“Colleen Ferst, this is Kerri Ann Bloodworth.” Bryce introduced the women as if they were equals. Ha. “Colleen is the Buncombe County assistant D.A.”
“I heard you’re taking on the Margolis case,” she said after a quick nod to Kerri Ann.
“I’m considering it,” he said. “You scared?” When Colleen smiled at Bryce flirtatiously, the fork slipped out of Kerri Ann’s hand and crashed to the plate.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“I’ll let you enjoy your meal. It was a pleasure to meet you, Kerri.”
She stepped back from the table and disappeared around the fireplace in an instant. Seeing someone Bryce worked with everyday, the circles he ran in where she could never fit in, was just the reality check she’d needed. She’d let the old embers of desire come to life where Bryce was concerned, a fantasy that could never come true. Meeting one of his contemporaries doused the flame in an instant.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Fine.” She knew she was scowling, but couldn’t help it. If they weren’t so far from home, she’d have sprinted away from the table and given Bryce the opportunity to track down Colleen to schedule a date.
“You aren’t eating the fish. Don’t you like it?”
Kerri Ann forced a small bite through her suddenly cold lips and tried to smile. “It’s good, I’m just getting full.”
“After half a meal? What’s wrong, Kerri Ann? Do you feel okay?”
Good Lord, the man knew her too well. “I’m fine, Bryce. I think I’ll use the restroom if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” He stood as she did and gave her a worried smile before she turned away.
She felt herself blush and hurried to the bathroom. Why was he making her explain the obvious? She’d just pushed the door open when she spotted Colleen dabbing powder on her aristocratic nose. She turned around when Kerri Ann entered the fancy bathroom.
“Hello again,” Colleen said.
“Hi.” Kerri Ann tried to scoot past her without another word. The last thing she wanted to do was cavort with the enemy.
“Kerri, right?”
“Kerri Ann.” No such luck.
Colleen turned from the mirror and cleared her throat. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but how do you know Bryce?”
Here we go. If she hadn’t been expecting the question, she would have been pissed. “Bryce and I grew up together. He’s probably my oldest friend.”
“Oh?” The woman couldn’t mask her smile. “So you’re just friends?”
The question of the hour. “Yes,” she said with a lump in her throat. “We’re just friends.”
Colleen closed her purse with a snap and laughed at herself for a moment. “Sorry to be so forward, but I’ve been trying to get his attention for months now. When I saw you two, I just assumed…well, I thought you were together.” She shrugged nervously and Kerri Ann felt a stab of connection with the woman. She’d been trying to get Bryce to notice her for years. “It looked like you were, anyway. I just thought I’d ask.”
Kerri Ann could only nod before practically running to lock herself in a stall. “Great shoes, by the way,” Colleen called as the stall door closed.
The tears she never shed were threatening to erupt if she didn’t get a hold of herself. What was wrong with her? It’s not like she didn’t know where she stood with Bryce. She just needed to remember it.
After washing her hands, she gazed at herself in the mirror. She was thirty-one years old and still pining after the man she’d loved since high school. No matter how nice he was to her, no matter how he looked at her, he wasn’t hers and never would be. It was time they ended the charade and headed home.
He stood as she approached the table and Kerri Ann saw Bryce tuck Colleen’s business card into his suit jacket. The woman certainly worked fast. “Everything okay?” he asked as they sat.
“Fine.” Her teeth were clenched so hard her jaw ached. Couldn’t Colleen have waited until tomorrow to hit on him?
She tried to take a sip of water, but barely got any down through her tight throat. She didn’t know why, but she had to fight back the tears that threatened to fall without cause. Her emotions were swinging faster than a pendulum. Within a few minutes, the waiter was back, politely taking their plates and asking about dessert.
“You want any?” Bryce asked.
“I don’t think so.”
When the waiter left to prepare the check, Bryce stared at her through narrowed eyes. “I’ve never seen you decline dessert. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Just tired.”
He shifted in his seat and looked uncomfortable for the first time all night. “I thought we’d go get another drink, maybe find some live music. There’s a great jazz bar just around the corner.”
Why was he trying so hard to make her feel like they were on a real date when it would be so much less cruel to take her home? “That sounds real nice, but I think I’d like to head back if it’s okay with you.”
“Sure, Kerri Ann. Whatever you want.”
