Careful What You Kiss For

by Jane Lynne Daniels

  His gaze locked on hers. Hers wavered and then locked on his.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Sol set a plate down at the counter and stand silent. Watching.

  Max slid from the booth and rose to his feet. “Ten.”

  The single syllable said everything and nothing. She could have melted in his arms and strangled him, all at the same time. Instead, she said only, “Max.” And waited.

  Her feet might as well have been dipped in glue, because they would not move from the diner’s linoleum floor.

  Sol, in an apparent bid to make sure his diner wasn’t the scene of the world’s most awkward reunion moment, lumbered to her side. He took her arm, loosening whatever had her feet locked, and steering her to Max’s table. “Getcha some coffee?” he asked.

  “Yes. Please.” Tensley let him guide her into the booth.

  Max sat down again, opposite her. He already had coffee in front of him.

  Sol set a cup down in front of Tensley and splashed coffee into it. “What the hell did you do this time, Ace?” he muttered in Max’s direction.

  Max shot him a glare and then turned his attention back to Tensley. “I said I was sorry for leaving like that.” His low voice caressed her across their steaming cups.

  She took a long, slow sip of coffee. The china cup shuddered when she set it back down on the table. “Don’t worry about it. I haven’t,” she lied.

  “But if we want to get Gary — ”

  “Let’s be clear. You’re the one who wants to get Gary.”

  He leaned against the booth’s high back. “You don’t?”

  “I’m not going to have to deal with him anymore. I’m getting out of there. I’m getting a different job.” Oh, no. Now she was going to have to. And who exactly would hire a stripper with a record?

  Max nodded, evaluating her with the deep blue gaze that turned her insides into a frothing, heated pool of pure want. Why, why had he come back into her life? Whichever life she was in. “I’m glad,” he said. “You deserve better.”

  “Thanks.” She looked away. “I’ll finish the informant work, though.”

  He leaned forward, putting his hand on hers.

  She wasn’t prepared for his touch. Sparks shot through her. Alarmed, she drew her hand away. She didn’t want to confuse his professional interest in her with his — fleeting personal interest. Ow. She clutched at her stomach, pushing her index finger in hard.

  He didn’t react for a minute. Then he nodded, back to cop mode, and looked down at the table. He drummed his fingers on its surface. “Speaking of that, do you have anything for me?”

  “There’s something about ‘extra time.’ One of the dancers asked Terrible Tawny if she’d be able to get it, so she would have enough money to pay her bills, and the answer was yes.”

  “Overtime.”

  “No.” She raised her gaze, steeling herself for the physical reaction she knew would follow. And there it was. The memory of her and Max, naked, coming together — Bam. Throw it in the mental Tupperware.

  “Then what is it?”

  Burp the lid. Store it on a shelf. Where it can’t hurt anyone. “I’m not sure yet. But when I asked if I could get extra time, Tawny said I ask too many questions.”

  Max tilted his chin. “Keep going.”

  “She also said I didn’t want to earn money that way.”

  He leaned forward again, pressing his forearms into the table. She watched his face tighten as he processed this information. Then he said, “We have to get into Gary’s office.”

  Her. Max. On a dangerous mission. Together. She heard the Tupperware lid pop open. Damn it. “What do you mean … we?”

  He grabbed her hand and held on tight. “This might be bigger than I thought and I’m not going to let you get in over your head. I have to be there with you.”

  Yes! No-o-o. So no.

  “Don’t you have to get a search warrant and all that? I don’t.”

  He looked away and she knew she was right. “You’ve been watching too many episodes of Law and Order.”

  “Hey.” She curled one of her fingers around one of his. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle dangerous. I signed up for this thing, didn’t I?” Why was her heartbeat speeding up? Just because his hand on hers made her remember the unimaginably good things those fingers had done to her when —

  “I may have gotten you into this, but I’m not about to let you get hurt,” he continued, his blue eyes locked on hers. Every virtual Tupperware container slid off the shelf in a tumble of plastic.

