Her eyes widened. Shit! What if it was Jordan in the shower? Marley abandoned the bathroom door and bolted for her room. Whoever was in the shower, she didn’t want Jordan to find her in the hall wearing nothing but a blanket.
Once inside her room, she leaned against the closed door and let her head bang back in relief. Or maybe punishment for her stupidity. Imagine if she’d walked in on Jordan instead of Justin.
She shook her head as heat burned her cheeks. She didn’t even want to think about it. With longing thoughts of a shower with or without Justin under the hot water, she dressed and went out to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee for him and Jordan.
For herself this morning, she felt like tea. Too much caffeine might dislodge her euphoria.
She raised her steaming mug for a sip when Justin walked in. The man looked like her own personal calendar model in boots, worn blue jeans, and a white sleeveless tee shirt—and the dark blond hair tumbling in disarray over his forehead was damp from the shower.
Damn.
Chapter 21
Justin paused as Marley looked at him over the rim of her cup. The soft chestnut curls he’d run his fingers through last night framed her face before falling past her shoulders.
“Good morning.”
Her unrestrained, welcoming smile darn near knocked the breath right out of him as it shot straight to his heart. For a moment it stopped beating. Then it took off at a speed that had him reaching for the counter to steady himself. That low voice of hers stirred his desire all over again with the memory last night. The fact that he’d been the first man to make love to her—the realization of which had rocked him to his core—only intensified the one thought echoing in his head.
She’s mine. He’d never thought himself a possessive man, but suddenly the idea of anyone else touching her was enough to boil his blood.
He realized he had yet to respond to her greeting. He wasn’t sure about speaking without sounding like a complete idiot. They’d known each other less than three weeks, and right now, everything was so jumbled up and twisted inside, it was hard to make sense of it all.
“Morning,” he finally said. Hopefully, his smile conveyed casual as he headed for the coffee pot.
He needed a good strong dose of caffeine to jolt his system back to normal. As he brushed past her, his nerve endings came alive, as if reaching out, wanting to touch and hold her.
Okay, normal as he’d known it looked to be out of the question. Probably forever.
He poured the coffee with a sideways glance to see if he could guage her mood. The pensive look on her face brought a rush of guilt, and he set the pot down before his cup was full.
“Marley…about last night…I’m—”
Her eyes widened, and she backed up a step. “Oh, God, don’t.”
He frowned. “Don’t what?”
“Apologize.”
“I wasn’t going to. I just wanted to say…” He paused, not really sure what he’d been about to say. This was another new feeling for him. He didn’t like it one bit. “Well, that…I…”
“I’m a big girl, Justin.” She drew herself up with a show of dignity as she plunked her mug down. “Just say it.”
He drew in a breath, knowing he couldn’t say what he really wanted to. His primitive, possessive urges would come off sounding caveman-like. Before he could form the right words, she spoke again.
“It was my choice, and I don’t regret it.”
“If I’d known it was your first time—”
“If you’re going to say that you wouldn’t have, then I’m glad you didn’t know.”
Her honesty made him want her all the more. He stepped forward to lightly grasp her arms and looked into her eyes. “I would’ve gone slower—been gentler. I was a little…desperate…last night.” Unable to resist any longer, he pulled her to him and buried his face in her hair. “It kills me that I might have hurt you. I’m sorry.”
He felt her fingers thread through his damp hair at the base of his neck, her short nails scraping his scalp. A shudder coursed through him. She turned her head and her warm breath brushed his ear.
“You can get desperate with me any time you want.”
Her husky voice turned him on like she’d flipped a switch. One quick twist of his head and he captured her mouth. His hips effectively pinned her against the counter. After a long, breathless minute, he asked, “How about right now?”
The strident ring of the phone stilled them both. Her shoulders drooped, and she gave a reluctant smile. “How about later?”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, reaching to grab the phone and hand it to her. An automatic glance at the caller ID revealed unknown name, unknown number.
He returned to the coffee pot to finish pouring his cup and added a dash of sugar, a drop of cream. The uncomfortable fit of his jeans made him think twice about sitting at the table, so he leaned back against the island counter. He let his gaze linger on Marley’s curves as he raised his mug.
“Who is this?”
Her ashen face and harsh tone halted his hand before the rim even touched his lips. Her gaze sliced to Justin. Her voice shook with a hint of apprehension and, if the tightness of her features was anything to go by, the onset of anger. Justin nearly dropped his mug on the table. Coffee sloshed over the sides as he set it down and started toward her. Marley held up a hand while taking a step back, her expression grim.
“I don’t have that kind of money!”
Justin felt his own rage begin a slow boil. More blackmail? This guy was growing way too greedy, way too fast.
“But I can’t—”
Marley clamped her mouth shut and Justin held up both hands in surrender as he approached, letting her know he wouldn’t interfere. She hesitated, then held the phone at a slight angle so he could listen in from the position he took up alongside her.
“…bring the cash,” the caller instructed. The muffled voice was low enough to be male, but also sounded purposely disguised. There was no way to know for sure if it was a man, and possibly the same person blackmailing his family.
