by Jodi Thomas
He held the door, then watched her dancing around acting as if it were below freezing even in the house.
Without much thought, he pulled off his heavy work coat and put it around her shoulders.
“Thanks,” she said, already moving to the boy.
By the time Tinch warmed her soup, she was back in the kitchen.
“Jamie’s already asleep.” She was still wrapped in his coat.
“I’m not surprised. He only has two speeds: full out and stop. I’ll take him up to bed while you drink your soup.”
By the time he came back downstairs, she was curled up on the couch where the boy had been sleeping and watching the same western. “Better be careful.” He handed her a beer. “That movie tends to put people to sleep.”
She crossed her legs and tugged his coat around her to use as a blanket. He sat down about a foot away and tried to act interested in the western. He’d been thinking of things he wanted to tell her all day, and now that they were alone he didn’t know where to start.
“How was work?” he finally asked.
She started, as if she’d forgotten he was there, then said, “Fine. The emergency room was so busy I stayed to help out for a few hours. Dr. Wilson could have handled it, but most were kids with colds and I hate to see the families waiting too long. I know they just want to get medicine and get them back home.”
He waited, watching her straighten the coat, then fold and unfold her legs, then straighten the coat again, then lift her beer, almost drink it, and then set it down again.
Tinch decided sitting close to her was kind of like cuddling up to a live wire. Any minute she might spark and burn them both.
Finally, she looked in his direction for a few seconds and then went back to fiddling with the coat.
“What is it, Addison? What’s wrong?” he said slowly. “Did you hear something or did something happen at work that’s upset you?”
“No.” She waved her hands between them as if washing the air. “Nothing like that. Everything is fine.” She folded her legs. Then she unfolded them.
He figured she was an intelligent woman and eventually she’d find a way to tell him whatever was on her mind. All week they’d talked, sometimes for only a few minutes and mostly about Jamie, but they had developed a habit of visiting before they went to bed. Or rather, she went to bed and he stayed up pretending to work until he knew she’d be asleep. Only tonight, she didn’t look as exhausted as usual.
He watched as she got up and took her cup of soup to the kitchen.
He waited. Whatever was bothering her probably had nothing to do with him because she never seemed to have any trouble telling him off when she was mad at something he’d said or done. So the longer she paced and fretted, the more comfortable he felt.
Maybe she was thinking about going back to her place at night. Neither of them had brought that subject up, and as far as he was concerned he’d just as soon not talk about her leaving. After three years alone, he liked the company.
Five minutes later he tried not to jerk when she circled the couch and stood right in front of him, blocking his view of the movie.
“This has nothing to do with you, Tinch, but I need to ask a favor.” Her words came out so fast he wished he’d had a rewind button.
“All right,” he said calmly, hoping to settle her down.
She frowned. “I’d like to kiss you again, just as an experiment.”
He raised one eyebrow.
“I was married once when I was still in my teens. It didn’t last, and after that I was afraid to get involved. The few times I did”—she hesitated, waving her hands like he should fill in the words—“you know, try dating while I was in med school, well, every time I went out, I regretted it. Either I had a terrible time, or worse, the guy hung around forever thinking we had a thing.”
Plopping down beside him, she added, “A few months before I came here, my father talked me into dating a fine doctor who just happens to be fifteen years older than me. We went out a dozen times, and he’s never even held my hand, which was fine because I really enjoyed learning about his research. Or I did like talking to him. That was before he decided to talk to my dad. They’d been friends for years. Without saying anything to me, they decided we, me and him, should get married. When I confronted Glen, he simply said I’d get used to the idea, like I had no say. He didn’t hit me, but I felt a blow. It was like I was back married at nineteen and having no control over my own life.”
“Breathe, Addison,” Tinch ordered.
She took a quick breath and added, “I didn’t argue with Glen or Dad. I ran, which is probably a habit I’ve developed over time, but that’s not important here. I’m just saying that my year is almost over and I still haven’t come up with a strong plan of what I want to do with my life. If I don’t take Davidson’s offer, my father is going to be furious with me, and believe me you don’t want him furious. I don’t remember vacations or family dinner or bedtime stories. All I remember from my childhood are lectures on how to correct my shortcomings.”
Tinch wondered if she’d let him take notes. She was moving way too fast. “What does that have to do with me kissing you again?” About the time he’d decided they’d just be friends and help Jamie, she wanted to play spin the bottle.
She moved closer. “Don’t you see? Until you kissed me I always thought it was me. Something was wrong with me. I was the one broken. I’m like brain dead in the relationships department. But after you kissed me, I began to consider the possibility that it was them. From the wild boy I ran away to marry to one of L.A.’s top plastic surgeons, not one made me feel like you did with that kiss. When I go back and Glen finally does kiss me and I feel nothing here”—she pointed to her middle—“then I’ll know for sure. It’s him and not me. All I have to find out right now is, did I really feel like I think I did when I kissed you.”
Before he could answer, she added, “I’m not asking for anything but another kiss. We both know we have little in common, and neither of us is looking for any kind of a relationship. Just consider it as one friend doing a favor for another friend. Nothing more.”
