Overwhelming Force

Somebody clicked their picture. The flash made Laura wince.

Joe turned calmly to the man. “Hi, we’re having dinner if you don’t mind.” His voice was friendly but firm. Laura saw the manager heading toward their table to ward off any problems, but the man with the camera left.

It could’ve just been anyone who recognized Joe and wanted to snap his picture.

It could’ve been someone from a major gossip rag.

Either way Laura knew she couldn’t stay. She put her napkin down beside her plate; she felt like she had a knot in her stomach that wouldn’t ease. Joe studied her with concern.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I can’t be here with you, can’t do this again. Thank you for dinner, thank you for the apology. I wish you the best, Joe.”

She started to stand, but he grasped her hand before she could.

“Laura, you’re panicking. Don’t. Please.” She felt his thumb brush over the back of her palm. “It was just a photograph and doesn’t mean anything.”

“No, what it was was a reminder. You are you and I am me. Our worlds aren’t compatible. You would’ve thought I learned that lesson well six years ago.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way. I wasn’t prepared tonight, but I can take measures to protect you from the press. From the gossip.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Who’s going to protect me against you, Joe?”

He gripped her hand more firmly. “I don’t want you to protect yourself from me. You don’t need to, because I’m not going to do anything that will cause you harm. I give you my word.”

Laura shook her head. She believed that he meant it, but that didn’t change anything. “I can’t be the person who opened up to you so completely before. That person got crushed in the fray. I don’t think she exists anymore.”

“Then open up the woman who does exist.” A moment of pain crossed his features. “I’m sorry. I know I hurt you badly. I wish I could take it all back.”

Laura let out a sigh. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, truly. It’s just I don’t know if I can open up to you. If I even want to.” Didn’t know if the price would be too high. “All I know right now is that it’s been a long day. I need some space. Some time.”

Joe stared at her for long moments. She knew he wanted to say more, wanted to plead his case. Part of her wanted him to, but she knew it could just lead to disaster.

He nodded and let go of her hand, leaning back in his seat. “Okay, you’re right. I’m trying to rush this. To force it. And that’s not what I meant to do at all. So we’ll take it slow.”

“Joe...” She wanted to tell him to just leave her alone for good, that she didn’t want him around her, but couldn’t do it. She couldn’t force herself to say the words.

Because she knew they would be a lie.

He leaned forward pinning her with his blue eyes. “I’m not giving up, Laura. I’ll let you go now, but I want you to know I’m not giving up.”

* * *

LAURA THOUGHT ABOUT his words the entire way home, thankful she’d had the foresight to insist they drive separate cars to the restaurant. She thought about the intensity of his blue eyes and the way his entire body had leaned toward her as he told her he wasn’t giving up.

She had no doubt he meant what he said.

But despite the attraction fairly simmering in her blood for him, Laura knew she couldn’t go through it again. Joe Matarazzo might be the most handsome, charming, wealthy man she’d ever met, but he was no good for her.

She would have to make him understand. Make him see that she wasn’t just playing hard-to-get. That her very survival depended on him choosing to leave her, and the life she’d built, alone.

But was that really what she wanted? Deep down did she hope for something different? For him to pursue her again as he once had?

She had pushed those types of thoughts immediately out of her head for so long that she could no longer even answer them honestly. Even to herself.

She wished the universe would send her some sort of sign.

It did, with a vengeance.

One moment she was driving down a relatively deserted patch of Highway 87, the next another car had slammed into the back driver’s side of Laura’s vehicle.

She screamed as her head struck the side window and struggled to hold on to consciousness, her vision immediately blurry. Her car flew out of control, spinning in a sideways direction almost off the road. She jerked the steering wheel but it didn’t seem to do any good. She looked over her shoulder and found the vehicle that had hit her still pushed up against her Toyota.

Was the other car trying to ram her toward the safety rail on the side of the road?

Laura glanced in that direction for just a second. She knew this part of Highway 87 pretty well. The drop past that safety rail was steep. She would definitely flip if she went over the edge.

Looking back again at the car still locked against hers, Laura slammed on the brakes with both feet, causing her car to stop and the other one to separate from it and speed past. Once her car wasn’t trapped by the other, Laura had control of the steering again and overcorrected, causing her to swing around backward and land hard up against the rail. Her head flew back the other way from the force of the hit.

Her breath sawed in and out of her chest. That driver had to be drunk. Idiot had almost killed them both.

In the rearview mirror Laura noticed the other driver tap the brakes and wondered if the close call with death had sobered the person up enough to realize what they had done. But the car sped farther away. Laura tried to get a glimpse of the license plate but her vision was too blurry.

She sat for long minutes trying to take inventory of herself. Nothing seemed to be broken. She definitely had a knot on her head where she’d cracked it against the window and her hands were shaking. But it all seemed to be pretty minor bumps and bruises, considering she’d almost been run off the road. Overall, she considered herself lucky.

An older couple pulled up behind her—well, in front of her since her car was facing backward—and immediately got out to help. They opened the passenger side door and assisted her across the front seats and out of the car. The police were called and at the scene soon enough.

Laura was tempted to call Joe. He would still be nearby and she knew he would come immediately.

She also knew there was no way he wasn’t going to end up in her bed if she did that.

She would attend to her bumps and bruises herself. At least right now they were just on her body; if she called Joe she was sure he’d soothe all her physical aches. But the ones he’d leave on her heart wouldn’t be so easily healed.

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