That Unexpected Kiss

by Tamara Ferguson

  “Okay,” she answered softly.

  “Stay with me, Julie? Not just tonight, but for the weekend?”

  Geez, this was all so crazy, she thought. She hadn’t even planned on staying the night, let alone the weekend. Well, not exactly—there was that message she’d left for her dad. “I..yuh..I left a note for my dad, telling him I might not be home tonight.”

  She tried to ignore Dylan’s triumphant hoot of laughter.

  “But as far as the weekend?” She chose her words carefully. “I’d need to go home first and pick up some extra clothes to wear.”

  “Why?” Dylan asked, and immediately began laughing harder. She knew she must’ve been giving him that disbelieving look again. He was kind of bringing out the prudishness in her psyche right now, that’s for sure. She’d never seen him behave lighthearted and confident like he had since she’d arrived home. He’d always seemed so reserved in the past, which had probably been part of his cover, she’d come to realize.

  She rolled her eyes, muttering, “I need to sit in at Crystal Visions on Monday. Remember my new job? It’s going to begin soon.” Although she was frowning, she was smiling inside. “Why do I let you get to me so much?”

  He waggled his brows. “Because you love it.” He continued, “And you love me! C’mon—just admit it, Babe.”

  Julie grinned.

  And snorted.

  CHAPTER

  SIXTEEN

  Waking up beside her early the next morning, Dylan glanced at Julie with a smile on his face.

  Hearing a sudden clanking noise coming from the kitchen, Dylan sat up, startled.

  Buster jumped off from the bed, apparently ready to investigate.

  Julie was looking at Dylan with concern.

  He grimaced. “Uh, oh. It must be my mom. She has a key to the place and the security code too.

  “Your mom?” Julie moaned. Obviously panicked, she jumped off from the bed and began gathering together her clothes. Looking at herself in the mirror above Dylan’s bureau, she moaned even louder.

  Her hair was standing up and her makeup was smeared, but Dylan was thinking she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen. Around five-foot two, Julie had a sexy figure with a lot of curves. He’d loved her hair before it’d been cut, but he had to admit the short style, with as petite as she was, only enhanced the beauty of her huge brown eyes and lovely heart-shaped face.

  Dylan grinned. “You look great.”

  Julie shook her head dazedly. “I’m going to take a shower,” she muttered, running into the master bath.

  Dylan hesitated, wanting to join her, but he laughed at himself out loud instead and began getting dressed.

  Sure enough, it was Mom, and she was making them breakfast when Dylan entered the kitchen. She must’ve brought some extra groceries, because there was bacon cooking in the microwave. His mom had obviously been thinking about Buster too and Dylan grinned, seeing Buster chomping canned food from his bowl that was laying on the floor in the corner.

  “Hey, Mom,” Dylan said, entering the kitchen. Walking up to her, he gave her a peck on the cheek.

  “How’s the arm today?” she asked.

  “Fine. It’s itching.”

  “That’s always a good sign,” she answered.

  “Yeah. It is.”

  He watched as she began cracking eggs into a bowl. “You might want to add a few extra. I’ve got company for the weekend.”

  “Didn’t notice a car.”

  “It’s in the garage.”

  His mom paused, glancing over at him. “Anyone I know?”

  Dylan grinned. “Oh yeah.”

  Although he could tell she was curious, she continued making breakfast.

  Dylan poured himself some coffee before dropping bread into the toaster.

  As Dylan began setting the table, Julie approached him from the living room. When she walked into the kitchen, she looked over at his mom, and her eyes went wide in confusion. “Anne? You’re Dylan’s mom?”

  “Julie,” his mom exclaimed, quickly scooping the scrambled eggs from the pan onto a plate. “I thought Dylan was talking about one of his law enforcement buddies, when he said he had company.”

  Julie looked the most bewildered and indecisive that Dylan had ever seen her.

