Too Hot to Handle

by Jennifer Bernard

  “Yeah. Sure. I mean, I haven’t even set foot in Jupiter Point High since I got back, but I bet I could handle it.” She offered Deirdre a cheeky grin. “I know, it sounds crazy. But maybe we’d be a good example, show kids that things change after high school, and that you should keep an open mind because you never really know what someone else is going through. And you know, talking about it might be good for me. I haven’t actually done that until just now. I just shoved it all away.”

  “Well.” Deirdre drank deep from the glass of water Cassie had brought her. “Let me think about that. I like the idea of my experience helping other kids. Maybe this is a good way to make up for things.”

  Cassie smiled, since that was exactly what she’d been thinking.

  Deirdre nodded a few times, then rose to her feet. “Let me think about it.”

  “Of course. We both should.” Cassie got to her feet as well, then froze when Deirdre pulled her in for a hug.

  “Thank you,” the woman murmured in her ear. “Really. Thank you.” And she hurried away before Cassie could collect herself enough to respond.

  18

  By the time Lisa and the others showed up, she no longer needed to vent about Kevin. What did it matter if it was a “friends with benefits” situation or just spectacular sex with someone she liked?

  Deirdre’s story had shifted something inside her. Life was unpredictable. Sometimes short. Sometimes cruel. If you found someone who made life more fun, or more pleasurable, or more anything good at all—why hesitate? Why hold back? So what if he had her tied up in knots. Maybe that was what life was all about, instead of her previous habit of running before she got too hurt.

  Whatever was going on between her and Kevin, she wanted more of it. And she didn’t have to consult anyone else to know that.

  So instead of dishing about Kevin, she and Lisa Peretti and Suzanne Finnegan and Brianna Gallagher and, of all people, Savannah St. James spent the rest of the evening talking about anything and everything. Brianna wanted advice about a new garden store she was considering opening. Suzanne reeled off a series of hilarious stories about the honeymooners coming through her office. Stars in Your Eyes had been named in a national wedding magazine, so her phone was ringing off the hook. She wanted to hire more help but was having trouble letting go of the reins.

  “Delegating is so not my thing,” she declared. “I think I have trust issues. I actually wish people could read my mind. I wouldn’t even care if they saw all the naughty stuff, as long as they could witness all my organizational genius too.”

  Savannah had a lot to vent about too. She’d grown up in Jupiter Point, but since she’d left, she’d become a fairly famous movie star. Now she was back, but her life was more complicated than ever. Everyone thought she’d left LA because it was better for her son, who was on the autism spectrum.

  But it turned out there was another reason. A crazy fan had been stalking her.

  “I have a feeling he’s followed me here,” she told them.

  They all glanced around the Orbit for lurking strangers.

  “No, not here here. Just here to Jupiter Point. A couple of strange things have happened lately, and there was this message in the newspaper. He used to do that back in LA. He’d mention me in the “Missed Connections” section of the weekly paper. I saw the same kind of thing in the Mercury News-Gazette last week.”

  “You should tell Will,” Cassie said instantly. “Get him on the case right away.”

  “Doesn’t he have his hands full with the investigation about your father?”

  “Even if he doesn’t have time, he can find someone. Seriously. Promise me you will.”

  Savannah smiled ruefully. “Just as stubborn as ever. Okay, I promise. Now how’s the search going? Julie told me a suspect has been identified.”

  “A possible suspect,” corrected Cassie. She looked around at the little group. “This is the Cone of Silence, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Brianna assured her. The others nodded as well.

  “I’m just not sure what’s okay to share. Have you ever heard of Matthew Dearborn?”

  Suzanne exchanged a glance with Brianna. “Of course. Dearborn Accounting. He did my parents’ taxes, until the market crashed. You’re saying it’s him?”

  “It might be. What do you know about him?”

  Suzanne pursed her lips, searching her memory. “Not much, really. I had the impression that he was connected to one of Jupiter Point’s oldest families.” She turned to Savannah. “What was the name of the people who owned your house before your parents bought it?”

