by Diane Kelly
I was worried about Angelique, but knew I’d jeopardize the case if I didn’t obey. Geils might fire me and then we’d be back to square one.
I left the club and walked out to my car, but I remained in the parking lot, waiting. Ten minutes later, Shawna and Angelique walked out of the club. Shawna had an arm wrapped around her friend, holding her up. Nick stood in the doorway, watching the women leave. When he realized I was still in the lot, he raised a discreet hand in acknowledgment.
I started my engine, pulled out of my spot, and swung around, rolling down my window as I drove up next to the dancers. “Are you okay, Angelique?”
Angelique looked at me, her expression sad and shocked and helpless and traumatized. Her hair was a tangled mess, her red rose barrette hanging at an odd angle as if she’d engaged in a rough tussle. Her right cheek bore a darkening bruise in the shape of a handprint.
Obviously, one of the Ps in the VIP room thought his money entitled him to smack the girls around. That P was a real A-hole.
My heart contracted into a tight, painful rock. Sure, the dancers did things I’d never consider, but maybe I’d been lucky that I’d never had to consider doing them. And while I’d confronted violent men on my job, too, I’d been armed and trained to defend myself. Angelique had been neither. Geils and his goons clearly hadn’t come to her rescue. It took everything in me not to go back into that club with my gun blazing and teach those bastards a lesson.
“Can I do something to help?” I asked. “Maybe call the police?”
“No police.” Angelique wiped a tear from her eye. “But could you mail me my last paycheck?”
In other words, she wouldn’t be coming back to this hellhole.
“Sure.”
As Shawna led Angelique off to her car, I realized I couldn’t hold back anymore. All of the illicit sex and drugs and violence was too much for me. I drove my car out of the lot, hot tears burning my eyes.
chapter eighteen
Lunch Date
Guys & Dolls was closed on Sundays, so Nick and I finally had a day off together.
He was sitting on the front stoop with Nutty, his ancient golden retriever mix, when I pulled up to his mother’s house. Nick stood as I exited my car, while Nutty, who suffered from cataracts, sniffed the air in an attempt to identify me. When he caught the scent of my Chanel No. 5, he realized the girl who fed him fried bologna sandwiches and scratched his belly had arrived. His tail began a welcoming thump-thump-thump against the porch.
Nick said nothing as I approached him. He just offered a smile and held up his hand, a key ring dangling from his finger.
A thrill ran through me. “You got the place?”
“Nutty and I move in the weekend after Thanksgiving.” He bent down and gave me a soft, warm kiss before leaning in to whisper in my ear. “You and I have got some bed shopping to do.”
If my girlie parts could talk they would have shouted, Wahoo!
Nick opened the front door for me.
“Angelique quit last night,” I told him as we stepped inside.
Nick exhaled an angry huff. “I wish I knew which one of the johns in the VIP room manhandled her like that. I’d kick his ass.”
“I hate this case,” I said. “It’s depressing. I’m tired of the long hours, and I never feel clean when I come home from that place.”
“Me, neither,” Nick said. “The guys on the security team are idiots. Tarzan told me he’d had a ‘ménage à twat’ with two of the Daisy Dukes.”
Urk.
We made our way to the kitchen.
“Hello there, Tara.” Nick’s mother gave me a warm hug and a cold glass of tea. Like Nick, she was tall and dark-haired, though strands of silver had found their way into her locks. She wore boots, jeans, and a knobby blue sweater. She tilted her head first one way, then the other, as she took in my new black curls. “That’s a cute look on you.” She picked up a serving knife and waved it at her son. “Nick’s mustache, though? That silly thing has got to go.”
I raised my glass in concurrence. “I’m with you on that.”
“Hey!” Nick ran his fingers over his upper lip. “Don’t trash my ’stache.” He pulled out a chair for me at the kitchen table, sliding into the seat next to me.
Bonnie plunked a steaming plate in front of me and another in front of Nick. “Homemade pot pie. Grew the vegetables myself. Dig in.”