Chapter 12
Lita’s hands were shaking and she could barely catch her breath. She wouldn’t let her father do this to her again. She wouldn’t let him force himself back into her life, the life she’d created for herself with absolutely no help or emotional support from him. How dare he ask her to compromise her beliefs and her company to aid him because he’d chosen to do business with questionable people. If his life were on the line, he’d been the one to put it there.
She slammed her car into gear and headed up to the cabin. She needed fresh air and wide-open space to think things through, to figure out a way out of the mess he’d plopped on her lap. The roads were slick from the brief shower that had come through in the afternoon and she gripped the wheel as she sped up the winding mountain roads. As she climbed the drive to her cabin, the gravel sounded like bullet shots beneath her car. She swung the SUV into the drive with a jerk and almost ran into Jesse’s truck.
Damn. She didn’t want to see him or anyone else right now. She didn’t want to explain her mood before she’d had a chance to put things into perspective, organize her thoughts, and decide on a course of action. She tossed her purse up the stairs of her cabin and marched up the drive to where the path she’d discovered a few days ago led to the top of the property, blessing the casual attire and tennis shoes she’d put on earlier. She needed the physical exertion of a hearty climb to help work off her temper.
“Angelita?” She heard her name called over the whip of the wind and ignored it. It was Jesse and if he were a smart man, he’d steer clear for awhile. She kept walking at a crisp pace.
“Angelita?” he called again. With a huff, she turned to see him scrambling up through the trees from the direction of Cal’s house. She noticed Cal and Ty sitting in the rockers on the porch watching them as well. Great, an audience.
With a hand on her hip and the other swiping the hair from her eyes, she waited for him to get to her. She wasn’t going to shout at him and make a scene in front of Cal and his grandson.
“Damn, woman,” Jesse gasped as he joined her on the narrow path. “Where the hell are you going?”
“I need some time, Jesse. Please just go back down to your father’s.”
He reached out for her arm as she turned to leave. “Wait just a minute.” He ignored the scathing look she gave his hand on her arm. “It’s getting dark.”
“I’m not a child and I know where I’m going.” She pulled her arm free with a jerk. “Please just let me go,” she shouted and the echo of her anger taunted her as she stood gazing at his face. She couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or hurt.
“Angelita.” With his hands on his hips, he studied her. “You’re upset. What’s wrong?”
She could feel the resentment and anger brought on by her father’s demands bubbling in her chest, ready to explode like a volcano. She’d given Jesse fair warning and he’d ignored her, just as her father ignored her request to leav
e her out of his business. What was wrong with men? Why couldn’t they leave well enough alone? “I’m not going to do this with you right now, okay? I’m not some helpless female who needs rescuing. I’m perfectly capable of taking a walk along a clearly defined path if I want to and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me.”
His eyes sparkled in the setting sun and she mistakenly assumed it was anger. Little did she know he’d taken her words as a challenge. She figured it out quick enough when he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. “Nothing I can do?” he chuckled as she struggled against him. “Lady, you weigh less than a flea.”
Lita flung her hair out of her face and craned her neck to look up into his laughing eyes. “Let me go, you bully!”
“Are we back to name calling? I thought we’d gotten past all that, Angelita. Ouch,” he cried when she kicked him in the shin. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
He had her flat on her back faster than she could bat her eyes and was using his formidable weight to pin her to the ground. He wrapped his fingers around her wrists and lifted them over her head, thereby making the scratch she’d intended impossible. “Damn it, get off of me.”
“Not until you tell me what’s gotten you so riled up.”
She squirmed beneath him. Her actions only caused him amusement and served to remind her of their underlying sexual charge. Her anger threatened to turn into something much more dangerous if she didn’t get him off her and give them both some distance.
“I’m not saying a word until you let me up. I’m not a rodeo cow you can pin to the ground and expect a blue ribbon.”
He leaned down. His lips were so close to hers, she could smell the beer on his breath. She’d never craved alcohol more in her life. “I like you this way.” He brushed his lips against hers so softly she thought she’d imagined it.
“Jesse, don’t,” she whispered.
“Don’t what?”
His lips brushed hers again, back and forth like a feather. She arched against him. Damn it, what was wrong with her? He held her gaze as she fought her warring emotions. Here was the release she needed, the mind numbing, forget-all-her-problems answer. An answer that would create a whole slew of new problems. But it was hard to think when he looked at her like he did, his strong, lithe body stretched taut against her with his breath on her face. “Don’t kiss me like that.”
