by Jill Shalvis
“Ali!” they cried at the sight of her and rushed over. Dropping her sign, Mimi grabbed Ali in close and hugged her tight. “Oh, Ali-gator! Did they violate any of your rights? Because honey, you have rights, lots of them.”
“I’m fine, Mom. All my rights are still intact.”
Mimi was wearing white capri leggings and a sparkly gold lamé top. Her gold hoop earrings matched the wide strip of bangle bracelets up one arm and was the same color as her spiked sandals. Her face was creased with worry as she tried to pat down Ali’s gone-wild hair.
Ali pulled free and turned to Harper, who was wearing Daisy Dukes and a halter top, her hair and makeup bar-ready. She’d come straight from work and probably raced through the two-hour drive out here.
“Zach called us,” Harper said. “Told us you might need moral support until he could get here.”
“And moral support means picketing the courthouse?”
“Hey, it works on TV,” Mimi said. She smiled up at Luke. “My baby has no manners. I’m Mimi Winters, Ali’s mama, and this here’s her sister, Harper.”
Luke reached out to shake her hand. “Luke Hanover.”
Because Mimi was looking at Luke with a speculative are-you-going-to-marry-my-daughter gaze, Ali quickly said, “Luke’s helping me out with a place to stay.”
“Aw!” Mimi kissed him on the cheek. “Aren’t you the sweet one?”
“Mom, I’m paying rent,” Ali said.
Mimi cupped Ali’s cheek. “Of course you are.” She sent a look Luke’s way. “She’s stubborn, this one, can never accept a helping hand.” She looked around. “Where’s Teddy? I swear, I don’t care how hot he is, I’d like to castrate him. I’ve got a perfectly good pair of pliers in my purse to do it with too. Should’ve packed scissors, but the pliers’ll be more painful. I’m thinking one slow twist and his doodle will snap right off…” She mimed the motion.
“Mom!” Ali quickly looked around. If a sticky note had constituted a threat, she couldn’t imagine what packing pliers with the intent to twist off a guy’s…doodle would mean.
“Just sayin’,” Mimi murmured.
“Well stop just saying,” Ali said. “And castration would mean cutting off his…other parts, not his…” She gestured vaguely, not daring to glance at Luke. “Doodle.”
“Honey, he deserves to be castrated for accusing you of stealing money. You wouldn’t steal money. You wouldn’t steal anything.” Mimi lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in close. “You don’t still steal lip gloss, right?”
“No!” Good Lord. “And no castrating. I’ve got this handled. I’m sorry you made the drive out here, and I appreciate the support, but you should both go back to work. I’m fine.”
“We were going to wait until dark and TP Teddy’s new place,” Harper said. “Where’s he living now?”
“I don’t know,” Ali said, her second lie of the day. “But no TPing!” She was in enough trouble. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“You promise?” Mimi asked. “Do you swear by the tip jar, baby? Because we need you.”
“Yes,” Ali said, crossing her fingers behind her back. “I swear by the tip jar that everything’s going to be fine.”
Mimi hugged her again, and she smelled like her favorite body spritz and long-past, sweet memories. “Love you, Ali-gator.”
Ali held on for an extra minute and closed her eyes. “Love you too, Mom.”
Mimi kissed her cheek and then turned back to Luke. “It was very nice to meet you, Luke.”
“You too, Mrs. Winters.”
“Oh, please. Call me Mimi. When are you coming home, baby?” she asked Ali.
As she’d been told not to leave town, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be any time soon. “I’ll let you know.”
“Next weekend? ’Cuz they’re filming a new reality show down the street. Something about men and their tools and the women who love them. You could help us get on TV.”
“Would love to,” Ali said. “But I’m working.”
“The weekend after then,” Mimi said. “For my surprise birthday party.”
“Mom,” Harper said, exasperated. “You said you wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I do. I want to be surprised by both my daughters throwing me a party with friends and flowers and balloons and lots of decorations.”
“I don’t think you’re getting the concept of surprise,” Harper said.
“And maybe a piñata,” Mimi went on, “but with good stuff in it. Too bad men can’t fit into piñatas…”
“No men in piñatas,” Harper said. “That’s a different kind of party altogether.”
“Fine,” Mimi said. “But I still want the balloons and flowers. And Ali.”
“I’ll be there,” Ali promised, and watched them get into Harper’s car. The engine coughed, emitted a bunch of smoke, and then leaped into gear.
“You crossed your fingers,” Luke said.
“What?”
“When you promised her that everything was going to be fine.”
Ali turned away. “She needs to think that everything is going to be fine.”
Luke pulled her back and looked at her for a long moment. “Cell phone.”
“What?”
“I need your cell phone.”
She passed it over, watching as he programmed his number into it.
“For the next time you’re faced with one phone call,” he said. Luke looked into her eyes and let out a long breath. “Look, don’t read more into this than it is. If you need me, you call.”
“That simple?” she asked.
He shrugged, which she took to mean that he really had no idea, but he’d still do it.
“I wasn’t going to call you,” she said. “You’re on vacation.”
“I’m also not getting involved, but neither is working out so well for me.”
