by Janie Crouch
“Um, could you put some clothes on, sir? I’d like to talk to Miss Epperson, please.”
The officer wasn’t going to be deterred, although Liam was doing his best. Vanessa wasn’t sure if the officer could enter the room without a warrant, since it was a hotel, not a home, but she didn’t want to find out.
She pulled off her pajamas—T-shirt and shorts—so she was also naked, grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around herself. She wasn’t as bold as Liam and willing to answer the door buck-naked.
“Hey, baby.” She walked up behind Liam and slid her arms around his chest, running them over his pecs and abs, feeling them tighten under her fingers. “What’s going on?”
This is all just an act. This is all just an act. This is all just an act.
Liam put an arm around her and pulled her in front of him so the sheet was covering them both from the officer outside.
But her very naked back was pressed to his very naked front. All of his naked front. Vanessa couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through her entire body when he reached down and kissed the tender skin joining her neck and shoulder.
This is all just an act.
“This officer of the law was looking for you,” Liam said in that friendly mocking voice only he seemed to be able to pull off without offending people. “Have you been a naughty girl?”
Vanessa could tell the more intimate she and Liam pretended to be, the more uncomfortable the young officer became. She turned partway in Liam’s arms so she was half facing him. “What if I have?”
He leaned down and kissed her, biting her lip with his teeth and pulling on it before letting it go. “Well, I’d have to do something about that, wouldn’t I?” He nipped at her lip again. “First I’d have to—”
The officer cleared his throat in an embarrassingly loud manner, stopping whatever scene Liam was about to describe.
This is all just an act. This is all—
“Excuse me, sir...ma’am. I’m Officer Atwood. I just have a few questions. Then I’ll let you get back to your...business.”
Vanessa kept the sheet clutched at her chest, making sure it didn’t fall too low. But she could feel Liam’s hands on her waist, rubbing tiny little circles with his fingers. Moving down to her hips and back up again. The feeling was delicious. She wanted to push his hands away but couldn’t if she didn’t want to give the officer of the law a peep show.
Liam pulled her back, flush against his body. Vanessa barely kept in the moan that wanted to escape her.
This was all just an act.
“Yes, Officer Atwood. What’s your question?”
Evidently the act was working, because the poor officer standing in front of her didn’t know where to look and barely seemed to know how to pose his question.
“Um, last night, did you have a teenage girl with you?”
Liam’s fingers stopped their rubbing and gripped her hips tightly in warning. She knew she couldn’t totally deny being with Karine. Obviously the sheriff’s department already knew that, had probably been told that by Judy at the hospital. There wouldn’t be any reason for her not to tell them.
“Yeah, that runaway kid? Bless her heart. She was not looking so good. I picked her up off Highway 158. We went by 7-Eleven to get some food—I don’t trust runaways with cash, it’s often used to immediately buy drugs—and then I took her to the hospital, since it looked like she might have some injuries or something.”
Liam’s fingers resumed their circles.
“Did she tell you her name, where she was from?”
Vanessa shook her head. “Katy or something, I think? She didn’t really talk much at all. I think she might have been on something. Why? Did she do something bad after I left her at the hospital?”
“You just left a minor at the hospital? Don’t you work in social services, Miss Epperson?”
Uh-oh. The officer was right. Vanessa would never have left a teenager alone at the hospital. She felt Liam’s fingers tighten again.
“Yeah, but I’m not a social worker around the clock.” She smiled at the officer. “It was after eight. I had other plans that very definitely did not involve a teenage girl.” Vanessa allowed herself to melt back into Liam. He pulled his hand up from her waist to tilt her head back against his shoulder so he could kiss her.
She was instantly thrown back into old times. The heat between them had always been almost palpable. They might have yelled at each other, fought and wanted to kill each other at times, but whenever they had been this close, an undeniable passion had flared between them.
Vanessa couldn’t help herself; she twisted, trying to get closer to him.
Until she heard the officer clear his throat once more.
Damn it. This is all just an act. Remember that.
Liam brought his lips up from hers. “I was her other plans,” he said to the officer, winking, deliberately downplaying his intelligence. Anything to keep the other man’s guard down.
It worked. Atwood rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I got that. Thanks.” He looked at Vanessa. “So you left the girl at the hospital?”
“I checked her in with one of the nurses, asked her to call social services—you know, someone who was actually on the clock—and pretty much left. Because, like I said...other plans.”
“And you didn’t have her with you for the rest of the night?”
One of Liam’s arms came to rest across her chest, hooking around the top of her opposite shoulder, pulling her farther back against him. “Officer, if we had a kid in the room with us while doing some of the stuff we did last night, you would have to arrest us right now.” He winked again.
“Hey!” Vanessa feigned outrage and elbowed him in the stomach. Or rock-hard abs.
