by T. L. Haddix
“Seriously?”
“I’m a guy. I don’t know these things.”
“Let me see your hands.” His expression wary, he put his hands in hers. They were warm, with a few calluses, and she ran her fingers lightly across the backs. “You have such nice hands, well-shaped and masculine.” She ignored his startled jerk. “I’d start with a soak in some warm, soapy water. Then do a salt scrub, massage with some oil or lotion, and trim your nails, shape them up a little, although they really don’t need it.” Standing, she took the empty bowl and spoons to the sink and rinsed them, then put them in the dishwasher. When she turned back to Ethan, he had a contemplative look on his face.
“Okay. Sign me up. But no nail polish, right?”
Beth was stunned. “Really?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
“Well, in that case, let me get set up. Have a seat.” He resumed his seat on the barstool as she went to the closet in the hall and pulled down a large box. “You got lucky – whoever trashed this place somehow missed my stash of massage lotions and oils.”
As she set up everything she would need, Ethan watched her closely. “I figured you’d be exhausted by now. You look tired.”
Beth’s smile was tinged with bitterness. “Yeah, well, I am tired. I just can’t seem to settle down for more than a minute or two. Honestly, I feel like I’m coming apart inside. My skin is the only thing holding me together at this point.”
She sat the bowl of warm water down in front of him and added a few drops of almond-scented soap, gently frothing it up so that it was bubbly. “Go ahead and put your hands in there,” she said. “We’ll let them soak for a few minutes.”
“You’ll regain your equilibrium before long. As for tonight, just try to relax. Remember that you have a big, strong man here to protect you, and you’ll be fine.” His self-deprecating grin let her know he was teasing.
“I do appreciate your being here. I’m independent, you know that, but I wasn’t looking forward to spending the night alone. I know you probably had more interesting things to do than babysit me.”
He looked at her, puzzled. “What, like laundry? That was the plan for tonight. I don’t have nearly as exciting a social life as you seem to think I do.”
Beth just snorted. “Yeah, right. You and my brothers are out every week doing something.”
“Yeah, and people are going to start thinking the three of us are involved if we don’t add some females to the mix soon.”
She couldn’t help it – she burst out laughing. The image he’d invoked was just too much. Holding her stomach, it was all she could do to stay on the barstool as she dissolved into giggles.
“I’m glad you think it’s funny,” he said. “Chase asked something last week about curtains, for crying out loud, and I almost answered him ‘yes, dear.’”
That set her off again, and this time, she laughed so hard that she cried. For several minutes, she couldn’t look at Ethan, because every time she did, he made a face that sent her back into spasms of hilarity. When she finally stopped laughing, she had to get a tissue to wipe her eyes.
“Feel better now?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Yes, actually, I do. Thank you.”
“Glad to help. But can I take my hands out of this water now?”
“Of course. Here,” she said, holding out a towel for him. He placed his hands on the towel and she gently dried them. Scooping up a dollop of salt scrub, she started working on his right hand. “We’ll leave your left hand wrapped for now.”
“What’s this stuff do?”
“Exfoliates dead skin, and it just feels good. You wouldn’t believe how good it feels on your feet.”
Ethan looked skeptical. “I’ll take your word for it. Speaking of active social lives, I figured you’d have something planned this evening.”
Beth frowned. “No. I usually stay home on Sunday evenings. It’s one of the only days I can kick back and relax.” She wiped the salt off his hand with the damp towel and switched to his left.
He hmmm’d. “I thought you liked the whole parties and dinners thing.”
“I – well, sort of. I mean, I enjoy talking to people, learning about them, that sort of thing, but it gets old after a while. After so many times when you’re invited here or there, or when you have to cover this event or that one, you really start to wonder if the people you’re with would have anything to do with you if it wasn’t your job.” His hand tightened around hers, and when she looked up, he was frowning. “What?”
“I just didn’t expect you to feel that way.”
She laughed and wiped his left hand down, then used the water to rinse her own hands off. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. Because you always seem to be so… comfortable with who you are when I see you working, or out somewhere.”
Beth didn’t know how to respond. Getting out oatmeal-almond scented lotion, she went back to his right hand and started massaging. “I do love my job, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes, it would be nice to be asked out or have someone want to spend time with me the person, not me the reporter.”
“That just blows my mind, that you say that. All this time, I’ve thought you just liked dating.”
Her hands stopped moving on his. “Excuse me?”
He groaned. “That didn’t come out right. I just can’t imagine anyone not going out with you for any reason other than they wanted to be with you.”
“Okay, you prettied that up well enough, so I guess I can forgive you,” she said, blushing at the intense study he was giving her. “And some guys are nice. I don’t mean to imply that they aren’t. But most of the people I go out with, they see that I’m blonde, that I’m ‘upbeat,’ and they think ‘oh, bet she’s a load of fun, loves to party.’ They don’t think ‘bet she’s smart and capable, loves to curl up and read.’ When they find out who I really am, you can see the trail of dust spiraling up behind them, they run so fast. They don’t want someone who has a thinking brain in her head.”
