by Barb Han
“So, these guys agreed to harass me and my daughter for a thousand dollars?” It was good to know what her life being turned upside down was worth to virtual strangers.
“The kid gave up his buddies’ names and a deputy is on his way to pick them up to get their statements,” Colton said.
“Do you believe him?” Cash’s question was direct.
“Yes, I do. Obviously, I plan to follow wherever the evidence leads me but I think this kid is telling the truth.” Colton didn’t say how much this changed the course of the investigation. Cash had mentioned the crime seemed personal. It didn’t get more personal than paying someone to...what?...scare her?
Renee took a sip of tea before taking a lap around the island. This place was the whole deal: farm sink, white granite countertops, double ovens. It looked like something out of a design magazine. And, yes, it did strike Renee as odd that she was noticing the decor when she’d just been thrown a curveball. Actually, she took that back. This was a fastball aimed right between her eyes.
“Why would someone do that?” She heard the words coming out of her mouth and revised. “Why would anyone pay another person to scare me.”
Jamison came to mind. So did another name. The contractor from work. “Darion Figg.”
“I had a chance to follow up with your boss earlier.” Cash tapped his fingers on his mug.
Oh, darn. With everything going on the past few days she’d forgotten to give Rikki a heads-up about the call coming. “What did she say?”
“Mr. Figg seemed to develop a fixation on you and a couple of other female co-workers. Your IT department found incriminating pictures on his computer and he was fired not long after you complained about him. Once he lost his job, his girlfriend found out about what happened at work and left him.”
“Seems like a pretty good reason to try to get back at me,” she said. The creep deserved more than to be fired if he was snapping pictures of her and co-workers without their permission. She, for one, knew she’d never been asked. Another cold chill gripped her spine thinking about Darion. How many times had she turned around to suddenly find him standing behind her in the parking lot? In the beginning, she’d tried to be polite. She’d say, “Excuse me.” Then, she’d walk away. He must’ve mistaken her politeness for interest because he’d pushed his body up against hers in the elevator, pinning her for a split second before she was able to shake off the shock of what had just happened and bring a knee up to his groin.
“The problem is that he’s in county lockup on a drunk and disorderly charge. He got into a fight with a neighbor over where he parked his pickup,” Colton said.
Cash shot a disappointed look her way. “That would make it impossible for him to be here.”
Renee took another lap around the kitchen.
“Who did the kid say paid him? He must’ve met up with the guy if money changed hands.” Cash was right on track with what her next question was going to be.
“The kid said the whole transaction was handled in the men’s room at the gas station. The money was slipped underneath a stall in a paper bag. Half up front. Half when the job was finished.” Colton paused. “The kid flipped out when he realized how much trouble he was in. He’s willing to cooperate but he doesn’t know much about the guy who paid him. He was insistent that he was paid to scare her not to steal a child.”
His statement explained why the suspects took off, and Renee found it reassuring they hadn’t been out to steal Abby.
Who would hire someone to scare her? Who would pull a jerk move like that?
* * *
HEARING THIS, WATCHING Renee wear a path in his family’s kitchen, Cash could see her tension building. She already had a white-knuckle grip on her mug of tea when the conversation started. Her stress levels seemed to be skyrocketing. Not an unusual reaction for someone who’d recently experienced one of the worst days of her life. But he wanted to do something to ease her stress. Since nothing came to mind, he asked Colton if there was anything else.
“That’s what I have for now. I’ll keep you posted if anything changes,” Colton said before saying goodbye and ending the call.
“Darion could’ve been behind what happened in the parking lot,” she said as she approached the table with a whole heap of apprehension on her face.
“That’s true. What would his motive be? Revenge?” Cash was just thinking out loud.
“It’s weird to think someone could hate me that much. I did knock the wind out of him when he came on to me.”
“Good for you. I hope the bastard thinks twice before he tries to force himself on another person. And I sure hope you nailed him where it counts.” Cash would like five minutes alone with any person who tried to prey on someone they assumed was weaker than them.
“I doubt he’ll look at women quite the same after the incident. He looked pretty shocked that I fought back, actually. He wasn’t expecting a knee to the groin.”
“Well, he deserved one.” Cash picked up the pen on the pad of paper and twirled it around his fingers.
“My mind is flooded with possibilities. Darion could’ve hired someone from jail,” she offered.
“A drunk like that isn’t usually capable of arranging a money exchange. He wouldn’t have been in contact with anyone on the outside if he was sleeping off a binge, so it would’ve been impossible for him to communicate.” Cash was already running through possibilities in his mind.
With Renee standing so close to him, he could smell her floral scent. She smelled like spring flowers after a good rain. He was also aware when she shifted from frustration to need. It wasn’t uncommon for someone who’d been through trauma to want proof of life.
When she locked gazes with him, her glittery blue eyes sent a shot straight to his heart. He was taking on fire being so close to her. He should remain partial and step away, despite the signals she was sending.
