by Tee O'Fallon
“Okay, okay. I’m awake.” She shoved at the dog’s head, but he wasn’t having any of it. More to the point, he thought it was a game and rose gracefully to rest his paws on the mattress, giving him a better angle to keep slobbering all over her face.
Laughing more, she turned on her side, giving Eric a tantalizing view of the round globes of her buttocks.
“Tiger.” Eric snapped his fingers, indicating playtime was over. Tiger’s playtime. Mine’s about to get started. “Platz.”
With a huff that carried with it a distinct you’re-no-fun undertone, Tiger found a spot on the floor where he circled twice before lying down and aiming pouting amber eyes at Eric.
“My turn.” When he sat on the mattress, she rolled onto her back again. Bright green eyes locked with his, and she gave him a hesitant smile. “Morning.” He rested his hand on her belly, then leaned over and captured her mouth, sinking his tongue between her lips for a deeply satisfying kiss that reignited his need for her. As much as he wanted to pick up where they’d left off last night, there were a few things they needed to discuss first. Pritchard, for one.
Reluctantly, he drew back, soaking in the energy glittering in her bright green eyes. Maybe she was right after all. Maybe people really did radiate a life force—an energy as potent as a drug. Hers is, anyway. It wrapped around him like a warm towel.
“Morning,” she said, swirling her fingers at his nape.
Goose bumps paraded down his back, bee-lining straight to his groin. Oh, man. His dick twitched like a garden hose filling with water.
He grazed his knuckles along her temple, nudging one curl to the side when it began to fall in front of her eyes. A thin white scar ran from the edge of her hairline. With her thick curly hair, he hadn’t noticed it before.
“How did you get that scar?” He traced the line deeper into her hair. It was longer than he’d first realized.
Her smile faded and the smooth skin at the bridge of her nose wrinkled. “My stepfather hit me,” she answered after a moment.
His fingers stilled. Any man who would hit a woman was a piece of shit that deserved to be locked away in a deep, dark cell. One with fungus, and mold, and rats the size of beach balls.
“It was a long time ago.” She shut her eyes, but not before he glimpsed the gathering of tears.
The sight of her beautiful, expressive eyes so pained made him want to ram her stepfather’s head into the wall. He hadn’t meant to fuck up the mood. “You don’t have to talk about it. But if you ever want to, I’m here.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a brief, forced smile. “It’s in the past.”
Is it? From the look on her face, it didn’t seem that way. Physical scars were one thing. I ought to know. The less obvious emotional ones could embed themselves in a person’s soul and never let go. He, better than most, also understood that if someone didn’t want to talk about their grief, there was no forcing it out of them.
He clenched his jaw. He was a shithead of the highest order for putting her anywhere near a guy like Mark Pritchard. It tore at his guts like a jagged knife. After getting a glimpse of her childhood, it ripped at him even worse.
“Tess, we need to talk about what happened yesterday.” She stiffened visibly. “I realize Alabama’s a big state, but I have to ask. Did you know any of those men?”
“No.” She quickly averted her gaze, which only made him feel guiltier.
“The man who touched you—Mark Pritchard—he’s trash. If I’d known he would be there, I never would have allowed you to make the delivery. I would have found some other way to make it happen.”
Her eyes widened, and she sat up. “You know his name? This—this Pritchard?”
“Yeah, I do. He’s a goddamn child molester. A rapist.” He shoved a hand through his hair, staring at the wall as he remembered every twisted, sordid detail of the man’s criminal record. “Along with Harley Gant, Pritchard’s right at the top of the ATF’s shit list. Back then, he preferred young teenage girls, but no one ever pressed charges and stuck around to see them through. Apparently, he’s added women to his list. The way he touched you… You’ll never know how sorry I am about that.”
He drew in a slow, calming breath. Sorry didn’t cut it. If anyone tried to hurt her again, he’d kill them.
She rested her hand in the center of his chest. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“The hell it wasn’t.” He clasped her hand, drawing it to his mouth and kissing her fingers. “Is there anything else those guys said to you that would help us figure out what their plans are?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I swear I would tell you if they had.”
“I do have some good news,” he said. “Because of what you did for Jesse yesterday, the prosecutor won’t be filing charges against him. He can leave as soon as he’s well enough to travel.”
His heart sank. The beatific smile on her face meant his fears would be realized.
When Jesse leaves, she’ll go with him.
“You know,” he said, catching a long, curly strand of her hair between his fingers, “you and Jesse could stay here. While he recuperates,” he added quickly, not wanting to make it seem as if he was asking her to move in. Would that be so bad?
Christ, he didn’t know. Yeah, I do. It wouldn’t be bad at all. It would be fan-fucking-tastic.
“Think about it.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck. “You’ll have the house to yourself most of the time. I won’t be here much until we figure out what Pritchard and Gant’s target is.” He lay next to her, skimming his hand up the curve of her waist to cup her breast. She sighed as he blew in her ear. “Gant may be heading to Jersey to meet Pritchard, which means I’ll be working even longer hours. I promise I’ll find time for us.”
Tess’s body stilled, and her eyes widened. “What did you say?”
