Jaguar Hunt

by Terry Spear

  As it got dark, Gertie finally rose from the rocker and said, “Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with that girl, letting a nice boy like you sit out here all by your lonesome when she needs your protection. She’s always very sweet. I was going to tell her all the news, but when you get to see her, you can tell her for me. If you need to use the bathroom, just come on over. I’ll watch her place in the meantime.”

  He stood. “Thanks. I didn’t want you to worry that I’m trouble. We’ve got to be out in the morning, looking into this case some more. But otherwise, I’ll be sitting right here.” He patted the swing.

  Gertie leaned close to say, “She’s been peeking out the blinds every once in a while. Probably wishing you were talking to her instead of me. That’s why I stayed as long as I did. I wanted to make her wait to be with you when she was giving you such a hard time. Figure as soon as I leave, she’ll be begging you to come in.” She winked at him and headed back across the street.

  He grinned at the woman and thought how much she reminded him of his maternal grandmother before she passed away.

  As soon as Gertie walked inside her house and shut the door, Tammy’s front door opened. “Grab your stuff and get in here,” Tammy said, her face red with irritation. “Now.”

  David had the damnedest time hiding a smile.

  Chapter 22

  Tammy was furious. First, David shouldn’t have been here. When she wouldn’t let him in, he had the gall to call her boss! And that led to her boss chewing her out for not telling him about the shooting incident, when they didn’t know if Joe Storm had meant to shoot her or not. She explained to Sylvan how Joe wouldn’t have known she was going to be at that spot at that time. Hell, she didn’t even know it. So she really didn’t believe he had it in for her. Sylvan was also angry she hadn’t told him anything further about the zip-line situation. She was shocked to hear it was not a faulty cable, and she hadn’t even known!

  Sylvan had tried some psychological babble on her—she swore he thought he was an amateur psychologist—saying if she didn’t want to work with David, he understood and he’d have someone else assigned to the case. She wanted to work with David. Tomorrow. Not tonight. She was taking the night off! Why couldn’t anyone understand that?

  No way did she want someone else working with her on the mission. Not after she and David had made some headway with the teens. And she honestly enjoyed working with him.

  To top it all off, David had made friends with Gertie. And had even told her about their trip to Belize. Oh my God, the news would be all over the neighborhood within a matter of days. No one had known what Tammy did for a living. Not that he’d told Gertie exactly what she was doing. He’d made Tammy sound like a super undercover operative. Gertie had been eating it up.

  She couldn’t believe Gertie actually ate pizza with him, either. She’d turned up her nose when Tammy had invited her over for pizza a few months ago when Joe had stood her up for a job-related assignment. Afterward, Tammy figured he’d lied about it. But she couldn’t believe Gertie would turn her down and take David up on it! Pizza was not on her neighbor’s list of healthy food choices. She’d been a dietician before she retired.

  And Gertie had baked cookies and given them to David. She never baked Tammy cookies. Not that she’d wanted any, but it was just the idea. He wasn’t Gertie’s neighbor.

  Talk about buttering someone up. And damn if David hadn’t been loving all that attention. She was so fuming mad that she couldn’t even finish her bath after her boss called.

  She knew she’d get an earful from Gertie if she made David sit outside all night. Besides, Tammy wouldn’t be able to sleep if he continued to sit on her porch and all the neighbors saw him there. She could imagine someone calling the police and making a super mess of the whole situation.

  “What do you think you’re doing here?” she asked as David retrieved his black bag from his car and hauled it inside her house. And what did he think he was doing by talking to her boss and sweet-talking Gertie on the front porch? Before Tammy could close the door, she saw Gertie smiling out her picture window and waving.

  Tammy forced a smile, waved, and slammed the door—and then turned her ire on David. Or planned to. He wasn’t there. Just his black bag sitting next to the recliner.

  She heard him in the kitchen, opening cabinets.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, joining him in there.

  He looked up. “Uh, garbage can?”

  “Under the sink.”

  He dumped his empty water bottle and raised the pizza box. “Some more pizza in there.”

  “No thanks. I had a healthy chicken salad.”

  David stuck the remaining pizza in the fridge as if he lived here.

  She glanced at the plate of cookies.

  “They’re good. You want one?”

  “I can’t believe she baked you cookies.” She sampled one, and the sugary sweetness melted in her mouth.

  “Smells like you were baking cookies.” He glanced around the kitchen.

  “Vanilla bubble bath.”

  “Hmm, sweet,” he said, looking at her anew.

  “Yeah, well, my bath was interrupted. Twice. Once by you, and once by my boss.”

  He smiled, not looking like he regretted either interruption. “Want some milk?”

  She shook her head. He started looking in the cupboard. “What are you looking for now?”

  “Cups.”

  “Move right in, why don’t you?”

  “I’m here to serve and protect.”

  She snorted.

  “Sure you don’t want some milk to go with the cookie?”

  “Cupboard up above, next to the dishwasher.” She let out her breath in an annoyed huff. “Get me a glass, too.” She paused. “Please.”