  “No idea.”

  “Well, I think that was Dearborn’s mother’s family.” Suzanne turned to Brianna. “Right, Bri?”

  “Yes.” Brianna was nodding her head, her ginger-spice hair looking especially glam in the light of the disco balls. “I remember hearing they got hit with some kind of financial disaster, years ago. They owned lots of property in town, but they went bankrupt and had to sell everything. Including your house, Savannah.”

  So that was Dearborn’s connection to the hutch in their kitchen. It had belonged to his family. Cassie itched to text Will right away about this piece of the puzzle.

  “I always felt sorry for Mr. Dearborn,” Brianna mused. “He seemed so lonely.”

  “He did! But in a creepy-ish way,” Suzanne agreed “He used to do the taxes for Stars in Your Eyes, but we stopped working with him. He whined so much about honeymooners and newlyweds, it got old.”

  Cassie leaned forward. “Do you remember anything specific he said? Anything relevant to my mother?”

  Suzanne gave the question serious consideration. “Maybe. Once, he mentioned something about the love of his life choosing someone else, then taunting him afterward. But that doesn’t sound like your mother. She’s not a taunter.”

  “But he might have seen it that way,” Cassie said grimly. She collected her things and got to her feet. “Do you guys mind if I pass all of this along to Will? Just in case he doesn’t know it already?”

  “Of course not!” They all nodded in agreement with Suzanne.

  “He’s trying to figure out where Dearborn might be hiding out, so every little bit of information might help.”

  Lisa’s face grew serious as she rose to give her a goodbye hug. “I hope Will’s being careful.”

  “He is.”

  Savannah reached over the booth to give her a quick hug too. “Thanks for coming out, Cassie. It’s really good to see you again.”

  The others chorused their agreement.

  Cassie smiled at them all. It had been a long time since she’d hung out with a group of friends in this way. Already she felt lighter and happier. “Thanks for letting me join the Cone of Silence. And here I thought I was going to complain about my love life.”

  “We’re putting that first on the agenda for next time,” Suzanne said promptly.

  She laughed. “If I still have a love life by then. Which, going by my past history, I won’t. My relationships tend to last as long as fruit flies.”

  “I don’t believe it for a second,” said Lisa, laughing. “At least, not if we’re talking about the man I saw you with the other night. He looked like a keeper to me.”

  She stammered an answer, then left the Orbit before her burning face could give anything else away. Maybe she wasn’t quite ready to talk about Kevin after all. He was too…one of a kind. Like a secret she wanted to hold close to her heart…and maybe a few other parts of herself.

  Kevin had gotten his start as a stunt pilot, so getting airborne again made him almost nostalgic. Even though he’d stopped flying for the Air Force four years ago, he’d never let his skills or ratings lapse. Flying appealed to that daredevil side of him, the side that took risks and pushed limits.

  Not that he was going to push any limits during a flight to spot wildlife in the foothills. With two newly married biologists aiming their binoculars out the Plexiglas windows, he focused on keeping the craft as level a
nd steady as possible.

  Even so, it felt great to be at the controls of a plane again. He soaked in the stunning vistas unfolding below him. Seeing Jupiter Point and the surrounding terrain from this perspective made him even more convinced he’d done the right thing by moving here.

  “Black bear at two o’clock,” one of the biologists—Lucy—muttered. “Looks like a male, maybe two years old.”

  “Nice,” said her husband, Brock. “Population looks healthy.”

  Curious, Kevin glanced in the direction they were looking. He couldn’t see a bear, but he did notice a plume of smoke rising from the hills. With the recent warm spell, it wasn’t too early for a wildfire to break out. It was standard operating procedure for Knight and Day pilots to keep any eye out for danger signs.

  “Do me a favor, mind checking out that smoke?” he asked his passengers.

  Lucy swung her binoculars toward the column drifting skyward. “Looks like it’s coming from a cabin of some sort. I see a chimney.”

