Page 67 of An Unexpected Home

Locking his gun away in his safe, he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door.

He’d told Leah that he would pick her up at seven and he made it to her house with two minutes to spare. Deciding that knocking was better than just walking in when he was picking her up for a date, he knocked and waited.

When she opened the door, she took his breath away with her beauty. Wearing a navy blue, extremely short dress that showed off legs that were accentuated by heels that brought her several inches closer to his height, she looked amazing.

“I’m speechless,” he said. “You are gorgeous.”

A smile lit up her whole face. “You look pretty good yourself there, Chief.”

She’d taken to calling him Chief as a joke and somehow it had stuck.

He shook his head. “Are you ready?”

“Sure am,” she said and hit the alarm panel before closing the door. He thought about telling her that Tim was out checking on a lead right now about Will being spotted, but he wanted a few hours that was just them.

“I’m really looking forward to this,” she said as he opened the car door for her. “It’s been months since I’ve eaten at a nice place.”

He slid in beside her, starting the car and pulling out. “Why months?”

She shrugged. “After my dad was arrested and before the trial, I really stopped going anywhere unless I had to. I hated that people would stare at me, or even worse, come up and say nasty things.”

He reached across her seat and took her hand in his. “It breaks my heart that people were that mean to you.”

“I’m coming to the realization that it was more about them and less about me. People who are afraid are sometimes rude and mean and that’s why they take it out on others. And they were just afraid that what happened to many people because of my dad and uncle would happen to them.”

“You’re pretty damn amazing.” He squeezed her hand.

“It’s being here in Cedarville that’s helped. It’s given me so much time to think and also meet good people. People who don’t judge you based on a past that had nothing to do with you.”

“I’m glad you like it here.”

“I love it here and I’m dying for summer. Melanie says the lake is full all the time and that the town does all kinds of cool events.”

“We do,” he acknowledged. “It gets busy and I tend to work a lot.”

“Well, that will suck,” she pouted. “What will I do if you are always working?”

He laughed. “I think I can manage to spend a little time with you.”

“You better,” she said.

The restaurant was packed when they walked in, but Brandon had been smart enough to make a reservation, so they were seated immediately.

“I know you’re not a wine guy,” she said when they were seated and browsing their menus, “but would you want to share a bottle?”

“I like wine,” he said and looked at her over the top of his menu.

“When have you drunk wine?”

“I’ll have you know that my mom serves wine with Christmas and Easter dinner.”

“I stand corrected,” she said. “Do you want to pick a bottle?”

He wasn’t lying when he’d said he drank wine but picking a good bottle, no way. He had no idea what was good or what was bad. “Why don’t you go ahead and pick something you like.”

Her knowing smile told him that she knew he was full of shit and her laugh when she said, “I’ll make sure I go easy on you,” told him she didn’t really care if he drank wine or not.

“How was work today?” he asked after he decided he wanted steak from the menu.

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