Saving the Girl Next Door

by Susan Kearney

  “Not that I can recall. But maybe someone was expecting us to talk to Danna.”

  “Who?”

  “The same person who talked Vince and Leroy into claiming you took a bribe.”

  “I don’t know. You’re really reaching here.”

  “Not necessarily. Your father’s former students all knew one another—we just don’t know how well. And we didn’t hide our intentions from any of them about talking to the others.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “That would mean Aaron or Danna is the one we’re looking for.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “Now you’re making even bigger assumptions.”

  “Yeah, but suppose Aaron or Danna knows Easy As Pie—not too unlikely, since they went to school together. Suppose Aaron or Danna called and warned Easy about us?”

  “So then Easy calls Leroy at his mistress’s house and tells him to follow us?” She shook her head. “And you’re sure Leroy found us after we left Danna.”

  He didn’t bother responding to her insult. “Maybe someone guessed who we would interview next.”

  “Yeah. And maybe we have another bug on this car. You sure you don’t want to take off your clothes?” she teased.

  “Don’t start. I’m not in the mood.”

  “What are you in the mood for, Jack?”

  There she went again, putting into his head damning images of the two of them together. She really had no sense of honor. Didn’t she know what those words could do to a man? All his blood was aiming south again.

  Think of something else.

  Piper crossed one leg over the other. She let her sandal dangle from her toes as she rocked her foot up and down. Suggestively. She was lucky he didn’t just pull over to the curb and make love to her on the car’s trunk.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked him. “You have this almost pained look on your face.”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he snapped.

  She shifted in her seat and checked her lipstick in the mirror. “Leroy’s still there.”

  If she had any idea what the pad of her pinkie smoothing her lip gloss was doing to him, she wouldn’t have been as concerned about the man following her—as she was about the man next to her. After all, he was no saint. He could take only so much.

  “Will you sit still?” he practically growled.

  She started playing with her top shirt button. “No need to get testy.”

  This couldn’t go on. As the pressure increased in his jeans, he sorted through strategies. If he admitted his discomfort, she was more likely to intensify her efforts to seduce him rather than abandon them.

  Still without a solution, he drove into the bowling alley’s parking lot. “Maybe I should let you talk to the shoe clerk.”

  She peered at him with a perplexed expression. “Why? Aren’t you up for it?”

  He was up, all right. Sometimes male anatomy could be a huge disadvantage. Women could so easily hide their arousal and keep a man guessing. Yet here he was front and center with an erection as hard as the Washington Monument and nowhere to hide.

  He rolled his eyes at the car’s ceiling. “I figured you could nag the information out of the guy better than I could.”

  “Fine. Watch my back.”

  He’d watch her back and the enticing sway of her hips. He’d watch those long legs of hers cross the hot pavement. And he’d give himself time to recover.

  She finally got out of the car, glanced toward where Leroy had parked and spoke through the still-open door. “Anything in particular that you want me to go after?”

  “Easy’s address.”

  When she came back several minutes later with a huge smile on her face, he knew she’d been successful. She slid into the cool air-conditioning and snapped on her seat belt. “It’s much easier to get teenage boys to talk when I’m not wearing a business suit.”

  No kidding. She could probably entice a lion to surrender his dinner. He kept the thought to himself, pleased that his lower half was once again cooperating. “Where to?”

  She gave him the address, and he gunned the engine to wake up Leroy. Jack didn’t want the man to fall asleep and lose them. Because he did intend to question the man, but just not yet. Sometimes waiting could prey on a man’s mind. Jack figured Leroy was running scared after learning about Vince’s accident. Time could increase Leroy’s anxiety, and then he might be more ready to talk.

  Piper checked her watch and dug in her purse for the cell phone Logan Kincaid had supplied. “Time to call the department. The shift changed at three.”

  Three? They’d skipped lunch and his stomach hadn’t even growled. Funny how time passed so quickly when Piper was around. With all of her badgering, she kept him hungry for more than lunch.

  “Hey, Calvin.” She spoke in a congenial tone that she rarely used with him. “Got any news for me?”

  She’d hit the speaker button so Jack could listen. The police investigator, Cal, spoke with a thick Southern drawl. “This was no accident.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “The brake line was slashed clean and even the parking brake was disengaged.”

  So Vince had been murdered. By whom? And was it simply a coincidence that Vince had accused her of bribery? Lots of people might have wanted the man dead.

  “Any luck on the green paint from the other car?”

  “Not yet. Forensics is behind schedule. The chief put priority on a double homicide. So it’s going to be a while, maybe another day or two.”

  “Thanks, Cal. I appreciate the info.”

  “Sure. How about dinner next week?”

  She didn’t glance Jack’s way, but he still did his best to remain stoic. With a face, body and personality like hers, he imagined guys hit on her all the time. Still, he didn’t need to know.

  “The week after might be better.”

  “I’ll give you a call, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Jack noticed that Cal didn’t ask for her phone number. Probably because he knew it by heart. Maybe slept with it under his pillow and dreamed of her every night. He couldn’t blame the guy, and yet he didn’t much like it, either.

