“We got it down,” Emily assured her. “Anya is so good at the choreography. Between her and Diana, they’ve got some killer displays.”
“So you still mad at being set up?” Faith asked, striding casually down the stone stairs and sinking on the side of the pool, feet in the water.
“I knew it was you,” Natalie said without opening her eyes.
“You know we’d never hook you up with a…” Faith stopped, wincing.
“A liar or thief,” Frannie finished for her, scooping the long blond hair back behind her.
“I was thinking jerk,” Cassidy murmured.
“It’s been a few years,” Faith continued with a little scowl at Frannie. “Not that time makes a difference.”
“And you really think my brothers are going to just let me date someone they don’t know? They’ve been setting me up with the…god, they’re idiots,” Natalie dropped beneath the surface and surged upward, jumping to the side of the pool and laying back on the tiles. “They have the most moronic single friends. And what’s worse, they don’t get that these guys behave one way around them and are complete and total pigs when no one is watching. Just because they wear a suit doesn’t mean they have…culture or…or manners…and they most definitely do not treat you like you have half a brain let alone the ability to converse…” she stopped and closed her eyes.
“Wow…been holding that in a while?” Cassidy looked from one to the other and then at the slight snarl that came from Natalie.
“It’s not good to keep it locked inside,” Frannie advised casually.
“That’s why I work out in the gym,” Natalie responded tiredly. “I know you guys mean well. I honestly do.”
“Then stop being so hard on yourself. Have a little fun and forget your family. If they cause trouble, we’ll handle it,” Faith assured her, meeting the wide violet eyes that blinked at her.
“Your brothers are afraid of her,” Emily confided with a chuckle.
“Grown men need to find some other activity than monitoring their grown sister’s activities,” Faith declared firmly. “And I don’t like them.”
“Even smart, street wise girls fall for fools now and then,” Cassidy rolled to her stomach, her hand swirling in the water. “Then you meet a guy who knows how to play, and makes you laugh and pisses you off, sometimes in the same breath…then you can relax enough to trust again.”
“I hear the sounds of a pool match ending,” Emily watched Jack come down the stairs, winking at her as he peeled the flowered short off his shoulders and draped it on the chair behind her before he dove into the deep water.
Cassidy looked up to see Mac slamming his t-shirt on the table and glaring at Natalie. “It’s your fault I lost.” And then he jumped into the water, striking out across the pool.
“I’m afraid to ask,” Natalie looked at the others, confused.
“You had to practice those moves in the middle of the match?” Donovan asked, glaring from Natalie to Frannie before he followed the others into the water, dropping his shirt on a chair.
“Moves?” Natalie watched Tre come down the stone stairs, counting the money in his hand before folding it and sliding it into the pocket on his shirt. “I’m sure there wasn’t gambling going on in the house.”
“Never,” he chuckled, draping a wildly flowered shirt over a chair before heading for the diving board at the far end of the pool.
“Why does he seem like a kid?” Natalie said, keeping her voice low as an in-water game of dodge ball began among the males.
“Good genetics,” Frannie answered simply. “Somewhere from Northern Europe, I’d think.”
“Just an FYI kind of thing,” Cassidy looked at Tre do a double flip into the water. “You know Anna and Aaron,” she looked over at Natalie and saw her nod. “Combine their IQ’s and you have Tre. Mac’s known him since they were about nineteen, I think.”
Natalie relaxed in the sun, moistening her skin with the fragrant oil and watched her friends. Whatever Tre was thinking, he kept a decent distance, talking with everyone about almost anything as they all gathered more casually for another round of food and conversation. It was almost nine when people began helping with the clean-up and heading to their cars.
She had changed into her street clothes and was comfortably fed and at ease when he came up to her outside.
“Stay after the others leave, please. Just to talk, Natalie,” Tre asked easily, watching the mixed bag of answers flying in her eyes. She’d worn sunglasses most of the time she was outside, but he knew from reading that the paler the eye color, the more difficult harsh sunlight made it for people to see well.
She started to speak when he lifted his palm, fingers gentle on her arm as he peeled back the protective piece of plastic. She’s been having such a good time she completely forgot about it.
“Alright.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Have a seat,” he gestured to the living area. “I’ll make sure the gates are locked after people leave,” Tre glanced over his shoulder as he moved toward the main entrance. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Natalie watched him move, his body long and lean with broad shoulders that were muscular. She’d seen the dive tanks in the storage shed near the pool, a collection of SCUBA gear lying on shelves inside.
He was still dressed in the loose flowered shirt and khaki shorts, his feet bare when he returned, sinking into one of the wing-sided chairs facing her.
“Are you still bent on retribution for being set up?” Tre found it impossible not to watch her. She’d been coated in a fragrant, shimmering tanning oil, the natural coloring that she seemed to be a little more so since spending the better part of the day in the sunshine around the pool. But sitting across from him, the sunglasses gone, the soft violet eyes seemed to shine behind dark, full lashes in a beautiful oval face.