“Sorry, baby,” he whispered, “but you know it’s true.”
“Is the girl in some sort of trouble?” she asked Atwood.
“She’s a suspect in some burglaries of homes in the area, so we’re trying to find her.”
“Darn it. I was hoping she was just a runaway who could be reunited with her parents. Some kids get away from home and when faced with the reality of the streets realize that home wasn’t such a bad place, after all.”
Officer Atwood shook his head. “She’s definitely wanted by the police.”
“Okay, well, if for some reason I see her again, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Liam was starting to play with her bare shoulder with his fingers as though he was getting impatient for the officer to be gone.
“Okay. Thank you for your time. Sorry to have interrupted your...rest.”
“No problem, man. I think we might go back inside and play out our own version of good cop, bad cop.”
Vanessa giggled as Liam dragged her inside and shut the door.
“Do you think he bought—”
Her words were cut off by his mouth swooping down and devouring hers.
This time it was not just an act.
Vanessa gave herself over to the kiss, to the heat. As always, she didn’t have any choice. It consumed her. The thin bed sheet was the only thing between them as he lifted her and pressed her against the door they’d just closed.
She couldn’t hold back the moan. She didn’t even try. She wrapped her fingers in his brown hair, still as silky and thick as she’d remembered it, and pulled him closer.
It was as if all the years they’d been apart melted away; all the pain they’d caused each other never happened.
Except it had. Both seemed to remember that at the same time.
And that they had a very scared teenager in the bathroom.
Liam eased back and Vanessa slid down the door until her feet were on the floor. She unwound her hand from his hair and grabbed the sheet that covered her again, since it was in danger of falling no
w that they were no longer pressed together.
“You okay?” he asked.
Was she okay? No, not by any stretch of the imagination was she okay. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He nodded then turned away to start dressing. She kept her back to him and did the same, in her clothes this time rather than her pajamas.
“I’m going to check on Karine,” she said without looking at him. Vanessa wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to look at Liam again.
That was too bad, considering he was still just as ridiculously gorgeous as he had been eight years ago. Brown hair and green eyes. She had always been so damn jealous of those clear green eyes of his.
She tapped on the bathroom door and opened it a crack.
“Karine? It’s safe now, honey.”
She didn’t hear anything so she opened the door farther. “Karine?”
She wasn’t in the bathtub or behind the door. There was no window in the room for her to have climbed out.
“Miss Vanessa?” The sound came from the cabinet that ran under the length of the sink vanity.
Vanessa crouched and opened the cabinet. Oh, God, the girl had crammed herself in there to hide. It couldn’t have been comfortable.
“Come on out, honey. It’s safe now.” She helped Karine unfold herself from her small hiding space.
“I want to make sure nobody find me.”
“You did great, Karine.” Vanessa wrapped her arms around her and pulled the girl close. Even though she was so young, she was almost the same height as Vanessa. “It was the perfect hiding spot, but you’re safe now.”
“I was scared.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Liam turned from where he stood at the window. “Ladies, we can’t stay here.”
“Do you think that officer will come back?” Vanessa asked.
“Not him. I think we traumatized him enough. But once he reports that he found you, Vanessa, but did not actually search the room, somebody else—higher up who won’t be scared by a couple of naked people—will be coming back here. We need to get out now.”
Vanessa took her arm from around Karine. “I’ll go get your clothes so you can change, okay?”
She grabbed the same clothes from yesterday—yoga pants that were too large and another T-shirt—and walked them to Karine. She left the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Liam was standing a few feet away directly in front of her. He folded his arms over his chest and she couldn’t help noticing the bulge of his biceps. Liam had always been in good shape, even when they’d known each other before.
Now he was rock solid. Everywhere. This morning’s theatrical performance had proved that.
It was totally unfair that he looked just as good in clothes as he did without them. And that she was still so affected by him.
“I think you owe me an explanation.” The intensity of his voice caused parts of her deep inside to flutter.
“About what? I told you pretty much everything I know about Karine.”
“Not about Karine. About you. What the hell is going on with you?”
Vanessa shrugged, confused. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, let’s start with the two words I never thought I’d hear used to describe you. Social worker.”
Chapter Five
Liam felt as if he were having an out-of-body experience.
To get rid of that young Deputy Atwood, he’d had to think fast. Sordid affair was the first thing that had come to his mind when he looked at this place, so he’d decided to play that angle.
He definitely hadn’t expected Vanessa to jump in and help with the ruse when the officer wasn’t buying it despite Liam’s best efforts to make him so uncomfortable that he just went away. And her actions had made the difference.
Of course, the officer couldn’t just barge in without a warrant—a hotel was considered a temporary home in the eyes of the law and most of the same rules applied—but if they refused him entry with no grounds whatsoever, Atwood would’ve been suspicious. He would’ve called it in and then the sheriff’s department would’ve just waited them out. Sooner or later they’d have to leave and the hotel room only had one entrance and exit.
