by Jaycee Clark
“Don’t you ‘Kaitie lass’ me. When they get downstairs, you be nice and polite, or it will go badly for you.” She turned on her heel. “I’m going to find some coffee.”
• • •
Aiden hurried downstairs in jeans and a pullover. Jessie was pacing upstairs, still worried about his parents. She mumbled something about yoga.
When she was really flustered she couldn’t even come up with a good line.
And speaking of his parents, where were they? He looked in the living room. Where the hell was Jessie’s dress? There, draped over an armchair. Okay, dress. Stockings? What about her shoes?
Damn. Aiden turned around.
“There’s a hose on the end table, dear.”
Aiden jumped a foot and spun to face his mother. She was holding a coffee cup and grinning her one dimpled smile, her eyes, green as Ireland, sparkling with suppressed laughter.
“Uh—Um.” What the hell did he say to that? “Thanks, Mom.”
Her laugh tinkled on the air. “Don’t mention it. Your father probably would have looked for the rest, but I was tired of listening to him, so I dragged him to the kitchen.”
“Where the hell is the boy? You think he could at least come downstairs and greet us.” His father stopped as he came up to stand behind his wife. “There you are.”
Aiden tried to think of a delicate and easy way to get back upstairs.
“Hi,” he tried. “I had no idea you’d changed your plans and decided to come today instead of tomorrow.”
His father shrugged. “We have to run everything by you?”
“No.”
Aiden walked to his mother and hugged her. “I’m glad you’re here.” He hugged his father. “What time did you fly out this morning?” He checked his watch. It wasn’t even nine.
“Early,” his mother said.
Something black near the fireplace caught his attention. Garter belt. Hell. Sighing, he hurried across the room and snatched it up. He had no idea where her shoes were or anything else and he wasn’t about to stay down here and look for them.
“A garter belt?” Jock asked as Aiden passed him. Aiden could only smile. “What kind of a woman wears garters and hose and—and . . . ?”
On the way up the stairs, he heard his mother say, “I never heard you complain about them before.”
“Kaitie lass, that’s different.”
Aiden shook his head. That was too much information in his opinion. He opened the door.
“Jessie? Here’s your dress and a hose and your garter belt. I couldn’t find the rest of it and I didn’t want to stay around to look.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her bare toes tapping. “What’s the matter, Aiden? What’s the big deal?” Her eyes rounded. “Embarrassed?”
“I am not,” he tried in his most affronted voice.
She strolled to him, the silk of his shirt pulling and sliding over her scantily clad body. “Hmm.” One of her fingers trailed over his ear as she reached up on tiptoes. “Your ears are red.” Her chuckle danced between them. “How cute.”
Cute? Aiden sighed and tossed her stuff on the bed.
“I’ll be downstairs.” He patted her bottom and turned to the door.
“I’ll be down in minute. I really need to get some writing done and then I’m heading to The Dime. It’s Saturday and we’ll be open for lunch.”
“Hmm. You wouldn’t be running away now, would you?”
Her shocked expression tried to match her voice, but he saw through the lie. “No. I just have things to do and I’m certain your parents would like to spend some quality time with you.” Jessie wiggled out of his shirt and it slithered to the floor. “Guess it’s time I move to the cottage.”
Aiden’s breath caught. He watched as she pulled open a dresser drawer, rummaging through it. Her lines were slightly curved, more toned than anything. He loved the way her back curved, barely dipping at the base before the flair of her perfectly rounded ass. “God, you’re beautiful.”
Her brown eyes locked with his over her shoulder before she turned around. A small smile played on her mouth. “Man, give a guy some sex and he turns to mush.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes and strode to her. He kissed her, walked, until he pushed her back on the bed. “Sex? Is that all it was to you?” Then her words registered. “And you’re not moving to the damn cottage.”
Her catlike smile grew. “Great sex?”
Aiden leaned down and kissed, pressed his groin into her naked one. Even through his jeans, he could feel her heat and dampness.
“Wonderful sex?”