  He got them two glasses of milk, and she carried the cookies into the living room. “Here you were, fussing about the boys bringing me gifts.” He set the glasses of milk on the table and she placed the plate of cookies beside them.

  “She made the cookies for both of us.”

  Tammy didn’t believe that for a moment.

  “The boys only gave you one piece of chocolate. Not enough to go around, unless you’d shared it with me.”

  “I could have used more.”

  “And you probably wouldn’t have shared.”

  He had that right.

  “She wanted to make sure I was a good guy.” David pulled out his phone, called his boss, and told Martin what Gertie had said about the two men coming to see Tammy. “Not sure who they were, but if you could run the plate, maybe we’ll have a clue.”

  Tammy couldn’t believe that Gertie had actually given David some worthwhile neighborhood news. And that she had gotten their license plate number. But Tammy worried who it had been. Weaver and Krustan maybe?

  When David got off the phone, he sat down with her on the couch. She should have sat in the recliner. His gaze took in the table where her flat-screen TV used to sit. “Television in the shop?”

  “Stolen. I haven’t had time to replace it.”

  “Did Gertie see anything?”

  “No. Wouldn’t you know she was visiting her daughter in Kansas City to see her grandson’s second-grade graduation.”

  “I take it they haven’t caught the culprit.”

  “Nope.”

  “Human?”

  “Yeah.”

  David told her what Martin had said about the cut zip line and how Juan had disappeared after sabotaging the second pulley on the lower cable.

  “Why would he have done that to the second pulley? Even if he had orders on who should go first, okay, no real red flags there. But you’d think he’d wonder why anyone would want to not seat the pulley properly on the second cable.”

  “Enough money exchanged hands maybe, so he didn’t bother putting m
uch thought into it. We may never know the truth. As to other matters, you said you were going to have a bath—”

  “Which was interrupted,” she reminded him. She wasn’t letting him forget that. She had been enjoying it, but she couldn’t let go of her annoyance. Not only that, but she’d been watching periodically to see if David was going to leave and let someone else take his place “protecting” her.

  “And you had dinner. So what else did you have on your laundry list? Besides doing laundry.”

  “You are supposed to be serving and protecting. So you said.” Which she didn’t believe. He was enjoying this too much, and looking ridiculously sexy while doing it.

  And yet? He had apparently won Gertie over with that sweet and innocent look while he sat so wistfully swinging on the front porch.

  “I can’t believe you engineered this whole situation so that you could stay the night,” she said.

  “I feel better knowing you’re safe, Tammy.” David sounded so sincere that she realized he was being honest with her.

  She patted the velour couch. “I only have this small couch for you to sleep on.”

  He smiled at her, and the look was part big-cat hunter and part amused. “Much better than the swing out front. What made you change your mind?”

  “My neighbors.”

  He laughed.

  She loved the sexy, deep sound of it. She couldn’t help but like him, the more she saw of him and how he’d been so nice to her neighbor, the teens, and even her, despite her trying to put some space between them.

  She eyed his clothes—nice dress pants, shoes, button-down-collared shirt. Had he dressed up to impress her? Anything he wore, or didn’t wear, made an impression on her. He didn’t even have to try. It wasn’t all about looks.

  “Looks like you’re dressed for a business dinner. Not a ‘serve and protect’ mission.”

  “Undercover. Appearances can be deceiving.” He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt and the ones on his cuffs, and rolled his sleeves up. “The dressier look was to impress your neighbors.”

  She laughed. “Which at least with regard to Gertie, you excelled at.”

  He smiled. “This is my more casual bodyguard look.”

  “I have to admit you dress up nice. Kind of a trial run for the theater. You know, I was trying to…well, get this back on more of a professional basis.”

  “Sure,” he said, but his smile said otherwise.

  She folded her arms. “I didn’t want to talk about this tonight, no business, but…since you’re here, what do you know about Olivia Farmer?”

  “What?” His eyes couldn’t have gotten any rounder. Not good.

  “I got hold of Krustan tonight to try and learn why he and Weaver were in Belize. He said you dated Olivia, and she could be key to this whole investigation.”

  “She’s dead. Committed suicide two months ago.”

  “What? Oh, David. I’m so sorry.” She hadn’t known that part of the equation. She wished Krustan had told her.

  “We broke up last year. She had started seeing Joe.”

  “Joe Storm.” Tammy felt sick to her stomach, already hating where this was going.

  “Yeah. The guy gets around. Olivia and I were going along great—dating stuff—movies, clubs, trips. She started missing dates, saying she had headaches…”

  “She was seeing Joe at the same time?” Tammy couldn’t believe it. Well, she could as far as Joe went. But what kind of woman would do that to David? He was just too sweet.

  “Yeah. At first I believed her. And then I thought maybe she was just tired of our relationship. I tried to add some zing to it and asked if she wanted to visit an island.”

  “Don’t tell me she turned you down.”

