Tempted by Love

by Jennifer Ryan

  A beep alerting her to a text interrupted the podcast she listened to each morning that gave the highlights of local news. It kind of felt like someone reading her the newspaper. She kept up on what happened in her community while she got her workout in. Multitasking at its best.

  She checked her phone messages.

  Jay: Almost done here be back this afternoon

  She smiled and her belly fluttered with anticipation. Jay had checked in with her every few hours since she left him at the hospital yesterday morning. She’d stopped by his place, picked up all her stuff, then gone home and slept in her own bed, only to toss and turn searching in the night for the man who should be beside her. How she got used to sleeping with him after one night, she didn’t know. But it felt damn good to have him there and not out facing whatever danger came his way next.

  Before she texted Jay back, the announcer on the podcast reported, There have been three more break-ins where thieves target medicine cabinets and small valuables. Police believe the burglars’ intent is to take prescription drugs to resell on the streets for a huge profit. The three break-ins add to the home burglaries that have increased by nearly 30 percent in the last six months and are up 47 percent from last year overall.

  Wow. She needed to look into those burglaries and use that information in her next community talk.

  No one was home during these break-ins; however, two people have lost their lives after suffering head injuries when robbers struck the homeowners in order to subdue them while they stole valuables from the house.

  Good Lord, that was terrible.

  Someone tapped her shoulder. Taken off guard, she jumped and spun around ready to defend herself.

  Dave held his hands up in surrender when she shrieked.

  She sucked in a ragged breath and scolded herself for overreacting. The podcast reporter droned on about the weather forecast for the next seven days. She pulled her earbuds out and gave Dave a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. I feel even worse after your reaction that I have to tell you, they’re pulling me off guard duty.”

  “Really?” A rush of panic swept through her before she tamped it down and reminded herself the accident had been just that, nothing more.

  “Caden, Beck, and Jay put their heads together with the local cops. There’s nothing tying the accident to a DEA case and a threat against them.”

  “That’s what I told them.”

  “The accident is still suspicious. The cops will continue to work the case. Jay wants you to remain vigilant. Don’t go anywhere alone if you can help it. Check in with him and your brothers so they know you’re okay. If anything else happens, you feel like you’re being followed, something seems off about a situation, call for help immediately.”

  “Is this your way of leaving me feeling safe?”

  Dave blushed and tried not to stare at her in her sports bra. His eyes had nearly popped out of his head when she walked out of her bedroom to hit the gym in her bike shorts, midriff exposed, along with her legs that he couldn’t stop staring at. At first she thought to skip the gym if he thought she looked that good, but then she’d giggled and walked right past him. She wondered what Jay would say if he knew his trusted buddy had spent the last half hour staring at her ass while she did squats, lifted weights, and did a sprint on the treadmill.

  “You are safe. No one has made another attempt to harm you. The DEA, your brothers, nor Jay have received any kind of message threatening them or you.”

  She held out her hand to shake. “Thank you for everything. I really appreciate it.”

  Dave took her hand. “They wouldn’t pull me off if they thought for a minute something might happen to you.”

  She smiled. “Believe me, I know.” The overprotective lot of them went to the dark side because of the work they did and the evil they saw men do all the time.

  Sad.

  “If you’re ready, I’ll walk you back to your place before I head out.”

  “Thank you, I’d like that.” She snatched up her towel from the weight bench, wiped it down, then followed Dave out of the building and along the path back to her apartment. He waited for her to unlock the door.

  “You take care. Oh, and get some security for this place. A child could break in.”

  She chuckled under her breath. “I’ll get to it.”

  “Sooner rather than later if you’re going to be seeing Jay.” Dave gave her another sheepish grin and waved goodbye.

  She walked into her place and shut the door firmly behind her. “So, the cat’s out of the bag.” She took two steps toward her bedroom, then turned back. The accident still rattled her. The replay went through her mind at odd moments. She saw the SUV casually following her for miles, then all of a sudden, it lurched forward and hit her. Did the driver have some kind of emergency and stomp on the gas? Did an animal dash across the street and he tried to avoid it and hit her instead? Either scenario seemed plausible. But that ominous chill that it was more personal she always felt when she thought about the accident shivered up her spine and froze her bones.

  She locked the door and put the security chain in place.

  “You can’t be too careful.” She’d talk to Jay about a security system. Until then, she’d be vigilant. Her confidence may be shaken, but she wasn’t going to let the accident make her paranoid and keep her from doing what she used to do without any thought to someone out there who wanted to hurt her.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jay finally found the time to do what Alina asked him to do at the hospital. He left work early to take care of himself. After dealing with the ATF about the bombing and additional C4 found at Cara’s property, he’d secured the drugs found at the auto shop where King took down Cara’s uncle. He put King on paid administrative leave while they finished the paperwork and review of the case and the shootings. King needed time to heal, clear his head, and find a way to get Cara back.

  Jay smiled to himself. King had it bad. Jay knew the feeling.