And kissed her some more, ravaging her mouth, his fingers caressing her body. She arched her neck and he kissed his way down the pale column.
“Mind-altering sex?”
He pulled back. “I was thinking more along the lines of lovemaking, but mind-altering sex will work. Glad to know I was that good. I feel like a god.”
Her hands fisted in his hair and she jerked him down for another kiss.
“Puh-leeze. A god? How about a compromise?” she asked.
Aiden shook his head. “No, a god. No compromise.”
“I meant mind-altering lovemaking.” Her laugh was throaty and sexy.
He rocked against her, grinned at her sharp intake of breath. Rocked against her again. “A god who can perform mind-alerting lovemaking.” Whispering against her lips, he said, “I like that. I like that a lot.”
Chapter 13
Jesslyn came down the stairs, her boots thumping on the wood. She’d put on her boots and jeans, but left Aiden’s shirt on. It was stupid, yes, but she didn’t want to take it off just yet. If he asked, she’d just say she hadn’t had a chance to do her laundry.
Voices from the kitchen made her want to sneak off to her office at the back of the house. Or maybe the cottage. The office at The Dime. Yeah, she needed to look over the books again. Or maybe . . .
“Jesslyn, come here.” Aiden’s demand carried out the doorway and to where she stood on the bottom step.
Come here? Like what? Coffee, she just needed some coffee.
At the kitchen doorway, she stopped and bowed. In a raspy voice, she strangled out. “Yes, master. I hurried at your summons.”
He rolled his eyes. “Mom, Dad, the smart-ass in my shirt is Jesslyn Black. She owns the house. Jessie, this is Kaitlyn and Jock.”
Aiden stood leaning against the counter, his arms folded across his chest, his face set. He was not happy.
His mother giggled and walked over, offering her hand. “It’s nice to meet you again. Sorry about the way we just popped in.”
Jesslyn waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. Aiden’s renting the place.”
“You have a beautiful home.” Kaitlyn was one of those women who looked like she stepped out of Nordstrom. Perfectly put together, not a wrinkle in sight and a smile in place. Her curly red hair danced just above her shoulders, her green eyes danced with laughter.
Yeah, this was real funny.
“You sleep with all your renters?” Jock asked.
“Jock Kinncaid!” She whirled to face the man at the table.
“Dad,” Aiden warned, the word sharp as a blade.
Jesslyn strolled over to the coffeemaker. “Just the ones that need knocking down a few pegs.”
Aiden glared at her, and she gave him an unamused full-teeth grin as she dumped sugar in the black brew.
“Jock, behave,” Kaitlyn said.
“It was a legitimate question, Kaitie.”
Jesslyn shook her head and turned. The breath froze in her lungs.
Three long-stemmed white lilies, their blooms open as if on a scream, lay on the counter by the sink.
She stared at them. Memories flashed. Maddy. Lilies. The man in black. A long-bladed knife.
“Jessie?”
She jerked back from the hand he reached out to her, her cup shattering to the floor.
“Is this some kind of freaking joke?” she bit out, surprised to se
e her hands were shaking.
“Is what a joke?” he asked, part confusion, part aggravation.
She pointed to the lilies. “Those.”
He looked from her to the flowers. “No, I wanted to know where you got them.”
“I told him they were on the deck when we got here. I thought maybe they were forgotten out there, what with you and he and everything . . .” Kaitlyn cleared her throat.
This was not happening. Why now? Burglar her ass. She knew, knew the man was more than that. Lilies.
“Damn it.” She kicked a big chunk of coffee cup out of the way and grabbed up the cordless, her trembling fingers fumbling on the rubber buttons.
“Jesslyn.” Aiden had straightened from the counter and stood in front of her.
“Did you get them?” she asked, looking up at him.
“No,” he said, calmly, though his eyes were anything but.
Shit. “I wish to God it had been you.”
The phone rang on the other end. T.J. answered. “What?”
“Hello to you, too.”
“Jesslyn, this is really not a good time.”