Sitting ducks.
So Vanessa’s help in fooling the officer had just bought them some desperately needed time. Not much, but enough.
Vanessa’s naked body pressed up against his naked body? That searing kiss that threatened to turn his bones to ash?
Yeah, out-of-body experience.
All of that was nothing compared to hearing the words social worker used to describe Vanessa Epperson’s profession. There was no way the spoiled, selfish, but full-of-life woman he’d known eight years ago had become a social worker. Someone who took care of other people.
But he couldn’t deny the tenderness she’d showed as she’d cared for Karine since he’d arrived. It was hard to reconcile the Vanessa gently holding a traumatized teenager with the Vanessa he’d known before.
There were pieces of the puzzle—many of them, it seemed—that he was missing. Some were obvious now that he was looking for them.
For example, what were these clothes she was wearing? A pair of non-designer, off-the-rack jeans and a simple green cotton T-shirt. Liam could very clearly remember her teaching him about silk, cashmere and Pashmina—by wrapping her naked body in each and making him guess—scoffing that cotton shirts for women were only as a last resort.
Evidently, this situation was a last resort, then.
Her tennis shoes were no-name brand, also. He was pretty sure you could pick them up at the local supercenter.
Vanessa Epperson at the local supercenter?
Out-of-body experience.
She was looking at him now as if she didn’t know quite where to start. And it didn’t matter anyway, because they had to get out of there.
“You know what?” He cut her off as she began to speak just as Karine opened the bathroom door. “Save it. We’ve got to move.”
He took a step closer. “But I will be told exactly what is going on.”
Vanessa nodded.
Liam winked and smiled at Karine, not wanting her to think any tension between him and Vanessa should worry her. She smiled back at him, albeit timidly.
“I’m going to go drive around for about five minutes, see if we have anybody watching the room.”
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and texted Vanessa so she would have his number.
“That’s me.” He nodded in the direction of her phone when it chirped. “You two be ready to go in case I have to come get you in a hurry.”
He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Nags Head—really none of the Outer Banks islands—wasn’t big enough for them to escape in a high-speed chase with the police. Their best bet was to get out now while they could.
“Is your car hidden somewhere?” he asked Vanessa.
“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think I needed to. I didn’t think they would be looking for me so fast.”
“That car right out front is yours?” Liam couldn’t keep the shock from his voice.
She nodded, eyebrow raised, as if daring him to say something further.
At sixteen she’d had a BMW. And now she was driving an early 2000s–model Camry? Not that there was anything wrong with a Camry: safe, dependable, known to last. If she’d had the latest model, he would’ve considered it a wise, mature choice.
But a model that was at least a dozen years old?
The out-of-body experiences just kept on coming.
“Okay, well, just be ready in case you need to drive it. Don’t open the door or peek through the window until you hear from me in case someone is watching the room.”
“Be careful,�
�� Vanessa said. Karine had come to stand right beside her and she slipped an arm around the girl.
“I will. Be ready.”
Liam walked out the door, whistling and tossing his keys. If anyone was watching the room, he wanted it to look as if he was in no hurry, that he was just a happy, sated guy going to grab some coffee.
As he got to his car, which he’d parked toward the front of the lot away from Vanessa’s, he missed the keys he was tossing on purpose so they fell to the ground. As he crouched to get them, he stayed down to fake tying his shoe, taking survey of the parking lot as he did so.
There were two other cars in the lot and both had been there before Liam arrived. One was near the front desk, probably the clerk’s. The other was a few spots down from Vanessa’s Camry, not an optimal place for surveillance, but not terrible.
Liam honestly didn’t think they were watching the hotel yet. No doubt they would be soon after the officer made his report. Liam was willing to bet the young officer probably didn’t know the importance of what he had been tasked to do. He thought he was looking for someone who had last been seen with a teenage, petty burglar. He probably felt he’d drawn the short straw this morning and wouldn’t be in any hurry to report questioning a naked guy that hadn’t resulted in anything useful.
They needed to use that situation to their advantage.
Liam drove slowly out of the parking lot. There were no cars around the streets with anyone sitting in them in stakeout fashion. Nor any vans that could be used for surveillance.
The hotel was clean.
He’d drive around for a few minutes just to make sure. See if anyone followed him. He also needed to figure out a larger game plan now that he was also convinced someone at the sheriff’s office was in on the trafficking ring. Too much time was being placed on finding Karine for him to think otherwise.
He needed to find a safe place to stash both Karine and Vanessa. Nothing that was connected to Vanessa in any way. He knew just the place but he didn’t know if Vanessa would like it.
Too bad.
