He pushed harder. “We’re talking promo space, a stand or two. Coasters, napkins, the whole nine yards. And you’d be included on all the usual sponsor lists, of course. You’d be included in the brochure. Your branding would inevitably show up in photos of the event.”
“It’s an interesting idea, though I still hesitate to consider a California event. Why don’t you send me all the information, and I can talk it over with my brothers after the dust settles on the High West problem.”
“Well, that’s the issue. We’ve already lined up all the other sponsors. The promotional items are going to press in three days.”
“I can’t make a decision that quickly.”
“Ms. Donovan—”
“Tessa, please.”
“Tessa.” His tone dripped sympathy. “My father is not going to do business with a man who screwed his precious little girl. I really can’t make it more clear than that.”
She drew back a bit in shock at this crudeness.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the way he sees it, I guarantee you. But I know my sister a little better than my father, and I find it hard to take offense. Your family has a great company, and I think we’d work well together. I’d be honored to deal with you.”
“Thank you. But I can’t make that kind of decision so quickly. My brothers will need to be involved—”
He raised his eyebrows. “I was under the impression that you wanted to leave your brothers out of this.”
“Pardon me?”
“Don’t worry. I can keep a secret.”
“That’s not it at all,” she lied. She didn’t want this guy thinking he carried her family secret. “I’m trying to resolve the issue with your father before I bring Eric into this mess. That’s it.”
He held up his hands. “I understand. Believe me. Working with family can be a pain in the ass. My dad and I rarely see eye to eye.”
She wanted to make clear that her brothers and her were fine. That they loved one another and she’d never speak about Eric with the kind of bitterness that Monica had shown toward her father. But there was no way to say that without insulting Graham, so she pressed her lips together and held the words in.
“Regardless, I need to know in two days,” he said.
“How much money are we talking?” She braced herself, waiting for a high number, but Graham just smiled again.
“I’ll send you the breakdown and a list of the other sponsors. We haven’t rolled it out yet, obviously, so I don’t have confirmed attendees yet, but I can assure you it will be an impressive group. Names you would recognize. Last year’s turnout was pretty spectacular.”
“I can’t promise anything, Graham.”
He wiped his mouth and set his napkin on the table. “I get it. But if you’re planning to expand—and I assume that’s what you’re working on—you’re going to have to be more aggressive. Boulder isn’t exactly where the big boys play.”
“Our goals are obviously not as far-reaching as your family’s,” she snapped, “but we know exactly what we’re doing.” And our relationships aren’t nearly as screwed up as yours, she left off.
“I don’t mean to offend you, Tessa. I honestly don’t. I just want you to take this opportunity seriously. Don’t say no just because it’s happening quickly. And all proceeds go to cancer research in honor of our grandmother.”
She softened just slightly. “All right. Send me the information, and I’ll give it some thought.”
“Promise?” he asked, his eyes crinkling with charm.
She was interested in the both the charity event and the idea of supplying Kendall Flight, but Tessa still got out of there as quickly as she could. She fought off the need to stop home for a shower, but just barely.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“BRAXTON HICKS contractions…” Luke murmured as he squinted at the first page of the book that covered the third trimester of pregnancy. Did Simone know about this stuff? She’d been raised in foster care for most of her life, so she didn’t have any family around to help her out. But he couldn’t ask her if she knew about Braxton Hicks because there was no reason Luke should know about them. She’d likely be pissed if she found out he’d bought a few pregnancy books in a moment of weakness.
He glanced around the station room, making sure Simone hadn’t magically appeared. She’d already gone home for the day—otherwise, Luke wouldn’t have gotten the books out at all—but he had a few minutes to waste before the next DVD of surveillance video was ready. The old computer system couldn’t handle viewing them over the network, so the tech department had been burning them in six-hour increments. Luke had already managed to scan three of them. Unfortunately, that wasn’t as much progress as he’d like to think. He’d found nothing, and he was only a third of the way through.
Luke turned a few pages of the book, stopping at a section about birth classes. “Shit,” he breathed. He’d been so focused on figuring out who the father was that he hadn’t even considered this part of it. Who was going to be there with her when she had the baby? A girlfriend, maybe? But Simone wasn’t very social. She’d certainly never mentioned anything about hanging out with friends. Then again, she’d never mentioned a man, either, and clearly she’d been near one.
He needed to let this go, but his gut burned at the idea of stepping back. He’d grown up with a single mom, and he had a soft spot. He’d hated the way his mom had struggled and the guilt she’d felt that Luke’s father had left. He could still remember every time she’d apologized to him, and how much he’d hated his father in those moments.
Simone didn’t deserve to be alone any more than his mother had. She didn’t deserve to be stressed and secretive and angry.
He grimaced in frustration, rolling his shoulders to try to release some tension. The question of who the father was still ate at him. He was a damn detective, after all. It was his job to work through mysteries and solve them. But presented with a very basic question, he proved completely incompetent.
Glancing toward the phone, he resisted the need to call Tessa to talk to her about it. It wasn’t the first time he’d had that urge today. Ridiculous to think he could miss somebody he’d only known for a week.
