The flattening of her smile and another distant look said she wasn’t convinced. The cop in him urged to protect, even if she wasn’t the type to like being protected.
* * *
Lucy left work a little after nine and headed for her Subaru. It was dark and chilly outside, having rained all afternoon. The temperature had sunk below fifty once the sun had set. She dug into her purse for her keys. Reaching her car, she unlocked it just as she heard a car door open behind her.
Someone had parked in the space beside hers. She turned and saw Cam get out of a black Honda Accord.
Alarm snapped her heart into a frantic shudder.
He held up his hand. “Before you go ballistic, let me say that I just came to talk to you.”
“I was going to call you,” she said, not really sure if she would have. She wasn’t the type of woman who blew people off to avoid confrontation, but she may have become one temporarily because there seemed to be something peculiar about him.
“I couldn’t wait. You still going to volunteer at your literacy program tomorrow night?” He took a step toward her.
Lucy moved back against her car. “Yes.”
He controlled his disappointment but it flashed across his eyes for a second. “Are you free the following night?”
She was, but she wasn’t going to see him again. “Cam...”
Brushing the lapels of his suit jacket aside, he put his hands on his hips, looking belligerent and on the verge of losing his temper. “What did I do to make you change your mind about me?”
“It’s not something I can itemize.” Not without offending him. “It’s just a feeling.” That you’re a jerk—a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde jerk. She’d stay far away from a man like that. “Sometimes it just doesn’t work out between two people.”
“Why isn’t it working with me anymore? We hit it off when we first met.”
“Yes, we did.” But then I got to know you a little. “But then something changed. I’m not interested in you anymore.” Even more so now.
“Why won’t you tell me why?”
Plain English wasn’t working on him. “Look, I don’t have to tell you a damn thing. All you need to know is I’m not interested. I’m not going to date you. I’m not going to talk to you. We aren’t friends. So, stop calling me. Stop texting me. I can’t make it any clearer for you!” Turning, she opened her car door.
A meaty hand clamped around her upper arm and spun her around.
“Nobody talks to me like that.”
She yanked her arm free and shoved him. He only stepped back a foot or so, anger storming his blond brow.
“Keep your hands off me!” she shouted, turning for her car again.
“Who do you think you are?” He yanked her around as before, scowling like a whining six-year-old who wasn’t getting his way. “You pretend to like me and now you’re turning on me?”
Lucy tried to wrench her arm free. His grip was painful. “I never pretended to like you. I don’t even know you. The only thing I know is that I never want to see you or hear from you ever again!” If she had a shred of doubt before, she had none now.
“You are interested.” He looked down at his hand on her arm as though only then realizing he held it and then let go. “We just talked about some things that should have waited. You’re interested.”
No didn’t mean no to this man. “If I ever see you outside this hospital again—or anywhere near me—I’m calling the cops!” She turned to her Subaru once more.
“Don’t you turn your back on me,” he growled, pure evil spitting from him.
She began to get scared. This situation was beginning to feel as if it was headed toward becoming a crime. She prepared herself for a fight, ready for him to grab her again, vowing to slap or punch him, only he didn’t get the chance. She heard him grunt. Looking back, she saw Thad pushing him against his car, slamming his back over the rim of the back window.
“I’m only going to say this once. If you don’t leave now and stay away from her, I’ll have you arrested.” Thad’s tone was calm but ferocious as he leaned over Cam, a good three inches taller than him.
“Who the hell are you?” Cam grabbed ahold of Thad’s wrist that clamped over his throat.
“Someone you don’t want to mess with,” he answered.
“He’s a cop,” Lucy said, happy to provide that piece of information.
That got Cam’s attention. He stopped struggling to be free and stared at him. Thad let him go, and Cam smoothed his suit jacket.
Then he looked at Lucy. “If we could just talk sometime...”
He kept saying that. And tonight he’d attacked her. “What makes you think I’d ever want to talk to you again?”
“You know. We really do have something special. I don’t understand why you’re fighting it. We just have a misunderstanding. We can get past this. I promise. You won’t regret it.” His sick, pleading face unnerved her.
“You’re the one with the misunderstanding.” Thad reached out and shoved Cam, jabbing his fingers on the man’s chest. “She doesn’t want to see you anymore. Didn’t you hear her? She should only have to say it once. How many times has she told you now?”
“This is none of your business.” Cam’s lightning temper flared again. It didn’t take much.
“It is now.” Thad moved closer, intimidating and fearless.
“I don’t have to take this from you.” Cam took a swing at him.
Thad easily deflected that and slammed his fist to Cam’s jaw. Then another punch drove into his sternum.
Cam gasped for air as he went down onto his knees.
“That’s it. You’re under arrest for assaulting an officer of the law.”
Lucy put her hand on his shoulder. “No, Thad. Let him go.” This was bad enough. Arresting him would only escalate things and prolong her dealings with Cam.
Leaning down, Thad pushed Cam’s head back, forcing him to look up at him. “Leave her alone or I’ll make you.”
