by Diana Palmer
Her heart jumped into her throat. “That’s how I feel, too,” she confessed.
His mouth settled tenderly over hers. He kissed her with pure reverence. “How strange,” he whispered, “to find someone so unexpectedly who fits you like a glove.”
She smiled under his warm mouth. “I was thinking that, too.”
One big hand went under her and felt for the clasp of the bra. He freed it and pushed the whole works up, staring down at creamy breasts with hard dusky peaks. His face was rigid with self-control as he traced the scar that covered half of her left breast. “This must have hurt like hell,” he said softly.
She swallowed hard. “Yes. But it was what the boy said on that date...”
He smiled. “The idiot?” he teased. He looked down at her soft body. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing, honey. Nothing at all.”
While he spoke, his head bent to her breast. He took it into his mouth and worked the hard nipple with his tongue. She gasped and caught his head, her hands unconsciously tangling in the thick, cool wavy black hair.
“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered against her breast. “Trust me.”
She did. But what he was doing shocked her. It shocked her more that it robbed her of any resistance at all. She arched toward his mouth, her hands tugging at his head now instead of protesting.
He worked his way down to her waist and back up again, slow and gentle and passionate, all at once. It had been so long since he’d had a woman in his arms. It seemed a lifetime. And here was this angel, untouched, unwanted, and she wanted him back. It was like a miracle.
“Mi corazón,” he whispered hungrily. “We have to stop.”
She was on fire for him. She’d never really felt desire before. It was saturating her senses to the point that she didn’t care what happened next. “Are you sure?” she asked dreamily.
He drew back reluctantly. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. She was willing, he was starving. But it wasn’t right. In the morning, she’d hate him. If she was untouched, it was as much because she had principles as much as she lacked self-esteem. He couldn’t take advantage of her.
He smoothed back her long hair, holding her close. The thick hair on his chest tickled her breasts, but it felt like heaven. And not only to him.
“I never knew it would feel like this,” she said, searching his black eyes.
“Two people can start fires together with such an attraction as we share,” he replied. He looked down at her body and clenched his teeth. “I’m going to hit myself over the head with a fire poker later, when I remember that I walked away from you.”
“You could stay,” she offered hesitantly.
“Yes, I could.” He traced her soft mouth. “And in the morning, Sunny, when you come awake and realize what you’ve done?”
She flushed.
“You see?” he asked, his voice deep and slow. “It isn’t only because the stupid boy hurt your feelings. You go to church. You have a fragile conscience.”
“It wouldn’t bother you, though,” she began.
“It would,” he interrupted. “You’re untouched. I can’t offer you a future. Not right now, at least. That being the case, I won’t risk putting a baby in here.” He pressed down hard on her flat stomach and wanted suddenly, desperately, to do just that.
Her breath went out like the tide at just the thought of it. A baby. She’d wanted children all her life. With this man, she wanted them with all her heart. And that was in the face she turned up to him.
For just a few blinding seconds, he thought about it. He could make her pregnant. They could get married, have a life together. And with those thoughts came the memory of Tonio, running away to join a gang.
He groaned and put her to one side. He stood up, fighting a passion stronger than any he’d felt in his entire life. He took slow breaths, trying to calm the anguish desire had kindled in him.
Sunny tidied herself up, grimacing. Had she offended him somehow?
She got to her feet. “I’m sorry,” she began.
He turned and drew her gently into his arms; not too closely, because he was still aroused. “For what?” he asked, smiling. “We wanted each other. It’s not a crime. I’d know, too,” he teased.
She managed a laugh.
“It’s bad, when you start thinking about babies and how much you want one,” he said with a long sigh. “And you know it’s impossible.”
“Babies are easy,” she argued. “You just forget all your principles and beg a man not to stop.” Her eyes twinkled at him.
He chuckled, deep in his throat. “Someday,” he said quietly, and the smile faded. “I promise you. Someday, we’ll have a future.”
“Those complications you keep talking about,” she said, and started to ask what they were.
And his phone went off. He grimaced as he pulled it out. There was a text message, from Tonio.
Adele’s going home, do you want her to leave you something in the fridge?
He typed, yes, omw, and sent it. He put up the phone. “I have to go.”
“Another shooting?” she asked worriedly.
“No.” He bent and kissed the tip of her nose. “Just a meeting I can’t miss.”
“At this hour?” She was worried. “You be careful. There are dangerous people in the city.”
“I know.” He grinned. “I’m one of them. I’ll call you, rubia. The movies, this Saturday?”
“Oh, yes,” she said breathlessly.
“I’ll text you. Then Saturday week, we’ll go dancing at my lieutenant’s party.”
“Something to look forward to.”
“For me, as well.” He bent and kissed her hungrily for a few seconds. He stood up. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
He swept up his hat and coat from the chair where he’d tossed them and put them back on. “Be careful outside in the morning if you have to go out,” he cautioned. “It’s going to be worse than tonight when the temperature falls.”
“I will.” She smiled dreamily. “Drive safely.”
“Sleep well.”