“Too damn bad. I’ve got something to tell you and—”
“Chief is on the way to see you, Jess,” T.J. interrupted.
“What? Why?” Jesslyn ripped her eyes from the pure blooms and stalked across the kitchen to the doorway then whirled around and paced back.
She could hear the shuffle of sounds through the phone in the background, other voices.
“Tinks?”
Her friend sighed. “First off, the coroner is releasing Maddy’s body today. We need to be at the funeral home at noon to make arrangements.”
The words were ice on an already chilling morning. The slap back into reality was never a pleasant one, was it? Funeral homes. God she hated those places.
“Today?” she asked.
“Yeah, I was going to call you in a bit, I’ve been really busy.” To someone on her end, T.J. said, “Don’t do that, you idiot. Bag it.” Then back to her. “I know you don’t like to plan these things and whatnot, and if you can’t make it . . .”
Jesslyn sighed, rubbing the back of her neck where a headache was already building. “No, I’ll be there. Hell, maybe I should open my own. I’m starting to know the business forwards and backwards.”
For a minute T.J. didn’t say anything. “Thanks. Tim and I are going to be there. But I don’t know anything about any of it. I’ve never been . . . I don’t know . . . Shit, I cannot think about Maddy right now. Jesslyn, I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.”
“Wait. Why is the chief coming?”
“What? Hell.” More shuffling. The background noises were gone when T.J. got back on. “We found another one.”
She knew, but still she asked, “Another one?”
“I shouldn’t be telling you this. We haven’t even released a formal statement, but some campers found a body in a ravine up Ohio Creek Road. Chief thinks it’s another one.”
“Another one? Like Maddy?” And then she remembered what she read. “Like Lotten?”
Silence, then, “Yeah.”
Jesslyn closed her eyes. “Jesus. You’re sure?”
“Sure? Jess, the woman’s been out here for months. God only knows, but Chief called in the state boys.”
“And he’s heading over here to see if I know anything new.”
“You could be a witness.”
A witness. “That’s me the loose end. Did Lotten have red hair? Did this one?” She didn’t know why she asked, but she did.
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I fit, Tinks. Otherwise why didn’t he finish it the other night when he had the damn chance? He had the knife, I saw it in the car lights. Hell, he was right there, I was right there. What, it might have taken him a few more seconds to kill me. So why didn’t he?”
She paced around the kitchen into the entrance, ignoring the fact that Aiden’s eyes bore into her.
“I don’t know and I really don’t want to think about it, Jesslyn.” T.J. said, clearly tired.
“I’d rather not either, but things change.”
“What do you mean?”
She stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and looked past Aiden to the countertop and the flowers. “There were lilies on my porch this morning.”
“Damn it.”
“Yeah.”
“The chief should be there soon. I don’t believe this. Maybe you shouldn’t meet Tim and me. We can—”
“The hell I won’t. I’ll be there, Tinks. Noon.” A flash out the window caught her attention and she saw Garrison drive up. “Chief’s here. I should go.”
“Jesslyn?”
“What?”
“Be careful. I love you.”
Jesslyn smiled. “You be careful. And you too. I’ll see you at noon.”
With that she hung up and started for the door.
“Jesslyn.”
She turned at the sound of Aiden’s voice. Cool steel.
“What?”
“What is going on?”
“Oh, just your average murder in the mountain day. Dead bodies turning up and it seems the man sent me flowers.”
“Excuse me?” He strode to her. “Do you care to explain without the sarcasm?”
Her doorbell rang and a knock reverberated through the house.
“That’s Garrison. I’ll explain later.” She turned and opened the door, and wondered exactly how she could explain what she didn’t understand herself.
• • •
Late that evening, Jesslyn parked her truck at the curb and looked at The Mountain Bean—the local coffee shop. She was tired.
Aiden was pissed at her for not leaning on him more. He would be. The man needed to comfort and protect. And she didn’t know how to take that.
