by Liz Lee
“Then why not? Why leave him at the prom with some other girl?”
She lay back on the table and he was struck again by how perfectly beautiful she was.
“This insight into the male brain is frightening, Riley.”
“I’m just asking.”
She threw her arms over her head and he had to force himself to look somewhere other than all that white skin.
They’d spent all night talking and suddenly he wanted to kiss her, to touch her soft lips with his own.
She didn’t say anything for the longest time. In the distance thunder rolled and he almost missed her words.
“Something’s wrong with me, I guess.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. I’m different.” She bit her bottom lip and he nearly groaned aloud.
“I spend all this time with him. And we kiss because, well, you know.”
He shook his head and told himself he wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t know.”
“It’s expected. We have to kiss, and it’s okay, but it’s not all that great. It’s just a kiss, you know.”
Ah man. Riley knew she was just talking. She wasn’t asking him for anything, so he sat there silent, trying to figure a way out of this that wouldn’t land him in a whole heap of trouble. She kept talking.
“I just don’t care. That’s not normal.” She sounded upset, but as he watched her face, he didn’t think she looked that upset. He wondered if this was some sort of joke.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
She shook her head. “It is though. All my friends talk like I’m the luckiest girl in the world and I don’t know, it’s just weird.”
This whole conversation was weird. “Yeah, well, maybe you should write Dear Abby.”
She laughed. “That’s a thought.”
Her laugh broke the moment of tension, and he let out a deep breath. For a minute there he’d thought she was going to ask him to kiss her. Not that he’d have a problem with that.
At least that’s what he was thinking until he saw the tear on her cheek. She tried to brush it away before he saw, but she wasn’t fast enough.
“Damn.” The word was whispered. He was cursing himself as much as the entire situation when she met his eyes and bit her lip. He wanted her. Simple as that.
“Damn.” He whispered the word again and this time he lowered his face to hers.
Their lips touched. At first the kiss was tentative, almost timid. And he knew he was as afraid as she was because this was the perfect Callah Crenshaw. His tongue slicked across her bottom lip and she moaned against his mouth as she pressed her body to his.
In minutes their chaste kiss changed to something far more tempting. Far more real. He wasn’t sure how long they lay on the picnic table kissing. All he knew was when he realized his hand was kneading her bare breast, they’d gone far enough. He pulled away, tried to catch his breath as fire raged through his body.
“Damn, Callah, I don’t know what’s going on with you and your boyfriend, but there’s definitely nothing wrong with you.”
The look on her face was a combination of shock, excitement and confusion. “That was incredible.”
He nodded, tried to regain his balance. “It was something alright.” He slid her dress back up over her shoulders, smoothed the material, tried to ignore the red scruff marks on her long neck.
He’d done that. He wanted to do more.
She rested her hands against his chest. “We don’t have to stop, Riley.” She pressed her lips to his and the kiss grew again until he finally pulled away, trying to catch his breath, listening to her try to catch hers.
“We do have to stop, Callah.”
She shrugged, but he saw the smile in her eyes. He should’ve taken her home then. But he didn’t want to. Spending time with her was incredible. Fun. Exciting.
They rode around town for hours and when she asked to see his house he knew what she was asking, and still he brought her home.
There they talked about their families. Her parents. His siblings. His father. How cancer had ravaged his mother. How his father blamed him. And then she’d held his face in her hands and this time they both knew kisses were never going to be enough.
And maybe he should’ve taken her then. But when she’d been naked on his bed, when he’d had the perfect opportunity, he’d looked into her eyes and known this wasn’t about him or her.
And he’d pushed her away because to do anything else would’ve been wrong.
“I guess the answer’s simple enough.”
She seemed surprised. “How’s that?”
He shrugged, took a bite of his sandwich so maybe what he was going to say wouldn’t seem so important. It didn’t matter anyway.
“It was more kicking your boyfriend out. He was everywhere that night. I didn’t want to make love with you because you were trying to get him out of your head. I wanted to be all you were thinking about when we made love. The next day when you came back, it was about us.”
It was both the truth and a lie, but enough of the truth was there to convince her. He wasn’t about to tell her the whole truth. How he might have been young and stupid, but he’d known enough to understand someone as pure and innocent and sweet as Callah Crenshaw had no business in his bed. And how when she’d shown up the next day and the next, and the next, he couldn’t push her away. How he couldn’t do that until the day cancer finally killed his mother. The same day he’d heard about the scholarship waiting for her in California.
Callah listened to the story and couldn’t help but be swept back to that night. How had she ever ended up married to someone like Charlie Benson?
She wanted to kick herself for ever giving a man that kind of control over her. “For what it’s worth you’re a better kisser now.”
He laughed. “Honey, you have no idea.”
She shivered and not because she was cold. The kiss they’d shared at the lake cabin had been as real, as intense, as any she’d ever experienced. She wanted more.
“You gonna prove that statement or just go throwing it out there to drive me crazy?”
