How much do you feel?

“Mmm.” Carson grins, grateful for the coffee, and returns Misty’s kiss. “You do know how to take care of a bloke, you know that?”

At her suggestion for that evening, Carson has to stop and think. If it had just been dinner, it might have worked, but anything else meant a late evening, and he couldn’t afford that…not tonight.

He hesitates. “I…was thinking maybe that new steakhouse…I…wanted to come back in to work late and catch up on a few things later in the evening.”


Jason forces a short laugh. “Yeah, I guess you could say we were rockin’. Though I’m not sure anybody could beat you at being the bodyguard. Kyle certainly doesn’t think so.”

He pauses for a moment, finding himself searching Katie’s eyes for some reason. Almost as if he were really looking for something…an answer…something to help him understand…discover… Something was…odd. Katie was hiding something…she was doing a good job of it, but there was something she was holding back…something she didn’t want to say or express. What was it?

Jason furrows his brow and looks away, knowing that Katie must sense his confusion, but… His eyes suddenly snap back to her as a sickening thought occurs to him. “Katie…do you…”

Pausing, Jason lowers one of his arms to put his hand into his pocket where his keys were. Gritting his teeth, he purposely digs his thumb into one of the keys, enough to slice his skin. His eyes stayed glued to Katie, watching for any reaction.


Bret stands up and shakes hands with Lockheart. “Yes. Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming.”

Easing back down into the booth, he cocks his head a little bit. Interesting. Strange, to say the least – somehow, this lawyer reminded him of Charlotte.

Shaking his head a little, he dives into the small talk, anxious to get on with the discussion when her sister would show up.

“Yeah…” A smile quirks his mouth. “I had a…very good weekend. And yourself?”