Chapter 19 #2
Mitchell sat with Dove after Welding left. Several minutes passed before the glaze left her eyes. The woman was a complete enigma to him. And if he didn’t get some kind of protocol for himself where she was concerned, she might just be his downfall, too.
There was no future for the two of them. He saw it clearly. What’s more, he was certain that she saw it, too.
So why her circumstances were affecting him so intrinsically he didn’t know.
The situation didn’t bode well.
Mitchell did not like things going on in his life that he couldn’t explain rationally and logically. Which was why he was living the staid life he’d chosen to live. With all adventure happening between him and nature, period. No other humans around.
Until the past week.
He’d excused himself from an important merger meeting between two medical practices—joining two independent DOs into one practice—as soon as he’d seen Welding’s name on his phone screen. Expecting to hear that Fletcher was in custody, he’d stepped outside just long enough to get the good news.
And never stepped back in. With a quick call to Stuart and then texts to his clients, he had his paralegal collect preliminary signatures and reschedule the meeting for later that afternoon.
Unprofessional, at best. Something else completely new and inexplicable to him.
Welding had already suggested that Dove get checked out over at the clinic. She’d insisted she was fine. The guy who’d tried to abduct her might not be, however. Welding had all clinics and urgent cares in Shelby and surrounding cities being checked out for any recent nose injuries.
“I wanted to believe there was no chance it was the serial killer after me.” Dove’s soft words were loud in the deserted hallway. Breaking a silence that had lasted several minutes.
He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew that Fletcher was in custody. At the very least.
“We don’t know it’s him, Dove. To the contrary, there’s no indication that women who reported being vandalized or stalked have gone missing.”
When her head swung in his direction, mouth open, eyes wide, he quickly added, “I spoke with Eli on my way here from the office.” There was more.
He didn’t want to tell her. To add to her burden.
And yet…it wasn’t up to him to determine what she could and could not handle.
If she were a man, he’d tell her. Or another lawyer.
But because she was so sensitive…was no reason to undermine her.
The woman had taken out a would-be kidnapper with no warning, and it sounded like impressive precision. He’d been picturing the scenario that had been laid out for him over and over in his mind. Just…having a hard time digesting…so much.
“It’s also less likely that it was the serial killer because another woman has just gone missing,” he told her. Without giving the name, the details, that Eli had given him. Dawn Ellis. From Wasilla.
“Oh my god!” Dove’s gaze wide-eyed again but filled with compassion as she looked over at him. “When?”
He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know for sure. She was just reported missing.” And fit the MO. “Even if I did know more, I’m not at liberty to tell you.”
He wasn’t free to take her into his arms, either, which was all he’d really wanted to do since he’d seen the look of relief, and what appeared to be gratitude, that had entered her eyes when he’d come walking down the hallway toward her.
Pulling her sandal-strapped lower legs up to her chair, she wrapped her arms around her shins.
Noting, with relief, that she had Lycra shorts on under the skirt, Mitchell resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her and pull her against him. Feeling a bit powerless sitting there.
But equally unwilling to leave. At least until she was ready to go sit in her father’s room.
She’d said she didn’t want to take her negative energy in there.
That as long as she was close, in case there was any change, she’d prefer to stay outside his space until she had her breathing, her tension, under control.
The woman was an enigma, to be sure. Soft and needy, and yet, in some ways, he was beginning to think she was stronger than he was.
He controlled his environment. She kept hers wide open.
Thinking of the way she’d put herself in harm’s way by walking unescorted, he figured maybe hers was too open.
“I shouldn’t have been in the outdoor break area alone,” she said, as though she’d read his thoughts. More like the incident that had taken place was replaying itself over and over again in both of their minds.
He didn’t bother commenting on the obvious. She’d paid a heavy price for her choice.
“I just thought…within the complex I’d be safe. And mostly, because I felt safe here, my own physical safety wasn’t at the forefront of my mind.”
He had to bite back the words that came to him first. That her physical safety should always be at the forefront of her mind.
But that wasn’t his call to make. “We’d just got the proof we’ve been seeking on Brad Fletcher,” he said instead.
“It’s understandable, with all that’s gone on, your father lying in there…
that getting the man in custody would be consuming you.
” Which was why he’d told Welding to make sure he saw her into the building.
Which the detective had.
Mitchell just hadn’t imagined that Dove would head in the wrong door.
“Actually,” she said, turning her head on her knees to look at him, “Fletcher wasn’t the one affecting my thinking right then.”
The way she said the words, as though she was telling him something she wasn’t sure she should, treading in unsure waters, had him watching her intently.
She’d been thinking about him? Maybe about the fact that, with Fletcher’s arrest, and the warrants they could then compel, they might soon be able to prove conclusively that all the destructive things happening to her stemmed from the shady businessman’s attempt to pressure her into selling her father’s business.
Which meant that her time as a guest in his home was at an end.
They’d had their one night together.
And it was done.
“When Detective Welding pulled up to the wrong part of the medical complex, he was asking me out.”
Mitchell’s gaze swung back to her, more intently than it should have done. He managed to keep his mouth shut, however.
If Dove wanted to date, that was her business. They’d had sex. No commitment. No expectations.
“I didn’t want to embarrass him, but at the same time I just had no interest. Except to be noncommittal and get out of the car before he could press for more. I didn’t want to risk the chance that he’d hang around for a minute or two, to make sure things were good, and so I went out the back way.”
Reeling with the words, he continued to stare at her. The idea that Welding had expressed an interest in Dove wasn’t as fantastical as Mitchell’s immediate reaction to the man for having done so. He’d have liked to punch the man in the face.
Which was better than the gun he’d have taken to her assailant had he been present during that travesty.
Still, he had no right to any opinion about Dove’s love life.
Nor any reason to feel like strutting around like a golden rooster at her response to Welding’s invitation.
She’d had no interest.
Which factored in not at all.
It was about the attack she’d endured. And her dealing with it. Getting by it as best she could. That was all that mattered.
About the fact that her would-be abductor was still out there. On the loose. Possibly planning to try again. Unless Welding and his team could get a look at Fletcher’s phone records, his finances. Then figure out who was on his payroll and stop them.
Or it was until the door into the ward opened suddenly, with a nurse standing there.
Her expression—not grim—the uniformed woman said, “Your father’s awake. The doctor’s on her way.”
And Dove was gone.