Blame It on Texas

by Christie Craig

  It wasn’t.

  It even felt different from his few arguments with Lisa. But why? He jotted that question in his memory bank and refocused on Zoe.

  I know I lied to you, he almost said, but decided the direct approach might be too much.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she snapped.

  He opened his mouth to say something but didn’t know what he should say. Words came out before he had a chance to consider them. “Did you know tone can tell a person more than the words?”

  She glanced at him, but didn’t speak.

  His need to clarify surged forth. “You said ‘fine’ in an irritated tone. You’re either using Socratic irony or…”

  “Socratic irony?” she asked.

  “It means—”

  “I know what it means. I wasn’t…” She shook her head. “Have you considered that maybe after realizing my entire freaking life has been a lie, I don’t appreciate it when someone else lies to me?”

  Guilt settled in his chest. “I guess that could explain the tone, too.”

  “I know you’re helping me.” She pressed her hands against the pink leather of the sofa. “But is it too much to ask that you not lie to me?”

  He sat in the brown leather chair across from the sofa, rolled the cold beer in his hands, and tried to figure out how to deal with this. He decided on the truth. Risky, but he’d give it a shot.

  “When I told you that we had a safe house, I was trying to placate you to agree to our help. You’re right—it was a bad judgment call. But it seemed like the only way to get you out of your apartment before whoever shot at you returned and tried again.”

  “You suck at apologies.” She gripped her hands in her lap again.

  He nodded. “I’ll concede that as well. When I’m nervous, I always overthink things and words escape the brain and hence… sucky apologies.”

  She released her hands, a sign of a less hostile disposition. Fast to anger, yet quick to forgive. He stored that fact with the others he’d collected about the woman. Most of them involved paradoxes.

  Stubborn, tenacious enough to go through somebody’s files, and yet considerate enough that she visited sick cats at a vet. Freaked at being shot at, but brave enough to put herself in danger to protect someone else—even someone she barely knew. Worried about money, but willing to pay vet bills for a cat that wasn’t hers. Lived in a dump, but kept the worn and stained space spotless. Logical, but still emotional. (Of course, she was female, which made that almost understandable.) Intelligent enough to be anything she’d liked, but instead she taught kids the alphabet. Naturally classy, but not a hint of pretentiousness.

  “What are you nervous about?” she asked.

  The question upped his nervous quotient. He started to overthink his answer and then just spit it out. “I don’t want you upset at me.”

  Her shoulders relaxed as if she’d lost more of her bad mood. “I’m not upset, I’m… Okay, I was upset.”

  Her honestly appealed to him.

  He saw her eyes grow moist, and she looked to be at her breaking point. Not that he blamed her. She’d had a ball-busting kind of day. He cautiously moved to the sofa and sat next to her.

  She blinked. “I shouldn’t have come here.”

  “The apartment?” he asked, afraid she might insist on leaving.

  “Texas.”

  “You really can’t blame it on Texas.”

  “I know.” Her voice trembled.

  He felt that slight quiver in his gut.

  She shifted in her seat. “Perhaps I should just forget all this and go back to Alabama.”

  “You can’t do that because…” His reasoning didn’t make itself clear.

  “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said.

  She looked at him.

  He explained, “My sister says that all the time.”

  “It’s a good analogy, but…”

  “But… what?”

  “But… I know I told you all this… I just hadn’t told anyone else.”

  He knew she was referring to his friends and business partners. “You’re upset—”

  “Not really upset, it’s just people are going to think I’m… crazy.”

  “I don’t think you’re crazy.”

  “You did at first.”

  “Look, it doesn’t matter what people think. What matters is getting to the truth and making sure whoever is trying to hurt you is caught and stopped.” There. Those were the reasons she couldn’t leave Texas that he couldn’t think of earlier.

