“What do you think now?” he said, breathing into her mouth as his lips finally pulled away from hers.
She drew in a ragged breath, and met his gaze. “Umm, point made. But I’d still like to hear you say it.”
“You and I are in a serious relationship. Kenna,” he whispered huskily. “You will always be my best friend, the one woman I can talk to, share things with. But I want more. We moved from friends to lovers last night. I guess I need to make sure that you’re comfortable with that, so I’m asking now.”
She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips. “Yes, that’s what I want.” She paused. “But until we’re absolutely sure, I’d prefer that we keep this to ourselves for now.”
He knew there was no need getting into an argument. Like Clayton said, women prefer that you show them rather than tell them. “If that’s what you want, we’ll take things one day at a time,” he said in a throaty voice. Leaning closer to her, he used his tongue to trace a line around her lips. “Any more questions?”
She moaned deep in her throat. What Reese was doing to her with the tip of his tongue was pure torture. “Yes. How quickly can we get home?”
He chuckled. The sound was low and rich with sexiness that only added to her desire to get home. “Did you forget that we promised my grandparents while we were in Oklahoma that we would have dinner with them this evening?”
She sighed inwardly. She had forgotten. His grandparents had invited them for dinner at Luke’s grand opening the past weekend. “Oops. I’d forgotten.”
“We can always come up with an excuse and cancel,” he suggested.
“No, we can’t do that.”
He chuckled again. “Yes, we can. I’d like nothing better than to stay at home and watch another movie with you.”
“If I remember correctly, I never got to watch the movie last night.”
“You’ve seen it plenty of times before,” he said. “And about that guy who was flirting with you today. The next time he asks, tell him you’re taken.”
She was ecstatic inside, and didn’t have a problem telling Shaun she was in a relationship. Even if Reese hadn’t clarified the nature of their relationship, Kenna had already decided that Shaun was off-limits. Maybe one day he would pick up on the fact that Lynette was attracted to him.
Gathered around the dining room, Reese saw three generations of Madarises. His grandfather, Lucas Madaris Sr., had married Carrie Emerson right out of college and they’d had one son, Luke Jr. Their son, Luke, had married Sarah Reese, and from their union they had four sons: Luke III, the eldest; Reese; Emerson and then Chancellor.
Reese and his brothers were close, engaging in the usual skirmishes that brothers went through. Reese loved his family and wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for them. Likewise, he knew they would do anything for him.
Usually the family got together a few times a month at his grandparents’ home for dinner. This was one of those times. As he glanced around, he immediately realized someone was missing.
“Where’s Mama Laverne?” he asked his grandmother when they were all seated at the table. Kenna was seated on his right and his brother Chancellor was to his left. His parents were sitting across from him and Emerson was sitting next to his father. His grandparents sat at the head and front of the table.
Grandma Carrie looked over at him and smiled. “She’s spending the next couple of weeks with Jake and Diamond.”
“Oh.”
“Missing the old girl?” Chance leaned over to whisper with a smirk. “Get with me later and I’ll tell you about the rumors she’s putting out about you and Kenna.”
Reese rolled his eyes. As usual, Chance was the last one to hear the family gossip. Reese already knew his great-grandmother was speculating about him and Kenna yet again. But because Chance lived out in the boondocks, less than thirty minutes from Whispering Pines, he rarely left his ranch—except when there was a free meal—and was often out of touch with his brothers.
Chance had joined the army right out of high school and had been a Ranger for ten years. Everyone thought he would be a career military man, but an injury in Iraq left him in a wheelchair. When he returned home, he’d been told there was a chance he would never walk again. But the army doctors hadn’t discussed that prognosis with Mama Laverne. It wasn’t that their great-grandmother had been a miracle worker. But she had refused to give up on her great-grandson and had refused to let him give up on himself. In less than a year, Chance was out of the wheelchair and riding horseback again. Now, along with the ten men who worked for him, Chance ran his two-hundred-acre ranch. And along with his uncle Jake, he raised some of the best cattle in Texas.
“I kept the television off most of the day. I just couldn’t stand to hear about those two girls that were murdered,” Carrie Madaris said sadly.
“It breaks my heart, too,” Kenna said, shaking her head. “And there still aren’t any leads.”
“Well, I hope they catch this serial killer. Until they do, no woman will be safe in these parts,” Reese’s grandfather said. “I figure now is a good time to load my shotguns and keep them ready.”
The men at the table exchanged glances. That was the last thing they wanted to hear. “I don’t think that’s necessary, Pop,” Luke Jr. said. “Besides, Sarah and I are right up the road. We could get here in no time.”
“That’s if you two can wake up. You and Sarah can’t even hear your phone ring when you’re asleep. You two can sleep through just about anything.”
Reese tried to hide his grin. He remembered how when they were in high school, Emerson had snuck a girl into his bedroom. Everyone knew what was going on except for their parents. There were times when his brother Luke would wait for their folks to fall asleep and sneak out at night. To this day, his parents never figured out why Blade had always wanted to spend the weekends with them.
