She was so damn determined. He admired that about her, but this time she would have to put herself before work. He wanted to flat-out tell her no but he could see she was ready to fight him and this time he wanted as little argument as possible.
“I’m sorry, Ellis. You can’t go back to your store yet. It’s still a crime scene.”
“But you’re a cop. You can let me back in there so I can get some of my things.”
“I can’t.” He wasn’t supposed to but he could. She needed the night off and if a couple of dresses hung in limbo, so be it.
She looked at him, her eyes searching his face. “Would you get in trouble if you did?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He was ready for an argument but she didn’t give one. “No smart-ass remark?”
“I don’t have the energy.”
He grabbed her hand and this time she didn’t pull away. “You must really be hurting if you don’t have the energy to be a pain in my ass.”
“I am. You are going to find me an ice pack and buy me a big bag of chocolate.” She shut her eyes for a moment, and the urge to tuck her into bed nearly overwhelmed him. “Scratch that. I need something I don’t have to chew.”
“How about some ice cream?”
She opened her eyes. “With hot fudge?”
“Anything you want.”
Just as he was leading her to the nearest scoop shop Ellis’s cell phone rang. “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley played.
“Shit. It’s my mother.” Ellis pinched the bridge of her nose, looking more pained than he had seen her all day. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“She’s probably just checking to see if you’re okay. Answer the phone.”
“I don’t wanna,” she pouted.
“Do it anyway.”
She relented and slowly pulled the phone out of her bag. “Hello, Mother.”
“Ellis, are you okay?” Mike clearly heard Phillipa’s loud voice pour from the phone. “I just heard about the robbery. And on the radio! Why didn’t you call me? The DJ said that the owner had been assaulted. What happened? How badly are you hurt? I’m on my way.”
Ellis looked at Mike helplessly. He took the phone. Dr. Greg could be a steamroller. “Dr. Greg? It’s Mike. You don’t have to worry. I’m here with Ellis.”
“You are? Thank God! She never tells me anything. How is she?”
“She’s fine,” he lied. Once Phillipa saw Ellis’s face she was going to have the proverbial cow.
“I’m coming down there.”
“Don’t!” he said. The store didn’t look much better: Besides the smashed display case, there were still cops around. “I’ll bring her to your house.”
*
Twenty minutes later Mike had pulled up to the house. It was a cute little bungalow, with flower boxes in front of the windows. It wasn’t what he expected from Dr. Gregory. When he took her class ten years ago he didn’t think of her as a real person with a family. He only saw this little woman with a bigger-than-life presence. But today, speaking to her on the phone, hearing the worry in her voice, he realized that before she was a professor and a feminist she was a mother.
“How do I look?” Ellis asked him. They had been parked for a few moments now, neither one of them in a hurry to get out of the car.
“I’d date you,” he said with a shrug. The truth was she looked battered but he didn’t want to tell her that. Before they left, Ellis tried to cover most of her bruising with makeup, but Mike refused to let her put any near her stitches. No amount of makeup would hide the state of her face. The only thing she managed to do was look like she’d tried to cover it up.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” she mumbled.
She tried to arrange her hair in front of her face in vain. He already knew that her parents would see through it. They were parents, after all, and just hearing that their youngest child had been robbed was enough to keep them worried about her for a year.
“Come on, Ellis. They’re waiting for us.”
She looked down at her hands. “I don’t want to go in.”
“Why not? What’s the worst they can do? Fuss over you?”
He knew as soon as he said that that Ellis was a woman who wasn’t used to being fussed over or coddled. She was one of the strangest females he had ever encountered. Most women he knew would have been weepy messes by now but Ellis had remained strong the entire day. She didn’t blame the asshole who hurt her—only herself. It worried Mike a bit.
“My mother is going to drag me by my hair to the nearest law firm and make me apply. She didn’t like it when I quit. Now she has a good excuse to nag me forever.”
“Really?” Mike was surprised by her statement. “I thought your mother was one of those free-spirited go-where-your-heart-leads-you kind of mothers.”
“She used to be. She was that way with Dina.” She looked out the window. “With me they took a different approach. They had different expectations.”
“I take it Dina ran wild as a teenager.”
Ellis nodded. “They let her do whatever she wanted, hoping that it would turn out for the best. Even though my mother is a feminist I think she thought that somewhere along the line a nice man would come and take care of my sister. They knew that wasn’t the case for me so they stressed academics. Dina got to be the beautiful creative one while I got to be a lawyer.”
“But you’re creative.” Mike said. And beautiful, he didn’t say. He didn’t understand why she didn’t see it. “I saw the sketches in your office. The one of that lady at the vanity was really good.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks reddened. “That was just something I was fooling around with.” She shrugged. “Dina is a hostess at a restaurant and I’m the owner of a fledging clothing store.” She smiled wryly. “I guess none of my mother’s plans worked out.”
He was about to tell her that she was talented. That she was just as lovely as her sister. That her drive would get her far in this world. But he never got the chance. The front door opened and man in a yellow tie appeared.
“That’s my father,” Ellis said. “We’d better get out.” She placed her fingers on the door handle but then looked back at Mike. “My father is not like other fathers but I love him very much.”
