Page 16 of Silent Threat
“Only the local channel, thank God. But it’ll be live.” She swallowed. “My cousin is a Realtor. I’m helping her out with something.”
She didn’t mind helping. She just wished Kelly hadn’t askedthis.
Cole stopped walking. “Yeah?”
Annie tried not to appear as unhappy as she felt. The key was to look at the show as an opportunity.
Losing all her savings to Xane, her boyfriend before Joey, back in Philly, had been a major hit. Xane had serious rock-star delusions. He’d cleaned out her bank account to upgrade the band with new equipment, informing her after the fact with,I’ll pay you back when we make it big, babe.
And then Annie had gotten laid off. Lost the apartment.
Kelly had helped. She’d told Annie about the new rehab facility in Broslin, the small town where they’d both grown up. The position paid enough to qualify for a mortgage on a small fixer-upper. Annie was in.
“My cousin is branching out from real estate agent to real estate adviser. She’s remarketing herself as someone who helps people find good investments for rent or flipping. I’ll be on the show with her.”
“Doing what?” Cole asked.
“Returning a favor. She found my house for me. I need to renovate it. She’s kind of managing the reno and got the local TV to cover the transformation. She’ll be giving tips on how to increase home value for a sale or flip.”
“Establishing herself as the local expert.”
Annie nodded. She didn’t want to go into the topic any deeper, hadn’t meant to go into it at all. But maybe sharing something personal would set Cole at ease. Establishing a more open relationship between them could only benefit his therapy.
His gaze didn’t leave her face. “You’re not excited. My mother would be dancing down the street in a hula skirt. She’s hooked on those house-makeover shows on TV.”
“I’m excited,” Annie said, working hard at it. “I need to move. With a makeover, I might actually be able to sell.”
He stopped. “Moving away?”
“Just to a house with a bigger property. We’ve outgrown the backyard a lot faster than I expected. I have animals.” She had a dream for her life, and she was determined to make that dream a reality. This was going to be her lucky year.
She wasnotgoing to do anything to mess up her dream, or the job that made it all possible. Which meant she would make things work with Cole, find a way to ensure that ecotherapy helped him.
She’d gotten off on the wrong foot with him somehow during this intro session. Should she have kept more of a distance between them? She couldn’t, not when she had to touch him to make him look at her every time she needed to tell him something.
At least she had the rest of the week off. By the time she returned to work, today’s odd vibe would be forgotten. She would hit the reset button and start over with him. Would not let her heart flutter because he slept his first drug-free sleep in months next to her, the back of his hand touching her knee.
Attraction toward a patient was the kind of forest fire that could burn down her life and career before she had a chance to blink. She’d made enough bad decisions already to last her a lifetime. She was starting over here.
“Got a boyfriend to help you with all that work?”
“God forbid,” she said before she could catch herself.
He raised a dark eyebrow as they began walking again. “That bad?”
“A genetic, pathological inclination to be attracted to the wrong guy.”
Cole’s expression turned lighter than it had been so far. Apparently, the thought of her failings cheered him up. “How bad can it be?”
“One of them is still stalking me.”
The hint of amusement disappeared from Cole’s gaze. As if someone had turned a switch, in a blink, he was all badass killing machine, laser focused and ready for anything. “Are you in danger?”
“Forget I said that. Joey is harmless. Just part of the family curse.”
“He’s cursed?”
“I am.”
