Marina Adair - Need You for Keeps (St. Helena Vineyard #6)

by Unknown

  “You want to explain this?” Jonah said, crossing the room and tossing the morning paper on the locker room bench, working hard to keep his anger in check.

  “Yeah, I saw that this morning. Tough break,” Warren said, not even sparing the front page a glance.

  “Are you going to man up and tell Sheriff Bryant you leaked Shay’s police records or do I need to?” Because someone sure as hell was going to fess up, and if Warren was too much of a pussy, then Jonah didn’t mind setting the record straight.

  He had no idea what Shay was feeling right now. Or even if she knew. Which left him fighting a fight where he didn’t know the rules.

  This kind of story was bad news all around. That it was released a few days before the walk wasn’t a coincidence, it was a strategic shot, pure and simple. What Jonah couldn’t figure out was the target. Him or Shay.

  A few calls around town and he knew Estella had brought the original article to Nora’s attention, which prompted the Facebook post. A post he should have known about before this morning.

  “Last I heard, police records, for the most part, are public. So nothing to leak.” Warren slipped on his duty belt, seemingly unconcerned that in his attempt to get back at Jonah for . . . whatever . . . he’d crushed Shay’s chances of opening her rescue. “Just goes to show first impressions can be misleading. I mean, who would have expected your cat-lady girlfriend was a thief?”

  First impressions were misleading, but not how Warren was implying. A few weeks ago, Jonah wouldn’t have even blinked at the accusation against Shay, but after getting to know her, he knew there had to be more to the story.

  “What’s your end goal, Warren?” Jonah asked, getting more than a little up close and personal. “To discredit Shay and discredit me in the process?”

  “I don’t have an end goal, Deputy,” Warren said, buttoning his shirt. He was lucky Jonah thrived on control. Otherwise Jonah would knock the prick out and be done with it. “Other than to be sheriff. And while you’re off getting your fix with the girl next door, I’m out fixing this town’s problems.”

  “That’s just it. You’re so busy trying to win votes you don’t really see what this town needs.”

  Warren slammed his locker door and spun to face Jonah, getting so close Jonah felt his fist clench. “Ever since you came back to town, you walk around like you’re some kind of fucking god. So noble and self-sacrificing. You’ve convinced people that your shit doesn’t stink. Well, that shit you stepped in, it stinks, man, and this time there is no getting past it.”

  “The difference between you and me is that I’m trying to do what’s right for this town and you’re only trying to do what’s right for you.”

  “Last I heard, a sheriff hopeful backing a charity event where the benefactor has been convicted of grand theft charges isn’t the best thing for this town.” Jonah’s silence must have set off an alarm with Warren because he laughed like he’d just won this battle. “You’re even stupider than I thought. You haven’t even taken the time to read her file, have you?”

  He should have. The information was available through the police database. All Jonah had to do was pull it up. But something had held him back. He knew there was more to Shay than what was on those pages. Sure, he wanted to know the truth—who wouldn’t?—but his gut kept telling him to hold off, that asking Shay was the right thing.

  Only his gut had been wrong before, and no matter how much he didn’t want it to be wrong this time, facts were facts. And after reading the article, he wasn’t sure what the right thing was. Shay wasn’t returning his calls, Warren looked way too cocky for this to be some simple explanation, and he had a note waiting on his desk telling him to get his ass in the mayor’s office ASAP.

  “Yeah, that screams sheriff to me.” Warren clapped Jonah on the shoulder. “Didn’t they teach you at the academy? The first rule in hooking up: always do a background check so you don’t get fucked when you’re getting fucked.”

  Warren was right.

  Jonah sat in his recliner, sipping a beer and staring down at the still-closed file in his hands, wondering when his life had spun so far from center. A few months ago, he’d been sharing his bed with a cute EMT from Sonoma, riding the high that he was the frontrunner for sheriff, and running his life much like he did his career—by the books.

