She measured him with her eyes, heating him more than any late summer sun ever could. “I might,” she said.
“Why don’t you look while I wash up. Then I’ll take you out to get a bite.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.
He tugged her close, brushing his lips over her temple. “As tempting as tuna fish sounds, I’d rather have something else.”
A lazy rumble of thunder, closer and more ominous, broke through the heavy stillness. “Come on.” He settled his hand low on her back and urged her toward the steps. “If we hurry, we can be in Lexington before the storm hits.”
Her only bathroom was through the master bedroom. As he peeled the shirt from his sticky body, he could hear her humming while she opened and closed drawers. The scent of her soap, a subtle, sweet vanilla, surrounded him as he washed his arms and face.
He scrubbed at the last bit of dirt stubbornly clinging around his nails. He couldn’t deny his attraction to Dee. The heat of lust had hit him the very first time he saw her. If fear hadn’t been radiating from her, he might have made a move.
His hip sang as he shifted in front of the sink.
Okay, a baby move. A promise.
The thought still held appeal. A lot.
Every moment he spent with her made him want more. Basic physical desire was there and growing into an obsessive need. He wanted to know her laughter, her tears. Her hopes, her dreams.
He ran her single, fluffy pink towel over his chest, his arms. His first order of business was to protect her, to find and stop the person who tried to harm her.
And that, thank you very much, would require him to stay close to her. At all times.
Chapter Eleven
Jared parked his car in front of a tiny, glass-front dive nestled between taller brick buildings. “Do you like Mexican?”
The blinding flashes of lightening were nearly continuous. The wind rocked the little sports car, making Dee anxious to be in something more substantial than the Spyder. She peered through the windshield and she decided this place fit that bill. Marginally. “Mexican is fine,” she said, jumping out of the car without waiting for him to open her door.
They were the only customers in the place. The five plastic booths marching along the floor-to-ceiling glass sat vacant and waiting. “Pick a table,” Jared said. “I’ll bring the food.”
Dee looked at the tables but didn’t move. She wasn’t picky. She’d eaten in places worse than this. Heck, she’d lived in places worse than this. The wind, buffeting the large panes of glass, unnerved her. Short of eating in one of the bathrooms at the far end of the shop, just beyond the windows, she had little choice.
“Dee?” Jared turned, holding a tray laden with their dinners.
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, feeling foolish. “I don’t want to sit in front of the windows.”
His dark eyes probed, as if he could see her fears. “Okay,” he said. Placing the tray on the farthest table, Jared slid one bench back until it was in the protected area in front of the bathroom doors. As he returned for the table, he called over his shoulder to the manager, “I’ll put these back when we’re done.”
Just that simply, without fuss, he adjusted their surroundings to allay her fear. He’d blocked off the bathrooms to create a cozy haven for her. Holding out his hand, Jared beckoned her to join him.
Dee slid into the bench, a sturdy block wall against one side and Jared’s solid presence on the other. His black hair, inky dark eyes, deliberate scruff of dark beard over chiseled cheeks served as a delicious wrapping for a generous heart. She couldn’t resist the temptation to lean in and kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
His gaze was potent, direct. She’d seen the heat of desire flare in his eyes before, but now it was a beast, hot and fierce, ready to pounce, waiting for her acceptance.
An answering heat poured through her body, loosening muscles, vaporizing every ache and pain. Dee considered kissing him again. Teasing that beast, pushing him beyond his tight control.
But her last big mistake was still a threat, little more than a week behind her. Another cop. Another man who should have been safe.
Carl had been a means of escape; he’d never touched her heart.
Jared? He would be a reason to stay, and if she let him, he’d stamp his name over every cell of her heart. He was hugely dangerous.
Then she’d have to call her family, her well-heeled parents, her doctor sister, and explain she was moving. They didn’t know the truth about Carl. They didn’t know about Kentucky. After all, it was just an accident. No need to mention it. No time. But if she stayed—long term stayed—she’d have to tell them. They would think the family screw-up was chasing after a guy. Again.
Dee unwrapped her shrimp taco. There was a night-and-day difference between Jared and Carl. A huge difference. Still, the lesson her parents had been pounding into her ear with countless phone calls was starting to take root. She needed to make decisions based on what was best for her. She needed to consider what worked to advance her goals.
She’d chosen graphic designing and had pictured herself in a big city with big opportunities. Maystown didn’t even register on the map.
That was a cold dash of reality.
“Do you come here often?” she asked, shaking off her thoughts.
“I’ve only been here a couple of times.”
Dee shot him a startled, questioning glance.
“I chose this place because I wouldn’t run into anyone I know.”
She gasped, prepared to be outraged.
“Dee, this is the heart of Wildcat Country. University of Kentucky Wildcats. I’m wearing an Ohio State shirt. I didn’t want to have to explain.”
Laughter spilled out of her. “Basketball is big around here?”
“You don’t watch sports, do you?”
She shook her head.
“Around here it’s a religion.”
“No way.”
