"Yes, what?"
"Yes to all your questions. Here, do you want to talk to him?"
"No!” her friend shouted, then gave a very audible sigh. “Wow, how did you ever manage to snag him? When we saw him at the cafe, my heart had serious palpitations the rest of the day."
Kelly knew exactly what her friend was saying. At that very moment, Lou was causing her heart to pound and all he was doing was nibbling at her neck and across her shoulders. She opened her mouth to say something to Maggie and gasped instead as he licked his way down her spine.
"Gotta go.” She punched the phone button and dropped it to the bed.
"Where do you have to go?” The husky words were warm puffs of air along her back.
"The community building,” Kelly leaned back into his embrace.
"Seriously?"
Kelly sighed. “I'd better, or I have the feeling the whole committee will be on my doorstep, pounding to be let in just so they can verify the rumors."
Lou let her go and dragged his shirt on over his head. She sighed again as his glorious chest disappeared beneath the cotton.
"Rumors?” he asked as he buttoned his jeans.
"Yeah, you know. Maggie said Sonny said Cory said..."
Lou nodded as he slid his boots on. He was completely dressed by this time and Kelly still stood with a towel wrapped around her. Whenever Lou was anywhere near her, she didn't function except on one level.
He came to stand in front of her, placing his hands on her hips. “So, the rumor mill is at it in little old Dexter? Guess it won't make any difference if my truck's in the garage or not.” This time, he had a slight frown on his handsome face.
"Is that a problem?” Kelly didn't know exactly how to take his comment. She wouldn't have thought it would bother him if people knew they were dating.
"No, it's just that ... never mind.” He shook his head slightly, kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave.
Kelly's mouth dropped open. “You can't just dismiss me like that, Loukota Kincaid. What's going on?” She followed him down the hall to the front door.
"Just leave it, Kelly. I'll pick you up tomorrow night.” He bounded down the steps toward his truck.
"Forget it! If you won't talk to me, I'm not going anywhere with you!” she shouted at his back.
He stopped dead in his tracks. She watched his fists clench and relax before he slowly turned toward her. His eyes traced her curves from top to toes, and she had no trouble reading the passion in them even from the distance across the yard.
"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock sharp. Be ready."
As much as Kelly fought it, her body responded to his commands, the ache in her lower regions spreading upward to her breasts, chest and face, until she knew she was blushing.
"Damn!” She spun on her heel, slamming the door against the summer sunshine. “Double damn!” she swore again when she realized she had been standing on the porch wrapped only in a bath towel.
* * * *
Lou stood, wiping the sweat from his eyes with a bandana. He thought stringing fence with his dad would keep his mind off Kelly. He should have known better.
"You're liable to wrap yourself in barbed wire if you're not careful,” his dad commented, coming to the back of the pickup and grabbing the water jug. After a deep swallow, he passed it to Lou. “What's on your mind?"
Lou shook his head. “I figured what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, but she asks questions I don't want to answer."
His dad never even asked who. Lou figured either he had heard the rumors, or wasn't going to pry. His mother, on the other hand, would have been asking him a hundred and one questions.
"Lying to a woman never amounted to anything good,” his dad said instead.
"I'm not lying, Dad.” At the older man's arched brow, Lou continued. “I just haven't told her exactly what I do."
He shook his head. “Same thing, son. If I were you, I'd come clean ASAP. That is, if you care about her."
Lou jerked his leather gloves back on, not answering his dad. He had never had a problem separating his personal and professional lives. He had always known that caring for a woman could endanger her, given the type of work he did.
Damn it. Why couldn't Kelly be an empty-headed, beautiful woman who was fun to fuck but didn't get serious about anything more than clothes and the color of her nails? He snorted as he went back to work. Kelly was anything but empty-headed. He wouldn't love her otherwise. She had a sharp wit and sense of humor but she was also compassionate and intelligent. He didn't know many people who would spend their day off teaching English to Hispanic immigrants.
He grinned when he thought of how mad she had gotten when he wouldn't talk to her this morning. Mad enough that she had followed him onto the porch with just a towel wrapped around her. That was one image burned into his memory forever.
Even as she had stood yelling at him like a fishwife, she was the most beautiful, passionate woman he had even known. He decided he'd better come clean with her so she'd know where they stood. Maybe if he did, it would be easier to keep her safe without endangering their relationship.
* * * *
Kelly sat down at her computer and began a search. If Lou wouldn't tell her what was going on—and she knew damn well something had to be—she would just find out for herself. She was beginning to think he hadn't gotten those stitches by accident. He had told her his arm was only sprained, which led her to believe that he was keeping something from her. The more she thought about it, the more she began to wonder, too, about why he had landed back in the hospital.
A general search of his name showed nothing. She tapped into a secure site and still didn't find anything. Knowing everybody had a file somewhere, if not in the public domain, she grabbed the phone.
"Hey, Monty, it's Kelly,” she said when a male voice came on the line.
"Hey, girl, what's going on? Are you ready to come back to the land of the living?” Montgomery Walberg had been her assistant when she worked at the Pentagon. He had practically cried when she said she was moving back home to Dexter, stating that she would drop off the ends of the earth.
