Her breath coming in pants, she said, “If you called someone to work for you so we could have a replay of—”
He grabbed her by the hips and lifted her off the ground so they were eye to eye. A purely feminine shiver went through her at his determined expression.
Hey all you responding body parts. This isn’t the time or the place.
“We will have a replay,” Cash promised. “With a whole lot of extra holding, passes, and first downs. But that’s not why you’re here right now.”
“Why do you need to talk with Jonah?”
“Because something about that swatting call-out is making the back of my neck itch, and if anyone can get us more info on who made that 911 call, it’s my cousin.”
“Maybe you can go see Jonah. I have somewhere else I need to be.”
“Where?” Cash pulled her closer until his nose touched hers. He had a squinty eye thing going on.
She could tell him work, but it would be easy enough for him to find out that she wasn’t in the ER. The downside of small-town living. “The morgue.”
He blinked, let out a long breath, and finally set her back on her feet. “I think you and I need to talk through some things before we hit the morgue.”
We? No. What she was about to do wasn’t exactly illegal, but definitely immoral. She didn’t want Cash anywhere near that. Not when, as the new TMT lead, he needed to impress his sister and Captain Styles.
“Come in here while I change.” Her hand in his, he strode toward the back of the house and into a room with a king-size bed, a mission-style dresser, and a TV the size of Montana. He pointed her to the bed and said, “Stay put.”
“I’m not your minion. In fact, I’m your boss—”
“Not anymore.”
Thanks for the reminder.
“That’s not what I would’ve chosen, but you’re the one who made the decision.” He unbuttoned his uniform shirt to reveal the T-shirt underneath. Next came the belt unbuckling and the pants unzipping.
She’d seen him in all his naked glory, but there was just something so hot about watching a man take off his clothes as if he were on a mission. Cash quickly kicked out of his boots, shrugged off the overshirt, and shucked his pants. That left him in a body-molding tee and black boxer briefs.
Hanes should hire him. This man would look like a sex symbol even in tightie whities, and that was close to impossible.
“You’re eyeing me like I’m a snow cone again,” he said.
“It’s hard not to when you look like that.”
A small grin formed at the corner of his lips. “Like what?”
Ah. So his ego was still there. “Like you could lift five hundred pounds, cook breakfast, and get a woman pregnant with just a smile. All at the same time.”
His laughter was the first wonderful thing Emmy had heard since the phone rang with the news of Jesse’s death.
“Then again,” she mused, “if your smile alone made babies, you’d have kids all over the place.”
Cash leaned down and gave her a hard kiss. “You just let me know when you’re ready for me to turn that smile on you.”
Was he implying that… Lord, they had gone from zero to serious so quickly that it made Emmy a little off balance.
When Cash straightened, he stripped off his T-shirt, revealing the bulge in his boxers and making it obvious that he would be happy to do more than smile at her. With a quick sweep of his thumbs, he adjusted the waistband of his underwear to try to keep the head of his cock inside.
He turned toward his dresser and when Emmy caught herself eyeballing his ass, she gave herself a little reality shake.
Business now.
But how that business played out would heavily influence whether or not she and Cash had time or opportunity for play ever again.
As he stepped into green cargo pants and a T-shirt printed with a Steele Trap logo, Emmy asked, “Why are we looking for the person who swatted Jesse Giddings?”
“Because I’m wondering if someone is targeting you.”
Cash wound his truck up the private road toward his cousin’s house, and when they parked, Emmy just stared. “Wow.”
Yeah, Jonah’s house was like something out of a freaking movie. All glass and wood like a modern-day castle, overlooking the thousands of acres he and his family owned. Cash had been asked a few times if he was jealous of his bajillionaire cousin’s wealth. To which he answered, “Do you know how many coffee cans it takes to bury all that shit?”
It tended to kill the questions and insinuate to the nosy person that Cash wasn’t bright enough to feel envy.
