Zoe’s chest tightened at his words. She wanted to ask him questions about Nancy Bradford, but she couldn’t seem to get them out. She wasn’t even sure what kind of questions to ask. “Thanks.”
Nana waved. “The boys are good guys. You can trust them.”
Trust? The word hung in her heart. But Zoe nodded.
Pulling the keys from her pocket, she walked outside. Texas heat radiated from the concrete. For a second, she wanted to get in her car, get on I-10, and drive as fast as she could to Alabama—to throw herself into teaching, sing “Little Bunny Foo Foo” for a bunch of kindergarten kids, and forget everything.
“Do you think she’s the Bradford kid?” Ellen asked, following Nikki into the kitchen.
“I don’t know.” Nikki filled a glass with white wine. “But Mr. O’Connor said she looks like Nancy Bradford. He went to school with her.”
LeAnn moved into the kitchen. “Can you imagine how she must feel? I wonder if she remembers anything.”
“Were the people who raised her abusive to her?” Ellen’s chest tightened at the thought of any child being abused, even when the child was now an adult.
Nikki shrugged. “I don’t know. I think the only one who knows anything is Tyler.”
LeAnn grinned. “I think Tyler’s got the hots for Zoe.”
“Really?” Nikki asked. “I was beginning to worry about that guy. I’ve never heard him mention a girlfriend. When I asked Dallas about him, he said Tyler still was hung up over his fiancée who dumped him when they got arrested.”
LeAnn grinned. “You know when a couple is bantering back and forth and you can feel the sexual friction in the air, that’s what it was like.”
Ellen sighed inwardly. It had been a long time since she’d felt any kind of sexual friction. Physical or airborne.
She sipped her wine and looked out the kitchen window to the backyard where the men were chatting. Her gaze landed on Rick Clark. His brown hair looked windblown, and he laughed at something one of the other guys had said. He had a nice laugh, the kind that made one want to laugh along with him.
She started noticing other things about the green-eyed devil, like how broad his shoulders were, and how he carried himself with a certain confidence that she found appealing. She saw him reach down and give Bud a hearty pat on his side, and then he tossed the Frisbee for the dog. Leave it to her to always be attracted to the bad boy. Not that she’d personally picked up on that vibe from him. Oh, he had the looks; she just didn’t get the too cocky vibe. But when she’d told Nikki about how he’d asked her out, her friend had repeated the “he’s a bad boy” warning.
Several times since he’d shown up, she’d caught him studying her. Not inappropriately so. The first time, he’d nodded as if to acknowledge her. But when he came into the apartment with Tony to snag some pizza he’d met her gaze again, and she thought he meant to come over and talk to her.
She’d ducked out, then ran to the bathroom to avoid him and any awkwardness. She’d considered snagging her purse and leaving when she got out. But then she realized that she had to get over it. Obviously, the man did side jobs for Only in Texas, which meant he’d be in and out of the office. She’d just have to suck it up.
They were adults. He’d asked her out; she said no. End of story.
So why was she admiring how the man pressed a beer to his lips? She was so caught up watching those lips press against the bottle that she hadn’t realized his gaze had shifted from the dog and was now staring right at the window. Or rather staring right at her as she gaped at him like forbidden candy in a glass case.
Swinging around, she almost spilled her wine, and she noticed Nikki studying her. Maybe Ellen shouldn’t have told Nikki about him asking her out, especially when Nikki took one look at her and said, Oh, hell, you’re still attracted to him.
She’d denied it, but Nikki saw right through her the way girlfriends do.
Nikki sighed. “You may want to run to the bathroom again; it looks like he’s coming inside.”
“Shit!” Ellen started to dart off.
“Wait. Tony stopped him,” LeAnn said, looking out the window. “That’s my man. Put the guy in his place. Thump him in the balls.”
Ellen’s curiosity got the best of her. “Is he that bad?”
LeAnn rolled her eyes. “To be honest, the guy would take a bullet for my husband, and I love him for that, but…” She paused, took another sip of her wine, and made a face.