  Now he slept with a cat that hogged the pillow, he was going to lose the election to a guy who had to go through the academy three times before barely graduating, and he was throwing the whole fucking book out the window for a woman who drove him crazy. And the worst part was, no matter how he handled things now, he was fucked.

  No doubt about it.

  Which was why, instead of picking up the file and reading about Shay’s transgressions, he’d spent the last hour of the workday staring at it. There was no point now. He’d already delivered his answer hours ago—to a shocked mayor and amused sheriff.

  It was official, the first annual Prance for Paws Charity Pet Walk was a go. And Jonah was no longer pulling a side job. He was on the books—and the record—representing the sheriff’s department as an on-duty deputy. He was also to kick off the event on behalf of the city, since the mayor had a “previous engagement.” If anything went wrong during his watch, the mayor had been more than clear the blame would lie solely on Jonah’s shoulders.

  Meaning if this went south, he’d lose a whole lot more than the election.

  Yet every time he looked at the file, all he could think about was the look on Shay’s face the other day at the hospital when she’d given him the out. She was certain he was going to take it. And he could have. But he didn’t.

  He’d meant what he said. Jonah knew exactly what he was getting into with Shay. Which was why he’d gone down to pick up the permit himself. Oddly, it was delayed, he’d been told, because of a hold placed on it from Judge Pricket’s office. Something that only cemented his decision to stand behind her. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened two years ago in Monterey, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand by and watch Shay get shafted because an old lady formed a grudge.

  Tossing the file on the table, he glanced at his phone, checking to make sure he hadn’t somehow missed a call in the past thirty seconds. Nope. It was after seven and still no word from Shay. She hadn’t come home yet either. In fact, he’d called around town looking for her and she was MIA.

  What that meant he had no clue, only that his head ached from trying to figure it out. He was equal parts concerned and irritated over her lack of communication.

  “Jesus, let it go,” he mumbled, leaning back and taking a long pull of beer. One night. They’d had one insanely hot night and he was waiting by the phone and whining that she hadn’t called him back. Granted, he had something really important to discuss with her, like why she’d been convicted of grand theft, but he didn’t sit around whining about his other cases not calling him back.

  If Adam saw him like this, he’d bust his balls.

  Mew.

  Speaking of busting balls. His ungrateful roommate hopped up on the arm of the chair and started kneading the crap out of the leather. Too tired to reach for the water bottle, Jonah petted him instead. The clawing halted and a low motor started in the cat’s belly, which seemed to piss the guy off. He even lay completely flat, not happy about it in the slightest, his eyes somewhere between I’m going to pee on you when you’re asleep and don’t ever stop.

  The motor revved and the cat flopped onto his side, his eyes sliding shut as he rolled off the chair and onto Jonah’s lap with his legs in the bicycle position, making air muffins, which was better than the alternative.

  Jonah kept up the attention, noticing that with every scratch he was getting closer and closer to feeling relaxed. Kitty Fantastic was getting closer and closer to the drooling level of ecstasy. Jonah felt his breathing become lighter and let his eyes slide shut.

  Sometime later a soft knock sounded and he opened his eyes. The chair was tipped all the way back, Jonah’s ey
es were gritty, and the cat was passed out flat on his back—still in Jonah’s lap. Another knock sounded.

  “Hey,” Jonah said, tapping the cat. “Wake up.”

  The cat ignored him, dropping his legs to the side to give Jonah full belly access.

  Jonah flicked his hands in the universal gesture for move your ass. “I’ve got to move, which means you’ve got to move.”

  Like talking to a wall. He gave a little push.

  Nothing but purrs.

  “Fine.” Jonah lifted the cat and placed him on the floor. The second he stood the cat was back on the recliner, curled up and feigning sleep in Jonah’s spot.

  “When I get back you better be gone.”

  Not concerned in the slightest, the cat’s tail swished up and back and landed securely over his face.

