Curious, she went to the door.
Tyler stood by two women; one of them held the noisy infant, and beside her was a little girl holding a… a carrier. A little meow came from the cage. It took Zoe a second to recognize them. Tyler turned as if he sensed her standing there. He wore a frown on his face as did his sisters.
“Zoe, these are my sisters, Sam and Lola. This is Anna. And little squirt.” He pointed to the infant. “Who isn’t happy right now.”
“Hi.” Zoe took another step into the living room, hoping to distance herself from Tyler’s bedroom. They already thought she was sleeping with him. The fact that she was considering it didn’t make this any easier.
Sam and Lola didn’t appear overly happy to meet her. Anna, however, offered Zoe a big smile. “Are you Tio Tyler’s married girlfriend?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“I’M NOT MARRIED.” Zoe looked to Tyler for help.
“She’s not married,” Tyler said.
The baby screamed louder. “That’s good.” Sam bounced the baby in her arms. “Nice to meet you. I’m sorry, he’s hungry. He cries when he’s hungry.”
Zoe couldn’t help but wonder if Sam wasn’t hungry, too. Her eyes looked red and puffy.
“I need to heat his bottle.” Sam ran off into the kitchen.
“It’s good to meet you, Zoe.” Lola, the older sister, smiled.
Zoe saw Tyler glance at Lola with questions in his eyes. Lola glanced down at Anna.
Tyler looked at Zoe, and she guessed what he was thinking before he spoke. “Anna, why don’t you take Zoe to my bedroom and show her your cat?”
Anna’s brown eyes looked up at Zoe. “His name is Damien.” She started toward the bedroom. Zoe followed.
Zoe shut the bedroom door and watched Anna kneel beside the cage and open the door. An orange kitten came swaggering out of the carrier.
“I have a red tabby cat, too.” Zoe sat down on the bed.
“Where is he?” Anna looked around.
“He’s at Tyler’s office.”
Anna picked up the cat. “Tyler gave him to me for an early birthday present. He saved him from being run over on the freeway. He said they both nearly became grease spots.”
Zoe grinned. “Well, I’m glad they didn’t.”
“Me, too.” She glanced at the door. “You know they wanted to get us out of the room so they could talk, don’t you?”
“Do you think that was it?” Zoe asked, not sure what to say.
“Yeah, they do that all the time. Because I’m young. I don’t know why they didn’t want you not to hear.”
Zoe scratched the kitten on his forehead. “Maybe it’s private.”
“Not really. It’s about Mama getting another divorce.” The child pulled the cat closer. “Not that I care. I don’t like Leo.” She looked at the door again. “Leo hit Mama. And then Tyler hit Leo. And now Leo’s nose looks really funny.”
Zoe remembered Tyler’s bloody knuckles. “That’s not good,” she said, unsure if Sam would want Anna to spill the family secrets.
“I don’t hit anyone.” Anna shook her head.
“That’s good.” Zoe searched for a safer subject. “Tyler said you like to read.”
“I just finished Charlotte’s Web.”
“Oh, I like that one.” Zoe was impressed. Anna looked like a first grader. Charlotte’s Web was way above her grade level.
“I didn’t,” Anna said. “Charlotte died.”
“Yeah, it was a little sad.” Zoe searched for a new topic. “Are you going to school yet?”
“I started first grade last week,” she said. “But it’s boring.”
It would be for a gifted student, which Zoe suspected Anna was.
The kitten climbed up on the bed, and Zoe brushed her fingertips across his back.
Anna crawled up on the bed next to Damien. “Are you Tyler’s girlfriend?”
Zoe hesitated before answering. “I’m his friend.”
“So you don’t kiss him and stuff?”
Zoe had to bite back a smile. “We mostly just talk.”
“That’s good.” Anna shrugged. “ ’Cause Tyler says he doesn’t want to get married. Mama says it’s because he still loves Lisa. But she fell in love with someone else.”
