Read Turn on a Dime - Blane's Turn for Free Online Page B

reality.
    “Why did you come to Indianapolis?” Blane asked.
    “Just needed a change,” she said.
    Her answer was as vague as he’d expected, though that didn’t make it any less frustrating.
    “So how’s the embezzlement guy?” she asked, unsurprisingly turning the conversation away from herself.
    “He’s going to be all right,” Blane answered, leaving out how close the guy had come to being very far from ‘all right’ if it had gone how he and Kade had silently planned. “We’ll press for a psychiatric evaluation once he’s recovered.”
    “The insanity defense,” she said. “A bit cliché, really.”
    “Not something I would have encouraged him to do,” Blane said, wondering if she’d realized yet that she could sue the firm. She didn’t appear to be dumb. He was sure she’d figure it out, and he wasn’t disappointed.
    “I’m not going to sue the firm,” she said, her tone one of let’s-cut-the-bullshit.
    “I didn’t think you were,” he lied. The look she gave him said he wasn’t fooling her one bit.
    “C’mon,” she said with a disbelieving snort. “Like I don’t know what this is about.”
    Blane leaned forward, wondering if she could feel the electricity between them like he could. He watched her throat as she swallowed more bourbon, her eyes locked on his. Her lips shone wetly with a sheen of liquor and Blane had the insane urge to lick them clean.
    “I’m glad you’re not going to sue the firm,” he said, “and we’re grateful for your loyalty. We’d like to offer you compensation for what you had to endure today.”
    She blinked, as though she had to process what he’d said. “Are you trying to pay me off?”
    “Of course not,” Blane lied again. “It’s just what I said. Compensation for hardship endured under our employment.”
    Her eyes flashed again. “How much?”
    Blane’s stomach sank and he leaned back. They were all the same, especially when money was involved.
    “Five thousand,” he offered, though in a lawsuit, she’d probably win four times that.
    “Five thousand?” she squeaked.
    “Or ten,” Blane said, with a shrug, “if you feel that would be more appropriate.”
    Her eyes were wide as saucers and Blane knew what would happen next. She might hem and haw about how she really shouldn’t, right before asking how soon she’d get the check.
    “Forget it,” she said. “I don’t want your money.”
    “What do you mean, you don’t want the money?” Was this her version of hemming and hawing?
    “I don’t want it,” she said, even more forcefully, and Blane didn’t think she was playing a game. Interesting.
    Greg came by with the check and Blane tossed some money down on the table, though the focus of his attention was on Kathleen. A flash of relief crossed her face as she noted him paying the bill and realization struck Blane. Ah. That’s why she hadn’t ordered much to eat.
    Now Blane felt slightly chagrined at having taken a woman to dinner without making it clear he was taking her to dinner. His mother would have been sorely disappointed in his manners.
    The urge to make it up to Kathleen made him reach a hand toward her to help her down off the too-tall stool. She seemed reluctant to take it, but finally did. The bones of her hand felt fragile inside his grip. She was breakable, too much so.
    Blane opened the car door for her and she slid inside. When he got behind the wheel, he asked, “Where to?” She gave him an address and he headed that way. He was as excited as a kid at Christmas that he finally got to see where she lived.
    Unfortunately, his excitement waned as he neared the address Kathleen had told him. The area of town was one often reported on the news, and not in a good way. Did she live alone? She said she could shoot, but did she own a gun? Maybe she had a live-in boyfriend who kept her safe. That thought made Blane’s hands tighten their grip on the steering wheel.
    He opened his mouth to ask her, but noticed