Armed and Famous

by Jennifer Morey

  Chapter 9

  Autumn Ivy saw the reporter in his beat-up Chevy and almost drove past Lincoln’s house. Arizona was expecting her. Would she really let a reporter chase her away?

  No.

  Turning into the driveway faster than appropriate, the tires squealed a little as she pressed the brake. Snatching her flashy purse from the passenger seat, she alighted from her white Porsche. Her fingers caught on the door handle, and she felt a polished nail break.

  “Damn!”

  “Miss Ivy? Will you tell me about your relationship with Deangelo Calabrese?”

  She walked faster as he took pictures, her high-heel Stuart Weitzman pumps making it impossible to move fast. Running ahead, the reporter got a face shot. She had to bite back a caustic remark. Tell him to go to hell. At least she’d look good wearing her new fall Fendi dress.

  “Why did you break up with him? Was it getting too serious? Did you meet someone else?”

  As if she’d answer any of those questions. The press made her out to be a sex diva, and she was hardly that. So she dated a lot of men. Why was that news? It didn’t mean she was promiscuous.

  Arizona opened the door, and she rushed inside.

  “Do they ever give it a rest?” Autumn asked, frustrated.

  “No.” Arizona locked the door.

  A big yellow Lab with a smile jumped up on Autumn. She’d met Maddie when they’d all come over for dinner that night. Autumn grunted with her weight, catching her balance in the high heels and gently pushing the dog back down.

  “Hey there.” And then she said to Arizona. “Not much of a guard dog.”

  Arizona chuckled. “No.” Then she eyed her outfit. “Do you ever dress down? Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

  “What’s the matter with this?” She surveyed herself from foot to chest.

  “You look like you’re going to walk down a fashion runway. And then die after tripping in those shoes. You’re such a girlie girl.”

  As the youngest sister, Arizona was about as opposite from her as could be. Autumn was the second oldest of the Ivy siblings, and the oldest sister. But their differences somehow made it natural for them to be close.

  “Vandlátur.” She was sure to add a tone of sarcasm.

  “Where are you going this time? What is that? Greek?”

  Autumn laughed and headed for the living room, a bouncing yellow Lab joining her. “Icelandic.”

  “What’s that mean in Icelandic?”

  “I just said you were nice. I haven’t gotten a contract yet, but I’m expecting that soon.” Sitting on Lincoln’s sofa, she rested her arm on Maddie when she curled up beside her.

  “So you just picked up another language so you could take this job?” Arizona sat on the other side of Maddie, arm over her rump.

  “No. I’ve actually been studying it for a while now. I’ve never been to Iceland.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to buy a plane ticket and take a vacation there?”

  Autumn sent her an unappreciative look and refrained from saying something else in Icelandic. “I need something to do. I can’t just go there and sit around.”

  “Most people experience the country when they go on vacation. That isn’t the same as sitting around.”

  “I like what I do. I also like to stay busy.”

  Maddie moved her head so that her brown eyes looked up at Autumn and melted her heart. “Oh, look at this dog.” She scratched the dog’s head.

  “Hard to believe her owner is a killer, huh?”

  Autumn heard the sarcasm in her sister’s tone. She didn’t really believe Sabrina was a killer. “She might not be. We don’t know the whole story.”

  “She said her name was Remy.”

  “She had a reason for that. If Lincoln thought she was a bad person, then I’d be worried. But he likes her.” A lot, from what she’d seen. The way he’d looked at her could have set the walls on fire.

  Arizona patted Maddie’s rump. “Lincoln did say she was being framed. And dogs are a good judge of people. How could she be a bad person with a dog like this?”

  “I wonder if she’d bite that reporter outside. She seems fond of me.” She pet Maddie’s soft head and watched her red-tinted eyebrows move with the blinks and glances of her eyes. Adorable dog.

  “Ignore the press.”

  “How? They stick their cameras in my face all the time. I get so tired of that. You wonder why I always dress up.” She never knew when she was going to be the next cover photo.

  “Well, then, pick a man to settle down with. They’ll get bored with you and leave you alone.”

  “Is that what happened to you?” She sucked in a breath. “Are you and Braden getting married?”

  “Not yet.”

  “But you are.”

  “Oh, yes.” Arizona beamed.

  Autumn had never seen her like this before. She’d never seen anyone in her family like this before. Except Mom and Dad.

  “I’m not ready for that. I love men. I can’t settle for one.” Her youngest sister was going to beat her to the altar, and she didn’t mind at all.

  “That is such a weird thing to say.”

  “What? That I love men? I do. Especially the alpha ones. There’s something about masculinity that turns me into a hot bowl of butter. Hard muscles. Stubble. Deep voices and a commanding presence. I love it all.” She leaned her head back, drifting into a pleasant daydream.

  “If anyone didn’t know you, they’d get the wrong idea.”

  Anyone who didn’t know her did get the wrong idea. “I don’t sleep with them all. I’m picky about who I get naked with. Masculinity is a turn-on, but not if they’re only interested in stranger sex. I prefer them interested in what’s in my head as much as my snatch.”

