“It wasn’t intentional. I just didn’t think it was something you needed to worry about.” He also hadn’t wanted to overburden her with his family problems. God knew that Melinda hated doing anything family related. It hadn’t seemed fair to ask Kate, his pretend girlfriend, to stop in for what some might see as an unpleasant task.
She took a step forward and slugged him with surprising force. “Let me decide that, okay? I really like your dad and your whole family. And whether we realized it at the time, this charade has drawn me into your family and the drama that comes with it. I can’t help but care.”
He rubbed his arm but was unable to keep the smile from creasing his face. “Fair enough.” He sounded offhanded, but hearing her talk about his family like that—like she really cared—was making him feel all sorts of crazy.
Maybe Cruz had been on to something. Maybe he was growing more attached to Kate than he’d originally envisioned. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Cruz was making him paranoid. That’s what it was.
“I may have mentioned I have depositions I’m taking on the McKenna case tomorrow,” she continued. “It’s scheduled for two days, but I’m hoping to get most everything wrapped up tomorrow. Maybe freeing up some time on Friday, if I’m lucky. I can come by. The hospital, I mean. If you want me to.”
“I think having you there might be kind of nice,” he said cautiously, not wanting her to know how much it would mean if she did. He didn’t want to pressure her. “But I also know how important this case is to you, so if for any reason you can’t be there, just know that I understand. But speaking of your big case…” He needed to change the subject. It was getting entirely too personal and he needed a breather. “Shouldn’t you be cramming or something right now?”
She laughed and practically rubbed her hands together in front of her. “Nicole wasn’t all that happy to see me bail before eight tonight, but I know the facts inside and out and sitting in my office reviewing them another couple of hours isn’t going to make any difference at this point. Now it’s all about the excitement, the wondering of how things will go tomorrow. I know what I’m hoping she’ll say, but sometimes you never know. It makes it all so…terrifying but exciting at the same time.”
He watched her describe some of the case details again, noticing the way her eyes lit up with excitement, turning them more turquoise than their usual blue gray. She licked her full lips and he was reminded of how sweet her lips had tasted, and how soft and pliant they’d been under his. If he kissed them now, would she taste like tea and honey? Or maybe like the beer she’d tentatively sipped?
Then the truth hit him hard in the chest, and he felt as if the air had been punched out of him.
Shit. Cruz was right.
He just might be falling for this smart, passionate woman whose heart was as beautiful as she was. And he just might be past the point of caring.
Chapter Thirteen
Ava Herrera, a woman in her early forties, was quite pretty, make no mistake about it. She was dressed for court in a conservative but stylish suit with a bright scarf tied around her neck that coordinated with the cherry-red stain on her lips, both of which further accentuated her pretty brown eyes.
Kate would have bet Ms. Herrera’s dark brown hair, full and teased, would give even Miss Texas a run for her money. She was a woman who knew her attraction and, Kate had no doubt, played that to her advantage.
But was that so different from any other woman?
Kate tried to quiet the annoying voice that had been popping up all morning during the deposition, anytime Kate thought something snarky, something to help see this woman as the bad guy. It always made it easier when she had to ask the tough questions, particularly when this woman’s dark, expressive eyes looked at her, damp with moisture and with a look that said Kate, as a woman, had somehow betrayed her.
“And what did you do after Mr. McKenna made this advance?”
“I was in shock. This was the first time he’d taken his flirtation past blatant sexual innuendo to something more…physical.”
The woman continued to detail what happened that particular day and later, when they went on a business trip together and her boss actually attacked her. At times, she’d break down, and her attorney would hand her a tissue and they’d wait until the woman could gain her composure. But she remained consistent throughout, much to Kate’s dismay. And credible.
“And did you tell anyone at the company what had happened up to this point? A coworker? The human resources department?”
She shook her head.
“I’m sorry, I need you to respond for the record.”
“No.”
This questioning went on another hour and a half, until it was time to break for lunch.
“Two months of alleged harassment and you finally made a formal complaint to Ms. Driscoll at human resources,” Kate said, summarizing the morning’s testimony. “Do you recall what she told you after you explained everything?”
“She said they’d start an investigation and would notify me of what they discovered.”
“And do you know if they did, indeed, start an investigation?”
Ms. Herrera shrugged, a wry smile on her lips. “They started an investigation, all right. But I don’t think they were looking to prove anything about my complaint. It was more a witch hunt—against me—for daring to bring such a claim against Mark. I knew Ms. Driscoll didn’t believe me and wouldn’t help me, despite what she’d said.”
“And how could you know that?”
“Besides the fact she looked at me throughout the whole thing like I was some kind of lying schemer? A couple of days later, when I was dropping off some reports at Mark’s office, I overheard her and Mark talking about me. I distinctly heard him telling her this is what happens when they hire trailer trash like me to fill some quota.” Ms. Herrera’s voice broke at this last part.