“Okay.” Mike nodded at the warning. If this man had married the outspoken über-feminist that was Phillipa Gregory, he must be extraordinary.
“It took you four minutes and thirty-seven seconds to get out of the car,” Ellis’s father said as they approached. “It should take you less than thirty seconds to get out of the car. I was concerned.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. Mike and I were talking.”
“Mike?” The man’s eyes settled on him for a too-brief moment before he looked away, and down at his feet. “Is this your new boyfriend? I did not like your last boyfriend. Your mother said not to say anything but he wasn’t good to you.”
Again Mike wondered what Jack had done to Ellis. He would make it a point to find out later.
“Mike is my friend,” Ellis said patiently as she stepped past him and entered the house. “I would like you to meet him. Mike, this is my father, Dr. Walter Garret. Daddy, this is my friend, Detective Michael Edwards.”
Mike extended his hand to Walter. He took it but his eyes never met Mike’s. Mike was beginning to understand what Ellis was talking about in the car. “It’s very nice to meet you, sir. I was in one of your wife’s classes a few years ago.”
“I remember her speaking about you. Only five men have ever taken Phillipa’s class. I was one of them.”
Walter stepped farther into the house and shut the door behind him. He took a large flat box from the table and handed it to Ellis, never once looking at her face.
“I bought you a box of chocolates. You like these. All of them have nuts. No coconut. You hate coconut.”
“I do,” she said with a soft smile. “Thank you.”
Walter finally pulled his
eyes up to Ellis’s face, and as an outsider Mike could tell it actually was a struggle for the man to look at his daughter. “Your face.”
Walter lifted his fingers and lightly touched the skin under Ellis’s injury, concern in his eyes. “Ellis.” He quickly removed his hand. “We will have banana pancakes tomorrow for breakfast. Tonight you will sleep in your old bedroom and you will watch movies with your mother and I.”
Ellis glanced up at Mike, her eyes misty. He nodded. Ellis might not want to stay but her father wanted her to. For Walter’s own peace of mind he needed her here tonight. She had a father who actually loved her. Mike had no idea what that felt like. Ellis was blessed.
“Can we watch Forrest Gump?” she asked.
Walter nodded. “Mike, would you like to stay for lunch? We are going to have pizza from Michelangelo’s.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Mike spotted Phillipa across the room. He gave her a look hoping that she would read his meaning and remain cool around Ellis. It had been a rough day for her, and the last thing Ellis needed was more excitement from her mother.
“Ellis…” Phillipa walked over and wrapped her arms around her much taller daughter. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was very worried about you. I almost had to take a Xanax. You know I don’t do very well under pressure.”
“Liar,” Ellis accused softly. “I once saw you bang out a four-hundred-page manuscript in two weeks.”
“That’s different. Deadlines inspire me. My children give me heart palpitations.”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“Your pretty face,” Phillipa said when she pulled away. “I’ll take out a steak. We’ll put it on there.”
“No raw meat near her cut,” Mike admonished. “A bag of frozen peas will work.”
Phillipa rolled her eyes. “Men always think they can tell a woman what to do.” She walked over to Mike and hugged him. “Thank you for taking such good care of my baby. I’m glad you were there.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said. “Your girl is a trouper. You should be proud of her.”
Mike studied the Garrets, realizing that Ellis just didn’t look like Phillipa. She didn’t look like Walter, either. No facial features, no traits, no similarities. Both parents had peach complexions while Ellis was olive. Neither possessed her thick chestnut hair. Plus Ellis was just built differently. Without heels she stood as tall as her father.
“Oh, we are. Now tell us what happened.”
“Later,” Mike said when Ellis paled. “After she eats.”
“You aren’t seriously suggesting I wait to hear my daughter’s story.”
He glanced at Ellis. She was exhausted. “I’m not suggesting. I’m telling you that you’re going to wait.”
Phillipa narrowed her eyes at him, challenging his ruling. He wasn’t scared of her. He’d grown up in a house full of strong females. “Fine.” She backed down after a moment. “I’ll wait but I won’t wait forever. I want every detail, Ellison Elizabeth Garret.”
“How could I deny you, Mother.” Ellis sighed. “I need some air. Mike and I will be outside until lunch arrives.”
*
Ellis led Mike out the kitchen door that opened into her parents’ backyard. It smelled like fall. She inhaled deeply, taking a moment to stare at the sunny yard. Physical exhaustion was beginning to set in, but she fought against it. Her day was far from over. She would be staying here all night watching movies with her parents. She loved them and understood their concern but Ellis needed time to think, time to regroup. Her store would be closed all day tomorrow due to the investigation and probably the next day for cleanup. Two days closed. Two days of lost revenue. Two more days where she had no control of her destiny. There had to be a way to recover from this. All she had to do was discover how.
“You grew up here?” Mike asked from beside her.
“Yes.” She looked up at him, still in his work clothes, looking a little disheveled and yet sexy. “This house used to belong to my grandmother. My father’s mother,” she clarified. “But she left it to him when she moved to Arizona. It was a nice place to grow up.”
“It looks like it.”