Her mind had been going one hundred miles per hour since the cops had shown up at the door that morning. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving her exhausted and far too shaky and emotional to deal with this. Horrifyingly close to the edge, she chewed on her lower lip and ordered herself not to lose it. “Why did you come?” she asked.
“You needed a ride.”
Her chest squeezed even tighter. “You’re not worried I’m going to steal something from you?”
“Stop,” he said, his voice far too gentle for her fragile state of mind. She swallowed the lump in her throat and told herself she was just tired. This was out of control. She was out of control. It was just that for once, she wanted her life to move in a direction that she directed. With a sigh, she looked away. Life around her appeared to be maintaining the status quo. There was the usual early evening, low-level traffic. People were just getting off work and heading to the gym, the grocery store, the pier…home.
Ali had no idea where that would be for her tonight.
All she wanted was a hot shower and then to go to bed and not wake up again until this whole unbelievable situation had resolved itself. Or until she was old and gray. Whichever came first.
Luke was looking her over. She was still wearing her apron. She had a streak of dried clay across one arm and on one foot. And given the look Luke aimed at her face, she had some there as well. She lifted her chin.
With a small twitch of his lips, he hitched his head in the direction of his truck. He opened the passenger door for her and waited until she pulled her seatbelt across her body before he hit the lock and shut the door. He walked around the front of the vehicle, his stride long-legged and easy. No rush.
When he slid behind the wheel, he put the key in the ignition but didn’t start the engine. There was a beat of silence, and then he turned to her, one hand on the back of her head rest, the other on the dash.
She did her best to appear as though she hadn’t just been sitting in an interrogation room for hours being questioned about a crime she hadn’t committed. But as it turned out, the pretense was far too much for her overloaded emotions, and she closed her eyes, tryin
g to disappear into the seat. If she disappeared, then he couldn’t see her fall apart.
“You okay?” he asked.
Her throat tightened further, and she shook her head. Nope. Not okay. Not even close. “Don’t,” she said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t be nice to me right now. I’ll lose it.”
With surprising gentleness, he pushed the hair from her face, then clicked open her seatbelt.
It was all the invitation she was going to get, and all the invitation she needed. Turning to him, she burrowed in as steady, strong arms closed around her. He stroked a hand down her back, and she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, soaking in the warm comfort he offered.
It was the safest and most secure she’d felt in far too long, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to let go.
“Ali.”
Afraid he was going to pull away before she was done soaking him in, she squirmed a little closer. “Please, not yet.”
A rough sound escaped him, and he tightened his grip. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Thank God. For just this one second, someone had her. She didn’t have to be strong all on her own. She exhaled a long, shaky breath and concentrated on dragging more air in. After a few beats, she realized he smelled amazing, guy amazing, and that her lips were pressed against his throat. Suddenly it wasn’t just comfort she was feeling, but a whole boatload of other things too, with arousal leading the pack. Extremely aware of the big, warm hand moving up and down on her back, she wondered—did he feel it too?
And then she had a bigger problem. Her face was still pressed up against his warm skin, and—look at that—every time she moved, her mouth slid over him.
He hadn’t shaved that morning, probably not yesterday either, and his skin was rough with stubble. Deliciously rough. And then there was his scent…Yum. She could no more have stopped herself from doing it again as she could have stopped breathing.
In reaction, Luke let out a low, very male sound that called to the most female part of her.
Which answered her question. Yeah, he felt it too.
He said her name again, his hand coming up to cup her jaw, his fingers weaving their way into her hair, tightening as if to draw her away from him.
But he didn’t.
Shaken, she inhaled a deep, uneven breath. Her breasts brushed his chest. The first time was accidental. The second time was all her. So was the third, and her entire body got all warm and tightened. What would it be like to have such a man belong to her? To belong to him? To kiss that mouth, feel it open under hers, feel it on her?
The temptation was too much, and her lips slid over his throat yet again. It still wasn’t enough. She needed to taste him.
Don’t do it…
But her day had been complete shit, her brain was full—too full—and there was no room in it for logic. None. So she did it. She ran her tongue along the column of his throat, and then because that was so good, she let her teeth sink into him a little bit as well.
A rough groan escaped him. Pulling her back, he searched her gaze for something, though she had no idea what. Probably her sanity.
Too late, she could have told him. She’d lost it.
Whatever he saw, he shook his head.
He was going to pull back. She could feel it in the sudden tautness of his muscles. She gave him her best sex kitten look, but the truth was she wasn’t exactly a sex kitten on the best of days, and this was definitely not one of those. But something in his eyes warmed. Still half expecting him to push her back into the seat, she was surprised when he instead pulled her up against him.
“Playing with fire,” he murmured. “And one of us is going to get burned.”
She managed a nod. Yes, and yes. And for the record, the person getting burned would be her. She was already burning up, from the inside out. A full-blown inferno, and he’d barely touched her. She hadn’t even realized until now how badly she wanted him.
Moving slowly, clearly giving her plenty of time to stop him, Luke cupped the nape of her neck, gliding his thumb along the sensitive skin there. Then he slowly leaned in.
