Lisa’s lips pressed together and her green eyes sparkled in challenge. “Of course I can walk. I’m just sore. A bath and a few ibuprofen and I’ll be good as new.”
She was fibbing and putting on a brave show but he could tell she was highly uncomfortable. He wanted to sweep her off her feet and carry her into the house but he’d probably get a knee in the balls for his trouble. She was an independent cuss with a tart tongue and she didn’t like him fussing over her like when he reminded her to drink her water or take a break. Independent as hell.
He didn’t bother to argue with her, instead grabbing the pizza box from the back seat along with the six-pack of cold soda. It wasn’t easy to keep his mouth shut as he watched her take every excruciating step to the front door, especially when she tried to hide her wince at the porch steps, but he somehow managed to keep from remarking on her difficulty. He was skating on thin ice as it was by continuing to push the subject.
Closed up all day, the house was stifling but he opened a few windows and the slight cross breeze was quickly cooling down the living room. Every piece of furniture had stacks of crap on it and he realized they didn’t have anywhere to sit and eat.
He hadn’t thought this through at all.
“It’s such a nice night. Why don’t we eat on the front porch?” Lisa suggested, her gaze sweeping the room. Even if the couch had been cleared it clearly wasn’t clean enough to eat on.
But the front porch had an old metal table with two rickety chairs he was pretty sure would still hold their weight. It wasn’t fancy and it wasn’t hygienic but it would have to do.
“That’s a good idea.”
It had been Lisa’s idea to come back here. She had been persuasive, clearly still uneasy around the residents of Cypress Corner. Whenever anyone would stop by their table to chat Lisa would drop her gaze and study her shoes, only interacting if Evan forced her to. He respected that she liked to keep to herself though so he tried to let her have her way. He handed the pizza to Lisa while he retrieved supplies from the kitchen, juggling the sodas, paper plates, and napkins before placing them on the table.
The sun was beginning to sink into the horizon and already he could hear the symphony of crickets in the yard serenading their meal. Evan had always loved this part of the day. After some good hard work, there was nothing better than putting his feet up and relaxing while he listened to the sounds of nature. Whatever his next career in life turned out to be, he had to make sure he made time for this.
“Soda?” Evan held up a can and Lisa nodded, settling into the chair opposite. She opened the pizza box and the smell of tomatoes and garlic wafted around them, making his stomach growl. Lunch seemed far away. “So we talked about me today but we didn’t talk much about you. Tell me more about yourself.”
Lisa’s eyes widened slightly almost in panic, but if he’d alarmed her she quickly hid it. She was a private person and he didn’t want to pry but he was curious. He’d opened up to her today in an effort to show her she was safe with him. He wouldn’t discuss her life with anyone.
“There’s not much to tell.” She popped a piece of sausage into her mouth. “I had a pretty normal upbringing in Connecticut. My mom was a single parent and I was an only child so we were pretty close.”
“Were?”
The corners of her mouth drooped and she sighed heavily. “She passed away a few years ago. Breast cancer. It all seemed to happen so fast. She’d ignored the warning signs too long, I guess.”
“I’m sorry.” He truly was. It was obvious from the bright tears in Lisa’s eyes that she’d loved her mother a great deal. “Do you have any other family?”
“A few cousins but we’re not close. Not long after she passed away I was downsized from my job, probably because I took so much time off to care for her. It didn’t matter because I hated that job anyway and I was beginning to hate the city. So I packed up my belongings and moved out of my New York City apartment that I shared with three other girls. Headed down to the D.C. area where my best friend from college lived. She helped me get a job and an apartment. I started over really, and it was the best thing I could have done for myself.”
“Then you were laid off again,” Evan prompted, wanting her to continue. Not only was he learning about her life but he was also able to listen to her speak. Her voice was soft and strong all at the same time and although he wasn’t sure how that was possible, he was sure that he enjoyed it.
She finished the piece of crust she had been chewing before answering. “The economy is cruel.”
Evan wasn’t a genius but he wasn’t a stupid man, either. Lisa was carefully picking and choosing what she shared with him. The bare bones. No flowery details, no anecdotal stories. Just the facts and as few as possible. If he wanted to learn more he was going to have to ask.
“You never said what you did for a living.”
Lisa fiddled with her soda can as if deciding whether to answer. “I didn’t tell you the whole truth before when you asked because it’s hard to talk about it. I haven’t exactly set the world on fire with my genius, you see. I do have a degree in design. I worked as a low-level assistant for one of the big fashion houses in New York City. Let me repeat the low-level part. I was one rung above making coffee but that’s how you move up in those places. You have to pay your dues. In D.C., I was able to get a job as an assistant to a successful interior designer. I learned a lot and it was a great opportunity but she sold off her business to one of those big corporations. They came through and promptly fired everyone, which she had expressly said wouldn’t happen. But of course it did.”
Not wanting to spook her but wanting to offer some sort of comfort, Evan placed his own hand over hers, lacing the fingers together. “Life’s been tough on you. I admire your grit though. Now you’re taking time for yourself while you still can. Seems like a good plan.”
