Roman was doing what he’d been called to this earth to do. He wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. As long as he worked to avenge victims, dead or alive, he would be fulfilled.
Kendra had done the same thing, only her journey had been different. She’d had to be smart and tough to overcome the tragedy of losing her parents and the fallout from that. From that experience, she’d developed a shell. Add a couple of boyfriends who betrayed her trust and what did you have? A woman who might not be able to overcome her internal obstacles the way Roman just realized he had overcome his.
All this time, he’d told himself he was looking for a woman who didn’t surround herself with delusions of security, and he’d been the delusional one. Except for one thing. He had never been delusional about wanting a real woman. Kendra had such a thick protective layer, he didn’t have much confidence she’d be able or even want to break it down to let him in all the way.
He could, and probably would, suggest they see each other awhile. It would have to be a long-distance relationship at first. He wouldn’t pack up his life and move it to Chesterville for a woman he wasn’t sure about.
He argued with himself that he could move back home to be closer to his parents, but he was afraid that was more of an excuse. Kadin Tandy was open to his investigators working remotely. The nature of the business didn’t limit anyone to Wyoming. DAI did nationwide investigations. His job wouldn’t stop him from going wherever he wanted. Kendra would, however.
His ringing phone stopped him just before he reached Kendra’s shop. It was Cal. He was going to follow up with Melody’s driver. With Hudson cooperating, they didn’t need to talk to any of those who bribed him. For his help in apprehending his wife, he’d get a reduced sentence, possibly even probation. He’d have to step down as prosecutor, but he’d at least have a chance to live out the rest of his life in dignity. That was a lot more than his wife would get.
“Still in town?” Cal asked when he answered the phone.
“I don’t have to be back in Wyoming for a while.” Kadin had talked of a new case but no contract had been signed yet.
“I bet something else is keeping you here. Aren’t you going to open a field office here?”
He’d forgotten about that. With the reminder, he began thinking on it more seriously. If he opened a field office, he didn’t have to leave Chesterville. He could stay here, where Kendra lived.
“Did you talk to that driver?” Roman asked.
Cal chuckled. “I sure am glad I don’t have your problem right now.”
Roman wouldn’t call Kendra a problem. Well, unless she shut him out.
“When we threatened accessory to a crime charges, he told us who Melody hired to take care of you and Kendra. We apprehended him and he finally confessed.”
“Looks like the case is officially closed.”
“It always baffles me how criminals like Melody Franklin think killing a detective and his client will make all their troubles go away. And how in the world did she think she’d get away with poisoning her son’s second wife?”
“Don’t try to get in the minds of someone capable of killing,” Roman said. “Just outsmart them. Killers like Melody are the easy ones. Their vanity gets them in the end.”
“Yeah, suppose so.”
“It’s always bothered me how Melody intercepted Kaelyn.” He’d finished going through all the phone records last night. “One of the numbers in Kaelyn’s phone matches the driver’s. Melody must have used it to lure Kendra to the truck stop.”
“Except she must have gotten into her car before they went inside. No one could place Kaelyn inside the truck stop.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
“I’ll add that to the evidence.”
Not that they needed it. Melody would be convicted of murder and attempted murder. She’d never see the outside of a prison fence.
“Hey. Think over opening that field office.”
Cal wanted to go to work for DAI. “You can open it. I’ll talk to Kadin and get you in touch with him.”
“Naw. You open the office. You know you’re going to end up moving here anyway, don’t you?”
He didn’t.
“I’ve seen you with her. I may not be big on love, but I know it when I see it and you have it bad for that woman. You might as well give in.”
“Thanks for the brotherly advice.”
With another chuckle, he said, “Talk to you later,” and they ended the call.
Looking ahead, he saw Kendra through her shop window, looking as angelic as the first day he saw her. He walked toward the door, seeing her turn and go deeper in the shop.
Roman entered, leaving the bright and sunny day behind to step into another bright and cheery environment. Christmas trees glowed in multiple colors, each with a new theme added, some to reflect the season. Midafternoon on a Wednesday, there were no customers.
He heard Kendra talking to Raelyn in the back. He found them at the computer in Kendra’s office.
They both looked up, so obviously related with their pretty green eyes and red hair. Kendra was in a yellow dress with a short-sleeved white knit summer jacket and Raelyn wore a soft green spaghetti-strap dress. They both smiled as they looked up, but the smiles had already been there before he’d arrived.
“Kendra’s going to teach me the financials,” Raelyn said.
“And she’s catching on quick despite her joking around.” Kendra elbowed her niece. Behind them, he noticed a framed picture of Kaelyn. She sat on a bench holding a single white rose to her nose. She looked up at the camera with smiling eyes.
