“I hope Kayla feels the same way.”
“She speaks to Linda, but they aren’t close. In her eyes, she should have ended things with Charles when y’all started seeing each other. She views Linda as a home-wrecker.”
Vanessa shook her head. “There was never a home to wreck.”
“You don’t think you and Charles would have ever fallen in love and made the marriage work?”
Vanessa huffed. “Not when he secured Linda a room down the hall from us on our honeymoon.”
Cat gasped. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I wish I were. He made it plain and clear that he’d do what his father asked of him, but he would not enjoy it.” Vanessa looked Cat in the eyes and finally admitted out loud. “I was his duty. She’s his love.”
“Oh, Vanessa. That’s a horrible way to live.”
“It is, but now I have Nathan. I just want to move on with my life.”
Cat slung her arm over Vanessa’s shoulders. “And he’s a good one to move on with.”
They checked out and drove back to the house. The closer they got, the more the ache in her chest grew with thoughts of Nathan. I’ve got to tell him goodbye. He’s got to leave. I want him to stay. He needs to hear three words from me. I need to tell him, but I don’t want them tainted by Charles or my divorce. He said we could start with a clean slate, but I won’t have that until my divorce is final.
Nathan walked out the front door as soon as they closed the car doors. The look on his face must reflect the sadness on hers. He felt it too.
He greeted her with a sad smile. “Let me help you with the bags.”
“Thank you.”
“Cat, Thomas just took Max out on the beach.”
“Thanks, Nathan. I’ll go find him.”
Nathan nodded as he took Vanessa’s hand in his. He led her to her bedroom and dropped the bag on the floor. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
He cupped her face and kissed her forehead, nose, and lips. “Ness, this week is going to be crazy busy for me. I’ll call as often as I can. Text me anytime you want. Know I love you.”
“Me too.”
The side of Nathan’s lips tilted. “That’s all I’m going to get, isn’t it?”
She nodded as best as she could. “Until I’m free, I can’t.” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Don’t cry, beautiful. I can wait.”
She placed her hands on his hips and bunched his shirt in her fists. Her eyes closed trying to absorb as much of his energy as she could. She never thought she’d need another person, but Nathan came in and stole her heart. She needed him to breathe. A tear rolled down her face as she took in a deep breath.
“Can you leave a shirt here?”
“What?”
She opened her eyes. “I’d like to have one of your shirts. As long as I can smell your cologne, I can make it until the next time I see you.”
Nathan moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, “As long as you send me back with a pair of your panties. Preferably the ones you had on the other night.”
She gasped.
Thomas and Cat’s voices echoed down the hall. “Nathan, we need to head up the road.”
A naughty smile tilted Nathan’s lips. “Do you know where they are?”
She backed away as Nathan called back. “Just getting my clothes. I’ll be ready in a minute.”
Vanessa slipped into the bathroom and found her panties. When she walked back out, she stuffed them in Nathan’s duffle bag. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
“Your shirt is on the bed. Sleep in it at night and dream of me.” He brought her in close and slanted his lips over hers. His tongue slid across her lips, and she opened readily for him to enter. The kiss deepened, and they were both panting when he pulled away. “I’ll call you as soon as I can tonight.” He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her up the hall.
“Thank you both for helping us out.”
Cat gave Vanessa a hug. “Thanks for having us down.”
33
Nathan ran into his apartment to change clothes before heading to the station for training. He paused long enough to send Vanessa a text:
I’m back. Talk to you soon, beautiful.
He walked into Evan’s office with fifteen minutes to spare. “What do you have for me?”
“We’re driving to the Sheriff’s Department to train with them. Since I haven’t been here in years, I’m going through the training with you. Are you ready to go? I’ll tell you about the warrants on the way.”
They let Rita know where they were for the next two hours as they walked outside and got into Nathan’s SUV. Evan looked at Nathan as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Are you ready to talk yet?”
A smile broke across Nathan’s face. “Yes and no. What does the warrant give me permission to do?”
“Search her premises for an oleander bush.”
“Can they be small enough to be an indoor plant?”
Evan shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose. You have a picture of one, right?”
“Yeah, on my phone. Look, Rita told me about a woman who went to jail for attempted murder because of her ‘natural’ remedies. Do you think someone like that is still around?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to check with Rita if we don’t find anything with this warrant.”
“I’ll go when we finish here.”
“A few days ago, you said you wanted to talk, then all hell broke loose. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Nathan, we’ve been friends for a while, we’ve experienced a lot of shit together, and I know when you’ve got something on your mind.”
Nathan tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
“That Ginger was the one. I mean, I know how you were before her. How did you go from no strings attached to knowing she was it for the rest of your life?”
A hearty laugh burst out of Evan. “Oh shit! You’ve fallen for her. I mean really fallen for her.”
“Fuck you. Forget I asked.”