I swallowed my first warm bite. “Mmm. It’s delicious.” With meals like this I could see why Nick had stuck around so long.
Bonnie slid into a seat across the table and eyed me. “I’m glad you finally got your head on straight and decided to ditch that other boy for Nick.”
My second bite lodged in my throat. I glanced at Nick.
He shrugged. “She beat it out of me.”
Bonnie put her napkin on her lap. “You should’ve seen the way Nick moped around here before you came to your senses. It was downright pitiful.”
Part of me was flattered to know how much Nick cared, but another part felt a pang of guilt. I’d never set out to hurt anyone, but love is a dangerous game. Those who dare to play know the risks.
Nick tossed me a wink before responding to his mother. “Don’t worry. Tara will find a way to make up for it.”
Bonnie turned her evil eye on her son now and pointed her fork at him. “You best behave, Nick. Hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He ducked his head but shot me another wink as soon as her focus shifted to her plate.
Definitely time for a change of subject. “Do you two have plans for Thanksgiving yet?”
Bonnie held a steaming bite aloft. “To be honest, I hadn’t given it much thought. The holidays haven’t been the same since Nick’s dad passed away.”
I looked from her to Nick. “Why don’t you two come out to Nacogdoches? We could drive out together Wednesday evening. My parents have plenty of room.”
Bonnie’s face brightened. “That sounds like fun. Count us in.”
Nick raised a hand. “Hold on a minute.” He turned to me. “Will your mother let my mom bring her stuffing?”
“Sure.” After all, Mom hadn’t found the perfect recipe yet.
“How many are you expecting?” Bonnie asked.
I performed a quick computation on my fingers. “There will be us three, Mom and Dad, my two brothers and their wives and kids.” I’d run out of fingers at this point and was trying to keep count in my head. “That’ll make fourteen.”
“I better double the recipe, then,” Bonnie said.
Nick dug his fork into his pot pie. “Triple it. I want leftovers.”
When we finished lunch, I offered to help with the dishes but Bonnie shooed me away. “You two have been working overtime. Go have some fun.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Nick put a hand on my back to guide me to the front door. “We’re going to head over to Tara’s to watch the game.”
We were? What game? I didn’t bother asking because I didn’t care. I only knew one thing. Alicia was gone for the day and Nick and I would have my place to ourselves. And when a man and a woman are all alone, all kinds of wonderful things can happen.
Nick followed me back to my place in the Hummer. To my chagrin, he actually did turn on the television, scrolling through the channels until he found a football game.
“Seriously?” I said. “We finally find some time to be alone and you want to watch football?” At least the Cowboys were playing, a game I might actually have some interest in.
“I told my mother we’d be watching the game,” he said. “She didn’t raise any liars.”
When I crossed my arms over my chest, he stepped toward me and nuzzled my ear. “’Course I didn’t tell her we’d be watching it with no clothes on.”
Woo-hoo! “Now you’re talking.” I tilted my head to give him better access.
He left a trail of soft kisses down my neck. “Got any beer?”
“Yep.” I rarely drank the stuff these days, but I kept a six-pack on hand for him. I
supposed I could’ve been insulted he was thinking of beer at a time like this, but to be totally honest I could go for a glass of peach sangria. I felt nervous. Silly, I know, but we’d had to wait so long to be alone together that I wanted everything to go right.
I had no idea how far Nick would want to take things today. Heck, I wasn’t sure myself. As much as I wanted him, it could be fun to savor each step rather than rush into full physical intimacy. Besides, there was that stupid no-nooky term to think about. It had been a ridiculous agreement in retrospect, and of course it wasn’t legally binding. But my personal integrity meant a lot to me. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about myself if I made love to Nick before the agreement expired on November 28.
I headed to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of beer for Nick, pouring myself a tall glass of fruity wine. When I returned I found Nick on the couch and a small, gift-wrapped box on the coffee table. I barely managed to hold back the squeal welling up in me. I gestured to the box. “What’s that?”
