Page 11 of Taking Root

“So how did the big fancy doctor find the time to slum it out here to visit me?” She glanced to him quick, hungry to devour more glimpses of the striking man who leaned along the side of her car, the wind from the open window tossing his dark strands around. She took the first pale green exit in the direction of her favorite park on the planet.

“I’ve pulled so much overtime the past year they begged me to take some time off,” he responded, staring out the window. His voice sharpened like they stepped into broken glass territory.

“Distraction’s useful like that,” she murmured. She didn’t know what sliced him open in the past, but Adrian never bothered hiding his emotions much. Unlike her. Danny plastered on so many masks over the years that half the time she forgot what she looked like beneath it all.

She pulled up to the parking lot amidst the other cars, the Waterfront Park teeming with people after a lush day and the promise of a gorgeous night. The click of the car door shutting echoed as Adrian hopped out. Danny leaned back in her seat, fingers pausing on the ignition key. Part of her was tempted to drive off again and shield herself from the inevitable. The few times she’d managed to get attached, the sudden moves she had to make shattered what remained of her hollowed heart.

Danny turned her engine off. She’d denied herself for so long she couldn’t feel anything but the yearning.

The moment she stepped out of the car, the heady salt breeze rushed by her, sending goosebumps up her arms. Adrian leaned against Bella’s hood, a level of calm and composed she could never be. His blue eyes arrested her on the spot, more alluring than the cerulean tides rolling to the shore in the distance. Laughter pealed from the dozens of folks strolling through the park, the sound mingling with the splash of the surrounding fountains.

“All right, Dukas. You wanted to talk? Let’s do this.” She turned toward him as they stood on opposite sides of her car, facing each other over the hood.

His lips quirked. “Try to look a little less like we’re heading to a funeral march. I promise, as shit of a conversationalist I am, it won’t be that painful.”

Danny scrubbed her face, her nerves prickling. Sweat from her palms left streaks on her cheeks, and she heaved a sigh. Adrian was gorgeous, calm, and dressed like he owned a dozen businesses, while she was a snowman in the middle of July, her sanity melting to a puddle on the steaming concrete.

Adrian reached out, extending his hand. “Come on. We drove over here to walk around, so let’s walk.” She licked her lips before slipping her palm to his. The touch jolted like a taser to her system, a total reboot. Even though she could feel the smudges of dirt staining her cheeks and caught the stray curls of her messy strands, he stared at her like she stepped out in a Versace gown and Louboutins.

“Why did you track me down?” Danny asked as they strolled along the brick walkway closer to fountains gleaming golden from the advancing sun. “You’ve never been a screw around kind of guy, and I’m a temporary thrill. I can’t make any promises when I don’t even know if I’ll still be here in a month.”

Adrian let out a sigh, his shoulders sinking. “Maybe I’m looking for a friend right now. I’m low on them, and I can’t confide in my family when they’re running to me with every last problem.”

The tightness in Danny’s chest released. Friend was a tame description to the tempest that descended every time they locked eyes, but if that’s what he offered… God, maybe for once she could soak in the relief. She squeezed his hand in response, eliciting a flash of those heartbreaker blues. Her thighs squeezed tight. Like there was anything friendly in his wolf’s gaze.

“I’ll be honest, I want to spend time with you. I do. Thing is, if we’re going to hang, there’s some shit I can’t talk about, no matter how curious you get. I know my disappearance is a Pandora’s box you’ve been dying to open, but there’s a reason it needs to remain shut.” Danny stared at the fountains ahead, watching the water splash into the pool below. The moment she hopped in her car to drive them over here, she had made her decision.

However, if Adrian compromised her location in any way, if he knew too much, she’d get yanked out of here faster than a fish on the line. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t toss all her rules into the big blue ocean.

He swung his arm back and forth, causing hers to shift too. The feeling of walking hand in hand with someone, especially him, sent her soaring sky high. “Fuck, tall orders there,” he murmured in response. “You’re worth the effort, though.”

