by Ryanne Corey
He stripped off his clothes and huddled beneath the lightweight bedspread trying to get warm. After a few minutes he put his clothes back on and dove beneath the covers, trying to block out the rumbling of the air-conditioning. He didn’t feel sleepy whatsoever. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Anna. She was grinning at him over her shoulder, fluttering her extravagant lashes and looking so damned adorable. You’re cute, but you’re a little cocky.
Why had he let her go? Why hadn’t he done something?
It was rare for a woman to have this effect on Zack. Since his life was his work, he’d always made a practice of ending his relationships long before either party was seriously involved. He had learned from firsthand experience how difficult it was for someone in his line of work to have a normal private life. Zack’s father had also been a cop, a larger-than-life hero to his son and a man respected among his colleagues for his courage, humor and loyalty.
Unfortunately, Tommy Daniels was far better at enforcing the law than he was at making his marriage to his wife, Kelly, a success. Whether it was due to his addiction to thrills and chills or his famous roving eye, Tommy was a bitter and recurring disappointment to the woman who waited at home for him. Zack’s mother had tried for fifteen years to hold her marriage together. Though Tommy loved his wife, he was a man who became bored easily and found it difficult to enjoy the stifling responsibilities of a husband and father. He couldn’t relate to his wife’s loneliness, or her constant anxiety about his well-being. If he was content, why wasn’t she? Toward the end of their unhappy marriage, Kelly had begged her husband to leave his job and concentrate on his family. For Tommy, that was like asking him to give up oxygen for the rest of his life.
Zack had been only thirteen years old when his parents finally divorced, but he was mature enough to realize the toll his father’s career had taken on the woman who had made the mistake of loving him. It was hard for him to reconcile his larger-than-life hero with the same man who had hurt his mother so deeply and so easily.
After surviving nearly twenty years as a homicide detective, Tommy Daniels died from sunstroke during a deep-sea fishing trip in Cabo San Lucas. Such an ironic twist of fate for a man who had reveled in life, luck and chance. Kelly had subsequently married a tax accountant who had come home every night at 5:00 p.m. and never forgot her birthday or anniversary. With her new husband, Kelly found stability, security and appreciation. If she never looked at him quite the way she used to look at her first husband, only she and Zack knew.
There were lessons to learn from all experiences, and Zack came to his own conclusions from his parents’ failed marriage. If a man chose to lead a certain kind of life, a life high on personal fulfillment and low on safety and security, he had no business taking on long-term responsibilities. If nothing else, Zack’s childhood had taught him the futility of trying to be something or someone he wasn’t. In many ways Zack believed he bore a strong resemblance to his father. He loved life in the fast lane, loved never knowing what would happen when he turned the next corner. He made a difference in the world or tried to. Still, unlike his father, he never did things halfway. He wasn’t willing to give a woman half his heart, half his time or half his attention. He thought of it as the eleventh commandment: Thou shalt not marry. If he couldn’t promise forever, he would make no promises at all.
And so he usually went home alone at night, ordered his meals brought in and sent his laundry out. He had no trouble avoiding women who might be vulnerable, spending what little spare time he had with lovely ladies who knew the score long before he had come along. He made sure he treated them very well, and never stayed around long enough for any complications to arise. He figured if he could come into the world and leave the world without breaking anyone’s heart in between, he would be content.
This time, however, things were different. He was the one wishing for more while the lady bade him goodbye and left him where he stood. It seemed there were a few surprises left in life, after all.
He sat up and turned the bedside radio on, finding a golden-oldies station. He pumped up the volume, surrendering himself to a night of mournful love songs and refrigerated air.
Before her unexpected incarceration in the basement of Appleton’s, Anna had planned to do a bit more driving that night. Now, however, it was well after midnight and hard to come up with the motivation to drive when she didn’t quite know where she was going. Not to mention the fact that her highly emotional encounter with Zack Daniels seemed to have robbed her of all her energy. She found an all-night convenience store and picked up some chocolate-covered graham crackers, milk and red licorice for a belated dinner, then decided to find a motel.