“What if I can’t get that much?” Marley asked.
“Oh, you’ll get it. I know you’re not stupid.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Then what makes you think I’d meet you at a deserted job site after dark?”
Justin’s gaze met hers. He shook his head swiftly. She stared back without batting an eye. That scared him. It told him she actually contemplated meeting this low-life scumbag. Not if he had anything to say about it.
Footsteps sounded in the hall. He and Marley looked toward the doorway as Jordan walked in, looking ragged and in need of some caffeine and a shower.
“If you know what’s good for your brother, you’ll be there,” the voice on the other end of the line warned.
“Smells good in—” Jordan started to say. Justin sliced his hand frantically in the air to shut him up while Marley rushed to cup hers over the receiver.
“What?” Jordan asked.
“Is there someone else there?” the caller demanded.
“It’s the TV.” Marley directed a warning glare toward Jordan. He frowned, but continued to the coffee pot.
“Something to keep in mind, Marley,” the caller said. “St. Mary’s, room three-forty-five.”
Nate’s room. Marley’s indrawn breath made the jerk on the other line laugh while Justin’s muscles tensed.
“That’s right. I can still get to him any time I choose.”
“Listen to me you son-of-a—”
“Bring the money and only the money. I even smell a cop and Nate’s dead.”
There was a distinct click on the line, telling Justin the caller had hung up. When Marley didn’t move right away, he reached to take the phone from her hand. She resisted at first, but the moment he gained the handset, she whirled around as if snapping out of a trance.
“Can you believe this?”
Justin punched in the universal code to dial back the phon
e’s last caller, but all he got was a recording saying, “Number unavailable.”
“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Jordan asked from behind them. Justin watched Marley struggle to contain her anger.
“He wants ten grand to leave Nate alone,” she said to Justin.
Jordan lowered his cup of coffee after taking a gulp. “Who wants ten grand?” Justin waited for her answer, too, even as he envied Jordan his caffeine.
“I’ll find out when I get there,” Marley said.
Justin’s gaze sliced back toward her. He didn’t like her matter-of-fact tone. “Get where?”
“The Forrester site at nine o’clock tonight.”
“You’re not going.”
“Of course I am.” She reached for her mug.
He braced a hand on the counter to block her path. “No. This guy threatened to hurt Nate—”
“Exactly the reason I have to go.”
“What makes you think he won’t hurt you?”
“I’ll have my gun.”
“No way in hell!” Justin exploded. “It’s too dangerous!”
Marley flinched at his outburst. That sounded like he cared—really cared—about her. But that couldn’t be right, because she might be inexperienced and naïve enough to fall for someone so quickly, but the odds were Justin wasn’t.
Sex didn’t mean love to men. Yet another thing she’d learned from watching her father while growing up.
“What right do you have to tell me what I can and can’t do? Especially when it concerns my brother’s safety.” She stepped around him for her tea.
She noticed Jordan at the table, listening to every word, and heard Justin’s frustrated breath as she took a sip from her mug. Lukewarm. She put it in the microwave and jabbed the buttons.
“He’s my brother, too,” Justin reminded her. “But if you even try going out there tonight, Marley, I swear I will—”
She rounded on him. “You’ll what?”
“You quit, remember? You go to that site and it’ll be trespassing.”
Her eyes narrowed at his implication. “You wouldn’t.”
He didn’t blink. “I’ll call the damn cops myself.”
So much for the notion that he cared.
“Hey,” Jordan said from his spot at the table. They both turned to see him soaking up Justin’s earlier coffee mess with a paper napkin. “Maybe instead of trying to out-boss each other, you two could sit down and we can talk this out rationally.”
Justin ran a hand through his hair and dropped down into a chair kitty-corner from Jordan. Marley glared at the both of them, crossing her arms to lean against the counter as Justin took a shot of his coffee.
Men in the kitchen drinking coffee was something she was used to, and yet completely alien at the same time. She’d had breakfast at this very table with her father and brother countless times over the years, but this was the man who’d touched her in the most intimate of ways last night, and his brother. Now they were discussing a blackmailer who threatened to kill Nate. How had her life changed so drastically in just a few weeks?
And what would be the smart way to handle this?
The microwave beeped, and she yanked open the door to grab her mug. Once she was sitting across from Justin at the table, she wrapped her hands around the heated ceramic and met his gaze.
“Okay, fine. Let’s call the cops.”
“Whoa,” Jordan protested with an uncomfortable laugh. “I said rational.”
Justin’s brows rose, but his gaze never left hers. “You going to call, or do you want me to?”
He thought she was bluffing. “You can.”
“Seriously, this is not a good idea,” Jordan tried again.
“Why not?” Marley and Justin asked in unison as they turned toward him. Marley noticed he looked a little green around the gills. Was it lingering effects of the alcohol last night, or the thought of dealing with the law?
Jordan leaned close to Justin. “What if they want to investigate?” he asked in a low tone.
“That’s the point,” Marley said.
