by Karen Kelley
She opened the door, one eyebrow arching upward. “You look flustered,” she said. “Trust me, you look good in that suit.”
I had a feeling it would be easier to let her believe the suit was what had my pulse racing, rather than explain how I’d run into Layne. I definitely needed to go to the pool. I only hoped the water was cold.
Chapter 11
Layne
It took all my willpower not to pull Fiera into my arms when I’d opened my door and she’d been leaving. What she was wearing should’ve been against the law. When she turned around, she’d seemed nervous, skittish. Did I have that kind of effect on her? I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
My hesitation was brief after she scurried past. I went back into my apartment and changed into my swim trunks. I knew the guys in this apartment complex—mostly from the fire department and ambulance. They’d be like hungry wolves when Fiera and Zoey showed up at the pool. I just wanted to remind them that she was off limits. I grabbed my towel and made my way to the elevator.
It wasn’t as if I was going anywhere important. I’d wanted to give Fiera space, so I planned on checking on one of the coffee shops. It had just been an excuse. Our managers didn’t need us looking over their shoulders.
When I reached the pool and glanced around, I was glad I’d changed directions. The men were already starting to circle like a bunch of hyenas. Not that I could blame them. Fiera had removed the cover-up that had been tied around her waist and was sitting on the side of one of the lounge chairs putting on sunscreen.
When I stopped at her chair, she looked up. Her gaze slowly slid over my body. She nibbled her bottom lip, it was almost my undoing.
“You’re blocking the sun, Layne,” Zoey complained.
I hadn’t even bothered to spare a glance at Zoey, but now my eyes turned toward her. The smile that had started curving my lips upward, turned into a frown. “You didn’t bring enough lotion to cover all the bare skin,” I chastised her.
She chuckled as she continued to spread sunscreen on her arms and legs. “It doesn’t seem to bother you that Fiera is wearing even less than I am. I wonder why?”
“Did I say it didn’t bother me?” I asked.
“I could tell by the look on your face and the drool on the side of your mouth,” she told me.
I glared at her. Her smile only broadened. Zoey had been such a sweet girl growing up, but it seemed the older she got, the more she had developed a smart-assed mouth. I turned thoughtful. My brothers and I might have encouraged it just a little. We’d enjoyed seeing her slap down any man who approached her that she didn’t like. Of course, we didn’t realize she’d turn that smart mouth on us.
“If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to get into the pool.” Fiera stood and made her way to the water, then down the ladder. I watched her every step of the way. “You convinced her to buy the bikini, didn’t you?”
“We went shopping today. It looked good on her. Don’t you think it looks good on her?”
“Yeah, it looks damn good. Every man here thinks it looks damn good. Maybe you should mind your own business.”
She laughed lightly. “A little competition is always nice.”
“Nice for who?”
A couple of the guys from another shift started moving across the pool toward Fiera. I quickly jumped into the water near her. She raised her hands to wipe the water from her face.
“Sorry about that.” My gaze casually moved to the men who’d been making their way closer to her. As soon as they saw the look on my face, they went to the deeper end of the pool. Yeah, I was letting them know she was off limits.
“I don’t think I’ve been in a pool since early last summer.” Fiera brushed her hair away from her face.
My anger vanished as I looked at her. Damn, she was beautiful. “I love the water,” I told her. “How come you’ve waited so long to get into a pool?”
She shrugged and the strap on her top slipped just an inch or two. My mouth went dry and I had a hard time concentrating on the conversation.
“I’m not sure,” she said in a breathy voice as if she wasn’t unaffected by my nearness either.
“I have a feeling you don’t let yourself do a lot of things.” The wary look was back in her eyes. She glanced around the area, as if looking for a way to escape and I knew the moment was lost. “It’s okay. You don’t have to answer, but maybe you should start having fun again.”
“I still have things to do. I probably shouldn’t have come out to the pool, or gone shopping with Zoey. I need to stay focused on why I’m in Texas.”
“Then end it. We’re off duty tomorrow. We can go to Gatesville then.”
She slowly shook her head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“I’ll be there with you. I’ll hold your hand, and I won’t let go.”
She raised her chin. “I don’t need anyone to hold my hand. I haven’t in a very long time.”
“I didn’t say you needed someone to hold your hand. I said I would be there to hold your hand if you needed me. That’s what friends do. They stand by each other.”
“Why would you do that? You barely know me.”
“I know you better than you think. You can tell a lot about a person when you work with them on ambulance calls. I know you don’t like being around people very much, but I also think you’re lonely. I see how patient you are with the residents at the nursing home. There’s a kindness inside you. So, maybe I do know you.”
“If you get too close, you might get hurt,” she warned.
“I’m willing to take that chance. Are we going tomorrow?”
She drew in a ragged breath. “Yes, we’re going tomorrow.” She looked up at the sky, then back at me. “I think I’ve had a little too much sun. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She effectively dismissed me.
