by Tina Donahue
Josh muttered, “I was upset. I don’t usually act like that.”
“Well, not at this hour.”
“Meaning?”
Alan sighed. “I’m more than willing to do whatever it takes to protect you and your business from any legal action even after business hours. But you demand a lot, Josh, and you keep forgetting that I do have a life of my own. Not as good as yours, I’ll admit, but it is a life.”
Josh frowned, ready to argue that he was a reasonable person and that money hadn’t changed him, but did not. For the first time since Alan had picked him up, Josh noticed that the man was freshly shaved and wearing an immaculate Polo shirt and chinos.
He could only wonder what Alan wore to bed, or if he had left a woman in his bed to make this trip tonight, or if he was even dating anyone.
They had worked together for years; Josh even considered Alan a friend and yet he had never thought to ask about things that were important to him. Maybe Tess had been right.
“Did I thank you for picking me up?”
Alan waved his hand as if it was no big deal.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Josh asked.
Alan looked at him, then back at the traffic. “What?”
“Never mind.” Josh pulled out his cell and tried calling Tess again, until he remembered his cell was dead.
“Want me to stop at a pay phone?” Alan asked.
“No, just keep driving. Maybe she’s still at the house.”
“If she hasn’t burned it down.”
“She wasn’t that pissed.”
“What did she say before she left?”
“That I better think about what love means to me.”
“That’s not so bad.”
Tell that to his pounding heart. A short time later, when Alan finally dropped Josh off, his car was in the drive and Tess’s stuff was completely gone.
It was as if their time together had never happened. Not even her powdery fragrance remained.
She had taken it all; she had walked out of his life without as much as a backward glance.
If she had been any other woman Josh would have just said to hell with it.
But she was his woman, whether she realized that or not, and by God she wasn’t going to get away with this.
“Hon, do you think it’s safe to leave?”
Tess couldn’t have cared less if it was, but forced herself to sound interested. “Everything looks fine so far.” She continued scanning the thin crowd in the bookstore. Her newest client was a fifty-something romance author who wanted protection, during her book signings, from a conservative group that didn’t like all those steamy sex scenes in her stories.
When Tess had read those scenes and the romantic interludes that followed, she couldn’t stop crying. Of course, that was nearly two weeks ago. She was okay now, just as long as she concentrated on her work, which included listening to all those snotty messages that had been left by that group on the author’s answering machine and reading the equally snotty e-mails.
As supposedly bad as that was, it was the rotten reviews posted on all the Internet sites that was the straw that broke the author’s back.
“They’re after me,” the woman had said. “Who knows what they’ll try next?”
Tess figured nothing would be tried, but having a bodyguard accompanying her made the author look important and was getting press. Not in Keys Confidential, of course, since that was reserved for bad boys like Josh.
Uh-uh. You’re not going there.
Tess had thought of him far too much these past days, and kept second-guessing what she had said that last night.
Maybe Josh wasn’t being a rich, bossy jerk for expecting her to move in with him. Maybe he was just being a man. The other guys Tess knew weren’t exactly known for their sensitivity.
Of course, she hadn’t loved them. They couldn’t hurt her.
Josh could and had.
From the moment they had met, the man made her behave in ways Tess never dreamed possible. She had kissed him when he was still a stranger, she had moved in with him when he was supposed to be nothing more than her employer, she had taken over a press conference to tell the world she was his girlfriend, she had worn handcuffs in a garter, and she missed all of that so much she wanted to die.
“Hon?”
Tess brushed tears from her eyes and looked at her client. The woman seemed worried, though it was hard to tell since all that Botox in her face wasn’t allowing her to frown. “Yeah?”
“Did you see something that concerned you?”
Only her future without Josh. “No.” Tess scanned the bookstore one last time. Everyone had behaved themselves during the signing, except for a few teenage boys who kept giggling as they read those steamy sex scenes. “Everything’s all right.”
“Then you’re ready to escort me to my car?”
“I’ll go first,” Tess said. “Keep fairly close to me, all right?”
“I understand,” the woman said.
When Tess got out to the mall and saw that no one even looked in the author’s direction, she turned to tell her client the coast was clear.
The woman was still in the bookstore. When Tess went back inside, that nitwit was raising her arm in a lavish farewell. “I’m leaving now!” she said in a raised voice as she swung her arm. “I’ll see all of you at my next signing!”
The store clerks stared at her from behind the counter.
“I think that went well,” the woman said as she joined Tess. “I appreciate you keeping me safe.”
Right. This time Tess told the woman to walk ahead of her, rather than behind.
“Is that wise?” the woman asked.
If they ever wanted to get out of here it was. “You’ll be fine,” Tess assured, not letting the woman out of her sight.
By the time they had reached the parking lot, Tess noticed that in addition to a face full of Botox, this lady had had her butt and thighs seriously overhauled.
Maybe her dad would find this woman interesting. Maybe then he wouldn’t date Peg anymore since that only reminded Tess of how much she missed Josh.
Will you just stop it?