Cam met Thad’s fierce eyes and didn’t say anything—for once. Finally, he was forced to accept that he could not control this situation, that he could not control Lucy, a woman he’d imagined in his crazed mind belonged with him.
Giving Cam’s head a harder shove that sent it banging back against the Honda, Thad rose and stepped back.
Cam glared at Thad as he stumbled to his feet. Thad had given him one more chance than he deserved.
Standing up, Cam walked around the front of the black car. Over the hood of the Honda, he looked at Lucy with such resentment that it gave her a shiver.
When Cam drove away, Thad went to Lucy. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She was now, thanks to him.
He touched her arm where Cam had grabbed her. She might be bruised. She’d never had anyone defend her the way he had tonight, never had a reason to need that from anyone. But tonight she had, and Thad had been there for her. Appreciation mushroomed into more, warmth that her undeniable attraction fueled.
“Maybe you should stick to the traditional method of meeting someone,” he said.
His logical solution to her scary encounter chased the rest of her tension away. She stepped closer to him. “Okay, Officer. Traditional it is.” She played with the collar of his shirt. He wasn’t wearing a badge. She never saw him actually wear it. “Does this qualify as traditional?”
“We’re in a parking lot, and I almost arrested someone.”
Hardly traditional. Just then she realized he must have waited for her in the parking lot. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I’m a cop.” Giving her a grin, he stepped back and then headed toward his blue Charger.
That was the reason he gave her, but Lucy was certain there was another reason he’d waited. He’d been concerned. An
d more than the cop in him had compelled him to stay and keep an eye on her. He liked her, and he’d protected her. And, strangely, she loved that he had. Not only because he’d saved her from whatever Cam would have done. If anything, he’d cared enough to ensure she made it home safely.
“Hey,” she called.
Thad stopped at his fast car.
She was going to take a plunge headfirst. “I have to volunteer for a literacy program tomorrow night. Would you mind going with me?” She had two motives for this. One, she was afraid of what Cam would do, and two, she wanted to torture Thad with children. What better way to see just how interested he was?
There went that grin again. He had a really nice grin. “Not at all,” he said. “What time?”
“I have to be there at six.”
“I’ll pick you up.”
“But you don’t know my address.”
“I have your address.”
Cop. He was starting to sound like Cam, except there was no comparison. Thad’s reasons for hanging around and looking up her address were completely different from Cam’s. They were two completely different men. Still, she couldn’t let Thad’s boldness go without at least a little teasing...
“You’re not a stalker, are you?” she asked. “Should I be worried?”
He took her seriously. His grin went flat. “No, not you. But Cam should be real worried, because if he ever comes within ten feet of you again, he’ll have to answer to me.”
Sexy, handsome, protective cop...
The way her heart thumped gave her second thoughts about inviting him to one of her most cherished pastimes.
Chapter 4
Darcy wiped the coffee that had dribbled onto his lavender dress shirt with a damp napkin. “He’s got a rap sheet.”
Thad leaned against Darcy’s desk, looking at the mug shot of Cameo Harmon that Darcy had brought up on the screen. Cam’s mouth drew a defiant line, eyes gleaming hatred and reddened from the consumption of alcohol.
“Surprise, surprise,” Thad murmured.
“Domestic violence. His former wife pressed charges after he beat her for the last time. Put her in the hospital.” Darcy reached for the small printer on his desk and handed a few pages to Thad.
Thad took them. “Does somebody have to die before this guy gets sent to jail?”
“Yeah, he’s a real dream date,” Darcy said. “Two restraining orders. One DUI. Robbery when he was a juvenile.” Standing up from his desk chair, Darcy pointed to the line on one of the printed pages. “Stole a camera from a Walmart.”
Thad had seen sheets like this before, and many worse.
“Amazingly, he has a good job,” Darcy said. “Nice house. Decent car. He puts up a good front.”
“Lures them in and then the beatings begin, huh?” Thad could see how Lucy might have missed what a loser Cam was. “His online dating profile is a real smoke screen, too.”
“Guys like that have to fool women into getting close to them,” Darcy said. “This one’s probably on his way to doing something that will land him in prison for a few years. I wouldn’t be surprised if he winds up with a life sentence someday.”
As in murder. That didn’t sit well with Thad. Domestic violence usually escalated in men like this.
He flipped through the printed pages until he found what he was looking for and put it back in front of Thad. “Lucy met this piece of work online a little over a week ago.”
“What are you onto?” Darcy asked, looking at the page. When nothing there clued him in, he met Thad’s gaze. A few seconds later he caught on.
“Kate was shot around then.”
“But not killed.” Thad pointed to the page.
Darcy looked down and read the part about Cam having a military background. Gunnery sergeant.
“He was a sniper,” Thad said. “According to this, he has an NRA membership. Gun permit. And I’ll bet if we got a search warrant, we’d find all kinds of weapons in his house.”
