“Home, James,” he said again. She hadn’t said more but opened her mouth, which then formed a slow smile. He had a feeling she’d be okay with him as her bodyguard. He reminded himself to redouble his efforts to not take romantic advantage of the situation. She was far too vulnerable. And Oscar would kill him.
Chapter 15
THEY walked into his townhouse to the sound of loud equipment, the clanking of pipes and several men shouting, cussing and otherwise carrying on. David banged the door closed and preceded Grace into the hall toward the bathroom, motioning for her to stay put. He shouted to the men, announcing his presence, and some of the noise stopped. One of the men followed him back down the hall, where they found Grace sitting on the barstool at the kitchen counter with a perky smile on her face and one long shapely leg crossed over the other.
“Hi, Frankie. How’s the job going?”
“On schedule. We start on the kitchen tomorrow. Should be out in two days,” Frankie said.
David didn’t know how Frankie found the strength to tear his eyes from the vision of Grace, but he did and turned to David. “Can you find somewhere else to stay until then or will you be back to sleep here at night? I can have the fellers clean up a bit for you and turn the water on at night for the kitchen faucet…”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” He looked at Grace with anticipation on his face.
“Mr. Young has a place to stay,” she confirmed. She glanced at David and then caught him in the pull of her gaze. Frankie looked back and forth between them. It was not David’s imagination that the very air had become heavy with anticipation.
“Okay, then. I’ll get back to work.” Frankie took off back down the hall.
“I, uh, need to check…” Grace slid from the stool, still with her eyes on David. He nodded and watched the sway of her shapely hips as she walked down the hall. He didn’t know what she was checking—probably something to do with decorating. Brilliant detective work, he chided himself. He used the moment to reign himself back in and resolved to sleep on her couch no matter what.
David was alarmed to find, upon walking in Grace’s door to the yapping greeting of Noodles, that the only place to sleep in her entire apartment was on her couch. He hadn’t realized she lived in a tiny studio—not far from him. He realized she was talking to him as she fluffed Noodles’s fur and picked him up to cuddle him close to her breast. Lucky dog.
“I pay extra for the parking, but I’m lucky to have it. This is a perfect location even if it is tiny.” She grinned at him and waved an elegant, creamy-skinned arm around as she spun in a circle. “My place.”
“It has charm, naturally. As everything associated with you must.” He meant it, taking it all in and forcing the professional in him to take over. The worst thing about her apartment was its accessibility by fire escape, even though it was on the top floor. It had an abundance of windows. That may be great for the sunlight and escaping from fires, but it was bad for security. The décor was colorful, bright and warm and made him smile, like she did. He could see everything except the bathroom from where he stood in the middle of the room. He could probably not walk more than ten paces in any direction without hitting a wall.
“Would you like to see my roof deck before taking a shower?”
“Perfect,” he said, but he meant anything but. One more point of entry for a potential security breach. He followed her to a door, up some narrow stairs and out another door onto a small cedar roof deck. Wrought iron railings surrounded a charming compact space complete with seating, table and a grill. There wasn’t much room for walking around, but he checked the perimeter and was pleased to find the likelihood of access from other rooftops to be remote.
“Lovely. Like everything about your home—and about you,” he said. He knew he’d said too much when he heard her breath catch. She stood no more than a foot away. He stepped closer so that he was almost touching her. He drew his arm around her and pressed her in.
“I’m glad you like it,” she said in the most breathy voice he’d ever heard.
“How could I not? I am very serious about protecting you, Grace. It’s no secret that I’m rather…fond of you. Even if Oscar is right and I’m too old for you, I believe you are precious and deserve a lifetime of love and happiness. I am making it my mission to see that you have that.” With someone else, he thought. But he wasn’t courageous enough to say those words out loud right now.
She tilted her head up and pressed her lips to his. They were pliant and moist and the scent of her was heady enough to cause him to part his mouth in return, to taste her at length. Her satisfied sigh mingled with his and he felt his blood temperature rising at the soft sound. This was the time to regain control and remember his promise not to take advantage of her affections.
Of course, he thought, it would be decidedly helpful if she were to refrain from taking advantage of his affections. He gently separated himself from her and took a deep breath of the sooty rooftop air.
“That was intoxicating,” she said in that new whisper that was bound to drive him crazy. He knew better than to lecture her about how they mustn’t do it again because they were all wrong for each other. Even thinking those thoughts made the notion seem silly, much as he knew how serious the problem really was. So he went for a different tack.
“I now know why Oscar is so smitten with you. But we’ll have to behave lest he have a fit of jealousy.” He held her arms and kept them separated. It didn’t stop him from feeling her heat or stop him from wanting to lift her from her feet and carry her down to her, er, couch.
“Oscar and I have been over for a long time,” she said with a smile. It was as if she knew he was casting for an excuse.
“That may well be, but it won’t stop him from feeling jealous. Besides, I’m on the job and I’d prefer to behave professionally. If you don’t mind,” he said. It was his turn to smile. “I believe I’ll take that shower now.” He turned and waited for her at the door to the stairs back down into her tiny room. It couldn’t even be called an apartment.
