“Betsy said I can sleep in her spare bedroom. I can’t do this…whatever we’re doing. I don’t handle casual relationships very well.”
“Neither do I. Who says I’m looking for a casual relationship?”
She shook her head. “You know why we can’t be together.” But she paused, staring blankly at the folded clothes in her suitcase. The fact is, she didn’t want to leave. Cooper made her feel warm and safe and protected. He made her laugh.
And that afternoon on the picnic blanket had been the best sex of her life.
Which was exactly why she needed to end this now, before she fell for him so hard that she could never pick herself back up.
“If you leave, how are you going to keep an eye on me? I thought we had a relationship based on a mutual need to spy on each other at all times.”
She half managed a laugh. “Come on, Cooper. I don’t need to spy on you. You’ve made zero progress since you’ve been here.”
“Have I really? Where was I, the night that I didn’t come home?” He stared at her challengingly.
She shrugged. “Obviously you didn’t find what you were looking for, or you’d have arrested him already.”
“Someone was staying in a cabin several miles outside of town; the owner told us the cabin was supposed to be vacant. When we searched it, we found, among other things, a crumpled up receipt from a Burger King in Bitter Valley.”
Josephine turned to stare at him, baffled. “But my brother is a vegetarian. Did you happen to see what was on the receipt?”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Yes. Two Whoppers, a soda and large fries. But come on, Josephine, what are the odds that someone else from Bitter Valley broke into that cabin?”
She nodded unhappily. “I know. I agree. It seems way too much to be a coincidence, but I’m telling you, Jason is a vegetarian. It’s not that hard to verify.”
“Is there any possibility that someone else is travelling with him?”
“It just doesn’t seem like him. Jason’s pretty much a lone wolf.”
“Maybe he needed someone to help him find the treasure of Lucky Levi.”
At her startled glance, he added, “It’s a small town, Josephine. Word gets around. I know your new friends here have connections; Lorenzo’s got connections too.”
Maybe Cooper had been the second person to question Betsy’s aunt, Josephine thought. “Did you go to the newspaper museum a few days ago to ask the newspaper historian about the history of Lucky Levi?”
“No, but that’s not a bad idea.” He looked at her questioningly. “Wait a minute. Why do you ask?”
Josephine hesitated, thought about it…and decided that it couldn’t hurt to tell Cooper. There was clearly someone else in town looking for the treasure. Maybe if they could find out who, it would somehow exonerate her brother.
“There were two men who went to ask the newspaper historian about the treasure about a week ago. Within a couple days of when Jason disappeared.” Cooper was staring at her intently now.
“There’s a good chance that one of them was my brother,” she continued. “But I have no idea who the other one was.”
“I see.” There was an edge to Cooper’s voice.
“Don’t give me grief about this, Cooper. I’ve told you from the beginning that I want to talk to my brother face to face before I’d consider turning him in. And by the way, remember the day that you met me? The day I came home and found that my apartment was trashed, by somebody who was very obviously looking for something? Maybe, somehow, some friend of Jason’s knows about the treasure. I don’t see how, Jason would never share information like that, but who knows. All these people who say that Jason’s a hacker…maybe he did online inquiries and one of his friends hacked into his computer and found out about it?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to swing by the newspaper tomorrow, ask the historian some questions, show her your brother’s picture. I’ll let Lorenzo know about this as well.”
Damn it all. She really did need to stick close to Cooper.
She looked at her suitcase, then, with a sigh, began pulling her clothes out and putting it back in the drawer. He flashed her a triumphant grin.
“Oh, don’t get all smug!” she chided him. “This just means that I feel the need to watch you 24/7. That’s it. We have no relationship. And stay on your side of the bed tonight.”
“Of course. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”
“Liar,” she snorted.
“Hey, if I accidentally throw my arm over on your side of the bed while I’m asleep, or my leg, or whole body, I can’t be blamed for that. I’d just be sleep-molesting you, that’s all.” His brown eyes bored into her. “There’s no reason we can’t just keep doing what we’re doing.” He walked over to her, and she stepped away from the dresser, but he kept coming until she was backed up against the wall, looking up at him.
“You don’t have to go to work for two hours. You already took a shower. You already had lunch. What are you going to do to pass the time?” He stroked her arm with the softest of touches, fingers sliding lightly along her flesh.
A wave of desire rolled over her. They’d just had sex hours ago; how could she want him again already? Need him again?
“We can’t have a real relationship. Just sex,” she whispered. Trying to convince herself.
He grabbed her t-shirt and yanked it up, pulling it up over her head.
“Just sex,” he repeated, one finger under her chin, tipping her head up so she was looking in his eyes.
He bent down and brushed his lips lightly over hers. “But if you ever decide that you want more than just sex…I’m your man.”
Then he sank down to his knees, grabbing the waistband of her pants and sliding it down to her ankles.
He began kissing her stomach, and she briefly tensed, then relaxed. He loved her body; she truly believed that.
When she was with Cooper, she wasn’t fat. She wasn’t the chubby little foster kid who sat by herself in a corner of the lunch-room at a new school, wolfing her lunch down because she never knew if there’d be food at home . She was beautiful, sensual, a goddess.