“Cash.” Her warm honey tone wrapped around him.
“Yeah.” He could hear the huskiness in his own voice when he spoke.
“Can you do me a favor?” Her body language wasn’t difficult to read and yet he still wasn’t prepared for the next couple of words that came out of those soft pink lips.
“Depends on what it is.” There was a lot of ground her question could cover. Cash didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. His word was his honor.
“Kiss me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cash took in a sharp breath, closed the distance between him and Renee in a couple of steps and leaned in.
She closed her eyes and leaned toward him. He knew exactly what he wanted...her. Was it smart? Was he crossing a line that couldn’t be uncrossed if he finished what he’d started?
Granted, she’d never felt like a victim to him, no matter how much his protective instincts flared when she was around. The pull toward her was stronger than anything else he’d ever experienced. But cross that line and there was no going back. His professionalism was at stake in a career he’d worked his tail off to build.
“Cash.” His name came out as barely a whisper.
He flexed and released his fingers because they itched to get lost in her hair. His mouth was so close to hers. Damn. He rested his forehead against her.
“Believe me when I say that I couldn’t want to kiss you more than I do right now.”
“But...”
“It would be a game changer for me.” He meant that on so many levels even though he couldn’t articulate the reasons if he tried. On instinct, on a primal level, he realized Renee was different. She was intelligent and determined and beautiful on more levels than he could count.
“I can’t afford game changers in my life right now. Not after my breakup with Jamison. I’m sorry,” she said.
“My job is to protect you, not confuse you.” Everything in Cash wanted to take that final step, consequences be damn
ed. He didn’t get to where he was today by giving in to impulses. He’d been calculating about his life choices and would be the same way if the right circumstances happened for him and Renee to move forward with what they both so obviously wanted in the moment.
Cash didn’t do or give regrets.
“I’m pretty damn clear about what’s good for me. Kissing you falls into that category. Doing anything else, anything more...not so much.”
“Take a step down that slippery slope and we can’t come back.” One kiss wouldn’t be enough with Renee. Where would that leave them? One great kiss followed by a helluva lot of nothing. Because it couldn’t go anywhere in the middle of an investigation. Granted, it was his brother’s investigation, but Cash was acting as consultant on this one and since he’d stepped in on the initial call, he was committed to seeing this through. The annoying voice in the back of his mind called him out as a liar. He’d never once brought a victim to the main house for protection no matter how personally responsible he felt for their safety. Cash knew himself. He had a tendency to go all in whether it meant family or work.
Was that part of the reason he’d shied away from relationships? He didn’t have it in him to go all in with a woman?
Why the hell did his mind pick this moment to reveal that his heart had already fallen down that slippery slope he’d been talking about a few seconds ago.
“No.” She paused for a thoughtful moment. “But we could hang on to each other while we brace for the fall.”
Cash needed to refocus. He needed to force his thoughts away from those full pink lips of hers. He needed to think about something besides how silky her skin would feel if he reached his hand up. And he sure as hell needed to stop imagining what she might taste like because this close he figured it would be a mix of tea and peppermint, basically Christmas.
He brought his hands up to cup her face. Temptation was two inches away from his mouth and stood at five feet, seven inches tall. He could feel her pulse racing, the tempo matching his.
Cash’s cell buzzed again, indicating a text had come in. Since it could be news about the case, he dropped his hands on a hard sigh. “Think we can talk about this...us...later?”
“Yeah.” She was breathless when she spoke and a little satisfied smile quirked the corners of his mouth up. Renee Smith had one hell of an effect on him. It made him feel better than it should that she seemed to have the same reaction to him. Under any other circumstance, she was exactly the kind of person he’d want to get to know better. He envisioned them dating and...
Holy hell. His thoughts had a mind of their own when it came to Renee. They needed to stay in check. He reminded himself of the facts. She’d been through a lot. She was most likely just reaching out for comfort. It wouldn’t have mattered who’d been standing there...
He couldn’t sell himself on the last line because her reactions to him had been too real. No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, whatever was going on between them was special. He’d be smart to keep a firm handle on his emotions.
It had been a really long time since he’d cared about someone this much, and he barely knew Renee Smith.
“Why are you smiling when I’m this...frustrated?”
“This is how I handle frustration.” It was true.
She laughed and it broke the tension between them. Granted, it was sexual tension but that was the most intense he’d ever felt. Laughter was a good thing about now.
“What does your phone say?” She picked up her tea and took a sip. Immediately, she scrunched up her face. “Well, that went cold on me fast.”
That comment really made him laugh. She locked gazes with him and broke into a wide smile when she picked up on the undercurrent.
“I’m just going to leave that comment alone and heat my tea.” She made a show of looking for the microwave.
“That way.” He pointed to the opposite end of the kitchen.