She met him halfway, pathetically eager, but she couldn’t help herself.
Luke let out a half groan, half low laugh that seemed to be aimed more at himself than her. He shook his head again and brushed his mouth across hers.
When she murmured for more, demanded really, he did it again, and then finally he deepened the connection, parting her lips with his, kissing her deep and hot, banishing every worrisome, unhappy thought from her mind. When they broke for air, he ran his tongue over her bottom lip before gently sinking his teeth into it, just as she’d done to his neck. Heat and desire licked through her like flames, and her fingers curled into his shirt. She wasn’t ready to stop, wasn’t ready to come back to reality.
He said her name in a silky, rough whisper, covered her mouth with his again, and as before, there was no more thinking.
Hell, there was no more air. There was nothing but this, and she strained to get even closer, thwarted by the console between them. She couldn’t help it. Whether merely walking into a room or picking her up from jail, he had a way of commanding her attention. He was steady as a rock, steely. Edgy. Dangerous.
His kiss was all those things too. And he was a master at it, his big hand still gently caressing her neck, liquefying her bones with each delicious stroke of his tongue to hers. His other hand slid down her back, settling low on her spine, holding her still as he plundered.
Completely caught up, she held on tight, working to get closer still. Hell, she’d have crawled inside him if she could. He cupped her ass, and her hips arched to try to meet his in a movement as old as time, but she couldn’t get to him. She heard her own soft mewl of frustration, and then he was slowing them down, pausing to rest his forehead against hers. “Damn,” he said, stroking the pad of his finger over her wet lower lip. “Did not see that coming.”
“Didn’t see what coming?”
“You.”
Chapter 8
Ali had no idea how it’d happened that she’d ended up trying to climb Luke’s body, but she blamed his mouth. One hundred percent. “I’m over men,” she said out loud so that she might hear it and have it sink in.
Luke didn’t say anything to this. He just looked at her with the same intense expression on his face that he’d worn when he’d kissed her, which made her want to beg for another kiss. Instead, she bit her lips to keep them to herself. But as it turned out, she wasn’t good at holding her tongue. “It’s nothing personal,” she said, “but as a whole, men haven’t proven themselves all that reliable.” She paused. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
“It wasn’t going to be a hardship,” she said, “to be over men.”
He gave her an almost smile. “Hence the vibrator?”
She felt her face heat. “Okay, that really was a gag gift. And it’s not like sex isn’t…enjoyable or anything. It just tends to lead to bad decisions on my part.”
“I can respect that,” he said. “But for the record, sex, when it’s done right, is a hell of a lot more than enjoyable.”
Her body was still tingling from his kisses, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to believe that he could make sex far more than enjoyable.
“One more thing,” he said.
She looked into his deep blue eyes.
“Not all men will disappoint you,” he said. “I don’t mean me. Because I will absolutely disappoint you. But we’re not all assholes, Ali. I can promise you that.”
She held his gaze, the man who’d let her stay in his house, the man who’d come for her no questions asked, not even “are you guilty?” Which meant that already he’d done more for her than most of the men in her life. She was still staring at him when her phone rang.
“Ohmigod, Ali,” Aubrey said. “They brought you in for questioning? Why? How? What the hell happened?”
“Well,” Ali said, “apparently
after you let me into Teddy’s office, I stole the fifty big ones.”
“Did you?”
“No!”
Luke reached over and hit END, disconnecting her call.
Ali stared at him. “Why did you do that?”
“You shouldn’t discuss the case with anyone,” he said. “And especially don’t joke about stealing the money.”
“But that was Aubrey, Teddy’s assistant.”
“I don’t care if it was the Easter Bunny.”
“She’s nice. She’s the one who let me into his office the second time. She…” Ali broke off, her mind suddenly racing.
“She what?”
Ali met his gaze. “She asked me to make sure to never tell anyone that she’d let me in.”
Luke’s eyes were sharp. “You’re friends?”
“Not the go out and share sushi kind, but yeah. It’s more the ‘your dress is pretty, where did you get it’ sort.”
Luke shook his head. “Was that in English?”
“We’re friends,” she clarified.
“You know they found a toe ring in Marshall’s couch?”
“Yes,” she said. “The cops asked me about it, but it wasn’t mine.”
“And it’s not Melissa’s either. So whose is it? And is the owner fifty thousand dollars richer this week?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” She’d been going over and over this in her head until it spun. “I saw the money at the auction like everyone else. The next day, I cleaned up the hall and carried out all the floral arrangements. Then I remembered the pencil pot I’d made Teddy, the one sitting on his desk. For some reason, I couldn’t leave it there, so I went in to take it back. But it wasn’t on his desk.”
“Where was it?”
She paused, remembering how embarrassed she’d been to find it buried. “In his credenza.”
Luke blew out a breath. “You went through his things?”
“Yes, but I never saw the money. I grabbed the pot and left. I didn’t know the bill wrapper was there until the police found it, and I sure as hell don’t know where the money is. I’m thinking Teddy framed me.”
“Is there any reason that he’d want to stop the building of that new rec center?”
