Fatal Flaw by Marie Force Page B

entirely.”
     
     
    Terry O’Connor paced on the sidewalk outside Lindsey McNamara’s stylish townhouse in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, working up the nerve to take the next step. They’d met at Sam and Nick’s shower and engaged in some harmless flirtation. At the wedding, they’d danced the night away. After a couple of weeks of exchanging texts and emails and more than a few multiple-hour phone calls, tonight was supposed to be their first official date. Except she’d been detained at work, so here it was close to eleven and he’d been invited over for a glass of wine.
    Which was why he was pacing. He had to tell her. His sponsor had helped him see that waiting any longer would be unfair to both of them. The sponsor had also warned him, repeatedly, that he was endangering his recovery by becoming involved with someone so soon after leaving rehab. Terry had agreed to proceed carefully, and being honest with her was an important first step.
    He rubbed damp palms over his jeans, summoning the courage he’d need to get through this. At the end of it, she’d either want to take a chance on him or she wouldn’t. All he could do was share the truth. The rest was up to her. Putting it off wouldn’t change the outcome. This was the story of his life now—and forever.
    As the district’s chief medical examiner, he figured she probably knew he’d briefly been a suspect in his brother’s death, but she probably didn’t know the details about his years-long battle with alcohol.
    “Let’s get this over with,” he said to himself. Stepping through the gate, he walked up the sidewalk and knocked on the door. While he waited for her, he took a series of deep breaths to calm his nerves.
    And then there she was—all long legs and that lithe dancer’s body she’d wowed him with at the wedding. She had coiled her long red hair into a bun, and her green eyes danced with the mischief he was coming to expect from her. In typical Lindsey style, she took his hand and all but dragged him inside.
    “This has been the longest day!” She led him into a contemporary living space that was warm, welcoming and entirely her. The open floor plan allowed him to see her in the kitchen uncorking a bottle of wine. “What’s your pleasure? Red or white?”
    “None for me, thanks.”
    As she spun around to maybe gauge whether he was serious, he thought, here it comes. They’d been so busy dancing at the wedding she hadn’t noticed he wasn’t drinking.
    “Are you sure?”
    He nodded and took a seat on the sofa.
    She joined him, curling those endless legs under her.
    Terry made an effort to keep his eyes on her face and not on the creamy expanse of skin above her pale pink tank top.
    “Everything okay?” she asked.
    “Yes. Of course.”
    “Then why are you so tense?”
    “Am I?”
    She nodded.
    Terry sat back and released a deep breath. “I have something I need to tell you.”
    “Okay.”
    Here goes nothing. “I recently spent two months in rehab.”
    The statement hung in the air between them for what felt like an hour.
    “Say something. Please.”
    She put her wineglass on the coffee table. “What were you treated for?”
    “Alcoholism.”
    Her face had lost all expression. “How long have you been sober?”
    “Eighty-six days.”
    She blew out a long deep breath.
    “That part of my life is over, Lindsey. I swear to you. I nearly lost everything, and now… The senator has given me a chance at a whole new life, and I’d never risk that.” He still couldn’t get over Nick asking him to be his deputy chief of staff. Terry was loving every minute of being back in the game of politics.
    “I, um… It’s a lot to take in.”
    His heart beat wildly as he slid closer to her on the sofa, took her hand and linked their fingers. “On the night my brother was murdered, I was so drunk I couldn’t remember who I’d been with. Because of that, the investigation focused on me for a time. Sam actually thought it was