Evan continued to laugh. “Dude, I told you I’d give you hell after everything you put me through with Ginger.”
“I know, and I’ve been expecting it. But right now, I just need to feel like I’m not losing my damn mind. I talked with Thomas, and that helped some, but he has no clue the things we did.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“I’ll hurt her.”
“Nathan, you aren’t anything like the asshole she’s divorcing. You’ve gone through your own shit and survived. You won’t put someone else through that hurt.”
“So how did you know?”
“God, Nathan, I don’t know.” Evan blew out a heavy breath. “The night she met you at the River Pub and brought you to the hotel room was the first time I was more worried about a woman than the case. I was messed up all day. I made sure we had sex before she went to meet you. I wanted her to smell of me so you’d back the fuck off. When I heard you fumbling to get the key card in the lock, I wanted to beat the shit out of you. I heard everything you said to her. The innuendos.” He ran his hand down his face. “I wanted her so far away from you and the danger it felt like pins prickling my skin. So to answer your question, I wanted to protect her from everything.” He chuckled. “It didn’t hurt that the sex was off the charts.”
Nathan nodded. “I get the protection part because I wanted to kill Charles the night he shot her. Hell, I wanted to lock her away the first time I realized what was going on. I’ve barely touched her, so I don’t have the sex to compare.”
“Dude, the first time with her will be totally different from anything you’ve experienced because your heart and head are in as deep as your dick.”
“That’s not how you and Ginger started.”
“No, we were just supposed to be a weekend fling, but I promise you the first time m
y heart was involved, the sex was even better.” Evan cleared his throat. “Have you told her?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She says that I know how she feels, but she won’t tell me until she’s free to back up the words with actions.”
“The first time she says those three little words while looking you in the eyes, be prepared for your knees to feel like jelly.” Evan chuckled. “They rank right up there with ‘I’m pregnant.’”
“I’m ready for both even though I never thought I’d be ready for either. Then the shit with Diane made me think about being a father, but now I want the whole package, Evan. Damn, I sound like a pussy.”
“No, you sound like a man in love.”
“I need to buy her a ring.”
“What?”
“Yep, I told her I want my ring on her finger the first time we make love.”
“Are you sure? Is she sure?”
“She’s got a few weeks to decide, and you better hope she decides that’s what she wants.”
“What the hell does that mean? What do I have to do with this?”
“If she can’t give me that, I’m leaving. With all the troublemakers gone, you don’t need me.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“You know it’s true.”
“No, Nathan, I don’t. I know once we get Vanessa’s case closed, I’d like some calm. You’re a big part of the reason there can be calm.”
“We’ll see.”
Sam was getting off his bike as they pulled up. “Does Sam know you’re thinking about leaving?”
“No. He knows I’m in deep. But, Evan, I can’t stay here if she’s not with me.”
“Hell, Nathan, being with you and married to you are two different things. She is one woman you can’t push because of her past. Don’t be a dick.”
“You know me. If I’m all in, then I’m all in. I don’t do half-assed. I need to know she’s all in, too.”
“Sounds like y’all have more talking to do,” Evan said as he opened the door.
Sam was standing at the back of the vehicle when they got out of the car. “You just get back?”
A cocky smile spread across Sam’s face. “Yeah, and I didn’t want to leave.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Nathan walked past him. I need a cold shower before my balls explode.
Three hours later, Nathan pulled into the driveway listed on his search warrant. Rodney Parker accompanied him to make sure there wasn’t any trouble. Nathan rang the doorbell and stepped back waiting for the door to be answered.
The wooden door opened. “What are you doing here? Haven’t you bothered him enough? He’s not here.”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Gregory. No, he’s sitting in county lockup.” Nathan held out a piece of paper. “This is for you. It’s a search warrant that states we’re looking for live plants and need to take samples.”
Linda opened the door and took the paper. “I have a lot of live plants.”
“We’ll just take leaves off the ones that look like what we’re after.”
“What are you after?”
“We’ll know it when we see it.”
The two men stepped through the door. They looked throughout the house and only found peace lilies inside. When they stepped back outside, they decided to divide up. “Meet you around back,” Nathan said. There were several flowering bushes in the yard, but nothing that looked like the picture on his phone. He hadn’t even made it around the back corner of the house when he heard his name.
“Nathan!”
He jogged around the corner of the house to find Rodney in the back corner of the property with a tree that had pieces of bark scraped off and a low-lying limb completely bare of leaves and flowers. “It looks just like the picture,” Rodney said.
“Let’s take a few leaves and flowers to have tested.”
Nathan walked back to the front door and rang the doorbell. Linda opened the door with a phone to her ear staring holes into Nathan.
“Ms. Gregory, I need you to hang up the phone because we have a few questions for you.”
“I have to go, Mom.” She disconnected the call. “What can I help you with now, Officer Cox?”
