Switched by Helenkay Dimon Page A

normal for the situation.”
    She leaned into his hand and missed the touch the second after he pulled back. “I have no idea how you can use that word.”
    “Situation?”
    “Normal.”
    A smile broke across his face. “Ah, that one.”
    “Why did you lie?” She hadn’t meant to ask the question. Not now, not here. It popped out and she had no idea how to stuff it back in.
    But since it was out there, all she wanted in the world, in that moment, other than to live from one minute to the next, was to understand his choices. When he went back to scanning the room in his stiff stance and with his flat mouth, she thought he was going to let the question hang there without an answer.
    She sighed. “How long do we wait for Royal to come back?”
    “You seemed content.” Aaron had turned his back to her, acting like a human shield, and pitched his voice low.
    She heard him. Understanding the words took more effort. “What does that mean?”
    He shifted until his body lined up next to hers. He didn’t face her. He stared ahead while his arm kissed her shoulder. “I live this bizarre life that sometimes comes with danger, and you sat in a coffeehouse humming some strange tune I’d never heard before and working on papers. I didn’t even intend to approach you that first time.”
    “Why did you?”
    He laughed. “I have no idea.”
    “So the tax thing isn’t a line you use on all the ladies?”
    He glanced at her then. One eyebrow lifted along with the corners of his mouth. “If I was making a play I would have said something sexier.”
    “Real estate attorney?”
    “Pilot. Firefighter. You seemed too smart for this one, but astronaut.”
    “Oh, that’s kind of sexy.” Though she had to say, any guy with a gun and the whole ability-to-rescue thing was now number one on her hot-male-occupations list.
    His body stiffened. It was as if every muscle clicked to alert status. “Problem.”
    The change in him had her snapping to attention. “Another one?”
    “Do you know how to shoot?”
    “A gun?”
    “Forget the long lesson. Take this.” He slipped a small gun out of an ankle holster and handed it to her.
    The metal felt odd in her hands. She’d never handled a gun but expected something different. Something light and sleek that filled her with power.
    She suspected the churning in her chest was more like dread. “I don’t think I can kill anyone.”
    “Even if they’re coming at you?”
    Forget being girlie. She wanted to live. “I just squeeze the trigger, right?”
    He pointed out the safety and angled her so her back was flush against the solid corner of the room with nothing behind her and an unobstructed view in front, “Don’t shoot me or Royal, but don’t give anyone else even a second to talk. No hesitation.”
    “You make it sound easy.” She turned the gun over in her hands, knowing holding it and shooting it were two very different things.
    He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
    “You heard something.”
    “Sensed something.” He took a few steps, this time heading toward the left, down the part of the hallway they hadn’t explored.
    When Royal slipped around the corner and back into the open area in front of Aaron, both men froze in shooting position. All movement slowed, then cut off, as if someone had hit a giant stop button.
    When their shoulders fell, her breathing started again. “False alarm.”
    “I almost shot you.” Aaron lowered the gun to his side.
    “Never would have gotten off the shot in time. I’m an expert at this sort of thing, remember?”
    “What did you find on the roof?”
    “Nothing. The door at the top of the stairwell has a lock on it.”
    She wasn’t a security expert, but she knew about fire code. “That doesn’t sound safe. Maybe it’s part of the center’s soft opening. One of the glitches.”
    Royal’s lips twisted in a frown. “It looked out of place.”
    “I’m guessing we just figured out what these guns were doing up