  Jonah padded to the door and opened it, letting out a tired breath. He couldn’t explain it—the woman he’d spent his entire day chasing was right there on his porch and he didn’t know whether to pull her into his arms or strangle her. Both would go a long way toward making him feel better after the day he’d had.

  He stepped out onto the porch, and even though the sun had set and night had moved in, the boards were still warm under his bare feet. One look at Shay leaning against the rail, looking out over the street as the breeze teased her hair and the moonlight played off her smooth skin, and Jonah did something he never did.

  He hesitated.

  First, because her dress, a flowy soft cream that secured behind her neck with a simple bow, exposed the entirety of her back—which meant she most likely wasn’t wearing a bra—and showed off those amazing legs. But mainly he hesitated at the vulnerable way she held herself, as though waiting for the porch to crumble right out from under her. And suddenly Jonah understood what Giles had been talking about.

  Being with Shay either made him the luckiest SOB on the planet or would eventually kill him. Slowly and without apology.

  “So I take it you’re still hiding, but no longer from me,” he said, walking until he was directly behind her.

  “I’m not hiding,” she said, continuing to stare out, then she looked over her shoulder. “I never hide.”

  No, she didn’t. Shay might be a lot of things, many amazing and a few irritating beyond belief, but she didn’t have a cowardly bone in her.

  “I took the day off to drive to Monterey and get proof,” she said.

  “Proof of what?” Although he knew what she was trying to prove. He just wasn’t sure who she cared about convincing. Him or the town.

  She snorted. “I’m sure you have a file on me and think you already know the whole story.”

  “I know what people think happened,” he admitted. “As for your report, I haven’t read it yet.”

  She turned around, those big brown eyes zeroing in on him. “You haven’t?”

  “No, I was waiting to talk to you, to hear what the report wouldn’t tell me,” he admitted. “Only you wouldn’t return my calls.”

  She closed her eyes and grimaced. “I was so flustered when I left last night, I forgot to charge my phone and it died halfway there.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “I wasn’t avoiding you, Jonah. I was getting this.”

  She pressed a file, which looked suspiciously like the one he had on his coffee table, into his chest. He didn’t move his hands off the railing.

  “You’re going to make me tell you, huh?”

  Yup. He’d gone this long without peeking inside that file and had faced down his superiors on her behalf. Damn straight, he wanted to hear the story from her lips. Not the black and white that he’d built his career on, but the full-color version that gave him the context of the situation, the texture of her life in Monterey.

  So he remained quiet, patiently giving her the time she needed, but not moving an inch.

  “One thing about me is that I hate being played.” She also hated being wrong, but he kept that to himself. “And I got played and it was embarrassing and it broke my heart and instead of going through the proper channels I reacted.”

  “Throwing a drink in some guy’s face and grand theft are two different things.”

  “I thought you didn’t read the file.”

  “I didn’t. I read the morning paper.”

  “Oh,” she said quietly, looking at her feet. “I was somehow hoping Estella would realize she’s hurting more than me and convince them not to print it.”

  He didn’t have the heart to tell her that this now went way beyond Estella.

  “You reacted, go on.”

  “After I turned eighteen I kind of bounced around for a while and somehow found myself in Monterey. It was a big enough city to get lost and small enough to feel safe. I was starting to feel like maybe it was a fit. I had a few friends, a studio by the beach, and a job as a trainer for difficult animals. Then Bruno walked in and stole my heart.”

  “You dated a guy named Bruno?”

  That pulled a small smile from her. “No, Bruno was a pit-rottie mix and former dog fighter with more scars on his beautiful face than anyone should ever have to suffer through. A lost cause in the rescue world. But Lance had seen something in him and adopted him on the spot.

  “The only way the rescue shelter would agree to the adoption was if he got professional help dealing with Bruno’s aggressive behavior. Bruno was stubborn and scared and most people would have given up the first week, but Lance was determined to make it work.”

