“He doesn’t scare me,” she said.
He pulled in front of her house and slid the gear into park. “I know he doesn’t scare you, and that’s the problem. He’s an ex-con and if cornered who knows what he’s willing to do. You could have told me what you saw and allowed me to do my job.”
Her eyes slanted. “You’re groomed to abide the law. I get that. But if you’re just upset because I did your job—”
“You don’t know me better than that? I don’t have an oversized ego that needs inflating. I think it’s great that you’re observant, but I don’t like thinking you’re unsafe. This is a small town, Holly. In the short time you’ve been here you’ve become a target of crime.”
“Be careful or I’ll think you care a teeny-tiny bit about me.”
Was she serious? “If I didn’t care I’d be handling this case a whole helluva lot differently.”
“So, you’re doing something that you wouldn’t do for others? You don’t sleep with every witness?” One thin brow lifted.
Yeah, he knew she teased him. Yet her banter was like a pleasure he couldn’t resist. She’d always been capable of drawing him in like cat nip to a kitten. If he took her over his knee and spanked her, he wondered if she’d still be smiling. Probably so. “Yeah, exactly.” He shook his head. “Whatever you may think of me, I’m not a womanizer.”
“I never thought you were. I realize the cuffs only fit around certain wrists.” She drove the meaning home by sliding a finger along his leather belt and stopped at the cuff holder, tapping the metal with her fingernail. “I feel special.”
He started to blurt out that she was special, but he caught himself with apprehension. He needed to stay clear of her seductive web. Once he was caught, he’d be lost. Damn, he already was. How could he have fallen so easily? He was different man, wasn’t he? Mature and accomplished. Careful and assured. She made him feel like a boy in a candy store.
Hell, she’d changed as well. He wasn’t sure where they’d go from here.
“I’ll call you later. In the meantime, stay safe,” he said. “I’ll have an officer patrol the area.”
“Yes, Lem.” Sliding out of the passenger side, she walked up the sidewalk. She didn’t just walk; it was more like a supermodel’s catwalk. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the soft swaying of her slender hips. She excited him and frustrated him all at the same time.
She stopped at the front door then waved and blew him a kiss. The naughty minx. Her smile could have ignited a fire. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but if she left, He’d be heartbroken…again.
Once she disappeared inside the house, he lowered his forehead to the steering wheel and closed his eyes. He was a bundle of chaos. Since tossing back a shot of whiskey wasn’t an option, he had to concentrate on priorities. He needed to get back on track. The murder investigation required his highest attention. How could he when Cleopatra resurrected in Holly. She could allure him like no other.
With a sigh, he opened his eyes and lifted his head, giving the house one more glance as he pulled onto the road.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“WHAT ARE YOU doing here?” Holly asked Jimbo. He stood on her porch, leaning against the doorframe like he held up the house. She wanted to kick herself, knowing better than to open the door without first looking. She’d broken Liam’s golden rule of safety. Now, as she looked at the scraggly, oaf of a man, she felt a sense of panic.
“I got a distinct feeling from our earlier chat that we had a lot in common,” he said with a crafty grin.
Holly swallowed back a bitter taste. “Is that so?” He stepped closer. His large frame seemed to choke the space between them. She took a step backward but kept her hand on the knob.
“A mutual attraction.” One corner of his mouth slid upward, showing off rotten teeth.
“Between?” Holly guessed he meant between them, but could he be clueless?
“You and me, darlin’”
Holly narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure how I gave you that impression—”
“It’s in the eyes. It’s okay, baby. I know you want me.”
She glanced around the front yard. Where were the cameras? “I think there’s been a mistake.”
“Come on, sweetheart. It’s okay to admit there’s heat.”
“Stop, Jimbo. I’m not your darlin’ or sweetheart, or anything else. If you continue speaking I think my ears will start bleeding,” she said through the disgust clogging her throat.
His smile faded. He stood straight. “Are you playing hard to get?”
“I’m not playing anything.” She pushed the door closed but he caught it with his foot. “Move your foot, Jimbo.” She stared at him, not showing any fear. It was the middle of the day. Would he be stupid enough to hurt her? She wouldn’t give him any credit when it came to brain substance.
His features turned harder and uglier than usual. Holly felt the temperature drop. “I know your type, Holly. You like to use your womanly ways to manipulate the opposite sex. You think you’re better than me, don’t you?” His words reeked of insecurity.
Pushing Jimbo’s buttons would have been like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She needed to tread carefully. “I think maybe you’re upset because I caught you disposing of something in the trashcan.”
He squinted. “You saw wrong, lady.”
“Well, maybe I did.” She had to rely on the fact that she was smarter. Growing up with a con as a mom, she knew how to handle him. How hard could it be to thwart a man like Jimbo? “I guess I’d hoped I’d figure out a link to Danielle’s murder.”
His body relaxed some. “I get what you’re saying. The whole murder thing is creepy. But you put your nose where it doesn’t belong and you may not like what you get in return.” He must have realized the implication in what he’d said because he closed his lips tight, like a child trying to hold back from telling the truth.
She tried smiling, but knew it probably looked as fake as it felt. “I didn’t know Danielle very well. Maybe you can explain what you mean.”