Reality was he was damn proud of all his cousins—and there were a hell of a lot of them throughout the extended Steele clan—but he’d built the life he wanted. At least in a professional capacity. And now, he wanted to do the same in his personal life.
He took Emmy’s hand as they approached Jonah’s front door. She looked down at their intertwined fingers. “This is kind of an official investigative thing.”
Before he could respond, her eyes went cloudy as she remembered. “Then again, I’m not official anymore, am I?”
“Em—”
She waved away his words. “No. I’m not getting caught up in my decision to voluntarily step down from the TMT. The only thing that matters is that we get more information about what happened to Jesse Giddings.”
As much as he might want to reassure and comfort her, she had a point. And this wasn’t the time.
When he knocked, Tessa answered the door. Jonah’s live-in girlfriend was one hell of a knockout. She had golden-brown skin and black hair that rained down in ringlets. Add a killer figure and a genuine smile and it was easy to see why Jonah had been attracted to her. But Tessa was so much more than a gorgeous woman. As a brilliant psychologist, she now helped Jonah pursue his passion of providing shelter and other services to women and children in jeopardy.
“Cash!” Tessa pulled him in for a hug, smushing her dachshund Badger between them. The little dog gave a disgruntled sound and wiggled out of Tessa’s hold.
When he turned around to introduce Tessa to Emmy, the wily animal was already in Emmy’s arms. “Well, aren’t you handsome?” she crooned to the dog.
“He certainly thinks so.” Tessa laughed and held out her hand. “I’m Tessa Martin.”
Emmy juggled a now reclining Badger to shake. “Emmy McKay.”
“The new ER doctor.” Tessa ushered them inside. “It’s so good to meet you. Jonah and I have been talking about how we can partner with the hospital social services to provide more support to women who need…”
Tessa’s gorgeous glow dimmed slightly. “Sorry. I’m sure that’s not why you’re here. Sometimes I have a one-track mind.”
Jonah came striding through a side door leading from the wing of his house where the garage, game room, and command center were. In bare feet and a T-shirt screen-printed with There’s no place like 270.0.0.1, he looked every bit the eccentric IT guy. “All part of the reason I love you, Tess.” He grinned at Cash. “One-track mind women can be very…sexy.”
Tessa rolled her eyes and hip-checked him, but when he put his arm around her shoulders, she snuggled against him.
Maybe Cash had spoken too soon when he assured himself he wasn’t jealous of his cousin. The money? That he could happily live without. But this kind of unbreakable love?
Yeah, Cash wanted that. Bad.
“Sorry to barge in,” he said to his cousin. “But we need your expertise.”
Jonah’s smile widened and he drew an imaginary line in the air. “Another point for me. I think Micki might be behind.”
Emmy looked up at Cash, confusion clear in her eyes.
“They’re both technical geniuses. And to say they’re mildly competitive is the understatement of the century. They have some ongoing scorecard about which of them gets asked to solve people’s problems.”
Emmy shook her head. “Good to know ego doesn’t drive anything you do, Jonah.”
>
“Hey,” he said, “you’re in Steele Ridge because of my ego.”
“Maybe not for long,” she said under her breath, and Cash squeezed her shoulder.
“So what’s up?” Jonah asked.
“Did you hear about yesterday’s SWAT call-out?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Maggie and Captain Styles keep me looped in because…”
“Because you give them a shit-ton of money.”
“I don’t ask for special info.” He gave an easy shrug. “But I also don’t turn it down when it’s offered.”
“Then you’ve probably already heard Emmy stepped down.”
Jonah’s easygoing expression tightened. “Yeah. I planned to track you down today and talk to you about it.”
Emmy waved him off. “You can chew me out later. Right now, we need your help on something else.”
Jonah gestured toward the couch. “Let’s sit down—”
“We might want to do this in your tech cave,” Cash said.
Jonah sighed. “Only wanted for my technical prowess. It’s my lot in life.”
