God, she was naïve. Kate swallowed hard, tears prickling at the back of her eyes as she stared down at him. Sleeping with Todd Wyatt might have rid her of her virginity in a very delicious way, but unfortunately it has also made her crush on him jump from harmless to lethal.
Biting her bottom lip, she climbed out of bed, grabbed her heels off the floor, and then tiptoed into the living room to collect her clothes. Relief swept through her that Todd hadn’t woken as she finished dressing.
She’d just slipped into her heels and was contemplating how much walking back to her house in them was going to suck, when Todd’s phone rang.
Shit. Kate’s gaze darted to the door and she thought about just running outside and fleeing.
But then she heard the thump of Todd sliding out of bed, and then a groggy, “Kate?”
Folding her arms over her chest, she stood up straight and met his gaze when he came into the living room. He was unabashedly naked as the day he was born, holding his ringing phone.
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t you think you should get that?” she asked instead.
“No, it’s just…it’s no one.”
No one being another woman. Her stomach sank at the reminder of who Todd was and what kind of lifestyle he led.
“I…should go,” she said quietly.
Todd’s brows drew together and he tilted his head. “You’re leaving? But it’s your day off.”
She cleared her throat, her palms dampening. “I know. I just, I have a lot of things to attend to, Todd…”
“Hmm. The kind of things that could wait?” He took a step closer to her, his mouth curving into a seductive smile. “Seeing as we’re both off work and it’s rainy and cold, it just seems conducive to spend a day inside…maybe in bed. Don’t you think?”
As he grew closer, her knees started to weaken along with her resistance.
“I don’t know, maybe we should just call it what it was. One night of fun.”
She hated that her voice shook. It obliterated any attempt at sounding casual, and her fears were confirmed when Todd caught her wrist, halting her before she could leave the house.
Kate bit her lip as he turned her around, tried to keep her expression nonchalant.
“You’re saying that when you seduced me, you only wanted one night?” he repeated carefully. “That’s really what you wanted?”
“Well what do you want, Todd?” she asked cautiously. “Something more serious? You can’t be thinking of a relationship…”
He seemed to blanch and dropped her wrist, retreating quickly. His reaction, whether conscious or subconscious, cut to the quick. Again she’d been caught with her naïve hat on. No, Todd certainly didn’t do relationships, and she should probably thank him for the reminder.
Her heart tripped and she swallowed hard, deciding she needed to make a clean break for both of their sakes. End things before they got complicated.
“Let me just be honest, Todd,” she forced herself to say.
“Honest about?”
“You were right. I did sleep with you because of the fireman thing. I’d never been with one before.”
Todd stilled, then said harshly, “That’s complete crap, Kate.”
She bit her lip. Fake it better. “I’m sorry. It’s just…before I settle down with someone and start a family, I figured it was a good opportunity to check that sleep with a firefighter fantasy off my list.”
He didn’t say anything and when she glanced up she could see the doubt and yet potential for belief in his eyes.
“Someone as in Walt?”
She didn’t deny it or confirm. Couldn’t bring herself to do either. But it certainly helped her case that way.
He gave a slight nod. “I see.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have picked you. I’d considered Jeremiah,” she whispered a bit numbly. “But with your reputation I honestly thought a one-night thing wouldn’t be a problem.”
Todd’s jaw flexed and he turned away from her with a callous laugh. “Right. No problem at all.”
“Anyway…I’ll just head out.”
“Wait, let me drive you home, Kate,” he said tersely.
Though a twenty-minute walk in her heels would kill, sitting beside him for the five-minute drive would hurt even more.
“I’m fine. Thanks.” This time when she opened the door, he didn’t stop her.
Kate should’ve been relieved that he’d bought the bedding-a-fireman excuse. Instead she bit her lip to stop from crying. She’d gone into last night with him a virgin, and now Todd probably just thought she was a skanky groupie.
Lovely. What a way to kick off the New Year.