“Here we are,” the client said as she reached her jet black Jag.
“I’ll follow you home,” Tess said.
The woman glanced around the lot to see that there were no fans or press in the vicinity. She sighed. “I’m sure I’ll be just fine all by myself.” She patted Tess’s shoulder. “And I’m sure you have big plans for tonight.”
Only if that included making food for her father and the rest of the guys at their weekly poker game that had turned into a wake. At last week’s game everyone was real quiet, watching her like she was going to break down and sob. When Tess hadn’t, they couldn’t compliment her food enough, as if that was going to make her feel any better about Josh.
“Yeah, I do,” she said. “Thanks.”
As the woman finally pulled away, Tess sighed. “Big plans. Right.”
Tonight was going to be brutal.
The truth of that was in the way no one came out to her car even though Tess sat in it for twenty minutes after arriving at her father’s house.
They knew she was here, Tess saw them pulling back the front curtains to sneak peeks at her. Maybe they were hoping she’d drive away and they wouldn’t have to eat her stuff. Maybe they were afraid she had finally started crying and they hadn’t a clue how to make it stop.
She wasn’t crying, but a sadness so deep that it could no longer be ignored had gripped Tess on the drive here. She kept wondering what tonight would have been like if everything hadn’t gone so bad with Josh.
They might have gone skinny-dipping in his pool or run naked over the grounds of that golf course or kissed like crazy in hijacked elevators or took turns cuffing each other to his boat or started a journey they would share for the rest of their lives.
She would have loved him forever if only given the chance. She would love him forever and he’d never
know it.
Sighing deeply, Tess finally hauled ass and left her car.
When she got to the porch she heard everyone hurrying away from the window where they’d been watching her. Tess gave them a few minutes to get to their chairs, then went inside.
Everyone started talking at once, trying to act natural. Vic and Hank and her dad were ganging up on Sammie and Peg, who was now considered one of the usual suspects.
“Hey,” Tess said.
“Oh, look,” Sammie said, “Tessie’s here.”
“That she is,” Peg said. “Hi, hon.”
“Hey, Tessie,” Hank said, then spoke to Vic who was sitting right next to him. “Tessie’s here.”
“Hey, Tessie,” he said.
She wanted to run. She pointed over her shoulder. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Sure, go on,” Vic said, “we’re getting ready to play and we all really liked those little pizzas you made last week. Right, guys?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Tess wondered if she should tell them about the extra fiber she had put in the sauce, but decided against it.
“Go on,” her father said. “We can’t wait all night. We’re hungry. Right, guys?”
Everyone nodded again.
Tess turned, then went down the hall to the bathroom to have a good cry.
“Where’s she going?” her father asked.
“Bathroom, I bet,” Sammie said.
“You want me to get her?” Peg asked.
Vic called out, “Tessie, are you going to go into the kitch—”
“Okay, just stop it,” Tess said as she came back down the hall. “I’m going into the stupid kitchen, okay? And if any of you say my food’s good tonight, there will be hell to pay, understand?”
They all nodded again.
Damn. Tess went into the kitchen, rounded the counter, and stopped dead.
There was a guy on the floor with his head under the sink.
Uh-uh. Couldn’t be.
Tess checked out those long, blue-jeaned legs and that snug black T-shirt before her gaze settled on that lovely bulge behind his fly.
Oh, my God. She was so quickly dizzy she had to lean against the counter for support.
At just that moment Josh finished whatever he’d been doing, then pushed out and looked up at her. “Hey, you okay?”
Tess didn’t think so. Her ears were ringing and her mouth was unbelievably dry.
He was really here. It had been so long since she’d seen him that his eyes seemed darker than she recalled. His hair seemed lighter, too. Tess was about to sink to the floor so she could touch it and his bristly cheeks and every other part of him when she thought better of it. “You’re here?”
His brows lifted. He pushed to his feet and wiped his hands on a rag. “Sure.”
Sure? As if being in her father’s house and under her father’s sink was the most natural thing in the world when her heart was still pounding out of control. “Why?”
Josh seemed uncertain how to answer, then finally shrugged. “It’s poker night.”
That was not what Tess had expected or wanted to hear. She frowned at him, then looked over her shoulder as Hank and Vic laughed about something. Those goons had known all along that Josh was in here fixing the sink, that he would be here for nothing more than poker, and hadn’t warned her?
She wanted to yell at them... and maybe kiss them, too. Now, she would at least be able to see Josh every single week during these games. She would be able to watch him as he played. She would be able to hear him talk about his life that might possibly include another woman.
She turned back to him. “And poker’s the only reason you’re here?”
Josh seemed surprised by her tone, not to mention a little uneasy. “Well, the guys gotta eat, too.”
Tess suddenly noticed the serving dishes on the kitchen table. She frowned, then looked over her shoulder at more laughter coming from the living room.
“But I’ll be here a lot more than just poker nights,” he said.
Another surprise. “You’re going to start cooking for my dad?”