He ran a hand through his scraggly hair. “I’m just saying that she liked to help old people cross the street. She had a streak of a good girl in her. I always warned her she couldn’t help everyone.”
“But what does helping the elderly and being kind-hearted have to do with her murder?” Holly urged.
“Not a damn thing.”
She wondered if he danced around the truth? She had to step up her ante. “I think you have a sliver of goodness within you too, Jimbo.” If she couldn’t fake a smile then she could act like she cared.
He laughed. “Why do you say that, girly?”
“Because you’re here. I believe you knew better than to think I had a crush on you?” His brows scrunched and he shifted in his gigantic sized boots. She was getting somewhere.
“I think saying I have some good left in me is going a bit far, but thanks for trying to stroke my ego. You know, a man like me doesn’t get much appreciation from the lady folk. They all think I’m a bit weird. And once I tell them that I’ve been in prison they run away even faster.”
She was getting a brand new image of Jimbo. “Why don’t you come in and have a beer?” She pushed the door wide open with her heel. “Or, I bet you’re a whiskey man.”
* * * *
Liam was rubbing the sleep from his tired eyes when he heard his name. He looked up and Holly stood in front of his desk. Her hair was pulled back and her eyes were bright. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I could ask you the same thing, Mr. Chief.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I work here.”
“It’s midnight.” She wobbled slightly.
“Are you drunk?” He sniffed. “You’ve gotten into your grandma’s liquor cabinet, haven’t you?”
Her mouth turned crooked. “You say that like I’m a teenager sneaking a drink. I’m an adult you know.” She crossed her arms over her chest like anything but an adult.
�
��Yeah, I hear you. How did you get here?” The tip of her tongue came out and moistened her bottom lip. Damn libido awakened.
“I walked,” she said in an incoherent tone.
“You walked?” He shook his head.
“Did I slur?” She mirrored his headshake.
“Yes, you did.” He stood up and rounded his desk, and sat down on the corner. “Let me get this straight. You walked three blocks, drunk, to see me. That’s cautious. I’m glad you take heed in what I ask you to do for your own safety.” His head began to throb at his temples. He could feel his hair turning grayer by the second. “Where the hell was the officer I assigned to patrol the area?”
“You’re wrong.” She dropped her arms to her sides. “And Officer Reed was easy to dodge.”
“You just said you walked.”
“Not to see you, but to speak to you.”
Yeah, he’d prematurely gray at this rate. “Isn’t that the same?”
With a toss of her head, tendrils of hair came out of the messy bun and down along her cheeks. Reaching up, she used the backs of her knuckles to push them away. “Hardly. We need to talk about Jimbo.” She wobbled again.
“Yes, we do have to talk. After you sit down.” Better she sat than fall.
She turned up her chin as if she wanted to argue. With a long breath, she stepped back and plopped down into the wide based chair. She snuggled deeper into the cushions. “Wow, this is comfy.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard that before.” He couldn’t help but find a sliver of humor in her state of tipsiness.
“Now about Jimbo—”
“You were right, he did drop something into the trashcan. Drug paraphernalia. A pipe. I got it on tape. I’ll be paying him a visit first thing tomorrow.”
“No, you can’t do that,” she blurted.
Had he heard right? “Why can’t I?”
“He’s not a bad guy after all. Well, he is a bad guy, but not as bad as people think he is.” She exhaled deeply, as if it took all of her energy to complete the sentence.
He crossed his arms over his chest. He was beginning to think she hadn’t been drinking alone. “And how do you know?”
“Jimbo and I shared a few drinks tonight,” she said.
“And don’t you know everyone has angel wings and peacock feathers at the bottom of a shot glass.”
One corner of her mouth lifted. “Peacock feathers? My-oh-my. You sound like my grandma.”
“Okay. I’m listening.” What else could he do? He had a feeling she wouldn’t stop until she’d told him everything. He didn’t mind really. He needed a friendly diversion from his paperwork.
“He came by my house—”
“What?’ He stood up straight.
“He came by to talk to me. It seems he did know something after all in Danielle’s death,” she said.
“Holly, if he plays any role in her murder you need to tell me now.”
She huffed and shook her head. More hair escaped to her shoulders. “No, not in that way. He overheard her when she’d called me. He said she’d been acting erratic that day and he’d been curious what was wrong, so he’d eavesdropped. When she hung up he asked her who she was speaking to. She told him it didn’t matter. When he probed a bit more she finally told him she’d listened in on a conversation and knew private information. She thought she needed to warn someone.”
“Okay, let me get this straight.” He attempted to decode her erratic details. “The person she was talking to was you. Danielle told Jimbo she’d heard a conversation?” This would have been much easier a bottle of booze earlier.
“Yes.”
“But that makes him suddenly a good guy?” He wasn’t following her meaning. “Remember, he had drug paraphernalia and you suggested he was a creeper.”
She clasped her hands in her lap. “Actually, another thing, Jenny is pregnant. She was nervous because she thought we were coming to ask her questions about the father.”
“The father?”