He frowned at the shock on her face. “That I’ll be working long hours for a while.”
“No.” Her nails dug into his biceps. “Did you say Gant is coming here? To New Jersey?”
He drew back, repositioning his weight on one elbow. The shock on her face had been replaced by something else. Stark, naked fear. He tipped her chin up with his finger. “What’s going on? Talk to me.” When she didn’t, the same gut feeling he’d had days ago slapped him upside the head.
There was something she wasn’t telling him.
…
Tess twisted the sheet in her hand.
She wanted to confide in Eric, but he’d just said that Jesse was in the clear, and it was her responsibility to make sure neither Eric nor the prosecutor changed their mind.
I can’t tell him anything.
“Tess?” He stared at her with more than a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “Something’s been bothering you since last week. Whatever it is, I can help. If it’s a problem, we can fix it.”
A cry of despair nearly bubbled from her throat. No, it can never be fixed.
Realizing that she wore her emotions on her face like an open book for him to read and dissect, she needed to redirect his line of questioning.
She slid her hands up and down his biceps, gratified when goose bumps prickled his skin. “I’m just worried.” That was, in fact, the absolute truth. A second later, the rest of the lie she concocted rolled off her tongue. “You’ve been after this man for years. I’m afraid of what will happen when you finally confront him.” That also wasn’t a lie. She was worried for Eric’s safety. “He murdered your friends and almost killed you. I don’t want to see him finish what he started.”
“He won’t.” Muscles in Eric’s cheeks flexed. “I will.”
“Please be careful. Gant is dangerous. You said so yourself,” she added quickly. “When he realizes you—the one agent he didn’t kill that day—are living right here, he’ll come after you.” Pritchard, too.
It shouldn’t have been such a shock to learn that Eric had encountered Pritchard before. Eric had been stationed in Birmingham, after all. He’d asked her directly
if she knew Pritchard, and she’d lied to his face. Not telling him before he’d asked the question was bad enough—a lie by omission. Either way, as soon as he heard the audio at the barn, he would know the truth. Everything about her being here, in Eric’s house and in his bed, was built on lies.
“That’s exactly what I’m counting on.” A fierce gleam lit the icy blue of Eric’s eyes. “Two teams of agents followed Pritchard and the other men to a hotel in Chester. Eventually, Gant will show his face there and the second he does, I’ll know it. That’s exactly where I’m starting my shift today.”
Please, no. Things were on the verge of spiraling out of control. All the elements of her past were about to converge. When they collided, there would be one heck of an explosion, and they’d all be caught in the fallout.
“Now,” he said, cupping her face. “You were about to tell me what’s been upsetting you?”
She stiffened. “I was?” So not. Apparently, he wasn’t about to back off. Her only option was more diversion, and there was only one she could think of.
Tess slid her hands up his long arms, over his thick shoulders to the back of his neck, and drew him down for a sweet, promise-filled kiss. He shifted on top of her, cradling her head as he took control and swept his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss.
His erection pressed against the top of her thighs, and she parted her legs, allowing him to settle against her dampening folds.
If only this could last.
The doorbell pealed.
Tiger raced from the room, clumping down the stairs, barking with every step.
Eric grumbled, lifting his head to suckle at her breast. She arched off the bed, hooking her legs over the backs of his thighs.
“Don’t you have to get that?” she gasped as he tugged on her nipple with his teeth.
“If it was urgent,” he said around her nipple, “they’d call or text.”
His cell phone on the bedside table vibrated, and he grumbled louder as he reached for the offending device and glared at the screen. “You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“What is it? Is it Gant?” She held her breath. That moment would come, and all too soon, but she’d hoped and prayed for more time.
“No. In a completely different way, just as bad.” He rose from the bed, grimacing. “It’s my sister. She’s outside.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Eric shoved his legs into a pair of jeans and yanked a T-shirt over his head. Thankfully, his raging boner had calmed enough for him to zip up his pants without doing any damage.
As he hustled down the stairs, the doorbell pealed again. Tiger’s head hung low, hair on the back of his spine raised. Until his dog knew who was on the other side of the door, he’d assume it was a bad guy.
“I know you’re in there, Eric. Open up.”
Tiger jerked his head up and wagged his tail. During her stay with him, his dog had come to like Maggie. Probably because she fed him peanut butter chip cookies behind Eric’s back.
“Cool your jets,” he shouted, then unlocked the door and opened it. His sister stood on the stoop with her fist raised and ready to pound again. “What’s up, Mags?”
Over Maggie’s shoulder, he noticed a dark SUV brake at the stop sign at the end of his street then continue on. Dark SUVs were a dime a dozen in any state, but this was a residential neighborhood, and he didn’t recognize it as belonging to any of his neighbors.
“Well, good morning to you, too.” Her face brightened, blue eyes so similar to his, twinkling. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Without waiting for a response, she squeezed past him then knelt beside Tiger to give the dog a hug and scratch behind his ears.
Tiger’s body wriggled with glee as he landed a barrage of licks on his sister’s face, making happy whining sounds.
Eric closed the door and crossed his arms. “When you’re done with your little lovefest, do you mind telling me what you’re doing pounding on my door at eight thirty in the morning?”