  The smile on his face grew the minute he stepped into the pharmacy and spotted Alina at the counter talking to a young woman holding a groggy toddler. Alina spotted him and her smile widened, too. He hobbled his way to the far side of the counter, waiting for her to finish.

  Alina held her finger up to him. “I’ll be with you in just a second.” She turned back to the mom with the dark circles under her eyes. “Make sure you give her the medication for the full ten days. Otherwise it may not be effective.”

  “Yucky medicine.”

  Alina patted the toddler’s little hand. “Not this time, sweetie. I made it orange. Just like you like, right?”

  The toddler nodded but never picked up her golden head from her mother’s shoulder.

  “Thanks, Alina.” The mom hitched the kid up a little higher as her weight sagged the mom’s shoulders.

  “Use the dropper in the bag. She’ll be feeling better in no time. If the ear hurts or she can’t sleep, try filling a water bottle with warm water and have her lie on it. That should help ease the pain. You can always give her a little infant acetaminophen.” Alina pulled an orange lollipop from her coat pocket and held it out to the little girl who snatched it before her mom could take it from her.

  Alina and the mother laughed when the little girl ripped off the plastic wrap and tossed it, sticking the pop in her mouth and smiling around it.

  Jay leaned over to retrieve the discarded wrapper from the floor. He groaned when he stood up.

  “Police.” The little girl pointed to his badge and gun, then raised her finger to his head. “Ouchie.”

  Jay touched the spot just beneath the stitches in his head. He’d gotten rid of the ridiculous bandage around his head yesterday. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I took my medicine. If you do, too, you’ll feel better.”

  The mom smiled and carried the little one out the door. At the last second, the girl waved to him over her mother’s shoulder.

  “Flirt,” Alina
teased.

  He turned to her and his heart tripped over itself. “I want one of those.”

  Alina produced a red lollipop from her coat pocket and held it out to him.

  He shook his head. “No. A little girl. Or boy. Both.”

  Alina’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Really?”

  He laughed. “Does that surprise you so much?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” Her lips pressed together before she stumbled over any more words. “If you took me on a proper date and we shared these kinds of things, I’d know more about you.”

  “Okay. Go to lunch with me.”

  “What?”

  He took her hand across the counter, smiled even more when her hand trembled in his at the contact, then looked her in the eye. “Would you like to go to lunch with me?”

  “You’re not working?”

  “I took the rest of the afternoon off to take you to lunch. I know it’s kind of late, but I hoped you hadn’t eaten yet.” He checked his watch. “It’s almost two. If you ate, how about an early dinner? I’ll come back and pick you up in a couple of hours, but I can’t promise I won’t get called back to work.”

  “Um, I can’t leave just yet. Noel is out. Mandi should be back from her break in about five minutes.”

  “So for the moment, we’re alone?”

  She nodded. He tugged her hand to make her lean over the counter, then he kissed her softly, letting her know how much he missed her. He eased away and fell back on his heels, pulling his aching calf.

  Alina noticed his wince. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been walking a lot today. My leg hurts.”

  “Did you pull the stitches?”

  “No. It’s just swollen and throbs like a sonofabitch.”

  Alina released his hand, walked to the door that separated the pharmacy shelves from the store, and came out and around to meet him. She took his hand again and guided him to the chairs they had lined against the wall.

  “Sit. Pull up your jeans while I get an ice pack.” She went to one of the rows of medical supplies, found what she wanted, and tore open the package as she walked back to him. She kneeled by his bandaged leg, cracked the instant ice pack, gently laid it against his calf, then tugged his jeans back over it to hold it in place.

  She pulled the chair beside him out, turned it, and put it in front of him. He thought she’d sit. Instead, she propped his foot on it. “I have a few orders to fill before Noel returns. Relax. Don’t answer your phone. We are going to lunch.”

  “Can I answer emails while I’m sitting on my ass freezing to death?”

  She rolled her eyes. “If you want to.”

  “I want to pull you into my lap and kiss you senseless.”

  She brushed her hand over his hair. He leaned into her soft touch, feeling better already after a long day.

  “That is my favorite thing to do, but I’m at work and anyone could walk in the door.”

  He tugged the edge of her white doctor’s coat. “This whole professional thing is kind of a turn-on.”

  She laughed. “Maybe I’ll wear it and nothing else for you tonight if you don’t go back to work.”

  “Now that’s all I’m going to picture every time I think about you.”

  She tilted her head up and laughed. Her hair spilled down her back. As he looked up at her with her face flushed and that wonderful joy coming out of her, he forgot to breathe. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  She stepped close. He leaned his head against her ribs and breast. His body tightened with need at the same time everything eased inside of him. Her fingers brushed through his hair. He closed his eyes and savored the feel of her against him.

  She gently laid his head back against the wall and stared down at him. “Rest. I won’t be long.”

  His stomach grumbled. He hadn’t eaten since late yesterday.

  She giggled under her breath, went to the snack aisle, found him a pack of peanuts, and brought it to him. “Eat this.” She leaned down and kissed him softly.

  “You keep spoiling me like this, I might bump up the sandwich I planned to buy you for lunch to a burger.”