I watched her get out of the pool. She said something to Zoey that I couldn’t hear before using her beach towel to dry off, then wrapping the scarf back around her waist and knotting it at the hip. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was probably the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
It seemed the more I was around her, the more I saw just how fragile she was. She was like a delicate flower that had been stepped on by too many people. I’d make damn sure that didn’t happen again. At least, as long as she would let me.
I climbed out of the pool and walked over to the chair Fiera had just vacated and stretched out on it.
Without turning toward me, Zoey began to speak. “You ran my friend off.”
“She needed to leave. She’s not used to being around people outside of work.”
“She has a lot of baggage. Are you sure you’re up for the task?”
“Are you lecturing me?”
She chuckled. “Yes, I guess I am. It serves you right that I’m butting into your business.”
“What have I ever done to you?”
She rolled to her side and faced me. “Let me see.” She waved her arm toward the pool. “There are a dozen or so guys out here. I’m the only female, now that Fiera is gone. I’m pretty sure I look damn hot in my red bikini. Do you see any of them approaching me? Asking me to go out for a drink? I think not! And you won’t. Do you want to know why?” She didn’t wait for me to reply, but continued. “Darby told me that Chuck said you’d warned all the men away from me. So yes, I think I’ve got every right to get up in your business.”
I frowned. I was going to have to have a talk with Chuck it seemed. “Chuck had no right to tell Darby that.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me it isn’t true?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then it is true.”
“You know as well as I do how the guys at the station act around single women, except for the married men. The single guys want one thing, and one thing only. I won’t have them taking advantage of you.”
She sat up on the lounge chair and swung her feet over the side, wagging her finger at me. “Let me tell you this, I
can take care of myself. You don’t have to act like my brother.”
“I’m only trying to protect you.”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. “Have you had sex with Fiera?”
I tried to speak, but no words came out.
She sat a little straighter, squaring her shoulders. “Ha, I knew it! It’s okay for you to fool around with someone you’re working with, but it’s not okay for me. That is such a double standard and not fair at all. Let me tell you this, Layne Hayes. You’d better stay out of my business, or I’ll rip you a new one. Do you understand?”
“Point taken. I’ll stay out of your business from now on.”
She came to her feet. “And make sure you do!”
I grinned as I watched her stomp away. Of course, I wasn’t going to stay out of her business. The guys at the station knew it was hands off when it came to Zoey. She was like my little sister and I wasn’t about to have one of them hurt her. I frowned. How the hell had she guessed I’d already had sex with Fiera? Her ability to read people was uncanny. I’d have to make damn sure I watched myself around her in the future.
Chapter 12
Fiera
Gatesville was around two hours away. We hadn’t agreed on a time to leave. When someone tapped on my door, I opened it, my nerves almost getting the best of me. Then Layne handed me a cup of coffee. It just seemed so normal, that I immediately began to relax.
“Are you ready? I didn’t know if I was going to be too early or not,” Layne said.
“No, you’re not too early. I’m ready, just let me grab my purse.”
Once we were on the road, I turned from the window and looked at him. I realized how having someone with me was going to make visiting my father’s grave so much easier. “Thank you for going with me.”
“I don’t mind at all. I enjoy your company.”
My anxiety level began to rise. Would I break down and cry when I stood at the end of my dad’s grave? I never cried in front of people. I always kept my emotions in check.
“Oh, by the way,” Layne said, interrupting my thoughts. “I had to drop something off at the hospital and one of the nurses told me our toothache guy’s wife was not happy when she came to get her husband. She told him the money for the ambulance was coming out of his check, not hers. The nurse said she was still chewing him out as they left.”
I began to relax. “You have to wonder if some people have working brain cells. It’s crazy how they’ll tie up an ambulance for some of the dumbest things.”
“And on the other side of the coin. There are people who really need an ambulance and they don’t call. They try to bring whoever is sick into the hospital without any help. I think it’s up to us to try to educate them. You know, the ambulance and the fire department do programs at the area schools. The idea is to catch them while they’re still young.”
“It sounds like a good program,” I told him.
“More people need to get involved with their community.”
“I went down to Monroe Street on my way home from work yesterday morning,” I blurted.
His head whipped to the side to stare at me. “Why the hell did you do that?”
I looked across the seat. “I wanted to see if there were actually people living under the bridge.”
“That’s a very dangerous part of town. You could’ve gotten yourself hurt or killed.”
I straightened in the seat. “I don’t need anyone telling me what to do. Besides, there wasn’t anyone down there that I could see.”
“Every once in a while, there’ll be a stray homeless person living under the bridge. It just doesn’t happen very often anymore. Still, you need to be cautious when going into a rough neighborhood. You never know what you might find.”
“I’m always careful.” Something he said confused me. “How come there aren’t homeless people down there?” I felt as if he was leaving something out.