Monty was a city boy, and didn't think life existed outside Washington, DC. He knew everyone and everything, and if anyone could find the information she needed, he could.
"I don't know, Monty. I'm kinda enjoying baking peach pies and going to the rodeo."
"Oh God! I knew it. Living out there has sucked your brain right out of that beautiful head of yours.” He actually sounded distraught, but Kelly knew he had taken over her duties when she left and really didn't want to hand the top-level job back to her.
"I'm sure you're right because I can't find the simplest thing on the computer anymore."
"Um-hum,” he muttered and she knew he didn't buy her story. “If you can't find it, it ain't there, darling."
"That used to be true,” Kelly agreed, “when I had access to everything. Now I need a favor."
"Anything, as long as it isn't against the law."
"Can you see what you can dig up on a Loukota Kincaid?” Kelly's stomach churned as she asked. She should just ask Lou directly, but then he didn't seem inclined to answer her questions when she did ask.
Monty spelled the name back to her. “You want just professional stuff, or do I get personal?"
She sighed. Monty had always loved finding the perverted kind of information. “I don't want to know how many women he's slept with, Monty."
"Women? Oh, damn.” She heard him sigh.
"So you've finally come out?” Kelly asked. She had often though Monty was rather flamboyant, but he'd never admitted being gay.
"Honey, that's just between you and me."
"It's not like there's anyone here that I would tell.” Kelly had to grin. Monty's secret was certainly safe in Dexter, Colorado.
"Okay, let me see what I can find out about this man of yours.” A pause. “He is yours, isn't he? I mean, am I spending my time on actual business?"
"Honey?” Monty interrupted her thoughts. “You're not in trouble out there, are you?"
"No; not trouble exactly. He just won't talk to me and I think he might be in trouble. I just need to know what I'm dealing with, that's all."
"Gotcha. Can I reach you at this number?"
"Yeah. I'll put the forward to my cell in case I leave the house before you call. Thanks, Monty."
"Anytime, sweetie. I'd love to see you again, but..."
"I know. You don't travel west of the Appalachians.” She laughed as she said goodbye and hung up.
Noting the time, she hurriedly fixed herself a sandwich and changed clothes. She hadn't realized she had spent so long on the Internet, and Maggie would kill her if she didn't show up to help finish the decorations. Besides, her Conversational English class was also at the Community Center, and she wanted to surprise her pupils with her plans for their part in the sesquicentennial.
* * * *
Hours later, she dumped her books into the back of her Jeep and turned to contemplate the people still milling about the Community Center. She had helped finish the decorating by four, so her classmates were all gone, most to the Circle R where she would meet them later for pool.
The people left were all Hispanics, either from her class or picking up someone who attended. She had seen a need for conversational English when she moved back home, and although she wasn't totally fluent in Spanish, she managed to help some of the migrants learn enough English to complete simple application forms, answer questions at the doctors, or do shopping.
She smiled as she saw Pedro run to his father. The little boy was only four, but he had jabbered away at her in Spanish the first night about how he wanted to speak English before he started school. So, while the class was geared to adults, she had let him stay and learn along with his mother. Tonight he had been so excited when she told the class they would be participating in the parade on Saturday.
The sesquicentennial had the entire town wrapped up in a festive air. Flags flew along Main Street and most of the businesses had their windows painted with old pioneer scenes. The activities would kick off tomorrow night with the dance sponsored by the high school reunion classes and end with the rodeo and amusement rides through the weekend.
She frowned, thinking about Lou riding in the rodeo. While it had been a mainstay of Dexter for generations, she had never been tremendously excited about it. Bull and bronc riding just seemed to be a good waste of a man, bouncing him all over the place and sometimes even breaking bones, or worse. Now, she supposed she would have to go this year since Lou seemed determined to ride.
She left her Jeep parked in the lot by the community center and walked down the street to the Circle R. Looking around the dimly lit interior she was disappointed not to see Lou.
"Hey, Kelly, you're just in time,” Sonny shouted over the jukebox. “Where's Lou?"
She shrugged, putting her cue stick together and tossing the canvas carrying case on a stool. “Not my day to watch him,” she replied.
"Yeah, that's not what we hear.” Sonny nudged Cory, who was standing with one boot hooked over the lower rung of a barstool.
Cory nodded. “We hear you're keeping real close tabs on him these days ... and nights."
Kelly could feel her face burn. She rolled her eyes, knowing there was nothing she could do about the way gossip ran rampant in the small town.
She looked over at the chalkboard to see who was up first tonight. Finding her name at the top, as usual, she chalked her cue and got ready to break. The guys always put her name first, hoping one of them could beat her and she'd be out for the remainder of the night. She was about to prove them different.
Just before she broke, she looked back over her shoulder at the still grinning Cory. Speaking in a voice loud enough to carry past the pool tables to the bar, she said, “And I hear, Cory, that you've been seen with a little redhead. Does Becky Sue know about that?” The cue ball broke the racked balls with a resounding crack, scattering stripes and solids in all directions.
When she turned around, Cory was choking on his beer and Sonny was bent double laughing. She hadn't sunk anything on the break, so she gamely took Cory's beer, lifting it slightly in a salute, and said, “Your turn."