  With other women, Jack never gave their social life a thought. If they weren’t with him, then they weren’t with him. Their loss, and end of story. He shouldn’t care what Piper did or whom she saw when he wasn’t around, and yet…he did care. Which irritated him, because they hadn’t even made love. Hell, they weren’t even really friends.

  She hung up the phone and waited a few minutes before speaking. “You’re awfully quiet.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Cal and I are friends.”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  “Yeah, but your silence speaks volumes.”

  “So now you can read my mind?”

  “It’s not that difficult.”

  He frowned. “Are you saying I’m simple?”

  “I’m saying that you are male. And men think about sex 24/7. So it’s only natural that you’re wondering about Cal and me.” She patted Jack’s thigh, and he bit back a growl. “It’s okay, Jack. On the police force I worked around a lot of men. Long enough to know that the males of the species can’t help themselves when it comes to speculating about women.”

  Jack had had enough of her condescending pats on his thigh. He’d had enough of her teasing. It was her fault he thought about sex 24/7. She kept touching him and riding him. What red-blooded male wouldn’t be in need of sexual release right about now?

  He brought the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road. He unfastened his seat belt, got out and slammed the door.

  She was two steps behind him, seemingly mystified by his erratic behavior. The concern in her face irritated him all the more. Next she’d be offering to kiss him and make him all better.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Maybe you should read my mind.”

  “Come on, Jack.”

  “Well, I was thinking about the case,” he lied, just to bug h
er. “And I think it’s time we talked to Leroy and reminded him that Vince didn’t die in an accident.”

  “Fine.”

  He started walking toward Leroy, who had pulled over across the street next to a sandwich shop. Piper grabbed Jack’s hand and pulled him to a stop on the sidewalk.

  “I’m sorry, Jack.” She looked up into his eyes and then wrapped her arms around him to give him a hug. And of course his body leaped to attention again.

  He didn’t stop to think.

  He didn’t say a word. He just dipped his head and kissed her. He didn’t bother with slow and easy. He kissed her demandingly, taking what he wanted, holding her close enough to lose track of where he ended and she began. Close enough to feel her heart rate skyrocket. Close enough to feel her arms winding around his neck and pulling him against her.

  Piper kissed him as if there would be no tomorrow. She put everything into her kiss, holding back nothing. And he took her sweetness and her passion and then demanded more, encouraging her with his lips and tongue.

  And with their bodies pressed together, she had to know the effect she was having on him. Finally he regained a measure of sanity and pulled back. His breath ragged, he watched her eyes flutter open as she released him reluctantly. Her pupils were glazed with passion, her lips swollen from his kiss.

  But most of all, she looked happy. Happy to be standing on a sidewalk and kissing him in broad daylight as if they might not live another minute. As if there would be no consequences from the kiss.

  But with a woman like Piper there would always be consequences. He shouldn’t have kissed her, but Jack wasn’t one for should haves and could haves. He dealt with reality. And the facts clearly stated that when they came together, they set off a spontaneous combustion. Even now, from two feet away, her heat seared his senses.

  She raised her hand and touched her fingers to her lips. “Wow.”

  Yeah, wow. He hoped to hell she couldn’t read the guilt he was feeling right now. She’d be angry that he felt responsible for her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he surely would when he wrapped up this case, ended his vacation and walked away. Another man might have stayed. But Jack wasn’t good enough for her. She deserved someone better than him. Someone stable, maybe someone like her friend Cal.

  The thought annoyed the hell out of him, but he respected her enough to walk away before he did real damage. He took her hand and tugged her toward Leroy. “Come on, sugar.”

  “Don’t call me sugar.”

  “Why not? You sure are one sweet—”

  She dug her elbow into his side.

  “Ow.”

  “It won’t work, Jack.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t kiss me like that and then try to push me away with chauvinistic insults. I won’t let you do that.”

  Damn her. She’d seen right through him. How the hell had she gotten so smart? And if she was so smart, why didn’t she have the sense to stay away from him?

  When he’d kissed her, she could have stopped him by stomping on his foot. Or kicking his shins. But she hadn’t fought him. Oh, no. She’d drawn him closer and kissed him with a brave heat that had burned and branded.

  “Come on, Jack.” She tugged him toward the street. “We can finish what’s between us later. I want to talk to Leroy.”

  “There’s nothing to finish.”

  “Oh, really?” She glanced at his crotch. “Your body says different.”

  A car honked, saving him from an answer. She really was the most irritating woman he’d ever met. She’d just kissed him as if she was on fire and then had coolly put her feelings aside and announced that she wanted to question Leroy. Sheesh. And he thought women were supposed to be the emotional sex. With the crazy way she had him feeling right now, he sure was glad they weren’t in danger, because he was having trouble breathing, never mind focusing.

  Crossing the busy road proved more difficult than Jack had expected. Across the street Leroy seemed resigned to waiting for them. He even waved for them to join him while he spoke into his cell phone.