Three hours later, Zoe walked out of the office apartment’s bathroom, dressed in a pair of cotton shorts and a large T-shirt, her usual sleepwear. Tyler leaned against the hall wall. Lucky ran circles around his ankles.
They’d left Tyler’s apartment and had gone to the grocery store. He’d been quiet the whole time, too. Oh, he’d thanked her for occupying Anna, and even explained that Sam had some marital issues and was going to be staying at his old apartment for a while. But gone was the playful mood they’d previously enjoyed.
Zoe figured out the reasons, too. No doubt, his sister’s trauma brought back some of his childhood woes. Sort of how being in Texas brought out her own.
“It’s all yours,” she said, motioning to the bathroom door.
“You okay?” His gaze moved over her.
“Just dandy, and you?” She hadn’t missed the haunted look in his eyes when he’d talked about his father. Tonight when they’d left his apartment, she’d spotted it again.
However, she couldn’t blame the mood change all on him.
She didn’t have a clue what it was that bothered her about Tyler currently being, or possibly having had been, in love with someone else, but it did bother her. For some reason, believing his past had left him incapable of getting involved with anyone was one thing. Yet knowing he was capable of it but just didn’t want to get involved with her made it feel personal. As if she wasn’t good enough for him to really care about.
But damn if her feelings weren’t a jumbled mess.
“I wish you’d take the bed,” he said.
“Sofa’s fine.” She started down the hall and then turned around. “I’m going to need some of my stuff from my place soon.”
“I’ll pick up a few things tomorrow. Alone. Just in case someone is watching the place.”
She nodded.
He took a step closer. “I appreciate you occupying Anna while we dealt with that family stuff.”
Zoe tried to push back the crazy feeling swirling inside her. “No problem. She’s a smart girl.”
“She is special,” he said with pride.
They stared at each other for a long second. “I set the books on the coffee table, if you need something to read.”
“Thanks.” She started toward the living room.
“Zoe?”
She turned around but didn’t say anything.
“Do you want me to leave the bathroom light on?”
She knew he was thinking about her phobia. Why did that suddenly annoy her? “That would be great.”
He took a step closer. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to find out who tried to shoot you yesterday and who kidnapped you when you were a kid. I want to fix this for you.”
“Who’s going to fix you?” she countered before she could stop herself.
“Do I need fixing?” He looked perplexed.
“Nah, I’m sure you’re perfect.” She continued down the hall. And she’d bet Lisa thought so, too. Or had.
Right then, the most absurd realization struck. She was jealous. Jealous of a woman in Tyler’s past. Now that didn’t make a lick of sense! Heck, when she got back to Alabama she might need to go find herself another shrink.
“Hey,” he said.
She looked back. “What?” A knot of complicated emotion formed in her throat.
“You can’t just say something like that and walk away.”
Yes I can. Watch me.
“Good night, Tyler.” She moved into the living room and dropped down on the sofa. Lucky climbed up on the back of the sofa and started purring in her ear.
Zoe suddenly wanted to cry. Not too much of an uncommon thing lately. She’d cried more since she’d been in Texas than sh
e had in five years. Well, with an exception of when her mother died.
But the heavy feeling knotting her emotions right now was different. She didn’t want to cry because she lost her mother, or because her parents had lied to her. Not even because they might turn out to be murderers. The need for tears wasn’t even because someone was trying to kill her.
She wanted to cry because she was starting to care about someone who didn’t want to care about her. But given the chance, he’d love to fuck her. And she was actually considering letting him. She was that lonely, that pathetic.
Her need to cry increased with the vulgar thought bouncing around her head.
She heard him moving down the hall toward her. He dropped down beside her. His weight caused the cushions to shift and brought her shoulder flush with his. The oh-so-casual brush against him caused a sharp pain of longing to fill her chest.
And there was nothing casual about that pain… or the longing.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Tears stung her sinuses. “I want to go back to Alabama. I just want to go home.”
He frowned. “You can’t,” he said matter-of-factly. “Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because… because there’s a damn good chance that whoever tried to shoot you will try to find you in Alabama. And I did a little Google search on you today to see how easy that would be. I found your address, your telephone number, and your place of employment.”