  And it was then that he made a decision to go on as he intended. “Nope, Mom, none of the guys this time. I’m just spending the weekend alone with the woman I intend to marry.”

  As Julie looked at him in astonishment, Dylan continued setting the table. Peeking over at his mom, he could see a huge smile on her face. Oh, crap, he thought. His mom had tears in her eyes. He’d never been able to figure out why she’d always been so intent on seeing him married, but he was sure damn glad that he’d finally found the one.

  Julie hadn’t budged an inch, and Dylan winked. “Julie, are you in there somewhere?”

  His mom laid down the pan she was holding and rushed over to Julie, wrapping her arms around her. “I knew something more had to be going on with Dylan since he moved to Crystal Rock. I’m so excited I’m finally going to have a daughter-in-law.” She pulled away from Julie, looking straight into her eyes. “And grandkids. Oh, you two are going to have such beautiful babies. My Dylan is so handsome, isn’t he? He looks just like his dad.”

  All the while Julie just stood there with her jaw dropped open, apparently in shock. Finally, she gulped, looking from his mom toward him, and spun around heading toward the back door. “Excuse me. I’ll be back in just a minute. I need a little fresh air.”

  Grimacing, his mom looked sheepish.

  Dylan frowned. “God, Mom. I hope you didn’t scare her away.”

  “Sorry. I guess I did get a little carried away.”

  “Ya think?”

  She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’ll finish getting breakfast together. Why don’t you go talk with her?”

  “Alright,” he answered, heading outside through the doorway.

  He walked toward the lake first and when he couldn’t find Julie, he headed behind the cabin and strolled along the trail leading up toward the cliffs surrounding the property. There was a beautiful view from the peak, and Dylan had considered building another getaway overlooking the lake.

  He spotted Julie, where she was sitting atop one of the massive boulders jutting out from the cliff. When he first came upon her, seeing her with her head between her knees and her shoulders heaving, he was instantly concerned.

  Damn. Had announcing his intentions actually brought tears to Julie’s eyes? If so, it was a real comedown, he thought grimly.

  He walked up to her. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry, Julie,” he said, sitting down beside her. “I didn’t know talking about marriage would upset you so much, otherwise I would’ve never brought it up.”

  Just then, Julie looked up and Dylan grinned. She was laughing so hard, she couldn’t seem to control it.

  What a relief.

  “Okay, already,” he muttered, after a few more minutes. “What’s so funny? Here I am declaring myself to you, and you’re out here laughing at me?”

  “Yeah, well, you can’t blame me for wondering—does madness run in your family?”

  Dylan smiled broadly. “Damn right it does. And just wait until you hear more about my crazy family.” He hesitated, helping her onto her feet. “Does this mean you’re saying yes?”

  “Are you kidding?” she answered with indignance. “When a girl gets proposed to, it needs to sound like a real proposal, and not like you’ve already assumed she’ll agree.”

  “Oh, man,” Dylan groaned, giving her a wink. “You’re gonna make me grovel, aren’t you?”

  “Darn right, I am,” Julie answered, sounding smug.

  But Dylan was pretty sure she’d just given him the answer he’d been wanting anyway. Why would she need a proper proposal if she wasn’t planning on saying yes?

  * * *

  They conversed comfortably at breakfast. It was rather amazing how well his mom and Julie
got along from the start. His mom had really liked Kate, but they hadn’t had much in common, whereas Julie had worked with her father her entire life at the Crystal Rock Tap, and running restaurants was his mother’s area of expertise.

  Anne Endicott and his grandparents owned a bunch of different restaurants in Wisconsin, as well as along the eastern and western coasts.

  But that was something they probably wouldn’t tell Julie right away. She was already a little too overwhelmed.

  He grinned, watching Julie and his mom talking non-stop about the Tap and its issues.

  The three of them got serious immediately after eating breakfast. It was important for Julie to understand just what drove him forward, Dylan decided, and the first thing she needed to know was exactly who he was.