Shaking it off, Luke told himself he was only horny and got back to studying, but just as he turned another page, a shadow fell over him. Luke jumped and looked up into the face of his boss. Sergeant Pallin looked shaken by the sight of the book, and Luke fought the urge to shove it under his papers and wipe his hands on his pants.
He knew the sergeant had heard the same stories as everyone else. The book probably just confirmed the rumors, but Pallin pulled his eyes from it and inclined his head toward Luke’s monitor. “Still reviewing tape?”
“Yeah. No hits yet, but it’s there somewhere.”
“Good. And the Denver files?”
“Still slogging through those, too. There are a couple of things missing from some of them. I’ll need to check with Denver again.”
“All right. Let me know what you find.” His eyes flicked to the book again, but he put his hands in his pockets and walked back to his office. Apparently he didn’t want to open up a can of sticky personnel issues.
“Fine with me,” Luke muttered. He rolled his shoulders one last time, slipped the book back into his desk and went to go harass the tech department. He’d already got word that there were no usable fingerprints on the keg. It had been wiped clean. So he really, really needed a break on the video. An hour later, he got it. A white car inched through the frame of the surveillance camera from a bookstore. He wasn’t sure it was the exact white bumper they’d spotted in the alley, but he jotted down the license plate and immediately ran a check.
“Bingo,” he said when the owner’s name showed up in their system. This guy had been arrested four times and convicted twice. A meth head by all accounts. Not the kind of guy Luke would’ve pegged for a sophisticated robbery, but maybe he’d had a successful life before he’d discovered drugs.
The
last address in the system was over a year old. Luke didn’t have much confidence the guy had stayed in one place for so long, and it was already six-thirty. He and Simone could bring him in for questioning in the morning if they tracked him down.
He printed out the list of arrests and the accompanying photos, shoved them into a file and looked at the phone again. Good news, bad news…it didn’t matter what it was. Everything made him want to call Tessa.
Luke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He should apologize. He should call and tell her he’d been an ass and she wasn’t to blame. But what if she forgave him? Then he’d have to think about how much he’d miss her when it ended for good.
But when he thought about heading home to his empty condo for another night, Luke decided maybe it’d be worth the risk.
“BALLS,” TESSA GROANED as she collapsed onto her couch. “Worst Tuesday ever. No doubt.” Whatever plans she’d had to seduce Luke had vanished when her afternoon had turned into a jumble of arguing brothers, screwy paychecks and a ridiculously enormous quote from Graham Kendall detailing what sponsorship of the golf tournament would cost. She dropped her White Orchid bag on the coffee table and slumped into the cushions.
There wasn’t an inch of seduction in her tonight. At best, she could manage a bath and a drink and a microwave meal. Her pretty lingerie would have to wait.
It turned out that Roland Kendall wouldn’t be back in the office until tomorrow afternoon, which felt like a reprieve for Tessa, but Eric had nearly been frothing at the mouth in outrage. Unfortunately, his outlet had been yelling at Jamie for a defective tap that had nearly flooded out the floor behind the bar.
Poor Jamie had been upset enough about the mess before having to deal with Eric’s temper, and he’d ended up throwing down his mop and stalking out of the bar. Jamie’s walk hadn’t lasted long, though. His shoulders had probably itched with the need to get back and get the floor sparkling again. But Tessa couldn’t help but take Jamie’s brief disappearance as foreshadowing.
Her brothers had gotten along well once upon a time. Jamie had looked up to his big brother as a hero. Eric had played the part of role model to perfection, willingly toting his little brother along to movies and pickup basketball games.
Then their parents had died, and everything had changed.
Eric had become the staid, responsible father figure.
And Jamie had turned into a wild, rebellious teenager who resented being told what to do.
For a while, after Jamie had graduated from college, the relationship had gotten better. They’d almost been friends again. But now… “Oh, God,” Tessa groaned, hiding her face behind her hands. The tension hung between them like a permanent cloud, sometimes cracking with lightning and rage. She didn’t know what to do anymore.
She let her body slide slowly down until she was lying on the couch, then she closed her eyes and tried to plan her next step. The numbers Graham Kendall had sent were impossible. She couldn’t spend that kind of money on her own, and Eric would never make a decision like that so quickly, even if she brought him in on it tonight.
He hadn’t yet sent the numbers on beverage sales for the private jet charters. Hopefully they would look good. If they didn’t, all her eggs would be in the High West basket, and both Monica and Graham thought that was an impossible dream.
And now…Jesus, now she wasn’t even sure they should be in business with the Kendall Group. The family freaked her out. But Eric didn’t care about the Kendall family, just the opportunity.
Hopelessness had begun to seep into her cells. It was a foreign, unwelcome feeling. She wasn’t normally subject to dark moods, and when they did sneak in, she tried to move too fast to feel them. That was how she dealt with life. She schemed. She acted. She organized. She rushed. But now she was sinking into the couch with exhaustion and there was no hiding from her fear.