She looked up at him and shook her head, a smile playing on her full lips. “Tough? I don’t think I really know what that is. Hell, if people don’t like chintz sofas they don’t shoot at me. They bitch, whine, and complain but I don’t need a trip to the hospital afterward. Besides, my mother always told me that I needed to learn to take care of myself. No one was going to offer to do it and that I could only depend on myself.”
That was a lonely philosophy.
“I may have made things sound worse than they actually were. I didn’t have people shooting at me every single day. Only sometimes. Most of a cop’s life is paperwork.” He leaned forward so their lips were close together and he could smell the light floral fragrance from her hair. “Although I will admit that I hate chintz. I’m more of a leather sofa type.”
For a moment their gazes locked and he instinctually moved nearer, the attraction between them powerful, crackling hot. But at the last minute she jerked back into her chair, her chest rising and falling rapidly as if she’d finished a race.
“I–I have to go to the bathroom.”
The legs of her chair made a scraping sound as she shoved it backward and then bolted for the relative safety of the house. He heard her footsteps on the stairs and couldn’t suppress a smile of satisfaction. Little Miss Lisa might act all cool and unaffected but it was purely an act. The simmering heat was mutual. He wasn’t out there all alone feeling like a fool.
Evan hadn’t felt like this about a female in a damn long time and he wasn’t going to let this chance pass by. Wasn’t this what his new life was about? He was going to go for it.
He’d end up a winner or a fool.
Chapter Nine
Josie pressed her cool, wet fingertips to her heated cheeks as she stared at her own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Evan was a good and wonderful man but he was getting too close. Every instinct inside of her was screaming to open up to him but she simply couldn’t. He’d been a cop and would turn her in, she was sure of it. No, the best thing to do was continue as if that entire conversation never happened. She’d told him enough of the truth to keep him happy—at least she h
oped so. The less he knew the better.
But dammit, she liked him. A whole heck of a lot.
If this wasn’t a life or death situation and she didn’t need to eventually leave she would have loved to sit back, relax, and see what might happen between the two of them. She already knew some of the good – he was hardworking, smart, and funny. She even knew some of the bad as well – he was impatient as hell, he didn’t eat his vegetables, and his politics clashed with her own. But all in all, he was the kind of guy she’d normally be thrilled to meet.
If this wasn’t the absolute worst time of her life.
She dried her face with a towel and took several deep breaths to calm her racing heart. When their eyes had met she’d felt a bolt of electricity straight down to her toes. Evan Davis was a gorgeous man and she was only human. She’d have to be dead or in a coma not to notice, but when he turned that attention on her deliberately? Holy moly, she was in big trouble.
The only cleaned up bathroom was in Evan’s bedroom and she had to walk back through it to get downstairs. Sorry she hadn’t turned on a light, she made her way slowly around the furniture but must have miscalculated where his desk was as her hip connected painfully with something solid. A spate of profanity followed along with a shower of items from the desk falling onto her and then to the floor. With flailing arms, she managed to find the switch on the lamp and turn it on before anything else was destroyed.
“Are you okay?”
Of course she wasn’t okay. She’d been trying to hold onto her dignity but that ship had now sailed.
“I think so,” she said anyway, rubbing her sore hipbone as he flipped on a few more lights. “I think I made a mess.”
Papers, a stapler, and a few folders were strewn across the floor where she’d knocked them off their perch on the desk. Evan wasn’t the tidiest of men, although nowhere near his hoarding ancestor.
“I shouldn’t have left them on the corner like that. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
They both knelt to retrieve the fallen items but the papers caught Josie’s eye, slowing her down. He stacked everything back on the desk as she sat on the floor, absorbed in the words on the page. Finally she looked up at Evan, shocked at what she’d read. “Did you write this?”
Evan shifted from one foot to the other, a red tinge on his cheekbones. “Maybe. It depends on what you think of it.”
“I think it’s great. Really, really good, actually. Is any of it true?”
She’d only read the one page but it had sucked her right in with the danger and suspense. It was far better than the tattered book she had stuffed in her backpack.
He reached out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. “It’s all true. That’s the case that got me shot the last time and put an end to my career. I did change some names and things to protect identities but for the most part it’s all true.”
Her mild-mannered employer was kind of a badass and that only made him even sexier. Dammit. Why couldn’t he have written about stealing some kid’s lunch money or kicking little old ladies when they crossed the street?
“I’d love to read more of it.”
“Really? I haven’t let anyone look at it yet. I’ve just sort of been messing around with it when I can’t sleep.”
He slipped the sheet of paper from her fingers and set it on the top of the stack now placed next to his laptop. He appeared nervous but hopeful and not a little shocked that she wanted to read what he’d written, but it wasn’t a surprise to Josie. She was a sucker for a great story.
“I’m a book nerd and this is good, Evan. Are you thinking about writing a book?”