  “Like I said before, I’m Dylan, but my full name is Dylan Nash Endicott,” he said to Julie, as they finished loading the dishwasher.

  “Oh,” Julie answered, glancing at Anne, who was pouring a cup of coffee.

  “I’m here in Crystal Rock on a mission too,” Anne said, looking at Dylan first, for what he figured was reassurance.

  He gave her a nod. “Go ahead Mom.”

  “This is going to take a while. Let me get you some more coffee, Julie.”

  “Alright,” Julie said, handing Anne her cup.

  Dylan stood up from the chair. “I’ll go get my laptop. I have information stashed in my files that’ll make everything easier to explain. Give me a minute though. I need to change the bandage on my arm.”

  When he went into the master bath, he ended up taking a quick shower and changing his clothes before applying a fresh bandage over his wound. Snatching his reading glasses and laptop from the office, he returned to the kitchen a few minutes later.

  When he laid the computer down on the table, he caught Julie giving him a very strange look when he was slipping on his glasses.

  It almost looked like…no.

  But she had given him that same exact look the night before, right before they’d…

  “Julie,” he whispered softly, waggling his brows.

  Julie grinned.

  His mother rolled her eyes, before she smiled and eventually cleared her throat.

  Julie seemed to be embarrassed and Dylan gave her a sheepish smile when he finally sat down at the table. Sliding his chair next to Julie’s, he opened the computer and brought up the files.

  His mom sat closer to Julie on the other side, and Dylan slid the computer over to her.

  The first thing his mother did was bring up a picture of Dylan on the screen from when he was ten years old.

  Dylan snorted. “Alright, Mom. That’s enough of that.”

  Julie smiled, looking at the picture curiously. “That’s really you?”

  “Yep. I was a real geek.”

  “Nooo. You were cute.”

  “That’s what I think too,” Anne said. But suddenly, she had tears in her eyes, bringing up the next picture.

  Dylan was in his baseball uniform with his dad by his side. It was the last picture that was ever taken of his father.

  “That’s a picture of me with my dad,” Dylan said quietly.

  Obviously noticing Anne’s tears, Julie’s smile faded as she reached over, patting Anne on her shoulder.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask.” Julie’s eyes met Dylan’s. “What happened to your dad?”

  Dylan answered grimly, “He was murdered, Julie, and after twenty years the case is still unsolved. And that’s why my mother’s here in town. She’s hoping that she’ll recognize the murderer, since we finally figured out who he was. We think the man who killed my father is living somewhere around Crystal Rock and has a new identity.”

  CHAPTER

  SEVENTEEN

  The situation was so unreal, Julie thought, as Dylan described the pain and anguish his family was immersed even years after the murder. The police hadn’t been much help at all. Julie was shocked to discover it’d taken ten years to finally narrow down the search for the person who’d killed Dylan’s father. Dylan had handed over his laptop to Julie, and she’d taken a few minutes to read through the files and newspaper clippings that’d been scanned and included in the information, as well as several reports that’d apparently been put together by a private detective.

  “Mathew Endicott was killed in Lake Geneva?” Julie asked, and Dylan nodded yes.

  “I think I remember hearing about your father’s murder. I’m not sure why, since I was only about six years old at the time.”

  Dylan shrugged. “You know those reality crime shows that are on TV? They featured something about Dad’s murder ten years later, after Mom’s investigator discovered that his former assistant had to have done it.”

  “I must’ve seen something about it on TV then,” Julie said.

  Anne’s mood was obviously bleak, staring at the computer. “I talked two different networks into featuring the story, hoping for a lead or a tip. Everything’s there on the computer if you want to watch the videos. Either the guy disappeared from the face of the earth, or he’s reinvented himself completely, which could’ve been done since we learned in our investigation that he wasn’t the real Wallace Brewster. All the credentials the bank had on file for him had to have been created by a professional.”