“I bet,” she said and walked by him, arching her brow and swaying her hips as she climbed down the stairs before him. What sweet torture, he was thinking when he heard her dog yapping as they re-entered the room.
“What is it, Noodles?” She knelt before the bouncing dog as if it were going to answer her.
“Does your dog get excited randomly or might there be a disturbance I should check out? Never mind, I’ll look around and check anyway,” he said.
“She’s way too excitable for her own good—kind of like me.” Grace stood, holding the boisterous pooch. “Noodles, calm down before the landlord finds out about you,” she said.
“What?” David stopped mid-step. He’d been on his way to a window, but he couldn’t possibly have heard correctly.
“What what?” she answered.
“You don’t want your landlord to know about Noodles?” he asked. He was incredulous on two points. “Aren’t you allowed to have dogs here? And aren’t you at least the owner of this tiny space? I’d assumed you were a homeowner,” he finished lamely.
“No and no. No dogs and I don’t own—I’m waiting to put down my real roots when I get married someday and begin a family of my own.” She didn’t meet his eyes.
It was the proverbial lead in the pit of one’s stomach, the ender of all conversations about them as a couple. She was still waiting to start her life, and he was looking to wind his down. If there were ever two people more like trains passing in the night—well, then he felt sorry for those other two people.
He checked all the windows and doors and all looked well.
“No landlords lurking or any other dangerous types. Maybe you should get a muzzle for Noodles.” He came and sat on the couch next to her.
“Are you ready for your shower now?”
“I’m well past ready—you’ll have to forgive my earthiness.” He sat back into the cushions. “I suppose this couch pulls out and doubles as your bed
?”
“I usually sleep on it the way it is. But tonight I’m unfolding it for you.” There was a decided sparkle of mischief in her eyes.
“You’re a very dangerous young woman. Didn’t you just say you were saving yourself for your husband to be?”
“Not exactly. But that’s a very interesting interpretation of my words.” She folded her arms across her ample chest. He couldn’t help dwelling and shook his head.
“I believe I will have that shower now. Show me the way.” He stood. She merely pointed toward one of the doors.
“I’ll get us some dinner while you’re cooling off,” she said without moving.
“This should be fun. Like playing house when we were kids.” He ducked into the bathroom. It was surprisingly roomy for such a small apartment. Luckily.
Once she got her heart pounding under control, she managed to rush to the kitchen area and throw open the fridge, the freezer and every cabinet door she had—which admittedly weren’t many. She confirmed her fear that whatever food she had, although maybe adequate enough for her and Noodles, fell woefully short of what she wanted to serve the most important guest she’d ever have in this tiny excuse for a home. She felt like she was now out of the closet about living in a closet.
She’d been putting off making a real home for so long, she forgot where she lived. And now that David was here, filling up the space to bust-out capacity, it was all so clear to her. She’d put her life on hold waiting and waiting for fate to drop a family on her.
She bent over, trying to check the very back of her freezer for any hidden treasures that weren’t too old, but old enough for her to have forgotten about. Of all times to have an epiphany—and not your average, run-of-the-mill epiphany, but a major life-changing, mind-altering epiphany—this had to be the worst. It threw her mind into a mass of confusion about what to do with the possible love of her life—she couldn’t say he was absolutely the love of her life, because she couldn’t say for sure that it was mutual.
It had to be mutual, or it didn’t count at all. But since David held everything back as if his life depended on it, Grace had only her instincts to go on. But she possessed the best instincts about people, she was sure.
She grabbed her cell phone and punched in the number for her corner pizzeria. She’d impress him with her cooking another time. Tonight they would feed their hunger with take-out food—and each other’s company. It would be heaven.
She would have at least one night of heaven. Her stomach felt lighter than the rest of her for a second. She finished ordering the pizza and collapsed back on the couch, clutching Noodles to her chest.
While they ate, Oscar called in to see if they’d arrested the soccer player yet, but he called her cell phone and not David’s. David snatched the phone from her, and she listened while he told Oscar that Dan’s men would handle that later—after he did some reconnaissance. That worried her. He ended the call and gave her phone back.
“I’ll be going out for a while—after dark.” David wiped his mouth with the napkin. “After the police detail gets here.”
“We won’t need a police detail if you take me with you,” she said. She took their paper plates and the box, got up from the couch where they had eaten and brought the trash to the kitchen.
“Now that would be trouble,” he said. He’d dismissed her.
“I can’t blame you for not wanting to take me along. I don’t know what I’d do. Normally I’d be scared to do such a thing,” she admitted, “purposely going to the seedy motel where a killer was staying.” She sat back down on the couch, closer to him than before. He studied her.
“Then why do you want to go with me, Grace, if you know it’s a foolish thing to do?” His voice was gentle and knowing. But she told him anyway.
“I can’t explain it. I have a compulsion to protect you—don’t laugh—I know it’s ridiculous. How could I protect you? But I can’t stand the thought of you being in danger and me not being there with you.” She looked away from his kind, smiling eyes, at the hands folded in her lap. She felt a tear at the corner of her eye and she had no idea why she should suddenly feel so emotional. Except maybe because she just bared her soul to this man, told him the most insanely ridiculous secret from her heart, and he understood.
