Love Lift Me (9 page)

Her
face disappeared from the window, but I had no doubt that she was still peeking
out from somewhere, watching and listening. Any bit of gossip she could spread
to her friends was like mining up a big chunk of gold. What better gossip than
her own sister dating the lawyer that was trying to bring down the richest
family in Kirkland?

The
dust coming off the driveway caught on the light breeze coming in from the
coast and scattered into vanishing swirls as Shane’s car rolled to a stop only
a few feet away. His headlights were on, although they weren’t quite yet
needed, and my shadow was cast against the wooden porch furniture and the flat
wall near the entryway behind me. I waved towards the windshield where he sat;
a little kid’s excited sort of wave, done standing on my tiptoes with my hand
still in the air and my fingers folding over rapidly in greeting. My body was
alive, bursting with anticipation, while my mind was absolutely mortified at my
ungraceful reaction to Shane’s arrival. The butterflies in my stomach were
flapping their wings.

Why
did he make me so nervous and eager at the same time? Was I like this with
Hale?

Then
the engine’s quiet hum was snapped into silence and the lights went off. The
interior lights came on. I could see him behind the wheel. My fingers stopped
their nervous, folding wave, and laced together in front of my chest. Shane
opened his door and stepped out; missing the suit he’d been wearing when I saw
him on television earlier in the day, and now dressed in well-tailored black
slacks and a fashionable, collared shirt – the kind I instantly pictured myself
tearing open to get at his tight, firm body underneath.

Oh,
my.
I
swallowed hard.
That’s why.

“Hey,”
he said plainly as he walked towards me and lifted his head slightly, a much
cooler and collected gesture than my nervous wave. His eyes were locked on my form.
The charming smile I’d begun to recognize was etched with an expression of
pleased surprise. Shane stopped at the bottom step and held out one hand.

“Amazing,”
he said and shook his head, blinked, and then gave me a thorough once-over.
“You look absolutely stunning, Kat.”

I
brought my hands down and shyly turned my shoulders. “I was kind of worried you
wouldn’t like it.”

“Are
you kidding me?” Shane said and led me down the steps, one at a time. “I’m
going to have to beat back all the other guys in town the entire night. Who
knows if I’ll even get a chance to dance with you.”

“You’d
better,” I warned, flashing him a playful smile of my own.

Shane
held my hand for just a moment longer than necessary and looked towards the
house. “For some reason I’m surprised your folks aren’t out here to see us off.
I met your father the other day, but we only talked briefly.”

“He
said it was a pleasure to meet you, Shane. I don’t suppose he brought out the
shotgun, did he?”

“The
shotgun?” Shane said, surprised. “No. Is that a real thing? I thought people
only did that in the movies.”

“Oh,
it’s a real thing, alright. He used to sit in his easy chair and polish it when
boys came over to take me out on dates. Scared the life out of them, I’ll tell
you that much.”

“Must
have been hard to get a second date like that,” he said with a laugh and then
went on, “So, where’s the family at tonight since they aren’t around?”

“Momma
was feeling better. Good enough to haul Daddy off to the steakhouse for a big
meal. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite her. She has barely been eating at
all the last few weeks.”

“Oh,
I see. Well, I’m glad to hear that she’s feeling better. I remember you telling
me she was sick.” Shane pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch, then
furrowed his brows. “I was going to say it’s time to get going, but I forgot
this watch isn’t much good for telling the time at all.”

“Reservations?”

“Sort
of,” he said, adding a chuckle. “I think you’ll like the place, though.”

“Where
are we going?”

“That’s
a
surprise
, young lady.” Shane escorted me to the passenger side door of
the slick black car and pulled it open. “Are you ready to go?”

“Definitely.”

I
slid into the leather seat and he closed the door for me. The inside of the
vehicle was pristine; there was not a speck of dust to be found on any surface
and the entire cabin smelled fantastically of brand new car. I watched Shane
through the windscreen as he walked around the front and I tried to remember if
Hale had ever acted like such a gentleman during our relationship.
Few times
and awful far between.

Shane
opened the opposite door and situated himself behind the wheel before turning
his key and bringing the engine back to life.

“This
is nice,” I said, and ran one fingertip along the thin strip of metallic trim
that created a line down the carbon fiber dashboard. “A lot nicer than the
piece of junk I had when I started school.”

“Did
it break down? Is that why you needed a ride on…
uhm
, that day?”

“I
had to sell it,” I answered softly. “Wasn’t much use to me anyway since I lived
right next to the college and could just walk to class. Clinicals were at the
same hospital as the other students most of the time, so we carpooled in groups
and I helped pitch in for gas.”

Shane
spun the wheel and backed us up, pointing the vehicle back in the direction
he’d come. He probably hated having to drive his new car down what amounted to
little more than a dirty, uneven trail. Dust puffed up around the wheels and
stuck to the fenders, the windows, to everything. It seemed almost like a joke
that it hadn’t rained a single drop since the storm that washed in with me
weeks ago, and if it didn’t rain again soon, the crops, nearly ready for
harvest now, would dry up and wither away in the fields. Daddy would have to be
out early to get whatever he could before then.

“Didn’t
you say something about buying one of these?” I asked.

“You
don’t think it’s too flashy, do you? I don’t want people to think I’m some kind
of spoiled brat or something, just a guy that appreciates a reliable machine
that can get him from A to B.”

He
seemed at home behind the steering wheel, and while the BMW was not exactly a
cheap ride, it looked reserved enough to not be showy. “It’s not too much. I
think it fits you perfectly.”

“Who
was that guy I saw on my way in?” Shane suddenly asked, causing me to grip just
a little harder on the armrests. “The one who waved at me and then went in the
garage?”