A mischievous gleam played in Nick’s eyes as he took the beer from me. “Just a little something I thought you might like. After all, it would be unmannerly for me to accept those fishing gloves without giving you a gift in return.”
While he took a slug from the bottle, I snatched the box off the table and tore through the wrap like an eager child. Inside was a red velvet box. I opened it to find a pair of ruby drop earrings.
The squeal refused to be contained any longer. Squeeeee! “Nick! They’re gorgeous!”
He smiled, set his beer down, and held out his hand. “Let me put them on you.”
I handed the box to Nick and reached up to my ears, yanking out the silver hoops I’d put on this morning. I lifted my hair out of the way.
Nick fished one of the earrings out of the box and stood in front of me. Gazing into my eyes, he reached out with his empty hand and caressed my cheek. “Anyone ever tell you how pretty you are?”
His touch and his words were so unexpectedly tender and sweet my heart feel squeezed and happy tears welled in my eyes.
He slid one earring on, then the other, his fingers warm on my skin. “They look beautiful on you,” he said softly. “I knew they would.”
I rushed over to the mirror that hung above the table in my foyer and turned my head side to side, admiring the sparkle of the gems. They must have cost Nick a small fortune.
He stepped up behind me and our gazes met in the mirror.
When he wrapped his arms around me from behind, I gave him a big smile. “Thanks so much, Nick.”
“It’s nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. Just like it wasn’t nothing the time he’d come over and held me all night after I’d been shot at. Just like it wasn’t nothing when he’d ripped the bars off the windows of a pawnshop to save my life after I’d been whacked with that damn baseball bat. Just like it wasn’t nothing when he’d set aside his masculine pride and waited for me to sort through my confused feelings about him and Brett.
I closed my eyes and melted back into Nick, enjoying the feel of his strong, warm arms around me, his rock-hard chest behind me, his solid heartbeat against my back.
I’d never felt so completely content.
chapter nineteen
Eviction Notice
I could’ve stayed in Nick’s arms forever if not for my cat jumping onto the table and butting my hand with her head, demanding to be petted.
I opened my eyes and stroked Annie’s back while eyeing Nick’s reflection. The earrings got me thinking of another piece of jewelry he’d bought for a woman, the engagement ring he’d given to Natalie, his former fiancée with whom he’d recently reconnected when she appeared as a match for him on an online dating site. “What happened with you and Natalie?”
He groaned and dropped his face onto my shoulder. “You really want to know? Now?”
“Yeah.” Part of me was simply curious, but part of me wanted to know where things went wrong with the two of them so I could better know what Nick wanted, or didn’t want, in a relationship.
“It’s ugly,” he said.
“Breakup stories usually are.”
He released me, retrieved his beer from the coffee table, and plopped back down on the couch. “Natalie teaches second grade. She’s good at it, too. Keeps the little buggers in line with all kinds of rules and routines. Problem was, she couldn’t turn it off when we were together.”
Many spouses had the same complaint about law enforcement personnel. Brett had found my preoccupation with my job annoying on occasion, and he’d freaked out when I’d once pulled my gun on a reporter named Trish LeGrande who’d been checking his mail and watering his plants while he was away. I thought she was an intruder, and my training had kicked in. Frankly, I’d considered the whole thing Brett’s fault since he’d failed to tell me the woman had a key to his house. But no sense dredging that up again, huh?
Nick took a swig from the bottle before continuing. “At first I thought it was cute. Natalie would say things like ‘Wipe your feet when you come in the door’ or ‘Keep an eye on the clock so you won’t be late.’ She cooked for me, ironed my dress shirts, that kind of thing. It was nice to have someone looking after me.”
I supposed I could understand. As capable and independent as I considered myself, I had to admit that one of the things I’d liked about Brett was that he often pampered me, cooking dinner on his grill, bringing me lattes when I slept in.