And it didn’t do a bit of good. He would go without her tonight, and when the case was over, he would leave without her forever. All for her own good, of course. She studied his eyes. They were dreamy. She refused to sulk and not enjoy every moment she had with him.
“Where did you get the pizza? It was delicious, and I’m somewhat of a connoisseur.” He sat back into the cushions and kept his hazel eyes on her, his crooked grin in place.
“Regina’s Original North End Pizza. My favorite,” she said.
“Some people say it’s too oily, but in my estimation it’s perfection. I missed it mightily when I was in exile in England. Can’t get good pizza in London,” he said.
“Forget the light banter, it’s not going to work.” She jumped up to stand in front of him.
“Work?”
“It’s not going to distract me from wanting to…to…”
“To do what?” His grin was now more mischievous and all the more charming. She did what she always did when she was flustered and couldn’t think what to say besides a cuss and she didn’t cuss—not ever. She reached out her hand meaning to pat his face in a mock slap. Instead she slapped him.
She never thought she would see such a surprised expression on the king of aplomb. She immediately bent forward to caress the reddening cheek. It wasn’t a hard slap, but still. Her blood felt like it came to an instant boil from the charge of excitement. A blushing sensation raced through her body.
“What has gotten into you?” He took her hand and pulled her to sit back down. Somehow, she ended up sitting on his lap. His thighs were hard under her soft rear end, and her breasts bumped up against the wall of his chest. She was instantly aware of a chemical reaction or electrical shock or something running through her system like she was supercharged and felt every nerve—and every last one of them was attuned to him.
His face was close, his eyes lidded and glossy. She knew that look and smiled.
“I’ll show you what’s got into me—this.” She took his face in her hands and smacked her lips onto his. She kissed him long and hard and wet and nibbled and sucked and tasted with the tip of her tongue running along the insides of his lips. That was when she heard a groan, and it was him. He pushed her back and separated his mouth from hers.
“I see,” he said.
“You see?” She had no idea what he was saying and didn’t much care. She stared at his mouth.
“I see what has gotten into you,” he said and cleared his throat. “I want you to know that I understand completely how you feel.” He caressed her cheek, wrapped his fingers in her hair and pulled her in for another goose bump-raising kiss. The kiss raised all sorts of things. By the time he ended it, she could hardly catch her breath and clung to him, clutching the back of his head, slipping her fingers through his silky fine hair with one hand and clutching the solidness of his shoulder with the other. He was breathing heavy too.
For a split second she was worried about his breathing. Was he all right? He was older and maybe she should worry.
She was horrified at her own thoughts. The change must have shown on her face, because the erotic look of his bedroom eyes changed in that moment. They shuttered and closed the door on the glimpse of whatever he felt or thought.
He released her. His breathing was fine, and he was strong enough to lift her from his lap and plop her unceremoniously next to him on the couch. She needn’t have worried. He was healthy as a horse and got up from the couch with his usual elegance intact.
“I think we’ll both be in less danger if I leave now for that reconnaissance mission,” he said. He smiled his wry, amused smile with the sadness around the edges and walked to the door. Before leaving he turned.
“
You are quite a package, Grace. You’re as sexy as you are sweet and as smart as you are funny and far too exciting for my old heart. I’ll wait out front until the police detail arrives. I might even have a cigarette while I’m at it.” He arched a brow and left with a smooth move, closing her door with a solid click.
“Oh. Damn.” There was nothing old or fragile about that man. And she foolishly gave him the opening to use the old man-poor health card.
On the street, he wished he smoked. He may as well send himself to an early grave with cigarettes as with a sedate—or sedated—life as an old codger. That wasn’t the old age he pictured for himself. He may not be a thirty-year-old family man with the ambition to set up shop in the suburbs and raise a bunch of kids, but he was no old codger either. He had to acknowledge, though, that life with Grace under any circumstances would be a kick.
No, he wouldn’t be retiring to a country cottage with the likes of Frenchie either. He acknowledged the vision of his likely future as a lone wolf, investigating whatever illicit or mysterious deeds the Boston Police Department assigned him to investigate. He’d skulk around on the job, have some drinks and laughs with friends when he wasn’t working and keep a warm, worldly, witty and understanding lady friend around to keep from being lonely—on the nights he needed her.
Where the hell would he find a woman like that? She wasn’t Frenchie—too timid. And alas, she wasn’t Grace.
A police cruiser pulled up in front of him with a wave of acknowledgment. David leaned down to the open window to talk. The cop inside was friendly and well informed—and he had pictures on his dashboard of him and of Grace, among other people he needed to recognize.
“Lucky man,” the cop said, pointing to the picture of Grace. He smiled back.
“Strictly professional,” he told the young cop. David had a spike in temp and felt compelled to protect Grace’s reputation. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about behaving professionally.” Though his words were friendly, he bared his teeth a tad more than was usual for a smile. The cop was duly warned and nodded his head. David stood, and slapped the car door dismissing the cop to his duty. The window rolled up.
The Scotland Yard Exchange Series Page 54