“Eight thirty is late for you.” She gave Tiger one last pat before standing. “I have news I want to share.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You could have called.”
“I suppose I could have, but this is news that should be delivered in person.” Mimicking him, she crossed her arms, daring him the same way she’d done their entire life.
“Fine.” He uncrossed his arms and led the way into the kitchen. “Want coffee?” He pulled the carafe from its base and began filling it with water.
“Please.” She strolled to the table, touching her fingers to the vase full of the flowers Tess had cut from his garden. “Since when do you bring flowers inside the house? All that color must be driving you crazy.”
Ignoring her barb, he scooped coffee into the filter then opened the refrigerator and pulled out a container of milk. When he set the carton in front of Maggie, she watched him, tapping her long fingers on the table.
The tapping stopped. “Who owns the Camry?”
“None of your business.” He retrieved two mugs and set them by the coffeemaker.
She turned to the vase of flowers and her eyes bulged so wide he thought they’d pop out of her head. “It’s a woman! I should have guessed because there’s no way my brother would put flowers on his kitchen table.” She gave him a sly grin. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
Crap. He loved his sister to tears, but gossip was her thing, and she’d always given him shit about what she referred to as his “list of women.” How to answer her questions without letting her get too far into her Gestapo-like interrogation?
The idea of her lumping Tess in with those other women didn’t sit well with him.
“Who is she?” His sister leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand, her eyes glittering with hefty doses of curiosity and amusement.
He shoved a hand through his hair then stared at the flowers. He didn’t know how to answer her question. What exactly was Tess to him? Hell if he knew.
“She’s…” He paused, listening to the gurgle of the coffeemaker as it began dripping into the carafe. “A friend.” His lover, as of last night. For now, labeling her as a friend seemed like the simplest answer. Until he could figure things out.
“A friend,” Maggie repeated, nodding subtly and twisting her lips in a way that told him she wasn’t buying his shit.
His sister got up and went into the living room. A moment later, she giggled. “Candles?” She came back into the kitchen with Tiger. When she sat down again, his dog sat beside her. “I knew I smelled something in the air, and I’m not just talking about flowers and candles. Spill it, bro. How long has this”—she hooked her fingers into quotation marks—“friend been staying here? Looks like she kind of moved in.”
“A few days.” He leaned back against the counter and re-crossed his arms. He had a feeling he was about to regret giving her a straight answer.
Maggie didn’t disappoint. Her eyes went wide again, maybe wider than before. “A few days? Seriously?” When she laughed, a bead of sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. He was beginning to understand what a perp felt like during one of his own interrogations. “You didn’t give her a key to your house, did you?”
The last question was said with a snarky tone, because she knew damn well what the significance of that one little act would mean.
When he took a deep inhale, his sister gasped. Tiger gave a quick bark.
“You did. O. M. G.” She smacked her hands on the side of her face. “This is huge. This is beyond huge. It’s…unbelievable.”
“Lay off, will ya, Mags?” He pulled a chair from the table and sat across from her. “It’s work related, and she’s only staying here a few more days until her brother gets out of the hospital.” As he said the words, his heart felt heavy. His house would be empty without her.
“Her brother? Her brother’s here, too?”
“He got himself into a jam, and I’m only helping them as a favor to Nick and Andi. You remember Andi? Tess is her best friend up in S
pringfield.”
“Tess,” she repeated, her expression becoming thoughtful. “What’s she like?”
The corners of his mouth lifted as he thought about how to answer that. Before he could stop himself, he was grinning like an idiot. “She’s colorful, vibrant, full of energy, drives me crazy, and—”
His sister leaned back in the chair, her expression softening.
“What?” he growled, realizing he’d stupidly said too much, and from the look on her face, Maggie was about to latch onto his words and never let him hear the end of it.
“It’s finally happened,” she whispered.
“What’s finally happened?” He so didn’t like where this was going. “Look, we’re friends. Let it go.” She snickered. “Didn’t you come here to tell me something?”
“Yes. I did.” She cleared her throat and gave him a sarcastic smile, telling him she still wasn’t buying a single ounce of what he’d just said. “There are two noteworthy items I arrived on your doorstep to impart in person.”
“Impart away.” He waved a hand in the air, urging her to continue quickly. The last thing he wanted was for this conversation to drag on and for Maggie and Tess to actually cross paths. “I have to get to the office.”
“Fine. Your investigative powers of observation must be dulled by the presence of your friend.” She held up her left hand, waggling her fingers. Only then did he catch the huge rock on her ring finger. “Tom and I are engaged.”
“You’re what?” Now it was his turn to be shocked.
“Engaged,” she repeated. “As in, planning to commit to that holy state of matrimony for the rest of our lives.”
Speechless, he stared at the enormous, glittering diamond. It wasn’t that Tom was a bad guy, not at all, but after the hell his and Maggie’s parents had put them through as children, they really had sworn never to get married or have kids.
“I know it’s a shock,” she said. “But I love him, he loves me, and I want to give it a chance. Things change. Look at you. You have a girlfriend, and you actually gave her a key. Doesn’t that tell you something?”