Tessa held out her arms to Emmy for Badger and the women exchanged the dog like he was an infant. “Y’all go on back. I’m happy to get everyone tea or something else to drink.”
Although Cash could really use a beer, he knew that was a beverage Jonah no longer stocked in his home. The first time Cash brought a six-pack as his contribution to an all-night gaming marathon, Jonah had pointed him back toward his truck and said, “You can’t bring that in here.”
They’d never talked about the reason, but Cash had deduced that it had something to do with Tessa and her past.
Jonah led Cash and Emmy back to the massive room that housed all his computer equipment. Emmy turned a circle, ogling the array of hardware, monitors, and other crap Cash couldn’t begin to name. “Wow,” she said, “you could command NASA operations from here.”
“Don’t tempt him,” Cash said.
They sat in a trio of low black leather chairs with rounded bottoms. Gaming chairs. Jonah was a helluva gamer, but he’d also created Steele Survivor, one of the most popular video games of all time. Which was exactly the reason Jonah had won this point in the Steele Twins Wimbledon.
“Can you somehow get us information about a particular game of Call of Duty?”
“This does have something to do with that call-out.”
“The kid got swatted.”
“Dumbshits,” Jonah muttered as Tessa came in carrying a tray of ice tea. Not just squatty glasses of ice and brown liquid, but elegant highballs garnished with lemon, berries, and mint.
“Meaning kids are doing the same kinds of stunts you and Micki used to pull,” Tessa said mildly. “And sometimes still pull.”
“I never—”
Tessa shot him a pointed look, and Jonah shut his trap. “What are you looking for?” he asked Emmy and Cash.
“Someone else in the game obviously made the call so the police would target Jesse. We want to know who else was playing in that game.”
Jonah rubbed a hand over his stubbly jaw. “You think this was more than just a kid’s prank?”
“It’s possible.”
“Then I want to know—”
“Jonah,” Emmy said, “it’s really better if you don’t ask any more questions right now. We’re not sure what we’re dealing with here and the less people in the know, the better.”
Jonah shot a hard look directly at Cash. “That include your sister?”
“Just doing a little legwork to make her job easier.”
“Yeah, right.” He sighed and rocked back in his chair. “I know how swatting usually works. The dumbshit who makes the call isn’t usually playing that game. They’re streaming—or watching—it. The only way to find them is to trace the number used to call 911.”
Shit. Maggie really was going to kill him when she found out he’d encouraged Jonah to finagle his way into the emergency hotline without her knowledge.
Take action now. Ask for forgiveness later.
“How long will something like this take?” Cash asked.
“Longer than you might expect,” Jonah said. “The call could’ve come from anywhere and most of these people are probably smart enough to bury their physical locations through voice-over IP numbers. I guess you want it ASAP.”
“The faster, the better.”
“Then get out of here and let me see what I can get for you.”
“Next stop, the morgue,” Cash said as they drove toward St. Elizabeth’s. “What are we looking for there, Em?”
“I… I’m not sure, but Jesse shouldn’t have been at high risk for post-op complications.” Her eyes were troubled. “I need to see his body.”
At the hospital, Emmy sweet-talked their way into some private time in the morgue.
When Cash rolled Jesse’s sheet-covered body from the locker, both he and Emmy just stood and stared down at it for several minutes.
“What we’re doing isn’t wrong,” she said as if trying to convince herself. “We can’t save him, but we can get justice for him.” Then she pulled back the sheet to reveal Jesse’s body. Rigor mortis was evident and his skin had taken on a cold, waxy appearance due to blood pooling in the dorsal cavity.
Still, Emmy smoothed her fingers over the kid’s cheek. “I doubt we’ll find anything,” she admitted as she began inspecting the body with an eagle eye. “He either really did die of a PPC or…”
“Or are you thinking someone helped him along?”
“I’m probably seeing something where nothing exists, but I need to know.” She withdrew a blood draw kit from her purse, but didn’t immediately unwrap it.