  Dylan continued, “All we had when we did the feature was an employee picture, which kind of looked a lot like an old driver’s license photo. We did try age progression with a computer tech, but the original photo was just too fuzzy.” Dylan leaned back in the chair. “The guy left his family after it happened. And it’s weird, they didn’t have a single photo of him either. It was hard to believe he just left them high and dry.”

  Anne looked at Dylan. “I’m still having the family watched, but they’re living at the poverty level. All except the daughter, that is. For some reason, she quit communicating with the mother and brother about ten years ago.”

  Dylan frowned. “Funny, that’s about the same time the TV feature went on the air. Isn’t it?”

  “Maybe we should try and talk with her again?”

  Dylan shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s been pretty insistent about claiming she has nothing to say about it.”

  Anne nodded thoughtfully.

  Julie cleared her throat, turning to Anne. “So, I guess you plan on looking for this man while you’re working with my dad?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve only met the man we’re looking for about half a dozen times, so that might not lead to anything. But I needed to be doing something while I was here in town, so no one would think twice about seeing me around. I’d go nuts if I couldn’t keep busy either. Dylan’s going to be pointing me in the direction of some of the leads he’s been rounding up. The man we’re searching for would probably be in his sixties by now. I’m not sure why his background wasn’t checked more extensively when he was hired at the firm. But security is a million times tighter now than it was back then. Who knows, maybe the guy isn’t even alive.” She sighed. “Dylan and Jake seemed to think my husband’s murder was premeditated though. I couldn’t hang around here as a tourist indefinitely. But truthfully?” Anne grimaced. “If I keep staying somewhere like the Dragonfly Pointe Inn, someone’s bound to recognize me. Our family is pretty well known in the restaurant and hotel trade.”

  Dylan looked concerned. “We’ll have to find somewhere else for you to live. And as much as I hate to admit it Mom, it’d probably be better if we avoided meeting here at the cabin anymore. Jake is worried about my cover with all the attention I’m getting in the papers since capturing Jim Dupree.”

  Anne’s smile was definitely suggestive. “Plus I wouldn’t want to cramp your style.”

  Julie snorted when Dylan began to laugh.

  Anne stood up on her feet. “I guess I should talk to Jake Loughlin about finding another place to stay.”

  “Tell you what, Anne. Why don’t we all have lunch at the Crystal Rock Tap?” Julie became thoughtful. “No one’s going to think it’s odd if w
e’re eating with a new employee. Plus I could introduce you to my dad. I also have an idea about where you might be able to live for a while.”

  Dylan shut down the laptop. When he and Julie stood up on their feet, Dylan wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. “If you want to go on ahead, Julie and I will meet you there shortly.”

  “Sounds good,” Anne answered, grabbing her purse from the counter.

  “Give us about a half an hour or forty-five minutes,” Dylan said as his mom walked outside through the doorway.

  “Okay,” she answered, closing the door.

  Dylan sighed with his arm still wrapped around Julie.

  So far, this weekend had been like a whirlwind. Way too much was happening, and Julie was dizzy, thinking about everything that was going on.

  “So that’s why you seem to understand me as well as you do,” Julie said quietly.

  Dylan gave her a wry smile. “We both lost a parent when we were young, in some pretty tragic circumstances.”

  Julie nodded her agreement.

  “Want to go through your mom’s information when we get back from lunch?”

  “Yes,” she answered, pursing her lips. “I had a really strange dream last night, concerning my mom, but I couldn’t remember what it was all about when I woke up.”

  Dylan stared at her intently. “You know, it could’ve been a memory, Julie?”

  She answered with hesitance, “Yeah, I was thinking that too.”

  * * *

  When Julie’s father walked into the kitchen and saw Dylan sitting at the table, he glared.

  Without hesitation, Dylan stood up and held out his hand.

  Jeff finally reached out and shook it. “Julie’s home, I presume?”

  “She’s changing clothes.”

  Jeff’s expression was still looking grim as he glanced at the staircase and back at Dylan.