* * *
After packing up clothes and toiletries for herself and also everything Rapunzel needed, Jaslene held the puppy in her arms all the way back to Cal’s place. There had been no calls about her yet. She’d noticed him eyeing the dog as she packed three suitcases and a smaller bag. The back of his SUV was full of that and puppy necessities. She’d quipped, “Who knows how long I’ll be with you.”
“And here I thought you were more of a tomboy than a girlie-girl.”
She had packed some clothes that qualified as sexy, telling herself she wasn’t doing it for Cal. She didn’t have much but what she did was only the best.
Now she entered his house again, this time carrying Rapunzel. The sun had long ago set and she was tired, but the day had been so eventful she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep for a while. She struggled to pry off her boots and Cal helped her, having already removed his jacket and boots. In her stockinged feet, she let Cal help her remove her jacket without disturbing the puppy.
Adjusting the tiny fur ball in her arms, she followed Cal into the great room. “Do you have any wine?” They’d eaten sandwiches at her house earlier. “I could sip on a glass.”
“Yeah.” He went into his kitchen where she noticed a built-in wine bar and a refrigerator.
“I’ll go get comfortable.” She didn’t allow any deep thoughts over what she was doing, only justified her actions as pure curiosity. Exactly how bitter was he when it came to women? If they made love, how would that change him, or would it? She needed to find out. “Are you sure you want me in your bedroom? I could sleep on the daybed.”
“What kind of host would I be if I allowed my guest to sleep on a daybed?”
Smiling and not arguing, she looked down at a sleeping Rapunzel, hearing her tiny grunts, little protests over the movement disturbing her slumber.
Climbing the stairs, she went into Cal’s room, where he’d taken her luggage, and gently lay the dog onto the bed, on the opposite side she planned to sleep. Rapunzel grunted again and opened her sweet eyes briefly, seeing her and then falling back to sleep.
She looked around the room at the crown molding, French doors leading to a balcony and sheer white curtains. That’s where frilly ended.
She quietly changed into a silky pajama set, nothing too sexy...yet, but he might catch a few revealing glimpses of skin—enough to test him. She wasn’t sure why she had decided to do that, only that she did want to know how he’d react.
Hearing him in the room across the hall, she went there and saw him making up the daybed. This room was painted a soothing and earthy yellow with more pretty white trim and crown molding. He finished the bed, making no fuss over tossing the pillows on the comforter. Straightening, he faced her and didn’t move. Only his eyes lowered and slowly came back up, noticing her pajamas with distinct interest. She felt a surge of triumph, and maybe some relief to have the answer she had sought.
Wordlessly he approached. Jaslene stepped out into the hall and led the way to the living room, where she saw he’d turned on the fireplace and put two glasses of red wine on the coffee table.
Romantic? Or relaxing?
She sat on one of the sofas and reached for one of the wineglasses. Leaning back, she didn’t see Cal. Sipping her wine, she looked over her shoulder and saw him peering out the front window. Realizing he checked for anyone suspicious, she felt a shiver raise bumps on her arms. He must have already checked the backyard from the window in the bedroom with the daybed.
Apparently satisfied no one lurked in the night, he walked to her. Before sitting, he removed his pistol from the holster at his waist and set it on the coffee table. She eyed it as he lifted his wineglass and leaned back.
“We’re safe here,” he said, taking a sip and putting his glass down on an end table.
The gun disturbed her because of how it reminded her that she’d almost been shot today. Cal, too. An image of Riley aiming his forefinger at them and pretending to pull the trigger kept going through her mind.
Cal stretched his arm around her, cupping her shoulder and tugging her closer.
She closed the few inches that separated them and gratefully accepted his offer of comfort. She also hadn’t missed how his shirt molded to his muscular chest or how the black jeans mounded at his crotch.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said.
He took her anxiety away just like that. After another sip of wine, she rested her head on his shoulder, believing him. He made her feel safe, and right now, tonight, safe not only physically, but emotionally.
He took her glass and set it next to his.
Jaslene closed her eyes, basking in the warm, safe feeling that washed over her. “When’s the last time you were this close to a woman?”
The question had popped into her head and she’d blurted it out before she had time to think it over.
“Like this? A long time.”
Lifting her head, she looked at his face. “But you’ve been close to a woman more recently?”
“Yes, but never anything serious.”
Never, meaning he’d been close to more than one woman since his wife betrayed him. He’d had sexual relationships but nothing more. Cal might be bitter about love, but he didn’t strike her as the type to dupe women into sex, only to dump them afterward.
“Well, savor it while you can,” she said.