“Dallas is not crazy about the guy, either,” Nikki jumped in.
“It’s the women he dates.” LeAnn set the wine down. “It’s apparent he’s after one thing. And as soon as he gets it, he moves on to another one. Or at least he did. In his defense, I haven’t heard about any of his new conquests in a while.” She looked at her wine. “Tony says he’s just bitter about his breakup. But from where I’m standing, I’m not sure he just didn’t get a taste of his own medicine. Speaking of tastes… Is it me, or does this wine—”
“Hey,” a male voice interrupted. Tyler stood in the kitchen doorway. “Where’s Zoe?”
“She said she had to grab something from her car,” Nikki answered.
“Oh,” he said, and then his eyes rounded and his expression changed. “Not again.” He took off so fast, he tripped over the coffee table, nearly fell on his face, but didn’t even slow down.
Nikki chuckled and glanced at LeAnn. “Yup, I see the tension you were talking about.” Then her gaze settled back on Ellen. “Which sort of ruins my plans.”
“What plans?” asked Ellen in a serious tone.
“I was kind of hoping that you and Tyler might… hit it off.”
Ellen shook her head. “Oh, please.”
“Why not?” Nikki asked. “Unlike someone else”—she motioned to the window—“Tyler comes with my blessing.”
“I’m not interested in Rick. I’m not looking for any tension.” The fact that she missed it was another matter.
Nikki made a face and looked at LeAnn. “This from a girl who threatened to sign me up to an Internet dating site.”
“That’s different,” Ellen said.
“How’s it different?” both LeAnn and Nikki asked at the same time.
“Please. I have a kid.”
Nikki shook her head. “Having a kid doesn’t mean you lose the itch.”
It does when your kid’s father is a super high-profile lawyer and is looking for a reason to take your kid away. “I have too much on my plate. Between my parents, work, and Britney, I have no energy to give to men. And we all know they take a lot of energy.”
“But the good kind.” LeAnn grinned. “And since your morphine-induced confession, we know you miss it.”
“Don’t worry.” Ellen laughed. “Since my morphine confession, I’ve taken care of that problem. I now have BOB.”
“Bob?” Nikki grabbed her elbow. “You met someone and you haven’t told me? How could you not tell me?”
Ellen grinned and leaned in. “BOB… B. O. B. My battery-operated boyfriend. He fulfills my every desire.”
LeAnn and Nikki laughed. “Please,” said Nikki. “The real thing is better.”
Yeah, Ellen thought. But the real thing came with a price tag she wasn’t willing to pay.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ZOE HAD FILLED the small plastic box with kitty litter in the car and was just about to reach for the office door when it swung open. Tyler barreled out and ran right into her. She managed not to drop the box, but the jolt had litter flying up and raining down on her. A couple of pieces found their way down her shirt.
Lucky for her, it was clean litter.
“I’m sorry,” Tyler said.
Zoe grinned. “Trying to get even for the food spills?”
“No, I thought…” His eyes lowered to her chest. “You’ve got kitty litter in your cleavage.”
Zoe laughed and removed the litter.
Tyler grinned. “I was afraid you were trying to bolt again.”
“Why wo
uld I do that?” she asked, not wanting to admit that the thought had occurred to her.
He shrugged. “You already did it once.”
“But you were dressed as a clown,” she said, only half-teasing.
He returned her smile and brushed off her shoulder. Several pebbles of litter fell to the pavement. The aroma of clean fresh-scented litter swirled around them. Their gazes met and held.
“So, it had nothing to do with the fact that you were snooping in our files?” he asked, still teasing.
“Maybe a little.” She cringed. “I was looking for the button to push to call someone—like the note that hung from the desk said—and just happened to see the file.”
“There is no button,” he said. “A bad joke, I guess.”
“Probably.” She looked down at the litter box. “I was getting a litter box for Lucky. That is if we have time. But if we’re leaving now…” She almost hoped he’d say they were leaving so she could be alone and filter through everything that had happened.
