by Candace Camp
Eve opened another beer for herself and plopped a second drink down in front of Lisa. “Okay. Now back to the original topic of conversation—Quinn Sutton.”
Meredith groaned, shaking her head in despair. “Eve…”
“What? There’s nothing to do in Angel Eye except gossip. Don’t tell me you don’t want to know how serious it is with the sheriff and Lisa. He’s been the town’s number-one bachelor for four years now.” She turned to Lisa and asked, “Am I embarrassing you?”
Lisa smiled. “A little.”
“Well, hell, a little is okay, isn’t it? I’ll tell you something totally embarrassing about me if you want.”
Lisa had to chuckle.
“That’s hardly fair,” Elizabeth pointed out. “Nothing embarrasses you.”
“Not true! I was embarrassed that time at Melanie Sampson’s wedding when Jack Weatherby whispered a joke to me, and I started giggling and couldn’t stop.”
“Oh, Lord,” Meredith agreed, beginning to giggle. “That was awful. And you snorted.”
“I can’t help it!” Eve cried. “I snort when I laugh. It wasn’t even that funny. It was the fact that I was trying so hard not to laugh, and it just made me laugh all the more. Melanie still pretends it didn’t happen.”
Lisa laughed along with the others. She hadn’t realized until just now how long it had been since she had sat around with a bunch of women friends, talking and laughing—and how much she had missed it. She also could not help thinking how much she wanted to pump the other women for information about Quinn. She realized that there was no reason to find out about Quinn—after all, only a short time before in his office she had said that she could not date him anymore. It was foolish and contradictory to be so eager to hear everything she could about him. But she pushed the thought aside—after all, what harm could it do to find out a little more about him?
“I don’t mind telling you about Quinn and me,” she began. “But there’s nothing much to tell. We’ve only been out a few times.”
“Ah…” Eve nodded, looking wise. “But Rita Delgado told me that he took you with him to his brother’s wedding. That sounds pretty serious to me.”
“It was our first date!” Lisa protested. “I told him I shouldn’t go, but he talked me into it.”
“That sounds like Quinn,” Meredith said dryly.
“Well, Janice Padilla’s husband is one of his deputies, and she told me that Ruben said Quinn was pretty gone over you.”
Lisa told herself it was silly to feel so warmed by what Eve said, but she could not help it. “I like Quinn,” she admitted, unaware of how much the smile on her face gave away. “But it’s not serious. It couldn’t be. We’re very different—pretty much on opposite sides. And he makes me so mad sometimes that I could just scream. We fight practically every time I see him.”
“Fighting can be fun,” Eve stuck in with with a wicked smile. “Especially when it comes time to make up.”
Lisa shook her head. “Anyway, what’s the point? I’m going back to Dallas when my year here is up. And everyone’s told me what a flirt he is.”
“He is a charmer,” Meredith agreed, “but I don’t think he’s just a flirt. I mean, given the opportunities he has…”
“True,” Eve agreed. “Most of the single women in this county have been after him.”
“Probably half the married ones, too,” Elizabeth added.
“I remember in high school, he had a pretty long-term relationship with one girl,” Eve said.
“Really? Who?” Meredith asked.
“Susan Weatherby, Jack’s sister. She went off to college, and I think she wound up marrying somebody in Colorado.”
“What was he like in high school?” Lisa asked.
“A hell-raiser, mostly. It’s funny that he wound up being sheriff,” Eve told her. “Cause he was always getting into trouble when he was a teenager. I remember one time he and Jack and a couple of other boys got picked up by the old sheriff. I don’t remember what they were doing. But their dads had to come down and bail them out. Jack’s dad was mad as a hornet, and I’m sure Mr. Sutton was, too. I never would have figured Quinn would become a policeman.”
“It probably made him more sympathetic,” Meredith suggested. “I mean, the kids like him pretty well.” She turned to Lisa, explaining, “I teach school. And most of my students think he’s an okay guy. He doesn’t let them get out of line—he’s tough on them if they’re drinking and driving. But he doesn’t harass them, either.”
At that moment, a buzzer sounded loudly in the kitchen, and Elizabeth jumped to her feet. “That’s the lasagna.”
She went into the kitchen to get the food, and Eve and Meredith began to set the table. Lisa joined them in the task, and the subject of the sheriff was dropped.
The lasagna was, as expected, delicious, and the women devoted the next few minutes to diligently eating. After that, their conversation veered off into more general topics: movies, books, clothing styles. Eve made a date with Lisa to go shopping in San Antonio the following Saturday, and all three of the others urged her to come back to their weekly get-together the following Monday. Finally, with sighs and groans, they agreed that all of them had to work the next morning and it was time to call it a night. It didn’t take long for the four of them to wash the dishes they’d used and tidy up the place, and soon after, Lisa was on the road back to Hammond.
She hummed as she drove, feeling content and even optimistic. It would be so much more pleasant living here now that she had made some friends. She told herself that having friends would make it easier not to see Quinn. Pain pierced her chest at that thought, surprising in its intensity. She hadn’t known the man long, she told herself. How could it hurt this much to think of not seeing him again?
