But no Sunny.
Her scent lingered in the air. Something soft, clean, floral.
I made my way across the room, noting the open bathroom door and glancing into the vacant kitchen. Knew she wouldn’t be there. I stepped onto the deck, the scent of charred wood catching my attention. I zeroed in on movement at the end of the pier. The water was still, pitch-black, except for the reflection of the setting sun across it. Sunny swam down the middle of the blazing color, smooth strokes of her long, slender arms, a V of waves following behind her body. Her long hair flowing against shimmering colors of fuchsia. I watched the waves ripple past her, growing bigger and bigger, until fading into the shoreline. A perfect metaphor for the ripple effect this single, small woman had on the world around her.
I slowly walked down the bridgeway to the dock.
I don’t know how long I watched her. I don’t know at what point exactly my thoughts had faded and my pulse had slowed just watching the waves around her.
Truly hypnotic.
Healing.
She stopped, spun in the water, her hair spreading around a pool of sparkling tangerine light.
A smile caught me as our eyes met and although I could barely make out her face, I knew she smiled too.
She ducked under the water, then bobbed back up and began swimming back. About ten feet from the dock, she dove under again… and was gone. A few seconds passed, a minute. My brows pulled with concern while I forgot all else. My shirt was off and belt halfway undone when I heard a giggle behind me.
I turned and looked over the railing where Sunny lurked along the side of the dock.
“Gotcha.” A blinding smile cut through the darkening night.
“Another minute and you would have had an entirely new snake to worry about.” I re-buckled my belt, her gaze drifting to my bare chest.
I pulled on my shirt. “Come on. Get out of there. This place is crawling with cotton mouths. I don’t feel like having to amputate a leg tonight.”
She swam around. “For some reason I don’t think it’d be your first.”
I opened my mouth to respond but my brain short-circuited, little bombs going off, stealing my ability to move or form a single sentence as Sunny pulled herself out of the water wearing nothing but one of my long, white T-shirts.
Dear God and everything Holy.
Like a slow motion scene from the latest James Bond flick, water shimmered over her body, a silhouette against the orange of dusk.
Her wet, shimmering hair ran down her back, droplets of water pouring off the ends. A few strands cascaded around her plump, round breasts and the pink nipples that were blinding me like a fucking deer in headlights. The thin fabric clung to her feminine curves and the most perfect pair of tits I’d ever seen in my life. A pair of red panties were just barely visible through the white, this somehow sexier than if she’d been fully naked under the shirt.
She flashed me a sheepish grin as she breezed past me and grabbed a towel.
“Sorry. I didn’t pack a suit, and… it’s just too damn hot to not go for a swim.”
Hot? Hot? Yeah, the temperature had just tripled in the last five seconds. I was staring at every high school boy’s fantasy. I was literally in the middle of my own white T-shirt contest. Although it was no contest. Not a single woman could hold a candle to the vision I just laid my eyes on.
Sunny Harper was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. No makeup, no frills, dripping wet, in a baggy T-shirt. The woman was stunning.
She wrapped the towel around her torso, miraculously holding it in place by tucking a corner at the top under her armpit. How woman did that, I had no clue. This new look morphed into an entirely different kind of a sexy—a nerdy, awkward burrito hiding every curve of her body, only making me want to see them again.
“I wasn’t sure when you’d be back,” she said, making it clear that her erotic swim hadn’t been intended for my eyes. “How did the rest of your afternoon go?”
“Fine.” I stared down at her, her skin like butter under the orange light. Flawless. Beautiful.
“Saw you brought Max back with you… are you planning on going back out?”
It was the perfect opportunity to tell her, but my mouth simply wouldn’t form the words Yes, I’m dropping you and Max at my brother’s and never seeing you again.
“You don’t want to talk about anything. Okay.” She cut off my thoughts and smiled. A twinkle of excitement flashed in her eyes. “But are you hungry?”
My gaze shifted to a cooler at the edge of the dock—that I hadn’t even noticed when I’d walked up. Another missed clue for the par.
“What’s this?”
“Dinner.”
My brows arched. “Lunch, and now dinner?”
She shrugged, that little change in demeanor I’d seen when she’d lifted the picnic basket from the back of her truck earlier. Shy and a bit uncomfortable with anything involving real emotions. Dammit it was cute. Endearing. Whether true or not, I felt like it was a side only I got to see.
I didn’t know what to do, to say, didn’t know how to bring up the fact that I planned to never see her again.
… But I knew I was hungry, and I couldn’t stand there like an idiot.
I took the plaid blanket from her hands. It was the same one we’d used at lunch.
“Thought maybe we could eat and watch the sun set,” she said while gathering everything else.
It sounded… perfect. Perfection.
I laid the blanket on the edge of the dock while Sunny lit a circle of Citronella candles around us, then set a can of bug spray on the end for good measure. A few pillows were set out, plates, napkins.
A twilight dinner on the lake.
“Sit,” she demanded.
Per usual, I did. I smoothed the edges of the blanket because I didn’t know what else to do. Not unlike lunch, Sunny had everything, every detail, planned out. The fact she’d put so much thought and effort into it made me a little happy, and a little nervous.