“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” he asked.
She got more lotion and started on his other hand. “Maybe a little. It just all gets so old, Ethan. Is it too much to ask to find someone who looks beyond the surface?” When he was quiet, she looked up, surprised by the somber expression on his face, and she remembered what Stacy had said to her a few days earlier. His next words confirmed what the other detective had theorized.
“Yeah, sometimes I think it is. People look at me and they see the badge, or they see I’m Hispanic, and that’s all they see. It does get old.”
Ethan’s father had been a first-generation American, with his grandparents having immigrated to Texas from Mexico just before his father’s birth. With his dark hair and olive complexion, Beth knew Ethan had found growing up in a small town in southern Indiana to be something of a challenge, and had endured a good amount of snide comments about his heritage through the years.
Beth tilted her head to the side. “Not everyone sees you that way, you know.” He just looked at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “They don’t. I don’t. None of your friends do.”
“I guess not.” When she finished with the lotion, he pulled his hands back and looked at them. “That was nice. Thank you.”
She could see him withdrawing into himself, and she suppressed a sigh of disappointment. This was the first time in perhaps years that she and Ethan had spent any time together alone, and it had been a tantalizing glimpse into the man that not a lot of people got to see. She decided to not push him any further, and started putting the manicure supplies up while he wandered over to the living room windows to look out.
“The couch folds out into a queen-sized bed,” she told him. “I washed the linens earlier, so you’ll have clean sheets to sleep on.”
“Thanks. What time do you usually get up in the mornings?” He helped her move the table out of the way and started taking cushions off the couch.
“Usually around seven thirty
. What time do you need to be up?”
“Six thirty. I can set the alarm on my phone. If you show me where everything is, I’ll try to be quiet in the morning when I get ready. By the time I’m ready to leave, you’ll probably be up.”
“Come with me, then.” He followed her into the bathroom, and she showed him how to use the shower. “It’s a little tricky. Not that I think you’re too stupid to know how to use a shower.”
Ethan just tugged her ponytail. “I know.”
With nothing left to do, Beth figured she might as well call it a night. “Just holler if you need anything. I’m pretty tired, so I guess I’ll hit the sack.”
“I have a book that I want to finish, so I’ll do that if keeping the light on for a while won’t bother you.”
“Not at all. Good night, then,” she told him.
“Night.”
Going into her bedroom, she turned the light on and closed the door, leaning back against it with a silent groan of agony. It just wasn’t fair, she thought, that any man should be so damned appealing and so far out of reach.
Chapter Eight
When Jason came up to Ethan the next day as the detective was leaving, a grim look on his face, Ethan felt a sense of foreboding. “What’s wrong?”
“Robbie’s out for the rest of the week.”
For a minute, Ethan didn’t say anything. “Okay. And?”
“I need to ask you to stay at Beth’s until Friday.”
“Jason – damn it.”
The deputy eyed him with speculation. “I thought you liked Beth.”
Ethan just glowered at him. “That’s beside the point. She doesn’t want me sleeping on her couch for a week.”
To his surprise, Jason just grinned. “No, I’d say not. Not on her couch.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Jason looked at him, his expression innocent. “You’re a detective, you’ll figure it out. So will you do it?”
He unlocked his truck. “Do I have a choice?”
Jason’s eyes narrowed. “Sure you have a choice. The two of you have just butted heads so much lately, I guess I thought a little time together might fix whatever it is that’s bothering you. If it’s really going to be a problem, though, I’ll figure something else out. I don’t want you going over there upset and taking your temper out on Beth.”
Ethan realized he was overreacting, and made a conscious effort to calm down. “What’s your alternative, if I don’t go?”
“I don’t know – Chase, probably. He’s just not a cop, though.”
“You really think she needs a cop there?”
Jason’s radio crackled, and he answered the call, which was dispatch paging him out to a burglary. “I have to go,” he told Ethan.
“I know. Look, I’ll stay with Beth. Does she know yet?”
“Nope, sorry.” Jason hurried to his cruiser, and hollered back over the roof of the car. “Thanks, Ethan.”
Cursing under his breath, Ethan watched the younger man drive off. He reached up and pulled his tie off, throwing it into the passenger seat with a growl. Last night had been almost unbearable, being so close to Beth, with her so vulnerable. When she’d licked the hot fudge off her thumb, he had almost grabbed her and taken her to the bedroom right then and there. He didn’t even want to think about the manicure; that experience had left him aroused well into the night. Being so close to Beth was his own private hell, and thanks to Jason, he was sentenced to four more nights.
Chapter Nine
When Beth’s doorbell rang while she was getting dressed, she cursed. Jason was early, for once in his life. She grabbed her robe and hurried to the door. Peeking through the peephole, she again saw Ethan’s dark head.
“What in the world?” She opened the door and just stared at him.
“Hi. Did you miss me?”