They fell silent for a moment as Ellis went to step off the back porch and into the yard, but Mike gently caught her arm and tugged her over to the glider. He sat next to her, and soon the gentle rocking of the chair began to soothe her.
“No walking, Elle. You’re too tired.”
“No, I’m not.” She only half lied. She was more than tired. She was mentally worn out.
“Fine, then I’m tired. I want to sit.”
“Okay.” She leaned against him. The glider was so small it was hard not to. His body was warm, his shoulder solid, and her common sense fled for a few moments. “You can go home if you want. I’ll be okay now.”
“And miss pizza from Michelangelo’s? Fat chance.”
“Oh, okay.” She was glad he was staying. Her parents could be overwhelming sometimes.
“They really love you,” Mike said reading her mind. “Your parents.”
“Your parents love you, too.”
“My mother,” he said quietly. “My father walked out on us.”
“I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say, but she could tell by the sound of his voice that the abandonment bothered him.
“Don’t be. He’s a deadbeat who couldn’t handle us. We were better off without him. But you’re lucky. You can always come home, and a lot of people don’t have that.”
“I’m adopted,” she blurted out, not sure what possessed her to do so. “That’s why I don’t look anything like them or Dina. My birth mother was one of Phillipa’s students.”
Mike turned and looked at her with interest. She didn’t know why she told him that. She didn’t tell many people where she came from but for some reason she wanted him to know. “Is that why your skin is olive?” He lifted his hand and ran it gently down her uninjured cheek. He stared at her for a long quiet moment. “Damn it, Ellis,” he said, sighing. “You scared the shit out of me today.”
“Oh.” His statement took her by surprise. She looked away. “Why? You’ve never witnessed dramatic-damsel-in-distress fainting before? I asked you to come all the way down there; I had to make it look good.”
“You’re one hell of an actress.” He shook his head. “You were out for ten minutes. If you wanted to wake up in my arms you could have gone to bed with me last night.”
Ellis rolled her eyes. “Why do you have to be such a perv all the time?”
“Why do you have to put up a wall every time I say something serious to you?”
His words disarmed her. He was right. She didn’t know how to behave around him. Every time she thought she had him pegged, he did or said something to surprise her. She hated feeling unsure. She hated that she couldn’t trust him not to destroy her. Jack kept popping into her mind. She had fallen in love with him, she’d trusted him, and he cheated on her, he degraded her. He had hurt her. She knew Mike and Jack weren’t the same man. She knew Mike wasn’t cruel but she kept thinking back to four years ago when he had kissed her and then ignored her. If that little slight had stung for months after, she could only imagine what it would feel like if she fell in love with him and he broke her heart.
“Ellis, look at me.”
She couldn’t, so she changed the subject. “Did you get in trouble because of me today?”
“No,” he answered after a moment. “But my partner and I are off the case.”
“Is it because you kissed me?”
“Yes, that’s one of the reasons.”
She finally turned to look at him. “Why did you kiss me in front of all those people?” It was as if he didn’t care who saw. “In front of your partner? In front of your boss?”
Mike shrugged. “Because you needed to be kissed and because I needed to kiss you.”
Shit. He’s trying to make me fall in love with him.
“Mikey.” She slid her hands over his cheeks an
d brought his mouth to hers. This kiss, it was so much better than their nearly perfect first. He was gentle. He let her control it, let her make it as deep as she could stand, let her pull herself closer and closer while she sought his tongue. He gave it to her, allowing her to sweetly suck on it, allowing the kiss to take on a new meaning.
Ellis felt like she was falling. She pulled away. It was all too much for her but Mike wouldn’t let her go far. “Shit,” he breathed as he peppered tiny kisses along her throat. “Shit.”
She knew how he felt. Neither one of them could explain this attraction. Neither one of them could seem to stop it no matter how hard they tried. “That was just a thank-you kiss,” she said, trying to put some distance between them, but he was having no part of it. His hands wandered up the back of her shirt, stroking her skin, feeling her flesh. The insecure part of her wanted to run away. The rest of her wanted to stay put. “Don’t—” Her voice wavered. She could feel his heat, his hardness. It was more sensation than she knew what to do with. “Don’t think I’m going to be so nice to you in the future.”
Don’t think I’m going to fall in love with you.
He kissed the wounded side of her face softly and then her mouth. “I want you so bad, Ellis.” He hugged her close, speaking into her hair. “Come home with me tonight.”
Chapter Ten
A Fat Girl’s Guide to Guilty Pleasures
Best place to find decadent Black and White Cookies: Hot Lava Java.
Best place to find decadent hot men: See above.
“No,” she breathed and kissed him again. She wanted to go home with him. She wanted to feel his heavy male body on top of hers. She wanted to kiss him from his eyebrows to his ankles. She wanted to feel him inside of her but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t risk it. Contrary to what she had told him at the bar she wasn’t one of those women who could take sex lightly. But right now she could kiss him, because he was sweet to her and because she’d had a bad day and because he was so damn good to kiss.
“Ellis.” He broke away panting. “Stop kissing me.”
“Why?” She softly kissed the corners of his mouth.
Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel Page 11