Page 17 of Deadly Secrets
He helped her back toward the car. Teasing laced his tone. “Do you have time for lunch before your plane departs, Dr. Heaton?”
She removed her hand from his and put distance between them. “Won’t do me much good to pass out on the plane from low blood sugar, now will it? I’ll just have to reschedule my flight.”
He snapped his fingers in adarn itmove. “And here I thought I might be taking a road trip with you today.”
Inside the car, he fetched a bottle of water for her from a cooler in the trunk and started the engine, wiping sweat from his forehead. He chugged his own water in several gulps and flipped the empty bottle into the backseat as his phone rang.
His face screwed up slightly. “Sorry, I need to take this.”
She wiped at her own face with the sleeve of her shirt and nodded. Sipping her water slowly, the coldness tickled her throat and lingered in her stomach. She closed her eyes for a moment, the questions circling like vultures in her brain.
“Yes, Mom,” Roman said.
Mom? Brooke snuck a glance at him and saw his eyes were closed as if he were searching for patience. “I will be there. I promised, didn’t I?”
A pause in which he sighed quietly as a woman’s muffled voice went on for a minute. He started to speak, then stopped when she wouldn’t allow him to interrupt.
He opened his eyes, caught Brooke staring at him, and gave her an embarrassed grin. “I’m on a case right now, Mom. I’ll call you back, okay? But seriously, I promised I’d be there and I will. Nothing will keep me from the party, I swear.”
A few more reassurances were offered and he finally got off the phone.
“My parents are celebrating their 35th anniversary this weekend,” he explained, sticking his phone in its car holder. “Dad has diabetes and Mom’s afraid he won’t be around for many more since he has a lot of complications from it. It’s important to get the whole family together.”
A pang of longing hit her right below her heart. “You have a big family?”
He grinned as they drove away from the site, heading back toward San Diego. “Three siblings, two with kids, and there’s a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins.”
Lucky you. “Sounds like you better not disappoint your mother.”
His grin kicked up a notch. “Never. The last thing I ever want to do is let her down.”
Perfect. Brooke closed her eyes and tried not to like him.He’s so damn perfect.
And something told her she wasn’t going to make a later flight back to L.A. either.
Because if there was one thing she could use a little more of in her life, it was Dr. Roman Walsh and all of his perfectness.