Chapter Nine
Tuesday morning Kate walked into her shop, wishing the emotional hangover from hell would go away. She’d gone home Sunday and called Ellie as she’d promised to do, but tried not to tip her off to the fact that her friend’s concerns had been valid. That her heart did get a heck of a lot more involved once she’d had sex. Why concern Ellie with the minor details? So instead she’d kept it to the light stuff. Great sex, no regrets. That much was true…no matter how much it might hurt now.
Because just as she’d predicted, Todd hadn’t bothered to call her or drop by in the two days since. He’d moved on from her like he did every other woman he took to bed. She’d expected it. Hoped to prepare for it.
She glanced around her shop and sighed deeply. Her nose wrinkled a moment later as she noticed the strange smell.
What the hell was that? Her eyes widened and she pinched her nose between fingers as she moved around trying to locate the source of the odor.
Had she forgotten to take out the garbage…from like a year ago? Whatever it was was not normal.
The smell grew stronger as she approached the heating vent. Her brows drew together and she paused. Yes, whatever was going on was happening in there.
She analyzed the metal grate that covered the vent, tried to figure out how the hell to remove it. Damn, if she tried, she’d probably end up breaking something or gauge a hole in the wall.
She bit her lip and folded her arms across her chest. Shoot. Even though the last thing she wanted to do was call for help, this could be a lot more serious than it seemed. Bottom line, she just didn’t know.
With a sigh, she went back to her office and picked up the phone.
It had been a quiet night at the fire station, with just a couple of calls coming in. First one, a senior citizen with difficulty breathing. Second, a minor car accident where a teenager had rounded Cougar’s Corner too fast in the later hours of the night.
Todd glanced at the clock, confirming there was just an hour or so left of his shift, and then headed into the small gym in the firehouse to squeeze in a bit of exercise. He’d been in a shitty mood since Kate had dropped the it-was-just-a-one-night-stand bombshell, his mood had gone to shit and fast.
Grabbing the handle of a kettle bell, he swung his arm that held the bell back forcibly and then reversed the motion. Grunting at the sweet burn in his muscles that resulted.
It was nice to distract his mind again. Focus on something else besides Kate. How sensual and strange their night together had been. How she’d completely blown his mind. How she could be so damn seductive and then innocent a minute later.
And how it had all been a ruse to get him into bed. How he’d been nothing more than a fantasy in Kate’s mind.
Stop thinking about her. One night. You had your one night, she should be out of your system now.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t out of his system. Far from it. He wanted another night with her. Another chance to explore her body…another chance to hear her scream his name.
Fuck. What the hell was wrong with him?
He’d just done a set of twenty reps on the kettle bell, when the call came in over the loudspeaker.
Suspicious odor coming from a heating vent, caller wasn’t sure if it could be a possible gas leak or something else.
Then
the dispatcher announced the location of the call and Todd’s gut clenched. Kate’s shop.
Adrenaline slammed into him as he set down the kettle bells and ran to the fire truck in the bay. Jeremiah, the other firefighter on duty, was already gearing up.
They pulled up outside Kate’s shop a few minutes later, becoming the first responders on the scene. Beating Tyson—or whoever else might’ve been on duty at the sheriff’s office.
Parking the truck by the curb, Todd kept on the emergency lights and then hurried into the shop. His concern tinged with a bit of frustration when he found Kate tampering with the heating vent. She stood on her tiptoes and struggled to pry the vent open.
The jeans she wore slung low on her hips, so when her red sweater lifted with her stretching, he spotted the flash of creamy skin. Skin he’d kissed…caressed. His pulse jumped and he flexed his jaw, trying to shove thoughts of sex with Kate from his mind.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded tersely, crossing the room to her. “If this is some kind of gas leak, then you should’ve waited outside.”
She jumped and spun around, guilt and shock filling her eyes. “I don’t think it’s a—”
“Outside, Kate.”