She was still wearing her pink cotton panties, and he brushed his lips over them, and rubbed his hand between her legs, a delicious friction that sent hot ripples of desire rolling over her. He nipped at the sensitive flesh of her pussy through her panties, and she let out a small yelp of pleasure. Then he moved on to her quivering thighs, kissing and licking them as she clutched at his silky soft hair.
“I want you inside me,” she begged. “Please.”
“Your wish is my command,” he said, his voice husky with desire. “Especially when your wish means I get to explode inside you.”
Standing, he spun her around so she was facing the wall, and pressed up against her, his cock straining through his jeans, rubbing against the small of her back.
She felt him fumbling in his pocket for a condom, then his pants slid down to his ankles and seconds later, he was between her legs, the thick head of his cock parting her wet pussy lips.
With a moan, she stood on her tiptoes to accept him. He thrust inside her, then wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her tightly to him as he rhythmically pistoned his hips into her. He cupped her right breast with one hand, kneading it, thumb brushing across her nipple.
“Yes,” she whimpered. “Yes.”
She rocked back against him, still on tiptoe, pressed into the wall as he thrust harder, deeper, ramming up inside her. She was still sore from their lovemaking by the riverside, but the ache was exquisite, and soon she felt that familiar crescendo building up inside her until she reached her climax, exploding through her body, sending white stars sparking behind her closed eyelids.
Chapter Thirteen
The din at the Dry Gulch Saloon was high, and the bar was crowded. Cooper had walked Josephine to work, then gone off to meet Lorenzo, to tell him about the two men who’d stopped by the newspaper inquiring about Lucky Levi and to find ou
t if Lorenzo had gotten any leads.
Josephine was almost through with her shift when she realized that her handsome admirer was back. He was sitting in another waitress’s section, but when she walked up to the bar to pick up a pitcher of beer for one of her tables, he tapped her on the arm, and she turned to face his dazzling smile.
“Hello,” he said. “I asked to sit in your section, but it was full. How have you been?”
“I’ve been great, thanks.” She was still warm with post-orgasm glow, so she was actually more than great.
“Have you found any free time in your schedule yet?” He smiled winningly.
“Not yet. I’m sorry. I’ve been very busy.”
“With that man who got angry at me for talking to you? The man who isn’t man enough to claim you as his own?”
Josephine pushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “It’s complicated, Manuel. He’s not really the bad guy in all this.”
“I’m a very good listener,” he said. “If you need a sympathetic ear, please remember that.”
Josephine suddenly felt an odd sensation, and the hairs on the back of her arms lifted.
She turned and looked across the room…at Cooper. He was standing there watching her, face like thunder.
“Thanks. I’ll see you around, maybe,” she said to Manual, and then turned and walked away, back to her section and away from Cooper.
She half-expected Cooper to follow her, but instead he walked out the door, after shooting her a look she couldn’t read. What was that all about?
Cheyenne tapped her on the arm. “Hey,” she said, breathless from rushing from table to table. “Just real quick, I thought I’d tell you – your boyfriend just stole a glass from my tray. It was a drink glass from that hot Spanish guy’s table.”
“I- he did what?” Josephine spluttered. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh, I get it. No commitments. Just a booty call thing.”
“Not even that! Oh, for God’s sake. I can’t explain it!”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just because he’s a bar glass-stealing klepto doesn’t make him any less hot.”
“He’s not a klepto. I have a pretty good idea of why he stole that glass. Hold on a second.”
She rushed after him, out the front door, in time to see him standing on the street as Deputy Mancini’s patrol car pulled away.
He turned back to face her, and she shook her head in exasperation. “Really, Cooper? You just gave that glass to Deputy Mancini and asked him to run the prints on it, didn’t you?”
His brows drew together in a scowl. “I told you before. I don’t like the guy.”
“For the love of God, I am not going to go out on a date with him! Get a grip, and stop acting like such a caveman.”
“I mean, seriously, Josephine. Am I not enough for you?”
“You are more than enough for me! It was the best sex of my life! It always is with you! You left me so sore I could hardly walk! Happy?” Suddenly Josephine realized she was yelling.
An older woman with wavy white hair adorned with a pink streak was walking by with several of her friends. She and her friends turned to look at Josephine. She looked at Cooper with an appreciative onceover, and then gave Josephine a wink and a big thumbs up.
Josephine was pretty sure that the woman’s name was Edna Vale, the gossip columnist for the town newspaper. Betsy had told her about Edna; apparently she knew the dirt on everyone in town.
“Josephine Sawyer, right? We’re so glad to have you, dear. You’ll fit right in!” And with a little wave, she and her friends kept walking.
“So you’re staying here?” Cooper asked her quietly.
“What? No! I don’t know. I mean…it’s really hard to plan for the future, under the circumstances. If my brother ends up in jail, I need to be nearby, so I can do whatever I’m able to, for him.”