  Seriously. Her heart, not to mention her imagination, might just explode if he didn’t either let go of her or throw her into his bed. Right. Now. She clutched at his hand, hoping he didn’t see. He should be the one to say why the hell didn’t they leave the diner, the whole cop and CI thing, and go back to his place where they could shut the door on the world and —

  “So this is who you’ve been spending time with.”

  It took a second, and Max’s sudden release of her hand, for Tensley to realize the sharp female voice had come from just inches away. She whipped her gaze upward to see the last person on earth she ever wanted to see, in this life or any other.

  Rhonda the Skank.

  Her hand coiled into a fist. Tensley pulled it into her lap, out of sight, but not before she caught the narrowing of Rhonda’s eyes.

  “Rhonda,” Max said. “What the hell.”

  The woman hadn’t changed since high school. Still dressed in jeans so tight it was debatable whether it was actually fabric or a denim-colored paint, and a T-shirt stretched across boobs so big it was a miracle of nature she didn’t fall over. And still with that all-knowing, I’m-so-a-bad-girl-by-birth-and-you’re-so-not smile.

  Tensley felt herself begin to shrink, inch by inch, into the booth.

  “I had a craving for Sol’s chili,” Rhonda purred. She reached out to loop her finger through a curl of hair at the back of Max’s neck. “So I had to get some.”

  Fury began a slow, rolling boil in the pit of Tensley’s stomach. Her fingers had last been in Max’s hair, not Rhonda’s. That skanky woman had better remove her hand right now before Tensley did it for her.

  Rhonda tipped her head and gave Tensley a cold smile.

  Tensley’s nails dug into her palm.

  Max stiffened and pushed Rhonda’s hand away.

  Sol called from the counter, “Got your take-out chili right here.”

  “What are you doing now, Tensley?” Rhonda asked. “Bet you’re a librarian somewhere, right?” Her eyes glittered.

  Bitch. Tensley’s mouth opened, but before she could say anything, not that it would have been the truth, Max jumped in with his cop voice. “Go get your food, Rhonda.”

  She didn’t move. “So is this who you were with the other night, Max, when I needed you?”

  What the — the other night? Max was still talking to Rhonda? How could he?

  “We’re having a private conversation,” he replied, his voice terse. “Get your food and go home.”

  “A private conversation.” Rhonda’s laugh was harsh. “Nothing’s private from a wife. Can’t believe you haven’t figured that out by now.”

  She’d just said — no. She couldn’t have. But she had. Said — wife. Tensley couldn’t breathe.

  Steam was practically coming from Max’s ears as every muscle in his body appeared to tense. Of course. He’d been found out. How could she have been so stupid? The phone call. Him leaving so fast. Worried about her. Right.

  Rhonda’s smile shot icicle daggers into Tensley.

  “Get the hell out of here, Rhonda,” Max ordered. Then he turned to Tensley, who had already dug her fist into the leather seat and was using it to push her numb body out of the booth. “She’s not my wife any more. Don’t listen to her — ”

  Any more. She wanted to have a great comeback, something worthy of a wronged heroine in a classic tale, but her fight-or-flight instincts took over instead, with flight asserting contr
ol. She was up on her wobbling legs now, pushing toward the door.

  When she heard Max following, she made sure the door to Sol’s diner banged on him. “Where are you going?” he demanded.

  She didn’t answer.

  He caught up with her, grabbing her arm. “You know better than to listen to — ”

  Her voice returned, scraping like sandpaper against her throat. “You married Rhonda.”

  His hesitation told her everything she needed to know. “It’s not that simple,” he said.

  “But it is.” Tensley spun on her heel, unsteady as she was, and made for her car. She opened the door and hurtled inside, fumbling in her purse for her keys. This scenario was way too familiar for words.

  That fast, Max was against the driver’s side door, his arm on the roof as if he could stop her from driving away. He rapped on the window and gestured for her to roll it down.

  She wouldn’t. No way. She jammed the keys into the ignition.

  Then she sat back against the seat and rolled the window down.