  “She didn’t have a chance to. I kind of suspected she was seeing someone else, so I went unannounced to see her. Joe answered the door wearing just his boxers.”

  “You must have been pissed off.”

  “You could say that.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me when I mentioned I’d dated Joe? You must have hated that I’d been seeing him, too.” Yet David had never let on. He had been angry, but she’d thought it was just because he believed the guy had hurt her.

  “I didn’t believe it was important. It was in the past. I moved on a long time ago. At the time, I figured she did me a favor.”

  “Yet I bet you didn’t feel too bad when you knocked him out at the club.”

  His smile was a little sinister, but then he frowned. “Hell, Tammy, after he shot at you, I would do a lot worse if I ever get my hands on the guy. Even if he hadn’t meant to shoot you.”

  “So why would Krustan believe Olivia would have anything to do with our case?”

  “I haven’t any idea. Except that it all seems to involve Joe.”

  She let out a sigh. “I guess it’s time for bed. But…if you think I’m going to change my mind about the bed…” She eyed him with suspicion.

  “The couch is fine. Really. I’ll curl up in a little ball like I used to do as a kid.”

  She laughed. She was halfway thinking of letting him do it, too. Then again, she could envision him trying to get comfortable and having a miserable night of it.

  They had a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. She’d keep thinking of him tossing and turning on the couch and never get any sleep herself. When it came to him, she was way too much of a pushover.

  She stood, and when he rose from the couch, she took hold of his belt loop and tugged at him. “Come on. It’s getting late, I’m tired, and we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

  He grabbed his bag and headed with her to the bedroom, wisely not saying anything about her changing her mind. She could imagine him grinning from ear to ear like a jaguar version of the Cheshire Cat.

  Chapter 23

  Despite how tenderhearted Tammy had been the last time David faced sleeping on a bunk bed that was too short, he really believed she would leave him with the option of retiring on the couch, which was even shorter than the bunk beds. He figured he’d just strip naked and shift. Lying down anywhere as a jaguar would work for him. He was surprised she hadn’t thought of that.

  He was really going to try to give her some space this time, not touch her air-conditioner setting, and behave himself. Not that he wanted to. He wanted to kiss her and so much more. What better way to wind down after the long road trip and plane ride today?

  Before they reached her bedroom, he noticed a room made into a study and a closed door that he suspected led to a third bedroom.

  She glanced in the direction he looked and smiled. “You don’t want to see what’s in there.”

  “Sort of a storage room?”

  “Yeah. Stuff I need to sort through and get rid of.”

  Her bedroom was all blues and greens, reminding him of water and the jungle. And Tammy with him in the waterfall pool.

  “My side is the right side of the bed,” she said, just like it had been in Belize. “Guest bath down the hall is yours for showers and the like. I’ll be right back.”

  That meant his side was the left, and it sure sounded like something more permanent to him, even if she hadn’t meant it that way.

  In the guest bathroom, he quickly stripped off all but his boxers—before she changed her mind—brushed his teeth, returned to the bedroom, and climbed into bed. No sheer mesh curtains here to keep the bugs out. No noisy jungle sounds. The sheets smelled of the she-cat and fragrant vanilla with a hint of springtime freshness. And the sheets were satiny soft, just like she was.

  She pulled the covers aside, glanced at his bare chest, and climbed into bed. She was wearing a large, navy-blue T-shirt this time, but even so, it reached high thigh and was sexy on her. The shirt didn’t hide her curves and only fed his imagination.

  He wasn’t going to kiss her, he told himself. She
wanted to keep their relationship strictly business until after the mission, now that they were home. He could understand that. To some extent.

  “You appreciate why I needed to keep some distance from you, don’t you?” she finally asked, glancing up at him and looking so damned sexy that he nearly forgot the part about how he wasn’t going to kiss her.

  “Yeah, you were afraid you’d lose focus on the assignment,” he said.

  She snorted.

  “You can’t be worried that I’d lose focus.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I am.”

  Intending to prove he could deal with it, he said, “Here I was going to discuss the case with you, talk over what we could do tomorrow, and—”

  “You mean like plan our next move?”

  “Yeah, I can plan things, too,” he said.

  “Sometimes, it’s better not to plan.” With that, she slid up his body until she reached his mouth. And kissed him.

  She didn’t give him just a sweet little peck on the cheek or mouth that meant good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite. This was a hell of a lot like the kiss they had shared in the bungalow bed. He was trying not to let his imagination run wild—if that wasn’t where it was headed—but he was all for it if it was.

  He half expected her to pull away like when they’d been in bed together the first time, a sumptuous slip of a taste of fantasy and then it was gone. Well, not quite gone, because he’d thought about it forever.

  Her hot little body was rubbing against his thoroughly rock-hard erection, her tongue slipping into his mouth as she pressed her T-shirt-clad breasts against his bare chest.

  He slid his hands up her shirt and felt her soft skin and thought of the vanilla bath she’d taken. “I love how you smell, like cookies fresh from the oven,” he said.