He chuckled. “I am.”
She watched the flames Cal had lit in the fireplace for a while, wishing she knew if he’d ever be able to let go of his failed marriage and wondering why that was so important to her. She had not felt ready to be with another man since her husband died. Was she now ready? She thought she was, if for no other reason than to satisfy curiosity. She could sleep with him and not worry about him getting attached. Her only concern was if she fell for him and it hurt too much to walk away.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” she asked.
“We’re already getting personal, sitting like this.”
She smiled because that was true. “You’re a good-looking man with a respectable job. You’re also nice.” She looked at him. “I don’t understand how any woman would want to cheat on you.”
“Thanks for the compliments, but I wasn’t home at night a lot. She said she got lonely.”
There had to be more to it than that. Why give up such a great catch? “Who was the man she slept with?”
“I didn’t know him.”
“That’s not what I meant. Was he rich or something?”
“My ex-wife said she met him at a conference. She was a manager for a restaurant chain and they had some kind of team-building event at a hotel. He worked for his dad, who owned the hotel chain. He wasn’t at the conference, but he was there to meet with the hotel manager.”
“So he was loaded.”
“My ex wasn’t after money. If she was, she would have never married me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
He picked up her glass of wine and handed it to her, then reached for his.
“She might not be worth all the emotion she left you with,” Jaslene said, and sipped her wine.
“She would have left me regardless of what kind of man she found.”
He sounded sure, and he wasn’t an unintelligent man. He must have known his wife. Cal must have struggled so much over her betrayal. He couldn’t be home for his wife when she needed him and she might have felt she needed to be taken care of.
Jaslene didn’t think Cal blamed women for lack of integrity. She thought he felt slighted over not being able to be around when his woman needed him. He also didn’t believe a woman existed who could tolerate that kind of schedule. As a private investigator, he would still work irregular and long hours.
“I dated a doctor once, a surgeon. I was in my early twenties and he was ten years older than me. We
saw each other for almost a year. He was constantly called in or had to work nights and weekends. His schedule never bothered me.”
“You were young.” He drank some wine and set down his glass.
“True. I was in college. When he worked, I studied or spent time with my friends. I enjoyed my time alone. I still do.”
She rested her head on his shoulder again. When she looked up at him again, he was staring into the fire with somber eyes.
He looked down at her and met her eyes for several seconds, then took in the rest of her face. “What ended the relationship?”
“He didn’t seem that into me and I realized I wasn’t that into him, either. He never wanted to be outside.” She’d studied geology; of course she liked being outdoors. “I broke up with him. Funny, I thought since my dad was a doctor that this guy might be The One.”
Cal grunted. “They say you can’t chose the one you fall in love with.” He sipped some more wine before asking, “How long after that did you meet your husband?”
“Not long, the next year. I met him in a calculus class and discovered his major was geology like mine, only he was a year ahead of me, which is why he wasn’t in any of my core classes. He’d already taken them.”
“He liked being outside.”
She smiled. “Yes. We hiked and camped a lot and went on vacations to national parks.”
“I like to camp.” He put down his glass again. “I like barbecues, too.” He grinned and made her laugh lightly.
That was outside. She couldn’t knock him for that, but it wasn’t hiking and going to parks. Maybe he thought he didn’t have the time. He wouldn’t work 24/7, 365 days a year. The important thing was he liked what she liked. They could find time to do them. Being in a relationship, especially a marriage, meant both had to be flexible.
Without warning, he lowered his head and kissed her. She didn’t think he planned it any more than she’d expected it. But the instant heat created tingles of pleasure all the way through her.
Something wet dribbled down on her pj’s. Some must have dripped on him as well, since he jerked back the same time she did. She’d spilled her wine on them both. She looked up at him and laughed, and he joined her.
“It’s time for bed anyway,” he said.
Yes, bed...with him. Jaslene set down her glass and stood, the more practical side of her warning against the desire that moved her. But she had already made up her mind about this. She wasn’t backing out now.
She turned and started for the stairs. Cal followed and she felt as much as heard his feet climbing each step behind her. She had ample time to change her mind and not invite him into her bed. Walking down the hall, she stopped at the doorway to his room. He stopped before her and she saw his sexy blue eyes ask where she’d have him sleep tonight.
Stepping aside, she let him pass her. She didn’t know him well enough to fall for him. Not this soon. And she attributed her insatiable hunger for him to her long abstinence. In this modern world, she could satisfy her need and not feel obligated to offer commitment. She didn’t think Cal would. Empowered with that justification, she unbuttoned her pajama top, going about the act slowly and seeing Cal’s rapt sexual interest. More than that. She also saw intimate connection. His desire ran deeper than sex.
