by Sandra Owens
You couldn’t be best friends with a man for over a year and not know those kinds of things about him. Because seriously, he was hot, he owned a biker bar, and there were barely clad women throwing themselves at him on a nightly basis. What man could refuse that kind of smorgasbord? She forced an answering smile as she slipped on her pants, then her blouse.
“Let me,” Nate said, brushing her hands away from the buttons on her shirt. He trailed a finger down the valley of her breasts to her bra, giving a little tug. “You do realize you owe me big time, right?”
“Duly noted.” Because she was determined to keep secret that she loved him, and that as far as he knew, all she wanted from him was his body, she pressed her palm over the bulge in his jeans. “I’m surprised you can even walk.”
He snorted. “Barely. Now stop touching me, or we’ll never get out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the hospital. Our man attacked another prostitute tonight, but she managed to get away.”
“That’s not good. He’s not taking any time off.” But at least he hadn’t killed this one. That was a win.
“Yeah, but maybe we got lucky with this one and can get a good description.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Nate glanced at Taylor. She’d gone quiet on him, spending the first ten minutes of their drive staring out the window. “We’ll get him.”
She shrugged. “We will.”
“I know this case upsets you, and I understand why.”
“It does, but that’s not what I’m thinking about right now.”
“And?” he said when she went quiet again.
“Before we slipped into friends with benefits, I felt like I could talk to you about anything.”
“Now you can’t?”
“I don’t know.” She shifted in her seat to face him. “I want to think I can.”
His internal warning system dinged. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it. “You can still talk to me about anything,” he said, mostly meaning it.
“Okay.” She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.
“Taylor, just spit it out.” And stop sucking on your lip.
“Yeah, okay. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to put a claim on you or anything like that.”
Ding. Ding. Ding. Warning! “But?”
“Because I’m not. I spoke true when I told you I’m not husband hunting. It’s just that, while we have this thing going on between us, I don’t want to think about you in some other woman’s bed. If that’s a problem, then we should end it right now.”
His first reaction was that by demanding an exclusive, she was putting a claim on him. Friends with benefits were free to pursue other interests. Wasn’t that the way it worked? But when was the last time he’d even been interested in another woman? Months. And no way in hell was he ready to call a halt to whatever this thing between them was.
Truthfully, she already had an exclusive from him, it just hadn’t been acknowledged. But if he did verbally agree, then he was entering unchartered territory. He’d rarely seen the same woman twice for no other reason than to avoid entanglements. Hang around too long, and women developed expectations. Not that he blamed them, but if they thought he’d ever put a ring on their finger, they were barking up the wrong tree. Any woman who thought he could make her happy was just wrong. He didn’t have it in him.
“I see,” Taylor said, then turned her attention back to the passing scenery.
No, she didn’t see. An internal debate raged. Tell her she’s better off without you. The words wouldn’t come, though, because a stray thought that came out of nowhere said, Maybe for her, you might have it in you.
“No, you don’t see,” he said. “I’ve never done exclusive before, but I’m willing to give it a go.” Wrong thing to say. He knew it as soon as the words left his mouth, and Taylor’s frown confirmed it. How did they get from what had happened between them in his foyer to this?
She turned her face toward his. “Seriously, Nate? Give it a go? What kind of bullshit is that? That gives you an out card. All you have to do is come to me and say, ‘I gave it a go, but then I screwed some other woman last night.’ Well, that doesn’t work for me.”
“Is this a lovers’ quarrel? I’ve never had one before, so just checking.” Yeah, he was digging the hole deeper, but avoiding relationships was ingrained in him. Why couldn’t she enjoy the ride for as long as it lasted without putting a name to it? He had no intention of seeing other women at the moment. Truthfully, he couldn’t imagine being with anyone but her for a long time. So why hadn’t he said all that instead of what he had?
“You’re an ass.”
An undeniable fact. “We’re here.” He shut off the engine. “We’ll talk about all this when we get back to my place.” Maybe he could get his act together by then.
She got out without answering.
“You really are an ass, Gentry,” he muttered, then followed her into the hospital.
“Did Rothmire tell you what room?” Taylor said after stabbing her finger on the elevator button.
“Two thirty-one. The boss talked to her doctor. They’re only going to keep her overnight. She got lucky.” He put his hand on her arm. “Taylor—”
She pulled away. “Not now. We have a job to do.”
Fine. But they were going to talk later, even if he had to handcuff her to a chair so she’d listen. The short ride in the elevator was done in silence.
They both showed their badges to the cop at the entrance to the woman’s room. “Her name is Delaney Gains,” he said as they entered, having gotten that information from Rothmire. Taylor nodded, and when she walked up to the bed, Nate took a position next to the wall.
He studied the blonde-haired woman in the hospital bed. She was asleep, but he didn’t doubt she had blue eyes. There were bruises on her neck but no other visible injuries, unless the blanket covering her hid them.
