Nate took an incoming call and set all of that up.
“You can’t come,” he told Zaragosa. “We’re linked. If I wanted to find me, I’d follow you.”
He could see Grace out of the corner of his eye as she walked down the hallway and checked the place out. He fought the strong urge to go in front of her and clear the rooms. But this house was untouched. The only way she’d be in danger was if somehow Slater X and his people got the jump and found this house before Nate and Grace had. Since Nate hadn’t even known about it, he seriously doubted they’d be found.
Pushing his attention away from watching the backside of the woman walking down the hall away from him, he told Mari, “I hate to do this to you, but we need cash. A lot of it. I have it, but I don’t think you can go to my house and get anything.”
“Masuka says you can use anything at the house—"
“There are three granola bars left, a few cans of soup and cereal and running water.” Nate interrupted before his stomach did. He could hear Mari cringing through the phone line and he told himself that his phone didn’t recognize the number she had called from, so it should be safe.
“I’ll send food, too. Cash, food, what else?”
Nate thought. Grace had clothes. He almost said, “That’s it,” but then he changed his mind at the last minute. “Magazines. I need more ammo … just in case.”
Mari took notes and Nate knew he’d be taken care of, but he wouldn’t see her. Slater X would be able to find their connection easily and Nate was beginning to suspect there was someone inside the department who was leaking information to Slater X or even to whoever was above him in the organization.
They talked about it a few minutes more and he hung up hopeful that they had at least one night of cover here. “Grace?”
She emerged from the last door in the hallway and he could see the pastel blues of the room behind her.
“We’re going to try to stay here tonight. We should be getting some supplies in the next few hours. Our only job is to try to stay low and keep the house looking unoccupied so the neighbors don’t report it.”
She nodded. “So I shouldn’t have flipped the lights off and on like a ghost? Or pressed my face to the window like a lost orphan?”
He’d felt his heart drop until he caught on. “You’re funny.”
“Yeah, I figured since we were in the house of an older and dead couple we shouldn’t act like live people.” She quirked the edge of her lip at him as she passed him on her way to the living room.
The curtains were pulled but they weren’t completely opaque, so Grace looked around one last time and sank into a seated position on the floor. Nate headed through the house to check it out for himself. He didn’t like not knowing for certain that there wasn’t someone hiding in a closet or such.
He didn’t find any people, but he did find some amusing things. The bathroom looked like it belonged to the trendy crowd from about forty years ago. The bedroom made him think of his own grandparents’ room, but with less of an eye toward an aesthetically pleasing look. Still, he couldn’t complain. It was free. It was local. He’d been able to walk to it from where he and Grace managed to get away from Slater’s guys. He didn’t need to like the décor.
After checking all the corners and closets, he returned to the living room to find Grace had pulled a book from the shelf and was reading. She sat cross legged on the old green carpet and held the hardback copy across her legs. Her hair swung down, obscuring her face. She didn’t look up at him and he found himself wishing she would. “What are you reading?”
“Nabokov.” She didn’t look up.
“Lolita?”
She nodded. Only then did she look up. “It was Jimmy’s favorite.” Tears rolled down her face and Nate felt his legs crumple as he hit the ground beside her.
His arm snaked out and reached around her shoulder, pulling her closer before he even thought about what he was doing. He’d known her less than forty-eight hours. She’d swept into his office like an angry angel, then she’d been reasonable, bright, sharp, and solid. But it wasn’t surprising that she was in tears. It was only surprising that she hadn’t been in tears before this.
“It’s brilliantly written. I mean, the subject is so distasteful and Humbert Humbert doesn’t deserve our sympathy, but Nabokov writes it so well…I think it’s the only book I’ve ever read where you don’t root for the main character.”
Nate almost laughed even though it wasn’t appropriate. She was analyzing literature through her tears. Instead of chuckling, he said, “I’ve heard it’s excellent.”
“You should read it.” So he made a promise to read classic literature. He promised it to a woman he barely knew but somehow was starting to feel that he’d known forever. He nudged her a little, a physical suggestion that she put her head on his shoulder. When she did, Nate ignored the way the center of his chest settled. He told himself he wasn’t in big trouble. But he was.
He sat there with her while she silently cried for her lost little brother. He had no idea how long they stayed that way, only that the light had changed outside by the time the back door knob began to turn.
Chapter Eleven
Grace both felt and saw Nate pop up, suddenly on alert as a shape appeared at the back door. She wasn’t worried by it. Maybe because Nate had so cleanly inserted himself between her and whoever was coming. Maybe because, thought Nate was on alert, he didn’t seem surprised.
Slowly she rose to her feet, trying to stay out of sight in case it was a neighbor who saw activity and thought they’d come check it out.
She waited as a key pushed into the lock and turned. Nate had pocketed the one they’d pulled from under a flower pot on their way in earlier, so whoever was coming had their own key. Nate had drawn his weapon and had it ready along his thigh as she thought up lies for why they might be in this house.
But then the door opened, and though she didn’t know what was happening, she could see Nate’s shoulders relax. He had his weapon reholstered faster than she would have thought possible.
