His argument was valid. “We’re going to be late.”
He didn’t budge, didn’t take his focus off her. And she hated not being able to tell whether he was pissed or simply exhausted.
“Okay,” she said finally. “We’ll talk shop after I have dinner with your sister and the girls.”
He nodded once, satisfied, but showed no signs of gratitude. Instead, stalking into her living room, he did a quick glance over before opening her front door for her and waiting while she set her alarm, then closed the door and made sure it was locked after she stepped outside.
Megan Vetter didn’t appear surprised when Perry dropped Kylie off, explained quickly he still had to work, gave his sister a peck on the cheek, and disappeared. The confusion and chaos that followed swept Kylie right along with it as the four girls appeared to continually surround her while following their mother’s calm direction of putting supper on the table. And in spite of being sure she didn’t have any appetite, Kylie walked her cleared plate to the kitchen sink along with everyone else after dinner.
“What made you decide on KU if you’re from Dallas?” Megan asked when they made it to the living room after supper.
Not once did she scoot the girls upstairs so the adults could visit. In fact, Megan appeared indifferent that Dani, Diane, and Dorine continued hovering around her but simply extended one arm so Denise could cuddle into her on the couch.
Megan sipped her coffee, watching Kylie over the rim with a patient yet attentive gaze.
Kylie found the overstuffed chair facing the couch to be more comfortable than it appeared. The three teenagers collapsed on the floor around her, all finding positions where they could focus equally on her and their mother. Not one of them reached for the remote.
Dani and Diane also sipped coffee, matching their mother’s expression while waiting tentatively for Kylie’s response. She couldn’t help getting the impression her personal interrogation had begun. Kylie guessed the girls remained glued to her side to make sure she didn’t say anything to their mother that might require damage control on their part.
“KU is a good school,” she offered, wagering Megan didn’t really care why Kylie went there but was just opening the conversation. “I’ve got some incredible professors, but my thesis advisor is the best.”
“The girls tell me your thesis will be about them. Will you be using their names? I’ve heard before sometimes theses get published.”
“You’re right.” Kylie nodded, grinning. Megan needed to see Kylie’s enthusiasm about the project if she was going to allow her daughters to continue associating with her. After seeing how Megan easily adjusted to Perry not being able to make supper and knowing she was a cop widow, Kylie prayed her forgiveness would be quick when she finally learned Kylie was undercover. “I don’t know yet whose names I’ll use, or if I’ll use real names. Obviously if I do, I’ll have consent forms signed. Since your daughters are all minors, I would seek your signature.”
“I’m not a minor,” Diane offered quickly, straightening and pinning Kylie with green eyes so similar to her uncle’s it was uncanny.
“I’d still want to know if she used your name,” Megan informed her, holding her youngest close while placing her coffee cup on the end table next to the couch. “Are you going to discuss this online predator who is all over the news right now in your paper?”
Megan’s question surprised her, but the angle was good. Kylie paid attention to the girls’ reaction and would give Dani credit for remaining indifferent to the question. Either she was a master at not showing her emotions or she seriously didn’t believe her relationship with her online boyfriend fell under the category of “cautious” with all the media screaming caution right now.
“Excellent question.” Kylie focused on Dorine, the fourteen-year-old, who straightened while sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Dani remained stretched out on her stomach, propped on her elbows and focusing on her coffee. She didn’t look up at the shift in conversation.
“Let me ask you this,” Kylie added, returning her attention to Megan, whose thick long brown hair looked as healthy and youthful as her daughters’. “Are you taking any precautions with your daughters with this predator all over the news?”
“My girls get more of an education than most with their uncle so active in their lives. He’s quite the family man.” Megan looked at Dani instead of Kylie when she spoke.
Her daughter focused on her mother, her smile so damn angelic it merited an award. Kylie’s stomach tightened as she ignored the plug for Perry and instead noted how Dani would play her mother to maintain her private online relationship. Maybe Dani really did believe the boy she spoke with online was harmless, which proved to Kylie even more so how much she needed to be protected.
“So you’re telling me you don’t worry about your daughters’ online time?” Kylie asked.
All girls looked at her, their expressions varying from curious to concerned. Kylie focused on Megan. There were similarities between her and Perry, one being the focused look Megan returned to Kylie.
“That almost sounded condescending.”
Kylie shook her head, relaxed in her chair and knowing in spite of what the girls and Megan thought her reasons for being here were, she wasn’t here to make lasting friends but to save lives.
“Not at all,” she offered, keeping her tone soft and watching the wary expressions exchanged among the girls. “Do you know who your girls are chatting with and when?”
“Not always,” Megan admitted, stroking her youngest daughter’s hair.
Denise cuddled closer to her mother. Kylie did see a close relationship between mother and girls.
“I’m not a mother,” Kylie admitted, meeting Megan’s knowing look. “And I admit I haven’t given much thought to becoming one. It’s clear you five are very close. I’m not trying to judge you.”
“Good thing,” Megan said, laughing easily. “I work two jobs and have to rely on my daughters to help a lot around here. I also have to believe I’ve raised them well enough that they know the difference between right and wrong.”