Nick looked down, putting a hand on the back of his neck. “After a while, all that doting and henpecking became too much. I tried to talk to her about it but she told me I was being pigheaded and refused to meet me halfway. The final straw was when she made dinner one night and told me that if I wanted to fool around afterward I’d have to eat all my green beans.”
What? “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Hell, I’d forgo food entirely and starve myself if it meant making love to Nick. I’d be like a mouse in a laboratory experiment, repeatedly pushing the orgasm button again and again until I keeled over dead. “What did you do?”
He offered a sheepish shrug. “I ate everything on my plate but the beans, told her it was over, and left.”
Whoa. That was ugly.
“She threw the plate at me as I went out the door. Shattered her grandmother’s good china.”
The two of us simply looked at one another for a moment or two.
Finally, I stepped toward him. “I’d never make you eat your green beans.”
His lip curled up in that chipped-tooth smile. “For you, Tara, I’d eat all the green beans in the world.”
My insides turned to goo.
Oh, God. I was falling fast and hard and headlong for this guy. It was exciting and scary at the same time. I’d never felt so simultaneously strong and vulnerable, so euphoric yet so terrified, so sure yet so out of control.
I faced Nick, standing directly over him now. His eyes traveled from my face to my breasts and back to my face again, his eyes asking questions I could answer only with yes.
His look alone ignited an unrelenting throb of need in me. Putting my hands on his shoulders, I knelt on the couch, one leg on either side of his thighs, straddling him. He gazed at me, desire burning in his eyes as I slowly lowered myself onto his lap.
At the instant of contact, I moaned involuntarily and Nick grabbed me so tightly it was as if he were trying to absorb me into himself. If we could go this crazy for each other fully dressed, I could only imagine how wonderful it would be to get naked with him.
The sounds of cheering came from the television. I knew the crowd was responding to the play on the football field, but it felt as if the cosmos were rooting for Nick and me, encouraging us to put some points on our scoreboard.
Nick’s breaths came more rapidly, his chest pressing harder against mine with each intake of air. My nipples strained against my lace bra, begging to be freed, to be touched. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he tucked his face under my chin, forcing my head back, the touch of his lips
warm and wild as he kissed my tender throat. He ran his hands into the hair on either side of my face, his fingers entangled in my black curls, his mouth claiming mine now, taking no prisoners.
His kisses became deeper, more demanding. I arched my back and pressed my upper body even harder against him, willing the barrier of clothing between us to magically dissolve. He ran his hands down my sides, grabbing my thighs and pressing me down as he lifted his groin, grinding himself hard against me. He repeated the motion and my body responded as if it had a will of its own, pushing back against him with every bit of energy I could muster.
Already I felt a climax beginning to coil inside me. I’d never had such a quick and intense response to a man before. But Nick made it so easy.
He ran his hands up and over my hips to the waistband of my sweater. His fingers inched underneath the fabric and touched the sensitive skin of my abdomen. Thanks to the rigorous workouts with Lu, my abs were the firmest they’d ever been. I hoped Nick would be pleased with what he found.
He cupped my hipbones, running his thumbs over my stomach. He eased a little higher, his thumbs brushing over the bottom of my rib cage now. He worked his way still higher until his thumbs brushed the bottom of my sensitive breasts in a thrilling torture.
His mouth moved to my neck again as his hands slid under my bra and found my breasts, fully engulfing them in their warmth and roughness. I emitted an involuntary cry of both pleasure and release.
How long had I waited for Nick to touch me like this? It seemed like an eternity.
Just as Nick’s hands slid around to my back to unhook my bra, a key sounded in my front door lock.
A jolt of adrenaline surged through me. “It’s Alicia!” I hissed. Instinctively, I shoved Nick’s hands down and out of my sweater and swung my leg over his lap so that I was sitting beside him on the couch.
Nick groaned. “Her timing sucks.” He grabbed a sofa pillow and positioned it over his lap to hide his arousal.
Alicia came through the door with plastic bags in her hands. I supposed I shouldn’t be too angry at her. She did live here, after all, and she’d bought groceries. Nevertheless I considered evicting her on the spot.