Texas Hold 'Em

by Christie Craig

  Leah walked into Walmart; Austin pushed the cart beside her. He barely looked at her, and that was just dandy with her. On top of being hurt, Leah was back to being pissed—and for damn good reasons, too. Oh, sure, he’d gotten her the video and that had been nice, but if she’d understood half the conversation he’d had, Austin had kept one of her apartment keys. To do what? Snoop around her apartment?

  Fine, she’d asked him once to break in, and he’d been nice to fix her locks, but did that give him a right to keep her key without telling her?

  No.

  And that made her wonder if he’d already been rummaging around her place when she wasn’t there. Was he some panty pervert going through her underwear. Had he searched through her private things to find information on Rafael?

  She wanted to kick Austin’s ass.

  But adding fuel to her fury was that she didn’t know this man, and yet he’d wormed his way into her life and… made her care.

  As furious as she was, the fact that she was more hurt than angry told her she still cared. Cared for Austin Brookshire, an admitted liar. Wait. Was that even his name? Heck, he could be married or involved with someone. All she’d been to him was possible information.

  She recalled him saying: I didn’t lie about everything.

  “Define everything!” she wanted to scream. But asking was like poking around in an open wound. It didn’t stop the questions from forming in her mind.

  Was it a lie when you said you liked me?

  Was it a lie when you said I was the most fun you’d had in… forever?

  Was it a lie when you told me you didn’t like broccoli and you’d had as terrible a childhood as I had?

  Was the hard-on in your pants the night we rolled around on your wet kitchen floor a lie?

  Yup, an open wound. Best not to know the answers. Best to just stay furious. She’d eventually stop caring.

  He pushed the cart to the women’s underwear department.

  “You might want to pick up some basic essentials.”

  “Why don’t you just pick them out?” she seethed. “Since you kept the key to my place, I figure you’ve been snooping in my panty drawer!”

  Okay, she wasn’t supposed to say that, but damn it felt good.

  Looking slapped, he glanced around to see if anyone was listening. They weren’t. Not that she’d checked before blurting that out. She’d just gotten lucky.

  He came closer. “I didn’t go through your drawers.”

  “Then why did you keep the key and not tell me?”

  He inhaled. “Do we have to talk about this here?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Because if I’m alone with you, and you tell me that you were trying on my panties, I might kill you. Here, you’ve got people to protect you.”

  A woman walking by snorted with laughter. Austin looked mortified.

  “I’ve never tried on a pair of women’s underwear… ever.”

  “Then why did you keep the key?”

  He released a gulp of air. “In case I needed to get in. You’d already asked me to break in to your place once.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me that?” she seethed.

  He ran a palm over his face. “Because you can be the most unreasonable person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”

  Her chest burned with anger. “And I thought you said you liked me. I guess that was a lie, too.” Realizing what she was doing, poking around in the wound, she searched the buy-one-get-one-free stack for panties.

  He moved behind her so close that his warm breath caressed her cheek. “I do like you. But you’re still… pigheaded.”

  “Really?” She swung around. With him leaning down, her nose came even with his. “Are you referring to my pigheadedness before or after you hogtied me and threw me in my car?”

  His jaw clenched so tight she was amazed his words came out. “I saved your life.”

  “So that excuses the behavior?”

  He stared at her as if she’d grown two heads. “Yes, it completely excuses it! And if you’d been reasonable, I wouldn’t have had to do it.”

  “And if you hadn’t lied to me, and hadn’t been worming your way into my life, pretending to have fun with me”—her voice rose—“and trying to get into my pants just so you could get me to give you information, then maybe I’d have been reasonable!”

  “I wasn’t trying to get into—”

  “Really?” she spit out. “Where I come from, when a guy unhooks your bra and sticks his hand down your pants, it usually means—”

  A woman with a young boy cleared her throat. “Come on, Joey.” The mom hurried her boy past. “These people need some privacy.” She frowned at Leah.