  “Ooh, maybe I’ll work my way up to pizza.”

  “If you’re a good girl.”

  And there was that laugh, her smile, and the lightness in his chest that erased even more of the tension he’d been carrying around the last two days.

  “You keep smiling at me like that, making me feel like this, I think there’s a steak in your future.”

  She shook her head and touched his face with her fingertips. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

  “Nowhere I want to be more.” He adjusted the ice pack on his leg before he got frostbite.

  “Keep that on.” She went back to the door to the back area, punched in a code, then went through to the long prep counter where she filled prescriptions, bagged them, and attached information pamphlets. Several customers came in to pick up their medication or buy other items from the store. Alina was polite, friendly, and efficient.

  The front door dinged again. A young woman rushed in, purple hair tied on top of her head in wild disarray, blue butterfly tattoo on her neck, and thick black eyeliner highlighting her striking green eyes. She stopped short a few feet from him and backtracked several steps. “Whoa. Is something going on?”

  “He’s mine,” Alina called out.

  Purple-haired girl tilted her head. “Huh. I don’t see the family resemblance.”

  “Boyfriend, not her brother,” Jay supplied, hoping he hadn’t overstepped.

  The smile on Alina’s face turned into a laugh when purple-haired girl gaped at Alina.

  “When did this happen? Why don’t I know about it? How come you don’t make him sit in the lobby all the time so we can stare at him?” The very appreciative sweep of her gaze over him left him feeling both desirable and like a piece of meat.

  “Mandi.” The mild censure in Alina’s voice didn’t stop Mandi from ogling him for another uncomfortable moment. “Mandi,” Alina shouted. “Meet Special Agent Jay Bennett. He works with my brothers.”

  “And he’s yours,” Mandi added with a teasing lilt to her voice. “You are so lucky.”

  “Hey, you have a super cute geek who adores you.”

  “Nothing beats tough guy with a badge, gun, and all those muscles.”

  Alina leaned over the counter and stared at him. “I know, right? And he left work early to take me to lunch.”

  Mandi sighed. “And he’s nice, too.”

  Alina smiled. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

  “I hate you.” She obviously didn’t mean it and held her hand out to him. “Nice to meet you. While you seem really great, Alina is amazing. Keep being nice to her.”

  Jay wasn’t fazed by the underlying threat in that order. He appreciated that Alina had a true friend in Mandi. “I plan to for a long time.”

  Mandi raised an eyebrow at Alina.

  Alina didn’t comment, but the soft blush pinking her cheeks did his heart good.

  “I’m glad you’re back. Noel should be here any minute. I’ve filled several orders, but I need you to pull some information for me. I haven’t had time to get to it.”

  Mandi went through the side door and joined Alina. “What information?”

  “I’m doing some research for the prescription drug abuse talk I gave last week. I want to expand on the content and get more precise opioid prescription stats. Are most prescriptions a one-time thing? What’s the average time a prescription is refilled? Based on the prescriptions’ descriptions, can we determine if, considering the conditions they were ordered for, another drug could have been used instead with similar results? Did the person actually need such strong, addictive medication in the first place?”

  Mandi’s eyes lit up. “I’m on it. I love data mining.”

  Alina shook her head as Mandi ran for the computer and started typing. “Her boyfriend isn’t the only computer geek in that relationship. If I tried to sort all
that information from our database, it would take me days and a lot of hair pulling.”

  Jay shook his head. “I have a feeling you would have gotten through it just fine.”

  Exceptionally smart, Alina had graduated with honors in less time than the average student. He had no doubt anything she set her mind to, she accomplished in good form.

  “Hello, ladies,” a man said from the back. “What are you looking at there, Mandi?”

  “Schedule II drug prescriptions. Alina asked me to pull some information for her. Oh, and her DEA guy is here.”

  Jay stood, ignoring the pinch of pain in his calf, and went to the counter. He wanted a look at the guy who’d been instrumental in helping Alina get established and seemed to think that gave him an excuse to make her uncomfortable. His behavior seemed kind but hinted at an obsession Jay didn’t like. It was Jay’s job to worry about Alina. His job to protect her.

  Noel’s gaze shot to him, the gun and badge at his waist, then to Alina. “What is the meaning of this? You can’t give out confidential information without a warrant.” He focused back on Jay, but didn’t look him in the eye. “Do you have a warrant?”

  “All I need is her say-so.” Before Noel sputtered out another protest as his anger spread red up his neck to his ears, Jay added, “To take her to lunch.”

  Alina tilted her head and studied her partner. “Noel, Jay is a friend. He’s not here on official business.”

  “Boyfriend,” he corrected, wanting to get that point across to Noel. He also felt Alina’s suspicion that Noel completely overreacted to his presence.

  Alina continued to watch Noel. “Mandi is looking up statistics I can use for my prescription drug speech.”

  Noel deflated with a heavy sigh, his head sinking between his slumped shoulders. “Oh. That’s okay then.”

  “You ready to go, sweetheart?” Jay’s hunger and need to spend time with Alina overrode his reservations about the way Noel had acted.