She pulled her legs up and dropped her forehead on her knees.
“Look,” he said. “I know this is probably about last night. And you don’t have to worry. I completely respect your decision. You have my word that I won’t try anything. This is strictly business. I’m your PI and you’re my client.”
She raised her head and looked at him. Couldn’t he have worked a little harder to persuade her? Was she that easy to forget about?
“Fine.” She tightened her throat. “Now can I go to sleep?”
Ten o’clock the next morning, Tyler hung up the phone from talking with Roberto, disturbing Lucky from his morning nap. The feline seemed to think the clutter on Tyler’s desk made the perfect sleeping spot.
“And?” Austin asked, his chair creaking as he leaned forward.
“He’s pretty sure it’s a DeLuna operation.” Tyler smiled. “I think we’ll be taking another chink out of that bastard’s armor pretty soon. Roberto said he’d call us back next week. He’s supposed to meet up with someone about possibly getting a position as a carrier for them. If he gets in, it could lead us to DeLuna.”
“It’s about fucking time,” Austin said.
“Fucking time for what?” Dallas asked, stepping into the office and moving to his desk. He’d called earlier that morning saying he was going to stop in and see his brother and ask if he could pull some strings and see if they could get anything on Ralph and Mildred Adams. And then he had to take Bud to the vet to get his anal glands cleaned out. Something Tyler really could have gone without hearing about, too.
“Roberto called.” Tyler gave Dallas the good news.
“You’re right, it’s fucking time.” Dallas slapped a hand on his desk. “Sooner or later, we’re gonna get his ass.” He reached his hand up over his head and stretched. “I knew it was going to be a damn good day after I got off the phone with Rick.”
“He get something on the Adamses?” Tyler needed good news to give to Zoe. Wanted to find something to ease some of the tension that seemed to have surfaced since last night.
He wanted it before she did something stupid like go back to Alabama. He couldn’t protect her in Alabama. And protecting her seemed to be all he could think about. And while his obsession over it might have concerned him, he told himself it was okay. That’s what PIs did. Protect people. Which meant she was still just a case.
Dallas grinned. “First, Rick got us a list of names who worked at the mansion during the kidnapping.” He pulled out a piece of paper. “And he figured out how he could get into the mansion.” Dallas looked toward the door and lowered his voice. “Mrs. Daniels, the old man’s daughter, has the hots for Rick.”
“The same Mrs. Daniels we met?” Austin asked. “She’s old.”
“Supposedly, the woman likes tender meat.”
Austin laughed. “I don’t think there’s anything tender about Rick Clark.”
Dallas chuckled. “She invited him to the big house last night to eat some pound cake. The old man came down, but she mentioned a rain check.” Dallas chuckled. “He said if he had to wrap his lips around anything other than cake, we were gonna pay.”
“What else did he get?” Tyler asked, wanting to cut to the chase.
“He ran a check on both of them for warrants. Found nothing. Then he called Shadows County, where Zoe was born, and they did a local rundown. They found three unpaid tickets belonging to a Ralph Adams. It looks like they are two different guys. But one of them had a home address listed as Barker County. And I remember you mentioned something about one of the Ralph Adamses you ran across holding some sort of a state license in Barker.”
“I think that was the one who held a cosmetology license,” Tyler added.
“Right.” Dallas continued. “Anyway, when I was telling Rick about Zoe’s birth certificate, he asked if we’d had it cross-matched with death records.”
“I did that,” Tyler said.
“Yeah, but Rick remembered a case of his years ago about some guy from some small county in Texas who was running cons using names of deceased people who he knew hadn’t been entered in the state’s main system’s death records.”
“Why wouldn’t they have been entered?” Tyler asked.
“Supposedly, some of the smaller counties either haven’t gotten all that data on a computer or they just don’t see the need to share the info. But that’s not important.” Dallas leaned both elbows on his desk. “What is important is that while Bud was getting his asshole cleaned out, I called Barker County to see if they could give me anything on Ralph, Mildred, or Zoe Adams.”
