That got her another of those side-show-oddity looks. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t like to be called Miss Breedlove. My name is Aspyn.”
His brow furrowed slightly. “Like the tree?”
She nodded. “Like the tree. Only it’s spelled with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘e.’” He doesn’t care about the spelling, you idiot.
Understanding lit up his face, and he started to laugh. The laugh completely transformed his face, making him seem more real and less like a bureaucrat. The smile caused cute little crinkles to appear around the corners of his eyes. The complete change in demeanor was devastating to nerves already on high alert and helped blunt the force of having her name laughed at. “Now I understand why your friend was shouting something about talking to a tree as he ran off. I thought he was just crazy.”
He wasn’t laughing at me. That made her feel a little better. “He’s not my friend. And I don’t think Kirby’s officially crazy, just a little overeager.” She offered him a small smile. “I am really sorry about this, Mr. Marshall.”
“All things considered, I think you should call me Brady.” His mood seemed to be improving, and the non-frustrated, nonexasperated Brady Marshall was a completely different person.
“Okay, Brady.” She held out her hand to shake his, realizing a second too late that would be impossible for him. She let their hands rest on the table again and settled for, “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too, although I wish the circumstances were bit different.” A smile seemed to be tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I need to let my lunch date know I’m going to be late.”
“Okay.”
“I need my phone.” There was definitely a laugh behind his voice, but she didn’t get the joke.
“I’m right-handed.” He indicated the cuffs that held them together.
She still didn’t quite understand.
“So,” he continued, “my phone is in my right pants pocket.”
Understanding dawned. He couldn’t reach it with his left hand, and if his right hand went into his pocket, her hand was going along for the ride.
“Oh.” She felt her face heat. “Well, that’s a little more personal than I thought we’d get today.”
Amazingly enough, he winked at her. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we’re on a first name basis already.”
She averted her eyes and tried to look unconcerned. Her arm brushed against his hip and her hand lightly touched his thigh as Brady slid his hand into his pocket—only to be stopped short wrist-deep by the cuffs. No amount of wiggling and maneuvering helped. The phone was deeper in his pocket than he could reach, but the pocket wasn’t wide enough for both their hands and the cuffs to fit inside.
Brady cursed under his breath. “Do you mind just reaching in there and getting it?”
“Are you serious?” He wanted her to stick her hand down his pants? No, just in his pocket, she corrected.
As if in answer, his phone started to ring.
Her face felt like it was on fire and she cleared her throat. No big deal. We’re adults. It’s a strange situation and we must work together. That’s it.
But sticking her hand in this man’s pocket …?
Brady cleared his throat as a hint and angled his body toward hers as the phone continued to ring.
It was a bit of a contortionist’s trick, causing her to twist her hand at an odd angle to slide it inside his warm pocket. She had to step close to him to accomplish the maneuver and being that close was quite overwhelming to her system.
She was careful to keep her hand as far to the outside as possible, but Aspyn couldn’t help but notice the strong ridge of muscle that ran down his thigh. What on earth did he do in his spare time to get thighs like that?
Thankfully her fingers found the phone a second later, and she pulled it out quickly before her entire body combusted from embarrassment. Or other causes.
Brady’s smile as she handed over the phone didn’t help, and she turned away as he answered in a symbolic attempt to give him privacy. She was the one, though, that really needed that time to regain her composure. It was all she could do not to fan her face.
She overheard Brady laughingly tell someone he’d been unexpectedly detained and make a promise to explain and reschedule later.
“You okay, Aspyn?” he asked, putting his phone in his left pocket this time.
Pull it together. “I’m fine.” For someone who practically—if accidentally—just got to second base. “I’m sorry to mess up your lunch plans.”
“I believe you when you say this wasn’t your idea. You might want to inform—Kirby, was it?—that the next person he handcuffs might not be as understanding.”
“Does this mean you won’t press charges?” Being arrested for trespassing or disturbing the peace—the normal charges protestors faced—was one thing. Unlawful restraint of a senator’s son was a whole new level of trouble. And there was no way a judge would believe she was just an innocent bystander.
“Hadn’t planned on it.”
Relief washed over her. “Thank you. I promise I will personally wring Kirby’s neck for this.”
“I just don’t know what he hoped to accomplish by it.”
“It got your attention, didn’t it?” Brady looked at her in surprise. “Do you know how hard it is to get someone’s attention in this town? Especially when you’re not already someone important?”
“I can imagine. But that justifies handcuffing people because …”
She didn’t bother to try to hold back her frustration. “Our whole lives, we’re told to get involved, only to find out that no one really wants us to. We’re told to make our voices heard, but no one seems to be listening. And it’s not just this protest or even just this organization. Most of us have been activists for years, and we found out pretty early on that no one really wants to hear what we have to say.”
Brady nodded slowly. “I can imagine that’s frustrating.”
“Oh, it’s more than frustrating,” she snapped at his patronizing tone before she could stop herself.
“But a protest doesn’t open lines of communication, either. It disintegrates into a matter of who can shout the loudest.”
“But,” she countered, “we have to hope if we shout loud enough and long enough, someone might eventually hear us, because what we’re saying needs to be heard. Have you seen what mountaintop mining does to Appalachia? What a rain forest looks like after it’s been cleared? Have you ever cleaned oil off seabirds?” Brady shook his head. “Well, I have. I know in your
