Freddie wasn’t convinced. “From your own cow?”
Jenna grinned. “Yep. I have four brothers. She was a busy cow.”
Freddie laughed. “So do you know how to milk one?”
“Sure. You want lessons?”
Roman watched her with Freddie, noted how she brightened his mood. How she patiently answered the flood of questions that poured from the boy. She had a knack with people. She didn’t treat Freddie as a charity case but simply acted as though he belonged here. As though they belonged there. Just a normal family dinner.
From the way the kid soaked up the experience, Roman doubted the boy had had many such times in his young life, if any.
Roman hadn’t had anything like it in a long time himself. A part of him he’d thought long dead unfurled and stretched toward the sunshine that was so much a part of her.
The food tasted as good as it smelled, and the split lip didn’t seem to slow Freddie down as he devoured two bowls of stew, several slices of bread and two glasses of milk, chattering between bites. His table manners were nearly nonexistent, but Jenna didn’t chide him for talking with his mouth full or leaving his napkin on the table instead of putting it in his lap.
Roman had to admire that. Maybe she understood the boy better than he’d given her credit for.
She was damn sure a fine cook. Food had only been fuel to him for so long, but tonight he found himself unexpectedly hungry.
“Would you care for another bowl?” she asked.
“We haven’t cleaned you out yet?”
She smiled. “I think I could scrape a spoonful or two off the bottom.”
Freddie patted his belly. “I’m so full I might pop. It was real good, Miss Jenna.”
“I’m glad.” She cocked her head. “But does that mean you couldn’t find room for a little ice cream?”
The boy’s eyes went wide. “Ice cream?”
“Blue Bell. I even have two kinds, cookies ’n’ cream and vanilla. And I’m pretty sure I have some chocolate syrup to go with it.”
“Sweet!”
“We clean up first,” Roman said to Freddie, rising from his chair. “The break will make room in your stomach.”
“Okay!” Freddie all but leaped from the table, grabbing his bowl and Jenna’s, juggling them as he headed for the sink. There was no sign of the sulky, skittish teen. Even Freddie wasn’t immune to the magical refuge she created.
Neither, it seemed, was he. He could feel deep pockets of tension inside him easing, and as she started to rise, he put a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “You cooked. We’ll clean.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, I couldn’t…”
He bent closer so only she could hear. “Consider it payback for not badgering him about school or where he lives.”
Her sweet lips curved. “My brother may have been the one to tame the wild animals, but I watched.” Her blue eyes were warm and soft, a refuge of their own.
A bolt of yearning ambushed him, so swift and unexpected that he had to turn away.
He wanted to kiss her. Grab hold and hang on. Drink in her vibrant joy, her ease with the world, her faith in human nature. The sunshine that flowed from her in such abundance.
What would it be like to have those eyes, that smile, on him every day?
She was looking back at him, her pupils wide and dark with awareness of him. Electricity sparked the air around them.
Don’t even go there. She was so young, so innocent. He was a thousand years older, in more ways than years.
Roman retreated quickly, made his way blindly to the sink, focused on washing dishes before foolhardy yearning could get the better of wisdom. Before his newly aware body could follow up on the impulse to get closer to her.
But when washing dishes didn’t stop him from being conscious of every move she made, desperation hit. “Freddie and I should go as soon as we finish here,” he said abruptly.
“What about the ice cream?” The kid looked devastated.
“I’ll get you some on the way.” To where? What the hell was he doing with this boy?
“Don’t need you anyhow. I can get home fine by myself.”
“Freddie,” Jenna began. “You shouldn’t be out alone at night. Why don’t you sleep here, and Mr. Gallardo can go on.”
The daggers she was shooting in his direction made no bones of her displeasure. “No,” he said flatly to the boy. “You’re not staying here.” How could he be sure the boy wouldn’t steal her blind or let that Mako creep in or… “Absolutely not.”
“It’s my house,” she objected. “You have no say in who I invite as my guest.”
He merely cocked one eyebrow in her direction. Because you defend yourself so well on your own? he started to point out.
But she hadn’t said anything about that first night, and no way was he blowing the whistle on himself.
She opened her mouth to protest again, and it was pretty clear that she would not give up until the boy stayed with her.
Which was exactly what he wanted, right? For the kid to be someone else’s problem?
Damn it. Damn it.
He exhaled in a gust. “I’ll wait, then give you a ride home, Freddie.” To the home he’d bet didn’t exist, but at least it would keep Jenna from her foolhardy notion. Roman huffed out his defeat. “Go ahead and have your ice cream.”
“Don’t want none now.” Freddie pushed toward the door. “I’m outta here.” He raced for the front.
“Freddie!” Jenna started after him.
Roman grabbed her arm, then dropped it immediately. “I’ll handle it.”
“Because you’re doing such a great job? Leave him to me. I couldn’t possible do worse than you have.”
“If you take one step toward that door, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Her chin stuck up in the air.