He cast her an irritated glance, but his words were for his twin. “You can’t do this, Justin. What if our names get dragged into it? What if this is the same guy who blackmailed us? If they investigate and uncover something Granddad did, it’ll ruin us.”
Marley held her own temper with effort as Justin’s jaw tightened. He shoved up from the table.
“I’m going to forget you just said that,” Justin bit out. “You’re not thinking straight this morning.”
“I’m thinking fine. Why can’t we just go with her?”
“He said to come alone,” Marley snapped.
“Then we definitely shouldn’t call the cops,” Jordan argued.
“We don’t know what this guy is capable of,” Justin said. “I’m not sending her in there without some sort of protection—” his gaze swung to hers “—other than that damn gun you’re so fond of.”
Jordan didn’t reply. Marley saw he was torn and felt some of her anger—the part aimed at him—slip away. If she stopped to look at it from where he sat, she couldn’t blame him for his concerns, self-serving though they might be. If the roles were reversed, she couldn’t say if she’d want to take the chance of losing her company, either.
Jordan let out a deep sigh. “Would you at least consider calling Colton first?” he asked. “Wasn’t his brother-in-law Joel a cop, or an investigator?”
“Jordan—”
“He could help. Or he might know someone who—”
Justin shook his head. “It’s got to go through the police or the only way any of it will end is in a way that I’m not willing to ever consider.”
****
Marley shifted in her seat. The tape holding the wire for the recording device pulled against the sensitive skin between her breasts. If only the police’s attempts to trace the blackmailer’s call had yielded something other than one of those untraceable, throw-away cell phones.
She restrained the impulse to pull open the front of her shirt to look again. The tiny microphone had been fine the last three times she’d checked it. Her head dipped anyway as her hand rose.
Justin reached over from the driver’s side of her truck to guide her hand back to her thigh. His touch calmed her nerves while at the same time sending heat through her with the memory of last night.
“Don’t be nervous, we’ll be right around the corner.”
“I’m not nervous. I can handle this guy.”
“Promise you’ll use the signal if you feel even the least bit uncomfortable.”
She coughed, twice, just like they’d discussed. His hand tightened on hers.
“Marley—”
“Well, I’m uncomfortable, the tape is pulling. It’s going to be a bitch taking it off.”
He gave a gruff chuckle that faded fast. He did care. She was touched by his concern; had been all day. It made her hope for tomorrow, or even later tonight when all this was behind them. In fact, maybe when they were alone again they could talk about the future.
Her heart thumped, and she swallowed hard. That made her nervous.
She closed her eyes. Ran through the instructions from Detectives Powell and Turner once more.
Remain calm.
Walk in, get the information the suspect offered, try to get him to say something incriminating, but only if she thought she could get it without making him suspicious.
Last, give him the cash and walk out. They’d take care of it from there.
If at any time she felt the blackmailer presented a physical threat, she could give the signal and they’d be there in less than a minute. Yeah, sure. It wasn’t that she didn’t have faith in the officers who’d been sent to the house and were currently following them to the job site, but she knew she could reach her ankle in a matter of seconds.
Yeah, she’d brought her gun. It’d been easy to walk out with the detectives, then claim she needed to go back inside to use the bathroom.
Her loose-legged running pants hid the gun tucked into her sock, though Justin’s glance when she returned told her he knew what she’d done. Surprisingly, he hadn’t said a word.
“Promise me you won’t try to be a hero,” Justin insisted.
She lifted a mock-offended brow. “Hero?”
His jaw clenched. “You know what I mean.”
“After last night there should be no question as to my gender.”
“I’ll treat you like a woman when the time calls for it,” he growled. “Quit avoiding the subject, dammit.”
Damn, he knew her. “Okay, okay, I promise.”
Or maybe not damn. Her spirits lifted a little more. Her life might have changed almost beyond recognition, but that silver lining shone with promise.
Chapter 22
Justin shifted the truck into park, left it running as he stepped out, then watched Marley slide over behind the wheel while he shut the door. She reached for the gearshift and an overwhelming surge of emotion choked him up. He rapped on the window.
After a quick surprised glance, she rolled it down. Before she could say anything, he leaned forward and cupped the back of her head to draw her into a searing kiss. Pulling back, he stared into her beautiful green eyes.
God, it killed him to send her in there alone.
“I—” It came out as a croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Marley, I—”
She reached up to place her fingers over his lips. “I’ll use the signal.”
He searched her eyes and saw nothing but truth. And something else that swelled his heart. Could it be…?
“And you don’t lie,” he murmured.
“That’s right,” she stated, focusing her attention on the road in front of her as she shifted into drive. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Her taillights drew away into the near dark of dusk, then slowed and made the final turn a half block away. Once the red lights disappeared, his heart beat with fear. He wanted to run after the truck, wanted to go in with her so she didn’t have to face this scumbag alone. Fists clenched hard, he forced a deep, calming breath.
He had to let the police do their job; Marley’s gun aside, that’s why they’d called them. With that in mind, he hurried to the unmarked car the detectives waited in and slid into the back seat.
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