Danny swallowed hard. He’d always dropped statements that stripped her bare. Anyone else and she’d accuse them of laying on the compliments too thick—she wasn’t a layer cake begging to be iced. However, she’d seen Adrian around his friends and family, and he’d always just taken care of people, never hesitating to show his affection. It was natural he became a doctor.

“Well then, I accept your friend request.” She winked, trying to ignore the way her stomach flipped. “Though what’s with the changes? I barely recognized Lex at the club. How’s the rest of your family?” Most folks took small talk for granted, but Danny couldn’t remember the last time she got to ask the question. Her past filled with faces she erased from her chalkboard every time she left one town to head somewhere new.

“Lex and Matty are terrors, Cal’s making himself crazy trying to force everyone to get along, and little Nellie got married early. Too early, if you ask everyone else,” Adrian muttered, running a hand through his thick black strands. The exasperation in his tone was buoyed by a warmth he couldn’t hide.

“Your mom still make you do family dinners?” she asked, remembering how tight knit the Dukas family was. She’d always possessed a fierce jealousy. She and Mom tried their best to maintain some sort of family, but her father always threw himself into work, missing everything from nightly dinners to yearly birthdays.

They neared one of the fountains, and the first droplets kissed her cheek as she approached the edge of the pool. Even though it pained her to do so, she pulled her hand from his and took a seat on the ledge, the cool marble soaking in through the fabric of her jeans.

“Dinner every Sunday,” Adrian said, sinking onto the ledge beside her. His long legs stretched out further, and she couldn’t help but admire how he wore the hell out of his fitted jeans. “If we don’t show up on time, she assumes we’re dead in a ditch, and I get a call from any available sibling as well as at least three of my aunts.”

A smile rose to her lips even as jealousy burned like an open flame inside her. The only one who’d even know if she disappeared was her handler. Her own mother wouldn’t find out until later, and she’d been separated for so long from extended family and old friends that she’d barely recognize them and vice versa.

“So, Miss Reynolds,” Adrian said with a smirk, drawing out her name like the secret they shared. “How did the whole gardener to the rich thing come about?”

“I’ve always liked growing things,” she said, shrugging. “Plus, hopping from place to place leaves little room for climbing corporate ladders or more conventional jobs. Half the time I end up subbing in as a temporary replacement until the estate finds someone more permanent.”

His brows furrowed. “So, you don’t even get to see the plants bloom?”

Ouch. The truth socked her straight in the gut. This had been a terrible idea after all. Adrian couldn’t help driving straight down the freeway instead of taking the back roads, half the time unaware of the bombs he dropped.

She shrugged, forcing the casual. “The whole point’s making sure they come to life, not lingering around to smell the azaleas.”

“I’m being a dick, aren’t I?” he murmured. “This isn’t a life you chose, just a shitty deck you got handed to you.”

Before she could stop herself, she rested her hand over his. Danny couldn’t respond without ripping the scab wide open, but she wanted to communicate somehow.

“Look,” Adrian continued, his voice smooth like dark roast. “We might not be able to talk about your past, but I want you to know friendship extends both ways. Even if you need to meet up and hang because you had a shit day at work. For as long as you’re here, I’m a phone call away.”

“God damn. You make it impossible not to be sweet on you,” Danny responded, trying to skate on superficial even as she fell deep into the cavern pool stretching in front of her.

His eyes crinkled with his grin, revealing dimples she wanted to bite. “So, I’m not blowing the interview?”

“A-plus, babe,” Danny responded, her heart beating at a hummingbird rate. Her gaze landed on the cord around his neck, one that wrapped her in the past all while she couldn’t be more present here with him. Even though she had to keep things casual, Adrian made her long for something more with every breath. The moment she ran into him at the Gin Mill, she was screwed, because Adrian Dukas infected her with the worst sort of hope.

Her phone buzzed, giving her a stark reality check—a text from Eve rolled in. Meeting the handlers in an hour.

Because she wasn’t a gardener or a normal girl. Danny Reynolds under WitSec with a serial killer father was someone who could never, ever have a regular life, no matter how much she wanted one.

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