“Masuka!” He stepped forward and embraced the other man.
“Oh, it’s good to see you alive and well. That’s the worst run-in with Slater’s people in a long time.”
Nate nodded solemnly, “They were there for us. Maybe for Grace.” He then turned and introduced her.
“This is Grace Lee. Grace, This is officer Hikari Masuka.”
The smaller man put his hand out and offered the kind of shake she liked—clean, respectful, short. She smiled, but before she could say anything, Masuka asked, “Chinese?”
He was frowning at her as he examined her face. He was clearly Japanese, and she was … well. “Yes, and also Vietnamese…and even some hillbilly.”
“Ah, it’s the hillbilly.” He grinned. “I should have recognized it.”
Grace was glad to laugh along with him. She knew the slight drawl she had was a little discordant with her Asian looks. But she wasn’t fully Asian either. She preferred Masuka’s straightforward question any day. “And you?”
“So Cal.”
At least he made her laugh. It was only when she turned to Nate that she caught the flash of … what? She didn’t know, but Nate wasn’t laughing with them.
He interrupted, making the other officer get down to business.
“Look man, I’m so sorry,” Masuka started. “I was in the lab and I was following the GPS. I heard the report about Slater and … well, I may have given someone—the wrong someone—information about where your car was.”
As Grace watched, Nate frowned and she felt her own eyebrows pull together. They’d been followed and… “You think someone at the station took your information and tipped off this Slater X guy?”
Masuka only nodded in reply. It was a simple gesture, a clear response. But it made her heart drop. “They were after me?”
“You’re investigating a death that was a closed case.”
“It was crap!” she protested a lit
tle too loudly, she knew it. She shouldn’t alienate the officers at the station that was helping her. This was the precinct Jimmy had died in. She needed them.
But instead of being angry, Masuka nodded. “You’re right. No one here caught it.”
This time it was Grace who shook her head and conceded. “How could you? The medical examiner’s office lied and covered it up.”
That made Masuka blink twice. “The ME’s office is in on it too?” He looked to Nate.
So did Grace.
Nate nodded. “As of last night, that became a definite yes. So, we have to be very careful who you tell where we are and what you know.”
Masuka held up his hands as though to swear off the problem. “I’ve only talked to Zaragosa. Well, once I told her it was likely someone in tech, and she said you had the same thought. As of now, we aren’t even telling the chief where you are. That was smart calling Zaragosa’s brother. I don’t imagine anyone will check his call log.”
Grace hadn’t thought of that, but it explained Nate’s obsession with using the house phone and calling from her phone and so on. His phone was linked to the precinct and it just might be that anyone there could pull the records on his calls at any time. She thought about asking, but kept her mouth shut.
Masuka quickly ducked back out to the car, returning with a cloth bag and handing it to Nate. “I’m usually not here this long, so I’d better go. Money’s in the bag. Keep the house key in case you need it in the future.”
He handed over a page with several numbers on it. “Any of these people will call me to tell me to call you. It keeps Zaragosa at work in the office while you go missing. Makes it harder for anyone but the four of us to know where you are. Are you getting out of town tomorrow morning?”
Nate nodded and Grace stared at him, shocked. “We can’t leave town! This is where we need to be!”
Chapter Twelve
They’d eaten sandwiches made from the bread and meats that were part of the treasure trove in the cloth bag. Nate didn’t know whether Grace understood that Masuka couldn’t just go to the deli and order food for more people than he had in his house. It was paranoid, but Nate was getting more and more paranoid. Luckily, she didn’t complain.
When they managed to eat enough and clean up, Nate suggested they raid the closets while there was still some natural light left. They needed a change of clothes, him most of all and the other officer had told them to please take what they needed.
It took several tries to find something of Masuka’s grandfather’s that didn’t look ridiculous. Wearing too-small clothing was worse than looking like Nate Ryder. It would draw attention from everyone, not just the people looking for him.
Masuka wasn’t a big guy, but he was much bigger than his grandfather had been. Nate pulled out each shirt until he came across one large enough to fit him. It looked like it hadn’t been worn at all, and the plaid, short-sleeved button-down was definitely different from his usual clothing. The fedora ought to help, too. Grace had even grinned at him as she tried on a polyester blouse in a pale pink with a seventies era bow at the neck.
Nate already knew that wasn’t like Grace. He’d grinned back at her.
Night fell around them and things stayed quiet. She read the book until long after he would have thought the evening had gotten too dark. But they couldn’t turn on any lights. Even their cell phones might be seen. He couldn’t afford to drain his battery either.
When she finally set the book aside, they were both leaning back against the couch and he asked her about her childhood. He found he desperately wanted to know. He wanted to know if little Grace had played at “scientist,” if she’d wanted a family, what her memories of Jimmy and Southern life had been like. As she answered, he felt himself slipping further and further under.
She spoke of her life unabashedly, volleying a question back at him for each one she answered. The words slipped out of him, coming easily even though some of the stories were hard. He’d found his grandfather after the older man had passed. His grandfather had been a harsh taskmaster, but also maybe the one who’d most simply loved Nate for Nate.
