The Wanted Bride (A Contemporary Romance)
Page 12
The Sheriff sank into the chair across from Matt. “I thought about getting you one of those cappuccino’s but knew it would ruin my reputation, buying sissy coffee drinks.”
“You have such a macho lawman persona.”
“Hey, watch it. I resemble that remark.”
The two men each sipped their coffee. “Not as good as Fran’s,” Matt said.
Jesse nodded. “Speaking of Fran’s, what did you think of that fire last night?”
Matt contemplated his response. “I don’t know. The fire department didn’t seem to think it was anything more than a grease fire.”
“I know. But Fran has never gone off and left a burner on before. She’s pretty careful in that kitchen.”
“Yeah, that bothered me too.”
Jesse gave Matt a stern look. “Okay, I’m here to confess.”
“What?” Matt asked confused.
“I know I gave you a hard time about being suspicious of Valerie.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“I’m beginning to think that maybe I should do a little more checking on our girl.”
Matt leaned forward in his chair and frowned at his friend, anxiety trickling down his spine like a babbling brook. “You told me you verified her.”
Jesse nodded. “I ran her name through the database. A lot of Valerie Brown’s came up. Not one fit the description of our girl.”
“So what else can you do?”
Jesse smiled a devious look. “Well, last night when she asked for a glass of water, I kept the glass. I dusted it and lifted her fingerprints. We should know everything about her in just a few days.”
Matt squirmed uncomfortably in his chair and leaned back while he contemplated this turn of events. Guilt and curiosity and fear consumed him. Did he really want to know the truth this way? “I don’t think she’s a criminal.”
“We’ll see.” Jesse nodded his head.
“I’ve said all along that there is something different about her.” Matt ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends.
“Or we both could be wrong about her. But after the fire, I think I should do some checking.”
“You don’t think she started that fire, do you?” Matt asked, feeling strange.
“She was alone in the café.” He paused. “I don’t know. It can’t hurt to check.”
If she was hiding something, Matt suddenly wanted her to tell him her secrets. He didn’t want to learn the truth from Jesse. Yet there was McKenzie and the children to consider, and his curiosity insisted upon being satisfied.
“I think she’s going to come back clean,” he said, hoping he was right. “But do me a favor. If you find something on her, don’t tell anyone. Bring the information to me.”
“As long as she’s clean, that’s not a problem,” Jesse said. “After Fran’s fire, I need to know if I have reason to be concerned.”
Matt nodded. “I understand.”
#
Two days later, Valerie felt rested. Her throat wasn’t quite as sore, and she needed to see Matt.
He’d apologized, and that act of contrition had thrown her. She had never heard her father say the words “I’m sorry.” Carter had never expressed regret for anything during their time together.
Those two little words had resonated in her mind over and over the last few days. He’d said he was sorry, and she thought she’d been hallucinating. A man never showed remorse for having an attitude about sex.
She had to see Matt. To be honest about why she’d taunted him, telling him she only wanted sex. Part of her had wanted to experience a night in his arms, while the other part knew she didn’t do hookups.
She’d passed the restaurant on the way over and had seen the closed sign on the door. A truck was parked in front that had a sign on the vehicle, “Rudy’s Painting.” Obviously the remodeling to the kitchen was under way.
Valerie pulled McKenzie’s Land Rover to a halt in front of Matt’s law office. For a moment she sat staring at the building.
How much should she tell him? Everything? But if she confessed, then she would have to explain to the entire town, and there was still the chance her father and Carter were looking for her.
She didn’t like lying to Matt, but she wasn’t ready to face her father and Carter. She wanted to enjoy this peaceful time just a little longer before they wreaked havoc with her life again.
Plus Matt would hate her for lying to him. Suddenly it was important that he trusted her, believed her, wanted her. She didn’t want Matt to hate her.
She jumped out of the SUV and strolled to the door. She walked in, her heart thumping in her chest. “Hello. Are you here?”
Matt appeared in the doorway to the back area of the house, a spatula in his hand. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Her voice quivered at the sight of him. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, he looked good enough that she wanted to forget the take-it-slow part and just jump him. Do the nasty right there on the floor.
“Are you busy?” she asked.
“No. I’m fixing lunch. Have you eaten?”
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her in her haste to see him, she’d forgotten lunch. “No, what are you having?”
“Grilled cheese sandwiches.”
“Sounds good.”
“Come on back,” he said, heading to the kitchen.
He flipped the sandwich on the grill and began to make her one. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. My throat is a little scratchy, but I’m okay.”
Matt’s green eyes searched hers, leaving her feeling flushed. “Fran told me you put the fire out.”
“I emptied the fire extinguisher on the fire, is all.”
“You like to live on the edge, don’t you?” He shook his head. “You could have gotten hurt.”
“I just reacted,” she admitted.
“And you’re okay?” he asked, his eyes searching her face. His hand reached out to touch her shoulder lightly, and warmth spread through her like a forest fire.