  “She’s mad like you were mad at Daddy last night,” the boy said.

  Austin shook his head. “Told you discussing this here wasn’t a good idea.”

  She grabbed the basket and rolled to the bra aisle.

  While she was picking one out, he came close. “I hadn’t planned on being attracted to you. I wasn’t trying to seduce you to get information, I was doing it because… I couldn’t stop myself. But if you’ll recall, I did stop it. I told you we needed to take it slow. I didn’t want to sleep with you until I’d told you the truth.”

  Another knot of hurt rose in her throat. “You should have never lied.” She grabbed a cheap white bra and some socks.

  He frowned. “You wouldn’t have told me anything if I’d told you the truth.”

  She went to the clothing racks and found a pair of jeans and a couple of cheap long-sleeve shirts. After grabbing a pair of sweats, she glanced up at him. “You fooled me into trusting you. Do you know how few people I trust? And now you’re keeping me from seeing my brother.”

  “I’m sorry, but…” He ran a hand down the back of his head and squeezed his neck. “Have you realized that if I wasn’t here, you and your brother might be dead? I’m not saying I’m right, but maybe you could cut me some slack and not hate me so damn much!”

  His words bounced around her head, dropped to her chest like a lump of pain. Did she actually owe him gratitude for deceiving her?

  He grabbed the cart and rolled over to the men’s aisle. He picked out some boxers, socks, and a couple of T-shirts.

  The words I don’t hate you, I hate what you did, and I don’t know who you are were on her lips. She couldn’t get them out. It felt like admitting she cared, and while she’d admitted it to herself, admitting it to him was too much.

  She followed him to the food section. He haphazardly tossed items in the basket, rushing down five or six aisles. “Is there anything you want?” Frustration rang in his voice.

  “I’m not picky.” She didn’t want to talk anymore.

  “What if I picked out Chinese food?” he asked.

  “Then I’d go hungry. Without complaining.”

  He moaned and cut through the store to the registers. As they came upon the Halloween section, he stopped so fast, his shoes made skid marks.

  “That’s it!” He smiled like a kid at Christmas. She hadn’t seen him smile since this went down, and it pulled at her heartstrings.

  “What?” she asked, determined to ignore her heartstrings.

  “Clowns.” He waved to the display of costumes.

  “What?”

  His grin widened. “Pick out a clown outfit, Leah. We’re going to see your brother.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  LEAH SNATCHED THE receipt from the cashier’s hand. Austin frowned, but she didn’t care. She was paying him back. As they walked by the restrooms, she stopped. “We could change here and head to the hospital.”

  “Not yet. Tyler and Nance are bringing the cats. And I need to confirm with Rick that it’s clear.” They left the store.

  “I thought the costumes made it okay.” She envisioned Luis’s face, swollen to the point that it hurt to look at him. Her chest clutched.

  “They will. But better safe than sorry.”

  “But we’re going today
, right?”

  “If not today, tomorrow.”

  She frowned.

  He frowned back. “I’m doing everything I can.” Damn if he didn’t sound sincere and damn if she didn’t believe him. But how could she believe him when he’d done nothing but lie to her?

  “Who’s Rick?” she asked as he loaded the bags in the trunk.

  “He’s with your brother.” He shut the trunk.

  She almost asked him to give her the keys, her keys, so she could drive her car. But since she didn’t know where they were going she didn’t.

  “I know that. But how did Rafael screw him over?”

  “He didn’t. Rick’s a cop and works part-time with our agency.” He unlocked the car and she got in. He crawled behind the wheel.

  “And Roberto? You guys sent him to spy on me, too, didn’t you?”

  Austin nodded. “Yes, but Roberto believes that DeLuna killed his wife and child.”

  Leah heart clutched. Both shame and fury burned inside her for the things her half brother had done. “If I knew where he was, I’d tell you.”

  He glanced at her—his blue eyes open and honest. “I believe you.”