"I'm not two-timing Becky Sue, Kelly,” he hissed as he walked past her. “You know I wouldn't do that."
She raised a brow. “Well, people who gossip are usually gossiped about. Think about that."
Cory couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and Kelly made quick work of winning the game. She wasn't really mad at Cory. She had lashed out more because of the confused state of her own feelings. She didn't know where she and Lou were headed. She knew what she felt for him, but that didn't mean he'd stay in Dexter the rest of his life. And when he left this time, she knew she wouldn't get over him—ever.
* * * *
Halfway into town, Lou's cell phone rang.
"This is Sheriff Schmidt. I think I may have your attackers, Kincaid, but they're not talking."
Damn, he wasn't on duty tonight and had hoped to catch Kelly at the pool hall. Knowing his job came first he veered right at the intersection and drove down to the sheriff's office.
Lou stood with a deputy behind the one way glass as he listened to the sheriff interrogate one of the men. He had identified both of the guys the sheriff had brought in, but from what he was hearing, they both insisted they were just drunk that night and had started a meaningless fight.
"They drugged me,” Lou told the deputy in disgust. “Check it out—record's at the hospital."
"Why would they want to do that?” the deputy asked. He reminded Lou of Barney Fife and appeared to have just as much gumption. At the same time, Lou hesitated to tell him or the sheriff his real reason for being in Dexter. Although cooperation with local law officials was a rule he tried to follow, there were some things that just couldn't be shared.
He still didn't know exactly what was going down at CoKan and depending on how big an operation it was, the possibility of local law involvement wasn't out of the question. Until they knew more, he and Dom had decided it was best to keep their investigation secret.
Sheriff Schmidt came through the side door. “What do you think?” he asked Lou.
"They're the ones who jumped me, but from what I'm hearing, they say it was an accident."
"Yep, that's about right."
"Can I press charges?"
The sheriff shrugged. “I can probably hold them twenty-four hours, but considering the accident was more than a week ago, I probably couldn't do much more."
Lou could hear from the way the sheriff said accident, he believed it was just that. “What's their story anyway? If they're not local, what are they doing here?"
"Contracting. Appears CoKan is adding on a section or something and these boys are part of the construction crew. Hell, anytime there's construction going on—road, building or otherwise—there's always someone causing a ruckus."
Lou had quit listening at the mention of CoKan. Everything pointed to that company and yet he still didn't have any idea of what the big scam was. “Hold them as long as you can, Sheriff,” he said as he walked away. At least he wouldn't have to look over his shoulder for the next day.
Kelly's Jeep was gone from the parking lot where he had seen it when he drove into town. He cruised slowly past her house but could see no lights. He knew she had to get up early for work tomorrow, but he wanted to see her. No, actually, he felt as if he needed to see her as much as he needed to breathe. He grinned as he pulled around the alley and parked in the back. He should have stopped at the Café earlier today and asked Nancy for a garage door opener.
* * * *
Kelly was just slipping off to sleep when she felt the mattress give at her back and a warm hand slide along her arm. Miracu
lously she wasn't frightened. But she was still perturbed at Lou for not confiding in her and wasn't about to just roll over.
"Go away,” she murmured as she tugged on the arm he had wrapped around her waist. “You can't just sneak in here whenever you want and..."
"Shh.” Warm breath tickled the hair by her ear. Hot, moist kisses rained along her neck and across the back of her shoulders. His hand splayed across her stomach.
"Lou.” Even as she warned him off, her breasts tingled and she felt a familiar ache between her thighs. Damn him anyway for making her want him. Sex with Lou was beyond fantastic, but she had decided she wanted something more. Trust, honesty, a sense of companionship, all those things that made for a relationship, not an affair. How was she supposed to make him understand that when they ignited like a forest fire whenever they touched?
She heard his breath leave on a long sigh and then he was still. After a full minute, Kelly couldn't stand it any longer.
"Lou?” She tried to turn and face him but he tightened his arm.
"I just want to hold you,” he said, barely above a whisper. “You feel so good ... this feels so right. Just let me hold you a little while.” The last word floated off with another sigh.
Kelly felt the tears seep between her tightly closed eyes. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he did something like this. Something so perfect, it made her heart ache.
Chapter 7
When Kelly woke in the morning, Lou was gone. She hadn't heard him come in and she never felt him leave. She would have thought she had dreamt him beside her if not for the note on the pillow beside her head.
See you tonight
Love, Lou.
Love. Did he mean it or was it just a way of signing off? Would they ever get to a point in their relationship where they discussed things like love and commitment? As she dragged herself from bed and showered, she knew before the end of the week when the rodeo was over, she would have to screw up the courage to talk to Lou. Really talk to him. Before he left town for the next rodeo on the circuit.
Kelly was at the café before five, making the coffee and putting the start-up cash in the register. She could hear Bob in the kitchen banging away. With all the extra people in town for the celebration, her mom was doing a lively business. Kelly had hated to ask for more time off, but her mom insisted she go to the dance and enjoy the activities.
How Far Will You Go? Page 8