“This place is so big. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a kitchen this large before and I was a waitress once.”
Cash studied the screen and didn’t respond. He heard the microwave beeping and figured she’d found her way. A half-dozen bombs were exploding inside his head as he reread the message.
“Cash?” Renee studied him as she made a beeline toward him. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s the Hubert case. We found email ties to the Ludlow kidnapping ring. The feds have been gathering information about them and their involvement with bigger crime organizations. Basically, they are considered one of the biggest illegal adoption operations in the Southwest.”
“She can’t be connected to my case, can she?”
“It’s possible. She might’ve paid the kids to scare you to throw us off the track,” Cash stated.
“Or the person she reported to might have done it after the kidnapping attempt was messed up.”
“True. Your crime has felt personal but that could just be what they want us to think. Like you said, throw us off the trail after botching the job.” Cash had seen pretty much everything in his life as a marshal.
Renee gasped. “She might have been murdered to prove a point.”
“Or to keep her quiet. Maybe whoever is really in charge thought she brought too much heat to the organization. Believe me when I say these operations run better than most Fortune 500 companies. They have to. There’s so much more at stake than disappointing shareholders with earnings. These are live by the sword, die by the sword people. Literally.”
“I know she’s safe but hearing this makes me want to go check on Abby.” Worry lines creased Renee’s forehead.
“I’ll go with you. My mother needs to hear the news.” He bit back a curse.
“Your sister?”
“I don’t want to get my mother’s hopes up because there’s no concrete evidence to link Ms. Hubert to Caroline despite the timing of her moving to town,” he hedged. “My mother should hear this news from one of her sons and not through the grapevine or a news outlet.”
“Small towns do breed a tight-knit community. It’s one of the many reasons that I wanted to leave Dallas. I love my city, but it’s grown so much that it can feel impersonal at times. Neighbors don’t really know each other anymore and especially not in the suburbs where I lived.”
“I can’t imagine not knowing the people I lived around. Stacy has become like family as much as everyone who’s worked here a long time. But then, my job reminds me we only know the face people show us. Doesn’t mean it’s who someone truly is.” Cash picked up his cup of coffee. “Better head to the library now. Are you coming?”
“Yes, but I’ll only stay if you want me to.”
There was a lot he wanted from her. He’d settle for this. “My mother has been through a lot. And now with Pops—”
“Yes, of course. You probably want to be alone. This is family time.” She sure knew how to backpedal. If she had on running shoes she’d probably be hitting the door about now.
“I was actually about to say that having you and Abby here is a bright spot in what has otherwise been an awful couple of days. I’ve never seen her hold a six-month-old girl before. My brother has sons and she loves them with all her heart. There’s always been a special spark in her eyes when she looks at a little girl.”
* * *
“DON’T TELL ME stuff like that. Okay?” It was pure protective instinct causing her to speak up. The fact that Abby was welcomed by Margaret sent more of that warmth spiraling through her. She couldn’t afford to let anyone else in right now.
Cash studied her before he responded. She’d expected him to get angry or demand a reason like Jamison would’ve. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to look right through her. “Mind if I ask why not?”
“Because right now getting my bearings on being a mother is my absolute first priority. It’s all I have
time for.” Letting anyone else in her heart when it had just been so broken seemed like a suicide mission. She’d taken her time getting to know Jamison, at least she’d convinced herself that she knew him, and look how that had turned out. Her heart had been stomped on. And it should feel...it should feel a lot worse than it did. She’d convinced herself that she was having some kind of delayed reaction.
She’d been mad as hell at him when she’d found out about the affair. It had never gutted her in the way losing a man like Cash would.
Damn. Was that her real concern? Not that Cash couldn’t care about her but that her feelings for him might run too deep? So deep that if he walked out one day her heart might not survive?
Cash’s eyebrows drew together. He studied her for a long moment and he looked at her like he could see right through her. It should startle her. Instead, there was a comfort like she’d never known. Acceptance that she’d wished for her entire life.
Now, she realized, it was good that he didn’t act on their mutual attraction no matter how much she’d wanted him to. Kissing him would be a game changer. She would leave it at that and back away from the thoughts in her mind telling her it was about time the game was changed.
“You’re welcome to come back here and use the laptop. I’ll be back in a few—”
She waved her hands in the air to stop him from finishing his sentence. Margaret O’Connor had been nothing but kind to Renee since she’d walked in the door. She trusted the woman enough with her daughter to fall asleep as well as leave the room once she woke. If Renee’s presence could provide some small measure of comfort to the person who’d been so kind, so be it. “Never mind, Cash. I’d like to stay with you.”
He probably had whiplash from her change in plans.
“She’d like that, Renee.”
Instead of overthinking the offer, she turned and walked toward the library.
The sight of Margaret O’Connor holding Abby stirred more emotions. Renee had never felt so vulnerable to something so little or so emotional.