“Delaney,” Taylor said, putting her hand on the woman’s arm. “I need you to wake up, hon.” She brushed the woman’s hair away from her face. “Delaney. Wake up, okay?”
Nate’s phone buzzed, and at seeing Court’s name on the screen, he stepped out of the room. “Yeah?”
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital. Our man struck again tonight, but the woman managed to get away. Taylor’s interviewing her now.”
“Glad to hear she escaped. I might have something. Stop by my place when you get back.”
“Should be in about an hour. I’ll bring Taylor with me.”
“Great. See you then.”
Nate eyed the door to the woman’s room. If he walked back in now, he would interrupt the flow of Taylor’s interview. She had a knack for remembering conversations word for word, so he decided to wait in the hallway. The cop studied him with interest when Nate leaned back on the wall. Keeping his expression blank, he closed his eyes, hoping he wasn’t about to get grilled on how to become an FBI agent.
While he waited for Taylor to finish, the image of her pressed against his wall, wearing nothing but a lacy pink bra and matching bikini panties filled his mind. It was true what he’d told her. Every time he passed that spot, he would visualize her there, her quiet little sighs and moans, her fingers digging into the wall as he pleasured her. Arousal stirred just thinking about it. To get his mind off an almost-naked Taylor before he embarrassed himself, he ran through their conversation in the car.
What had brought that on? Why was she even thinking of him with other women? He’d never been a touchy-feely man, but with Taylor, anytime he was near her, he wanted to touch her. Whether it was a hand on her back when they walked, tucking hair behind her ear, or his fingers on her arm, the contact pleased him. He had no problem with exclusive, he just didn’t want to say it. Putting it out there took them to relationship status.
If he were smart, he’d back away before things between them got messy—or messier—but h
e didn’t want to. Apparently, he was a selfish bastard. She’d said she wasn’t looking for anything permanent, so maybe he was making too much of this. They just needed to talk and make sure they were on the same page.
That shouldn’t be too difficult.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Taylor paused at the hospital-room door. Nate was braced against the wall, his eyes closed. Her mouth went dry. He was so beautiful that looking at him was sometimes painful because he would never belong to her.
His eyes opened, his gaze landing on her. Awareness simmered through her blood as he focused on her. She could almost feel his fingers on her, his rough voice commanding her to come. Desire pulsed low in her stomach. She glanced over to see the cop watching her with appreciation in his eyes.
“Let’s go,” Nate said, pushing away from the wall while giving the cop a hard stare. He put his hand on her lower back as they walked toward the elevator.
She forced herself not to lean into the warmth of his palm. She was still unsettled by their conversation in the car and needed time to think. Although she hadn’t intended to start a conversation about exclusivity, it had been his comment that was playing havoc with her mind. I don’t bring women to my home hadn’t been a past-tense statement.
At the elevator, he pushed the button, but his eyes stayed on her. “Taylor—”
The door opened, and she stepped inside. To give herself something to do, she took out her phone to check her text messages. There was one from each of the girls, even a snowman emoji from Annie. Taylor smiled, thinking of how much Annie loved pointing at emojis, then giggling when Rosie would make them appear in a text message.
God, she missed her girls. But they were having a blast at the beach, so she was happy for them. Also, they all apparently had crushes on the two K2 guys, since in their nightly phone conversations, it was Saint this and Doc that. According to Rosie, Annie was now adamant that Doc put her to bed every night.
“The way you’re smiling, I’m guessing those are messages from the girls?” Nate said.
“Yeah. They said to tell you hi.” She glanced at him. The way his eyes grew soft at hearing that did funny things to her heart. It still sometimes surprised her at how good he was with the girls. It had taken a few visits for the older ones to feel safe around him, but he’d understood that and had let them come to him when they were ready. For Annie, though, it had been love at first sight.
“Tell them I miss them,” he said as they reached his car.
“I will when I talk to them tomorrow. They’ll love hearing that.” He opened the passenger door, but before she could get into the car, he put his hand on the roof, blocking her. Her gaze landed on his arm, on the flex of his muscles under tanned skin. What was it about his forearm that made her want to lick it?
“Listen.” He glanced across the roof of the car, then focused back on her. “I’m sorry. What I said, it didn’t come out right.”
She wondered if he’d ever said “I’m sorry” to a woman before. She doubted it and appreciated that he was saying it now. But . . . and there was a but, a very big one. It was the bare arm she wanted to put her mouth on. She didn’t want another woman to touch it. Ever. Nate Gentry didn’t do relationships. He’d been up front about that, and she didn’t see him changing his mind. She’d thought she could do the friends-with-benefits thing with him, but she’d been wrong. There were a lot of things she could accommodate where he was concerned, but sharing him was not one of them.
“We never should have let this thing between us get out of hand.”
He frowned. “Exactly what are you saying?”
“That I want to go back to just being friends.” Tell me that doesn’t work for you. Tell me you want me in your life as more than a friend. Tell me you can’t bear the thought of me with another man. Tell me I’m the only woman in your life.