“Because they have other places to go.”
Now I was intrigued. “Exactly where do they go?” For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to tell me, then he began to speak.
“There was an old building they were going to tear down and make into a parking lot. I told my brothers what was going on, and with a lot of volunteers, we brought it up to code. It’s not much, but it’s better than living under a bridge. People come and go, but they have to be screened before they can get an apartment, and they have to give back by doing community service. It’s a win-win situation all the way around.”
I knew I was staring at him. He glanced across the seat again.
“What? It’s no big deal.”
“I think it is a big deal to them. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a really good guy?”
He grinned. Damn, he had a killer smile.
“It’s just my luck to have a beautiful woman riding in my truck who apparently thinks I’m a really good guy. I have a feeling I should’ve told you this at my apartment.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think it would’ve gotten you laid?”
“One can always hope.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “You’re also full of shit.”
“Now that I’ve been told. In fact, my brothers tell me that all the time.”
I instinctively knew that his upbringing had been vastly different from mine. Maybe I wanted to live vicariously through him, but I wanted to know more about his family. “Tell me what it was like growing up in your family.”
His pause was brief. “It was crazy. Most of the time, absolute chaos. I don’t know how my mother put up with us. Jaxson was probably more quiet than the rest of us. He always had his nose stuck in a book.”
“He’s the writer.”
“He and his wife. Except she writes romances. She writes under her maiden name because she was already publishing before they got married. Actually, Jaxson helped her with her writing. That’s how they met. She would come into the coffee shop often, and one day he was there helping out.”
“What’s her last name? I read romances, too. In fact, I read just about all genres.”
“She writes under the name Katie Daniels.”
“Katie Daniels? The Katie Daniels?”
“Well, she has made quite a name for herself.”
“I would say so. She’s a fabulous author.” Which was putting it mildly. She was one of my favorite authors. What else didn’t I know about his family? “What about your other brothers?”
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Let’s see, Ryder was the next one born. He builds everything. He married Samantha.” He grinned. “It was funny how they met. They didn’t want to have anything to do with the other, but Ryder was the best man at Nash’s wedding, and she was Makenna’s maid of honor. It was interesting to watch them plan a wedding. They were butting heads from the start.”
“Then there’s Nash. He’s the one who owns his own guide service. His company is in Colorado, by the way.”
“I can’t believe it,” I said.
“What?”
I began to laugh. “I thought you looked familiar, but I never put two and two together. I’ve gone hiking with your brother. Well, I was in a group with about ten other hikers about a year ago. It was an exhilarating experience. We hiked, then whitewater rafted, then hiked back to town. I loved every minute of it.” I studied Layne. “Actually, you and your brother look a lot alike.”
“There’s a strong resemblance with all of us.”
Nash had been an excellent guide. Very professional. “I made the mistake of dipping a chip into his hot sauce once when we were around the campfire. I didn’t think my mouth would ever stop burning.”
He laughed. “That would definitely be Nash. Anytime we’re at an outing, we warn people not to dip into his bowl of hot sauce. No one knows how he can eat it that hot.”
“And he’s married?”
Layne studied me for a moment. “You didn’t get hung up on him or anything, did you?”
“Would
you be jealous if I did?”
He was thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, I would.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t teasing. I glanced out the window. Being with Layne was getting way too comfortable. “No, I thought he was nice. That’s all.”
“Good, because he’s happily married to Makenna. She’s a little bitty thing, but she gives him a run for his money.”
“It sounds as if your parents raised four wonderful children. It must’ve been fun growing up in your family.” Even I heard the wistfulness in my voice.
“Tell me about your dad. I mean, before he went to prison. What was he like?”
I smiled as I was suddenly transported back in time. “He traveled a lot, so our time together always seemed special. My mother hated his job, except for the money he brought in. She liked that well enough.”
“What did he do?”
“I was only ten the last time I saw him. Mother said he showed samples, often traveling out of state. He was in Texas when he got into…trouble.”
“What was he like when he was home?”
I relaxed. “After a week or two on the road, he would always take us out to eat, and sometimes on the weekend just the two of us would go for ice cream. Those were my favorite memories of him. We never got the same kind of ice cream. He said if you really wanted to experience life, you have to try different flavors.”
“It sounds like he was a smart man. Sometimes coloring outside the lines can be fun.”
“Or make for a messy picture.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “Every night before I went to bed he would sing an Irish lullaby to me. It was just a simple little song, but I loved his voice. After my mother told me he’d gone to prison, and I probably wouldn’t see him again, I got scared. I found the photo album that he’d put pictures in, and I hid it away. I didn’t know what mom would do if she found it. I was so afraid I would forget what he looked like. I still have it.”
“What are you going to do after you leave Gatesville?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. What about you? If someone asked you what your future held, what would you say?” Maybe he sensed I needed to change the subject because he stopped asking questions about my family.