“I think it’s safe to say I’m over it,” she admitted, leaning into the corner of the sofa. “I know they mean well.”
“You said you get to pin on Lieutenant in a few weeks. Will there be a ceremony?”
“No…”
“Isn’t there usually?” The frown was in his voice as well as on his face.
Natalie looked down at the foot she had resting on her knee and then back up at the man watching her.
“There usually is, yes. I’m being given the shield to avoid…to prevent an incident,” she phrased the words that the department attorney had given her. “I’m not supposed to talk about it…”
“But you want to. You haven’t talked to anyone about this, have you? About why you were transferred to missing persons for a few months,” Tre relaxed a little, feeling like she wasn’t going to completely bolt on him. At least not tonight. “You don’t seem to like it there, Natalie.”
“Because it feels like…”
“I heard your complaints about the men your brothers thought you should be dating,” Tre saw her eyes sharpen considerably. “The tiles and stones form a very good conductor of sounds. I’m sorry if I wasn’t meant to hear. I don’t have brothers or sisters. Just me and two parents and four grandparents. When they descend on you,” he shook his head. “It can be overwhelming when they each have a different idea of who you should be when you grow up…and what career field you should conquer. But at least I’ve never had any of them attempt to tell me what to feel…or who to feel it for.”
“What kind of choices were they suggesting for you?”
“For careers? Geeze…everything and with all sorts of motivation depending who was making the suggestion,” Tre laughed a little. “Rocket Scientist…physics, engineering…my mother was pushing for a PhD in mathematics. I hate math. I’m not crazy about physics. Robotics was another one. They’re not happy with you being a police officer?”
“Not happy is very, very polite for what they expressed,” she said quietly, but smiling at his easy manners and smile. He had a really nice smile.
“But you were stubbor
n enough to win. So you don’t let them walk all over you.”
“Doesn’t mean they don’t find ways to get to you. Don’t you ever wonder if what others suggested might be right? And your own choice…not so right?” She hated the uncertainty in her voice. She rarely let anyone else see it in her. That was for moments of self-depreciation, usually after a session with one of her parents or brothers.
“Not often. I know at any given time I can always change my mind and my direction. Do you feel trapped? If you wanted something else, wouldn’t you just go after it?”
“I’ve never wanted anything else,” she admitted, one shoulder rising and falling. “I think that’s what keeps me going. From the time I was about eight, I never saw any other path out there but this one. I can’t make them understand that.”
“Because of the danger involved?”
“Because it’s being a civil servant. Its pay isn’t in their range of acceptability,” she closed her eyes, willing the bitterness out of her voice. “Sorry.”
“No apologies necessary, Natalie. Honestly. I can see where it would make you angry that they just don’t accept you and your choices. I can’t say dealing with my relatives was easy, but I also know the way I handled things isn’t something everyone could have done, either.”
“How did you handle things?”
“I left. I gave them a phone number when I had one, and I left,” he sighed thickly. “I was also a little past seventeen. I’d graduated school when I was twelve and college at fifteen. I tinkered with electronics and computers and wrote a few programs that made some money and caught some interest,” he sighed at the expression on her face. “I wanted schooling in California and that’s where I met Mac. I worked in a few fields and tried a few different things, but I was always drawn back to people and medicine. Why did you choose to be with the police?” He more than half expected her to shrug off his question and was surprised when, after a few long second soft seconds of silence, she began talking.
“I was with a friend when a store down the street where we played was robbed,” she said quietly, staring into the amber circles watching her. “We were all of ten and at the park. It was summer. There was an off duty police woman there with her baby and she took us off behind the building until things cleared up and the police said it was alright. I just knew then…that’s who I wanted to be. I tried explaining that when I got home that night and…and they laughed at me. Patted me on the head. I think I expected it from my father. He’s involved in finances and banking and stocks…but I thought my mother would…maybe if not understand, at least listen.”
“It took a while before my parents got the message that it was my life,” Tre said. “I think the transference thing…wanting to relive their lives through their kids…can be pretty powerful for some parents.”
“I don’t think it’s that with my parents,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s more what their social circle expects and a police officer is not it.”
“Not a fun place, that social circle,” Tre said with a nod.
I’m the youngest. Both my brothers…one is a lawyer for some big corporations. The other is with my father in finance and investing,” she slipped her feet from her shoes, her feet on the edge of the sofa and arms wrapped around her knees. “My mother does all this charity stuff with fancy clothes and luncheons. Pretending to be polite to these people she talks about behind their backs,” her eyes crossed, making him laugh and she knew she really liked the sound. “I remember going to one with her with I was about eleven. I must have gotten a little carried away with my curiosity because I was hauled out into the hall and told that I was interrogating people. Crime shows had become my favorite on TV.”
“Somehow I can see that,” Tre commented with a laugh. “I’m sure your reputation as a cop hinges on the cases you’ve closed and I don’t see you giving up easily.”
“They’re puzzles. Giant puzzles but with people,” her head shook, her voice alive. “And once you throw people into the mix, the puzzle is even more challenging because we’re the most illogical species out there. There are patterns that people fall into but…” She stopped and realized he was listening.