  She shifted. Her leg brushed against his. “But I don’t want your friends to think…”

  “My friends are the last people who would judge you. Nikki found her ex-husband’s body in the trunk of her car and was the prime suspect for his murder. Ellen got stabbed when the same person who took out Nikki’s ex mistook Ellen for Nikki. When Ellen was in the hospital, stoned out of her mind on painkillers, she propositioned every single guy who came into her room.”

  When that didn’t seem enough to convince her, he continued, “Eddie Nance nearly went down for a robbery he didn’t commit. Tony and LeAnn were separated, and Tony came up with some ludicrous story about bedbugs taking over his apartment so he could move back in with her and win her back. Don’t even get me started about Nikki’s crazy grandmother and Dallas and Tony’s dad. Point is, all of us have found ourselves in crazy situations. They aren’t going to judge you.”

  She took a deep breath, and those wet, beautiful eyes looked up at him. Gone was the anger he’d spotted earlier, replaced by…

  “Thank you,” she said. “You might suck at apologies, but you rock at pep talks.”

  Something warm swelled inside his chest. “I’ll make sure to put that on my resume.”

  “You do that,” she said. “I’ll even offer a reference if need be.”

  Their gazes met, and all he could think about was kissing her.

  Tasting her mouth.

  Touching her.

  The feel of her leg pressing against his felt nice. Really nice.

  There were half a dozen logical reasons why kissing her wasn’t a good idea. She was too upset. It was too soon. She’d just gotten over being angry. She’d been shot. And…

  He always listened to logic.

  But not now.

  He didn’t move. Except to shift closer. To lower his head. To dip his chin down a few inches.

  He brushed his mouth against hers.

  Slow.

  Easy.

  Giving her ample time to pull back. This had to be mutual. He knew that.

  She didn’t pull back. It was mutual.

  And he was so damn glad he hadn’t listened to logic.

  She tasted like wine to his beer. Her lips were soft to his firm. She closed her eyes, and there was something so sexy watching her eyelids flutter closed. So sexy feeling her moist lips slip against his. So sexy when she tilted her face to the right so her mouth fit better against his.

  He deepened the kiss, and her tongue swept against his, inviting him to move deeper. And there wasn’t a part of him that didn’t embrace the invitation. His body hummed with pleasure. His blood found its way down south at a very fast rate.

  Any resemblance to logic evaporated in the heat of the moment.

  Slipping one arm between her and the pink sofa, he drew her a bit closer. But he wanted more.

  As if she’d read his mind, she swung around, sat on his lap with her knees straddling him. He moaned with pleasure when her sweet bottom pressed against the top of his thighs.

  Her hand moved to his shoulders and pulled him closer. Closer was good. Her breasts came against his chest, and nothing had ever felt so right.

  “Is anyone here?”

  Austin’s voice sent Zoe and Tyler jerking apart, just like two kids who’d gotten busted making out on her parents’ sofa. She climbed off of him, fast, and landed on the very edge of the sofa cushion and slid off the pink leather. He w
asn’t even sure she landed before she popped up and plopped her butt back down on the seat.

  Tyler’s gaze shot to the door where Austin stood.

  “Bad timing, huh?”

  Zoe opened her mouth as if to answer, but then closed it.

  “Okay. I… I’m gonna go now.” Austin took a step back. His gaze shifted to Zoe. “We’ll worry about introductions later.”

  “I’m going to kill him.” Tyler started to get up. “Slowly.”

  “Don’t!” Zoe grabbed his arm. She released it extra fast, and he knew she’d felt it, too—that warm zing from their touch.

  He looked into her eyes and tried to read her, but all he could see was embarrassment. His brain went from anger at Austin to the need to go back in for another kiss. But with the door open and Austin lurking close by, logic prevailed this time.

  Brushing a strand of hair from her bright red cheek, he said, “Fine. I’ll forgo killing him and just hurt him a little.” He smiled, but she didn’t smile back.

  He looked at the door and back at her. “I do need to talk with him before he runs off.”

  She nodded.

  He stood, still tasting her mouth on the tip of his tongue and still feeling the effect of their kiss in his tight jeans.

