Page 31 of Obsession

“What?”

“This is the third time he’s shot at you and missed, if he was shooting at you.” Sam explained what he and Nate had discovered.

“You think you could have been the target?”

“It’s possible.”

She tipped her head to one side. “I don’t buy that. You’re too new to the area.”

“I can’t discount it altogether,” Sam said. “Any chance I can get that cup of coffee we talked about earlier?”

14

Emma laid the ice pack on the counter while she made a pot of coffee. “You still like it black?” she asked from the kitchen area. When he answered in the affirmative, she smiled. “Good. You really don’t want to ruin my coffee with any additives.”

“That good, huh?”

“I make just about the best coffee in town. Sit down and I’ll bring it to you.” At least her attempt to lighten the mood didn’t fall too flat. And she did make good coffee, buying Kona coffee beans and grinding them herself.

When the coffee finished brewing, she poured Sam’s cup and took it to him before returning for her own. He’d taken the leather recliner, leaving her either the gold paisley chair or the blue-and-white sofa. The extra-strength Tylenol she’d taken earlier had dulled the pain in her wrist, and she was starting to get the hang of using her left hand. The pill had done nothing to calm her nerves, though. Her insides twitched like a jumping bean.

“You okay?” he asked.

The gleam of concern in his eyes touched her. Maybe getting shot at again had broken the barrier between them. “As good as anyone could be after getting fired at two nights in a row.”

“You’re tough,” he said.

“I assume the two shootings are connected.”

“Maybe. Probably,” he corrected.

“Which is it?”

“It’s not impossible that there are two different shooters, but until we have more evidence, I really can’t hazard a guess.”

How did she get in this kind of mess? When she couldn’t think of anything else to ask him, Emma took a sip of her coffee. Even though she’d asked him up to discuss their past, now that the time was here, she wasn’t ready. Maybe if she poked food at him ... “I have some chocolate chip cookies, if you’d like one.”

“No, your coffee is good enough without anything.” His brown eyes twinkled. “But when did you start liking chocolate chip cookies?”

He remembered a lot more about her than she would’ve ever dreamed. “I haven’t. I keep them for other people.”

They both fell silent, and Emma felt like the man in a downstairs apartment waiting for the other shoe to drop. Finally she couldn’t stand it any longer. “Look—”

“I think—”

There was a pause, then they both laughed at having spoken at the same time.

“You first,” she said.

“No, ladies first.”

She took a fortifying breath. “There seems to be a lot of tension between us, and I don’t know how to change it. Being around you is like walking on eggshells. One minute I’m convinced you’d like to be a hundred miles from me, and the next, I think maybe we can be friends.”

He stared into his coffee without answering. When he looked up, there was hesitancy in his eyes. “There’s something I’d like to know.”

“What?”

“I never understood why you broke off our relationship.”

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