  Kevin relaxed. No need to worry about a contained fire. “Thanks. Where to next? Want me to follow that ridge up there?”

  “Works for us,” Brock said. “Are you from around here, Kevin?”

  “Nope, just moved here a couple months ago.” He aimed the nose of the craft in the direction of a high ridge, studded with pines and shrouded with wisps of fog.

  “How do you like it?”

  “It’s working out great. My kid is adjusting well, and that’s really all that matters.” They’d flown past the observatory, where Holly was working this afternoon, and he’d actually waved, a goofy dad move if ever there was one.

  “That’s good to hear. Kids are so adaptable. We both have children from previous marriages, so we know all about it. Adapting to a blended family isn’t easy, but they’ve managed.” Lucy dropped a peck on her new husband’s cheek.

  “Congratulations,” said Kevin in an easy tone that didn’t tell the whole story. If kids were so adaptable, why couldn’t he have a real relationship without worrying about Holly? Maybe he was being more cautious than he had to be.

  No. That was his selfish side talking, the side that wanted to greenlight things with Cassie. Maybe his passengers’ kids had adapted easily, but Holly needed stability. She needed him to keep his promise.

  He’d seen Cassie only in passing since he’d been filling in for Ben. They’d exchanged casual greetings, smiled, waved, tried to act as if everything was normal and hot phone sex had never happened. But things were different. The sexual tension kept amping up, higher and higher. At this point, he didn’t know what would bring it down a notch, except maybe actually having sex.

  At least then, he wouldn’t be so obsessed with wondering what it would be like.

  But of course, that path was filled with risks. Some risks were worth it. But not anything having to do with Holly. Her well-being came first.

  “Was it, um, hard for your kids?” he asked, clearing his throat. “When you got together?”

  “Oh yes.” Brock laughed as he aimed his binoculars at a valley between two craggy peaks. “Lots of stormy weather there. But now they like it. The more family the better, that’s our motto.”

  Kevin nodded as he banked the craft to avoid an updraft he could sense in the air currents. Sometimes his stunt plane background really came in handy. “I like that. Makes sense.”

  “Then again, it helps if it’s the right person.” Lucy reached out a hand to clasp Brock’s. They kissed, and that was it for conversation from the backseat. Kevin studiously kept his gaze on the forests and cliffs slipping past. Sometimes the hardest part of flying honeymooners around was pretending you had no idea what was happening in the passenger seats.

  But the sudden silence did give him a chance to think about what they’d said. His no-commitment policy had been the right thing when Holly was twelve and dealing with so much anxiety. But now? She was almost sixteen, and she had friends and a job and so many passions in life.

  The more family, the better.

  Had he been going about this all wrong? Maybe he should stop playing it so safe with Cassie. Maybe he should do what his heart and body were urging him to.

  Or maybe he should keep his head firmly on his shoulders and behave himself. Yeah, that was probably what he should do. Probably.

  19

  If you asked Cassie, the best cure for sexual frustration was running. The Heart Attack Hill trail ought to do it. Popular with the hotshots and anyone else trying to challenge themselves, that trail was guaranteed to get your heart pounding like a jackhammer. Just what the doctor ordered.

  When Cassie pulled into the gravel lot at the trailhead, she saw only a few cars, all empty. As she hopped out of the car, she spotted her old fifth grade teacher, Mr. Martinez, walking a cocker spaniel whose black, curly coat matched his hair.

  She smiled and waved hello. Good old Jupiter Point. You always ran into someone you knew, wherever you went. Of course, you weren’t always wearing a sports bra and leggings when that happened. Oh well.

  “Nice to see you back, Cassandra.” He’d always called her by her full name, rolling the “r” and giving it a Spanish flair.

  “Nice to see you, Mr. Martinez.” She kneeled to pet the cocker spaniel’s bouncy curls. “Who’s this little guy, hmm?”

  “His name is Romeo, so be warned.”

  She laughed as the dog blinked moist eyes at her. “I see why. You’re a little heartbreaker, aren’t you?”