Tears were just starting to tingle behind her eyelids when her cell phone rang. She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling fan. Whoever it was, it was surely trouble. Eric or Jamie or one of those weird-ass Kendalls. For a moment, she thought of ignoring it, but her conscience wouldn’t let her. She reached blindly over and grabbed her phone from her purse.
“Luke,” she gasped when she saw the screen.
She hit the button and, holding her breath, raised the phone to her ear.
“Tessa? It’s Luke.”
“Hi.”
“I wanted to apologize for last week. I’m sorry. I lost my temper, and—”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“No, really—”
“Luke,” she interrupted. “I’m serious. I understand. I sprang it on you out of the blue, and you reacted. It’s okay.”
He sighed deeply, and his voice dropped to a softer tone. “I really am sorry. Are you all right? You sound funny.”
“I’m about four inches deep in my couch right now, so I might be a little muffled.”
“You’re tired,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“Me, too.”
“Want to take a nap together?”
She’d meant it as a joke, but when he replied, “God, yes,” Tessa realized she hadn’t been joking at all. Her eyes slid to the white shopping bag sitting on the table. The pale gray script promised discretion and pleasure. Tessa found that she still had a tiny bit of energy left inside her. Oh, yeah.
Still, instead of jumping on the possibility, she smiled at the bag and waited. They’d argued and he’d broken it off. She wasn’t about to invite herself over. The ball was in Luke’s court.
“But,” he finally said, “I’d settle for dinner if you’d be willing to see me again.”
“Hmm. I don’t know…”
“I’ll let you call me detective.”
Laughing, she pushed herself up from the couch. “Deal. Can you give me half an hour?”
“Take forty-five minutes. I need to make a reservation and change into a suit.”
“A suit?”
“I thought I’d take you someplace nice. Unless you’re really too tired?”
Oh, no, she was over her exhaustion at this point. And this was something to do, something to take her mind off her problems. Tessa hung up, grabbed her new lingerie out of the bag and raced for the shower.
Granted, she didn’t need to seduce Luke anymore, but there was nothing wrong with trying to blow the man’s mind.
LUKE’S HAND TIGHTENED on the steering wheel when he heard the beep of his cell. He didn’t want to think about work tonight, not that he was in much danger of being distracted from Tessa. She looked beautiful. His eyes slid over her bare arms as he grabbed the phone.
“Hello?”
“I just wanted to see if you were still mad at me.”
He cringed. “Hey, Mom.” He stole a look at Tessa to find her eyes wide and curious.
“Well? Are you?”
“No, you know I’m not.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t called since Eve left.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t talk right now.”
“You’re still working?”
“No,” he said, bracing himself.
“Oh,” his mom said. Then, “Ohhhhh! You’re on a date!” The last sentence came out as a loud screech, and Tessa smothered a laugh.
Luke fought the urge to turn on the radio so she couldn’t eavesdrop. Instead, he hurried his mom off the phone. “Have a good night, Mom. Bye.”
Tessa grinned at him. “You’re adorable.”
“Why? Because I talk to my mom?”
“No, just because you’re cute. Detective.”
He stared straight ahead, afraid he’d blush or grin or blurt out, “Aw, shucks,” if he looked at her.
“Where are we going?” she finally asked.
“You don’t know?” There was only one restaurant at the end of this road that wound up the mountains, but Tessa shook her head. “You’ve never been to Flagstaff House?”
Her squea
l startled him so much that he nearly hit the soft shoulder of the road. He came even closer when she leaned in to press kisses to his jaw. “Jeez. Maybe I should’ve saved this for a bigger apology.”
Flagstaff House was the grand dame of expensive dining in Boulder, maybe even in the whole Denver area. It was also a clear sign he was trying too hard, but when her lips parted against his neck, Luke was glad he’d chosen it.
“I can’t wait,” she whispered against him, and the searing heat of her mouth turned ice cold under her breath. Luke bit back a shiver. A pleasant heaviness in his cock threatened to become something more substantial.
Jesus, he was glad he’d called her.
They rounded a hairpin turn and there it was, a glass-and-wood triangle plunked down on the rugged mountainside. The sun had sunk behind the mountains and deep twilight had settled over the parking lot. After Luke parked and opened her door, Tessa pulled him up the stairs to the deck that overlooked the city.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I asked, but there’s no outdoor dining yet.”
“No,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
The whole town was spread out below them, and Denver rose in faint peaks of buildings beyond that. As they watched, streetlights and houses blinked to life like fireflies.
Her fingers slid between his.
He squeezed her hand. “Do you want dinner, or should we stay here and watch the stars come out?”
When she turned to him, Luke felt an ache wind through his heart. It touched every chamber like a cruel hand. His chest felt too small.
Tessa rose on tiptoes to kiss him, and he drew her close. They kissed for long seconds, and he couldn’t help but run his hands along her back. The black dress was made of some soft, slinky material, and he felt nothing but her body beneath the fabric.
Alone in the dark, standing above the sky, Luke touched her in slow motion. He smoothed each fingertip down her spine, shaped her hips, cradled her ass in both hands. He smoothed one hand up to her ribs, then gently cupped one breast. Her nipple pushed against his palm. Nothing but this paper-thin fabric separated him from her skin.
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