Karma (36 page)

“I’ll help you,” Mike muttered. “Thanks for everything.”

Alexa nodded. “I’ll be back soon with news.” She too took off, leaving Cara and Mike alone.

Most of Cara’s earlier shakiness had subsided, leaving her exhausted. “I’m going to get some coffee. Want some?” she asked the hulking, silent man beside her.

“No, thanks.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said, more uncomfortable now that the mood between them had shifted from connected to awkward. But awkward was they way things had been between them since his return. She turned and headed for the door.

“Cara.”

Surprised, she pivoted back toward him. “Yes?”

“Thank you. For calling 911 and making sure Sam got here quickly.”

It was as much of an apology for his earlier rudeness as she was likely to get. If she hadn’t been in the room with him that night three months ago—under him, over him, him deep inside her—his recent behavior would have convinced Cara that the most spectacular evening of her life had never happened.
But it had
, she thought, shivering as her body recalled the intimate connection. And that brief time together, along with the flare of heat in his eyes today, proved she wasn’t crazy. He’d been affected by her whether he showed it or not.

It was his choice not to show it that proved he wanted nothing to do with her. Heck, he clearly didn’t even want a repeat performance, which merely backed up Sam’s point. As Sam had informed Cara before she’d left the bar with his brother, Michael viewed everything and everyone in life as temporary. At the time, Cara had been okay with that. She didn’t expect him to stick around, and she was a small-town girl at heart, with small-town aspirations. She’d happily remain in Serendipity long after the big-city detective left his temporary job as chief of police behind. She had no doubt if she got involved with Mike again, she’d end up with a broken heart.

But he wasn’t asking her for anything. Yet if he pressed, she’d be tempted. And what did that say about her? She shook her head to dislodge thoughts of a man who clearly wasn’t interested. Cara wouldn’t chase after a man any more than she’d let one take advantage of her. Her mother and father’s unbalanced, unhealthy relationship set an example Cara refused to follow.

With that reality firmly in mind, she went for coffee.