Tinch fought down a grin. “I don’t know, Doc. I’m starting to feel like a lab rat.”
She swore as she fell back against the cushions, then bounced back like a jack-in-the-box. “I’m not going to beg some hick cowboy hermit from the sticks to kiss me. Forget the whole thing. It was a dumb idea.”
The ice princess was back. She shook her sunlight-blond hair back and added, “I’m not getting enough sleep. That’s it. I’m losing my mind. What kind of nitwit goes around asking some guy she met after a bar fight to kiss her? There should be some kind of Z-pak for what I’ve got. I could just shoot myself full of antibiotics, take a sleeping pill, and sleep this off.”
When Tinch finally got a word in, he said, “Would you be willing to bargain?”
He’d surprised her. For a moment she just looked at him, and then she said, “What bargain?”
“One kiss, a real kiss that doesn’t end when one of us runs, traded for a date. I haven’t been out on a date in years, and I’m tired of everyone looking at me like they feel sorry for me. After this is all over, we go out and paint the town. Me and you. A real date.” He grinned. “I’ll even pay.”
She looked like she was weighing the pros and cons.
He stood his ground. She was the one who’d started this, but he planned to be the one who finished.
“All right. It’s a deal.” She sat next to him, shoved a few strands of hair out of her face, closed her eyes, and waited.
After a few minutes she opened one eye. “Aren’t you going to do it?”
“Not yet,” he answered. “The movie’s not over.”
She made a little yelp and fell back against the couch.
Tinch swore if the woman hung around long, she’d wear out his furniture. “Relax,” he said. “Watch the movie. We’re getting to the good part.”
He pulled a comforter o
ver her legs and she scooted away from him a few feet. As they settled into watching the movie, she kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up. Tinch put his hand over them.
“Trying to guess my shoe size?” she asked.
“You’re so cold. I can feel icy toes even through the socks.” He didn’t remove his hand, and after a few minutes, when she didn’t pull away, he began gently rubbing her feet.
They talked over the movie, neither very interested in the plot. She told him of her day, and he told her how Jamie had reacted when he’d asked which room the boy wanted to be in.
When the movie finally ended, he clicked off the TV and studied her in the dim light. She’d calmed some and warmed up finally, but she still didn’t act like a woman wanting to be kissed. There was something untouchable about her. Maybe it was the way she moved, holding herself always in check, that turned him—and most men, he guessed—away. But she’d asked to kiss him, and he had no intention of backing down, if for no other reason than she needed and wanted to be kissed.
He was trying to decide if he should stand up to kiss her or just lean over to her on the couch, when she moved closer. She folded her legs beneath her and faced him as if about to give a lecture.
“Well?” she said. “I think it’s about time.”
“So do I,” he whispered as he slid his hand along the back of her neck and pulled her to him. He smiled as his free arm circled her shoulders and drew her down against him. Her mouth was open to protest when his lips closed over hers.
For a moment she went perfectly still and he thought she might bolt even though she had been the one to ask for the kiss. Then warmth seemed to run into her blood.
“Relax,” he whispered against her lips. “I got you, darlin’. Just relax.”
He didn’t give her time to answer before he began lightly kissing the corners of her mouth. Then he tugged on her bottom lip and she opened to his kiss.
Tinch shifted, without breaking the kiss, until her body rested under him. As the kiss deepened he let her feel the weight of him above her. He liked the way she molded to him. Her breasts flattened against his chest as he felt the length of her. Kissing her deeply, he moved with the feel of her breathing.
She took her time, but slowly she reacted to his every move. She was a woman awakening and from what he could tell, she was waking up hungry for more.
After a while, he shifted slightly to his side so he could move his hand along her long body, feeling her beneath the one layer of material.
It had been so long since he’d kissed a woman and he felt like he was near starved, but he took his time, slowly turning the kiss from tender, to playful, to passionate. Her arms circled around his shoulders, molding him closer, and he smiled, knowing this time she had no intention of pulling away.
Her lean body reminded him of a fine racehorse, and he had no doubt she loved the feel of his hand moving over her.
She made little sounds of pleasure and arched her back when he spread his hand out over her middle. She was feeling the passion all the way to her core, and he spread his fingers out, loving how she was reacting to him.
He was lost, beyond thought. He moved his hand to the waist of her scrubs and pushed them down so that he could spread his fingers over her stomach. Her skin was warm and alive to his touch as he stroked her. The pleasure he saw in her eyes made him smile as he lowered his mouth to her throat before returning to her mouth.
As the kiss deepened, he moved up until her breast filled the palm of his hand. She jerked slightly and broke the kiss.
“Relax,” he whispered. “I got you.” Staring into her gray eyes, he kept moving his hand over her breasts until he felt her calm beneath his touch, and then, pressing his thumb on her chin, he opened her mouth and continued the kiss.
He felt her, more than heard her, laugh with delight as his fingers tightened over her tender flesh. Now her sounds of pleasure echoed in his mouth as she moved to his touch.