  Almost out the door, he looked back. She sat, gnawing on her bottom lip, eyes closed as if repenting from some terrible sin. He got a bad feeling that she wasn’t nearly as thrilled about the new development in their relationship as he was.

  Not that he was going to let that completely ruin his mood. Whatever reservations she had about pursuing their attraction, he’d deal with them. He took off to find Austin.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!

  Zoe tried to breathe slowly. What the hell had she done? He might have started it, but she’d climbed aboard the fast-moving ride, called shotgun seat, and went along with the thrill like an adrenaline junky. Lord help her, but she should have more willpower than that.

  She was still trying to figure out this little issue called her whole freaking life: who she was, who she wasn’t, and who was trying to kill her. What the hell was she thinking? Jumping aboard another potential disaster in the making. As nice as Tyler was—to look at, to kiss—she’d be an idiot to let this happen.

  And she wouldn’t.

  She wouldn’t let it happen.

  Not again.

  She closed her eyes tighter and could hear her mama say, “Zoe Girl, everything that glitters isn’t gold. Just because you want something doesn’t mean you need it. Just because someone says they have your best interests at heart, doesn’t mean they won’t break your heart in the end.”

  The words of wisdom echoed in her mind. She couldn’t help but wonder if her mama had included herself and her dad in the people who could possibly break Zoe’s heart. Because they had definitely broken her heart. And now, more than ever, she took her mama’s warning seriously.

  Not that it stopped her from occasionally trying to conjure up a reason her parents could have justified what they’d done. But it came back to the fact that they’d lied to her. Lied to her in spite of the fact that she’d had suspicions, questions, and nightmares. Lied to her even knowing how crazy it made her feel not to understand these things.

  The fact that she sat here not two minutes after she’d been kissed silly, feeling angry at her parents instead of thinking about that kiss, drove home her point.

  She needed to stay focused on getting her life back together—not doing something that could bring more pain on top of what she already had. She’d be heading back to Alabama very soon; she’d like to go without leaving bits and pieces of her broken self behind.

  “Goddamn, mother…!”

  Tyler heard Austin belt out a string of curses. He hurried his steps. When Austin cursed in a tone that wasn’t underlined with humor, he had a reason. And his reason was usually bad.

  Tyler cut the corner into the office and saw the reason. Cowering in one corner of the office sat Lucky. Cowering in the opposite corner was Austin.

  Austin looked up. “Get the broom and get that thing out of here. Damn stray must have snuck in when I walked in and I didn’t see him.”

  “He’s not a stray,” Tyler said. “He’s Zoe’s cat.”

  Austin gaped at him with a look of sheer horror. “But… it’s been mutilated.”

  “It was in an accident.”

  “Ran over?” Austin made a face of disgust.

  “Blown up.”

  “I believe it.” He hesitated. “It hissed at me.”

  “Probably after you yelled at him.”

  Austin shook his head. “I don’t like cats.”

  “I don’t think he likes you, either.”

  Austin frowned. “But I’m better looking and have all my limbs and body parts.”

  “The better looking part of that statement is debatable.” Tyler watched Austin cautiously move out of the corner.

  “Look, it’s not that I don’t feel for the cat, but can you please get him out of here?” Austin waved his hand toward the helpless feline.

  If Tyler wasn’t still pissed at the man for breaking up his kiss—the first one of many Tyler hoped—he’d have laughed. “Really? Romeo has a kryptonite? You’re an ailurophobe?”

  “I’m a what?” Austin’s gaze shot back to Lucky as the cat shifted.

  “You have a phobia of cats?”

  “There’s a name for that? How the hell do you know that shit?”

  “I read. You should try it sometime,” Tyler said.

  “I read.”

  Tyler smirked. “I don’t mean condom boxes.”

  Lucky meowed. Austin flinched. Tyler finally laughed.

  “I’m not scared,” Austin said. “I just don’t like them.”

  Right. Tyler picked Lucky up. “When were you bitten?”

