain coffee placed across the booth.
“What are you doing?” She scooted closer to the wall. “You’re supposed to sit across from me.”
His preference, too. “I can’t see the door from that side. Would you like to sit over there instead?”
“No. Then my back would be to the door.”
“Then I guess you’re stuck with me sitting here.”
Weren’t they a cute law enforcement pair? Except they weren’t a couple at all. Still, sitting next to her like this, he could almost pretend they were. But he would steer clear from thoughts like that.
“Actually, now that you’re here, I could use your warmth. You can stay.” She smiled. “For now.”
“Funny. You do realize that I’m blocking your escape. You have to go through me to get out.”
She arched a brow. “Is that a challenge?”
He chuckled. What am I doing sitting here with Tori and laughing? “No.”
There was a killer out there. At least one. Maybe more than one. He took a swig of the hot coffee and focused on the situation.
Ryan stared out the window, watching for any other anomalies. Anyone else who might want to hurt Tori. He let the anger of the situation sober him. He needed something to create resistance to the warmth he could feel coming off her.
Tori positioned herself at an angle against the wall so she was half facing him, half facing the table. He felt her green eyes on him but continued to watch out the window. He almost wanted the driver to come back so he could detain him. Or her. He honestly didn’t know if it had been a female or a male.
Then again, maybe they shouldn’t stay long enough for whoever it was to come back. It might be better if he ushered Tori home. She didn’t seem to realize that someone had just tried to kill her. Again.
Or maybe she didn’t want to accept it.
“What happened back there?” she asked.
He turned to look at her. The wet ends of her hair were finally drying.
“Why were you following me?” Tori stared at him over the rim of her mug.
“I wasn’t exactly following you.”
“Oh, yeah, what would you call it? You showed up here. How did you get here if you didn’t follow me?”
“You didn’t answer my call, for one.”
“No, but I texted you that I was okay.”
“After what happened, I wanted to make sure that was true. For all I knew, someone else could have stolen your phone and sent that message. I headed home and thought I’d stop in to make sure you were all right, plus find out if you learned anything today. You sped right past me. So yeah, maybe I turned around to see where you were going.” He’d leave her father out of it for the moment. She had enough issues going with her parents.
“And followed me.”
Ignoring her indignation, Ryan watched the slow traffic through the big plate glass window. Time to redirect her. “Why don’t we focus on the more serious issue? You haven’t said one thing to me or asked me about why I pushed you out of the way. Did you realize that someone tried to run you over?”
He turned to see her reaction. Her face paled and she shifted her position. She was entirely too close.
“I thought... I thought I had somehow stepped out in front of a car. I didn’t realize... Are you sure?”
“Yes. It caught me off guard, too, but I was approaching you to make my presence known when I heard the engine rev and the vehicle pulled from the curb and headed straight for you. I yelled for you to look out.”
“I turned to see who was yelling.”
“I didn’t have time to explain. I