The kiss turned wild and hungry, taking them both into the madness of passion. He shoved his hand down until her scrubs were almost off, then up, molding her breasts with bold strokes. She moved, greedy for his nearness, kissing him as deeply as he kissed her.
When she wrapped her long legs around his waist, he rocked with the feel of her surrounding him.
“Relax,” she whispered as she laughed. “I got you.” Her long legs tightened around him once more.
Tinch was so lost in the feel and taste of her, he almost didn’t hear the chime sound. It took him two heartbeats to figure out what had intruded on the silence.
Then an instinct born as long ago as passion took over. He stood, pulling her with him. “Go upstairs,” he whispered as he held her close one more moment. “Make sure Jamie is safe. Someone just drove onto the property.”
She ran for the stairs as he reached above the six-foot console and grabbed his rifle hidden there. Anyone coming this time of night better have something important to say.
Tinch was on the porch when the sheriff’s cruiser pulled up. “Is Addison here?” she yelled as she ran around the car.
“Yes,” Tinch answered as he lowered his rifle.
“Good. I need to talk to you both.” The sheriff didn’t wait to be invited into the house. “I’ve got news from Dallas and it’s not good.”
Addison moved down the stairs. “What’s happened?”
If Sheriff Alex Matheson noticed anything unusual about the two people standing before her, she didn’t comment. She simply began her report. “The coroner is ruling Sadie Noble’s death a murder. She was a drug user, but there were bruise marks where she’d been beaten and held down within hours of her death. The final needle that went in her arm went in the right arm. It was the first and only needle mark on her right side.”
Addison was following every word. “She was right-handed? When I interned in L.A., I saw druggies who were so right-handed that they couldn’t handle the needle in the other hand.”
Alex nodded. “There was also a hairline fracture on her jaw. I’m guessing the men who came that night got tired of trying to hold her down and finally knocked her unconscious. The autopsy also found evidence that two of her fingers had been broken weeks ago and never treated, along with several scars and old injuries. Either she was very clumsy, or she’d been knocked around several times before.”
Tinch fought down bile in his throat. He was glad Lori Anne wasn’t there to hear how her little sister had died. It would have broken her heart. He only hoped that the two sisters had finally found each other in heaven.
Addison asked a few questions, but he’d heard all he wanted to hear. Sadie was dead, and now it was his responsibility to take care of Jamie. If that meant protecting the boy with his life, Tinch knew he would.
The sheriff sat down in one of the dining room chairs and folded her arms. “Except for a few relatives, no one knows that either of you are connected to Jamie. We’re not dealing with professional killers here. There’s a good chance these guys think they’ve gotten away with the murder, and I’d like to keep it that way until I catch up to them. We don’t have much to go on right now. A few people around the trailer park saw a man parked outside Sadie’s place a few days ago, but I couldn’t get a description worth putting out on either the man or the car.”
“So they’ve been back to the scene of the crime?” Tinch asked.
Alex shrugged. “The company that rents out a few of the trailers in the park said someone called and wanted to rent that exact trailer. When the receptionist said it needed to be cleaned, the caller claimed that wasn’t necessary.”
“They’re looking for something,” Tinch added.
“That would be my guess.” Alex stared at him. “Something besides the boy. If they don’t find it in the trailer, they might think Jamie has it—or knows where it is. The next step could be to find him.”
“He didn’t come with anything but the ragged clothes on his back.” Tinch said what all three of them already knew. There was
no way Jamie had anything the men wanted, but that might not stop them from coming after him. They might think he knew something.
“So, what is the plan?” Addison sat down beside Tinch, brushing his leg as if she’d done so many times.
The sheriff leaned forward. “I’m thinking, maybe they’re stupid or desperate enough to show up at Sadie’s funeral. We could put it off a few more days. I could get the paper to run a story about how this woman died alone without any relatives. If the drug guys read it, they just might think they could get a good look at Jamie and find out where he’s staying.” She looked at Tinch. “I don’t want you or Jamie or Addison there. I’ll have men watching. It shouldn’t be too hard to spot these guys if they show up.”
“If that fails, I’ve got a team in Dallas digging up who Sadie worked for. Maybe we can track it that way. I’d really like to find out who did this, but my first priority has to be keeping the boy safe.”
“Both chances of catching them are long shots.” Tinch frowned. “I’ve never lived looking over my shoulder, but it’s a habit I plan to pick up. Between the doorbell at the gate and the dogs, no one will get on my property without my knowing it. Tomorrow I’ll call Denver Sims and see if he won’t come by and help me make the Rogers place more secure.”
“Won’t you have to check with the owner?” Alex asked.
Tinch shook his head. “I bought the land today. All that’s left to do is the paperwork. The way I see it, there are only two ways to get to Jamie. One, across open fields from the Rogers place, but I’m guessing these guys are lazy. A locked gate will probably keep them out. Two, they come through my front gate. If they do, no matter what time it is, I’ll know they’re coming.”
Alex asked Tinch to walk her out while Addison went up to check on Jamie. They were at her car when she said, “The autopsy showed signs that Sadie Noble was raped postmortem. We have DNA, but even if they’re in the system, it will take time.”