“We were going over the orders for Halloween and Kendra found an error. She ordered the round-eyed ceramic pumpkin and was charged for a funny-looking, slanted-eyed pumpkin.”
She and Kendra laughed anew.
It was one of those things that was funny in the moment but the later explanation failed to express the humor.
“Are you going to start working here full-time?” He hadn’t come for small talk.
“Yes. Thanks to Kendra, I quit my other job.”
Roman looked at Kendra. “Do you have a minute?”
Both women stopped smiling. Raelyn gave Kendra a look only the two of them likely understood, but Roman felt the young woman knew why Roman wanted to talk to her.
Kendra stood and walked from the desk. He led her outside onto the sidewalk and faced her.
“Are you heading out soon?” she asked.
Did she want him to leave? He watched how she put her hands on her hips, and then dropped them with the shift of weight from one foot to the other.
“Soon, yes.” How should he broach the subject? “I’ve got another case.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“Someone in prison looks like he might have been falsely accused of murdering his wife. His family contacted us.”
“Oh. Interesting.”
“DAI gets a lot of cases like that. Most of them turn out bad for the convict. We look into them and the evidence usually confirms guilt. But we provide confirmation for everyone. Rare occasions the convict is innocent, and I think this case will end up that way.”
“The prisoner is a lucky man. He has one of the best investigating.” She smiled up at him, almost flirty, but he could feel her resistance to let go of what she was really feeling.
He observed her a few seconds. She did a great job concealing her emotions. She didn’t trust and he didn’t really expect her to yet. He just worried she’d never get to the point when she did trust, all the way. If he gave her a chance, would he be let down later? How much pain was he lining himself up for?
“I’d like to keep in touch,” he said and felt lame because that only scratched the surface of what he wanted.
“Of course. You have my number,” she joked, but she also looked awkward.
/>
“No, I mean, I really want to keep in touch. See each other. Have a long-distance relationship for a while and see where things lead.”
Her awkwardness faded and she sobered. “You...you want to date?”
“Yes. Talk on the phone when we’re apart and plan regular trips to see each other.”
He watched her mull over the logistics of carrying on that way. How often would they be able to see each other? What if the relationship worked and neither of them wanted to move closer to the other?
“Okay.”
Okay? “Are you interested in seeing me again?”
Her face warmed and that flirtatiousness gushed out for a few seconds. She smiled and put her hand on his chest. “Yes.”
Wow, was that genuine? She ignited him in an instant. Rather than give her too much of his affection too soon, he leaned in and kissed her mouth. Then he hovered above her face for a bit before saying, “I’ll call you.”
She blinked several times as he stepped back. “You’re going now?”
“I fly back this afternoon.” He walked backward toward his rental parked along the side of the road, loving how flustered she looked.
That would get her thinking. Come on, Kendra, wake up and shed your fears.
* * *
Kendra handed the customer a receipt, feeling as though she operated on autopilot. Roman had left a few days ago and still hadn’t called. With each passing day, she grew angrier. He said he wanted a long-distance relationship. Why didn’t he call her every day?
“He’ll call.”
Kendra turned to Raelyn, who wore a teasing look that had grown familiar. She often teased her about Roman. Kendra had told her everything about him and about them together. She had grown so close to her niece in a short period of time. It wasn’t possible to spend too much time with her. Kendra could live with her and work with her, and never get tired of having her around. They had become a duo for sure, and family. Kendra went with her to her grandparents’ house and had begun to get to know them. She could see why Kaelyn had been so attached to her adoptive parents.
“Yeah, whenever he damn well pleases.”
“The waiting is killing you.”
“What’s killing me is his expectation that he’s the one who decides when we talk.”
“You could call him.”
Kendra immediately shied away from that idea.
“You know what he’s doing, don’t you?” Raelyn leaned on her elbows on the checkout counter, angling her head to look up at her aunt.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s giving you time to figure out how you feel about him.”
How she felt about him? Kendra searched inside herself and couldn’t come up with words to say. She could only feel a sting in her heart, a tingling kind of sting that warmed her entire body and jump-started her mind.
“Have you ever felt like this for anyone else?” Raelyn asked.
She sure was smart for a twenty-two-year-old. Could she see how Roman made her feel? “No.”
“Well, there you go.”
Kendra would wait for him to call and she would take this slow. Roman wanted her unbridled. He didn’t have to tell her that for her to know. She couldn’t be that way with him continuously right now. She needed time. He must have understood that or he would have suggested another kind of relationship. Roman was a man who took charge of his own destiny.