She thought of his smile—the twinkle in his eyes and the way they crinkled up at the corners…the unexpected dimple that popped into his cheek…Lisa realized that she was smiling dreamily into nothing just thinking about him, and she knew that the last thing she wanted was not to date Quinn Sutton again. On the other hand, she also knew that he was the worst man she could get involved with: he was infuriating; he was investigating her client; and any involvement with him was an entanglement she did not need when she was going to be going back to Dallas in less than a year.
By the time she turned onto her street in Hammond, she was in almost as much turmoil as she had been when she had left the sheriff’s office several hours earlier. She pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building and parked her car. As she got out of her car and started toward her apartment, she saw, with a curious blend of dismay and excitement, that there was a sheriff’s car parked a few cars over, and Quinn Sutton was leaning against it, waiting for her.
He straightened and started toward her. His face was tight and his eyes fiery.
“Where the hell have you been?” he snapped.
Chapter 9
Lisa’s eyebrows went up at his peremptory statement. “Excuse me?”
“I’ve been waiting for you for hours. I was about ready to send out an APB.”
“I wasn’t aware that I had to account to you for my whereabouts,” Lisa retorted heatedly. “What are you doing here?”
“I came because I wanted to talk to you! I wanted to apologize!” He realized the incongruity of his words and his tone, and he grinned a little sheepishly. “Ah, hell…I’m sorry. You’re right.” He blew out a long breath. “I had no right to jump on you like that. I was just worried about you. I sat around my office for a while and then I decided to drive over here and talk to you. I couldn’t imagine where you’d gone or what could be taking you so long. I was beginning to get scared that something had happened to you.”
“I stopped by the Moonstone to see Elizabeth.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s Monday. I should have thought of that.”
Lisa looked at him quizzically. “You know about their get-togethers? Does everyone know everything about everybody else around here?”
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He shrugged. “Well, it’s sort of my job to keep an eye on things. Besides, it’s pretty easy—the Moonstone’s closed every Monday, and Eve’s and Meredith’s cars are there every Monday. If I’d looked as I drove past, I would have seen your car. But I had my mind on other things.”
He paused, then said, “So what about it? Can I come inside and talk? Make my apology?”
Lisa had to smile. “Sure. I always like an apology.” She turned and started toward her apartment, swiveling back to say in an admonitory tone, “But that doesn’t mean that I’ve changed my mind.”
“Of course.” He widened his eyes in an innocent way.
Lisa led him into her apartment, switching on the lights as she went inside. She walked to the center of the living room and turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. “All right.”
“All right.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, well, what I wanted to say was…I was wrong to expect you to remove yourself from a case because I’m involved in it. I just saw the quickest solution to the problem, and I jumped on it. Obviously it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to quit being a defense lawyer for my sake—or even that you should not take a case if it involves the sheriff’s department.”
He stopped and looked at her, then added, “But that doesn’t mean that I think there’s nothing we can do about it. I know we can work it out. It doesn’t have to mean that we can’t have a relationship.”
“I don’t see how.”
“I won’t accept that.” He came closer to her. “I don’t want not to see you again, Lisa. I like you. I more than like you. You know that. I—when you’re not around, I can’t stop thinking about you. I keep trying to figure out how I could arrange to run into you. The other night, when I came over late and we talked—I found myself telling you things I’ve never said to anybody else. I’m not just somebody trying to talk you into bed with me. I want to be with you…for a long time.”
Lisa felt herself swaying toward him, drawn by the hunger and intensity of his voice. “I want to be with you, too,” she admitted softly. “But how? I can’t give up my clients.”
“You don’t have to,” Quinn said persuasively, reaching out and taking her hands, holding them between both of his. “The situation isn’t as bad as you think. This case—we’re both already involved. But in the future—well, first of all, my department won’t be involved in most of your cases. I mean, not every criminal is your client, and most of the ones you do get were arrested by the Hammond P.D. Right?”
“Yes. But there will be some who are arrested by your office.” Lisa pulled her hands away from his and backed up a step. She could not let herself be swayed by Quinn’s seductive presence. She had to keep a clear head.
“In the future, when you’re the defense attorney, I’ll make sure that I let one of my deputies take over the case. That’s usually the way it works, anyhow. I oversee them, but Ruben or one of the others is in charge of the investigation. If you’re not personally dealing with me on the case, then you won’t really have a conflict of interest, will you? I’ll agree not to try to influence you, and you can agree not to try to influence me.”
Lisa looked at him, trying to decide if she was finding his words reasonable only because she wanted so much for him to be right. “But what about now? What about Benny? I can’t forsake him just because I’m attracted to you!”
“You don’t have to forsake Benny. Look, I agree it’s awkward. But, you know, I’m not after Benny, whatever you may think. I want to help him as much as you do. I think he’s an okay kid who’s gotten himself into a bad situation. I don’t think he killed that guy—I believed him when he said that he’d never seen him before. But I do think he’s involved with some hard-core bad guys. I don’t want to see him go down with them. I don’t want to see him get hurt because he’s not tough enough for the rest of them. I don’t want him to turn into what they are. I don’t think you want any of those things for him, either. Do you?”