  The four-lane highway didn’t have a median strip, and they waited a good four minutes before the traffic lightened enough for them to begin a mad dash across the street. Jack was holding Piper’s hand.

  Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of light. A pressure change registered in his eardrums.

  Bomb.

  Instantly he reacted, yanking Piper to the pavement and falling on top of her.

  “Are you craz—”

  A deafening boom cut off her words. Heat and flames shattered the glass in Leroy’s car. And the glass in the sandwich shop next to his car.

  Fire enveloped the car, along with the man standing next to the blazing vehicle. At the blast of hot air, Jack held his breath and tried to protect Piper from the burning pieces of metal raining down on them like confetti.

  Piper struggled against him, but he held her down, assuming the motorists would halt before they ran over them as they lay in the middle of the road.

  When the metal stopped falling, Jack sat up and peered at her through black smoke. “You okay?”

  “I will be just fine once you stop crushing me into the pavement.”

  He stood and helped Piper to her feet. Her face was blackened with soot. Their new clothes were ruined by the oil from the pavement, the soot and the smoke. She paid no attention to her appearance—not the blood trickling from the cut on her chin, not the bruise darkening on her shoulder where she’d fallen—but stepped toward the burning car. “Leroy?”

  He blocked her from heading in that direction. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  Jack didn’t have to look more closely to know the man hadn’t survived. Leroy had been standing at ground zero. That bomb had gone off from inside his car, probably from under the driver’s seat, and he’d been standing right next to the vehicle.

  Jack had seen death before. Too many times. It always saddened him. But this time frustration entered the mix.

  Jack had screwed up. Big time.

  Piper had wanted to face her accuser. Talk to Leroy sooner. He’d insisted she wait for the right moment, and now she’d lost her chance. Forever.

  And now both of the citizens who’d gotten her fired were dead.

  If Jack hadn’t spent every moment with Piper, if he hadn’t known her as he did, he might have thought she had taken revenge on the people who had wronged her. He might have thought she had arranged their deaths. And Jack feared the police might come to just that conclusion.

  Piper was still edging toward the flames. But the heat was so intense that she couldn’t make any progress.

  Jack tugged her back. “We need to get out of here.”

  She frowned at him as if he’d lost his mind. “We need to stay until the bomb squad—”

  “Whoever set off that bomb might try again.”

  “But we weren’t the target. Leroy was.”

  “We were mere footsteps from meeting him. If we hadn’t paused and kissed, we might all be dead. That’s a coincidence I can’t ignore. And whoever set off the bomb might be in this crowd. The next time, they might get us. We have to leave now.”

  “You really think that we were the target?”

  “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” He tugged her harder, giving her no choice but to go with him. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, but Jack shouldered between the bystanders until they reached their car. “Get in.”

  She didn’t argue.

  Jack heard police and ambulance sirens heading their way. He slid behind the wheel, made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction. At the first corner he made a hard right and watched the rearview mirror. No one appeared to follow, but that didn’t ease his nerves.

  He should have been more careful. After the fire at Leroy’s home, after they’d ditched the bug, he’d known they were up against a dangerous adversary. Somehow he’d ignored the very real possibility that someone wanted Piper dead.

  His mental lap
se could have gotten her killed.

  And he knew exactly what was wrong with him. He’d been thinking about how good she smelled and how fine she looked. He could have kicked himself when he recalled how he’d been kissing her on the sidewalk in broad daylight only moments before the explosion. Never before had he been so irresponsible. Which only went to prove how far gone he was over her.

  “Jack, you stopped the car without planning to. How could anyone have known that we would be approaching Leroy at that second?”

  “They didn’t have to know when. They only had to know that we would talk to him. So they watched and waited for Leroy to meet with us and that’s when they made their move.”

  “How could they know?”

  “The person who bugged us knew we went to Leroy’s house. It’s not hard to figure out we might try to get in touch with him again. So they waited. And picked their moment.”

  “But how did the bomb go off in the exact instant we were about to meet with Leroy?”

  “The bomb’s timer was most likely set by a remote control device. Or they could have set off the bomb by a noise on Leroy’s phone.”

  “If they were aiming for us, why didn’t they wait until we got closer?”

  “Maybe they miscalculated the delay. We’re talking maybe another second or two, that’s all.”

  “So whoever set off the bomb was…how far away?”

  “Within five hundred yards. Why?”

  She plucked her cell phone from her purse and dialed. “Aaron Hodges, please.”

  Smart woman. While she checked on Hodges’s whereabouts, he phoned Danna Mudd. If either of them were at work, then they couldn’t have been close enough to set off the bomb—unless they’d hired help.

  She hung up and told him, “Aaron had some errands to run. He wasn’t in.”

  “Neither was Danna. Damn.” They were hitting dead ends. One right after the other, and he wouldn’t have minded if he could have crossed just one suspect off their list. But now he had to add Venus to the list, since she was one of the people who knew they were looking for Leroy. The stripper had told Leroy about them. She might have sent Leroy to follow them. But if she was involved, he had no idea how. But that had been his problem from the start.