“What is the tree in the back corner of your lot? The one with the white flowers on it?”
“I don’t know the name of it.”
“Why is some of the bark removed?”
“How am I supposed to know? I’m not a gardener.”
“I do believe you mean an arborist.”
“Whatever.”
“I’m informing you that we’ve removed some leaves and flowers to be tested.”
“Fine.”
“Thank you, Ms. Gregory.” Nathan turned toward his vehicle.
“He hasn’t done anything, you know?”
“Not since he broke his terms of release because he’s sitting in a jail cell. Have a good evening, Ms. Gregory.”
Nathan went back to the station and turned the evidence bag over to Randy, the night clerk. “I need this sent to the crime lab in Columbia tonight with a rush put on it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nathan turned toward his office, and his phone rang. “Cox.”
“Hey, man.”
“Sam, what’s going on?”
“Just wanted you to know that Vanessa’s blood work was sitting on my desk when I got back. There’s nothing in her bloodstream.”
“Well, I just found what appears to be an oleander bush in Linda Gregory’s backyard. I’m sending it for analysis. If it comes back to be oleander, then we’ve got probable cause for both her and Charles.”
“Damn.”
“I’ve got to call Evan.”
“Good luck.”
34
It had been two days since Nathan left, and the time just seemed to drag.
Vanessa needed to think about everything Nathan had said. Was she ready to commit to him? She knew he was the perfect man for her, but would he change once they were married? Did she want to get married? She and Max went for a walk on the beach to clear her head.
They hadn’t been gone long when a deep voice caught her attention. “You look lonely. Want some company?”
Vanessa froze, and Max took a protective stand in front of her. “No thank you,” she politely said.
The man walked closer, and the smell of alcohol permeated the air. “I think you should change your mind.”
Vanessa took a step back, and the hair stood on Max’s back. A growl left him with his teeth showing. Vanessa didn’t take her eyes off the man as Max stayed between him and her.
“Call off your dog.”
“No. I think you should keep walking.”
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to be friends.”
Laughter came from one of the houses close by. “Why don’t you just go back to your friends?”
“And look like I couldn’t land the chick? I don’t think so.”
“It would be better for you if you did.” She didn’t take her eyes off the man as she tilted her head. “He’s a trained attack dog. Please leave us alone before you get hurt.”
The man laughed and reached for Vanessa. She brushed his hand away. “If I scream, he’ll attack, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” She pulled out her phone and pressed 9-1-1.
The smile left the man’s face. “You don’t want to do that.”
“Then leave.”
For every backward step Vanessa made, the man stepped forward. Vanessa stumbled in a sand hole and pressed the dial button. “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“I’m being harassed on the beach.”
The man knocked the phone out of Vanessa’s hand, and she fell from the sudden jolt. “Help!”
Max jerked his leash out of Vanessa’s hand and bit the man on the leg. He had the man pinned in seconds. His friends started running toward them as Vanessa righted herself and grabbed her phone. “The police are on the way. I suggest you take your
friend and leave us alone.”
“Get your dog off him!”
Vanessa picked up Max’s leash, and sirens sounded from the beach patrol. “Heel, Max.”
Two patrol officers jumped off three-wheelers. One of the officers took on the situation while the other spoke with Vanessa. “Ma’am, are you the one who called for help?”
“Yes, this man was harassing me, and my dog is trained to respond to my scream for help. When this man,” she pointed toward the man still on the ground, “knocked my phone out of my hand, I screamed, and Max took him down.” She looked at the officer. “I’m sorry, I repeatedly asked him to leave us alone.”
“Yes, ma’am. Dispatch heard you scream. I’m going to need your statement. Has your dog been vaccinated?”
“Yes.”
The other officer had given the man a breathalyzer test and was cuffing him by the time Vanessa had signed her statement. She heard the officer say, “You have the right to remain silent…”
The officer that had been beside Vanessa called in a transport then told the other men to leave, or they were going with their friend. Max was beside Vanessa and appeared to still be ready to attack. When the officer returned to Vanessa, Max let out a warning growl. The officer squatted down to Max.
“Whoa, buddy. I’m not going to hurt you or your lady, here.” He held his hand out for Max to sniff.
“Can I leave?”
“Do you live around here or just vacationing?”
“I have property down the beach, but I’m not a permanent resident.”
“I’d like to see you home to make sure you aren’t followed.”
“Thank you. I really need to go call my boyfriend.” Boyfriend. Is that what Nathan is? Not until I’m divorced.
“Is this boyfriend around here?”
“No, he’s a police officer too, so he got Max for me for when he can’t be here.”
The officer handed Vanessa a card. “Since these guys are just vacationing, let me suggest you walk in the opposite direction for the next week when you’re alone. That’s my card. Call if you need anything.”
Unbridled Passion: A Riverton Crossing Novel Page 15