I
looked out the window towards the fields on the other side of our property and
tried to act uninterested. “He’s…he works for my father. Our equipment
mechanic.”
Ok, so at least it wasn’t a lie.

“Everyone
is so friendly around here,” Shane said. He looked into the rearview mirror
with those dark, brooding eyes of his and watched the farm, the garage, and the
bare-chested man inside it, which he knew as only
‘our mechanic’
disappear behind us.

“Southern
hospitality is a very real thing,” I said.

Shane
twisted his head as if he were agreeing but not entirely. “I suspect things
will change though, once everyone learns what I’m here for. Before long they’ll
be calling for my blood and blaming me for destroying half the jobs around.”

“An
angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches? That kind of thing?”

“Let’s
hope not, Kat. Most of the folks around here sound like they’re well-armed.”

I
held up one finger. “With shotguns.”

“Right.”

“I
saw you on the afternoon news today while I was at the clinic with Momma. I
think it’s safe to say that most of the town already knows who Attorney Shane
Logan is by now.”

“Yeah,
that
.” Shane smirked. “Nature of the beast. It’s pretty big stuff around
here so the media jumps all over it. These people may not think the feds
prosecuting Patterson Reid is in their best interest, but it is.”

“I
thought you looked cute.”

“Really?”
he asked, sounding a little more than modest, and the car left the dirt road
and rolled steadily out onto the paved street. All four tires met asphalt and
the rough, crumbling sensation of riding on dust and gravel was no more. “I was
hoping for intimidating. Not that I mind looking cute, though. Was it the tie?”

“I
think it was just you,” I said. I couldn’t help flirting again. He’s just the
kind of guy that makes me feel good, makes me want to tease him a little.

He
smiled widely and stepped on the gas. I could tell he really liked that. “Too
bad you aren’t sitting on the bench, Kat. I have an unfortunate feeling that
cute isn’t going to do much to help me out with Justice Hackleford or the
all-star lawyer team Reid has put together.”

“Team
is right. It looked like there were enough of them to start their own football
game. I didn’t recognize any of them, though. Should I have?” I said.

“Maybe.
The lead attorney for the defense is none other than the infamous Crenshaw
James. He’s the guy that squirreled Royal Petroleum out from under that oil drilling
mishap out in the Gulf a few years ago. Millions of barrels of crude washing up
on the shorelines in Florida, destroying damn near everything, and they got
nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a ten million dollar fine. Drop in
the bucket to them.”

“Who
were all the other people standing up there with him? Assistants?” I asked.

“Partners
in his firm, junior attorneys, you name it. He’s going to need them all for
this one. We’ve got Reid dead to rights with all our survey data, not to mention
all the past incidents that happened.”

“So
he’s pulling out all the stops, huh?”

“They
always do. Companies like PCR and their owners, like Patterson Reid, that is.
They’ll do anything to keep raking it in.” Shane patted the steering wheel and
sighed. He looked into the rearview mirror again, turned his head slightly
towards me and let his dark eyes drift discreetly from my face to the smooth,
naked flesh of my thighs at bottom of my dress. “But enough about the case.
It’s tiresome to even think about. I’d like to hear more about you, Miss
Atwater.”

“What
do you want to know?” I asked, trying to fight off the thrill that his
wandering eyes gave me.

“Anything.
Everything
,” he said, and held up the palm of his hand as invitation. “I’ve
wanted to know all that since the moment I sat down next to you on that old
couch.”

“There’s
not that much to know, I guess. I’m just your average girl, raised on a farm in
the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even know the internet existed until I learned
about it in the school computer lab.”

“I’m
assuming you were born and raised in Kirkland then?” he asked.

I
nodded. “Sort of. I was brought up here. I was born in Wilmington, though, in
the back of an ambulance, fifty feet away from the emergency room entrance.”

“Couldn’t
quite wait, huh?”

“Yeah.
Momma always said I’ve been inpatient,” I answered, and played with the zipper
on my purse. I could feel it each time his eyes glanced at me, taking me in
from time to time, and I had to admit I was doing the same thing with him. The
tension was palpable. “How about you, Shane? Didn’t you say you lived in-” I
turned my head and tried to remember what he’d told me on the bus. The accident
was long past, but some of the memories were still a little hazy. “
Snowberry
.
Was that it?”

“That’s
right. We moved all around. Snowberry was where we stayed the longest, from
when I was born until I was about eight years old.”

The
fields and trees gave way to the monuments of civilization; strip malls, gas
stations, and little nests of suburban developments littered along the highway.
My gaze shifted to the window as we passed the green, rectangular sign
welcoming us to Wilmington, and streams of traffic closed in on all sides.
People were everywhere, trying to get home, or to work, or anywhere else but where
they were at that very minute.

“So,
where did you say we’re going again?” I asked.

“Nice
try. You almost got me. You’re a crafty one, Miss Atwater.”

“Darn.”
I snapped my fingers in mock disappointment. “Foiled again.”

“Not
big on surprises?” Shane said. “Or were you like me, searching the house for
Christmas presents and hoping to find them before they were wrapped?”

“I
don’t know. Probably both. My last relationship wasn’t filled with many, and
most of them were the kind you didn’t want.”

“Well,
this is one you’re going to like. Promise.”

“The
presents were always wrapped,” I said, an afterthought. “I think Momma did it
the minute she got home with them after her shopping trips.”

“Same
here. It was always fun to try and find them, though.”

“And
shake them. Try to figure out what’s inside.”

“I
got it right a few times. I could always tell when it was clothes, at least
till my mother started packing toys in with them to fool me.”