“No, it’s fine.” He paused as if chewing on his next words. “Here, let me.” He took the cat box from her.
His hand touching hers sent a bolt of warm emotion through her. But damn, she must be pretty pathetic when just a casual brushing of a man’s hand against hers sparked an emotional rush. Or maybe she was just an emotional wreck.
He continued to stare. “I’m sorry about how things went in there. The way everyone just stormed in. They can be overwhelming.” He started for the door, and she fell in step beside him.
“They seemed nice, though,” she said. Her gaze went to the scar when he pulled the litter box against him and reached for the door with his free hand. She sort of wished he’d been in the room when the guys had been participating in the game of show-and-tell about their scars. She’d like to know how he got his.
“They are.” He stepped back for her to enter. “Doesn’t mean they aren’t hard to take, especially when they’re all together. It’s a zoo.”
“Most families are that way,” Zoe said, and her gaze caught on the casket again. And for a brief second she thought of everyone she’d lost.
“They aren’t my family,” he said behind her.
“I meant makeshift family, you know, the friends in your life.”
“Oh. I guess you could say they are sort of like a family to each other.” He nodded.
“But not you?” she asked, finding his answer odd.
“Well, no… I mean, I’m close to my partners.”
She wondered if Tyler’s real family had turned their backs on him when he’d been accused of murder. “Are you close to your real family?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I’m afraid they’re crazier than the bunch you just met.”
“It’s still nice to have them.” She recalled how all her life she’d felt as if she’d been a part of something bigger and had lost it. Then she wondered how her real family would feel about her now? Her heart gripped at how awkward this was going to be.
“You okay?” Tyler asked.
She realized she’d stopped and just stood in the middle of the entryway. “Fine.” She started down the hall to the room where she’d left Lucky.
“What about you?” he asked as he followed her into the room. “You got any other family members?” He sat the box down near the carrier.
She knelt and opened the carrier’s door. “I’ve got Lucky.” She reached in and gently pulled out the cat. “No aunts or uncles?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Both my parents were only children, and…” A wave of fresh hurt filled her chest, and she pushed it back. “They said they had me late in life. So no family.” But who knows, maybe they lied about that, too?
With Lucky snuggled against her chest, she stood up. She saw the look on Tyler’s face when he got his first really good look at the feline.
“Christ,” Tyler said, and took a step back.
His reaction wasn’t that uncommon, but it still stung. With Lucky’s one eye sewn up, half his ear missing, his missing left foot, and the scar on his neck, she knew the cat wasn’t the prettiest thing to look at. Which only made Zoe love him more. She snuggled the feline closer, instinctively wanting to protect him from any negative vibes he might pick up.
She knew the cat didn’t feel them, but she felt them for him.
“What happened to him?” To Tyler’s credit, he didn’t look as appalled as most people.
“He survived a fire and a chemical explosion. Hence the name, Lucky.”
Tyler continued to stare. “Tell me he still has testicles, because that’s the only way I’m going to consider him lucky.”
Zoe laughed. “Sorry. He had those removed before the accident.”
He looked again at the cat, only now he didn’t look as repulsed as he did sympathetic. “Then you might need to rename him.”
She rubbed Lucky under his chin, and he started to purr. “Hey, sweetie,” she said. “I got your litter box.” Kneeling, she set him down. The cat moved around the room, his missing foot barely causing a limp.
When she stood up, Tyler was watching the cat. “At least he gets around good,” he said as if trying to find something positive to say.
To Tyler’s credit, when Lucky moved over and started rubbing himself against Tyler’s leg, he didn’t pull away. Most people didn’t want to touch the cat, as if they feared his disfigurement might be contagious.
“He wouldn’t die,” Zoe said. “The firemen found him three days after the explosion when they were doing their investigation. The press was there, and they actually got it all on tape. They took him to a vet. At first the vet was going to just put him down, but six people called and said they’d help pay for the bills if they’d try to save him.”