Josh smiled. “He would like that, wouldn’t he? But no, I’m not cooking for him. Lots to fix around here, though.” He took a tool out of his back pocket and put it on the counter.
Tess looked at it, then him. “You’re going to fix stuff around this house for my dad?”
“I’d like to keep him as happy as possible since he’s armed.” His gaze dipped to her shorts as if he was looking for her gun. “But even if he weren’t, it wouldn’t be wise for a guy to piss off his future father-in-law.”
Her ears started ringing again. “What?”
“If you’ll have me,” he said.
Tess could barely breathe. She started to cry. “You’re proposing to me?”
“He finally did it,” Sammie called out to the others.
Tess looked over her shoulder just in time to see a wavy image of the older woman hurrying back to her chair while everyone else, even her father, gave each other high-fives.
Maybe she was in the wrong house. Tess looked back at Josh as he called out, “Hey, guys! Can Tess and I have a minute?”
“Let’s go outside,” Freddy said.
As the screen door banged shut, Josh gathered her into his arms. “Are you okay?”
Tess nodded as she continued to cry.
“Sure?”
“You’re really proposing to me?”
“Yeah. I finally got up the courage.”
Tess threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, my poor baby!”
“Huh?”
“You’re still scared of commitment, huh?”
Josh pulled her arms away and eased back. “No, I’m scared of you.”
“What?”
“Holy shit, Tess, what man wouldn’t be? You didn’t exactly do backflips when I told you I loved you at the yacht on what I considered one of the best nights of my life. After that, it took me until today to get up the nerve for this and to get your father on board. He’s almost as bad as you are.”
Tess heard him and the others talking in the front yard. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. “But he finally agreed?”
“He had no choice. I told him I wasn’t giving up.”
She started crying again. “You fought him for me?”
“Are you kidding? I’d fight the world for you. You’re my woman; you’ve been my woman from the first moment we met.”
“Your woman?” She threw her arms around his neck again. “Oh, I like that.”
“You’re also a snob.”
That wasn’t so nice. This time, Tess pulled back. “What?”
“You think you’re morally superior to me because I’ve made a lot of money. You think you have a corner on honor, integrity, feelings, and what it takes to be a good marriage partner, to honor a commitment, or to simply be in love. Well, let me tell you something; you’re not the only one who’s had a couple of lousy weeks. I’ve never been so damned miserable in all my life. And it’s all your fault.”
Her cheeks and throat were hot. She mumbled, “I just wanted you to know what I need.”
“You told me what you needed and then split because you just figured someone who has my dough isn’t only morally hopeless, but no good.”
“I never said that, Josh. I’d never say that. But you were insensitive and bossy.”
“So I didn’t sing you a love song, is that any reason to run away? You couldn’t have stayed and continued to criticize me at least until we worked things out?”
Even her scalp felt hot. “Was I that bad?”
“We both were. Let’s start over. I don’t want you being a body—”
“You call that starting over?”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
Tess cupped his face in her hands. “Sorry, but baby, I do like being a bodyguard.”
“Yeah, I know.” He sighed, then continued, “That’s why I’m supporting you fully in i
t, even though I don’t particularly like it. I worry about you. And if we have a daughter, no way is she being a cop or a bodyguard. She is going to be a dancer.”
“A daughter? Oh, I like that.”
He smiled.
“But it’ll be up to her whether she wants dancing, Josh. We don’t push. We don’t choose. We don’t bitch. Please.”
He sighed, again. “Maybe we’ll have all boys.”
Tess wreathed her arms around his neck. “Josh, there’s no reason for you to worry about me. I would never put myself in danger without discussing it with you first.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She smiled, and she cried, and then she smiled, again. “With most of these jobs I’m just a glorified babysitter like I was with you.”
He arched one brow.
Oh, how she loved playing with him. How Tess had missed that. “With others, I run errands. You know, pick up stuff at the pharmacy or the cleaners. I never dodge bullets, throw myself on bombs, or taste food to see if it’s poisoned. I’m watching my weight and my limbs, so I have to draw the line somewhere.”
He laughed.
It was so rich and free, Tess fell in love with him all over again. “The client I’m working for now is this middle-age lady who writes romances and wants me around as a status symbol.”
“Yeah, I know. Your dad told me,” Josh said, before she could ask. “Thank God he’s running the show. I’m expecting him to keep you in line at work.”
Her brows lifted.
“And,” he added, “for you to keep yourself safe for me.”
Tess smiled. “I would never choose danger over you, never.”
Josh ran his hands to her butt. “Good to hear. So, what else?”
She shook her head. “That’s it. I’ll be safe. You’ll be happy. And our daughter, if we should have one, will be whatever she wants even if it’s not a dancer.”
“I love you, Teressa. There, I’ve said it again. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
What was she thinking? Cradling the side of his face in her hand, Tess spoke from the heart. “Yo le adoro.” I adore you. Words her mother had always said to her father.
Words Tess repeated to Josh again and again in between their kisses.
“Ah, guys?” Freddy finally called from the living room. “We’re hungry. You two through yet?”