He smiled and her pulse thrummed to ten million and twelve. “If I told you, it might ruin the whole anticipation thing we’ve got going on.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m all for anticipation. But I’ve decided it might be overrated. If I ask you to come home with me, are you going to push me away again?”
Riley laughed. But nothing about this was funny. This incredibly sexy woman was in danger. And if this made her feel better, so be it.
“Honey, I promise I won’t be pushing you away. But how about we take things slow and easy? You’ve had one hell of a day.”
“For someone who talks about being the baddest of bad boys, you sure are into playing protector.”
She was right, and he didn’t understand why. “You seem to have that affect on me, Callah.”
“I’m not asking for an apology, Riley. I just want you to tell me you’ll take me to bed if I invite you inside my house. That you’ll make me forget about everything.”
Damn she was hot. He’d started the flirting earlier to get her mind off the danger she was in, but this wasn’t flirting. This was real.
Glenda asked if they needed anything and the conversation was interrupted with ketchup and napkins and re-fills. And then Glenda was gone and the tension was back. Hotter than before.
“Well?” She dragged a tatertot through ketchup and popped it in her mouth, and he tried not to go caveman and take her right there.
“We’re just having a late dinner, Callah.”
“And I’m asking if you’re willing to stay with me until breakfast. At least.”
At least.
He took a sip of his water then smiled. “How about I keep the answer to myself until we get to your house?”
She popped another tatertot in her mouth. “You’re just a big chicken, aren’t you Riley Sorenson? All talk. No action.”
Callah rolled her eyes and sipped her hot chocolate. God, she felt so stupid. What had she been thinking?
“Okay. I’m done. I can’t do the sexy vamp thing anymore. It’s not me and I sound ridiculous.”
“Honey, I promise, if you sounded ridiculous, I’d let you know. It’s taking every ounce of self-control in my body not to jump your bones right here on the diner table. Trust me. You’ve got vamp down pretty damn good.”
Heat coursed through her body and she couldn’t stop her smile. “You say the nicest things.”
He laughed and stole her last tatertot.
“That was a sorry dog trick.”
He chewed slowly then smiled. “Yeah? You gonna make me pay?”
Oh yeah. She definitely wanted the make him pay. She resisted the urge to fan her face. Everything about this conversation was foreign to her, but the heat he generated nearly overwhelmed her. For all his assurances, she knew she had to stop. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m totally out of my element.”
He rubbed the edge of her lip with tip of his thumb and her stomach fell to her toes. “You’re doing a hell of a job for an amateur. But I guess if you want, we can work on getting you in your element later.”
She thought she might just die right there on the spot because that meant he was taking her up on her offer.
Oh man.
He leaned in close to her ear and whispered. “Breathe, Callah.” And this time she did fan her face.
Riley took a bill out of his wallet. Left it on the table and grabbed her hand.
They started out the diner door, but Glenda ran out after them. “Hold up, Riley. I’m supposed to give this to you.”
She held out a napkin and he tried to stop Callah from reaching for it, but it was no use.
One line. Black ink.
Be careful.
Dammit. Not again. He searched the empty diner and fought the urge to hit the wall. “Who left this?”
Glenda looked troubled. “The man sitting there when y’all walked in. He watched for a couple minutes then left this. Told me to deliver it before you left. He didn’t want to interrupt y’alls conversation.”
Be careful. Callah’s face was white. The fear back. Dammit.
“Callah.”
“Is everything okay?” Glenda looked from him to Callah and back. “Should I call the police? I knew there was something fishy going on.”
Riley shook his head. Looked around the diner once more, but no one was there. Not even the agents assigned to protect Callah. Why? He didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to let her be hurt. Not now. Not ever if he could help it.
“No. We’ll be fine. Thanks Glenda.”
He swore he’d make that the truth. Somehow.
Chapter Nine
As the moon shone bright in the early morning sky, a damp heaviness filled the air and Callah just wanted to get inside where maybe she could forget. Where maybe she would feel safe. The scintillating promises from earlier an almost forgotten memory. But when she started to push the door forward, Riley stopped her.
“Hold up a sec. Let me look inside first.”
Across the street she saw the blue sedan, and she knew the agents were there.
“It’s okay, Riley. They’re watching the house.” She pointed to the car and Riley grumbled something unintelligible and then, “Yeah. They were watching the diner too, but the man who left you that note wasn’t a Fed, and he disappeared who knows where. I’m checking the house.”
And into the inky blackness he went.
She should’ve left a light on, but she hadn’t even thought about it. She hadn’t thought about much more than how cold the dog walker’s eyes were. Now she was supposed to believe the man with those eyes was here to help her.
She closed her eyes in confusion, then wrapped her arms around her middle, suddenly cold as she waited. “Riley, are you okay?” She whispered the words, but he didn’t answer. Why had she left the gun in his truck? She heard Riley’s soft footfalls around the house. Thought she heard the shower curtain sliding.
And then he was there. Safe. Relief flooded through her and she stepped inside. “I told you it was fine.”
But then she looked around the house and saw the little inconsistencies. The messed up curtains, a magazine stacked on top of another, an open cabinet door, and she knew. “Someone’s been in my house, Riley. They were looking for something.”
