“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, holstering her gun and snatching up her things again. “And how did you know where I live, let alone get past security?”
How dare he be here? And ahead of her, too. She’d driven the maximum speed limit the whole way here. Unless he’d been here waiting for her for all the hours it took to interview Stevens. She felt a perverse imp of satisfaction at the idea of him cooling his heels for several hours tweak her lips into a half smile.
“You’re not the only one with investigative skills,” Cord said with a grin that flashed across his features, then disappeared just as quickly. “I’m here to see you. We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. We’ve done all the talking—all the anything—we needed to do.”
“Seems we differ on that topic. Perhaps I should have said, I need to talk to you.”
“And why should I listen to you? You willfully obstructed my investigation.”
“I did.”
“We have no more to say,” she said adamantly and brushed past him to insert her key into the lock. “Enjoy your trip back to Royal.”
“I’m not leaving until we’ve spoken.”
“Then I hope you’ll be comfortable sleeping out here on the hallway floor because I have nothing to say to you.”
She went inside and started to close the door, but Cord swiftly blocked her action.
“Look, hear me out. Please? I know I was a prize asshole. I apologize for that.”
“Good of you, but it makes no difference. I’m investigating a man’s death here. You impeded that investigation.”
“So arrest me.”
They stared at each other in silence for a full minute. Zoe couldn’t tear her gaze from his. She could see her own reflection in the darkness of his pupils, saw the determination in every line of his face. His lips, which could do such wicked things to her body, were compressed in a grim line, and the humor that she’d so often witnessed in his expression was not evident today. He wasn’t going to leave until he’d said his piece, that much was blatantly clear. She blew out a sigh of frustration.
“Fine, come in. Five minutes and then you’re out again. How the hell did you get here, anyway?”
“I flew in.”
She stopped halfway through to the kitchen and dropped her bags onto a chair.
“Just like that?”
“The beauty of flying.”
“No five-and-a-half-hour drive? No toilet stops in questionable bathrooms?”
He shook his head.
“I hate you,” she muttered as she entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to stare blankly at its meager contents.
“Even more than this morning?” he said, stepping up close behind her and peering over her shoulder.
She felt his presence acutely, even though he wasn’t touching her, and caught her breath so she wouldn’t inhale the appealing scent of him. Whatever he smelled like, however good he felt against her body or even inside it, he’d betrayed her.
“Yes, even more than this morning.”
“What if I head to the convenience store around the corner and get us some food and cook you dinner? Would you hate me less, then?”
She closed the fridge door with a thud and turned to face him. “No, I wouldn’t. It’s late, I’m tired, I’m frustrated and I want to go to sleep. Say what you wanted to say and go.”
“Not even a coffee?”
She rolled her eyes and moved to the coffee machine. “Fine, and then you go.”
She went through the motions, not even fully aware of what she was doing. All she could think about was Cord and the fact he was here, in her world now. Not that it made any difference. She’d closed that door. It wasn’t even as if a future together had been in the cards in the first place. Friends with benefits, that was all it was. Heck, not even friends, to be totally blunt.
“I hope you like it black. Milk’s off, and I don’t have any powdered creamer,” she said, pouring him a mug full of the dark brew.
“Thanks, it’ll do fine.”
He took the mug, his fingers brushing hers. She hated the cliché of it, but there was no mistaking the jolt of awareness she felt as their skin brushed.
“You’re not having any?” he asked.
“No, I need to sleep. Gotta get into the station early.”
“Right, so I guess my time starts now?”
* * *
Cord watched as Zoe nodded and gestured for him to sit in the living room. Before sitting down opposite him, she removed her holster and slid her weapon onto the table between them. A reminder, perhaps, that she was trained in firearms and not afraid to use them. Or simply just a reminder that she was and always would be a cop.
He drew in a deep breath and began to speak. “What I did was wrong.”
“Y’think?” she answered caustically and arched one brow at him.
“Not just from a legal perspective, but from a personal one. I’ve never been the kind of person to cause trouble with the police.”
“And yet you did.”
She crossed her arms and stared at him. Nope—she definitely wasn’t going to make this any easier.
“Look, initially, when I knew you were investigating Jesse, it sent me into protective mode. He’s been through a lot.”
“And you don’t think the Hamm family has been through a lot, too? That they don’t deserve some answers as to who murdered their son?”
He shook his head. “I was wrong. I knew Jesse couldn’t have been involved. I just didn’t want you hassling him. But—” he held up one hand as she started to interrupt “—I had no right to do what I did nor delay your opportunity to interview him. I apologize for all of it.”
“Great, I accept your apology. You can go now.”
She started to stand.
“Look, just a few more minutes,” he begged. To his relief she sat back down again. “I’m fiercely attracted to you, Detective. It scares me.”
“Go on.”
“I was engaged before, to a girl named Britney Collins.”
“I know the name.”
“Then you know what happened to her.”
“I do.”
