Mike punched the call button to activate the built-in Bluetooth in his truck.
“Please, don’t,” Tori whispered, but he put his finger to his lips to silence her as the phone rang.
“Hello,” Ashley said.
“Hey, Mom, how are ya?” Mike said.
“I should ask you that. I hear you’ve taken a leave from your job to help out on Tori’s case. You didn’t even think to call your own mother and fill her in?”
“Sorry. Listen, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been stayin’ with Tori for the past couple of days, but this guy’s gettin’ bolder. She doesn’t feel safe stayin’ in the house anymore. I want her to stay with me, but the truth is, it’s probably the first place he’d look for her.”
Ashley gasped. “That poor girl. I can’t believe anyone would wanna do this to her.”
Mike smiled. According to his mother, Tori could do no wrong. “So listen, I was hopin’ she could stay with you until we hit the road day after tomorrow. Derek’s trained to handle situations like this, and I’d sleep a lot easier knowin’ he was lookin’ after her for me.”
“Of course, honey. We’d love to have her.”
“Thanks, Mom, I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me anything. It’ll be my pleasure.”
“You’re the best; we’ll see you soon.”
“We’ll be waiting.”
Mike disconnected the call and glanced at Tori. “See, no problem.”
She was wringing her hands in her lap. “I hate botherin’ them.”
“You heard my mother, she’s happy to have you.” Mike chuckled. “Given the choice, she’d probably take you over me.”
“I love your mom, she’s great.” Tori smiled. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“We’re in the middle of a crisis, and you still manage to make me smile.”
“I’ve got your back. You’ve got nothin’ to worry about, darlin’.”
She bit her lip. “It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s you.”
Mike grinned. She may not have told him she loved him in so many words, but she didn’t have to; he heard it loud and clear. “So here’s the deal. I don’t want you goin’ anywhere alone. I’ll call Luc and make sure Joe goes with you to the studio tomorrow mornin’. He doesn’t leave until you do. Got it?”
“I hate this.” She looked out the window. “I hate feelin’ like a prisoner.”
“I know. But it won’t be much longer, baby. We’re gonna get this guy, and when we do, I’ll make sure he’s off the streets for a good long time.”
“What’s the next step?”
Mike turned down his mother’s street and glanced at the call display on the center console of his truck as his phone rang. His brother would have to wait. “I’m gonna head back to your place, call the boys back over. We need to check for bugs, cameras, points of entry, do another dusting for fingerprints.”
“Promise me you won’t go in there alone.” She shifted in her seat to face him. “Please, tell me you’ll wait for back up.”
“I will.”
“I’m serious, Mike.” She reached for his hand. “If somethin’ happened to you…”
He kissed the palm of her hand and smiled. “You really think you’re gonna get rid of me so easily, sweetheart?”
“I don’t wanna get rid of you at all.”
Mike put the truck in park and reached across the cab to pull her into his arms, but she pressed her palms against his chest to stop him. “Please, don’t. He could’ve followed us.”
“Don’t you think I would’ve noticed if someone had followed us? I do this for a livin’, remember?”
“I’m sorry, I know you probably think I’m bein’ silly, but I can’t help it. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you stay safe.”
Mike wanted to tell her he loved her for worrying about him, but it seemed like they were in a good place, and he didn’t want to risk saying or doing something that would put their tenuous relationship in jeopardy.
He just had to take this loser out of the equation, earn her trust, and they could start planning a future together. He didn’t know how they would manage the logistics of a relationship with her being on the road so much, but he knew he’d trade ten dates with any other woman for one night with her. No matter how difficult it would be, they’d find a way to make it work, and if it took time for her to trust him enough to acknowledge her feelings, he was prepared to wait.
“Did you have fun on your date tonight?” she asked, reaching for the door handle.
He smirked. “What do you think? I was back at your place by nine.”
“What’s wrong? She didn’t hold your interest?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She wasn’t you.”
Tori smiled and withdrew her hand from the door. “I hate that you went out with her.”
“Good. Now you know how I felt last night.”
She looked at him, her eyes lingering on his mouth. “I’m sorry we fought this mornin’.”
“Me too.” He gripped the steering wheel. He knew if he said too much, they’d be right back where they started last night, with him feeling frustrated and her feeling defensive. He didn’t want that. “Listen, this is all new for us. You’re not used to considerin’ someone else’s feelin’s and neither am I. Why don’t we just take it slow, agree to figure it out as we go along?”
“Agreed.” She smiled. “I meant what I said last night. I don’t wanna see anyone else.”
He laughed as the tightness in his chest finally began to ease. “You better not.”
“So, when will I see you… or talk to you again?” She dropped her face into her hands. “God, I sound like such a girl, don’t I?” She looked up at him and laughed. “Don’t think for a minute that I’m gonna be sittin’ by the phone waitin’ for you to call me, Lieutenant, ’cause I won’t. I’m too busy to—”
He pressed his finger to her lips to silence her. “We’ll see each other tomorrow night at Luc’s party.” He brushed his finger across her bottom lip and groaned. “You don’t know how much I wanna kiss you right now.”