Dallas, looking rather proud of himself, put his hands behind his neck. “Your girl was right.”
Your girl. Tyler liked how that phrase felt rolling around in his eardrum. “Right about what?”
“Ralph and Mildred didn’t kill their own child. Zoe Adams, the real Zoe Adams, died at four months old from lung complications. It was listed on Barker County’s system. Death records should be faxed to us by lunchtime.”
Zoe stood under the spray of warm water, hoping it would soothe the stress in her shoulders. She’d hardly slept the night before, agonizing over her attraction to Tyler and his new, strictly-business policy.
If he could completely disregard the attraction, so could she. She didn’t need a man.
Yes you do! She was a normal, albeit a mite neurotic, twenty-six-year-old woman, who’d taken a hormonal vacation due to having her heart broken. It made complete sense that her sexual urges—which were a normal part of being human—would eventually return.
And now that they had, she’d deal with them. Just as soon as she got back to Alabama. There were plenty of men who’d made their interest known since Chris had taken up with the stripper. She just hadn’t been interested in any of them.
Mentally, she envisioned the guys: Coach Bradley at school; Tim Hendricks, her neighbor’s brother; her mom’s lawyer who continued to call and just check to see if she needed any of his services. She tried to see herself with each of them. See herself wanting to run her hands over their abs the way she wanted to run her hands over Tyler’s.
Okay, so maybe those men didn’t have the right abs. Her heart clutched. She wanted Tyler. And honestly, was it so bad for her to have him?
No, it wasn’t. Tyler was right. They were two consenting adults attracted to each other.
She cut the water off and pushed back the shower curtain. The loud barking put her on instant alert. But it was the loud cat screeching that shot her into action.
“Lucky!�
�� She bolted out of the shower, slipped, and landed on her naked ass on the cold tile. But she didn’t stay down. Bouncing up, she vaulted for the door, slung it open, did one quick glance to assure herself she was alone, and then followed the serious cat-and-dog-fight noises coming from the bedroom.
Lucky was on the bed. Bud bounced on and off the bed, barking and snapping his fat little jowls. To the dog’s credit, he looked more like he was playing, but Zoe wasn’t sure. And she sure as hell wasn’t taking chances.
“Out!” She went after the dog.
Bud jumped up on the bed. And for a round, stumpy little fellow, he could really jump. He danced around the mattress, leaning down on his front paws and bouncing back up. Lucky, not enjoying his antics, stood up on his hind legs, hissing and swatting his paws like a champion feline boxer. His one eye shifted back and forth to keep track of the ping-ponging dog.
Zoe dove for the dog, missed, and landed facedown on the mattress. Popping up, she tried again, but Bud jumped down to the floor, ran around the bed, and leaped up on the other side. Zoe leaped up on the mattress and snatched Lucky in her arms.
Bud started hurdling up in the air like a dog after a flying Frisbee.
“Get out!” She started turning in circles.
Tyler heard the barking. Heard Zoe screaming. “Shit! Where’s Bud?”
He bolted out of his chair, followed by Austin and Dallas, and all three went darting into the apartment.
“Bud, get your butt in here!” Dallas yelled behind Tyler.
“Bud!” Tyler cut the corner, and when his shoes hit a puddle of water on the wood floor, he nearly fell. “Shit,” Dallas grunted behind him.
Tyler looked back and watched as Dallas landed on his butt. Then Austin cut the corner and fell over him and landed on his butt, too. Tyler started to ask if they were okay, but Zoe screamed again, the dog barked, the cat hissed. His partners were on their own. Tyler shot through the bedroom and…
And…
The moment his gaze landed on a naked Zoe jumping up and down on the bed, his mind couldn’t think of anything else.
Well, until he heard Austin say, “Oh, my!”
And Dallas said, “Damn.”
Zoe let out another ear-piercing scream.
Blame It on Texas Page 22