He butted his shoulder against hers. “Hang around, kid, and I’ll show you what basketball is supposed to look like.”
Hang around. Could he see her thoughts?
He tugged at the shirt. “Carl’s?”
His casual tone didn’t fool her for one minute. “I bought it to sleep in on cold nights.”
His hand froze half way to his mouth, his burrito threatening to spill beans and cheese in his lap. She could see his thoughts shifting, could practically hear that tidbit bouncing around in his male brain. The shirt was not huge. On her it reached just below her hips.
“So,” he croaked, his body still, “what do you wear on hot nights?”
“A lot less,” she said before taking refuge in a bite of spicy shrimp.
He pulled in a long breath. “That was mean,” he muttered.
Dee glanced away, hiding the huge grin that split her face, and noticed for the first time the rain pelting the windows. “It’s really coming down,” she said.
“It won’t last long, and when it’s done, you’ll remember thinking it was hot before. This will drive the humidity up so high you’ll break a sweat just blinking.”
She nudged him with her arm.
The space between them had diminished.
Her heart danced into her throat as she looked up into the promise in his eyes. A mistake. He’d taken control, weakened her resolve until it bent to his will.
With Herculean effort, Dee blinked, dimly aware she had been staring like an unblinking doll. “Jared.” Her voice was a quiet plea for mercy.
He shifted his hips. “Tell me about Ormsby. What made you decide you had to leave?”
The change in topic was like a splash of cold water and took her back to that moment, still crystal clear in her mind. “It was the insurance policy. Finding it. I didn’t bother to say anything to him about it. I didn’t want to hear his explanations.”
The quiet in Jared’s eyes encouraged her to continue.
“He’d have them. He always had expla
nations and a way of making me feel stupid and paranoid for questioning him. So I put the paperwork back in the drawer the way I found it, cleared the desk top and started planning. I was out in forty-eight hours.” She picked at the last of her taco. “I didn’t dare sleep for a single minute during those forty-eight hours.”
Jared turned to face her, propping an elbow along the back of their bench. “He didn’t say anything? He didn’t notice?”
“Saturday night I called my mother.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “That’s always good for at least two tense hours, and he had no patience for the emotional fall out afterward. It wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep on the couch after one of those marathons. Sunday night, I stayed up watching an old movie. If he thought something was up, he had no idea that I’d get out so fast.”
He pinched his lower lip between his fingers. “I can understand your being upset when you found the unexpected policy.”
“It wasn’t just that.” She would not let him make her feel guilty or wrong for leaving. “The policy, for five hundred thousand…”
His black brows lifted.
“…was the final straw.” She took a moment, sipped her drink. How could she explain innuendos? How could she make him believe feelings? “I won’t say it was the first sign, but meeting his late fiancée’s family was the biggest.”
His knee brushed against hers and held. She had his attention.
“Tessa Gates, Melanie’s sister, came to see me one night while Carl was pulling an all-nighter.”
Jared frowned. “Did that happen often?”
“Maybe once a month, or every other month. Not a lot.”
He said nothing.
“According to Tessa, Melanie had moved in with Carl within six months of his mother’s death. At first, everything went great. Melanie seemed happy. But her family became concerned when Melanie stopped coming to family gatherings. She missed the holidays. Carl had to work, or Carl had made other plans.
“Months later Melanie called Tessa, telling her it was over and she was moving out. But apparently Carl came home with a ring and Melanie reconsidered.
“Two months later, she was dead.”
“He was hunting,” Jared said. “That’s what the news reports said.”
He’d looked. He’d at least looked. “He was on a huge farm with a few friends. Carl didn’t come home with anything although his friends were more successful. The house where Melanie died was two miles from that farm.”
Jared eased back. “His friends vouched for him.”
“They admitted that they weren’t together every bit of the time, but that he couldn’t have run that far and back in the time they were apart. They also couldn’t specify the amount of time they were separated.”
“Tessa thought he could have run that distance,” Jared stated.
“I drove by the farm. There are roads on two sides of it. Dirt paths lead onto the property in several places. If he had another form of transportation, a bike or a motorcycle, it would have been possible. Easy.”
“That would be premeditated.”
She let the thought settle in his head.
“There’s no record of anyone seeing him riding down the road,” Jared said.
“I don’t know that anyone asked.”
Dee fisted her hands under the table at his silence. How could she make him believe what she knew in her heart was true? “It wasn’t just her family. More than one person, right from the beginning, cautioned me to be careful.” If not with words, it was in their eyes.
“Carl and I had reached the same spot in our relationship. We’d run our course; we were done. Then all of a sudden he started going out of his way to be kind, like he was trying to win me back. We’d gone through two cycles like that, where I changed my mind and stayed.
“It wasn’t going to happen again.”
A heavy silence settled between them, each breath a rasping sound that tightened their connection. “Did he ever hurt you?”
She felt the protect and serve instincts snap all around him. The smallest hint of humor tugged at her lips. “No, not physically. Like I said, he had ways to make me feel bad about myself, to doubt myself.”