“Guys like that feel big and powerful if they own a bunch of automatic weapons and a few Rambo-style hunting knives,” Darcy added. “Do you really think this could be the gunman who shot your mother?”
“I’m not saying anything, but let’s not leave any stone unturned.”
“He drives a Honda.” Darcy chuckled cynically.
“Smoke screen.”
“His favorite movie is probably some gory slasher film.”
Thad nodded along with Darcy’s dark humor and checked his watch.
“Going somewhere?” Darcy asked.
“I’m on my way to pick up Lucy.”
“Lucy?” Darcy cued in on that. “You have a date?”
“It’s not a date.” Some might argue that it was...like Darcy...and his mother.
“Where are you taking her?”
“Not dinner.” He headed for the door. “Thanks, Darcy.”
“Where are you taking her?” Darcy called after him.
Thad just looked back with a grin. Out in the hall, he didn’t escape Chief Thomas. Like the rest of them, he worked too much.
“Hey, Winston,” Wade shouted from across the room of desks, wiggling his finger and not looking happy. He stood in the doorway of his office.
Thad looked back at Darcy, who’d stepped out of the conference room carrying a folder with the photos inside. “Good luck,” he mouthed.
Reluctantly, Thad started toward Wade’s office. Once he reached it, Wade let him in and then closed the door.
“What’s with the background on Cameo Harmon?” Wade asked.
He had found out. Thad stopped before Wade’s desk as the chief of police walked around to his chair. “How—”
“Don’t ask me how I know.” Wade sat down. “Answer the damn question.”
Thad knew he’d have no choice, given the sound of his tone. He explained about Lucy and her date Cam, leaving out his hunch that Cam may be connected to his mother’s shooting.
Wade scrutinized him like the hardened chief he was. “Is she your girlfriend or something?”
“No.” Why did everyone keep making references to that?
“Who is she to you?”
“My mother’s nurse. She’s an acquaintance.”
Thad suffered more scrutiny. “Why are you involving yourself in her affairs? She’s an adult. Nothing’s been reported yet. If she decides to report something about this man she met, she can do so on her own.”
“I can’t stand aside and do nothing. The man nearly assaulted her in the hospital parking lot.”
“Then let her report it.”
There was no reasoning with him, so Thad stopped trying.
“Taking matters into your own hands?” Wade asked.
“No, sir.”
After another lengthy scrutiny, Wade pointed his finger at Thad. “I don’t like how sneaky you’ve been lately.”
“It’s not intentional. It’s a personal matter. My mother’s been shot and her nurse was attacked. I want to protect them, that’s all.”
Wade seemed marginally placated by that.
“Maybe I should take a leave of absence,” Thad offered. “My mother is going to be released from the hospital soon and I’d like to be home with her while she recovers.”
Wade didn’t believe him. He thought Thad would run his own investigation on his mother’s shooter. He was, but that didn’t have to be confessed.
“I need you here,” Wade said.
Where he could keep an eye on him. “I need to be with my mother. She’s got a long recovery ahead of her. She needs me.”
He watched Wade consider it. Would he really stop him from being with his mother—especially when she was almost murdered? Employees were entitled to take time off. Wade could find a wa
y to get rid of him for it, cover up the true reason with other documented infractions, but Thad didn’t think he’d take on that fight. And fight Thad would.
“You have one month. You start snooping around on the Kate Winston investigation, I’ll find out about it.”
Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. Thad decided it didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was putting the shooter behind bars.
* * *
Thad picked Lucy up five minutes early. Punctual. Lucy liked that. She liked too many things about him, a man who didn’t agree with marriage. Not that she meant to set out to marry him. He was disqualified from the start. And that’s what ruined all of the fun. Cam had looked good on paper but in person he’d done nothing for her. Thad was different. He’d probably look good on paper and he definitely did something for her in person.
Thad parked in front of the Westside Library, an old, two-story building on a quiet street corner. After performing his job to make sure Cam wasn’t following them, he lifted the box of children’s books Lucy brought along out of the backseat of his car.
Walking beside him toward the library, she was so glad he was here. Last night, she’d been afraid Cam would find out where she lived and come to her house. She hadn’t slept very well.
She opened the library door for Thad, who easily carried the box of books inside. This was her favorite part about volunteering for a literacy program. She’d gotten the books from a local festival that had gathered donations for tonight’s event. Lucy was supposed to read a short story to the kids, but she had her own idea. Besides, she wanted them to do the reading. That’s how they learned.
Inside, she led Thad to one of the meeting rooms. She could hear the kids already. It was playtime until her program began.
She checked on Thad, who looked ahead to where the noise was coming from, his brow low with dread.
“Kids aren’t complicated,” she said. “Just go with it. Be a kid again yourself if that helps.”
“I’m okay.”
She smiled at his false bravado and then led him into the room. It wasn’t a large room. There were four round tables and a small platform where she was supposed to sit on a stool and read while they followed in their own copies.
Executive Protection Page 5