She finished her day at the shop, and they went home, Raelyn to her apartment and Kendra to her house. At the end of the month, Raelyn would move into a new apartment that had a laundry room. Kendra made sure she paid her enough to make her own way. The shop brought in sufficient income and Kendra had planned to hire another store manager this year. Why not train Raelyn?
Entering her house, she took in all the charm of the interior she’d spent hours developing in creative moments and didn’t feel the warm welcome she had before Roman had come to town. Normally, her home was her castle. The entry opened to a modern living room in blues and golds accenting white furniture and trim.
She never felt lonely here. Living alone suited her. Now everything was different. She needed company.
Maybe she’d go into town for dinner. She’d be around people and be cured of this peculiar affliction.
As she went to her bedroom to change, her cell rang. She dug it out of her purse, tossing it onto the cream-colored comforter.
Roman.
With a slight, excited tremble, she answered. “I was beginning to wonder if I would have to call you.”
“Miss me?”
She wouldn’t answer that.
“Good. May I come in?”
Come in? “You’re...” She went to the front of the house and peeked out the window.
Roman stood on the sidewalk in front of her house with his phone to his ear. Smiling, she opened the door and waited, placing her phone on the console table. He put his phone into his pocket and with a sexy grin, started toward her.
Uncertainty welled up. If she got involved with him, where would she end up months or even years later? Would he grow restless and move on to other adventures? A man like him needed constant stimulus.
He made it to the door and she let him inside. He faced her in the entry.
“Why are you here?”
“Why do you think?” His gaze ran down the front of her.
He’d come for her. Satisfaction mushroomed in her. It would be so easy to fall for him.
“You’re safe with me, Kendra.”
He broke down more of her defenses talking that way.
“I’m opening a field office here in Chesterville. My parents are thrilled.”
She smiled. “I bet that was difficult for you.”
“No. Being with you made me see how flawed my previous thinking was.”
“Your previous thinking?”
“Yes. I am doing what I was called to do. My parents have nothing to do with that, other than their support growing up and being great parents. There was, however, one thing I had right.” He stepped closer and lifted his hand to touch her face. “I know when something is real, and you are.”
He thought the two of them together made something real. She wanted to believe that but there was no predicting the future.
“I also know you need time to give in to it.”
He surprised her when he said that.
“Ever since I met you, I thought you might never let your guard down and I worried I’d lose my heart to you and go my own way broken.” His thumb caressed her skin. “But then I realized as long as I’m with you, you won’t run.”
“Won’t I?” She looped her arms around his shoulders.
He put his arms around her waist. “No. Want to know why?”
“Yes.”
He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. “Because I plan on giving you plenty of space and time while I romance you into admitting you’re falling in love with me.”
Admit—“You are bold.”
“Yes, bold enough to admit I’m falling in love with you.”
She’d been so convinced he would never feel he had something real with her. Her past experiences would make her reluctant to let go completely, but he proposed giving her time, taking it slow.
“Mind if I bunk up here until I find a place of my own?” he asked.
That was taking it slow for him? He planned on moving right in. The idea didn’t upset her or make her feel closed in.
“You’ll hardly know I’m there.”
Was he kidding? She’d know he was there every second.
* * *
Smoke billowed up from the barbecue in Kendra’s backyard. She admired Roman cooking burgers, and then watched Raelyn play in the grass with her new yellow Lab puppy they hadn’t yet named. The puppy bounded toward her and then clumsily
darted away, eliciting laughter from Raelyn. Her grandparents would be over soon.
Kendra reclined in a chair while Roman flipped hamburgers. She couldn’t stop smiling herself. He was shirtless in the August heat, and in semibaggy shorts with no shoes. She’d seen him this casual before but not in the same light—and she didn’t mean the sun. She felt relaxed with him. He turned and saw her looking at him and grinned.
She knew that grin and that glint in his eyes. Whenever she let down her guard like this, he seemed to get so inflamed. Right now, he put the spatula down. Smelling of smoke and cooking meat, he leaned over her and planted a warm, patient and lengthy kiss on her mouth.
Then he withdrew. “Keep looking at me like that.”
“What if I do?” She ran her hands up his chest.
“You’ll be stuck with me.”
Roman hadn’t left since the day he’d surprised her by showing up. She hadn’t asked him to leave, either. Nor did she feel threatened. She did have moments where she experienced anxiety over the way she felt for him, but all he had to do was kiss her and she floated back into the warmth of his loving ways.
“I don’t feel stuck,” she said.
Grinning broadly, he kissed her again.
* * * * *
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Hometown Detective (Cold Case Detectives Book 6) Page 22
