“Is everything okay?” she asked.
He released a deep gasp. “No. I’m supposed to be somewhere right now. I have something I have to do.”
Hadn’t he invited her to dinner? She had to work to not let her feelings show on her face. The she recalled the obligations of his job. Was he on call?
“Just drop me back off at Tanya’s to get my car,” she said.
“I don’t want you to be alone.” Concern tightened his eyes.
“I’m fine.” The rejection she felt in her chest pinched tighter than her new shoes.
“You’ve got a murderer after you. That’s not fine.”
“He doesn’t know where I am,” she said. “Besides, I’ve been staying by myself at night.” In some distant place in her mind she remembered last night’s dream. What was it her mother had said?
He palmed the steering wheel. “Not really. I set up office at the diner across from the motel. When I wasn’t there, I had my partner watching out for you.”
Her mouth fell open a little. “Why?”
He turned and looked at her, the frustration in his expression reading loud and clear. “Because I don’t want to see you hurt.” He reached out and ran the back of his hand down her face. “You look amazing. I didn’t even tell you that, did I?”
“No.” She cut him a grin. “But thank you.”
He looked at his watch again. “You know what? You’re just going to have to go with me.” He pulled into traffic then thumped his palm on the wheel.
She looked at him. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“You won’t.” He met her gaze. “Please come with me.”
Between her fear of being alone and the soft pleading in his eyes, she relented. Silence followed. “Where are we going?” She thought about the type of police business he did. Homicide work.
He shifted his shoulders. “My mother’s birthday party.”
She chuckled. “And I’m thinking it’s a crime scene.”
He clenched his jaw. “I wish. This could turn out to be a lot uglier than that.”
~
Brit led Cali into the restaurant. Hands down, this wasn’t a good idea. He paused. Hell, it could be a disaster on acid.
“Am I dressed okay?” Cali sounded insecure. “This looks more like a cocktail-type place.”
“You’re fine.” His gaze moved over her body. “No, you’re hot.” He kissed her cheek. He knew kissing her was wrong, but he was past caring. He paused, letting himself appreciate what he’d just complimented, hoping to chase away the ill feeling being near his mom brought on.
At Cali’s soft smile, the thoughts of his mom melted like ice cream on a hot sidewalk. If it wasn’t for his sister, he’d be hightailing it back to the hotel, Cali in tow. But tonight he’d better sleep in his car.
A hostess pointed them to a backroom. Brit heard his mother’s voice and hesitated. Cali squeezed his hand, her palm molding smoothly to his. The perfect fit brought a sense of comfort.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, stopping at the door. People, at least two dozen or more, were crowded in the room. Some sat around the table, others stood nearby visiting. Brit recognized some—friends of his mom from way back, a few neighbors, a cousin or two. Most of them he didn’t know. Probably some of the friends and family of her latest husband. Was he number five or six? Brit lost count.
Susan’s glare chastised him for being late. But then, her focus shifted to Cali, and forgiveness softened her eyes.
“Better late than never.” Susan approached them. “Hi.” She focused on Cali. “We sort of met the other day at your school. Of course, my rude brother didn’t introduce us.”
Cali smiled and leaned against his shoulder. Her weight felt good there, too.
“In your brother’s defense,” Cali said, “he did tell me who you were later.”
Brit wasn’t used to people coming to his defense, but with some work he thought he could get used to it. He could get used to Cali. With that thought came the slightest bit of warning.
“Well, I’ll give him a break then.” Susan, a twinkle in her eye, looked back at him. “You want to explain the vicious lioness guarding your laundry room?”
“Sorry. I should have told you about Mama Cat. You didn’t let her out, did you?”
“No, but I put my life at risk rescuing my undies from the dryer. And the black kitten took a liking to my bra. So mama kitty decided what little kitty wanted, she got. In short, if they destroyed it, you owe me a Victoria’s Secret bra. And it wasn’t the cheap kind.”
“Sorry for that, too.” Brit glanced at Cali, who was grinning and looking surprised.
“You have a cat and kittens?” she asked.
“No. It’s a temporary thing. I don’t even like cats. She’s a stray and—”
“Brit?” A familiar female voice called out in the crowd.
He emotionally flinched when he saw his mother stepping forward.
She held onto the back of the chair as if it hurt to move. His gut squeezed, and he scowled at the man standing beside her. Had she let her latest man use her as a punching bag? Things never changed.
“Excuse me for hobbling,” his mother said. “Susan and I worked in my yard this morning, and I’m afraid my gardening muscles are raising cane.”
Brit looked to Susan to see if she flinched at his mother’s version of the truth. She didn’t, and he tried to relax.
“Mom, this is Cali. Cali, my mom Linda.” Crap. Brit didn’t know her last name. He hadn’t made the wedding four months ago and had only met the groom once at the engagement party his sister put together and insisted he attend a few months before that.
“Linda Swain.” His mom gave Cali’s hand a squeeze. “It’s a delight to meet a friend of my son’s.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Cali said.
While Cali, his mom and sister chatted, Brit looked around the room at the other attendants. A familiar face in the crowd had him refocusing. What was he doing here? He walked over. “So this is why you didn’t return my calls?”