“I’ll find out who it was you didn’t want knowing about the other night, and I’ll call them.” So much for self-protection.
Her eyes popped wide. “You! It was you. I knew it!” Then she sobered. “Why didn’t you stay? I never got to really thank you.”
“I don’t want thanks. I don’t want anything. Just leave me the hell alone. All of you.” And with that, he stormed out the door.
He made his way out to the street with long strides, scanning for the kid.
But Freddie was long gone.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“JENNA?” APRIL STEVENS, an intern working on her master’s degree in social work at the University of Texas, stood in the doorway of Jenna’s broom-closet-size office. “There’s someone here to see you.” April’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright.
Jenna couldn’t imagine who would visit and cause that sort of reaction. “I’ll be right there. I just have to input a couple more items for the new budget projections.” She bent to her task again, though her heart wasn’t in it. She’d had her hands full not racing to the job site first thing this morning to find out if Roman was there. If he’d seen Freddie.
Not that he hadn’t been very clear that her interest wasn’t welcome.
“If budget projections take precedence over me—” a cheerful baritone broke into her musings “—I’ve definitely lost my touch.”
She looked up. “Go away, JD,” she responded, but she was already smiling. “Not all of us are jetting around the country with America’s Sweetheart. Some of us have to work for a living.” She punched in one last figure, then rounded her desk at top speed and threw herself into his arms. “I wondered if all the time you’ve been logging recently in the gossip magazines had made you too good for the little people.”
He tweaked her nose. “You are still a giant pain in the ass, you know that?”
She socked her fifth—or was that sixth, beh
ind Vince?—big brother in the arm. Then she gasped. “Oh, JD, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Like that could ever happen, midget.” But he smiled fondly. “I’ve been out of the hospital for nearly five months, Jenna.”
But she couldn’t forget that he’d nearly died saving Violet’s life. She’d been one of the ones who’d stood vigil at the hospital. “How could I forget? Your rehab was the longest six years of my life.”
“Six weeks, brat.”
“Felt a lot longer.” He and Violet had parted ways for a short time around then, and Jenna had been his entertainment committee. JD had not been a cheerful patient, especially with the broken heart he’d been sporting.
She spied April lingering behind them, attempting to appear busy, and decided to take pity on her. “April Stevens, have you met JD Cameron, former supercop, now globetrotting glamour boy?”
JD snorted. “Hello, April.” He extended a hand, and a flustered April finally found hers to shake. “If you get tired of working for the slave driver here, come see me at the Meryem Foundation. I’m much nicer than Jenna.”
Jenna laughed. “Prettier, too.”
He darted her a glare. “Cut that out.” He’d been called Pretty Boy and Romeo by his fellow cops, and both nicknames were sources of intense frustration to him.
Which was why, of course, she had to get in a dig now and again. Even if she’d once had a teeny crush on him herself—she wasn’t blind, after all, to how gorgeous he was, all tall and lean and golden-haired—it had been completely one-sided. JD had never treated her as anything but a kid sister to tease mercilessly, and she returned the favor as often as possible.
“Well, I, uh,” April stammered. “I mean, thank you and all, but…”
“Keep your hands off my help, stud muffin. Though,” she said to April, “he does pay better, I’m sure.”
“Since you don’t pay me at all.”
“But I’m a dream to work with, right?”
JD snickered.
“She really is,” the earnest April said to JD. “And what we’re doing here is so important. I mean, not that what you’re doing, fighting human trafficking and helping the victims of violence and all, isn’t really important, too.”
JD and Violet had formed a foundation to deal with victims’ rights after JD had spent years in law enforcement witnessing the toll violent crime took on its victims. No guilty verdict could ever fix the damage done to them, and after his time working initially for Vice, then on an interagency violent crimes task force known as VICTAF, he’d seen firsthand that it was women and children who were harmed most. He’d confessed to Jenna during his recovery period after the shooting that he was burned-out. The switch to heading the Meryem Foundation, named after one of the victims in the case that had nearly gotten him and Violet killed, had reenergized him. Though Jenna missed seeing him as often due to his frequent travels to speak and raise awareness, she admired the zeal he brought to his cause.
“Thanks, April. I appreciate it.”
Another blush. April seemed frozen in place.
She’d have to get JD out of here in order to bring April out of her fan-girl coma.
“So what brings you here, stranger?” she asked JD.
“I have a couple of things I wanted to run by you. Got time for a cup of coffee? I’m buying.”
She hesitated. She really needed to get those budget projections finished to see if there was any way in the world they could afford to pay Roman Gallardo to come onboard. Although, after last night’s awkwardness, she would have her work cut out for her to convince him.
“I know you’re busy. It won’t take long.” JD seemed unusually serious. Mostly they bantered with each other.
“Sure. Just let me close down the spreadsheet.” She returned to her desk and did so, then grabbed her purse. “April, if Teo calls about the building permits for the Delgado and Foster homes, would you tell him I’m hoping to file the applications tomorrow?”