“We do,” Dani said quickly, pushing herself off the floor and bending over her younger sister to give her mother a hug.
“You wouldn’t meet someone off-line you didn’t know, would you, Dani?” Megan asked when Dani straightened.
“Of course not, Mom.”
“You better not,” Dorine grumbled.
Dani spun around and Kylie caught the fierce look she gave her younger sister. Kylie tried grabbing Dani’s attention, but the girl stalked out of the room and there was the sound of her ascending stairs as the room grew quiet.
Kylie glanced at the front window when everyone else did. A moment later the front door opened and Perry immediately grabbed her attention.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, shifting his dark gaze from her to his sister.
“Nothing.” Megan looked tired when she leaned her head back and smiled at her brother. “That is, unless you view teenage emotions as an issue.”
“Dani?” he asked, barely taking a second to note who wasn’t in the room.
“I don’t think she cared for the conversation.” Kylie stood, straightening her blouse.
“More than likely because she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s thinking about meeting someone,” Dorine offered, standing as well, and clasped her hands behind her back as she walked out of the room, whistling.
Megan sighed, pushing herself off the couch and leaving Denise to curl into a ball in the corner, simply watching the adults with a look of vague understanding on her face. Diane, however, groaned and patted her mother’s arm.
“She won’t do it. Don’t worry. Dani isn’t an idiot.”
“She better not,” Megan said, crossing her arms and glaring at her oldest, probably because the one she needed to glare at had stormed out of the room.
“Dani has been chatting with him for like forever,” Dorine announced, prancing back in
to the room with a victorious grin on her face. “They are totally in love and she is finally going to meet him for real,” she added, clasping her hands over her heart and making a show of swooning.
Maybe only spending half her childhood with a sister and the other half alone made Kylie ill prepared for what happened next. She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t bother taking time to analyze it. Dani flew into the room, appearing out of nowhere, and bulldozed Dorine over the coffee table. Denise howled on the couch, jumping toward her mother, and Diane screamed, falling backward and landing on her rear with a thud.
“Dani!” Perry roared, grabbing her backside and yanking her backward through the air.
“You little bitch,” Dani howled, her arms and legs whaling around her while her long brown hair flew like a cloak blinding her face. “How dare you say such a thing.”
“It’s the truth!” Dorine wailed, her legs up in the air hanging over the coffee table while tears streaked down her face.
“Perry!” Megan yelled, reaching for Dani. “Don’t hurt her.”
“Enough!” Perry yelled again, and silenced the room.
Kylie felt like an onlooker, momentarily forgotten in a family dispute that she had no part of. Except that she had instigated the matter.
She clasped her hands behind her back, standing to the side, while her mind now went into analytical mode. Watching quietly, she observed and noted how each of them reacted to an ugly situation. What was said next, though, would possibly prove invaluable.
Dani struggled out of her uncle’s arms but then hugged herself instead of walking into her mother’s arms. “She’s a big fat liar, Mom,” Dani said, a sneer in her tone as she shot Dorine a warning look.
“And you’re an idiot,” Dorine retorted, holding her own.
Dani stood a couple inches taller than her younger sister, but Dorine weighed more. It was the older sibling intimidation that won out, though. Dorine pressed her mouth closed, obviously conceding not to say more.
“I think it’s time you share the details about this boy with me,” Megan demanded, her focus hard on Dani.
“Not a problem.” Dani didn’t move. Her uncle remained an overwhelming presence, towering over her backside, while her mother scowled, her arms crossed while glaring at Dani. She stood as tall as Megan, and her attention didn’t sway while she explained herself. “Dorine eavesdrops on my conversations and fills in the holes to create her own gossip. It’s not my fault she has no life.”
Dorine made a snorting sound but again snapped her mouth closed when Dani seared her with a hateful glare.
“Do you really think with all the mess going on in town right now about some serial killer that I would go meet some guy off-line I didn’t know?”
“I hope to God not,” Megan said softly. She let out a breath and backed away from her daughter. Then as Megan combed Dani’s thick brown hair away from her face with her fingers, her tormented expression would have broken a softer person’s heart. Her fingers trembled when she reached for her daughter’s face. “You’ve got so much of your father’s fiery independent spirit. I look forward to watching it blossom as you get older.”
Dani deflated at her mother’s words and pulled her in for a hug. Perry glanced her way for the first time but then quickly moved to pull Dorine to her feet. He pretty much pushed her into Diane and with a look had the two of them heading out of the room.
“Denise, head upstairs with your sisters,” he instructed, his calm baritone enough to make the twelve-year-old scurry off the couch and dart out of the room, probably grateful to leave the dramatic scene. Then taking Dani by the shoulders, he turned her around to face him. “Swear to me right now you aren’t planning on meeting some boy you’ve only chatted with online.”
“I can’t believe you’d think such a thing,” Dani whispered.
“Then explain why you just attacked your sister, and it better be the truth this time.”
“Perry, let me handle this,” Megan began.