“I’m fine.” She nodded. “Can you put some pickles on there?”
He nodded and put her sandwich on to grill. “Dill?”She smiled. “Yes,dill.”
“Me too.”
Matt opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of kosher pickles. “Fix yourself something to drink and we’re ready to eat.”
“Okay,” she opened the cupboard to grab a glass and their derriere’s bumped. She glanced at him, and their gazes met and held for a moment. A tingle traveled along her spine, and she quickly turned to the faucet for cold water. It felt strangely familiar to work in the kitchen together side by side.
A pang of longing grabbed her midsection, and she realized she’d missed him. First their awful disagreement and then the fire. This moment felt right.
With one last flip of the sandwich in the air, he removed their grilled cheese from the grill and placed them on plates. They sat down at the table and munched on the cheese and bread.
When they finished their meal, they sat back and gazed at one another across the table, awkwardness in the air. Somehow she had to begin the conversation that had brought her over here, but she didn’t know where to begin.
“You know you surprised me the other night when you apologized for your anger.”
He raised his brows. “Why?”
“It’s just that most men would never say they were sorry.”
“Well, looking back on the situation, I was wrong,” he confessed.
The fact he admitted he was wrong made her like him even more. She smiled and then became serious. “I realize that you and everyone else in town are curious about me. I’ve been a little secretive about my past, but I have a good reason.”
He didn’t move, but stared at her intently, waiting for her to explain.
“I also know that I didn’t intend to come to Colorado and become involved with a man.” She took a deep breath. “I came here to escape a bad relationship.”
Silently Matt watched her.
Matt ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t want to be your rebound guy. But there is some kind of spark between us that I don’t remember experiencing in a long time. I know you feel it too.”
“But you’re looking for someone to share that big house with, and I need time to heal from the wrong man.”
Matt dropped his arm onto the table, making the dishes bounce along with her heart. Was he angry? “You make it sound like I’m going to install the first woman who comes along into my home like a dishwasher. Not hardly.”
He lifted his glass of ice tea and took a sip. “I’m in no hurry. I’d just like to have fun together for a while.”
She nodded. He made it sound so casual, yet it didn’t feel that way.
“I’m willing to wait. And if you decide that we can be something more, I’m there. You let me know when you’re ready.”
“Matt, I don’t want to hurt you,” she responded. Why did she feel he only heard what he wanted to hear? Why did it seem that he wasn’t going to give up?
Until she told him who she really was—that would certainly slam on the brakes. So why didn’t she tell him?
“Who said anything about getting hurt?”
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.”
“None of us do,” he responded. “In the meantime, we’ll spend lots of time getting to know one another.”
“Oh yeah?” she said. Despite her reservations, a feeling of warmth gathered beneath her heart.
“Most definitely,” he responded.
That’s why she didn’t tell him. Because no matter what she thought or said, she liked Matt and wanted to see where they were headed just as much as he did. And the realization that her defenses were beginning to crumble frightened her. Especially since he’d made it very clear how he felt about lies.
And her whole existence here was a lie.
#
A week passed, and things were beginning to return to normal. The café had reopened with the kitchen receiving a new paint job and a new state-of-the-art Ansulex system. Valerie returned to working at the café morning through lunch, and then she worked for Matt.
And he spent every day anxiously awaiting the results from Jesse. It normally didn’t take long, but this wasn’t a criminal situation, and the lab in Denver was doing them a favor. So the results would come in their time, not Matt’s or Jesse’s time.
In the meantime, he worked on a new liability case that would take him to Dallas for a few days.
The door opened, and Valerie blew in with the cold breeze, bringing the aroma of spring flowers into the office, the smell of her perfume, soft and inviting.
“Hi,” she said, pulling off her hat and gloves. “It’s blustery out there today.”
“Yeah, hasn’t warmed up much.” He watched as she bent over and shook her blonde hair, the curls tumbling into a gorgeous disarray that spiked his pulse rate up twenty points.
“How were McKenzie and the kids this morning?”
“The twins were still asleep, but McKenzie was good. She fixes me coffee every morning.” Valerie hung her coat on the coat rack. “So what’s up? Where should I start?”
Oh, how he wanted to answer that question with where his mind went. But he took a deep breath and glanced over at the stacks of paper on his desk. Each case represented a client in different stages.
“You can open the mail and see what’s come in. I need a deposition for the Murdoch case and a lease agreement for Mrs. Carter typed. Other than that, it’s been quiet.”
“Good.” She picked up the stack of mail and began to sort through it.
“Your voice sounds better.”
“Yeah, I think I’m over the smoke inhalation.”
He watched her as she bent over to pick up an envelope she’d dropped. Her jeans molded to her body, and her shirt rode up just enough to see a glimpse of the smooth white expanse of her back.
Her tempting display of flesh made him want to kiss each vertebra on his way down. He bit back a groan as he felt himself harden.