She settled in next to me, poured red wine into two paper cups and handed one to me.
I sipped. Like damn liquid joy down my throat. Good wine.
“How’s Brute?”
Concern pulled her face. “Vet said he needs to have surgery.”
Words I’d heard more than a few times.
“You going to do it?”
She nodded. “Anything to take his pain away.”
I was glad to hear it. That damn dog had squirmed its way into my heart.
Sunny opened the thermal bag and began unloading the contents. The smell of salsa, cheese and bacon filled the air, but it wasn’t until she unwrapped a burrito the size of a mini-submarine and placed it on my plate that my stomach growled. Loud.
In awe, I shook my head and looked at her. “Don’t tell me it’s a breakfast burrito.”
“Sausage, egg, cheese, jalapeños, peppers, and bacon. Lots of bacon. You seem like a bacon kind of guy.”
“You seem like my dream woman.”
She smiled, continued, “Chips and salsa are in the bag, next to the roll of Tums for later.”
“Definitely. Dream woman.”
She laughed.
I looked at her spread—scrambled eggs, peppers, and red potatoes smothered in cheese. A mouth-watering gluten-free hash in a plastic bowl from Ryder’s kitchen.
“Hang on… Where did you get all this?”
She continued stirring her hash, avoiding eye contact and a response.
“Sunny. Where did you get this food?”
She huffed out a breath, looked at me. “Well, I was going to wait until you took a bite and didn’t keel over and die, before I told you I cooked it. I made it.”
My jaw literally dropped.
“Oh well, thanks.” She rolled her eyes
I slammed it shut. “Sorry. I mean, you cooked this? Everything? I thought you didn’t cook.”
“You’re the one who said I should learn, right?”
�
�Well… yeah… but…”
“You didn’t expect me to listen?”
“Not really.”
“Well I did, and don’t get too excited until you try it.”
“Where did you get the food?”
“Farmer’s market. On the way back from the vet this afternoon.”
“Okay, but how did you make it? The kitchen isn’t even working.”
“Well, turns out your brother has a fire pit with this grill-grate-looking thing over it…”
I bit my tongue.
“… So I gathered some hickory wood—”
“How did you know what trees are hickory?”
“Now, that insults me. I know my trees. I have a hickory tree in my backyard. Anyway, I cooked the bacon, eggs, onions, peppers and potatoes in this heavy black skillet thing I found buried in the cabinets. It wasn’t so hard. I’m sure I overcooked the bacon, but I didn’t want to spend the evening puking. I’ll get it down. The salsa on the other hand?” She shook her head. “Holy cow. Not easy.”
“This is homemade salsa?”
She raised her palms. “Made by these two hands, chopped up by a hunting knife I found hanging in the back.”
My eyes rounded.
“I washed it, don’t worry. Anyway, it’s got fresh, chopped tomatoes—obviously—and onions, cilantro, garlic that took me thirty minutes to dice, lime… and what else? Oh…” Her eyes widened with fear or concern, I wasn’t sure which. “And jalapeños… I, uh… hope you like hot stuff. I… didn’t exactly take the seeds out. I guess you’re supposed to take the seeds out?”
“Sunny, I’d snort jalapeño seeds for breakfast. You’re definitely good there. You understand there’s nothing more delicious than homemade salsa, right?”
“Aside of breakfast burritos?”
“Of course.”
She smiled proudly. So damn cute. “Good cause the only things here that weren’t made by these two hands are the chips and the wraps. Your wraps, cause—”
“Gluten free, I remember.”
She winked. “Okay, dive in. Here we go. Good luck.”
We clanked forks.
Her entire body tensed as I dipped the burrito in the salsa and took a bite.
It was freaking delicious.
“Oh my…” I smiled around a full bite, a piece of egg tumbling out of my mouth. “Good. Sunny, good.”
Her face lit with a child-like excitement.
With salsa smattered on my lips and eggs on my chin, I leaned forward, wrapped my spare hand around her head and pulled her in for a kiss.
She yanked back, licking her lips and laughing.
“Sorry, lady, that’s what you get. This is damn good.”
“Good. Bon Appetit,” she said, but instead of digging into her own food, she crawled to the edge of the blanket and began undoing my boots.
I froze. Legit, froze.
I watched her unthread each lace and gently pull off each boot. The evening breeze swept over my hot skin like silk. I wiggled my toes. God, it felt good.
She looked up and smiled.
It was my second, total, cat-got-your-tongue, shocking moment in the last ten minutes.
A woman taking care of her man.
Sunny crawled back up and settled beside me. I stared at her a solid ten seconds.
“Sunny. Thank—”
“Shhh… eat. Dinner’s always more relaxing with shoes off… and those boots look miserable. No offense.”
I looked back at my feet, bare against the darkness, the comfort of it. Little thing. So big.
“Eat,” she repeated. “Relax.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
We ate like two starving POWs, watching the last ray of sun dip below the horizon. The lake faded into one black mass in front of us, waves rippling in the breeze. Stars began to twinkle around the biggest full moon I’d ever seen in my life. Fireflies sparkled around us. They seemed to gravitate toward Sunny.