She folded her arms across her chest and swallowed hard. Resentment flickered in her gaze now. “Todd, maybe when you say jump, other women do it while batting their eyelashes. But this is my shop and I’m not leaving until I know what’s going on. And as I told the dispatcher I don’t really think it’s a gas leak, but she insisted on putting out the call for help anyway.”
Todd’s slight frustration lurched to full-on irritation as he advanced on her. Despite her little speech, she seemed to realize she’d picked the wrong fight, because her blue eyes widened and she backed up until she hit the edge of the display case.
Her tongue darted across her mouth and her breasts rose and fell beneath her sweater.
“Look, Kate, there’s being stubborn, and there’s being foolish. And I don’t want to see you getting hurt,” he growled.
She laughed at him. A little, high-pitched sound of disbelief before she rolled her eyes.
“Hey, Todd,” Jeremiah called out from behind him. “I think we’re okay here, pretty sure it’s not a gas leak.”
Todd’s jaw snapped shut. Yeah, he’d pretty much figured that out too. That smell wasn’t gas, it was the sour smell of something rotting. But Kate couldn’t have known that, and the fact she’d stuck around trying to Nancy Drew it out herself sparked a fierce concern for her safety that he hadn’t known was possible for him to feel for a person. Someone outside his family, that was.
Turning on his heel, he joined up with Jeremiah near the vent. Together they pried the grate free and tugged it away the wall.
The door to the shop chimed as Todd reached for his flashlight.
“Got some kind of problem I hear, kid?” Todd heard his brother Tyson call out to Kate.
Apparently the sheriff’s department had just arrived on the scene.
“Yeah, something’s going on in the heating vent,” Kate muttered, and then her tone shifted to surprise. “Oh, hello, Walt.”
Walt was here now? Todd’s jaw clenched against the surge of anger and annoyance that rushed him. He pushed it aside as he shown the flashlight into the vent.
“Good morning, Caitleen,” a concerned voice—he could only assume was Walt—said. “What’s all the fuss?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Todd moved the beam of light around the interior, until a small, dark shape was reflected.
“What is that?” Jeremiah muttered next to him.
Todd frowned. It wasn’t pretty, whatever it was. “Looks like a dead animal.”
He reached in and pulled the small creature free. “Possum.”
“Oh my god.” Kate was at his side in an instant, her hand over her mouth. “How did it end up in there? The poor thing must’ve gotten stuck. Is it dead?”
“Yeah. It’s dead.”
And it had probably dead for quite awhile. Todd’s gut clenched and his jaw ticked. In fact, it looked like road kill from the side of the road. Which was making him think someone had deliberately placed it in there.
“It’s got blood all over it. And his face is all smashed in,” Kate whispered suddenly. “How did it—”
“Tyson, take her out of here,” Todd said tersely.
“Don’t take me outside, tell me what’s going on—”
“Come on, Caitleen,” Walt said gently, and he heard their retreating footsteps. “This is not something for the eyes of a lady. We should let them handle this.”
Tyson came around to observe the situation, then glanced outside. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Anger, hot and potent, gathered in Todd’s belly. “If you’re thinking that somebody stuffed this little guy in here already dead, then yeah.”
“Shit. Who’d Kate piss off?” Jeremiah shook his head and took the dead possum from Todd’s hands. “I’ll take care of this poor little guy.”
Todd watched Jeremiah leave the shop, and then his gaze caught on Kate and Walt. Walt had her in his arms, was stroking a hand down her back and brushing a kiss across her forehead.
Jealousy blindsided him, tightening his throat and coiling every muscle in his body. How the hell could she let another man touch her? After what had just happened between them barely forty-eight hours ago.
“Todd.”
He blinked, tearing his gaze away from the couple and meeting Tyson’s questioning stare.
“What?”
“I said I don’t think this is a random prank.”
“No shit,” Todd replied tersely and scrubbed a hand down his jaw, forcing his focus back to whoever was targeting Kate. “I’ve never thought any of them were. The rock through the window. The flat tires.”