  She stared out the windshield, trying to decipher her roller-coaster emotions about the man sitting in the driver’s seat: anger, then gratitude. All of it complicated by a sense of vulnerability. Vulnerable to her murdering half brother who almost killed Luis. Vulnerable to men in general—men like Austin, who waltzed into her life and tricked her into caring.

  He pulled out of the parking lot. Five minutes passed when she suddenly couldn’t stop from asking, “What’s your real name?”

  He glanced at her. “Austin Brook.”

  “Not Brookshire?” Sarcasm heightened her voice.

  “No.” Guilt sounded in his voice.

  “You’re not married, are you?”

  His brow pinched. “No.”

  “Your mother never abandoned you at a day care, did she?”

  “That wasn’t a lie.” Honesty deepened his tone.

  “What else?” she asked.

  “What else what?” He stared at the road.

  “What else did you lie about? What else did you do besides keep my key?” Suddenly something dawned on her. “Was my apartment even broken into, or did you do it?”

  He shifted in his seat as if antsy.

  “It was you the whole time.”

  “No. I…” Guilt filled his eyes. “I was in your place when the guy broke in.”

  She tried to wrap her head around that. “You expect me to believe that you’d broken into my place, and then by some strange coincidence someone else broke in while you were there?”

  He sighed. “That’s what happened.”

  “Right.” She scowled at him.

  He pointed to his eye with the half-moon purple bruise. “Do you think I did this to myself?”

  “You could have,” she said.

  “I’m not an idiot.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, that’s still up for debate,” she snapped. “What were you doing in my place? What did you expect to find? Rafael hiding under my bed?”

  His hands on the steering wheel tightened. His knuckles turned white. He looked at her and opened his mouth to say something and then shut it.

  “Do we have to talk about this now?”

  “Yes,” she insisted, knowing whatever he had to say, she wasn’t going to like it. “What else did you do or lie about?”

  An hour after she’d gotten home, Sara checked on Roberto. He was still asleep in her bed.

  She studied him. Asleep, he looked less dangerous—though he had a serious case of five-o’clock shadow going. His chest, covered with a blue cotton T-shirt, moved up and down with his every breath. His bare leg extended from under the covers. He looked good in her bed. Okay, so maybe he still looked dangerous. Just in a different way.

  After driving them to her apartment, she’d insisted he come in until the drugs wore off. He’d argued, but not much. The man was stoned on doggy drugs. After checking on the cat and putting him in her laundry room, she’d made Roberto remove his jeans so she could check the wound.

  It had looked good, and he wasn’t feverish. She still forced him to get into her bed. He’d argued about that, too, but she’d won again.

  The first thing she did was check if the extra dose of medicine could be harmful. According to his weight, he hadn’t taken enough to do any damage.

  Assured he was okay, she called her mom and asked if she could keep Brian overnight. She might take a chance being around a handsome, totally hot guy who showed up with a bullet in his leg, but she wouldn’t risk him being with her son. Frankly, she wasn’t sure she’d let any guy near her son yet, bullet or no bullet.

  The thought of the bullet, or more specifically, her removing it, sent her pulse racing. She’d broken the law. And she was going to have to tell Leah. Who would surely be upset. Would she understand that Sara’s following-her-heart theory? And was bringing him home with her part of that theory?

  Of course, when she’d requested her mom keep Brian, her mom had asked what was up. Sara lied and said she was going out with Leah. Leah… who was with Austin. Leah who’d sounded madder than a trapped raccoon. Sara wished Austin all the luck in the world at coming through this without being neutered. If there was one thing Leah excelled at, it was removing testicles.

  Then Sara called Evelyn. She freaked when hearing about the whole mess. But, being professional, Evelyn agreed to help take care of business by calling the clients with appointments.

  Of course, Sara hadn’t told Evelyn about Roberto and her now being a criminal. Evelyn would have totally flipped. Sara knew because part of herself was flipping.

