Free First Visions by Heather Topham Wood

not kill you.” Her grin could not
seem to fade as she pushed the plate to his side of the table.
    “So, that’s what these are called? Now that
you have me addicted to them, I can blame you when I get too fat to
chase anyone down,” he commented between bites. He cut his sandwich
in half and held out a piece to her. “Wanna share?”
    She took the sandwich from him and felt a
jolt as their hands brushed. She was in big trouble and she knew
it. More of this and she was going to ask him to procreate on the
table right then and there. He returned her smile and seemed to
also revel in the intimacy of the moment. She wished she could’ve
thrown his phone against the wall when it rang again a second
later. Kate felt embarrassed that she was weirding him out when she
noticed how uncomfortable he suddenly looked.
    “Hey, I’m going to step outside and take
this,” he said and hurried away from the table without a further
explanation.
    She chided herself as she began to devour his
sandwich. The time she was spending with him was making her more
confused than ever. Had she imagined him flirting back? She knew it
was inherently wrong to entertain the possibility of something
happening with him. He had a live-in girlfriend who happened to be
in the midst of a major crisis. Nothing screamed unavailable more
than that. Jared and Nikki had obviously been together for years.
Did she really think he was going to throw that away on a girl he
met a few days ago?
    Not to mention, he was out of her league.
What would a detective seven years her senior want with a sheltered
girl who lived at home with her mother? Embarrassingly enough, she
was inexperienced in more ways than one. She had only one serious
boyfriend and he broke up with her when she was eighteen, a couple
of months before her infection. They had only been together
intimately one time and it had been awkward and painful. The
asshole took her v-card and then dumped her the next day. Jerk
didn’t even have the balls to break up with her in person. Instead
he did it via text message.
    Too bad she came back from the brink of death
with the ability to see memories and not the power to make her ex
infertile. This lack of sexual aptitude made her doubt Jared would
be interested in drawing her a roadmap before they hit the
sheets.
    Jared walked back into the restaurant and she
could already feel the wall he was starting to put up. He had a
tense smile and his eyes didn’t meet hers. It must have been Nikki
on the phone, Kate assumed. It was highly probable she gave him an
earful for having lunch with her. Mumbling through a mouthful of
food, she remarked, “This is delicious by the way.”
    Some of the tension lifted from his face and
he resumed his seat across from her. “Not as good as the fries, but
definitely edible. Anyway, I’m thinking I’ll probably be able to
get those photos of the car models some time tomorrow. Would you be
able to get together? Maybe late afternoon or early evening?”
    “You could email them to me if it would be
easier. I don’t want to take up all of your time.”
    Kate figured she’d back off gracefully. His
uneasiness was obvious and she wasn’t going to push anything. She
wasn’t sure why he was suddenly very withdrawn. They only shared
food, it wasn’t like they swapped spit. It may have been her
imagination getting carried away, but she couldn’t help to wonder
if this attraction was as one-sided as she originally thought.
    “No, you’re not. Like I said, you’ve pretty
much provided our only leads. I’ve kind of dumped my caseload until
Cori is found,” he said and pushed away his plate.
    “Ok. I actually have a ton of homework for an
online class I’m taking. My mom was having her friend over for
dinner and I was planning to head to the library for a few hours.
Why don’t you meet me there?” she suggested.
    Jared agreed and she realized she had to
hurry back before Diane and the other women did start calling the
police