Page 24 of Sackett (Demented Souls #17)

S elena wrapped up her meeting with the client, shook his hand and assured him she would see him at the courthouse before their hearing the following day.

She watched him leave before she took a deep breath and picked up her notebook filled with notes and put it away, then continued gathering her things.

As she packed her things she wondered where Sackett had gotten to while she’d been busy.

She was saved from having to go looking for him when he opened the door to the conference room she’d borrowed from a previous class mate for this meeting, and poked his head in.

“Is it safe?”

She looked up and found him watching her with a teasing smile.

“It is. I’m done, at least for now. I’ve got a few things I’ll need to go over and do later, but I’m done until tonight.”

“Okay, good.” He stepped inside and let the door close behind him. “What’s next?”

“I’m getting hungry. I thought we could find something to eat.”

“Sounds good to me. Do you have some place in mind?”

“I don’t. I thought I’d ask what you want to eat tonight before we decide where to go.” She closed her briefcase and looked up, waiting for him to answer.

“I’m not picky about what kind of food, as long as there’s meat.” He paused “I don’t mean that I only eat meat, but without it, I’ll be hungry again in an hour or two.”

“I can work with that,” Selena said with a laugh, thinking about some of her favorite places when she’d been in school here and where he might like as she pulled her bag off the table and started for the door.

Only to be stopped by Sackett stepping in front of her and holding out one hand.

She stopped and scowled at him, not sure what he wanted.

“Let me carry your bag.” His soft, kind tone battled with the words that sounded more like a demand than a request.

Selena stared at him for a moment. “I can get it.”

“I have no doubt you can, but it’s added weight on your healing feet and it’s no big deal to let me take it for you.” He kept his hand out, patiently waiting.

She considered it for the space of several seconds, then agreeing that he wasn’t wrong, though she wasn’t ready to admit that he was right, but she handed over her bag.

“Thank you,” Sackett said. He adjusted his grip on the bag, then turned, stepped out of the way, and opened the door for her.

“Thank you.”

“T his looks really good. What do you recommend?” Sackett looked over his menu at her.

Selena let her eyes skim the menu to see what she recognized and what was new since her last visit.

“I have never had a bad burger here. And the pizza is better than average.” There were several new sandwiches she hadn’t tried, so she didn’t mention those.

“What about the beer?” he said. “I’m assuming you drink beer, or you wouldn’t have brought us to a brewery.”

She nodded. “I do. I have tried several and they are mostly good. But how you like any beer depends so much on a person’s individual likes and preferences. What kind of beer of you typically lean toward?”

“What I drink depends on what I’m eating and what’s available, but I tend to gravitate toward darker or stronger flavors like stouts or porters.”

“I don’t have much experience with those, but that’s because I don’t care for things that dark. I lean a bit lighter than that and go for ambers and reds.” She scanned the tap menu. “But the waiter will have some great advice if you ask him.”

As if her words had summoned her, a young woman who looked to be around twenty-four or twenty-five stepped up beside their table.

“Good evening. My name is Alyssa. I’ll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

Sackett motioned for her to go first, Selena placed her drink order then she listened as Sackett and Alyssa discussed the different options and flavor profiles.

After a couple of minutes, he made his decision, and she left to get their drinks.

They fell quiet for a few minutes and they each made their dinner choices by the time Alyssa returned with their drinks and took their food orders.

“What’s the plan for this evening?” Sackett asked once they were alone at the table.

“I mentioned it earlier, but I’ve got some work I’ve got to get done. Is there anything you want or need to do?” She didn’t want him to feel like she thought everything was all about her.

Sackett shook his head. “I’m here to guard you.

I’m here to make sure you are safe as you do your business here in town.

If something comes up that I need to do, I’ll let you know.

Let’s go with whatever you would do if you were here on your own.

I’m not going to make things harder for you unless I have a reason.

If there’s a reason I want to change things up, I’ll let you know what the issue is so we can discuss the details and figure out how to deal with it. ”

Some of the tension she’d been in her shoulders seemed to drain away. She’d been worried that there were things he wanted or needed to do and that it would conflict with what she needed to do.

“If you were here alone, what would you do when you were done here?” He leaned back in his seat, getting comfortable while they waited for their food.

Selena waggled her head from side to side while she thought about it.

“I’d probably stop somewhere and pick up a bottle of wine, maybe something for dessert later, then go back to the room and find something on TV to listen to. I’d spend the evening in my pajamas, working and watching TV.”

“I’m not much of a wine drinker, but that sounds like a great evening to me.”

“I don’t require that you drink wine, or even that what you have is alcoholic. The point is to relax and get some work done at the same time.”

“Sounds like a great plan. What do you usually watch?”

Selena lifts one shoulder in a dismissive gesture, “Depends on what channels they have. If nothing else, I can usually find a movie I don’t mind listening to while I work. Is there anything you’re not willing to watch?”

Sackett shrugged. “I can’t think of any hard nos off hand, but I’m sure there’s something. To me it’s background noise, more often than not.”

“Don’t watch a lot of TV?”

“Not really. I will watch it occasionally, but I don’t have anything I have to see every episode of, or even that I look forward to it coming on.”

She frowned and tilted her head as she watched him, wondering what he did if he didn’t watch TV.

Hers was on nearly all the time if she was at home.

It had taken a long time for her to realize she used it as her company when she was home alone.

How did he handle that? Did he ever sometimes just ache to have someone else to spend time with?

“What are you thinking? It looks like you’ve got some heavy thoughts going on in there.”

She lifted one corner of her mouth in a wry smile. “I was wondering what you do if you don’t watch TV.”

“It’s not that I don’t watch, just that I don’t watch much. I watch more movies than TV, but I read more than I watch anything.”

Surprise washed through her. She didn’t think she’d ever encountered a man who read much unless it was required for their career. Sure, women read, but she couldn’t remember the last time she saw a guy reading for pleasure.

“You’d rather read than watch TV?” She couldn’t help the surprise in her voice.

“Most of the time, yeah.” He lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “I mean sometimes I just want to veg out but most of the time, if that’s what I want, I find an audio book.”

She shifted in her seat, leaning a little closer as the idea of a guy who would rather read than sit in front of a TV intrigued her.

It made her wonder if maybe there was more to this bearded man than she’d first thought.

Maybe the gut deep attraction was more than her body aching for something it hadn’t had in longer than she cared to admit.

She’d been wondering how they’d spend so much time together, with nothing but Donna in common.

Now though, maybe there would be something, even if they’d never read any of the same books, they at least had a love for reading.

She couldn’t wait to find out if they had more in common than she’d thought.

“What do you read?”