So she talked. About what she liked, what she didn’t enjoy and he asked questions. Smart, thoughtful questions that told her more clearly than ever before that she knew she was in the right career for her.
“It always baffled me how other people can’t feel or see the enthusiasm for something in someone they care about,” Tre remarked when they stopped talking after twenty minutes. “I almost feel sorry for them.”
“They don’t understand how amazingly boring what they do is to me,” Natalie slid her feet to the floor. “I have to go. It’s late.”
“Alright,” he stood up, waiting for her to slide her feet into her shoes and lift the tote she’d brought with her. “Will you go out with me tomorrow?”
She looked up, the reflection of her face in his glasses and she was shaking her head.
“No?”
“I can’t. It’s best.” She didn’t know best for who.
“Alright. I’ll walk you to your car,” Tre said simply, his hands in his pockets.
Alright? She had to fight to keep her head from snapping up and eyes shooting wide. Why didn’t he wheedle? Or whine? Or tell her how nice the evening had been? Or work to convince her she was wrong and they have a good time?
The rational side of her argued that she was getting what she wanted: for him to accept that it would be a mistake. So why was she complaining? She opened her car door and turned to tell him good night when she felt his palm beneath her chin. While she was blinking up at him, his mouth came down softly over hers.
It kind of hovered there, she thought, uncertain why she didn’t move. She felt the sweetest taste of his tongue tracing the outside bow of her lower lip, the dessert of caramel and cheesecake hinted there. The touch of those full lips barely grazed her own before he was gone, backing away and smiling at her. She almost fell forward, she’d been seconds from grabbing his shirt and holding on for more.
“I’ll open the gates for you. Good night, Natalie. Drive careful,” Tre said cheerfully, turning and striding into the house, working the security pad for the gates. He offered a little wave as she backed out and turned, red lights vanishing out the driveway.
He stood on the wide stone portico and stared, a tiny smile tilting his lips. He’d always been about the plan. It might have seemed random and haphazard simply because he was male, but he’d always plotted when he made choices. Even the bad ones. And he always learned from them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Natalie was burrowed deep in her quilts and sheets, face down and inhaling the cool morning air. She knew she was sleeping because she saw herself with her friends dancing. The sun was brilliant and for the first time in a long time, she was relaxed and laughing.
And it felt good.
She snuggled down a little deeper, a sound of tinkling making it inside the dream. She saw birds flying over her head, dropping tiny pebbles on the stainless steel grill.
More tinkling.
Must be lots of birds, her mind mused, turning slightly to the side, the tinkling a little louder now that her head wasn’t surrounded by the thick quilt.
Again. Slowly she blinked, pulling the long, free hair from beneath her shoulder and continuing the roll to her back. One eye reluctantly opened.
It was daylight. That’s all she’d admit to. Her eyes were watering and blurry as she shoved her elbows behind her, angled and listening. The birds had followed her from the dream.
Then she realized the noise was at her window. And she swore she saw something hit the thin glass. And it happened again.
She rubbed two palms over her face and glared at the clock. The numbers registered and she tore from the bed, throwing covers to the side and thrusting her feet into the not warm too damn early morning.
Squinting, still trying to focus her eyes, long, slim fingers fumbled with the lock
s on the window frame and shoved it high, leaning out and staring in disbelief.
“Are you insane? What the hell are you doing?” She shouted in disbelief. Then she remembered it was barely seven-thirty. On a Sunday! Her voice lowered to a low, threatening hiss. “Stop that!” When another pebble struck the glass above her and bounced off her head.
“I brought breakfast,” Tre said with a bright grin, early sun glinting off his glasses. He held up a large bag. “And coffee.”
“It’s seven-thirty in the morning!”
“Hence, breakfast and not lunch.”
“Get out of here! Now!”
“Shut the fuck up or I’m calling the cops!”
Both of them looked at the window beneath hers and then at each other.
Tre offered a crooked, boyish grin. Natalie growled.
“Get up here!” Came the furious, low hiss, her hand pointing to the stairs and the window coming down with a little more force than needed.
Tre didn’t even try and contain his chuckle or the grin on his face. Carrying his helmet and the large peace offering, he took the stairs two at a time to the second level, waiting patiently by the closed door.
Eyes widened behind his lenses when the door was opened and her hand came out, grabbed a handful of his jacket and pulled him inside the apartment, the door closed behind him. His shoulders hit the door when both her palms were up and flat against his chest with a shove.
“What is wrong with you?” She kept her voice low, bright violet eyes flaring.
“I was hungry?” He let himself watch the disbelief in her face, as well as the long free hanging hair. It wasn’t quite midnight, but almost and it was far from straight. It went several inches past her shoulders in wide, thick curls and waves, no bangs, just coming straight back from her forehead, hands raking it repeatedly as she paced.
WindSwept Narrows: #21 Charlotte Bell & Natalie Templeton Page 19