She told him that Little Grace had been bullied but had emerged strong rather than angry. Nate felt for the awkward, too-smart, unusual-looking kid she’d been. But now? The combination was beautiful. He’d seen heads turn when she’d come into the station. Then she’d opened her mouth and completely dispelled the idea that her stunning looks were the best thing about her. He was going to hit the ground hard on this one.
So when she leaned in closer as they talked, he did too. The tug inside him was gravitational. A tilt of his shoulder, a tip of his head, a turn of his cheek and his mouth was so close to hers that he didn’t stop the motion and closed the final inch between them until it was nothing. Until he tasted her mouth against his and, somehow, he sunk even deeper.
His lips teased at hers at first, liking the way she nipped back, that her fingers had found his thigh and her hand had perched there, searing him through his jeans. As she turned, seeking more contact with him, Nate took advantage and pulled her closer. The kiss changed from sweet and searching to aggressive and needy. It wasn’t just her, he could feel it in his chest, the tightening that told him he was going to slide over the edge with her. The pull that told him this was right.
Before he fully realized what he was doing, Nate found his fingers tangled in her hair. She was mussed, her mouth bee-stung from his kisses, her shirt slightly askew, her leg over his. It was so easy to lean over and take her to the carpet underneath him as their mouths sought each other out.
He kissed her jawline, his tongue flicking out to taste as he went along. The groan he heard was his, her name slipping from his lips like it was another thing to test and explore. Grace gave as well as she took, and he groaned again when her thigh slipped between his legs and rubbed along his already aching flesh. God, he wanted her. He had since he’d looked up and seen her storming into his office.
In his memory, her hair trailed behind her and her eyes focused on him as she beelined through the precinct looking for her man. It had been like being hunted down by Wonder Woman and now she was here, pushing up against him, struggling to get closer to him. Him.
Her lips found the shell of his ear, then her teeth did, and he arched like a bow against her.
“Nate.”
The whispered sound of his name was a plea for more and he leaned over to answer it, his mouth fusing to hers as his head realized he was a goner.
Her tongue was dueling with his, and his hands had clutched her, one wrapped under her shoulder, one cradling her fine ass, when the ice water hit his veins.
Abruptly, he pulled back, trying to find her eyes in the darkness. “Grace, we can’t do this.”
CHAPTER13
“What?” Grace asked as she pulled back, stunned. It had been great. Until he abruptly quit.
That kiss—as long as it had gone on—was better than some sex she’d had. She didn’t say that. Not to a man who’d just pulled away and told her they needed to stop.
“You’re grieving your brother. We just ran from a drug dealer and possibly a killer.” He leaned back onto his heels and looked at her. Despite the dark, she could see the resignation on his face. “I can’t take advantage of you this way.”
She barked out a harsh laugh. “You aren’t taking advantage of me. If anything, I was taking advantage of you.” Had she been using him? She had needed to sink away, not think about Jimmy being gone forever. But that kiss had not felt like the kind of mindless escapism her situation might have made her go for. Grace sat back, too, needing distance now that he was no longer sweet-talking her with his tongue and fingertips. “You’re right that I’m grieving the loss of my brother, but when I lost Jimmy, I got sad, not stupid.”
She waited a beat and when he didn’t say anything, she went on. “I’m not doing this just to make the bad feelings go away…I’m a grown ass woman who knows my own mind. I’ve done things in my life that
I regret. I know what they are, and you, Nate Ryder, are not going to be one of them.”
Nate sighed into the darkness. He was too far away now for her to see his eyes, but she wished she could.
Grace sensed him as he pounced at her like a panther. She hadn’t expected him to be so swayed by her words. She’d only been commenting that she was a big girl and didn’t blame others for her decisions. Barely able to brace herself, she found herself on her back on the carpet before she had time to blink.
His kisses were ravishing, his tongue searching, his touch demanding. Grace reveled in all of it. She clung to him as he rolled them over, leaving her on top. Her hips moved of their own accord, eliciting moans from the sexy man splayed on the floor beneath her.
Here she was, surrounded by hand-tatted doilies and the most uncomfortable furniture she’d ever seen, and she was pretty sure she was about to have the best sex of her life.
Nate sat up, bringing his chest flush against hers. This time the movement made her groan and she leaned down to meet him in another deep, soul-fusing kiss.
Nate’s movements changed. They were jerky and odd, and she was about to ask what he was doing when she realized he was standing with her still in his arms. He didn’t act as though she was heavy, but they stumbled together into the small hallway in a tangle of arms, legs, and tongues. In moments, the wall was at her back and Nate was using it to push the two of them closer. He was lifting her, his hand cradling her ass again and Grace found herself climbing this man like a tree.
Her legs wrapped around his waist and she hooked her ankles. Her back arched, pushing her breasts against him and moving her hips in a way that told him exactly what she wanted as soon as their clothes came off. Her head was tossed back, his mouth on her neck, tasting and testing. Her fingers combed through his hair and held on. One of his hands was on her ass, moving the two of them in rhythm together, and the other was climbing her ribs. Coming up to cup her breast…thumb brushing her nipple.
Dark Secrets Page 5