“I know, me too. But I think it’s best if we play it safe for now, don’t you?”
Mike reached for his door handle with a scowl on his face. “You do realize I’m gonna be eatin’, sleepin’, and breathin’ this case until I see this dirtbag behind bars, don’t you?” He came around to her side of the truck and helped her out of the big cab.
She looked up at him, a pout drawing her full mouth down. “I guess that won’t leave a lot of time for thinkin’ about me, huh?”
“Darlin’, I won’t be able to stop thinkin’ about you.”
Chapter Ten
Tori was sitting in the great room wearing an old football jersey and sweatpants when Ashley made her way downstairs.
She turned the light on, then hit the dimmer switch on the wall to diminish the bright light. “You okay, honey?”
“Yeah, I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Can’t say I blame you, given all you’re going through.” Ashley sat down on the upholstered chair across from the couch Tori was sitting on. She tucked her legs under her and let her slippers fall to the ground. “You wanna talk about it?”
How could Tori tell Mike’s mother that her son was the cause of her insomnia? “I’m just tired and a little stressed. Got a lot on my mind, gettin’ ready for the tour and all.”
“Can I ask you something?” Ashley looked hesitant. “If you think I’m overstepping, just say so and I’ll back off.”
“It’s okay…” Tori wasn’t surprised Ashley had questions. Her son had taken a leave of absence from a job he loved to move into her home and babysit her. How could she not have questions? “You can ask, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to answer.” She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. “I don’t seem to have a lot of answers myself right now.”
“You and my son…”
“That’s one of the things I’m not too sure about, Ashley.” Tori liked Mike’s mom too much to feed her false information just to placate her. “I like him a lot, but…”
“But you’re not sure you can trust him?”
Tori looked up, surprised by her insight. “What makes you think that?”
Ashley laughed. “Honey, I’ve known that boy all his life, and he’s always been terrible at relationships.” Her eyes sobered. “I think it may have had something to do with the divorce. He seemed to take it a lot harder than Jay did. He just kind of shut down emotionally after Josh moved out. He dated a lot, but never got seriously involved with anyone.” She shrugged. “Or if he did, he wasn’t willing to open up to me about it.”
“It must have been hard to watch him go through that and not be able to help him.” Tori had always been close to both of her parents and she knew she could go to them with any problem, except of course for the fact that some maniac seemed hell-bent on making her his sex slave.
“You have no idea.” Ashley sighed. “When Derek came back to town, Mike was still so bitter, so angry. He felt hurt, betrayed… I didn’t think we’d ever get through it.”
“But they’re so close now.”
“Yeah, but it was a long road back. Thankfully, we got there.”
Tori smiled. “I’m glad. You’re all good people. You deserve to be happy.”
“But my son isn’t happy, honey. Not really. He has his work, which he loves, lots of good friends, and a family who loves him. He dates, of course, but…”
Tori rested her chin on her hands and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about Mike with another woman, much less invite his mother to tell her about it.
“The women he gets involved with are so wrong for him. I have to wonder if that’s why he chooses them.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s so obvious that a guy like Mike needs a woman who’s as strong as he is to keep him on his toes, but he keeps hooking up with—”
“Doormats?” Ashley and Tori looked each other in the eye and burst out laughing.
“For lack of a better word, yes.”
“I just call it like I see it.”
Ashley leaned back and hugged a fringed throw cushion close to her body. “That’s what I love about you. Hell, that’s why America fell in love with you. You say the things other people wish they had the guts to say.”
“Not everyone likes that about me. I’m not sure Mike does.”
“Trust me, it’s what drew him to you in the first place. I’d watch you two together the first few times you met. I’d hear you giving him grief and I wanted to go over there and give you a high five, ’cause I’d been waiting forever to hear a girl backtalk my son like that.”
Tori laughed. “He sure didn’t seem to appreciate it.”
“Didn’t he?” Ashley paused as though she was considering whether she could risk overstepping some unseen boundary. “Something changed between you two a while back.”
Tori closed her eyes and wished she had the courage to get up and leave the room, but she would never disrespect Ashley, not just because she was Mike’s mother, but she was someone she counted among her friends. “What do you mean?” Obviously, she hadn’t been as good at hiding her feelings as she’d hoped.
“You used to have this playful banter. You gave him grief every chance you got, then all of a sudden, something changed. I saw it in your eyes when you looked at him. You were hurt. You tried to avoid him whenever possible. And you always brought a date to every function; you never did that before.”
So much for being discreet about their non-relationship. “I realized he wasn’t who I thought he was.” She knew it hurt Ashley to hear that. It hurt her even more to say it. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“No, I asked for the truth. I knew I could count on you to be honest with me. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“I like him, I do. He’s really stepped up when I needed him, and I’m so grateful, but…”
“You only think of him as a friend, is that it?”
No, she had plenty of friends, both male and female, and none made her feel the way he did. “I don’t know how I feel.”
“Really?”
Tori didn’t know why she was surprised Ashley was pushing this; her own mother had done the same. “Maybe I do know, but I’m not ready to tell him.”