Riley followed her gaze then nodded, frowned. Damn, she sounded scared. This tough woman who’d stalked out the lake cabin’s front door with a gun, telling the dog walker who was supposed to protect her to meet them back in Burkette was afraid. Again.
“Probably the Feds,” he said, trying to give comfort.
She looked around again. Tilted her head. “No. Maybe. I don’t think so. There’s this ominous feeling. An almost oppression. The people here weren’t being helpful. They meant harm.”
It only made sense that she’d feel an ominous presence after her day. After the revelations about her past. “Callah, Babe, you’ve been through hell,” he said touching her shoulder, trying to reassure her.
The stubborn tilt of her chin back, she narrowed her eyes. “Don’t patronize me Riley. And don’t call me Babe.”
Ah geez. He thought they were past this. “Look, I see you’re scared. Angry. And I understand that. Do you want me to go ask the guys outside? No one’s here now. They can come in, check and make sure nothing’s missing if it will make you feel better.”
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her waist. “No. You’re right. No one’s here now. I’m sorry. I just…”
He wanted to hold her, to tell her it would be okay. But he could see the wall she’d built and knew now was not the time. “It’s okay, Callah. Really.”
She laughed, only it sounded more like a cry. “No it’s not. I’m not sure it’ll ever be okay again. But I do want to know if the agents were the ones in here. If it was them, not her, maybe I can rest.”
Her. Olivia Duncan. Riley couldn’t make that awful truth go away, but he could help her have peace tonight. Callah followed him out the door, and a few seconds later they had their answers. The agents had walked through the house, and they’d done a simple search to make sure Riley was who they thought and not some kink they hadn’t planned on.
Callah noticed Riley didn’t volunteer the information about the man at the diner and she agreed. The man hadn’t seemed menacing. And be careful wasn’t exactly a threat to anyone’s life.
They walked back into the house and this time the noticeable changes seemed less threatening, more of a nuisance. Still Callah couldn’t shake the faint ominous presence.
The flirting from earlier seemed a forgotten memory. She couldn’t help mourning its loss. For all of thirty minutes she’d been a different kind of woman. Not poor, sweet Callah. But someone brave and daring and sexy. And dammit, it had been fun. In the midst of the chaos, the lies, the death threats, the stories, she’d almost found the person she’d always wanted to be.
“What’re you thinking?”
Callah jumped at Riley’s voice, then grabbed a sweater off her dresser and slipped it on. Her own sort of armor. She almost laughed at herself because she could think about being that brave woman any day, but actually doing it was another thing altogether. “Nothing. Just everything’s different. Crazy.”
He stepped toward her, pulled her to his chest and she rested against him as she inhaled his spicy maleness. His safety. “It’s going to be okay, Callah.” His voice rumbled from his chest against her ear.
“Sure it will,” she said, even though she knew the words were all lies. “Tomorrow everything will be fine. My dad will explain. And we’ll see this is all a huge mistake.”
He didn’t say anything, and she knew what he was thinking. That there’s no way those pictures were wrong. That the agents knew too much for this to be a mistake. That the little girl sitting in that ph
oto and she were one and the same, and no explanation in the world would make that go away.
“I’m really tired, Riley. I know I asked you….”
He brushed his index finger across her lips. “Shhh.”
She wanted to make excuses, to beg him not to leave her, but she couldn’t seem to say anything.
“Today’s been pretty wicked. We’ve got tomorrow. Or the next day. Or even the next. I’m not going anywhere.”
She stepped away, looked at his face, saw the seriousness there and knew he meant it. She wasn’t in this alone unless she wanted to be.
“You’re a good man, Riley Sorenson.”
He shook his head. “Don’t go believing that, Callah. Don’t go believing it for a second. Because the truth is I’d make love to you in a heartbeat if I thought I’d have you with me one hundred percent. I’m not doing this half way, and right now you’re wiped out. Besides the adrenaline rush from writing the story is wearing off me. I couldn’t do either of us justice. So your I’m tired is my perfect excuse.” And then cupping her chin, he tilted her head up, touched her lips softly with his.
Her toes curled as she tasted the faintest bit of peppermint left over from the diner. Her pulse thrummed, and her blood rushed as her insides clenched. She ran her hands through his soft hair, deepened the kiss, and pressed closer to him.
When he stepped away and winked, she had to grip her hands in tiny fists at her sides to keep from dragging him back into her room to show her just exactly what kind of bad boy he was.
“I’ll be on the couch.”
Somehow she found her voice. “I don’t remember saying you could stay on the couch.”
He laughed. “Honey, you practically handed me an engraved invitation. I’m not going anywhere. And quit looking at me like that or I’m going to forget all about us being tired.”
She was tempted. God, she was tempted. To tell him forget tired. To tell him to take her to bed and make her remember what it meant to be alive and in lust.
But then she saw the dark circles under his eyes and knew he was right. Now wasn’t the time. So she pushed him out her bedroom door. “The sheets are in the closet at the end of the hall. Good night.”