His expression blanked. “Sure. Whatever you want.” He removed his arm. “Get in. Court’s waiting for us. Said he found something.”
Willing her tears away, she slid onto the seat, watching him as he walked around the hood of the car. As much as she’d loved every intimate moment with him, it had been a mistake. She would have been better off not knowing what she was missing. But she’d known putting the brakes on was the right thing to do as soon as he’d said “sure” without hesitating. If he’d given the slightest argument, she probably would have given in, so she was glad he hadn’t. Even though it was for the best, it hurt like hell.
“What did Delaney Gains have to say?” he asked as he backed out of the parking space.
They were going to be all business, then. If that was the way he wanted it, so be it. “If we’re headed to Court’s, I’ll tell you both at the same time.”
He didn’t respond, and the ride back to his condo was made in silence. That hurt, too, because not only had she lost Nate as a lover, she didn’t see how they could go back in time to when he was simply her best friend. She was highly trained, knew how to rein in her emotions.
When she got home tonight, she’d have a good cry, and then she’d put Nate Gentry into coworker status, where he should have stayed in the first place.
Back at the condo building where the brothers lived, she followed Nate into Court’s home. When they walked in, Alex turned off the TV, tossing aside the remote.
“Court’s waiting for us in his computer room. Hi, Taylor.” He grinned, giving her a wink.
She smiled, something she often did when Alex was around. “Hey. How’s Alex today?” Of the three brothers, she thought of Alex as being the least tortured by their childhood. From what Nate had told her, he and Court had protected their baby brother as best they could. Alex was fun to be around. She wished he could rub some of his bubbly off on his oldest brother.
“He’s just peachy.” His grin grew wider. “I stole that word from Madison.”
Nate grunted, then headed down the hallway without giving her an invitation to follow.
“Who poked the bear?” Alex said, frowning at the retreating back of his brother.
“I did.”
“Good for you. Someone needed to.” He walked over and slung an arm around her. “He’s a stubborn one. Don’t give up on him.”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, Alex. Where are Madison and Lauren?”
Alex lifted his gaze to the ceiling. “Pretty sure she does have a clue.” He turned eyes so much like Nate’s on her. “Give him a hard time, Taylor. Madison did that, and it brought me to my knees. I found, much to my surprise, that I liked that position where she was concerned.” He stilled. “That didn’t sound right, did it?”
She rolled her eyes. “You Gentry boys have a knack for saying things you later decide doesn’t sound right.”
“Uh-oh,” he said, chuckling. “Want to share?”
“Nope. Where’s Court?”
“He’s in his James Bond room. Come with me.”
He put his hand at her back, giving her a slight push. His palm on her spine didn’t have the same effect as when Nate did that.
“To answer your second question, Madison and Lauren are sitting on the balcony, having a predinner glass of wine. As soon as we’re done, we’re heading to the bar. The girls ordered a pizza and want you to join them.”
“Sure. That would be nice.”
“Great.” She followed him into the room, coming to a stop at seeing a wall full of weapons. “Good heavens.” She turned in a circle, taking in the banks of monitors, the shelves filled with bottled water and other supplies. “Is this your doomsday room?” she asked Court.
He spun his chair around. “It’s a safe room. We each have one.”
“Not fair. I want one, too.” She’d been in Nate’s condo numerous times, but he’d never shown her his room.
“I’m sure Nate will let you borrow his anytime you want,” Alex said.
She glanced at Nate, who was shooting daggers at his younger brother. He shifted his gaze to her. “Before we hear what Court h
as to say, fill us in on your interview with Delaney Gains.”
“Sure.” It was time to get down to business. She put her aching heart and all thoughts of Nate in a box and closed the lid. “One big difference between Delaney and the others is that she has bruises all over her body, not just her neck. The other women only have strangle marks. You’ll understand why in a minute. So, our unsub first approached her a week ago. He asked what she charged, and when she told him, he offered her triple that if she’d stay the night with him. She took him to the Corner Motel, her usual place to book a room.”
“I’ve seen that place,” Alex said. “It’s pretty nasty.”
Court nodded. “And, unfortunately, not the kind of place that will have security cameras.”
“The girls would avoid any motel with cameras,” she said. “Anyway, when they got to the room, he told her to keep her clothes on. All he wanted was to talk. At first, she thought he was a cop and it was a sting. He finally convinced her that he wasn’t the police, so she decided getting paid triple and not having to”—she made air quotes—“‘fuck’ to earn it was a nice change.”
“What did he want to talk about?” Court asked.
“Saving her.” That got their attention. “He told her that what she was doing was a sin and that he could take her away from her miserable life. At some point, she fell asleep while he was talking. When she woke up, he was gone. Two nights later, he showed up on her corner again, offering her the same deal. She decided he was a harmless kook, and since she liked the extra money for doing nothing, she took him back to the motel. The same thing happened. She said, ‘He talked the same shit,’ and she fell asleep again. He was gone when she woke up.”
“He’s definitely our man,” Alex said.