  “I didn’t say I was,” Austin said.

  Tyler just looked at him.

  “Fine, I was six. But I’m not scared. I’m just cautious.”

  The cat reared his head up and rubbed his face against Tyler’s chest. “Well, I don’t think Lucky is an attack cat.”

  Setting the feline down carefully in the hall, he shut the office door and faced Austin. “What happened at Zoe’s and why the hell didn’t you answer your damn phone when I called?”

  Austin dropped into his desk chair.

  Austin’s smile widened. “I wasn’t aware that you even knew how to put the moves on. But it looked like you were doing pretty good. If you need any tips, I’m your man.”

  Tyler respected Austin, but sometimes the guy didn’t know when to shut the hell up. “Drop it.”

  Austin’s shit-eating grin vanished. “It took an hour for the cops to show up. I was leaving when they got there.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “That I was combing the neighborhood, working on one of our cases, when I heard shots and called them.”

  “Did they buy it?” Tyler asked.

  “Hell, no. Cops are all suspicious bastards. They assume everyone’s lying.”

  “You were lying.” Tyler ignored the fact that they used to be the suspicious bastards. And in some ways still were. PIs or cops, it was their job to be suspicious.

  “They didn’t know I was lying.”

  Tyler shook his head. “So what happened?”

  “They wanted to take me down to the station and ask some questions.”

  “And?” Tyler asked.

  “I told them to go screw themselves. That I’d called it in, I didn’t do the shooting. Unfortunately, someone found a spot of blood on her floor. And it got more serious.”

  “Shit,” Tyler said. “I should have cleaned that up.”

  “Yeah, well, thankfully they chatted with the neighbors who said they’d seen Zoe drive off. When I left they were trying to reach the landlord. If the landlord has her cell number, she can expect a call from Glencoe’s not so finest. Remember that grumpy Thompson?”

 
“Hell.” Tyler frowned. He needed to get to Zoe. Not to restart what they’d had going, either. They needed to talk about the best way to deal with the police when they found her.

  He opened the door and was almost out when Austin spoke up.

  “Hell, what?” asked Austin.

  Tyler turned around. “If she talks to the cops, the whole Bradford thing will get leaked.”

  “Have her tell them she wasn’t there when the shooting took place. I didn’t give them a specific time when it happened. Say it’s a drive-by shooting. In that neighborhood it makes sense. They don’t have to know about the Bradfords until we’re ready for them to know.”

  “I don’t see her lying very well.”

  “Then tell her not to answer her phone. If you want, I can show her how that’s done.” He smiled.

  Tyler ignored Austin’s attempt at humor, his mind calculating the pros and cons of Zoe not taking the call. He couldn’t find a downside. Of course, the cops would end up learning where she worked, and people at the diner knew of Zoe’s connection to him, and that would lead them here. But maybe they wouldn’t go that far? And if they did, it would still buy them time.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do,” he said to Austin.

  “It’s too late,” the soft voice said behind him.

  Tyler swung around. Zoe stood in the doorway, her phone in her hands. Her lips were still wet, maybe even from their kiss. Damn she was pretty. However, she didn’t look any happier now than when he’d left her.

  “Too late for what?” He hoped like hell that she didn’t mean them. They barely knew each other. How could it be too late?

  “A Sergeant Thompson from the Glencoe police just called. He wants me to come to the station immediately.”

  “You ready?” Tyler asked Zoe, who hadn’t said a word during the fifteen-minute ride to the police station. He’d tried to prepare her for what lay head. He’d also given her their alternatives. Stay put, and risk the cops looking for her. Go and tell them the whole truth, and risk him not getting information out of the Bradfords. Or go and offer limited information—leave the Bradfords completely out of it, and don’t even mention the threatening phone calls. He recommended option three.

  She went with it, too, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. He wasn’t happy seeing her unhappy. She hadn’t smiled once since their kiss, and until this moment, he’d had to work to keep from smiling. He hoped to alter Zoe’s mood as soon as he got this behind them.