Once again, he had his overnight bag and a hanging bag, but this time, the scowl she’d learned to associate with her brothers’ friend in recent months was also present. Despite his teasing words, she could tell he was completely out of sorts as he leaned against the doorjamb.
“You’re not Jason.”
He shook his head slowly. “Nope. Gonna let me in?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. You look angry.”
Looking down at his feet, he let out a breath. “It’s been a long day. I’m not feeling particularly friendly right now.”
Reluctantly, Beth stood back. “Come on in. I have to finish getting dressed. Where is Jason?” She hurried into the bathroom to finish applying her makeup while he hung up the bag.
“He’s taking Robbie’s shift this week. I’m the designated babysitter.” Hands in his jean pockets, he ambled up to the door and watched her put on mascara. “Where are you getting dolled up to go?”
Finished with her makeup, she gently pushed him back and closed the door, answering him through it. “I have the monthly meeting with the Baptist church ladies at seven, and then I have to cover the meteor shower observation tonight at the high school,” she told him as she pulled on a patterned wrap dress. When she was clothed, she opened the door back up and started on her hair. To her amusement and mild consternation, Ethan moved back in to watch, picking up pieces of her makeup kit to inspect them.
“I didn’t think that started until ten,” he said. “The shower watching, I mean.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t.”
“How long does the ladies’ meeting take?”
“A short one is usually about two hours, and that’s not counting eating. I don’t partake, though.” She tilted her head back and forth, making sure the French twist she’d put her hair into was going to hold. “I feel guilty, asking you to stay here. I won’t be home until probably one or two o’clock.”
He frowned. “So you’re just going to wander around town all night, unescorted?”
Hands on hips, she smiled up at him. “Ethan, I do that all the time. I’ll be armed. You know I carry. ” She gave a soft laugh. “Unescorted. That’s cute.”
The frown deepened. “Why is that cute?”
“Because it sounds so old-fashioned,” she told him as she moved into her bedroom and started throwing a quick bag together. It took him a few seconds, but he followed her in there, too.
“Okay, now what? Why are you packing?”
She tossed him a questioning look over her shoulder. “Is your blood sugar low? Is that why you’re so grumpy tonight?”
“Beth…” His voice was a warning.
She turned to him and rolled her eyes, not intimidated. “Ethan… And I’m packing a bag so that I can change clothes at the office. I won’t come back here, since the two appointments are so close. I can’t exactly walk onto the ball field dressed like this.” She indicated her dress and heels.
The scowl deepened. “I guess not.”
Checking her watch, she saw that it was almost six o’clock. She stopped beside him in the doorway. “So, have you eaten?”
“No. You?”
“Nope. And I’m starving. I was going to take Jason out for something. You interested?”
Reaching out a hand, he took the small bag. “I could eat. And you can laugh about having an escort tonight, but I take my duties very seriously. I’ll shadow you.”
Beth hid her excitement by ducking into the refrigerator for a bottle of water. “All night?”
He groaned. “Why not?”
~ * * * ~
Three hours later, Beth was fighting a yawn as she and Ethan walked to his truck. That she still had several hours of work before she could go to bed made her whimper under her breath. Ethan still heard her.
“That was exhausting,” he said. “I had no idea fifteen little old ladies could be so demanding.”
“Oh, those women could run circles around most people our age.” When he unlocked the door and held it open for her, she handed him the plate of brownies one of the ladies had given her as they’d left.
“These look so good,” he said. The l
ook of surprise that crossed his face when she took the plate back made her laugh. “You aren’t going to share, blondie? For shame.”
She waited until he got behind the wheel to explain. “Ethan, I’m going to take you into my confidence. I want your word that what I am about to tell you will go no further than this truck, and that you won’t do a thing about it.”
He paused in starting the engine. “Okay.”
“I have your word?”
“You have my word.”
She held the brownies up. “These are some of the most fabulous brownies I have ever eaten in my life. And in a few minutes, I’m going to be putting them down the garbage disposal at the paper.”
Ethan was appalled. “That’s criminal. Why would you do that?”
“I know it’s criminal,” she sighed. “But these are special brownies.” When he shrugged, not understanding, she continued. “Special brownies? You know, ‘special?’”
Ethan’s jaw dropped. “You mean – no.”
Beth snickered. “Oh, yes.”
He stared straight through the windshield, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “But that lady who gave them to you had to be at least eighty if she was a day!”
“Uh-huh. She’s eighty-three.”
Sitting back, he shook his head and started the truck, turning the air on to cool the cab down. “Is that why you don’t partake of the food? It’s spiked?”
“Yes, some of it. And do you know how hard it is to resist that kind of home-cooked food? It’s a good thing they have designated drivers, I’ll just say that.”
“How’d you find out about those being ‘special?’” he asked as they drove the short distance to the paper.
“Well, I maybe, um…consumed a few of them. Like four or five,” she confessed, feeling her cheeks heat. “In one sitting.”
