She stopped and faced him. “Are you here to see your mother or me?”
“My mother, but that could be about to change.” He grinned.
Was he flirting with her? When unexpected heat flashed in response, a welcoming response, she couldn’t gather her wits. She took in his hazel eyes that now held a little mischief, and a mouth she suddenly found kissable.
What on earth was going on?
“Would you like to go out for a drink later?” he asked.
A date? With Mr. Altar-shy? While her heart urged her to say yes, her much smarter defenses rose up to protect her. As sexy as he was, he would be a waste of time.
Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, offering a diversion. She saw Cam had sent her another text, this one asking her what she was doing later.
Lucy showed him her phone. “I have a boyfriend.”
Thad looked at her phone and then those clever eyes shifted back to her. “Is it serious? ‘How’s my new girl’ doesn’t sound serious.”
Lucy replied to Cam, agreeing to dinner tonight. “Not yet, but it could get to that point.” Finished with the text, she noticed Thad’s amusement. Far from intimidated, he was about to pursue her. She sensed it.
“How long have you known him?” he asked.
He had to know it wasn’t long. But she played along. “Almost a week.”
“I just broke up with someone I saw for that long.”
She tucked her phone back into her pocket. “What happened? Did she start talking about marriage and babies?”
“Don’t listen to my mother.”
“Is it true?”
“That I’m altar-shy?” He cocked his head. “I wouldn’t say ‘shy,’ but I do question the ideology of marriage.”
“You don’t believe in it?”
“Let’s just say I’ve seen too many people fooled by the illusion.”
“Have you ever been married?”
“No.”
Then how could he know if marriage was an illusion? What made him view it so negatively? She couldn’t afford to care.
She leaned so that her face was close to his. “I joined an online dating site so that I could find a man to marry and have babies with.”
The way his head moved back a bit, she thought he may have flinched.
“I’m twenty-nine,” she said. “I want babies by the time I’m thirty-two or thirty-three.” If that didn’t scare him away, nothing would. This attraction they seemed to have stirred up made her uneasy. His idea of love and family was the opposite of hers.
“You have it all figured out.”
“It’s called plans. I have plans for my future.” What kind of plans did he have? None? He’d romance women his entire life?
Why did going out with him tempt her still? It had to be the masculine aura about him, the inner strength and confidence. And, of course, those green-gold hazel eyes and hard, strong body.
“Aren’t you thirty-two?” She had to put an end to this crazy attraction that made no sense.
“Yes. How did you know my age?”
“Do you ever plan on settling down?” she asked instead of answering.
“Did some reading on me, huh?” he said, dodging her question.
Caught, she didn’t respond. She’d been curious enough to look him up online. Why would she do that if she wasn’t interested enough to go out on a date with him?
“Nothing is private with a mother like mine,” he said with a hint of teasing.
“That bothers you?” Stop trying to get to know him, she inwardly chided herself.
“Immensely.”
His tone sounded full of humor but she could tell he was being honest. He obviously loved his mother despite the shortcomings of her being a notable politician. He’d been fiercely protective of her when she’d first arrived at the hospital. And helpless. He’d feared for his mother’s life and could do nothing to save her. He’d had to leave her in the hands of doctors. Were it not for seeing that, she’d have thought he was a complete jerk.
He must be capable of love, and maybe that was what prevented her from easily rejecting him. For a moment she imagined taking a chance on him. His eyes darkened as he noticed the change in her.
Snapping herself out of that daydream, she cleared her throat and stepped back, tucking a few strands of dark hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.
“I should get back to work,” she said.
They both turned their heads toward some movement outside Kate’s hospital room door. A black-haired man wearing a hat walked down the hall and stopped, looking at the agents and the open door. He was shorter than Thad, but taller than Lucy. One of the Secret Service agents had noticed, too, and was walking toward the man.
The man spotted him and started down the hall toward the exit. He passed Lucy and Thad. Thad started after him. The Secret Service agent put up his hand.
“I’ve got this.”
Thad followed him to a stairwell. Lucy trailed behind. Down three flights of stairs to the lobby, she stopped beside Thad and watched the Secret Service agent run outside.
The man was gone.
Chapter 2
“Can you believe that she cheated on me?”
Feet up on an ottoman, bowl of popcorn on his lap and a beer on the side table, Thad munched as he watched the hockey player ram into the wall as he tried to take the puck.
“Did you hear me?” Darcy asked.
“Yes.” But Darcy had mentioned his ex-wife’s many trysts several times now. And Thad was distracted by thoughts of Lucy. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. Lucy with her long, auburn hair in a ponytail, thick and swaying and begging for someone to free it from its grip. Clear, light green eyes so full of life and humor. She was infectious. And she had a body that was impossible to ignore, tall and slim, well-proportioned breasts that pushed out her uniform top every once in a while.
“You’re normally more enthusiastic about sports. Didn’t you see that hit?” Darcy paused in his self-pity long enough to comment. His divorce was final today and this was his way of celebrating; invite his best friend over for the hockey game, drink beer and whine about how he had discovered his wife was a cheater.
She’d bought out his half