She bounced into the back of the house, her energy and vitality draining the room. He could pick her up and carry her into his bedroom, lay her down on his bed, and strip the clothes from her body. There he could begin to taste every inch of her.
He swiveled in his chair and tried to refocus on his paperwork. The pace of this relationship could be the death of him.
She all but skipped back into the room. “Hey, where is Mrs. Carter’s file? It will take me about five minutes to type up her lease.” She leaned over his desk. Her blouse dipped, exposing her cleavage. Her full breasts, round and shapely, enticed him.
His hands ached with the need to touch them.
She lifted the folders from his desk and glanced at him, her blue eyes filled with concern.
“What’s wrong?”
Oh God, he could never tell her that the scent of her, the way she bounced through his office, her voice, everything about her turned his insides to mush.
“I need to get out of here for a while,” he said, realizing it was true. “Let’s go bowling.”
“Bowling? But what about Mrs. Carter’s lease? The deposition?”
“They can wait. I have cabin fever really bad and need to throw a couple of balls at anything. Come on.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door, shoving her coat and scarf at her.
It took them less than five minutes to drive to the old-fashioned bowling alley. He parked the car, and the two of them all but ran into the building to escape the cold.
Tension for Valerie filled him to the brim, and he needed to release this energy without doing the very thing he wanted. Make love to her until her eyes turned green. And since they were blue, that was going to take a long time.
In the small town of Springtown, the bowling alley was the main hub of entertainment. The place was empty at this time of day, waiting for the night, when leagues would occupy the twelve old-fashioned lanes.
While she put her shoes on, he set up the machine. When he lived in Denver, he’d never bowled. But here, he bowled whenever he needed a diversion, and the bowling alley had become his place of escapism during the winter months.
Valerie’s eyes shined bright in the dim lights of the alley as she gazed at him, keeping him at a slow burn. “I can’t believe we’re doing this in the middle of the day.”
Oh, this was just a distraction from what he really wanted to do with her in the middle of the day. There was another form of exercise he’d much rather they were doing, but he’d promised patience. To wait for her, even if it killed him. He could be dead soon.
“You’re up first,” he said.
She stepped to the line, bent over, and he couldn’t help but watch her cute little fanny as she threw the ball. She received a seven and ten split, but she didn’t let that stop her. On the next ball, she threw across the lane, hitting the seven pin, sending it ricocheting into the ten pin. Stunned, he realized she’d just picked up one of the hardest splits in bowling. Beginners luck!
“Very impressive,” he said as he took her place at the line. He hurled the ball down the lane with enough force to frighten the pins down. Instead he received the four-seven and six-ten split, which he didn’t pick up.
She smiled at him. “I’m ahead.”
“Not for long,” he contended. He was determined to win, and this game was just a warm-up for whenever they did have sex. And they were going to find themselves together in bed, very soon if he had any say.
“How about a friendly wager,” he said, feeling cocky.
“Depends.”
“If I win, I get to kiss you, in my time, the place I choose,” he said, watching the pupils of her
eyes dilate.
“And if I win, you buy me dinner,” she responded with a cooling glance.
“Deal,” he said, thinking how this one kiss could lead to a second and a third. He had to win.
She threw her next ball, a strike. “I thought you said you weren’t that good.”
“I never said anything,” she said with a grin. “You assumed I wasn’t any good. My average in college was 253.”
He whistled. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
For the next hour they battled one another. Sometimes she was up and sometimes down.
At the end of the first game she threw a strike with her first ball.
Valerie grinned, that saucy smile that made him want to kiss her until her lips were swollen. “Two more. That’s all I need to put you away for good.”
Matt frowned. He would do whatever it took to win this game. “Not going to happen.”
“Oh yeah?” she taunted and lined up to throw her second ball.
“Telephone call for Miss Valerie Brown,” they announced over the loudspeaker just as she went to throw.
The ball missed the pocket, and she had three pins left standing on the side.
She hurried back to him, a worried expression on her face. “That must be McKenzie. Something’s wrong.”
Laughter erupted from him, and he felt a twinge of guilt for tricking her. But he wanted, no, he needed those promised kisses.
She glanced at him, her eyes wide with realization. “You tricked me. You had them page me on purpose.”
“Hey, you still have one more shot.”
“And it’s going to be a good one too,” she said and marched to the line. Her throw was perfect, acing her spare.
Matt would have to throw an absolute perfect ending to this game. He doubted that he could catch her, but he was going to try.
As he walked past her, she popped him with her hand towel on the butt. “You play dirty.”
Matt smiled. “I play to win at everything.”
He let his gaze linger on her lips so she would know that he meant to win the challenge and kiss her. He couldn’t wait to have her in his arms, his mouth moving over hers. Her begging him to complete what that single kiss would start.
With that thought he strode to the line, determined to win his reward. He rolled his first ball with precision, a strike. Two more and he could claim his kiss. He threw the second ball just as hard, and the pins scattered. A second strike.