Trying to avoid a heated argument about the wisdom of their grandfather carrying a loaded gun, Reese caught Emerson’s eye and slowly nodded. “I’m sure when this serial killer is caught you’ll prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law, Emerson.”
Emerson, who was a prosecutor with the Houston district attorney’s office, smiled slowly. “We might have to fight extradition to other states where he’s also a suspect. But I’d love to be able to try him here.”
Once the conversation was over, his mother asked Kenna how her first day of work with the HPD went. Reese ate quietly and listened. He glanced around the table and, as usual, everyone was fascinated by her conversation. It had always been that way with her, and his family had let him know how much they liked her from the start. He liked her, too, and initially he’d told them they were just friends. Some had bought into the explanation, and some did not. Eventually the truth would come out and he would be confronted with those I-told-you-so looks. He could handle it. He just hoped that Kenna could, too.
Apparently Kenna wasn’t ready to let others in on their relationship just yet, since she wanted to be sure things between them would work out. That was fine with him, since he didn’t intend on going anywhere. As far as he was concerned, they were in it for the long haul, and he intended to make sure she was, too.
Before dawn, Kenna awakened in much the same position as she had the previous morning—in Reese’s bed. She smiled, thinking how nice dinner with the Madarises had been last night. She enjoyed being around Reese’s family. Her smile eased into a full-fledged grin when she thought about what had happened once they’d gotten back home.
If there were any doubts in her mind that Reese wanted her, those doubts were dispelled last night. He hadn’t just made love to her, he had literally cherished her body in a way that even now made her shiver just thinking about it.
In many ways, she was indebted to Reese for making her realize that making love wasn’t overrated. She’d found something in his arms she hadn’t found in Terrence or Lamont’s. She had barely reached one orgasm with them, but with little effort Reese could bring h
er to a second, and even a third in the same lovemaking session. Incredible.
She glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that Reese had deliberately given her an extra half hour. There was no way she could go back to sleep now, so she decided to get up and do a little more work on her painting. Painting had always been her favorite pastime, but now it seemed that making love to Reese was getting top billing.
She eased out of Reese’s arms and slid out of bed. Moments later, after slipping one of his huge T-shirts over her naked body, she tiptoed into the spare room she used as her artist’s studio. The only light she needed was the moonlight coming in through the windows and the night-light shining from the hallway. She gathered her brushes and paints, and tried to capture the image in her mind.
She wondered if Reese had realized that she was painting a portrait of him sitting on a horse. She didn’t need him to pose, since his likeness was so deeply rooted in her mind. The portrait captured the very first time she realized she’d fallen in love with him. That was the year her grandmother had died and she had no place to call home. Reese had invited her to spend the summer with him at his parents’ home in Texas. It was that summer that she first saw Reese’s skills as a horseman, watching in total fascination as he and his brothers easily handled the horses. That was the same summer he and his brothers had taught her to ride.
The moment she’d fallen in love with him was the morning they had ridden out together. Trotted was more like it, since her horse had been so docile and moved rather slowly. Once they reached their destination—a lake on his parents’ land that connected to his grandparents’ land—she had turned to tell him just how beautiful the landscape was when she was awed by the sight of him on the horse next to her, wearing a Stetson and a beautiful smile on his lips.
In that instant, she’d known two things: that image would be etched in her memory forever, and that she had fallen in love with him. The hopelessness of the latter hit home when they’d returned to the ranch and were greeted by Sandra Adams, who’d been Reese’s girlfriend at the time. She had looked beautiful, radiant and stunning in a way that Kenna knew she never could.
Kenna ended her reverie, and a half hour later she was satisfied with what she’d accomplished on canvas and began putting away her paintbrushes. Once she was finished, she stretched her limbs, walked over to the window and looked outside. It was pitch black, with a full moon shining bright overhead.
She was about to turn away from the window when movement below caught her eye. She pressed her face against the glass and peered out and saw one of Reese’s men returning to the ranch. Her expression softened. Evidently, she and Reese weren’t the only ones having late-night rendezvous.
She studied the man, and when the moonlight cast a glow on his face, she recognized the new guy. Evidently he was a fast worker, since he already had a girlfriend. She chuckled, thinking of Reese. Not only was he fast, but he was thorough.
She turned away from the window and decided that she would greet Reese with a steaming hot cup of coffee this morning.
Chapter 19
“Hey, Kenna, Steven is out today. Do you want to tag along with me for a while?”
Kenna glanced up and smiled at Lynette. “I’d love to.”
She gathered up her purse and in no time she and Lynette were heading out the door toward the patrol car. It didn’t seem like she’d been working at the station for two weeks, but she had. She had gotten to meet a lot of the detectives and had even interviewed a witness in an attempted burglary.
Lynette, Steven and Shaun had turned out to be her regular lunch buddies, and she found there was never a dull moment with them around. She really liked them, and had even met Lynette’s four-year-old daughter, Aleena, when Lynette brought her into the office one day. Like her mother, the little girl had a head full of curly red hair and beautiful green eyes.