“Okay.” He brought his lips to her neck. “How’s this?”
She moaned and was about to give in to the overwhelming desire to let him take her, right there on the forest floor.
“Everything okay up there?” It was Cal, calling from the porch of his house.
Jesse lifted his head from where he’d burrowed along her collarbone and shouted, “Fine.” He rested his forehead against Lita’s. When he spoke, his breathing was as ragged as hers. “Damn, Cal. I forgot where we were for a minute.” He let go of her wrists and sat up. “Wouldn’t be such a good idea to ravish you in front of my dad or Ty.”
Lita stayed where she was, her chest heaving in an attempt to settle her unsteady heart and her over-the-top emotions. Now she had embarrassment to add to the list. Jesse stood up and pulled Lita to her feet. They stood staring at one another.
“Look,” she said, “just go back down with your family. I need some time by myself.” She heard how calm her voice sounded and was amazed at her ability to mask her thundering heart.
“I wasn’t kidding about not letting you go alone. It’s getting dark and this path can be dangerous at night. If you insist on going, I’m going with you.”
“Fine. But don’t get your feelings hurt if I don’t talk to you. I’m not in the mood for conversation.”
“Neither am I,” she heard him mumble before she turned and climbed the path.
She didn’t know whether to be irked or grateful. He’d calmed her down with brute force and incredibly sensual kisses. She tried to stay a step ahead of him so she wouldn’t be tempted to talk, but of course his stride was too long. He was next to her in a second.
“Don’t you think your father will worry if you just take off without a word?”
“He knew I was coming up to see after you when you sped into the lot and took off up the path. I damn near had to arm wrestle him for the right to come. He’s very protective of you.”
“Cal’s a wonderful man. You’re blessed to have him.”
A noncommittal noise was Jesse’s only reply.
They walked companionably for awhile, carefully stepping over exposed roots and the rocks that made the path challenging. He broke the silence as they took a sharp turn around a soaring pine tree. “So where’d you run off to tonight? I was hoping to see you when I came to get Ty.”
“I took some shoes over to Kerri Ann for her big date with Bryce.” She thought of them, glanced at her watch, and figured they were at the restaurant by now. She hoped their evening was going better than hers.
“So…you’re jealous?” Jesse asked.
“Jealous?” She stopped walking and rested her foot against a fallen log that ran along side the path. “Of what?”
“You’re upset about something. And since you just came from seeing them off, I figured maybe you’d changed your mind about Bryce.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She turned and continued up the path. When they crested the ridge, she stopped to catch her breath. The sun had just slipped below the horizon and its afterglow cast a gorgeous pink hue over the treetops and mountains in the distance. “God, it’s stunning up here.”
She could feel Jesse step behind her, lift the hair from her neck, and hold it in his hands like a ponytail. She knew her shivers were from his touch and hoped he’d attribute them to the chill in the air. “You’re stunning, Angelita. What got you all worked up?”
She turned to face him, alarmed to see how sharp and dangerous the planes of his face looked in the fading light. She’d be smart to head back down the path. But because common sense had deserted her with every step up the hillside, she stayed put. “I had a rather upsetting conversation with my father.”
He cocked his head, studied her face intently. “Somebody die?”
“I wish,” she said before she could stop herself. “I don’t mean that. He’s just put me in a bad position with my work and I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m a businessman, a pretty successful one if I do say so myself. Why don’t you tell me about it and see if I can help?”
He looked so sincere and not once did his eyes flicker to the beautiful setting around them. They stayed on her, as did his hand on her shoulder. It would be so easy to lean on him and so nice to bounce her quandary off someone who didn’t know her father or the ins and outs of her business. With a sigh, she sat on the boulder atop the property and told him everything.
“Wow,” he said when she’d finished. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
“I don’t know. It wouldn’t be out of character for him to stretch the truth about the danger he’s supposedly in. He probably knew that’d be the only way I’d agree to help him.”
“You have long-standing relationships with most of your vendors now?” When she nodded, he said, “Would you have to change vendors if you decided to mass market your shoes?”
“Some yes, but not all.” She stood up and gazed at the sky. The first stars had begun to pop out and the moon twinkled through the trees. “We’ve really only begun to research the process. But regardless, I’d never do business with him, never consider it, without this claim that his life is in danger.” She rubbed her now throbbing head. “I don’t know what to do.”
Shoe Strings Page 14