  He leaned in through it, his face inches from hers. “Yes. Yes, I married her. But we’re divorced.”

  “You still see her.”

  Again, he hesitated. “There’s a reason for that.”

  Bryan-with-a-y-not-an-i all over again. It had to be in the male DNA. Tensley focused her gaze straight ahead. She turned on the ignition. “Step away from the car.”

  “Ten — ”

  “Step. Away. From the car,” she growled.

  He did.

  There was some satisfaction in peeling out of the parking spot, leaving him standing in the exhaust. And relief in the fact that she hadn’t decked Rhonda. Or Max.

  This time.

  No guarantees going forward.

  • • •

  Kate’s neighborhood was a great place for a walk. Trees, flowers and a park not far away that bordered a city lake. People caught up in their everyday lives, shopping, working, taking care of kids. Not many who had enough time on their hands to stare into her face and wonder what was wrong.

  Since her best friend wasn’t home when Tensley arrived, she took the animals with her for a pounding, mind-clearing jaunt to the park. Blinky and Stinky weren’t too sure about it and Gemini seemed alarmed, but they came, anyway.

  Then again, they didn’t have a choice. She held the leashes.

  On the way to the park, she tried to sort out her feelings, which were racing through her at all different speeds and colliding in one pileup after another.

  Stinky took the lead for their little group, acting as seeing eye dog for Blinky, who was close on his heels. Tensley followed, holding on as the leashes became taut from the dogs straining to go faster. Gemini brought up the rear, but kept enough of a distance to allow him to pretend he wasn’t with them.

  Max had married Rhonda. Married her. Even though he’d told her that whole kiss in high school had been staged so he could get Tensley to leave for college. Yeah, right. Since when did you marry someone you didn’t care about? Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes as she visualized their wedding, Rhonda poured into a tight, white leather dress, showing cleavage so substantial, it needed its own zip code.

  She couldn’t help it; she glanced down at her own chest. A perfectly respectable C cup, but nowhere near Rhonda territory. Max must have felt like he needed a flashlight and a map to even find her boobs.

  Stop it. Stop … it. She could not, would not, do this to herself again. This wasn’t high school; she was a professional woman, even if her life didn’t reflect it right now. She’d done fine without Max before and would do fine without him again.

  One tear splashed downward, in the direction of an unsuspecting Blinky. That’s when she realized how far she’d let her chin dip. Ridiculous. One night with the guy and she was back to being seventeen again.

  But she had a much bigger problem, and she knew it. Pure nostalgia would be one thing. They’d have a good time in bed and say goodbye. Fun revisiting old times — see ya.

  It wasn’t that easy. Max the adult, the confident officer of the law, willing to do whatever it took to take down a bad guy … the man powerful enough, ripped enough, masculine enough to be gentle when it counted … was pulling her in with far greater force than a memory ever could. Old memories fade. It was the new ones you had to watch out for.

  She’d tumbled into bed the other night with the shadow of a teenage boy. And ended up falling for the man who had taken his place. A man who had decided he had to draw the line between right and wrong in sleeping with her. It never should have happened, he’d said.

  She both loved and hated him for that.

  Tensley swiped at the tears with the back of her hand and threw her shoulders back. Her odd parade of animals had reached the park now. She steered them toward a bench that had been warmed by the sun and collapsed onto it, her legs sprawled in a tangle of leashes, eyes staring straight ahead at the lake.

  She needed yet another mental checklist. First item, forget Max. She’d forget the club, too, if she hadn’t promised Sarah she’d show up tonight to show her how to figure her profits and losses. The woman couldn’t continue on not knowing how much she truly made. She had a child depending on her.

  There was also the matter of Tensley making enough money to get out that place for good.

  So, second item, get another job. Where, she had no idea. But it had better be someplace that didn’t do a background check.

  Third item … um … . Ummm. Who was she kidding, she had no idea what was third on the list. She glanced down to see the two dogs sitting before her, faces turned upward. Even Blinky’s blind eyes were filled with concern. From several feet away, Gemini also watched her, his tail swishing gently across the grass. When he saw her looking at him, he turned away. And then back again.

