On A Night Like This (Callaways #1)

big heart who maybe cares a little too much."
    She didn't like that Emma's assessment was so accurate, because she'd worked very hard the last few years to toughen up her soft side.
    "I'm not that girl anymore. I'm a lot meaner. Some people at work even call me a bitch."
    Emma laughed.
    "It's not funny."
    "Sara, you couldn't be a bitch if your life depended on it."
    "I can be. I am," she protested.
    "You are what?" Aiden asked as he entered the room.
    "Nothing," she muttered quickly.
    "Sara says she's a bitch at work," Emma put in with a grin.
    "No way," he said with a shake of his head. "Not sweet Sara."
    She frowned at his words. He might mean them as a compliment, but they only reinforced the fact that Aiden would always see her as the good girl.
    "Here's my uncle's phone number," he added, handing her a piece of paper. "I'm sure he can help you out."
    "Thanks," she said. "For this and for breakfast."
    "No problem. I had to eat. I'll see you around."
    After Aiden left, she turned to Emma. "See—no sparks. Where Aiden is concerned I'm just the girl next door. I always was and I always will be."
    "You sound disappointed," Emma commented.
    She straightened. "I'm not. I'm only here for a few days anyway."
    "I wish you'd stay a while. Now that you're back, I realize how much I missed our friendship. I don't want to lose it again."
    "I have to go back to New York," she said. "It's where my life is." As she said the words, that life seemed very far away.
    "You could practice law in San Francisco. You could be closer to your father, and to me."
    "I have considered moving back, but I'm on a track, and it's not the right time to get off. Speaking of my father, I need to get to the hospital. And then I need to see about getting the house fixed."
    "Okay, but why don't we go out tonight for a drink, Sara? My brother, Sean, and his band are playing at a bar in Haight-Ashbury. It's actually a fundraiser for Kyle's widow and his baby son. There will be some of the old gang there. I'm sure you'd enjoy yourself."
    "Is Aiden going?" she couldn't resist asking.
    "I don't know. I haven't mentioned it to him." Emma paused, giving her another speculative look. "So, really, no sparks left?"
    "No. I'll see you later." She headed out the door before Emma could see the lie in her eyes.

Chapter Eight

    Aiden paced around his room, feeling more alive than he had in weeks. After Kyle's death, numbness had crept over him. He'd been living in a surreal fog where everything was hazy, including his memories. Since arriving in San Francisco, things had changed.
    The fire next door had forced him to act, to be the man he used to be. It had felt good to do something positive. Not that saving Sara's father made up for anything. Hell, Stephen Davidson would have been saved five minutes later by someone else in the fire department. Sara didn't need to be grateful to him, although, he'd liked seeing something other than anger in her gaze.
    When he'd pushed her away all those years ago, he'd known that he'd hurt her. The pain in her brown eyes had stuck with him for a long time. He'd told himself it was for the best. Sara was his sister's friend, and the girl next door – the good girl next door. If she'd been anyone else, he wouldn't have stopped. They'd have had sex right there in the park. But Sara was just too innocent to ruin, and he knew that she liked him way too much, mostly because she didn't really know him. While he was flattered to be the star in her teenage fantasy, he was not the man for her. He'd known that when he was nineteen, and he knew it now.
    He just wished she hadn't grown up to be beautiful, smart, and sexy. Not that he should be surprised. All the ingredients had been there when she was younger; she just had to get over her awkward, shy, clumsy stage. She'd certainly done that. She was much more self-assured now, confident, and apparently a ruthless bitch of a lawyer. He found himself smiling at that thought. No way was Sara a bitch. She had an innate sense of kindness and compassion for other people. She might have toughened up on the outside, but inside she was still soft and maybe a little vulnerable.
    Her relationship with her dad had messed her up, and last night had shown that she hadn't come to terms with that relationship yet. Stephen Davidson was an idiot – an asshole. He had an incredible daughter and he couldn't even see it. Aiden had half a mind to go to the hospital and tell him that to his face. But he had a