  I could get a dog, she thought suddenly. If she settled down here in Jupiter Point, she could adopt a dog. Tobias, Caro and Sarah had a big Newfie who basically doubled as Sarah’s blanket fort. She’d have to make sure that her dog got along with Angel, or at least beat her at all the important things, like jumping for Frisbees and racing after sticks on the beach.

  What was she thinking?

  She straightened up so suddenly that Mr. Martinez took a step back. “Sorry, I need to get going. That trail isn’t going to run itself.”

  “You be careful. Travis Drake sprained his ankle running Heart Attack just last week.”

  Well, at least there was no chance of running into Travis. She waved goodbye to her former teacher and took off at a slow jog to let her muscles warm up.

  Before too long, she was breathing fast and her blood was pumping. Feel the burn. She’d gotten into running because you could pretty much do it anywhere, you didn’t need a special location or much gear. It was a good way to get out of the house, which was essential when you lived with your mother until the age of twenty-eight. And she liked the way it helped her focus. When she was running, random thoughts would pop into her head.

  Twenty-eight. She’d lived with her mother until the age of twenty-eight.

  See? Like that thought.

  She’d lived with her mother her entire life, until this week.

  But she’d had a good reason for that. She’d been worried about her, she’d needed to make sure she was safe. And all that time, danger had been circling in the form of letters from Matthew Dearborn.

  In other words…she’d been right. Her mother had been in danger. Maybe she’d known it, on some level.

  Panting, she paused at a pullout on the trail that overlooked the old Army base, now a Fire and Rescue compound. The Jupiter Point Hotshots were based there; she could see their green crew buggy, and a group of men and women doing pushups on the grassy verge. She could hear the distant echo of laughter. Resting her hands on her knees, she hauled in a few deep breaths.

  What if she’d stayed here with Will and Aiden? What if she’d weathered the storm created by Travis and Deirdre? What if she’d finished high school with her class, maybe gone to college, met someone else? The right man for her? Maybe she’d have a child or two by now. And a cocker spaniel.

  A flash of something in the hills behind the base caught her attention. She squinted and shaded her eyes to see better. It flashed again, once, then disappeared from view. She wished she had binoculars with her.
>
  Someone cleared their throat behind her. She jumped about a foot in the air and let out a shriek that carried all the way to the firefighters down below. Heads swiveled at the same time she whirled around.

  It was Kevin, backing away, hands up, looking horrified. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was trying to let you know I was here without freaking you out.”

  She put a hand to her chest. “Oh my God. My heart’s about to jump out of my chest.”

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go with my original plan and tap you on the shoulder, then run.”

  She managed a shaky laugh. “Yeah, damn good thing you’re not twelve anymore.” Hauling in another breath, she noticed that he too was in workout gear. He wore gym shorts and a USAF t-shirt soaked with sweat. The fabric clung to his torso, revealing every ripple and ridge of muscle. Even his hair was damp at the edges, curling against his neck in a way that made her mouth water.

  “I didn’t know you liked to run here. Aren’t you flying today?”

  “My afternoon flight got canceled. I guess the newlyweds found something else to do.” He gestured toward the Fire and Rescue compound. “The hotshots were telling me they like to train up here. They put money on me not being able to make it to the top. I couldn’t pass that up.” He grinned ruefully. “They might be right though. This trail is a killer.”

  “There’s a reason they call it Heart Attack Hill.”

  It felt so good to be standing this close to him. So good to be looking at him, smiling with him. Too good?

  She broke into a light jog. “Well, shall we?” Shooting past him, she tagged his arm. “You’re it.”

  “No fair! You got to take a rest, I didn’t.”

  His footsteps pounded after her. Exhilaration made her feel as if she were flying above the trail, not slogging down it. “A tough flyboy like you has to rest, is that what you’re saying?”

  “Newsflash, I’m not Superman.” He managed to catch up with her, drawing even on the trail until she veered in front of him and he had to fall back.