“Okay. Then at least meet me for a drink after your meeting. Say five o’clock? Six? Seven?” He kept adding times as she shook her head.
Carly took a breath. She was tempted to talk to him, if only to learn more about the things Cody did for Mr. Wise, like those cameras. Mr. Wise had said only he and the person who installed his cameras knew they didn’t work. Maybe Cody had talked to someone about that job, someone who wanted to know more than he should.
“I can spare thirty minutes after seven o’clock.” She thought fast of a place close by where there wouldn’t be a menu to slow them down. “Do you know The Usual?”
“The usual what?”
“It’s the name of a bar on Magnolia, not far from Flawless.”
“That’ll do. You can give me directions when I pick you up.”
“Use your GPS. I’ll meet you there. It’s not a date. I’ll have only have thirty minutes to give you, Cody.”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am. Best thirty minutes of my year so far, guaranteed.”
Even as she watched him leave, she had the nagging suspicion that she’d made a mistake in encouraging him. Despite his aw shucks act, he didn’t seem like the type of man who would politely take no for an answer. Maybe she could ask Jarius to drop by the bar at seven thirty, just to give her an out.
“Don’t be a wuss, Carly. You’ve dealt with rock stars.” Smiling at a particularly sticky memory, she turned and unlocked her door.
At the very least she might be able to pick up a bit of information from Cody that could help Noah. Maybe Cody knew someone who was a firefighter. Noah said the fires he’d been accused of setting were started by a professional who knew how not to leave personal evidence.
The thought of Noah made her stomach feel funny. The intensity of the man completely destroyed her usually cool facade. He didn’t do calculated, or cunning. He was out there, all relevant emotions present when properly motivated. They didn’t have sex. They burned each other’s guard walls to the ground. What was left was potent, precious, and scary as hell.
She was feeling again. Feeling more than ever before. Arnaud had been affectionate but aloof. Love for him had been a sensory pleasure, like a good wine, or a good high. Noah was a boots-on-the-ground, ready-for-action male. He didn’t pretend about what he wanted. And he gave back in full, stunningly hard pleasure.
There weren’t words for that. It was rare, but it was real. She knew that now. And wanted more. But she couldn’t depend on it. Not until Noah was free to make his own feelings known.
“You fell for a cowboy, Carly. Who would have guessed?”
She put her things down and looked around her apartment. Absent the stacks of boxes she carted to the church, it looked like home. But suddenly, that wasn’t enough. She needed to do something. Anything. She hadn’t been able to do a thing for Noah since he was arrested. The suspense of not knowing what was going to happen next was killing her. So she was going to have a drink with a restoration guy.
But she wasn’t going to take any chances. She pulled out her phone and called Wise. Two minutes later she felt a little better. Wise confirmed that Cody had done work for him and gave the younger man a glowing endorsement. At least now she felt better meeting a practical stranger. After all, it was just for a drink in a public place.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Beer run. Your turn.” Mike Wayne leaned back out of the refrigerator and waved the last bottle of Blue Moon at Noah, who sat at the kitchen table.
Mike had showed up the evening after Noah made bail, and announced he was spending his four days off with Noah. Noah suspected that Durvan had sent him to keep tabs on his suspect. But Noah was too glad to have company of any kind to turn him down. It was a better offer than dealing with Sandra, who’d offered to do the same. Mike, at least, wouldn’t want to “talk about it.”
Mike had bunked out on the sleeper sofa in the TV room, refusing to mess up a bedroom. He was living out of a duffle bag, neat as the Marine he’d once been.
They’d watched every kind of sport over the last three days while the defense attorney that Sandra had found for Noah went to work, trying to find out what the district attorney had in mind for additional charges. So far, the district attorney’s office was being very closed mouth. Not a good sign.
“You want steak or barbecue tonight?”
Noah looked up from the computer he’d borrowed from his sister. To keep from going stir crazy, he’d been making lists and checking every detail that ran through his mind about the night of the fire. “I don’t care what we eat. As long as it’s hot and there’s plenty of it. You do the beer run.”
Mike hung his hands over the back of a kitchen chair. “The press hasn’t been around all day. Why don’t you hit the shower and we’ll go out for a change?”