  “I think you’ve read that BDSM trilogy one too many times.”

  As Autumn laughed, the doorbell rang.

  Arizona went to answer, Maddie jumping off the sofa to go after her.

  She was so tired of hiding from the media. Her dad was irreplaceable, and she loved him, but he sure did make her life difficult.

  “I’m Detective Jorgenson and this is my partner Smith, Denver Police, ma’am. We’re here to talk to Lincoln Ivy. Is he home?”

  Autumn propelled herself from the sofa and faced the door.

  “No,” Arizona said, startled.

  “May we come in?”

  Arizona glanced back at Autumn, who shrugged. Damn. The police were here to talk to Lincoln. And there was a reporter outside.

  Two officers who weren’t in uniform entered. But the first one was putting away a badge that he must have shown Arizona. He was tall and had a thick head of dark hair and light blue eyes. Underneath that light tweed jacket, she’d bet he was toned, too.

  “Who are you?” he asked as his partner came to stand beside him in the entry.

  “I’m Arizona Ivy and this is my sister Autumn.”

  Detective Jorgenson looked at her and then his eyes did a quick up and down. She couldn’t tell if he was interested. She was.

  “Lincoln is our brother,” Arizona said.

  Maddie nudged the man’s hand with her head, and he automatically pet her.

  “Where is he?”

  Arizona glanced at Autumn again. “Why are you looking for him?”

  “We’d like to ask him some questions about his neighbor.”

  “Remy?”

  “That’s the name she assumed when she moved here,” Jorgenson’s partner said. “Her name is actually Sabrina Tierney, and she’s wanted for questioning in connection to a murder in Newport Beach, California.”

  Murder? Lincoln’s neighbor murdered someone? And he was seeing her? The press was going to have a great time over this one! She w
alked around the man-sofa and stopped near the two detectives.

  “When will your brother be home?” Detective Smith asked. He was more serious than Jorgenson. Jorgenson had a certain light to his eyes, whereas Smith’s seemed to hold a haughty regard.

  “He didn’t say,” Arizona said.

  “Do you know where he is?” Jorgenson asked.

  Arizona took a moment to answer. “Newport Beach.”

  Autumn shared her sister’s reluctance. Telling the police where he was might put him at risk, but they could hardly lie to police. Would he be in trouble for helping this woman? Why was he?

  Sabrina had seemed like a nice woman when Autumn had met her. Smart. A little rigid, though. Now she understood why. Autumn would be rigid, too, if she knew police were after her and she was living with a false name.

  “Is he staying in a hotel?” Detective Jorgenson asked. “And do you know if he accompanied Sabrina there?”

  “Yes, to both. But you should know that he’s a bounty hunter, and he believes Sabrina is being framed.”

  “Which hotel are they staying at?” Smith asked.

  Arizona told him with a snap to her tone.

  Jorgenson noticed with a slight upward movement of his mouth, a very sexy mouth. Arizona didn’t like Smith. Jorgenson shared the split-second humor with Autumn, and that was when she decided she had to get to know him.

  “How long have you been a detective?” she asked, feeling Arizona turn an incredulous look at her.

  “About ten years.”

  She loved this part, where the man looked at her with secret-messenger eyes and fired up a mutual chemistry.

  “It must be such an exciting job,” she said.

  He regarded her a moment longer, not possibly missing her invitation. “Maybe I could tell you a little more about it over coffee sometime.”

  She smiled. Her smile was a reliable hook for most men, and had the same effect on Detective Jorgenson.

  “Do you have a first name, Detective?”

  “Knox.”

  Oh, she loved his name. She went to her purse and took out one of her business cards. Handing it to him, she said, “It’s nice to meet you, Knox.”

  He took the card and read what it said. “You’re a translator?”

  “Yes. Languages have always come naturally to me.”

  His manly-man green eyes took in her face. “I’ll call you soon as long as you promise to speak English.”

  Smiling wide again, she murmured, “I promise.”

  She loved this feeling, the newness of meeting a man for the first time. The excitement.

  As his partner’s disapproval entered her awareness, she fingered some of her long, light red hair behind her ear. Arizona had her eyebrows slightly elevated in her own observation.

  Jorgenson turned to Arizona. “Thanks.”

  “Have a nice day.” There was no mistaking her sarcasm.

  Jorgenson gave Autumn another sexy once-over and then followed his partner out the door.

  “Really?” Arizona said. “Cops come here looking for our brother in connection to a murder and you arrange a date with one of them?”

  Why was she all bent out of shape? “I didn’t arrange a date.”

  “He’s going to call you as long as you speak English.” Arizona marched into Lincoln’s kitchen.

  Autumn followed. “He’s hot.”

  “It’s exhausting how many men you go through. You were just complaining about the media after you for your latest breakup. You could be a reality-show idol.” She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.

  “I’m not that bad. I don’t hurt anyone.”

  “You’ve got a long trail of brokenhearted men behind you. You don’t see it because you leave and never look back. Why can’t you pick one and stick with him?”