  Her bruised heart melted a little. At least someone cared about her. So what if she had a two-item checklist. She’d get it finished that much faster.

  “Come on, guys.” Tensley stood, jiggling the leashes. “Let’s go.” Kate would be home before long. Bet she wouldn’t be such a big fan of Max’s once she found out he’d said “I do” to Rhonda the Skank, who could probably say “I did” about every guy in their high school.

  Why did you have to go there, Max? Why Rhonda, of all people? It wasn’t a question Tensley would likely get answered any time soon, or ever, since she was putting Max and his whole confidential informant thing out of her mind for good. Let the police department sue her. She’d like to see them try.

  She’d always been able to talk a good game, when it was confined to her own mind.

  They turned onto the street leading to Kate’s condo. The air smelled of cinnamon and freshly baked waffle cones. The legs of a wrought iron chair scraped against the sidewalk and an overhead umbrella creaked as a woman from a small café cleaned up the dishes of patrons who had left. Stinky led them around it.

  The summer sun washed against Tensley’s face. For a moment, she closed her eyes and imagined she was back in her old life, where she belonged. Where Max hadn’t intruded and her worst problem was figuring out how to convince her mother to give her back her job after the Bryan debacle. Everything had been so much simpler then.

  Stinky stopped, causing Blinky to run into the back of him and Tensley to stumble and step on Gemini’s tail. Her eyes flew open at the cat’s offended yowl. “Sorry,” she apologized. “Stinky, what’s the matter?”

  Nothing, apparently, but a bowl with fresh water placed outside a red-bricked storefront. Stinky led Blinky to it, where they both lapped it up.

  Tensley’s gaze wandered to the store’s wooden sign, “Fowler’s Books and More.” Her heart did the familiar coming-home leap it did whenever she saw a bookstore and longing spiraled through her for the smell of ink and feel of crisp pages beneath her fingers. All those stories she hadn’t yet read, just waiting for her.

  She dropped her hands to her sides, letting the leashes slacken. The dogs finished their drink
s and backed away from the water bowl, waiting. “Come on, guys. We’re going in,” she said. She had to have her fix. Some people gambled, others drank, still others did drugs.

  She bought books.

  The black screen door creaked, announcing her arrival. The store was crowded, filled with tall bookcases of dark wood. A long table in the front, with a lamp on each end, held stacks of calendars, note cards and bookmarks.

  All standard fare for a bookshop, but there was something not quite so standard about this one. Could have been the classical music, playing in leaps and bounds overhead. Or the smell of freshly baked cookies somewhere close by. Or the jaunty, bright curtains gracing the tops of the long, narrow windows.

  Tensley’s shoes made soft plodding sounds on the wood floor as she moved further into the store, followed by her faithful trio of animals, and faced a familiar dilemma — where to start. In romance? She craved it. Mystery? She wanted to figure it out. Self-help? She needed it.

  Each shelf had a hand-lettered guide to the author’s last names and all of them called to her. She wasn’t sure how much money she had in her pocket, but she knew from experience she could hold eight paperbacks before she had to set them down at the register and get her second wind.

  “Hello?” A woman with shoulder-length steel gray hair, a well-worn pink sweater and smile wrinkles framing a sharp blue-eyed gaze appeared from behind a bookcase. “Can I help you find something?”

  Gemini answered before Tensley could. His meow bounced off the bookcases and landed in front of the older woman. “I wasn’t asking you,” she said to him, “but if you like, I’ll show you where the cat section is.”

  Tensley smiled for what felt like the first time in months. “I hope it’s okay they’re with me. We were going for a walk and I saw your store and just … ” She lifted a shoulder. “Had to come inside.”

  “Pets are welcome. As long as they mind their manners.” The woman’s attempt at a stern look didn’t fool anyone, including the animals. Stinky began sniffing the floor, followed closely by Blinky, while Gemini adopted a bored look, flicking his gaze at the woman every few seconds to be sure she’d noticed.