Carol's Image Read Online Free PDF

running again. “Miss, miss,” he called.
    She turned around as she reached her car, one hand already on the door handle. Emotions flitted across her face. Surprise, fear, irritation.
    “Is there something I can do for you?” she asked, attempting to be polite.
    He stopped several feet away, knowing that his size could be intimidating. “I’m sorry, miss. I think I offended you upstairs, and I never meant for that to happen. I wanted to offer my thanks for the way you spoke to James when he came in and for being so kind to his wife.”
    Visibly relaxing, she replied, “You don’t have to thank me. I’m glad he is going to be all right. Were you friends?”
    “Yeah, we were on a case together. It went bad and well, you saw the aftermath.”
    “Did you get the person responsible?” she asked.
    Surprised that she asked, he answered, “Yeah, Jake took him down.” Seeing her questioning look, explained further, “He arrested him.”
    “Oh,” was all she could think to say. Looking down, she could feel the blushing begin again.
    “I hate to keep callin’ you miss. What’s your name?” he asked.
    Looking up sharply, she asked, “Why do you want to know?”
    “You want the truth, darlin’?”
    She just nodded, keeping her gaze on him.
    “Because I want to know the name of the woman I’m gonna take out to dinner.”
    Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You want to ask me to dinner? Why?”
    Not used to this reaction, he faltered. Most women he approached were already flirting back or had already propositioned him.
    “Well,” he replied, running his hand through his hair in frustration, trying to figure out what to say next. He lifted his gaze back to her face. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And I already know you’re special.” Do I tell her I recognize her from the accident? Fuck, then she will think this is a gratitude date. “I wanna have a chance to get to know you.” Looking down at her face, he cocked his head to the side, grinning. “Is that so bad? The idea of havin’ dinner with me?”
    Shyly looking down, she was quiet for a moment. Realizing he had never had to wait for a woman’s answer, he began to get nervous. Please say yes, angel. Don’t shut me out.
    She raised her face to peer into his eyes. Blue eyes met blue eyes. His gaze never wavered. He’s telling the truth . “I work the graveyard shift, so dinner is kind of out.”
    Noticing that she wasn’t turning him down completely, he quickly pushed his advantage. “Well, how about a quick breakfast. At the diner just down the street. You’ll feel better if you get some good food in you.”
    Sucking her lips in as she thought over his proposal, she looked back into his eyes. Nodding slowly, she agreed as she reached out her tiny hand toward him. “Okay. I can do breakfast. And my name is Carol.”
    Taking her small hand into his much larger one, he gently shook it. “Pleased to meet you, Carol. I’m Tom.”
    She turned to get into her car. Tom, still holding her hand, held her back. Raising her hand to his lips, he gently kissed her knuckles. Then he assisted her into the car, shutting the door.
    Driving the short distance to the diner, she wondered what she was doing. What does he want with me? I haven’t been to the diner in a long time. What’s on the menu? I don’t even know him. This is a mistake. She pulled into a parking space before the tangle of thoughts running through her mind had a chance to convince her to turn around and drive straight home.
    Meeting a few minutes later at the diner, Tom held the door open for her. The waitress behind the counter waved them toward a booth, and they slid in facing each other. His long legs reached under the table, touching along the side of her much smaller ones. Normally wanting to distance herself, she found that she liked the contact. Glancing up at his face, she caught his smile and found it was easy to return it.
    Breakfast at the diner was a noisy