“I can’t go through that again. I can’t face every single day knowing a woman I love is putting herself in danger.” Love? Where did that come from? He was messing this all up, especially if the suddenly shuttered look on Zoe’s face was any indicator. “I was never keen on her career choice. In fact, I have to admit that I never fully understood her need or her drive to become one of Houston’s finest. But I couldn’t hold her back. If I’d asked her, she wouldn’t have done it. Instead, she’d have found work in Royal that satisfied her until we had kids, and then she would have stayed home with them. But I knew she wanted more than that.
“Part of me regrets not being selfish. She’d still be alive today if I had. But, in time, she’d have been desperately unhappy. Which brings me to you.”
Zoe’s eyes widened slightly. “Look, what happened to Britney was awful. It’s something every cop and their family dread, but you can’t compare her situation to mine. I’ve been raised in a police family. I’ve been a cop for nine years. I’m not saying I won’t ever get killed on the job, but I am saying I am well trained, and in my role as a detective, I’m not exposed to the kinds of things a frontline officer is on a daily basis.
“But, all of that said, I’m not in the market for a relationship. Especially not a long-distance one. Hell, I’d probably stand more chance of being involved in a car wreck than I do getting hurt on the job.”
“Does that mean you’re not even willing to try? We have a connection, Zoe. You know it. I know it. Don’t you think it’s worth exploring to see what happens?”
She shook her head slowly, and he could see regret in her eyes. “No. Your life, everythin
g, is in Royal. Mine is here. We might fit in the bedroom, but we don’t fit when it comes to our lifestyles or our careers.
“I know you have an obligation to your family, and that’s what drives you on your ranch. It’s your home, it’s what you do and, from what I could see, you’re good at it. It fits for you. This city, the people in it, that’s what fits for me. We’re oil and water, Cord. We just don’t mix. I think you should go now.”
He stood, even though every cell in his body was telling him to fight harder, to tell her he could change, make adjustments, that if they both wanted it enough, they could make it work. But deep down he knew it would be futile. In fact, it would probably only lead to more heartbreak for both of them.
“Thanks for hearing me out,” he said, offering Zoe his hand to shake when she’d walked him to the door.
She took his hand and squeezed it gently, but before she could let him go he tugged her slightly off balance, pulling her against him. Without a second thought he cupped her jaw, tilting her face up to his and taking her lips with a kiss that both seared her flesh and said a bittersweet goodbye.
He stood outside the door after she’d closed it. He wasn’t giving up. She might think it was over between them, but he had to be 100 percent sure they couldn’t make a go of this. Life was too short and way too precious not to fight for what was important. He knew that better than most. And he had an ace up his sleeve that Zoe wasn’t expecting.
Cord started walking to the elevator. This round was hers, but he was pretty certain he’d win the next one.
* * *
Cord pulled up outside the sprawling home in a suburban part of Houston the next day. The lots were a generous size here, the gardens well established and there was an air of quiet gentility about the area, with echoes of past families having been raised around here. He checked the address he’d been given and looked at the house across the street. So this was where Zoe had grown up. He could just imagine a younger, skinnier version of her shinnying up one of those giant trees or riding her bike along the sidewalk.
He reached for the large colorful bunch of flowers on the passenger seat of his rental car and the bottle of red wine he’d bought and got out of the car. The older woman who opened the door to his knock was smiling widely.
“You must be Cord,” she said. “Welcome to our home. We’re so grateful to you for looking out for Zoe while she was out of town.”
“Mrs. Warren, lovely to meet you, and it was a pleasure. Can I just say how like Zoe you look, or should that be the other way around?”
“Ah yes, people do say that. Come on out back. The boys and their families are already here. We’re just waiting for Zoe.”
“These are for you,” he said, giving Zoe’s mom the bouquet of flowers.
“They’re beautiful, thank you. You’ll make my husband jealous,” she said with a girlish giggle.
“Well, I have brought him a gift, too,” Cord said, brandishing the bottle of wine. “So I hope he’ll forgive me.”
She spied the label. “Oh yes, he’ll forgive you, all right. Follow me.”
Cord trailed behind her, his eyes catching on a series of family photos that lined the hallway in groupings that appeared to be by various eras within the family. He’d have liked to have lingered and studied the progression of Zoe’s childhood to the woman she was today, but Zoe’s mom was disappearing through a doorway ahead of him. He quickly followed her through the door and was met by a cacophony of sound. Kids, dogs, family. It looked like there were people everywhere.
This was what Zoe had grown up surrounded by. It was very different from his upbringing as the only child of a close-knit ranching family. Sure, they’d had extended family to visit occasionally, and some of the hands lived on-site. And there had been the Stevens kids as well, but this was something else.
“Jed, come and meet Cord, the guy I was telling you about.”
A heavyset grizzled man in his late fifties put down the tongs he’d been using on the outdoor grill and wiped his hands on the apron he was wearing. The pink frilly fabric looked incongruous on him, but that fact didn’t seem to bother him at all as he came over to meet Cord.