“I will. Good night.”
“Buenas noches, mi alma,” he whispered. He smiled once more before he left.
She locked the door after him, almost floating with joy. It had been so long since she’d felt anything even remotely like what she felt now, for John. He wanted children with her. He’d said as much. That meant he wasn’t looking for a one-night stand.
She was grateful, because she had, apparently, no self-control or willpower where he was concerned. She wished she knew why he couldn’t commit to a relationship. He’d said his wife had died. Was there some other woman to whom he’d made promises, and he was bound by honor to her? Was that why? She wished she knew. He seemed like an honest man, but what did she know about men? She’d avoided them since she was seventeen.
That was probably why John had become so attractive to her. He was the first really adult male who’d ever paid her any attention. Was he just handing her a line, leading her on until he could take her to bed?
She thought about that, about what she knew of him. No, she decided. No, that was definitely not the sort of man John Ruiz was. She knew it. She turned out the lights, put on her gown and went to bed. Her dreams were sweet.
* * *
Tonio was still up when John started heating up the plate of food Adele had left him in the refrigerator. It had been a frustrating day, in some respects. Marquez had sent an officer to get Tina Lopez, but she hadn’t been home and neighbors didn’t know where she went. The officer tried again before he went off shift. Still no Tina.
“You should be asleep,” John commented when the boy joined him in the kitchen.
“I can’t sleep,” Tonio said.
John glanced at him while his food heated. “Problems at school?
”
“Sort of.”
“Want to talk about it?”
He did. He couldn’t. “Just normal stuff,” he prevaricated. “How’s work?”
“Tedious.”
“You never talk about what you do,” Tonio commented.
John turned to him. His face was hard and there were deep lines in it. “You don’t know what I have to see at work, Tonio,” he said quietly. “It isn’t anything I can talk about with people who aren’t in law enforcement.”
“You mean like bodies and stuff?”
John nodded. “There are some terrible ways for people to die. I see them.” He turned back to the microwave. “It never ceases to amaze me, what people can do to each other in a temper.”
Tonio had some idea of that. David’s broken arm was a prime example. He sighed.
“You should go to bed, son.”
“I guess. We still going to the movies Saturday?” he added hopefully.
“You bet.” He felt warm inside. Here was his son, who was finally willing to come closer after such a long period of alienation. He smiled. “What do you want to see?”
“That new movie based on the comic book,” he said at once.
John chuckled. “Okay. It will have to be a matinee.”
“No problem.”
“Now go to bed. School tomorrow.”
“I know. But if I get up early enough, I can build a snowman first!”
John just shook his head, smiling. He phoned Marquez later. There was still no luck contacting Tina Lopez. He phoned Banks. Nothing new on the murder victims yet. Longfellow’s note had produced nothing except a grocery list, of all things. Another dead end. He was getting a lot of those lately.
* * *
Later, he texted Sunny, when he was in bed. My life is getting more complicated by the day, he texted. We still on for the movie Saturday?
Sunny answered the phone and saw the first line with pure misery. Then she read the second one. He wasn’t backing away. He really wanted to go out with her. She was so elated that it took her two tries just to type an enthusiastic Yes! in the space and hit Send.
John read it with pleasure. She wasn’t coy. She was up front, honest. She was the sort of woman he’d be proud to be seen with. He wanted her almost desperately. All he had to do was convince his son that the world wouldn’t end if John brought another woman home.
Sunny wasn’t like the very attractive fellow Ranger he’d brought home last year. She was a very feminine, caring, nurturing person. Surely Tonio would respond to her. He just had to bring it up the right way, and go slow. He remembered with terror Tonio running away. He couldn’t risk provoking another such episode.
He’d find a way, he promised himself. He thought about Sunny, remembering her warm, soft body, the way she responded to him. She was innocent, but she wanted him very much. It made him proud. He had to take excellent care of her. He couldn’t risk making her pregnant, but he wanted to. The idea of Sunny carrying his child made his heart run wild.
Sure, he’d find a way to convince Tonio that he wasn’t marrying the Wicked Witch of the West. It would just take time.
* * *
The next afternoon, Sunny was sitting with Tonio in the canteen when a tall, blond man came toward them.
“Is that him?” Tonio asked.
Sunny turned. She smiled. “That’s him.”
ELEVEN
Cal Hollister shook hands with Tonio. “I appreciate your courage,” he said as they sat down. “This can’t be easy for you, I know.”
Tonio was impressed. “Thanks,” he said, and flushed a little. “You won’t tell anybody that I told you? You won’t let David get killed?”
“I won’t.”
Tonio looked at Sunny. He grimaced. “You can’t listen,” he said gently.
She smiled warmly at him. “I have to go on duty anyway,” she agreed. She ruffled his hair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay, Sunny,” he promised. He smiled back.
“You like her, don’t you?” Cal teased when she was gone.
“She’s so much like my mother,” Tonio said. “Mom died three years ago. It’s just me and my dad, and he’s never home.”
“That’s a shame,” Cal said quietly. “What can you tell me?”