  Which would have made this Lance guy seem like a knight compared to the other people in Shay’s past.

  “When the last session was over and Bruno graduated, Lance asked me out for drinks to celebrate. He was everything I had dreamed of—nice guy, attentive, loved his dog. He also had a big family and lots of friends, and I fell. A few months later he lost his job and moved in with me. A few months after that he found a new job. In Portland.”

  Ah, Jesus. Jonah could tell from the look on her face exactly where this was going.

  “I guess I wasn’t a part of the relocation package, but all my stuff was.” She looked at the floor again and Jonah could tell she was working hard to hold it together. “I came home from work and my apartment was empty. I called the cops, thinking that someone had broken in. When Lance didn’t return my calls or come home that night, I thought he was hurt. I called every hospital, his family, everyone. Either they hadn’t seen him or they wouldn’t return my calls. Imagine my surprise when I found a slip from the pawn shop in the garbage for this.”

  She held up the ring that was always on a chain around her neck. It looked like an antique, with dozens of little diamonds surrounding a deep blue sapphire. Jonah took it in his hands, surprised at how ornate the band was.

  She twirled it in her hand, then pressed it to her chest. Finally her eyes met his and the charity walk, the election, none of it mattered. Everything he’d been stressing about all day was obliterated. Because being a protector didn’t even begin to explain what he became in that moment. What he felt when he looked into her eyes, seeing the pain and betrayal and heartache that she kept so well hidden, changed everything for him.

  It changed him.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It was my mom’s,” she said, a sad smile on her lips. “She got it from her mother and passed it on to me, and I wanted to pass it on to my daughter.” He hated how she worded it past tense, as though having a family wasn’t in store for her. Because she’d make one hell of a mother and a wife. “The man at the pawn shop wanted three thousand dollars for it.”

  “What did you do?” he asked, although he already knew how this story ended and it broke his heart.

  “I found one of Lance’s checkbooks in my purse, wrote out a check for three grand, and got my mom’s ring back.” The look she gave him was pure Shay—raw and defiant and 100 percent unapologetic. And Jonah might have fallen a little more in love with her because of it. “It turns out that even though the money was mine, it’s considered grand theft and bank fraud becau
se it was in his account.”

  There were so many things he wanted say about the situation and that fucker, Lance, but none of them would make it better. Nothing Jonah did could undo what had happened or erase the pain of the fallout. So he pulled her into his arms and held her.

  At first she was stiff, not sure if she wanted to give in, but then her body gave up trying to carry the weight and sank into his. He ran a hand up her spine, slow soothing strokes to reassure her that he was here for her. No one had been there for her when it had all gone down, and that pissed him off, but he could be here for her now.

  Little tremors shook her body, so he tightened his hold. To his surprise she didn’t cry or even speak, just slid her arms around his waist and absorbed his hug like it was her lifeline. And he admitted, silently to himself, that he was pretty sure she was his lifeline too.

  The silence stretched on as the gentle summer night surrounded them, the breeze brushing across their bodies and pressing the skirt of her dress against his thighs. The silence drifted past comfortable and into something charged, simmering with growing sexual heat. Jonah noticed that goose bumps dotted her back everywhere his hands moved, and that her arms were no longer around his waist but resting on his hips, her fingers dangling off his back belt loops.

  Lifting her head, those eyes of her slaying him, she rose up on her toes, pressing all of her curves against him, making him question yet again if she was wearing a bra. She didn’t look away, instead holding his gaze so steady he felt it all the way to his bones. Then she dropped it to his mouth and he felt it somewhere else a whole lot more interesting.

  “You could invite me in,” she said against his mouth. “If you want.”

  Oh, he wanted to all right. He wanted to badly.

  He wanted to bring her to his bedroom. And it wasn’t just to see if her dress would hit the floor with one calculated tug of that bow. Although he wanted that too. Desperately. But he wanted more. And he wanted it with Shay.