I understood how that could happen.
The best part, though? The easy, casual conversation we fell into. No death, no murder, no brutal attacks, just light, fun conversation. We talked about cooking, gardening. We talked about the Moon Magic Festival happening that night, and all the traffic and hodgepodge of people that had invaded the small, sleepy town. I was so glad I wasn’t out there. Hell, there was nowhere else I’d rather be at that moment.
Max had sauntered up sometime in the middle of our conversation, covered in burrs and Lord knew what else. He scored a few pieces of bacon then disappeared back into the woods. I don’t think he liked the dock. It was the first time, since I could remember, that I’d forgotten about my cases. Murder hadn’t crept up and stolen the few moments of peace I was allowing myself.
I’d relaxed.
Enjoyed myself.
And wasn’t that something?
I leaned back on my palms and took a deep breath, wondering if this was what vacation felt like.
“All good?” She looked at me, her eyes bright with satisfaction. She enjoyed pleasing me, and that was definitely something I could get used to.
“Better than good.” I wiggled my toes again.
“Good. There’s one more thing.” She pushed off the blanket, disappeared to the corner of the dock, then returned with a small, brown box wrapped with a gold bow that sparkled under the moonlight.
I sat up straight.
She handed it to me.
“No.” I shook my head. “A gift?”
“Yes. A gift.”
“No, Sunny. You can’t…”
“Just open it. Come on. You’re making me nervous.”
I stared at her.
“Open it, Jagg.”
Shaking my head, I pulled the gold ribbon and opened the box. Tucked among red velvet was a gold, vintage compass.
My jaw dropped for the second time that night. “It’s not…”
She smiled.
I turned the compass over in my hands—MAJ etched across the back. It was the compass my mother had sent me two weeks earlier. The replica she’d had made to replace the one I’d lost in Iraq.
“Where did you get this?”
“I made some calls.”
“Some calls? I pawned this.”
She shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“How did you know where I pawned it?”
“There’s only one pawn shop in town.”
“And it was still there?”
She shook her head. “No. The owner told me someone had purchased it pretty quick.”
“And they just gave you the name of the buyer?”
“No, unfortunately, they wouldn’t give me the name.”
“Must’ve been a woman.”
She winked.
“So how did you get it?”
“You know that little art shop in down? Mystic Maven’s?”
The image of Seagrave’s bloodied body popped into my head. “I know that place very well.”
“I stopped by. Hazel, the owner, and I go way back. I asked her if she had any idea who would buy an old compass from the pawn shop. Turns out, she knows a man who collects vintage compasses in town. I tracked him down. Bada bing bada boom. Got the compass.”
I turned the compass over in my hands, memories flooding me. Happy memories. When times were easier, when my mom and dad were still together and in love and the biggest problems I had was finding sticks straight enough to whittle into a sword. When I had no constant pain in my body. It was as if I was seeing the compass in an entirely new light.
“Why did you do this?”
She looked down a moment. “You know, it broke my heart, the story about you and your mom.”
I set down the compass and turned fully to her. “Thank you, but there’s a lot of history there, Sunny.”
“I get it.” She picked up the compass, turned it over in her palms. “But it’s family, Jagg… You know, just because someone loses their way, it doesn’t mean you should toss them out of your life. Cast them aside.”
“My mom made that decision. Decided that for me.”
“People make mistakes.” She handed back the compass. “It sounds like your mom has gone above and beyond to try to rekindle things with you. I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“So.” I stared down at the compass. “You think I should call her back. Meet with her?”
“Forgive her.”
I trailed my finger over the top of the gold. “Why do I feel like there’s more to this? More than just forgiving my mother?”
She looked away.
I turned her face toward mine.
“What’s going on, Sunny?”
Tears welled in her eyes, her bottom lip quivered.
“Don’t leave me, Jagg,” she whispered, sucking the air out of the world around me.
“… Don’t hurt me, Sunny,” I whispered back.
We grabbed for each other, giving in, releasing to whatever this undeniable thing was happening between us. We kissed, long, slow kisses, under the stars, under the moonlight. I threaded my fingers through her silky, black mane. A desperation I’d never felt before guiding my body, my head, my heart.
Sunny wasn’t good for me. I wasn’t good for her. I didn’t care.
The only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to lose her.
I was not going to lose her.
I was going to trust her.
As I laid her down on the blanket, the compass tumbled onto the dock, the gold reflecting in the full moon—the arrow pointing directly at Sunny.
At us.
39
Jagg
Her hair fanned over the plaid blanket, the twinkle of the full moon in her green eyes. I cupped the back of her head, the energy, the anticipation vibrating between like the waves washing on the lakeshore.
I waited. I waited…
Finally, her chin dipped, ever so slightly—Yes, she invited.
I crushed my lips to hers as she wrapped her arms around me, her nails gliding down my back.
Surrender. She’d finally surrendered to me.
We, to each other.
The blood funneled between my legs in a firestorm of excitement and torment of needing to be inside her immediately. To finally feel what had stolen my thoughts, my dreams. Myself.
To have her fully. To mark her as mine.
Jagger (Steele Shadows Investigations) Page 27
