Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [103]
“She seems very nice.” Maggie wasn’t ready to let him off the hook.
This time his eyes met hers, their intense blue looking deep inside her and reminding her once more of last night.
“She is nice, but she doesn’t make my palms sweaty and my knees weak like you do,” he said quietly, seriously, and managing to set that damn flutter going again in her stomach.
She looked away and concentrated on putting butter on her cold toast as though suddenly hungry.
“Look Nick, about last night…”
“I hope you don’t think I was trying to take advantage of you. I mean, you did have a lot to drink.”
She glanced at him. He leaned forward, his entire face serious. He was genuinely concerned. Had last night meant more to him than his ordinary trysts with women? Something made her want it to mean more, but she said, “I think it’s best if we just forget last night ever happened.”
He looked wounded, a slight grimace, then that same intensity.
“What if I don’t want to forget? Maggie, I haven’t felt like that in a long time. I can’t—”
“Please, Nick, I’m not some naive waitress. You don’t have to feed me some line or pretend—”
“It’s not a line. Yesterday when I thought you were leaving and I’d never see you again, I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut. And then last night. Jesus, Maggie, you turn me inside out. I get all weak-kneed and tongue-tied. Believe me, that doesn’t usually happen with me and women.”
“We’ve been spending a lot of time together. We were both exhausted.”
“I wasn’t that exhausted. And neither were you.”
She stared at him. Had it been that obvious how much she had wanted him? Or was it simply his ego?
“What did you expect to happen, Nick? Are you disappointed you’re not able to add one more name to your list of conquests?” She glanced around them. No one seemed to notice her angry whispers.
“You know that’s not what this is.”
“Then maybe it’s simply the thrill of being forbidden. I am married, Nick. It may not be the best marriage in the world, but it still means something. Please, let’s just forget about last night.” She stared at her coffee, feeling his eyes on her.
“Here’s your toast and coffee,” Angie interrupted, and Maggie found no relief in ending the subject. Maybe she didn’t want to forget it, either.
Angie set the plate and cup in front of Nick, forcing him to sit back, though his eyes stayed on Maggie. She wondered if the pretty waitress could feel the tension.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked only Nick.
“Maggie, do you need anything?” He purposely drew attention to Maggie, and Angie immediately looked embarrassed.
“No, thanks.”
“Okay,” Angie said, now anxious to make an exit.
There was an awkward moment of silence.
“You said Judge Murphy is hedging on the rectory warrant. Why?” Maggie tried to focus, still avoiding his eyes and pouring more sugar into her coffee. She waited out his silence, then finally she heard a sigh of resignation.
“Murphy and my dad come from a generation that believe you just don’t mess with Catholic priests,” he said, slathering his toast with quick, jerky swipes of butter.
“So is a warrant even possible?”
“I tried to convince him that it’s Ray Howard we’re after.”
“You still think it is Howard.”
“I don’t know.” He pushed the toast aside without taking a bite and scratched at his bristled jaw. She noticed the bandage again.
“What did you do to your hand?”
He stared at it for a moment as though he couldn’t remember.
“It’s no big deal. Look,” he said, leaning toward her again, and she could smell the faint hint of his aftershave lotion though he obviously hadn’t shaved. Behind the exhaustion in his eyes, Maggie could see the beginning panic he was so desperately trying to hide. Suddenly, she realized he was waiting for her attention.
“Sorry,” she said, putting down the spoon, folding her arms and giving him her attention.
“Father Keller told me last night that Ray Howard left the seminary last year. While I was waiting on Murphy I did some checking. Howard was at a seminary in Silver Lake, New