“It’s okay. We have to do this.” Cash took it from her and opened it. Then he gently adjusted the kid’s torso so she could do the stick and draw.
Emmy inserted the needle directly through Jesse’s chest and into his heart. When the syringe was filled, she withdrew it and smiled sadly down at the boy.
“Be free and at peace, Jesse,” she finally said.
“Rest easy, kid.” Cash drew the sheet back over Jesse’s face and slid the body back inside the locker. “Now what?” he asked Emmy.
“Will you cover for me so I can use a computer in the ER? I want to send this sample to the lab, but I need to borrow a patient name and get in the system to put in the orders.”
“You could get fired for all this.”
“A small sacrifice compared to Jesse’s.”
Dammit, Cash didn’t like this. But by the obstinate expression on Emmy’s face, nothing would talk her out of it.
“All you have to do is smile at anyone at the desk, lure them away, and chat with them to divert their attention.”
“Work fast, Em.”
Fifteen minutes later, Cash had Pied-Pipered the ER staff away from the desk and entertained them with a recount of a call he’d run on in LA.
A dude’s wife had had enough of marriage to an out-of-work actor and had told him to get the hell out. But being a thinking man, the guy had taken a nail gun and stapled his left forearm to the living room floor. In his mind, his attachment to the hardwood prevented her from throwing him out of the house.
But two medics, three firefighters, and a reciprocating saw had dashed the guy’s dreams of a reconciliation. Then again, he and his lady had been blowing teary-eyed kisses to one another as Cash and his partner had hauled him into the ambulance.
Maybe they had worked it out after all.
“Staple gun and reciprocating saw, huh?” Emmy asked as they hurried out of the hospital and toward his truck.
“You’d think human creativity would hit its pinnacle at some point. But nope, as a species, we apparently have an unlimited supply of shit-brained ideas.”
“It does keep you and me in business.”
He snorted. “Job stability.”
“Hey, someone has to do it.” Her smile faded quickly. “I ordered a full toxicology on Jesse’s blood, so it’ll take a day or mo
re for the lab to get back with me.”
“You think he was on drugs?”
“I’m just looking for a needle in a haystack.” She took his hand and met his gaze. “I haven’t mentioned any of this to Maggie because I have zero proof this was more than an accident. But I don’t want to cause problems between the two of you. If you think we should—”
“Not the first time I’ve left my big sister out of the loop,” he said with a squeeze and a smile. “Won’t be the last.”
20
Two days later and they still hadn’t heard from Jonah or the hospital lab. Emmy was losing her mind and wearing a rut into her apartment’s hardwood flooring.
“Think we should call again?” she asked Cash for what she thought might be the fifth time.
He sighed and looked up from where he was trying to meditate on a pillow in her living room. She could’ve told him that with her state of mind, he was doomed. “No. You calling does not make the entire world suddenly fall into place. In fact, it slows things down.”
“You don’t know—”
“I’d take you through another meditation if I thought you’d sit still for long enough. But even I know when to cut my losses.” Without using his hands, he stood from his cross-legged position and she admired the muscles in his thighs that made the maneuver possible. “It’s time for some fun.”
“How can we possibly—”
“Because the world doesn’t stop every time something is screwed up in life. If it did, we’d be at a permanent standstill.”
“I’m not sure we can actually do anything else on my list.”
“Haven’t you added to it?”
“I’ve been a little busy and preoccupied.”
“Fine. I’ll surprise you.”
Half an hour later when Cash parked his truck near an unoccupied area of Deadman’s Creek, Emmy smiled. It was perfect. Sunshine, water, and Cash. “Soooo, you’re taking me fishing?”
“Nope,” Cash said, his grin stretching wide. “Skinny-dipping.”
“Uh-uh. You’re out of your mind. It’s not even April yet.” And besides, naked?
Tasting Fire (Steele Ridge: The Kingstons Book 2) Page 18