Tyson nodded. “Time to talk to her.”
“Great idea. Let me grab her.” The idea of making her leave the circle of Walt’s arms was more appealing than he wanted to admit.
Todd moved toward the door and Walt glanced up, spotting his approach. Then, holding Todd’s hard stare, Walt caught Kate’s chin in his hands before kissing her on the mouth.
The hell he did. Hot anger coiled in Todd’s belly as he thrust open the door, barely restraining the low growl rising in his throat.
“Kate,” he damn near snarled. “We need to talk.”
She jerked away from Walt, her eyes blue pools of surprise and guilt. She nodded and ran her tongue over lips that had just been beneath another man’s.
“Umm, I need to go, Walt,” she murmured, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “I’ll catch up with you tonight?”
“That sounds great, Caitleen. See you then.”
Todd held the door and Kate scooted in past him, the curve of her hip brushing his thigh. His blood heated and he ground his teeth together, willing his cock not to get the wrong idea.
He shut the door behind her, noting that she didn’t meet his gaze and seemed entirely too fidgety as she made her way toward the back.
Curling his fingers into fists, he resisted the urge to catch her arm and halt her. And he bit his tongue to stop himself from revealing just what he thought of seeing that schmuck next door kissing her.
And when Tyson sat her down to begin questioning her, Todd managed—just barely—to turn his thoughts to darker issues. Like who had it out for Kate and her shop…
What the hell was wrong with him? Todd scrubbed his hands over his eyes and wished like hell he could sleep. Instead, he’d spent half the day tossing and turning before finally getting up and taking another shower.
Why did getting kicked to the curb by Kate bug him so much? It should have been his damn fantasy. Kate with no strings attached. Hadn’t he wanted that for months now?
Instead, his stomach burned with bitterness and jealousy while instinct pricked in the back of his head that something was off.
He sat in his kitche
n, sipping a soda and staring out the window at the setting sun.
There had to be more to it. Something else going on, but what? It was there, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Damn if he didn’t wish there was someone else to ask. Someone else who might know exactly what was going on in Kate’s little head…
Todd’s fingers crushed around the soda and he shoved back his chair. Ellie! How the hell had he forgotten about his sister-in-law’s involvement?
He ran through the house, grabbed his keys and hurried outside to his truck, a resolute smile curving his lips.
Ellie opened the door after the second knock and her expression showed she’d been reluctant to.
“Todd,” she greeted him mildly. “How are you?”
“You need to tell me everything, Ellie. Everything you and Kate plotted.”
She winced and glanced behind her into the house, then lowered her voice. “Give me a minute and I’ll come out—”
“Sweetheart, is Todd here?”
At the sound of Tyson Wyatt’s voice, Ellie scowled and looked about ready to stomp her foot.
“You should have called first,” she hissed and stepped back, opening the door. “Yes, Tyson. Your brother’s here.”
Todd stepped into the house, not really giving a damn about Ellie’s desire to keep their talk under wraps.
“Good,” Tyson came out of the kitchen, a dishrag slung over his arm. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
Todd should’ve been on alert at the hard glint in his brother’s eyes, but he was too focused on Ellie’s guilty expression.
“You slept with Kate, didn’t you?” Tyson asked with deceptive softness.
“Umm, I’ll let you two talk,” Ellie said quickly and tried to slip away.
“Oh no you don’t.” Todd shook his head. “I bet Ellie has quite a bit to say on this whole Kate thing, don’t you?”
“I…”
“There’s been talk around town about Todd leaving the party with Kate on Saturday night,” Tyson glanced down at his wife, his brows drawing into a scowl. “But, sweetheart, don’t tell me you knew about this?”
“She not only knew about it, she helped plan it,” Todd said tersely. “I didn’t set out to seduce Kate. She seduced me.”
Flash Point: Holding Out for a Hero, Book 3 Page 6