“He wasn’t involved with anyone else? Either with you or Melanie?”
She shook her head in denial.
“Not even a minor flirtation?”
Dee pitied any criminal that had to sit through questioning by Officer Hamilton. He was tenacious. “No.” It felt disloyal to talk about Carl, which was just plain stupid. “I would have been surprised. Carl wasn’t big on sex. Or maybe it was just me.”
“I don’t think so.”
She didn’t dare look at him. “I worked all day and studied most nights.”
Tension held her still. If he moved, if he touched her, she wasn’t sure she had the willpower to refuse him.
“What do you think of Jack?”
Jack? Several seconds ticked by before she could assimilate the abrupt change in topic. She shrugged. “He’s okay.”
“He didn’t seem exceptionally angry or upset about the job?”
“He wants the work; he made his arguments. He wasn’t subtle or backhanded about it. I appreciated that.”
He finished his meal, wadded his napkin, and tossed it on the empty paper plate. “How much do you have to spend on a car?”
Dee lifted a shoulder, stirring her straw through her drink, watching the ice shift. “Not much. Around five thousand. Maybe I’d be better off doing a lease.”
Tiny lines formed around the corners of Jared’s eyes.
“I need something reliable and something that will get in and out of my driveway.”
“Have you thought about trading in your Mustang? You could get something nicer.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I can afford that. It will still be several days before it’s ready. I need a car now. Besides, I may have to wait a month before I get paid.”
“You could ask Ray for an advance,” he offered.
“No.” No way, no how. The thought rubbed her wrong. She was a professional and professionals didn’t go around asking their clients to float them a loan. Now, as in Ohio, she would earn her money.
Jared’s answering smile both pleased and irritated her.
“C’mon,” he said as he stood, gathering the remains of their meal. “I know someone who can help you.”
“A friend of yours?”
He tilted his head and winked. “Sort of. He owes me a favor.”
A cop favor or a personal favor?
The rain had stopped, but thousands of tiny drops clung to the plate glass windows. As Jared opened the door for her, heat reached in and enveloped her like a sauna, instantly coating her body with moisture so that her clothes tangled around her.
“If you’d rather wait, we can look at cars another time,” he offered, watching her closely.
“I can’t be without transportation,” she said. “So if you have the time, let’s go see your friend.”
Jared nodded his agreement, steering his car through the streets of Lexington, telling her the names of streets and intersections as if she needed to know, until he pulled into a huge car lot.
Row after row of vehicles glistened in the early evening, water droplets capturing and reflecting the low sun so that each car sparkled. There were rows of SUVs, rows of trucks, rows of sports cars, rows of minivans. Every kind of vehicle made was on that lot.
“Hey, Bernie,” Jared called as he helped Dee out of his car.
A short man with black-streaked gray hair approached them, his round face lit with a genuine smile. “Hello, Officer Hamilton,” he said, extending his hand in greeting. “What can I do for you today?”
Shaking Bernie’s hand, Jared slipped his arm around Dee’s shoulders and nudged her forward slightly. “This is my friend, Dee Quinn. She’s looking for a car.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Quinn.” Bernie angled his girth and scrutinized the lot. “We’ve got plent
y to choose from. What are you looking for?”
“She needs something reliable,” Jared answered, his eyes cataloging the vehicles. “Something that will get her in and out of a rough driveway. She may be looking to rent.”
Bernie opened his mouth, caught Jared’s expression, and coughed. “I can do that.”
Dee narrowed her eyes and studied Jared. “If that’s a problem…”
“Not at all,” Bernie assured her.
She was going to keep an eye on Jared.
“What have you got over there?” Dee indicated the section of small sports cars.
“Let’s have a look,” Bernie led her across the lot. “Are you visiting?”
“No. I’m having car problems.”
Bernie nodded. “What was your last car?”
“A red Mustang,” she answered.
“How bad is the driveway?” he asked.
“Pretty bad.”
Bernie followed her toward the flashy Fords. “I’m not sure you’re going to want something that small. Who’s working on your car?”
“Charlie Wilson.”
Bernie nodded. “There’s none better. Does that Mustang work in your driveway?” He gave her a second. “If you wanted to trade up to something with a higher carriage, I can talk to Charlie and arrange it.”
“I don’t know when it will be ready.”
Bernie shook his head. “Not a problem. Charlie can give me an idea of what it’s worth. We’ll work with that.”
Trading made sense. The Mustang would never make it up the drive without tearing the bottom out. Plus, she’d be driving something Carl wasn’t expecting. “I’m on a tight budget,” Dee cautioned.
Bernie stopped between rows, pursing his lips as his bushy brows lifted. “Let’s head over here. These are used vehicles, in excellent condition.”
“This is cute,” Dee gushed, running her hand over a Miata convertible. “Too small, I know, but cute.”
Jared stepped up behind her and peered over her shoulder. “You’d never get all your stuff in there.”
“What about this Nissan coupe?” Bernie asked.
“Still too small.” Jared turned his attention to the far side of the lot.
“A Spyder?”
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 242
