Free Touch Slowly (Red Light: Silver Girls series) by Debra Kayn

asked Emmett. "Most people would accept the apology."
    "I'm not most people." She turned to him.
    His gaze softened, and he looked at her longer than it was safe to take his attention off the road. She dropped her gaze to his broad chest. Taken aback by the rapid beat of her heart, she willed herself not to fall for his smooth talk.
    "Nova?" He waited.
    She looked up.
    "I am sorry," he said, firmly and sincerely.
    She inhaled deeply holding in the flutters bursting low in her stomach. His apology meant nothing, and yet she believed him.
    In her life, she'd met many men. Businessmen, construction workers, political members, even cowboys, and retirees. None of them ever made apologies and most gave her excuses on why they'd come to the bordello.
    Emmett's apology knocked her sideways.
    "Thank you." She swallowed the tightness in her throat. "It's no big deal."
    "Yeah?" Emmett turned on his blinker and pulled off the interstate. "We're good then?"
    "Yeah." She blew out her breath. "Thanks for the ride. You can drop me at the viaduct."
    "I'll take you to Federal Inn."
    She'd learned not to argue. Once she snuck inside the inn, she'd leave out the back door and return to the Sterling Building. She only had a doctor's appointment once a week, so there was no chance of him catching her outside again.
    With her plan curtailed to stay most of the night with Shayla, she'd go back to her room and get a good night's rest.
    Multiple cars passed them on Main Street. The lights at the bars on every corner lit up the area. She peered to her right and caught a glimpse of vehicles lining Cedar Street in front of the Sterling Building. She shifted on the seat and took her phone out of her back pocket. Almost eleven o'clock. Silver Girls wouldn't close until two. She couldn't risk sneaking up on the balcony during open hours with the bikers patrolling the area and watching the building.
    She had a safe zone between four and five o'clock in the morning if she remained stealthy and the cardboard shoved in her sliding door remained intact.
    "I also need to apologize." Her toes curled at the direction her thoughts shifted. "I've been rude to you."
    Emmett shrugged. "No worries."
    "No." She inhaled deeply to bolster her determination to go along with her excuse. "Let's start over and I'll buy you a coffee to make up for my bitchiness toward you. I'm not usually rude to strangers. Is there anywhere around here that has a drive-thru window."
    She couldn't be seen dining around town with a man or hiding out in the doorway of the abandoned building across the alley for hours until she could sneak back inside to her room. Her only option was to convince Emmett to let her hang out in his car with him for at least four hours.
    Four long hours.
    Then she'd have an hour to stake out the building and make her move.
    Emmett turned into the Federal Inn parking lot. "There's no drive-thru restaurants in Federal. If you want, we could go up to your room and have a cup of coffee. Room service works twenty-four hours from what I've heard."
    "No." She reached out, grabbed his hand on the gear shift, and promptly let go when the warmth of his skin permeated her palm. "The, uh, people next door to my room drive me nuts. Lots of noise. Thumping. The walls are thin. Besides, I try to keep safe when I'm staying in a strange town and never invite anyone to my room. I'm a woman traveling alone. You understand, don't you?"
    Emmett pushed in the clutch and put his foot on the brake, stopping the car. "Not really. I'm your cousins' neighbor. I'm not a stranger."
    "You are to me." She tapped the dash of the car. "How's this? I give you some money, you run into one of the bars, buy a couple of cups of coffee to go, and we go park at the river somewhere. In a few hours, we won't be strangers."
    Emmett's gaze dropped to her chest, and he said, "Okay."
    "All right. Okay. Perfect." She dug into her purse and extracted a twenty-dollar bill, slipping it into his hand. "It's a