Kenna knew that Steven was happily married and a proud father. He was active in his sons’ Little League games as well as involved in activities at his sons’ school. According to Steven, his wife was a paralegal. They’d met in college and had gotten married five years ago.
Shaun, on the other hand, was a piece of work. He was a flirt, but Kenna wouldn’t necessarily call him a ladies’ man. For whatever reason, he wanted to give the appearance of being a womanizer, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why. She was used to womanizers. Although Reese’s now-happily-married cousin Blade could probably write a book on the subject. Blade’s two close friends—Tanner Jamison and Wyatt Bannister—were even worse. Kenna wondered if perhaps Shaun was trying to come across as a Lothario for Lynette’s sake. And if so, why?
Although Lynette never said much about her private life, Kenna knew that besides being a single mother she was also the oldest of eight—six girls and two boys—and her youngest sibling was still in middle school. She joked about the fact that her parents still had an active sex life.
Over the past few weeks, there hadn’t been any more Shoe Killer slayings, but a lot of groups were organizing to teach women how to protect themselves. One group had met at Sisters, a local nightclub and restaurant in Houston that was popular with women. Drake Warren’s wife, Tori, who was a former CIA agent and a friend of the Madaris family, provided free self-defense classes at a local high-school gymnasium to a huge turnout. No one was taking chances. Although it seemed the killer was lying low, to law enforcement that meant nothing.
“Where’s Shaun today?” Kenna asked Lynette after getting into the patrol car.
“He’s working undercover. The chief decided to put some officers on the street after dark as a precautionary measure, especially since there’re no other major crimes. The men’s bodybuilding competition at the civic center is tonight and a lot of people are expected to attend. Next week I’ll be going undercover at the Astros baseball game.”
Kenna nodded. After stopping at a fast-food restaurant for coffee they idled in the parking lot.
“I hate to admit it, but I miss Shaun,” Lynette said, taking a sip of her coffee.
Kenna chuckled softly. “I’m sure you do.”
Lynette frowned as she glanced over at her. “What do you mean by that?”
Kenna was suddenly aware that Lynette was a little ticked off. Moments later she decided to be honest. “You like him, don’t you?”
Lynette shrugged. “Of course I like him. I consider him a friend.”
Kenna wondered if she’d overstepped her boundaries in light of Lynette’s defensiveness. She didn’t want Lynette to think she was getting into her business. “Sorry I said something.”
“That’s okay. But I’m curious as to what made you think such a thing.”
Now it was Kenna’s time to shrug. “Because I have a friend who I secretly cared for a whole lot more than I let on, and there’s something about the way you act around Shaun that reminds me of how I used to act around my friend.”
Lynette didn’t say anything, and for a while Kenna thought it was best to just let it go, but something wouldn’t let her. She glanced at Lynette. “Well?”
Lynette looked back at her. “Well, what?”
“Nothing.”
Moments passed. “Okay, maybe,” Lynette murmured. “Maybe I do like him a little.”
Kenna couldn’t help but smile as she met Lynette’s gaze. “A little?”
Lynette grinned. “Okay, okay, I like him a whole lot. I hate that I’m so transparent.”
“You’re not. Like I said, I’m in the same boat, so I can pick up on it.”
Lynette smiled. “So does your guy know how you feel?” she asked faintly.
Kenna shook her head. “If you’re asking if Reese knows just how crazy I am about him, then the answer is no. But as best friends he knows I adore him and wouldn’t trade him for all the tea in China.”
“Reese?”
“Yes,” Kenna said, smiling.
“Nice name.”
“Nice guy” was Kenna’s response before she took another sip of
her coffee.
“And do you think the two of you will ever move from being friends to being lovers?”
Kenna chuckled. “We’re working on it, testing the waters so to speak. I was reluctant at first, since I would be devastated if things didn’t work out. It’s not like things can go back to the way they used to be.”
Lynette nodded as she gave her a sympathetic look. “Scary, isn’t it?”
“Yes, very.” It was quiet for a moment. “So, does Shaun have any idea how you feel?” Kenna asked.
“Heck, no! You’ve gotten to know Shaun. He’s a ladies’ man. He probably doesn’t see me as his type. Hell, he’s hit on just about every woman in Houston, except me.”
“Probably because in his eyes you’re special.”
“Whatever.”
Kenna smiled. She knew just how Lynette felt and just what she was thinking. She’d been there and done that. In a way, she was still there. She just hoped testing the waters wouldn’t threaten her friendship with Reese.
“I hope things work out between you and your guy,” Lynette said softly.
Kenna took a long sip of her coffee. “Me, too, and I hope things will eventually work out for you and Shaun as well.”
At that moment the dispatcher broke in instructing officers to immediately head to an area on the outskirts of the city. A woman’s body had been found, and from all indications it looked as if the Shoe Killer had struck again.
Reese’s eyes narrowed on the road ahead. His jaw tightened and his stomach clenched. The radio station he’d been listening to had just interrupted its regular programming to announce that another woman’s body had been found. The identification of the victim was being held back until the family had been notified. But from all accounts, it looked like the work of the Shoe Killer.
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