It didn’t take long for her to realize Providence wasn’t exactly a hot spot for tourists. She could find only one motel, and when Anna roused the manager with the bell on the front desk, the older woman practically growled at her. Anna apologized for disturbing her rest, though her sincerity was seriously in question. She wasn’t worried about disturbing a grouchy motel manager. She was worried she had done the wrong thing by leaving Zack Daniels in the parking lot where he stood. No telephone numbers had been exchanged, and there was no way for them to meet again in more normal circumstances. Still, she knew it was the safest thing to do. She had her life, he had his, and they had nothing in common besides being locked in a basement one night. Logic told her that brooding about Zack was a waste of time. Her emotions, however, felt a little bruised and tender and completely refused to back up the logic. One kiss, and suddenly she was a stranger to herself.
Once in her room, she realized she had never purchased the medicine she had gone into Appleton’s for in the first place. Throughout the past two weeks, her stomach had been on a nonstop roller coaster. For one thing, she had never enjoyed being away from home. Her home and her friends were her security, and she was happiest when surrounded by the things and the people she loved. Unfortunately, a vacation of sorts had suddenly become necessary. One of her oldest and dearest friends, Kyle Stevens, was engaged to marry a lovely woman named Carrie. Anna had been thrilled for both of them, until one painful evening when Kyle had showed up on her doorstep, bright-eyed drunk, and revealed secret feelings for Anna that were anything but platonic. His timing was particularly bad, as his wedding was less than a month away. Anna truly believed his fascination for her was nothing more than a case of last-minute jitters. Kyle was a thirty-nine-year-old veterinarian who had never been married. He worked with animals all day who were remarkably undemanding, so suddenly sharing his life with a woman would probably be a huge adjustment. Anna wasn’t surprised he’d come down with a bad case of tootsie frostbite. Still, she knew it would be best if she took herself out of the equation until just before the wedding. She had fabricated a story about visiting an old friend from her college days in San Francisco and embarked upon a very sudden vacation. Since there was no old friend, it was a boring and extremely lonely vacation. Hence, the angry eruption from her stomach. Hence, the stop in Providence for Tums.
Instead of Tums, she got Zack Daniels. Oh boy, did she.
She told herself to get a grip on her wistful thoughts. To take her mind off the man, she called her number in Grayland Beach to check any messages. She found there were four messages, each and every one from Kyle.
“We’ve got some things to talk about, Anna. Please call when you get this message.”
“I still haven’t heard from you. I’m getting married in two weeks. What am I supposed to do?”
“This isn’t very nice of you. We have to talk, Anna.”
“Anna, none of us have heard from you. When you get this message, call.”
Anna slapped her hand on her forehead, blowing out an exasperated breath. It was too late now to return the calls. She had hoped that he would have come to his senses by now, but it seemed he was still demented. She had been completely honest with him before she left, telling him firmly they were only friends, but he didn’t seem to be getting the message. Anna lo
ved Kyle’s fiancée, Carrie, almost as much as she loved Kyle, and the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her. What on earth was she going to do? Now it seemed Kyle was thinking of postponing things unless she went home. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.
She changed into an oversize T-shirt, then crawled beneath the covers. Sleep, however, seemed to be a long way off. She found herself reliving the events of that evening over and over, particularly the bone-melting kiss. When her body began wriggling beneath the sheets, she decided this was doing her no good whatsoever. She sat up in bed and flicked on the bedside lamp, then occupied herself by staring at the blank television screen and twiddling her thumbs. She’d spent the past thirteen nights in lonely hotel rooms, but never one that felt quite as empty and lonely as this one.
Suddenly from the room upstairs came the mournful strains of an old Righteous Brothers tune. The floors of the motel must have been paper thin, as it sounded like Bill and Bobby were standing right there in the room with her. Still, it was a pleasant distraction, and she was in the perfect mood for a melancholy love song. It felt as though Zack was still with her, nudging her emotions, tantalizing her body, teasing her with his sensual appeal.