  The idea of that didn’t repulse her, but it did constrict her nerves. “What’s wrong with dating a lot?” She hadn’t been with anyone long enough to hurt them. And the one time she had, he’d broken her heart, not the other way around.

  “You’re going to meet a man you should settle down with, and you’ll miss out because you’re so convinced that dating is all you need right now. Why are you like that?”

  She made it seem as though she had some sort of health condition or something. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”

  Arizona sighed and put down the bottle of water. “I’m sorry. It worries me that you’re my oldest sister and I feel more mature than you.”

  Autumn smiled. “I’m a late bloomer.” She stepped forward and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I’m having fun.”

  “Okay. Go have fun with your new toy detective then.”

  She was going to. “I’d better go now. I need a new outfit.” She winked at Arizona as she turned.

  Patting Maddie goodbye, she left the house. On her way to the car, she noticed a dark blue SUV parked across the street. There were two men inside. She reached the driver’s door of her pretty Porsche and got in. Before she could back out of the driveway, the SUV did a U-turn and stopped in front of the driveway, blocking her.

  Alarm triggered her pulse faster. She looked toward the front door of Lincoln’s house. Should she make a run for it? Seeing the men were out of the SUV and approaching, she made sure her doors were locked and frantically dug into her purse for her phone. Why was she so afraid? Maybe they were just lost. She had a bad feeling; her instinct was warning her for a reason.

  The driver of the other car arrived at her window, twirling his finger for her to roll her window down. He had dark, shaved hair and eerie pale gray eyes.

  “I have to get going,” she said, loud enough for them to hear through the glass.

  He started to move his jacket aside to reveal the handle of a gun when Knox and his partner appeared behind him and the other man. Relief shook her. She pressed the button to move the window down a few inches.

  “Are you all right?” Knox asked her.

  “Yes.” As long as he was there, she was.

  “Are these men bothering you?”

  “I don’t know them. They asked me to roll my window down, and this one has a gun.”

  The hairless, pocked-skin man turned his face toward her, and if she could see his eyes she was sure they’d be evil.

  “Do you have some documentation to carry a concealed weapon?” Knox asked.

  “In the SUV.”

  “Why don’t you show it to me, and while you’re doing that, why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”

  Smitten clear down to her toes, Autumn climbed out of her car and followed them to the SUV, standing far enough away to be safe.

  “What’s going on?”

  Autumn jumped, not having seen her sister appear at her side. “I don’t know. Those two men blocked the driveway and wanted me to roll my window down.”

  She watched the detectives question the men, who weren’t revealing anything other than their weapons were legal. All they were saying was that the driver of the SUV wanted to meet Autumn. Knox didn’t like that. He also didn’t believe the man. But he had to let them go.

  After they drove off, Knox and his partner walked up the driveway with them. They all stopped and faced each other, Autumn and Arizona farther up the driveway, and the detectives facing them.

  “Any idea who that might have been?” Knox asked.

  Beside him, his partner looked bored. Autumn imagined being constantly overshadowed by your partner would get tiresome.

  “Lincoln said some men were after him.” She explained the long story of Lincoln’s trouble.

  “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Knox was annoyed.

  “I didn’t think it was relevant,” Arizona said. “And you might not
have believed it, anyway.”

  A man who had to stick to the facts, Knox didn’t push any further. He looked at Autumn, and she felt a surge of new attraction warm her everywhere.

  “Oh, geez. I’m going inside.” Arizona left them for the front door.

  “I’ll wait in the car.” Smith vanished, too.

  Knox grinned at her. “May I walk you to your car?”

  “I’d love that.”

  They moved the two or three steps it took to reach her car. She stood in the open doorway, reluctant to sit down on the seat lest this moment end too soon.

  “Thanks for that.”

  “Just doing my job.”

  He must have seen them and thought they looked suspicious. Lucky for her. What would have happened had he not done that?

  “What are you doing later? I’m off duty at six o’clock.”

  “Looks like I’m spending some time with you.”

  He grinned again, sexy and lighting her up. She didn’t want to wait until tonight. He didn’t appear to, either.

  “I don’t usually do this,” he said. And then he took a step closer.

  “I don’t, either. I mean, I date, but I—I...” She stopped before saying, I don’t usually decide to sleep with a man on first sight.

  “It might be unprofessional,” he said.

  “Maybe, to some.”

  Slipping his hand to the small of her back, he pulled her to him. Oh. Her breath hitched and her heart flew while her body went up in flames.

  With his other hand, he cupped the back of her head and then kissed her. Her lips fit his in sultry perfection. He tasted her at first, and then went in for more. She looped her arms around his muscular neck, resisting the urge to wrap her legs around him.

  Slowly, he ended the kiss. Drawing back to look into her eyes, he exhaled raggedly and then stepped back.

  “I’ll be thinking about you all day,” he said, the sound of his voice tickling her insides.

  “I’ll be thinking about you, too.”

  She watched him walk down the driveway and to the unmarked police car. Then another car caught her attention. It was the reporter. He was sitting inside snapping pictures. He’d just gotten several of her kissing the detective.