Page 66 of Colton's Secret Weapon
And if she was wrong? The insidiousness of negative energy wasn’t letting go easily.
But she had an answer for it.
If she couldn’t trust Mitchell, she’d just as soon be dead.
Mitchell sat with Dove after Welding left. Several minutes passed before the glaze left her eyes. The woman was a complete enigma to him. And if he didn’t get some kind of protocolfor himself where she was concerned, she might just be his downfall, too.
There was no future for the two of them. He saw it clearly. What’s more, he was certain that she saw it, too.
So why her circumstances were affecting him so intrinsically he didn’t know.
The situation didn’t bode well.
Mitchell did not like things going on in his life that he couldn’t explain rationally and logically. Which was why he was living the staid life he’d chosen to live. With all adventure happening between him and nature, period. No other humans around.
Until the past week.
He’d excused himself from an important merger meeting between two medical practices—joining two independent DOs into one practice—as soon as he’d seen Welding’s name on his phone screen. Expecting to hear that Fletcher was in custody, he’d stepped outside just long enough to get the good news.
And never stepped back in. With a quick call to Stuart and then texts to his clients, he had his paralegal collect preliminary signatures and reschedule the meeting for later that afternoon.
Unprofessional, at best. Something else completely new and inexplicable to him.
Welding had already suggested that Dove get checked out over at the clinic. She’d insisted she was fine. The guy who’d tried to abduct her might not be, however. Welding had all clinics and urgent cares in Shelby and surrounding cities being checked out for any recent nose injuries.
“I wanted to believe there was no chance it was the serial killer after me.” Dove’s soft words were loud in the deserted hallway. Breaking a silence that had lasted several minutes.
He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew that Fletcher was in custody. At the very least.
“We don’t know it’s him, Dove. To the contrary, there’s no indication that women who reported being vandalized or stalked have gone missing.”
When her head swung in his direction, mouth open, eyes wide, he quickly added, “I spoke with Eli on my way here from the office.” There was more. He didn’t want to tell her. To add to her burden. And yet…it wasn’t up to him to determine what she could and could not handle. If she were a man, he’d tell her. Or another lawyer.
But because she was so sensitive…was no reason to undermine her.
The woman had taken out a would-be kidnapper with no warning, and it sounded like impressive precision. He’d been picturing the scenario that had been laid out for him over and over in his mind. Just…having a hard time digesting…so much.
“It’s also less likely that it was the serial killer because another woman has just gone missing,” he told her. Without giving the name, the details, that Eli had given him. Dawn Ellis. From Wasilla.
“Oh my god!” Dove’s gaze wide-eyed again but filled with compassion as she looked over at him. “When?”
He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know for sure. She was just reported missing.” And fit the MO. “Even if I did know more, I’m not at liberty to tell you.”
He wasn’t free to take her into his arms, either, which was all he’d really wanted to do since he’d seen the look of relief, and what appeared to be gratitude, that had entered her eyes when he’d come walking down the hallway toward her.
Pulling her sandal-strapped lower legs up to her chair, she wrapped her arms around her shins.
Noting, with relief, that she had Lycra shorts on under the skirt, Mitchell resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her and pull her against him. Feeling a bit powerless sitting there.
But equally unwilling to leave. At least until she was ready to go sit in her father’s room. She’d said she didn’t want to take her negative energy in there. That as long as she was close, in case there was any change, she’d prefer to stay outside his space until she had her breathing, her tension, under control.
The woman was an enigma, to be sure. Soft and needy, and yet, in some ways, he was beginning to think she was stronger than he was.
He controlled his environment. She kept hers wide open.
Thinking of the way she’d put herself in harm’s way by walking unescorted, he figured maybe hers was too open.
“I shouldn’t have been in the outdoor break area alone,” she said, as though she’d read his thoughts. More like the incident that had taken place was replaying itself over and over again in both of their minds.