“And you were one of them.” He squatted down and offered Lucky his hand. The cat moved in cautiously and rubbed his face against Tyler’s fingers. Which was odd; Lucky didn’t usually take to people that quickly. Even rarer, people usually didn’t take to him. Her admiration for Tyler shot up a few notches.
“Yup. He lived at the vet’s for two months, and Dr. Shoemaker drew names to see which of his financial supporters was going to get to take him home. The press covered it and everything. You could say I got lucky and got Lucky.” She grinned, remembering Tyler’s misunderstanding earlier.
Tyler looked up at her. “Something tells me it might have been rigged.”
Zoe shrugged, still feeling a tinge of guilt. “It was. Dr. Shoemaker said of all the contributors, I was the only one who came to see him when the press wasn’t going to be there. So he said he made sure I got him. I felt bad, but I wanted Lucky so badly that I kept my mouth shut.”
Tyler stood up. “You visited a sick cat at the vet?”
“The vet was on my way home from work. So, I’d stop by. It’s not like I went out of my way or anything.”
“Unbelievable,” he said. Lucky started doing figure eights around Tyler’s legs.
“Not really. You can do a search on the Internet about him. He’s sort of a celebrity in Beaverville. He even had several cat magazines do stories on him. Took pictures and everything.”
She picked up the cat to prevent him from shedding all over Tyler’s jeans. Lucky started rubbing his face against her breasts.
Tyler stared, to the point Zoe felt self-conscious.
“Okay,” he muttered, his voice a little deeper than normal. “I guess he is lucky.”
“Damn!” Ellen looked down at the black tire track on her white T-shirt.
When she’d left the office, she’d found she had a flat tire. She’d been tempted to run inside and pretend to be the weak little woman and ask one of the guys for help, but she wasn’t a weak little woman. She could change a tire as good as a man.
Better than most.
Her father had made sure of it. Her first job, and the only one she’d worked at until she started college, was in one of his auto repair shops. It had taken awhile, but soon she’d earned the respect of most of her
father’s mechanics.
That said, she obviously couldn’t change a tire wearing white clothes.
“Christ, let me do that.”
Ellen turned and faced Rick Clark. Freaking great! Couldn’t it have been any of the other guys?
He pushed up the sleeves of his light blue oxford shirt, exposing his super-toned forearms, which were lightly dusted with dark hair. She frowned when she realized that even the man’s arm hair did something to her.
“Why didn’t you ask for help?” He reached for the tire.
She latched on to her spare and took a few steps back. “I got this,” she said. Forgetting about black streaks, she pulled the tire closer and wished he wasn’t so close. Was that clean spicy scent his aftershave? Or just him?
His brows tightened. “I can have it changed in no time flat.”
She frowned. His tone threw her back to having to prove herself when she worked at her dad’s shop. “So can I.”
His gaze lowered to the tire. “You’re getting tire tracks all over your shirt.”
“I didn’t like this shirt anyway,” she said.
“Seriously, let me do it.”
“Seriously, I can handle it.” She knew she sounded unappreciative, but she couldn’t help it. Not only was she annoyed that she found him so damn attractive, but she’d never liked it when a man, any man, treated her like a weakling.
“Just give me the tire,” he said, “and I’ll be happy to do it.”
She stiffened. “You got problems with your hearing, Detective?”
The puzzlement left his eyes, replaced with an almost accusing tightness. He held up his hands and took a step back, making it clear he thought she was rude.
And maybe it was for the best; let him think she was a bitch. Fix it so he never even thought about asking her out again.
She moved over to the back tire and dropped the spare and then went back to the trunk to get the lug wrench and jack. She practically had to crawl into the trunk to get the wrench, and she felt him staring.
Once she had what she needed, she went back to the flat. She knelt down and took a deep breath. He stood there, arms crossed, staring at her. She popped off her hubcap and let it fall to the parking lot with a loud bang.
Blame It on Texas Page 12
