Read Online One Night in Weaver... by Allison Leigh - Free Book Online

question, Doc.” His voice was lazy and amused. “Not a suggestion.”
    “I know.” She wrapped her hands around the chains of one of the swings and sat down on the rubber seat. “You were changing the subject. A tactic I’ve been known to use myself, as you know.” Stretching out one leg, she pushed off slightly with the other. “Come over here anyway.” She tilted her head toward the other unoccupied swings. “Shame that the only thing moving these around right now is the breeze.”
    He unwrapped one of the brownies before standing and crossing over to sit on the swing beside her. He downed half the brownie in two bites. “You’re never quite what I expect.”
    She wasn’t swinging high at all, but she was still surprised by the exhilaration she felt. “Spilling food, ruining shirts and passing out drunker than a skunk?” She made a face. “Not very appropriate for the town shrink, I’m afraid.”
    “Psychologist,” he corrected dryly and she couldn’t help but smile. “So why
were
you drunk?”
    She tilted her face upward toward the sun and closed her eyes. The warmth felt good on her face. “That is a conversation for another day, I think. Would take too much time.”
    “And your two o’clock will be waiting soon.”
    “Yes.” She heard a soft jangle of chains but didn’t open her eyes until her backward arc was caught mid-swing, halting her motion abruptly. Startled, she looked up to see Seth standing behind her. “What are you doing?”
    “What I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” He leaned over her head from behind and brushed her mouth with his.
    She’d barely inhaled the surprise of it along with the taste of chocolate on his lips when he straightened again and gave her a strong push that sent her swing flying three times as high as her modest efforts had. The sound that came out of her throat was half screech and half laugh. “Seth!”
    He was already crossing back to the picnic table where he collected their debris and deposited it in one of the metal trash bins. Then, after gathering up her unfinished bottle of water and the remaining brownie, he returned to stand on the sidewalk in front of her. “I have a promise to keep.”
    She’d never once been reluctant to do the job that she loved. But she was reluctant now. “Am I going to shock you if I admit I don’t really want to go back?”
    He smiled slightly. “No. All work and no play isn’t good for anyone. You’re a shrink. You probably preach balance—” he drew out the word mockingly “—to all the crazies who lay on your couch.”
    She did talk about balance with her patients who clearly didn’t possess it. And she tried not to think about the irony, when her own life was heavily skewed toward work. But she didn’t want to talk about that now, so she leaned forward, her ponytail sliding over her shoulder as she swung away from him again. “No ‘crazies,’ as you so indelicately put it. Nor do I have a couch in my office.”
    “Neither do I.”
    Which served to remind her that she wasn’t the only one on a lunch break. And whereas she was her own boss, he was not. So when the swing scooped forward and back again, she let her toes drag through the sand, slowing the motion enough that she could jump off. And when she stumbled forward, she wasn’t surprised at all that he was right there to catch her before she fell. But as soon as she was steady, his hand dropped from her shoulder and he held out the brownie to her.
    Exhilaration was still flowing in her veins as she took the plastic-wrapped treat. “You seem very tall,” she admitted breathlessly. She was five-seven and he had a good half foot on her.
    His eyes crinkled. “You seem very short,” he returned and bent over to pick up her shoes. He dangled them in front of her. “Without these.”
    “I’m still not short,” she countered and took them from him. She set the pumps upright on the sidewalk and slid her feet back into them, which brought her