“Will do.” But she was still gawking at JD.
“Bye, April,” he said, and took her hand, which had her blushing again. “Thank you for letting me borrow Jenna—and don’t forget that job offer.”
“I won’t—I mean, I really couldn’t. I’ve barely started grad school and—” She broke off. “That is, thank you. It’s just…” Her gaze cut to Jenna.
JD grinned. “I understand. She’s lucky to have you on her team.”
“Oh, gee, well, thanks, but I—” A pause. “Um, would you, um, could you tell your, uh, Ms. James that I think she’s just wonderful?”
“I absolutely will. And I couldn’t agree more.” JD opened the door for Jenna to precede him.
“But—I mean, you’re wonderful, too,” April called after him.
He started to turn back to answer her, but Jenna stayed him with a hand on his arm.
“Leave the poor girl alone, would you?”
“Hey, I was being nice!”
“That’s the problem.” Jenna sighed extravagantly. “April’s been a little…sheltered. Homeschooled, raised out in the country…she’s sweet and the best help I ever had, but she’s not ready for you, Pretty Boy.”
“You know I hate that name.”
“Deal with it, Romeo.”
JD shook his head and picked up the pace.
“So what’s up?”
“Let’s get our coffee first.” He opened the door to the coffee shop. Once inside, she searched for a table while he went to order. They had their routine down.
After a few minutes, he set her drink on the table, then took his seat and studied her.
“What?”
“So I happened to pay a visit to some of my buddies at APD.”
Oh, drat. She focused on her coffee and waited for the inevitable.
“Interesting story I heard about this little blonde who managed to get herself knocked around and wouldn’t press charges on the perp.”
“Big mouths,” she muttered. Could no one keep a confidence? “I’m sorry for her. She’s all right, I hope?” She lifted guileless eyes to him.
“Cut the crap, Jenna. Are you okay?” He looked genuinely worried.
“I’m fine. Nothing happened.”
That’s when concern flared into blazing anger. JD didn’t get mad easily, but when he did, watch out. “Bullshit. What in the hell were you doing out there at night alone? And why in the name of all that’s holy wouldn’t you press charges?” He held up a hand. “Never mind. I bet I can guess. Why, Officer, he’s just a boy, and he deserves a second chance,” he said in a falsetto.
“I—”
“I’m not done. Everybody appreciates your optimistic view of human nature, but not when it puts your life in danger. That was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. Do you realize what could have happened to you?”
“It didn’t.”
“I said I’m not done.”
She rose. “If you’re just going to yell at me, I have work to do. Thanks for the coffee. No thanks for the lecture.” She grabbed her cup.
“Sit down. I’m not through.”
“Too bad. I am.”
They were beginning to attract attention.
JD exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right. I’m through yelling.”
“You’re still mad.”
“Of course I am. It’s nothing to what your brothers are going to say when I tell them.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said bitterly.
“If it was the right thing to do, why are you hiding what happened?”
“Look…” She bit back her own harsh words and sat down. “I’m okay. There was a man who helped me.” She frowned. “And I got my own blows in, I promise you.”
“Jenna, you—” He
halted, shook his head. “Listen, nobody doubts your courage, but why in the hell didn’t you stay in your car? And why on earth didn’t you press charges? That guy tested positive for crack—you know what a crackhead can do when he’s high?”
“It wasn’t— I wasn’t being stupid, JD. I’m over there all the time. The neighbors are great, and they look out for each other.”
“So one of the neighbors helped you?”
She glanced away. “Not exactly.”
“Want to explain that?”
“No.”
“I go back to my original question—why did you get out of the car?”
“I… Okay,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t have. I wasn’t thinking. It’s just…I really do feel safe over there.” Or she had.
And she would again. She’d make sure of it. “But there was this boy. I know him.”
“You know the perp?”
“Not—not really. This other boy was being forced to participate by the guy with the drugs. I think he’s homeless, and he’s not a bad kid. I’m trying to help him.”
“Of course you are. So, what, you said, Okay, homeless boy, I know you’re really a nice person so I’m just going to give you some money and take you to the shelter and—”
“JD.” She ground her teeth. “If you’re going to ridicule me, I’m going back to the office.”
He closed his eyes. Exhaled loudly. Again. “All right. I’m listening.”
“It’s just…I’ve got a lot invested in this particular house. This family, they’re special. I saw a broken window, and I just reacted.”
His jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak.
“And yes, it was dumb to get out of my car and I won’t do it again, I swear. But I only got roughed up a little, that’s all.”
“What about your mystery hero? The one who helped? Who was he?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Why not?”
“Because he sort of disappeared. When the cops came.”
“Sort of disappeared?”
“I was talking to the officer, then I turned around and he was gone.” And maybe I know who he is now, but no way am I saying anything. Next thing she knew, JD would be investigating Roman.
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