She wondered where he was.
Zack took his own sweet time showering and dressing in the morning, as he had nowhere in particular to go and nothing to look forward to when he got there. He attempted to call in Anna’s license plate number, but he happened to get the one and only dispatcher who had a grudge against him. Zack had unknowingly taken out the fellow’s girlfriend once, and the guy just couldn’t get over it. He refused to run the check for no other reason than, “Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, Daniels.”
Zack decided he’d wait till his buddy Will was in the office and ask him to run the plate. In the meantime he was hungry. He checked out of the motel, threw his gear in the Lotus and quickly decided to walk down the street to McDonald’s. Somehow he couldn’t see driving his eye-catching bullet car into Ronald McDonald’s parking lot. The Lotus and Ronald didn’t blend.
The sky was clear and the sun was drying up the puddles on the street. Zack’s mood, however, remained cloudy. He was hoping a couple of Egg McMuffins would cheer him up a little. He had a thing for Egg McMuffins, and he needed all the cheer he could get right now. His vacation had gone from really bad to downright rotten.
Due to his cop training, Zack had developed a habit of scanning an entire room when he entered. McDonald’s was bustling—mothers with kids, kids by themselves, teenagers who might as well be kids judging by the noise they made. And way in the back of the store in the brightly painted Playplace were even more kids, running over, under and on top of slippery slides, carousels and teeter-totters like streams of army ants.
Zack’s semi-bored gaze skimmed over the action in the Playplace, then abruptly froze. There was a young woman sitting at one of the tiny tables, watching the boisterous children and ignoring the food on the tray in front of her. She was in profile, the most picture-perfect profile Zack had ever seen. Tiny nose, stubborn chin, luscious, man-killer lips. A curtain of glossy honey-gold hair completely hid the back of the bright yellow chair she sat on. She was dressed simply, in soft blue jeans and a white tailored shirt rolled up at the elbows. A silver bracelet glinted on her wrist. Her expression was remote, as if deep in thought.
Hot-diggity-dog, Zack thought gleefully. At that moment, a monsoon could have swept through Providence, Oregon, and Zack’s smile would have come through shining.
He ordered his multiple Egg McMuffin breakfast, keeping an eye on the siren in the Playplace. Tray in hand, he made his way through the “adult” section of the restaurant, heading straight for an empty chair at Anna’s table. He sat down as if he owned the place, and her electric eyes widened.
“You?” she croaked. As it happened, she had been thinking about him at that very moment, and apparently her thoughts had actually conjured him. Holding him in her gaze again made her senses jump to attention.
“Did you miss me?” he asked cheerfully, suddenly at peace with the world. “You know what they say about really good-looking men, don’t you? They’re hard to get rid of.”
Anna’s smile started in her eyes and spread to her lips. She couldn’t help it. By nature, she was not an unhappy person, and seeing him again had just put an end to her rather melancholy reverie. She had no choice but to enjoy this little gift of fate. “At least this time, we’ve got a way out,” she said, nodding toward the exit doors. “And the walls are all glass, so I won’t be passing out on you, either. Aren’t you relieved?”
She looked good in the morning, Zack thought. Really good. Her eyes were a fresh summer blue, her sun-streaked hair gleamed, and her pristine, button-down shirt was a beautiful contrast against her lightly tanned skin. He’d seen his share of women who didn’t look so good first thing in the morning. Hair flattened, makeup smeared, they would scramble to a mirror to “put their faces on.” Zack had always found that a frightening statement. He feared waking up in the night and finding a faceless woman at his side.
Anna would be different. She had a natural beauty that didn’t rely on cosmetics for artificial enhancement. He could imagine her waking up in bed, opening her sleepy eyes and turning to him, smiling a lazy, brand-new-day hello. And she would have a face, he had absolutely no doubt.
