Free Pass Interference by Desiree Holt Page A

asked.
    She shook her head. “Obviously after dark but I wasn’t really paying attention.” She cradled her mug in both hands. “I sat out on the patio for a long time.”
    “How come your car wasn’t in the garage?”
    She squirmed a little on the chair and took a sip of her coffee before answering him. “I thought I might go out later.”
    “Oh.” Well, that was no surprise. Was there ever a night she stayed home? Not for the first time he wondered how a woman like Tyler Gillette, who had everything going for her, could throw away her life so easily.
    “Don’t say what you’re thinking.” She glared at him. “None of the…people I meet know where I live.”
    He chuffed a sigh of exasperation. “Tyler, you aren’t exactly unknown. Your face has been in the media as many times as the mayor. Unless the guys you pick up are deaf, dumb, and blind, they know who you are. They can easily find out where you live.”
    For a moment pain slashed across her face. Then, as with the other expressions he’d seen, it disappeared, replaced by a carefully arranged mask.
    “I’m sure you realize it’s not my face they’re looking at.” She took another sip of her coffee before she focused her gaze straight at him. “Look. I’m sorry I bothered you. This was a bad mistake on my part. I just got a little freaked when I went outside and saw…what I saw. Yes, I can fix it with my credit card. Even get the dealer to send someone out with the tires and change them.” She twisted her lips. “Like you said, I’m Tyler Gillette. I can just wave my plastic.”
    “I didn’t mean—”
    “No, no, no, it’s all right.” She looked down at her feet. “You’re right. It’s probably just some neighborhood kid. I panicked. Again, I’m very sorry I disturbed your evening.”
    Well now, didn’t he just feel like shit? He could see she was desperately trying not to fall apart over this. Just having her tires slashed wouldn’t be something she’d feel compelled to call him about. No, this was no neighborhood prank, no matter what she said. There was something going on here he didn’t know about and had no idea how to get her to tell him.
    Maybe if you’d quit being such a judgmental shithead it would help.
    The image flashed into his brain of her standing in the open doorway hugging herself, as if she might fall apart. Now he noticed that her hands were trembling, even though she gripped her coffee mug tightly. Okay, this was more than just someone slashing her tires. He should have figured that out right away. She wouldn’t allow herself to bother him if it was just this one incident.
    Yes, dickwad. You’re the smart security agent who’s supposed to be able to read a situation. Maybe he needed virtual reading glasses.
    “Have there been other incidents in the neighborhood?” he asked, trying to keep his tone even and calm.
    She shrugged, but it didn’t quite come off as nonchalant, if that was what she’d intended. “I don’t exactly socialize with my neighbors, so I wouldn’t know. You think that’s what this is? Kids up to trouble around here?”
    No, he didn’t. And looking at her face intently he saw the tiny lick of fear in her eyes. He set his mug on the table beside his chair, uncrossed his legs, and leaned forward, elbows on knees.
    “What’s really going on here, Tyler? What else is happening that I don’t know about?”
    She wet her lower lip, a gentle swipe of a soft pink tongue that sent unwanted messages to his hormones. Somehow all those years of discipline were slowly eroding.
    “What makes you think there’s anything else?”
    “Because you’d never have called your father’s head of security,” he answered, “if you thought this was just a kid’s prank.”
    He watched her nibble on her lower lip, her forehead creased in thought. He’d been such an ass she probably regretted calling him at all. But if something bad was happening to her, he at least owed it to Gillette to find out