“Jed Warren. I’m Zoe’s dad. Pleased to meet you.”
“Cord Galicia. Likewise. This is for you,” Cord said, handing the man the bottle of wine.
“Well, thank you very much. We invited you here to thank you for looking out for our girl, not for you to bring us stuff,” Jed said with a grin.
“My mom always said I should never arrive anywhere empty-handed.”
“Well, I appreciate this. I really do. In fact, I might just put this on the rack so it doesn’t get quaffed by the riffraff here.” Jed gestured toward four young men in the backyard who, by their appearance, were obviously his sons.
Zoe’s mom linked her arm in Cord’s. “Come and meet the rest of the family, and please call me Sarah.”
Cord made it through most of the introductions before completely losing track of which kids belonged to what parents, but there came a point when he felt a shift in the camaraderie of the moment to one of pointed observation. It coincided with an intense prickle of awareness running down his neck. Zoe was here. Slowly, he turned around and faced her. Fury and disbelief warred for dominance on her beautiful features.
Sarah Warren saw her daughter and bustled forward.
“Zoe, darling. Glad you could get away from work. Come, have a drink.”
“What’s he doing here?” she asked bluntly.
Cord saw color infuse her mother’s cheeks. “Zoe,” she whispered fiercely. “We don’t treat our guests like that.”
“He’s a guest? Seriously? You invited him?”
“Of course we did. He called us, trying to track you down. Said you’d left something at his house when he put you up after that dreadful motel fire. You remember, the one you didn’t see fit to tell your mother about?”
Cord stifled a grin. There was nothing quite like a mother’s love and censure all rolled into one telling off. Zoe, it seemed, felt the same way.
“Mom, it wasn’t that bad. But I still don’t understand why he’s here.”
“Well, when he called and asked for your address, we just wanted to say thank-you for his hospitality toward you, of course.”
The way Sarah spoke, it made her invitation to him so very matter-of-fact, but he could see Zoe wasn’t having any of it.
“Right,” she said, in response to her mom’s explanation. “Well, I can’t stay long. I’m waiting for a call to get back to the office.”
“Surely you can take a couple of hours away from your work,” her mother admonished and grabbed an ice-cold beer from a fridge on the back porch and shoved it into her daughter’s hand. “There, now have a drink and play nice.”
Sarah went back inside the kitchen, leaving Cord and Zoe mostly alone on the back patio.
“Great place your parents have. Must have been fun growing up here.”
“With that lot?” she gestured with her beer bottle to her brothers, who’d lined up on either side of a picnic table to have a drink and a yarn while their wives supervised the children for a while. “Hardly.”
“I bet it was fun,” Cord said again, this time with a wistfulness to his voice that he hadn’t expected.
“Are you stalking me?” Zoe said after a short silence.
“What? No!”
“It certainly looks that way.”
“Look, I called your parents’ house after you left because you left your computer cable behind. I wanted to know where I could send it. I explained to your mom why you’d been staying with me, and she gave me your address and then when I said I’d be in Houston, she invited me for dinner tonight. I could hardly refuse.”
“Oh yes, you could totally have refused.” Zoe took a swig of her beer and turned to face him. “And you still haven’t giv
en me my computer cable.”
“Let’s just say I got distracted yesterday. It’s in my car now. I was going to leave it with your parents if you didn’t show.”
“You mean you didn’t think I’d be here tonight?”
“Your mom wasn’t sure if you’d make it. Seems you don’t make it to a lot of family get-togethers these days.”
Zoe groaned. “Don’t you start. I get enough of that from Mom.”
Cord shrugged. “Only repeating what she told me.”
He looked at her. There were dark shadows under her eyes, giving them a bruised look and making her look more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her. He couldn’t help himself. He reached out to touch her cheek. A slight buzz tingled through his fingertips as they grazed gently against her skin.
“You okay? You look tired.”
She shook her head, breaking the contact. “I’m fine. This investigation is driving me insane, though. There’s a whole ton of pressure from the top brass to wrap this up, like, you have no idea.”
“And I made that worse for you, didn’t I? I’m truly sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Look, I accepted your apology,” she said testily and took another sip of her beer.
“I know, but I meant it. Look, I won’t stay. I can see that my being here is spoiling it for you.”
Cord put his beer down on the table next to them and started to walk away. He was surprised when Zoe grabbed his arm.
“Don’t you dare leave. It’ll be more than my life is worth trying to explain it after you’ve gone.”
He stopped and looked at her. She was glancing between him and her brothers, all of whom had turned to watch them with varying degrees of interest.
“Okay,” he said and picked up his beer again. “Again, my apologies—this wasn’t a good idea.”
“No, it wasn’t, but you’re here now, so let’s make the most of it. I take it you’ve met everybody?”
Tangled With A Texan (Texas Cattleman’s Club: Houston Book 8) Page 12
