Page 11 of Attraction & Repulsion

She opened her mouth to dispute but gave up. Noah’s eyes were bouncing between her and Jax.

“Anyway . . .” Carson grabbed a business card off the elevated counter space in front of Noah’s desk and gave it to Jax. “Here is Mr. Hoover’s card. At the bottom is our main office line and his email.”

Jax took the card from her, scrutinizing the front and back of the small rectangle, before giving Noah side-eye. “Do you have one? You know, just in case I have any other questions.”

“Mr. Hoover and Noah are able to ans—”

Noah shot up and reached for another card on the counter, thrusting it into Jax’s hand, looking pointedly at her. “Yes, Ms. West does have a card. It’s right herewithher cell phone number.”

“Thank you.” Jax tucked her card into his back pocket. “I hope to see you again . . . soon.”

Carson’s mouth was still open from being cut off mid-sentence. “I’m sure we’ll see each other in passing.”

There was a slight fall in his shoulders. “Right. Thank you again.” He turned to walk out the glass front door. Carson eyed his robust frame while Noah whistled behind her.

“Are you going to jump on that?” he asked when the door had shut.

Face flushing, Carson whirled. “Noah!”

“What?” he said innocently. “He was totally digging you, and you are totally digging him.”

Her nostrils flared. “He does notdigme. I do notdighim. There is nodigging.”

“So, you’re telling me that you haven’t checked out that hot piece of ass?”

“No,” she lied.

One of his eyebrows raised. “Mm-hmm, and I don’t wear glasses.”

She gave him a trenchant glare, but he continued anyway. “The guy totally has the hots for you. He literally asked for your phone number.”

“That’s because he’s a client.”

“No, that’s because he wants to talkcasually.”

Just then the office phone rang, interrupting their conversation.

“He likes you and you know it.” Noah spilled out the words and answered the phone before she could contend. “Hoover & Associates, this is Noah.”

Once again in her office, which now smelled like a lavender farm, Carson skimmed through her emails, forgetting she had already read most of them. Her conversation with Noah continued to resound in her ears only causing her to become more flustered with him. She didn’t—shouldn’t—like Jax. At least, not in that way. But the guilt was like a rock settling in her stomach. What would her dead husband think about her liking another man?

She shook her head, trying to clear it out, and pulled the lit candle closer. She had too many unresolved cases to be thinking about some hunky fireman.

Chapter five

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Carson’s arms were crossed, finger hammering against her forearm. Twenty minutes and still waiting. Raegan could at least have the courtesy of arriving on time, especially since she had begged Carson to be her plus-one at the charity auction.

Standing at the main entrance of Ponderosa Pines Conference Center, Carson observed event attendees dressed in fancy cocktail dresses and tuxedos bustling through the revolving glass door. She’d extracted her own little number from the back of her closet: a floor-length, ebony gown with long sleeves. It was one of Luke’s favorite dresses on her, particularly because the back exposed a great deal of skin from her neck to her hip line. The dress fit a little looser than Carson remembered it, though.

A light breeze rustled the leaves and brushed against her spine. The sun was on the verge of setting for the night, turning the sky sherbet orange. The venue sat on top of one of the highest hills in the area. Its grand architecture towered over the residents of Prescott, demanding attention from all those within sight. Except, Raegan was nowhere in sight, so Carson was left standing on the sidewalk like a lost puppy.

For the fifth time that night, Carson fished her phone out of her clutch.Scrolling through her work calendar, she wrinkled her nose. It was not looking any better than the past three weeks. Ever since she’d been denied the promotion, she’d chosen to take Garrett’s advice seriously and pour herself into her work. Carson was going to show him she had what it took to become junior partner. From early mornings to late nights, she’d had little time to think about anything else but her cases. Because her hands were busy with drafting court documents, she hadn’t harmed herself since the morning of the softball tournament . . . until last night.

Carson slid her palm down her side, feeling the hint of bandages just beneath the polyester. From her rib cage down to her hip were strewn new lines, the consequence of withholding for so long. Her body and mind were so numb, she hadn’t realized the damage until it was too late. The cuts were nearly all scabbed over, but the pain remained to remind her of how weak she was.

“This is ridiculous,” Carson said aloud, shoving her phone back into her little purse and snapping the clasp shut. Just as she was about to turn and walk back to her truck, she heard her name called. She spun around to find Raegan gliding up the side path, her turquoise gown shimmered in what was left of the sun’s light.

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