“They like you here. You’ve got a good job. You’ve already made good friends. You could probably get an EMT job up here too. They’ve got a community college here, you could take nursing classes…”
“Realistically, my brother’s going to get arrested sooner or later. I’ll need to be nearby him, especially if he’s going to go to trial.” She didn’t add, and even more so if he ends up in prison. She couldn’t bear to think about it.
“Don’t let your brother ruin your life,” Cooper shook his head.
“Let’s not start with that again,” Josephine said, biting back the urge to snap at him.
Cooper would never understand the bond that she and her brother had. With no mother, and with a father like theirs, and new homes every few months, Jason and Josephine were each other’s only constant.
When her brother was little, she’d always been there for him. She’d read him stories while their father was out on the town. She’d pull a chair over to the cupboard, climb up on the counter and root around for a can of soup, and then pull the chair to the stove and make him dinner. She’d agonized as her father taught Jason the tricks of the trade, cursed silently to herself when her father brought young Jason along on his real estate scams and his various other cons so that he could play the doting family man.
When they were older and their dad was in prison again and they were back in foster care, their roles had been reversed. When kids teased her at school, her brother would pounce on them, raining heavy fists and savage kicks until they backed off and learned very quickly to leave that Sawyer girl alone. When she was hungry, he’d find food for them. He got a fake i.d. and went to work as a bouncer when he was 16 so he could help support them.
Wherever Jason was, she needed to be nearby to help him through this.
And she and Cooper were in a relationship which was rapidly approaching its expiration date.
She went back inside the bar, and walked over to Cheyenne. “He gave the glass to Deputy Mancini so he could run the fingerprints. He’s not a klepto, he’s a jealous hotheaded jerk.”
Cheyenne’s eyes lit up. “Oooh. You gotta admit, that’s kind of sexy.”
A couple sitting down at one of her tables waved at Cheyenne, and she hurried off to serve them.
“No it’s not! It’s annoying!” Josephine called out at Cheyenne’s retreating back.
It was very annoying. Sort of flattering, but very annoying. Her feelings were confused enough as it was.
When her shift was over, the streets were mostly empty, and she was actually glad that Cooper showed up stalker-style, as always, to walk her back to their hotel room.
The sky was the shade of black crushed velvet. There was a chill in the night air. When Cooper slung his arm around her shoulders, she knew she should shrug it off, but it felt so right, so comforting, that she couldn’t bring herself to.
They came to the end of the boardwalk, and darkness settled in. Tall pine trees loomed overhead, swaying and creaking in the night air. She suddenly stopped, and an ice cold feeling washed over her, lifting the hair on the back of her neck and settling in her stomach.
“What is it?” Cooper asked.
“I don’t know. I feel like someone’s watching us.” She spoke in a low voice, although if there was anyone watching, they certainly weren’t close enough to hear her.
“I feel it too. The same as I did the other day.” He glanced around. “Damn it. The streets are too empty. I can’t run off and chase him, because I’d have to leave you alone in the dark.”
“And he might have a gun or there could be more than one person,” Josephine said. “Let’s just get back to our room.”
“At least you admit it’s our room.”
“Oh, please. I admit nothing accept that it’s late, I’m tired, and I can’t be held accountable for what I say at this time of night.”
As they walked up to the door of the cabin, Cooper stopped dead. “Did you leave the door open?” he asked quietly.
Josephine froze in her tracks. “You were the last one out of the room, remember? I walked out, and then you followed behind me. Did
you leave it open?”
“Nope.”
Their door gaped open, and yellow light streamed through the crack.
Suddenly the night-time chorus of insects and frogs was a harsh, creaking soundtrack from a horror movie, and Josephine could feel every beat of her heart against her ribcage.
“Stay here,” Cooper said.
Josephine whipped out her cell phone and dialed 911 with trembling fingers, as Cooper burst through the door of their cabin.
He came out a minute later, shaking his head.
“Someone’s been here, but they’re gone now,” he said.
Josephine followed him back into the cabin, which looked as if a tornado had swirled through it. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she took in the drawers pulled from the dresser and dumped on the floor, her suitcase, spread open and the interior slashed to ribbons, as were the pillows on the bed.
There was something terrifying about the slashes. It spoke of a deep rage, of a fury that Josephine had no doubt would have been directed at her if she’d come in at the wrong moment. She could almost see the knife coming at her, jabbing at her.
From down the street, she could see the headlights of a sheriff’s cruiser closing in on them. She already knew what they’d find when they got there: the same thing they’d found at her house in Bitter Valley. No fingerprints, no trace of the intruder.
Chapter Fourteen
Early the next day, Cooper woke up, pulled his clothes on, and stepped outside the cabin to make a phone call.
He and Josephine had tossed and turned late into the night after the police left. Josephine had finally fallen asleep as the horizon blushed red with the sunrise.
“Hello, Trent,” Cooper said. “Hope I’m not bothering you.”
“Do you have news?” Trent asked eagerly.
“No, but I have a question.”
“Oh.” He could hear the disappointment in Trent’s voice. “Okay, ask away.”
“Is there any possibility that Jason has a partner in crime? You have access to his files.”
Curvy Girls: The Big Girl and the Bounty Hunter Page 10