“Rado killed those people.”
“Who?”
“The man and woman, the ones that were in the paper,” he added, having remembered just in time not to say that his father had told him about them. “Rado did it. They were going to say that he killed that senator’s daughter, the one who died of a drug overdose. It wasn’t an overdose, David said. Rado did it. Now he and his sister are in real trouble, because Rado’s watching them like a hawk to make sure they don’t rat him out.”
Cal let out a breath. “Tonio, this is big. Really big. Will David talk to me?”
“No,” he said. “I can’t ask him to. His brother died about the time the senator’s daughter did. He’s only got his sister. Rado makes her sell herself to keep him in money,” he added sadly.
“This is where it gets hard,” Cal said quietly. “Names. I need their names. I swear to you, nobody will ever know who told me.”
Tonio drew in a long breath. It was now or never. “David Lopez,” he said. “His sister’s Tina.” He gave Cal the address, unaware that Cal recognized them instantly and felt his heart lift. “Please,” Tonio said. “Don’t trust anybody else with what I told you. I can’t stand it if David dies on account of me. He’s my best friend.”
“I can promise you that he’ll be safe,” Cal said, with a solution already in mind. He smiled at the boy. “You’ve been very brave. I’m proud of you.”
Tonio’s heart jumped. It had been a long time since anyone had been proud of him. He grinned. “Thanks.”
“Now forget who I am, and that you ever saw me,” Cal said. He glanced around to make sure they weren’t observed. “If anyone asks, you did something bad and I saw it and gave you a lecture. So don’t smile.”
Tonio made a face. “What did I do?”
“Tried to get something out of the vending machine using a washer,” he replied with twinkling gray eyes.
“Can you do that?” Tonio asked.
“Never mind if you can do that,” Cal said. He got up and shook his finger at the boy. “Don’t you ever do what you didn’t do again. Got that?”
“Oh, yes, sir,” Tonio said, nodding enthusiastically.
“Good. I’ll see you.” He left the canteen just as Rosa came up.
“Who’s that you were sitting with?” she asked curiously.
“Just a guy who was sitting at the table when I came in. It was crowded, so I sat with him. Nice guy,” he added.
“Well, he was a dish,” she said, with a soft whistle. “Why can’t I ever meet guys who look like that?” she teased. “Maybe you could introduce me.”
He managed not to blow his cover. “How?” he asked, laughing. “I don’t know who he is.”
“Darn. He looked almost familiar, isn’t that strange?” she added, laughing, while Tonio prayed that she wouldn’t remember Cal. Rosa had been a policewoman. Certainly she’d have recognized him if he’d been closer when she arrived. “Well, let’s go. I hope we can get home without sliding into a ditch,” she groaned.
“You’re a great driver,” Tonio told her. “We’ll be fine.”
She ruffled his hair. “Okay, buster, thanks for the compliment. Let’s go.”
* * *
The movie theater was crowded for the Saturday matinee. Fortunately the ticket taker wasn’t the one John had seen when he’d brought Sunny here before. He didn’t want Tonio to know about her until he could find a way to introduce them that wouldn’t produce a traumatic result.
“Here, get us some popcorn,” he told his son,
handing him a twenty dollar bill.
“Want a Coke?” Tonio asked.
“Sure.”
“Okay. Be right back.”
John sat on the bench, studying the messages on his phone. One of them that he hadn’t noticed was from Colter Banks, who was working overtime today. He’d found out something about Tina Lopez.
He read that and his heart jumped. He was tempted to leave the theater, but he couldn’t do that to Tonio. The boy had been excited about the movie all week. He’d get through it and then he’d go see Banks. He typed him a text message and sent it. Then he sent another, to Sunny: see you later, pretty girl. He smiled when she typed back ok, and added a heart.
Tonio gave him a suspicious look. “Who’re you talking to?”
“Someone I know.”
“A woman,” Tonio said, because his father’s face had been radiant for those few seconds. His own face grew cold with mingled fear and concern.
“I’m only texting her, for God’s sake, not trying to marry her!” John almost bit his tongue. He’d snapped at the boy, because of his reaction to his father texting a woman. It stung.
“Sorry,” Tonio said, averting his eyes.
John didn’t speak. He took the Coke Tonio had brought him and waved away the change.
Tonio felt bad. He’d made a lot of trouble for his father. It must be lonely for John without Maria. Tonio missed her. He knew that his dad did, too. But he didn’t want another woman around.
Except maybe Sunny. He adored her. He was sure that his father would, too, if he could just find a way to get them together. But he had no idea how to proceed. The woman in the text must mean something to his dad, because he’d looked...different suddenly. Happy. Tonio felt guiltier than ever. He loved his dad. But he just didn’t want any other woman in his house. Well, that wasn’t completely true. Sunny would do nicely. If only he could find some way to get them to meet.
* * *
Something was tingling at the back of John’s mind all through the movie. Tonio had a friend with a smart mouth who played video games with him. The boy’s name was David. Tonio said that he wasn’t playing lately because he’d hurt his hand.