“Um…what was the question?” he asked stupidly, knowing she’d asked him something, but distracted by his PG-13 fantasy. “My mind went out for a walk just then. You asked…?”
“If you were relieved…?”
“To see you?” He nodded his head enthusiastically. “Monumentally.”
“No.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “To know you aren’t trapped in here with me.”
“Oh.” Always quick on the uptake, he switched gears immediately, shaking his head with sorrow. “No, that doesn’t relieve me at all. It means I’ll have to come up with a new way of holding you captive. Still, I’m sort of a creative kind of guy. I’ve always admired that about myself. I’ll think of something. It’s a darn shame I didn’t bring my handcuffs along. You never know when they’ll come in handy.”
Anna found it impossible to keep from laughing. Zack Daniels was the most disarming man she had ever met, full of teasing humor and unabashedly admiring. It was as if he had a permanent candle lit up inside, and she could feel the warm brightness pulling her in whenever she looked into his eyes. He had the remarkable ability to captivate with an irrepressible, lighthearted charm, while at the same time remaining every inch a very adult male. Anna figured there would be a large army of women only too happy to get locked up in a basement with him. Forever. “I still can’t believe my intuition failed me when I tried to guess what you did for a living. You fit the policeman mold perfectly. Did your work bring you up here?”
Zack shrugged. “Sort of. My partner and I got caught up in a little ruckus during a drug bust. The dealer got mad.”
Anna leaned her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands. She was fascinated by his matter-of-fact way of talking about such a dramatic situation. “That’s it? He got mad?”
He opened his gray eyes innocently. “Wouldn’t you?”
“So what happened? Are you hiding from him or something?”
Zack paused unwrapping his first Egg McMuffin to sniff indignantly. “As if I would. The dealer wounded my partner. When he did that, he dropped to the bottom of the food chain. If I knew what rock he’d crawled under, I sure as hell wouldn’t be hiding from him. We got a couple of the peons, but the head honcho got away. Captain Todd—you remember, I mentioned him last night? Well, Captain Todd in his infinite wisdom decided I needed to be invisible till things cooled down. Actually, until I cooled down. He didn’t want me killing people hither and yon. So, do you know what he did? You won’t believe this. He forced me to take my vacation.”
Anna blinked. “That’s it? You’re upset because he made you take a vacation?”
“I hate vacations.” Zac
k’s sunny expression was back in a heartbeat. “At least, I used to hate vacations. Since last night things have changed. I love vacations now. I love Captain Todd now. He’s going in my will. Without him I wouldn’t have met you.”
Anna had never been compared to a drug bust before. Still, his meaning was unmistakable. She was flustered, buying herself a little time to regroup by tearing open little packets of sugar and dumping them into her coffee. “That’s so weird. You were mad at Captain Todd because he was looking after your best interests?”
“That’s not the only reason I was mad. I work in Los Angeles, California. And not the pretty part of Los Angeles, mind you. I don’t know how long my vacation’s going to be, but I can guarantee the law will be broken a few thousand times while I’m gone.” Zack sighed wistfully. “I’ve had a lot of experience on the streets and I’m usually pretty handy to have around. I hate the feeling of not being there if I’m needed. Everybody thinks of southern California as kind of an extended Disneyland where fantasies are fulfilled and everyone is very tan with gleaming perfect teeth and two convertibles in every garage. It’s just not that way.”
“I know,” Anna said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I lived in Los Angeles until I was twelve. I’ve never been to Disneyland, but I imagine L.A. doesn’t even come close.”
Zack was encouraged. She was relaxing and revealing more about herself, which was exactly what he wanted. “I didn’t think there was a kid in the world who lived in southern California and never visited Disneyland.”
“I was raised in foster homes,” Anna said matter-of-factly, “and trips to Disneyland weren’t top priority. When I was adopted, my parents lived in Grayland Beach, Oregon. I’ve spent the majority of my life up there. And believe me, I wasn’t deprived. I had such a great life in Grayland Beach, I never wanted to go anywhere else.”