  Roberto stirred, knocking the sheet off. Worried he might be feverish, she went in and sat on the edge of the bed. She touched his brow. He wasn’t hot.

  Her gaze dropped to his boxers and the oh-so-male frontal bulge. Okay, she had to amend that last thought. He was totally hot, just not feverish.

  Leaning back against the headboard, she watched him sleep and fought the desire to reach down and brush his hair from his brow. He could have died, she realized. And if he hadn’t come to her, infection could have set in and that could have killed him.

  All of a sudden, helping him didn’t seem so wrong. He’d already lost so much. His son. His wife. She sensed a goodness in him; he didn’t deserve to die.

  She just prayed her heart hadn’t led her down a road she’d regret.

  “I bugged your place.” Austin knew sooner or later he’d have to tell her. He’d just been hoping for later. The car hit a jarring dip in the dirt road heading to the cabin.

  “You did what?” She blew air out of teeth. “You put cameras in my apartment? You’ve been watching—”

  “Not cameras.” He parked at the cabin. “Just listening devices, so I could hear if you spoke with Rafael.”

  “So you’ve heard every conversation I’ve had?”

  He felt every bit of the louse she considered him to be.

  He could almost see her mind replaying her past conversations. Her eyes rounded; her mouth dropped open. Was she remembering the conversation about the battery-operated boyfriend? He knew he’d never forget it.

  From the fury in her eyes, that was exactly what she was remembering. Bouncing against the seat, she crossed her arms over her chest, twisted away from him, and stared out the window. Silent. Deadly silent.

  He waited for a good five minutes before he dared to speak. “We’re here.”

  “I know we’re here.”

  He kept his voice calm. “Do you want to get out?”

  She unlocked her seat belt and bolted from the car. Stomping to the porch, everything about her, posture, pace, and expression, exuded anger. He deserved every bit of it.

  Sara felt a tickle on her cheek. Her eyes shot open. Dark brown eyes stared at her with the same befuddlement she felt.

  When had they wrapped around each other? Her arm un
der his neck. His leg on top of her thighs. His… impressive bulge, even more impressive now, pressed against her hip.

  They untangled themselves at the same time. She scrambled to stand up. He scrambled to reach for the sheet. But not before she saw it. His boxers were the open slit kind, versus the button-up kind, and something, standing rather erect, had decided to come out for air.

  “Sorry.” She slapped a hand over her eyes.

  She heard him continue to fight for the sheet.

  “I checked on you and I must have dozed off,” she explained.

  “It’s your bed.” His voice sounded raspy from sleep. “It’s safe now.”

  She split her two fingers and peered out.

  He stared at her. And while he was olive skinned, she could swear his face was red. And that made her blush, too.

  “I see that every day.” The words spilled from her fogged brain. “My son’s. And it’s nothing.” Laughter bubbled up inside her. “Not that you aren’t…” She pressed a hand over her mouth. “I’m gonna shut up,” she muttered from behind her fingers.

  He smiled. Not just a smile, but one of those really sweet ones. Or maybe not so sweet as… sexy.

  They stared at each other. Her knees wobbled; her skin tingled. She felt both energized and weak at the same time. Weak from wanting to press her lips to that smile. From wanting to run her fingers over his five-o’clock shadow and slip her hand down his hard abs and into those boxers.

  The air suddenly tasted different. His scent, the one she’d been cozied up to while she slept, filled her nose. She wanted to breathe it in, to surround herself with it.

  He stood up, wrapping the sheet around himself. “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

  “No. It’s right there.”

  She watched him step into her bathroom. Heart still racing, she didn’t move. She’d never had a man in that bathroom before. The sound of him shuffling around filled her ears. Then she heard the shower. The visual of him standing naked beneath a hot spray of water filled her head. She envisioned water droplets rolling off his chin, landing on his wide chest. Rolling down past his hard abs, to his hard sex and then his…