“Calls?” Quarles pulled out his phone and snapped it open. “Whatcha’ know? Out of juice. Hope it wasn’t important.”
Brit knew a lie when he heard one, but he bit back the resentment. Quarles didn’t owe him anything. They weren’t friends and were barely partners.
Quarles’ eyes moved to the front of the room. “Wow. Is that the McKay chick?”
“Yeah.”
“She looks hot.” Quarles grinned.
Brit frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be here with my sister?”
“I am.” Quarles smiled, and his gaze shifted to Susan. “I was just about to say that she’s almost as hot as your sister.”
~
It took Cali only a few minutes to relax after she decided she liked Brit’s family. She got the feeling, however, he wasn’t anywhere nearly at ease as she was. When dinner was served, steaks with red potatoes and salad, Cali ate, but Brit, who usually ate with gusto, spent more time scattering his food on the plate than eating it.
Eventually, most of the party attendees meandered out to listen to the band in the main room. The soft cadence of music shimmered through the door and attempted to set a cozy mood, but Brit’s rigid posture chased it away.
“You okay?” She leaned into his tense shoulder.
“Fine.” Rolling his neck again, he eyed his mother and her husband sitting at the other side of the large table. Cali found it odd that they hadn’t scooted over to converse with them. From what she could see, his family appeared perfect. She supposed appearances could be deceiving. Nevertheless, considering she’d just lost her mother, it took everything she had not to pull his face close to hers and say, “Love them, Brit. You won’t have them forever.”
“Come on,” Susan called from the door. “We’re dancing. Brit, Cali. You too, Frank and Mom. It’ll do the muscles good, Mom.”
Brit stood. “We should leave.” He led her to the door.
“No,” Susan said
when Brit whispered his goodbye. “We haven’t opened presents or cut the cake. And we’re not going to until you dance with Cali. Now go cut a rug, brother.” She shot him a firm glance and Cali got the feeling that whatever reservations Brit had about his family, it wasn’t with his sister.
Brit’s frown deepened, and he turned back to her. “Would you dance with me so we can get this show on the road?”
She put her hand in his and smiled. “I’d be honored.”
He walked her to the dance floor just as a slow song started. He exhaled. “This could be dangerous.”
“It’s just a dance.” She placed her hands on his shoulders.
He put his hand on her waist. “You’re lethal tonight.” His breath smelled of wine.
“Thank you.” She sighed when his fingers found that spot between her jeans and sweater and he touched her bare skin.
Just a dance. She told herself.
The music flowed. So did they. The band changed songs, but kept the pace body-brushing slow. Brit’s fingers kept slipping under her sweater and onto her waist. He never explored too high, or too low, but the feel of his warm hands against her body made her dizzy. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Thanks for coming with me,” he whispered in her ear.
“Thanks for asking.” Why did this have to feel so good?
“I would have asked you earlier. It’s just…my family can be hard to take sometimes.”
She looked up at him. “Susan is a joy and your mom seems sweet.”
“Oh, she’s sweet all right.” His voiced dripped with sarcasm.
She continued to move with him. “Is it her husband? You don’t like him?”
He brushed his face against her cheek. “You smell so good.” His fingers slid under the sweater again. “You feel so soft.”
She laughed nervously and pulled back. “Behave.”
He gave her an inch, but her breasts still brushed his chest as they swayed, and an inch wasn’t enough. She felt her body tightening and longing to move back in. “Is it her husband?” she asked again.
He frowned. “Could be, but I keep forgetting which husband this is. Can we not talk right now?”
“She loves ‘em and leaves ‘em, huh?” She rested her head back on his chest.
“Something like that.”
His hips brushed against hers. “Where’s your father?”
His body grew tense. “He died when I was fourteen.”
Empathy filled her instantly. “I’m sorry.” She looked up.
“Don’t be. He deserved it.”
She flinched at the bitter words.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That was cold, considering you just lost your mom.”
“What did he do?”
He moved around the dance floor with practiced ease. “Women, booze and crime.”
“And you blame your mom?” She met his steps, even as those steps brought them closer. His hard body felt right.
“I blame them both.” He stared down at her. “What about you? Where’s your father?”
“Gone,” she said.
“Dead?”
“Don’t know.” She rested her face back on his shoulder, and part of last night’s dream vibrated through her thoughts. She remembered what her mom had said about her dad. Then she remembered something else. Don’t stay at the same hotel.
He leaned his head down and asked, “Did you get along with your mother?”
“Yeah. I mean, we had our share of disagreements, but we loved each other.” She pushed the thoughts of the dream from her mind. They were just dreams.
“What kind of disagreements?”
“Small stuff,” Cali lied, remembering the very last disagreement they’d had.
He stepped back just a bit and stopped dancing. “Your mother didn’t like Humphrey?” His tone held the slightest edge, reminding her that he was a cop, and she was still his case.
“She never met Stan,” she said honestly. She couldn’t tell him that since her mother died she’d nicknamed the guy a weasel. But she hadn’t really nicknamed him. Those were just dreams.