He shook his head and snorted as if her suggestion was ludicrous then stopped and sighed. “No. Well…maybe. It’s one of those things, you know. Those things that I’ve always wanted to do but never get to because life gets in the way. Now I don’t really have much of an excuse. It’s actually kind of fun reliving all the crazy things I’ve done.”
Josie gave him a hopeful look. “So…can I read it then? I already want to know what happens next.”
His fingers hovered over the stack but then he smiled and chuckled, gathering the papers together and sliding them into a folder. “Only if you really give them a true read and tell me the unvarnished truth. Don’t be sweet and nice like I know you would be. I want a real critique of the story. In other words, give me hell. Do you think you can do that?”
“In design school we often had to critique each other’s work. I once made someone cry.”
He held out the folder and she plucked it from his hand before he could change his mind. “You made some poor girl cry? That doesn’t sound like you.”
“I was doing that poor girl a favor. She was new to that instructor and didn’t realize what a total dickwad he could be to the students. I gave her that critique in private the day before class so she could clean up some of her work. He hated sloppiness and he was going to come down on her like a ton of bricks. Instead of taking it as helpful, she accused me of being jealous and spiteful. She told me I was ugly and stupid and didn’t have a lick of talent. She said I’d be slinging fries for a living while she made the fashion magazines. So I don’t think you need to feel sorry for her. She can handle herself just fine.”
Just another instructive moment in Josie’s life. Not everyone was going to appreciate a helping hand. More evidence that taking care of oneself was the right path.
“Whatever happened to her?”
“The instructor tore her a new asshole in front of the entire class just as I suspected he would. She burst into tears and complained to the dean, which of course didn’t change anything. The instructor might have been an asshole but he was brilliant and knew what the hell he was doing. Once she realized that public critiques happened on a regular basis she changed her major to marketing. I’m told they’re much more civilized and polite.”
“This is a whole new side of you I didn’t even know existed. Kind of cruel and really happy about it.”
It didn’t look like it bothered him much though. If anything, he was regarding her with a grudging respect which almost made her laugh.
“I’m not a Disney princess, boss. I’m a human being and I’m not perfect. Boy, am I not perfect. I’ll even let you in on a little secret.” She leaned forward and he did the same. “When the signs tell you to merge over to one lane there’s always that one person who doesn’t and then tries to cut in at the last minute. I’ll admit this to you…I never let them in. I think they’re selfish and they piss me off so I ride the bumper of the car in front of me so they can’t get in. That probably makes me a real bitch.”
A wide smile appeared on Evan’s handsome face and then he threw back his head and laughed. “Honey, I do exactly the same thing. They should have merged over earlier instead of the last minute. I applaud your tenacity in showing them the error of their ways.”
“I thought I was the only one. Everyone else seems to let them in,” she admitted, her awareness of their proximity suddenly rising. There were mere single digit inches between them and she could feel the heat from his skin as well as the scent of clean sweat teasing her nostrils. “I guess we should go downstairs, huh?”
Danger. Danger. Get out of the bedroom now.
It was too intimate. Too…everything. She liked being with him way too much. She had to fight the urge to reach out the short distance and place her palm on his chest just to see if it felt as good as she thought it would. Or better.
From his smiling expression she could tell that he clearly saw her inner turmoil and was enjoying it. He was the first man who had turned her into a muddled, addlebrained idiot but he didn’t have to be so damn smug about it.
“That’s not an attractive quality.” Josie’s sharp words tumbled out before she could stop them.
His brows pulled down but he didn’t stop smiling. “What’s not? I’m not sure I follow you.”
“You know what I’m t
alking about.”
Now she felt stupid. Blurting things out was a nasty habit she needed to curb but it was too late.
“I honestly don’t but that’s okay. I’m guessing there are many things about me that aren’t attractive but I’m not sure I want a comprehensive list, so I’ll just shut the hell up. How does that sound?”
Like a reprieve from heaven.
“I should go.”
She regretted her words instantly when a hurt looked crossed Evan’s face. It was gone as quickly as it had come but she hadn’t imagined it.
“I’ll take you home then.”
Evan stepped back so she could pass and she walked by him, careful not to let their bodies brush. If he touched her she might possibly give in to the raging hormones dancing inside of her making her say and do things that would make her cringe later.
Nothing good could come from starting a relationship with Evan. There wasn’t any future for two of them. Heck, she wasn’t even sure she had a future at all. She was simply trying to stay alive.
* * * *
Evan felt like a first-class ass. He’d been too forward, too pushy and now Lisa had retreated inside herself so deeply it would be a wonder if she ever looked him in the eye again. His attraction to this tiny auburn-haired woman was strong but that didn’t mean his feelings were reciprocated. He thought he’d seen a kindred spark in her eyes but every time they moved closer…she’d run.
She was now sitting next to him as he drove her back to the hotel, the folder containing his story clutched to her chest like a life preserver. She’d said little since they’d left his place and the silence had grown uncomfortable. Painfully awkward.
“Maybe we should start later tomorrow.”
Justice Reborn (Cowboy Justice Association Book 8) Page 6