“No, of course not. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand by and let you bully and harass him, either!” Lisa shot back.
Quinn half smiled. “I’m well aware of that. I’m glad the kid has you for a lawyer. I think you’ll have his best interests at heart, unlike some other attorneys his bosses might hire. When it all goes down, I’d like to think that he will be getting the best advice for him, not the best for some drug lord.”
“He will.”
“I’m glad. I’d like to keep Benny out of prison.”
“Then we’re in agreement.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I promise I’m not going to try to seduce you into doing something to help me with Benny, and I can keep my head on straight enough that I’m not going to undermine my case because of the way I feel about you. Can’t you say the same?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Then what’s keeping us apart?” He moved toward her again, his hands reaching out to curl around her arms, his voice low and husky as he continued, “Just pride? Or fear? The sheer, stubborn unwillingness to give in?”
He was only inches away from her, his face turned down to hers. She could feel his breath, soft and warm on her cheek.
“I—I’m not sure,” she murmured.
“Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be,” he whispered, brushing his lips against her cheek, then her mouth. “The way I feel about you, there shouldn’t be anything between us.”
Again his lips touched hers, warm and velvety. Lisa could not suppress a shiver. Her whole body was taut with anticipation. She had been waiting for this moment from the first time she met Quinn. It was, she realized, inevitable. However much she might protest or avoid it, she knew now that she was only delaying what was going to happen. It didn’t matter that she had known him for only a matter of weeks. It was only in her head that she didn’t know him well. She knew him in a much more primitive way—in her heart, her soul, her body.
Quinn was irritating, infuriating, not at all the man she would have chosen, and she could not afford any entanglements now. And she knew, with a deep, piercing realization that was almost pain, that she had fallen in love with him.
It was foolish. It didn’t work like this in her world, where reason ruled and life moved according to plan. And none of that mattered at all.
Lisa went up on tiptoe, her lips melting into his, turning his brief kiss into a long, slow, deliciously heated one. By the time it ended, neither one of them was breathing steadily. Quinn looked down at her for a long moment.
Then he bent his head, his arms sliding around her, and pulled her into him for another kiss. Passion swept through them, demanding, unstoppable. They kissed again and again, as if they could not get enough of each other, their bodies pressed together, yearning. They moved slowly, blindly, across the room, their hands searching and caressing, frustrated by the clothes that thwarted them.
They skirted a chair and reeled up against the wall, his strong arms around her protecting her from the impact. Lisa wrapped her arms around Quinn’s neck, pressing her body up into him, moving her hips in a slow, primal rhythm that sent his desire skyrocketing. With a low groan of frustration, Quinn pulled back and glanced around. He saw the doorway just to their right and beyond it the hallway leading into her bedroom.
With a swift gesture, he bent and lifted her up into his arms and carried her down the hall to the bedroom. Lisa leaned against Quinn’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of him, luxuriating in the feel of his firm muscles and the heat of his body beneath his shirt. She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and slipped her hand beneath the material, caressing his flesh. Quinn let out a soft noise of pleasure and stopped just inside the bedroom to take her mouth in a long, passionate kiss.
At last he lifted his head and set her down on her feet. He looked down into her eyes as his fingers went to the top buttons of her blouse. His eyes never leaving hers, he worked his way down the front of her blouse, unfastening each button, then pushing her tailored white blouse back off her sh
oulders and down her arms. He went next to the fastening of her skirt, but Lisa, smiling, shook her head.
“Oh, no. Turn about,” she told him and set about unbuttoning and removing Quinn’s shirt.
He smiled, his eyes hot with desire, as she exposed his chest and caressed its wide expanse. The whole time, he kept his hands lightly on her waist, his thumbs caressing her skin. When Lisa leaned forward and pressed her lips against the hard center line of his chest, he sucked in his breath and his fingers dug into her waist. Lisa, smiling against his skin, trailed kisses across his chest, going up on tiptoe to reach as high as she could. Then her lips made their way across his chest and settled on one flat masculine nipple, pulling the little bud into her mouth and suckling it.
Quinn groaned, his heart pounding against his chest, and his hand slid up her sides and came around to cup her breasts. He caressed her breasts through the material of her bra, his thumbs caressing and exciting the hard buttons of her nipples as her mouth caressed his. His fingers fumbled at the fastening of her bra, undoing it and pulling it off. He stepped back a little to look down at her breasts as he cupped their fullness in his hands. His face was slack with passion and his chest rose and fell in swift pants.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. He squeezed her breasts gently and his thumbs moved over the nipples, watching as they tightened in pleasure.
He bent and lifted her, his arms beneath her buttocks, so that his mouth could feast on her breasts. He pulled the pink-brown nipple into his mouth, sucking and teasing it with his tongue, lashing it gently into an ever-harder state. Lisa sucked in her breath, her fingers digging into his shoulders, awash in desire. Moisture pooled between her legs as the throbbing there grew stronger and stronger.
Her hands moved up and dug into his short, crisp hair as she whimpered with almost unbearable pleasure. She felt as if she would explode if he did not stop, yet she wanted him to go on forever.