Closing her eyes, she willed away other thoughts that kept intruding. That morning Garrison had taken her to The Dime to walk her through everything she and Maddy did that night. Aiden had wanted to go, but she’d talked him out of it. Barely. If it hadn’t been for his parents, she wouldn’t have had an excuse. As it was, she was glad he wasn’t here because she was about to leave to meet Tim and T.J.
The morning had not been easy. At The Dime she’d gone through Maddy’s slot in the back with the chief. The employees each had a slot thanks to a stack of milk crates creating cubbies for everyone to put their stuff during working hours. In Maddy’s cubby, pictures decorated the inside—Maddy and Kirk, Maddy and Tim, and of Maddy, T.J. and Jesslyn behind the bar. Why hadn’t anyone cleaned it out? Jesslyn had only managed to untape the picture of the three of them before the reality of the situation hit her like a rock slide. Before she was buried under the tidal wave of grief, she hurried back to the office and attempted to look through other things, letting Garrison look through the rest of Maddy’s slot. Anything to keep her mind from dwelling on Maddy.
But it wasn’t easy when Garrison’s next stop with her had been Maddy’s house. Jesslyn had come damn close to breaking there, but she’d held it together. Barely.
Instead she lost it later at the funeral home. Guess everyone had a breaking point.
Sighing, she cut the engine and climbed out, walking into the coffee shop. She needed to let Sally and David Hewett know about the arrangements. The coffeehouse was open from seven until seven. Usually Sally worked the evening shift, but tonight both were here.
And so was Tammy.
“Hey, Jesslyn!”
“Hey, Tammy,” she slid into a table by the bar.
“Want what you usually get?”
The dreadlocked girl, into new age mysticism, smiled. Crystals, in various colors, shapes and sizes hung in her hair, around her neck and in her ears. Tammy glanced around, then plopped in the chair opposite Jesslyn. Her head cocked to the side, purple and red crystals and beads tinkling. “Your aura’s troubled. Not surprising, all things considered.”
“No secrets in small towns.”
�
�Maybe some chai tea instead?”
Jesslyn didn’t think of herself as a close-minded person, really. But she generally ignored most of what Tammy told her. Yet, the girl’s words struck a note in her.
Shaking her head, Jesslyn said, “I just had a really shitty day. So if my aura is dented or something, that would be why. And you know how I feel about that tea of yours. I need caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine.”
Tammy’s lips twitched.
Sally Hewett walked over. “Hey, Jesslyn. Has it been decided yet when the funeral will be?”
Like a bucket of ice water, the question shocked her back to why she was here. People wanted to know. Everyone liked Maddy.
“Yeah, it’s day after tomorrow. Ten o’clock at the Wheeler Funeral Home in Gunnison.”
David Hewett came up to stand behind his wife. Jesslyn had worked here when she first moved to this town. Probably why she was so hooked on coffee.
“You need anything, anything at all, Jess, you give us a call,” David said, wrapping his long arms around his wife and keeping his eyes on Jesslyn.
She nodded. “I will. Thanks, guys.”
Sally gave her a quick hug and David patted her on the shoulder. “It’s a shame.”
Conversation flowed around her. There were tourists, she saw, clustered around tables. Not too many regulars this time of day. Most of the ones she knew and who knew Maddy were the morning crowd.
“Will you guys let others know?” she asked.
Sally nodded. David said, “Sure.”
When Tammy plopped a to-go cup in front of her, she stood, tossing bills down on the table. “Thanks, Tammy.”
Tammy cocked her head. “I heard you have a new man in your life. Got a glimpse of that long cool drink of water. Damn, you’re lucky.”
In spite of it all, Jesslyn smiled. “As I said, no secrets.”
“You need some meditative time, Jesslyn. Here.” Tammy took off a necklace that had a black stone at the end. “Wear this. It wards off negative vibes.”
“And evil spirits?” she joked, but didn’t smile. Tammy held it aloft until Jesslyn wrapped her fingers around it and held it in her hand.
“If you like. Take a bit to clear your head, think, get things back in perspective.” She walked behind Jesslyn and said, “Here, let me put it on you.”