She shrugged. One shoulder of her shirt slid down her arm. He swallowed. Why was it she was the sexiest when she wasn’t trying? “Jimbo said all he knew was that the man is married.”
“Why would we ask questions about Jenny’s affair?” His headache was growing into a migraine.
“She’s young,” she said. She waved a hand through the air. “That’s neither here nor there. Back to Jimbo. I know he smokes pot and that’s illegal, but he’s admitted that he does. We can’t punish him for being honest.”
“We? There is no we in this. I have a duty to do my job. Do I need to point out that Jimbo is a manipulator?”
“I know you’re married to the badge, and that means you’re committed to doing the right thing. Isn’t there anything you can do besides penalize him?”
Her blue eyes seemed to turn into a saint’s plea. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime,” He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack. “I’m driving you home.”
“I can walk. It’s a nice cool evening.” She stood up.
“I don’t think so.” He gently tugged her elbow to keep her from heading to the door. “There are laws against drunks loitering the streets.”
“I’m not harming anything or anyone. Better than getting behind the wheel.”
“True, but I’m done for the night anyway.”
Together they walked to his SUV and he kept his hand on the small of her back until she was safely in the passenger seat.
A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of her house. Liam hurried around and helped Holly from the passenger side. He walked her to the porch, watched her unlock the door and open it. He didn’t follow her. She stopped and gave him a look of question. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m going to say goodnight. I’m calling a patrol over to sit in front of the house. You’ll be safe.”
A frown took a remarkable place on her pink lips. “Oh, I thought you might like to come in.”
Although the slurring was gone from her words, and her eyes weren’t as glossy, he knew she was legally drunk and that meant off limits. If he walked inside it was hard to tell where things would lead and it was easier not to be in that unsafe position. “It’s late and I’ve got an early morning planned.”
“Or maybe you just don’t want to take the chance that you and I will end up in bed.”
“Yeah, that too.” No need to deny it.
A perfect pout shimmied over her lips. “I could have my feelings hurt.”
“You shouldn’t. I think you need to sleep off your drunk. Not sex it off.” He winked.
“Oh how gentlemanly of you.” She stepped across the porch toward him. He was standing on the lower step, which made her eye level with him. “At least a kiss for the road, eh?”
He couldn’t see how a kiss could hurt and he didn’t want to disappoint her too much. He swept his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She brought her lips to his. At first, it was gentle but the intensity grew. Liam felt himself grow alive. He tipped his head back. “I’ll call you in the morning. Sleep tight.”
When she got inside, he took a deep breath. A part of him wanted to knock and tell her he’d changed his mind, but a bigger part of him knew he should do the right thing and disappear, at least for now. He had to keep his focus.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HOLLY WOKE UP with a headache from hell. She rolled over on the bed, dragging blankets along with her. The sun was up and the birds sang. Even their gentle chirps shot through her like a taser.
She heard a noise. Then she inhaled. Coffee? Her senses perked. Was she dreaming?
The aroma became stronger, so did the thumping of heavy boots on the stairs. Fear washed over her but quickly subsided when logical reasoning took its place. What intruder would be kind enough to break in and make her coffee?
Holly kept her eyes on the doorway and Liam appeared carrying a tray. Excitement rolled through her. “How did you get in here?”
“It might help if you hid the key i
n a better place than the lock.” His brows lifted. He looked handsome in his uniform. He was cleanly shaven and she could smell masculine body wash.
“What? In the lock? Oh…”
“Now do you want to deny how drunk you were?” She’d take his words as a sermon but his humorous smile told her he was teasing her.
“I won’t argue, this raging headache won’t let me.” She rubbed her temples.
“Good thing I noticed the key before I took off last night. I thought you might like a strong cup of joe and two aspirins.”
In one hand, he held a bottle and in the other he held her favorite mug. He couldn’t have looked any sexier than he did at that moment. “You carry a gun and you make house calls. I’m a lucky woman.” She laughed and it vibrated through her sensitive head. “Ouch. I think I’ve been run over by a semi truck.”
He sat down next to her hip. “If semi’s were liquid, then I’d say Jim Beam is a very powerful one.” He opened the lid, poured two pills in his palm, and handed them to her. She took them, popped them into her mouth and swallowed.
“I’m a lightweight. Jimbo can drink.” She took the cup and drank from it, savoring the liquid deliciousness.
“He has about ten inches in height and a hundred and fifty pounds on you. And by the way, just so we’re clear, you were very foolish.”
“He’s okay, just a bit misunderstood,” she said through the steam of her coffee. “I’ve been there myself.”
“I’m going to talk to him today. I think with a bit of persuasion, outside of a bottle of booze, he’ll remember more. At least I hope so. He may be our only help at this point.”
“You look like you haven’t had your own coffee this morning. What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I need one clue to bring this case to light. I feel like it’s right under my nose. Have you had any visitors lately?”
“Visitors? No, unless you include mother and her watchdog as guests. From her standpoint, this is her house. And I should leave because you’re a bad influence.”
“Yes, your mom loves me.”
She sat up and played with one of the buttons on his shirt, inhaling his masculinity that dripped from his every pore. Her heart beat heavier and her palms became sweaty. “Thank you for thinking of me.”
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