Ashley smiled. “I thought so. You wanna tell me why?”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I understand. There are some things you don’t want to discuss with your boyfriend’s mother.”
“Oh, Mike’s not my boyfriend!” She cursed her big mouth when she saw the disappointment cross Ashley’s face. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Your son’s a great guy. Any woman would be lucky to have him.”
“But you don’t want him?”
“It’s not that. It’s just…” Tori decided it was time to go for broke. If Ashley was determined to push, she’d just have to push back. “When we slept together, he called it a mistake and told me to get the hell out.”
Ashley cursed softly.
It was so unlike her that Tori had to laugh. “My sentiments exactly.”
“My son can be so smart about some things, and such an idiot about others.” She grinned. “The latter he got from his father.”
Tori laughed. “I’m sure he did, but don’t worry, I won’t tell Josh you said so.”
“It’s nothing I haven’t told him before.”
“So, now that you know the whole story, you understand why I’m reluctant to believe him when he tells me he’s in love with me.”
Ashley’s mouth dropped open. “He actually said that?”
“Yeah. Why do you seem so surprised?”
“In all of his thirty-two years, I know he’s never said that to another woman before.”
A seed of hope took root. Maybe she was different. Maybe he was being sincere. “How do you know?”
“Just a couple of weeks ago, we had Jay and Victoria over for dinner. Mike came too. I don’t know how it came up, but Mike was giving his brother grief for telling his wife that he loved her every time he left home. Mike told us he’d never uttered those words to a woman and couldn’t imagine he ever would.” Ashley’s eyes darkened. “It broke my heart hearing him say that. He’s too young to be so cynical. Just knowing that he had the courage to say it to you gives me hope.”
Tori didn’t know what to say. She’d been so caught up worrying about the effect it could have on her if she made the mistake of letting him in only to be hurt again, she never thought about what she might be doing to him. “I’m hopeful, too,” Tori said, smiling. “For the first time in a really long time.”
Ashley got up and sat down on the ottoman in front of the couch. She reached for Tori’s hands. “I know I don’t have the right to ask you this, and Lord knows my son would kill me if he knew, but…”
Tori smiled. “It’s okay. Just ask.”
“He may seem like this big, tough guy, and I know he is, but…” She sighed. “He’s still my son, and I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
“I don’t want to hurt him, Ashley.” She squeezed her hands. “But I don’t want to get hurt again, either.”
“I understand. Can you just give him a chance, please?”
Tori leaned forward to draw her into a hug as she whispered, “I want to.”
“The place is clean, Lieutenant. Either he came back to get the stuff or he was here when he took the pictures. Could you tell by the angle where the camera was positioned?”
“I think they were taken from my right side.”
Mike understood why Tori felt the need to destroy the pictures, but he still wished she hadn’t. Even if she hadn’t wanted anyone else to see them, he could have studied them and gained a clue he might have missed the first time he gave them a cursory glance.
“He may have been at
the window. I can’t remember if it was open.” The window had been the last thing on his mind when he entered Tori’s bedroom last night.
Remnants of the pictures were pieced together on the kitchen counter, but she’d torn the glossy photos into so many small pieces it was difficult to make out any of the details.
“So you two were…”
Mike rolled his eyes at the detective. “We were having sex. Any other questions?”
Detective Smith laughed. “So, your girlfriend’s this big country singer and you’re tryin’ to keep it from your buddies downtown. What’s that about, Coop?”
“I didn’t think it was any of your business.”
“How the hell did you ever get a hot little piece of ass like her anyhow?”
Mike took a step forward and fisted his hands at his sides. “I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you. I’ve just about reached my breakin’ point, and since that piece of shit who took those pictures isn’t here, I’m itchin’ to find another target to take my frustrations out on.”
Smith took a step back, putting his hands out in front of him. He clearly wasn’t too keen on the idea of taking on someone half his age and twice his size with fury in his eyes. “Forget I said anything.”
“For the record,” Mike said, between clenched teeth, “Tori’s not just some piece of ass to me. She’s someone I care about a hell of a lot, and if you’d been doin’ your job, that asshole would’ve been locked up instead of breakin’ in here scarin’ her half to death.”
“Coop, you read the case file. You know I’ve handled this case by the book, but I’ve got ten other cases that have to take priority right now. Murder, rape, kidnapping—”
“Good thing nothin’s more important to me than solvin’ this case.”
“She’s lucky to have you.” Smith smiled. “If anyone can get this guy, you can.”
Mike raked his hands through his hair, trying to will away the migraine gaining momentum in the back of his skull. “I sure as hell hope so.”
Chapter Eleven
Tori bounded down the stairs to the waiting SUV limo early the next morning. She felt better since she’d finally been able to put her relationship with Mike in perspective. A man didn’t put his entire life on hold to come to a woman’s rescue unless he had feelings for her. She just had to trust his feelings were as strong as hers. Strong enough to survive months apart while she was on the road, or nights when he was lost in a big case and had to cancel their plans at the last minute… The reality of their situation began to settle in on her when Joe hopped out of the limo to open her door.
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