Chapter 19 #2
‘Tickets on yourself much?’ she scoffed, looking out of her window to buy a few seconds to get her unsteady breathing under control.
Hamish was so much more substantial than Kain had ever been: more mature, more grounded.
And the way he challenged her mind—that was a level of stimulation she’d never experienced outside the courtroom.
‘Simply setting boundaries.’
She was suddenly tempted to take him up on the offer.
But Hamish wasn’t the type to remain pretty but silent, like Kain.
He had too many opinions. And there was a chance she might actually be interested in them.
Yet she couldn’t risk giving Rohan the smallest opportunity to question her professionalism.
Hamish as an official partner was out of the question.
But a fling way out in the country? That was a different matter altogether.
‘Boundaries are mandatory,’ she said, turning back to face him. Hamish was smart enough to read the implied permission. ‘But how about we simply tell Pierce and Sam you’re coming? That way they’re happy, but you’re off the hook. Then we can meet in the city after the function.’
Hamish stared at her as though she was speaking a foreign language. ‘Lie to them, you mean?’
She shrugged. ‘More being creative with the truth.’
Reddish-blond stubble glinted in the sun streaming through the windshield as Hamish’s jaw clenched. ‘In lawyer speak, maybe. In my family, there’s only one word for it. And I don’t lie.’
‘Oh, come on, not ever?’
‘Never.’
‘Every adult obfuscates. And I’m sure by your definition, that would be lying.’
‘I don’t lie,’ he repeated.
Even with her addition of a clarifying clause, she’d lost him.
But then, she didn’t require too many brains with her brawn.
Kain had been proof of that. ‘Okay,’ she said as her car came into sight on the side of the dirt road.
‘You can pick me up from the function, that way you won’t be lying about having been there with me. ’
‘Merely obfuscating the facts?’
If Hamish’s gaze hadn’t been on the road, he’d have caught her mouth hanging open.
‘The way I see it,’ he said as he pulled alongside her car, ‘principles aren’t principles if you get to choose when they apply.’
She smiled slowly: there was more to this guy than met the eye. She fished her car fob from the tiny pocket stitched into her waistband. Her car indicators flashed.
‘You locked it?’ Hamish sounded surprised.
‘We didn’t all get to grow up in a fairytale, you know.’
She expected a flippant reply, but Hamish looked serious. ‘I get it. Growing up with your mum … like she was. That would have been hard.’
She looked down at her dusty runners. ‘It had its moments. But …’ She didn’t like the unfamiliar emotion that tightened her chest. ‘At least I still have her. Which reminds me, I’m sorry for what I said the other day. You know, about your mum’s scrambled eggs.’ She sounded like an idiot.
Hamish climbed out of the car. ‘Reckon that’s the first time I’ve heard you tongue-tied.’
At least he didn’t dwell on the sombre moment, milking it for more emotion than she was willing to invest. No one needed to know that she’d always felt an outsider, the only kid whose grandmother had to come to parents’ day, the only kid who couldn’t host sleepovers because her mother wasn’t capable of caring for one child, never mind a gaggle of preteens.
Even back then, she’d masked the ache with a pretended disinterest in people, focusing her energies on academia, the one place that rewarded effort without demanding vulnerability.
‘Considering anyone’s feelings isn’t really part of the job.’
‘And you’re all about the job, right?’
‘Usually.’ She’d be leading the witness if she was in court. But it was rare that she got to flirt—and even more rare that she felt the desire to do so.
‘So now you’re conflicted.’ Hamish leaned back against her car. His smile came slow and suggestive, and she found herself waiting for it almost breathlessly. ‘And conflicted is interesting.’
She hiked an eyebrow. ‘Of course I’m interesting.’
He chuckled. ‘You believe in blurting out whatever you think, don’t you?’
‘On the contrary, I weigh every word. Anything I say is very deliberate.’ She did believe in manifesting, although whether she had become who she was because of or despite her obstacles was somewhat murky.
‘Is that so?’ Hamish took a step closer as she stood framed in the open door of the car. His voice lowered. ‘You find being outspoken gets you exactly what you want?’
She twisted her wrist so he couldn’t see the pulse rate display on her tracker. He was so close she could feel the heat rising from his skin. This slow dance of pretending they weren’t about to cross a line was delicious, dangerous, tantalising. ‘Generally,’ she said, her tone cool. Controlled.
He gave a nod, fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. Then he stepped back. ‘Well, send me a text if you decide that what you want is a chaperone on Saturday.’