“I’m not walking away from this, Meg,” Perry informed her, crossing his arms over bulging muscle when he let go of Dani. “Talk to her all you want, but after the day I’ve had, the last thing I’m going to do is walk out of this home before I’m very satisfied that the girls I love aren’t anywhere near the monster I’m stalking.”
“I am not talking to that murderer!” Dani yelled. “Don’t you think I would know if I were?”
Kylie almost said no, she wouldn’t know, at the same time Perry did.
“Do you think the other girls who’ve disappeared were idiots?” Perry challenged her, ignoring his sister when she tried turning Dani toward her. “I’ve seen the chats he’s had with those girls. He’s a master at making girls your age believe he’s a boy your age. He thrives off that, becoming your best friend, confiding in you, talking about his parents and homework and complaining about tests and acne. Any of that sound familiar to you?”
Dani didn’t answer but stared at him with wide, moist eyes. She was an intelligent girl. And God willing, the boy she was talking to online was legitimate and there wasn’t anything to worry about.
“Maybe if you promise your mother and uncle you won’t meet anyone until this guy is arrested,” Kylie suggested, and both Megan and Perry looked at her as if they’d forgotten she was in the room.
“Whatever!” Dani said, waving her hand dismissively in the air. “But there isn’t anyone I’m planning on meeting,” she added, sticking to her story as she edged around them and headed to the doorway and the stairs. “This conversation is over,” she announced, and ran from them, bolting up the stairs loud enough that it sounded as if all of them raced upstairs together, instead of just Dani.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Megan said, once again playing hostess when she tried smiling politely at Kylie. Worry created deep lines in her forehead and around her eyes, though, and she looked exhausted. “It really was good meeting you, though. Perry, bring her back soon.”
“She’ll be back,” he said, speaking before Kylie could think of what to say. Then as if to seal his words, he pulled Kylie to him, wrapping his arm around her.
The intimate contact, which he held on to when he walked the two of them to the door, would make it damn impossible to convince Megan they were only friends. Granted, Megan didn’t know anything about Kylie, but what she believed now brought a smile to her face.
“I’ll feel a lot better when you have this guy arrested,” Megan said, following them outside but remaining in her doorway. “And Kylie, stop by anytime. I know tonight wasn’t proof, but my girls love you.”
“Thank you,” Kylie said, although it was hard to turn when Perry kept a firm grip on her.
“You won’t have long to wait,” Perry said, finally stopping and facing his sister when they were halfway down the sidewalk. “I’ll let you know the moment the asshole is behind bars.”
“Good.” Megan shifted her attention between both of them, her fatigue apparent but her expression definitely showing approval when Perry kept his arm around Kylie. “Good night, you two.”
Chapter 20
Perry couldn’t kick his foul mood, so he didn’t say much as they drove in silence. After he had spent the last hour or so talking to teenagers and their parents and listening while the Simolis again addressed the press and warned everyone to keep their daughters under lock and key, it had been all he could do not to toss Dani across the room until he knocked some sense into her head. He would tear through her computer and phone, regardless of what Megan thought, if it came down to it. Dani could be pissed all she wanted, but she would be alive.
“Perry, where are you going?” Kylie pulled him out of his thoughts.
He turned into his driveway. “Home,” he grunted.
“What about me?” She didn’t take off her seat belt when he put the Jeep in park and then cut the engine. “No way, Perry. You’ve got to take me home.”
He wasn’t in the mood to argue. Opening his car door, he stepped ou
t into the muggy night. Another storm was heading their way. “I will soon.”
She hurried out her side and trailed him into his home. “I can’t stay here. It better be really soon.”
“Why can’t you?” he asked, turning in the darkness and pulling her to him, then reaching over her and pushing his back door closed. “Your car isn’t outside. No one will know.”
“But they will know if I’m not at my house all night. And if I’m not, they will know where to look for me.”
“Good.” He liked believing his house would be the first place they would search for Kylie if she went missing. It meant all those down at the FBI field office believed she was his woman. “We’d hate to have them worrying about you.”
“Perry,” she said, uttering his name with a soft whisper. She implored him to be reasonable, but her eyes were like a midnight sky, large and sultry and slightly hooded with her thick lashes. “We’ve both been ordered not to see each other.”
“They can all go to hell.” He didn’t care if he sounded irritated.
“You would lose your job over me?”
“Do you really think you’d lose your job because of me?”
She chewed her lower lip and he hardened to stone. Her silence was answer enough. They both might endure more humiliating reprimands, although he didn’t doubt for a moment if Rad tried lecturing him that he’d walk out before he could get started.
He wasn’t Peter. The only reason Kylie would need to stay away from him was if she suspected him to be their perp.
He’d help her through her indecision. “Am I your perp?” That sultry gaze of hers faded quickly as she made a face. “Good grief, Perry.”
That was answer enough. He grabbed her arms, dragging her to him. “Then stay with me,” he demanded, his voice a vulgar growl but the best he could master.
He wasn’t used to his emotions being so exposed. But kissing her, not hearing her hesitate but feeling her hot body relax against his, protected the vulnerability that threatened to rise too close to the surface.
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