“Why not?” He moved her back into the easy rhythm of the dance.
“Because she was so sick and maybe because I knew she wouldn’t approve.”
“Smart lady.”
“Yeah.” Cali looked away.
“What else?” he asked. “What else did you fight about?”
The knot tightened her throat and the truth just slipped out. “About her treatments.”
He almost stopped dancing. “You mean for cancer?”
She nodded. “She refused to have any more. She gave up.”
He caressed her cheek, his gaze as tender as his touch. “That must have been hard.”
“Not as hard as knowing that I spent the last weeks of her life mad at her.” Cali closed her eyes as the ache flared.
With a gentle sweep of his fingers through her hair, he pulled her into his warmth. “I’m sorry.”
“Maybe we should talk about something different.” She raised her head when he started moving again.
“I have a better idea. Let’s not talk.” He kissed her. A slow, deep kiss that tasted like red wine—sweet, tangy. She became lost in want. Nothing existed but him, the kiss, and their bodies, together. She closed her eyes and just let him lead her.
Finally, Brit pulled away. Cali opened her eyes and realized the music had stopped. They were almost alone on the dance floor. His hooded gaze met hers. He offered her one of his slow, sexy smiles, the kind with a lot of heat. “I told you this was dangerous.”
Aware of how dangerous she felt, of how far she’d let herself go, she stepped away. Embarrassment rained down. Had they really made out on the dance floor in front of everyone and God? Yup.
She started back to the room where his mother’s party was happening.
He caught her. “Not so fast.”
“We should go back to the party. Everyone else has.”
He arched a brow. “Let’s stand at the bar and give me a minute.”
The slow tune of passion still hummed through her, but the embarrassment and the fact that she’d let things go too far chased her back to this side of sanity. “Why?”
He cut his gaze toward the front of his khaki slacks.
She saw the bulge behind his zipper. She jerked up her gaze. “Oh.” She blushed.
Smiling, he touched her cheek. “Damn, you’re precious.”
~
Fifteen minutes passed before they rejoined the others. For some reason, either the second glass of wine, or dancing with Cali, he’d managed to forget about his issues with his mom and just started enjoying himself. He even managed to eat the birthday cake.
He was eyeing the uneaten piece of Cali’s cake when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, forked one big bite of her cake in his mouth, and moved to the quieter side of the room.
“Hello.” Brit felt Quarles watching him. The man had watched him all evening. And part of Brit knew the man was worried about his relationship with Cali. Down deep, Brit shared the concern, but not enough to do a damn thing about it. With Humphrey’s phone at the crime scene and blood evidence on Cali’s door, chances were they had enough evidence on the man and wouldn’t need Cali’s testimony.
“Lowell?” the husky female voice didn’t jar his memory.
“Yes?”
“This is Lucy Edwards, Officer Edwards. I met you the other day at the hotel. We answered the call about the missing woman.”
“Yes, I remember you. What I can I do for you?” And how did she get his cell number?
“Actually, it’s what I can do for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Brit hesitated. “What’s that?” he asked, uncertain he was reading this right.
“I’m back at the hotel. Some idiot took a few punches at the guy working the front desk to get the key for room 112. He tore through the room pretty good. The clerk had your card with your number on it.”
“Tell me you got the guy.”
“Sorry. He was gone when we got here.” She took a deep breath. “Aren’t you at all concerned about the woman?”
Brit looked at Cali, sitting and talking to one of his mom’s friends, and he remembered how close he’d come to leaving her alone tonight. Acid let loose on his stomach. “I know where she is.”
“Good, because I was going to tell you that she’s not here.”
“Did you get a description of the guy?”
“Yeah. White male, dark hair, big fellow.”
Brit palmed the phone tighter. “Can you call out an APB and comb the area for a ninety-eight F-150 pickup?”
“Is there something we should know about this case?” Edwards asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be there in ten minutes to fill you in.”
He snapped the phone closed.
Quarles appeared beside him. “Trouble?”
Brit nodded. “Humphrey just beat up the hotel clerk for Cali’s room key. He trashed Cali’s hotel room.”
“How did he find her?” Quarles asked.
Brit glanced back at Cali. “She originally put the room in her name. I told the clerk to change it. I bet the jerk didn’t do it.”
“Or she told him where she was staying,” Quarles said.
“She hasn’t talked to him,” Brit said. And he believed that. He did.
“Should we head out?” Quarles moved closer.
“I am,” he said. “You can stay. But I’m going to ask Susan to take Cali to my place.”
“I’m with you,” Quarles said.
“Something wrong?” Cali appeared beside them.
Brit saw again the doubt in Quarles’ eyes as he stepped back to talk to Susan. Brit focused on Cali. “Stan just roughed up the clerk back at your hotel.”
Her eyes grew round. “Is anyone...badly hurt?”
Brit raked a hand through his hair. “It didn’t sound like it. I’m heading there to check things out. I’m going to get Susan to take you back to my place. I’ll get your things.”
Worry etched her brow. “I should go with you.”
“No.” He continued to study her. “Do you know how Stan could have found you?”
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