Encouraged by his look and what it conveyed, she let the top fall to the floor and stood still for his enjoyment. At last he pulled off his Henley. She stopped breathing for a second or two. His smooth skin rippled below the platform of his chest. The man stayed in great shape.
She pushed off her pajama pants and stood only in her underwear.
Cal continued to admire her as he unfastened his jeans and removed them along with his underwear. To be with a man, one not her husband, felt exciting and a little scary. The excitement kept her staring. No guilt or any other second thoughts plagued her and she realized why. This felt right. Just the ingredient she needed.
She hooked the hem of her underwear and worked them down, the rightness opening her soul and sharing this special time with him. She stood naked for him, not at all inhibited.
He took her in with ravenous eyes. Deliciously agonizing moments passed.
Just when she began to feel like too much of an exhibitionist, he stepped toward her. Her entire body heated with anticipation. When he stood close enough, he lifted his hands and touched her breasts, running his thumbs over her nipples and sending electric sensation spreading.
She took the time to glide her hands over his hard and smooth chest, something she’d been dying to do for some time now. She ran them down his rippling abdomen, too, then back up and on to his muscular shoulders.
Tipping her head back, she pressed her body against his as he lowered his mouth to hers. The riot of sensation intensified almost unbearably. She melded with him in unquenchable kisses. At last he moved her to the bed.
Cal pulled the sheet and comforter back and she lay on the bottom sheet. He followed on top of her and she opened her legs to receive him.
He kissed her mouth quickly several times and asked breathlessly, “What about protection?”
Why did he have to wait until now to ask that? “Do you have anything?”
“No.”
She met his impassioned eyes and urgency to have him inside her made her do a quick calculation. “We should be okay.”
“Are you sure?” He kissed her some more.
“Yes.” She couldn’t wait any longer. “Please don’t stop. I’m so ready for you.”
“Are you?”
She tipped her head up to kiss him and ran her tongue along his lips. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
With a gruff sound, he began probing and sank into her, filling her and sending her into an out-of-mind experience. She gripped his hair as he thrust and then his buttocks, grinding herself against him until she burst.
He collapsed onto her and they caught their breaths together. Finally he lifted his head and looked at her.
“Are you sure that was safe?” he asked.
Jaslene could answer that in more than one way. And she was afraid the answer to both might be no.
Chapter 7
What happened with Jaslene left Cal in a near panic the next morning. The confusion of what felt like a life-altering experience put everything in disarray. His usual order of things were no more. He felt jittery and in need of escaping his own mind, or at least Jaslene. After waking early he’d left Jaslene in bed with Rapunzel snuggling close. He fought how much he liked the sight, and coffee with the news wasn’t helping. He put down his cup on the kitchen counter.
Looking through the window above the sink, he watched it snow, medium flakes floating in breezeless air. The most upsetting part about last night zeroed in on how different the sex had been from his ex. The possibility that he could have something real with Jaslene stared him in the face. What would he do now? He did not want a relationship, not another one like his marriage. He could fall hard for Jaslene. That could not happen.
What did she expect? She’d invited him into bed with her, but he didn’t have to accept. Maybe he should have thought a little harder on the consequences.
Hearing her come into the kitchen, he turned. She’d taken a shower and dressed. Rapunzel pawed at her heels when she stopped. She didn’t falter long, just looked at him and then headed for the back door.
“Come on, Rapunzel. Let’s go potty.” Opening the door, she let the puppy go outside.
He moved so he could see through the patio door. Rapunzel nearly fell headfirst as she navigated the step onto the patio. Then she stopped and sniffed the air, snorting as a flake hit her nose. She went about her business and then hurried in.
“At least I know she’s trained,” Jaslene said.
He could continue on with mundane chatter but they needed to talk. “Coffee?”
“Sure.” Sitting do
wn as Rapunzel found her food and water bowls, Jaslene watched him.
He poured her a cup. “Cream?”
“Yes.”
By her definitive tone he guessed she liked a lot of cream and tried to give her enough to satisfy without ruining the taste of the coffee. Walking over to her, he set the cup down and then sat next to her around the corner of the high wood table.
“You look worried,” she said with her hands around the cup.
He’d been that transparent? Grateful she’d broached the subject first, he said. “I want to talk about last night.”
“No need. I knew what I was getting into.”
Of all he’d anticipated having to deal with from her, this wasn’t it. “What did you get into?”
She shrugged slightly and drank some coffee, all very nonchalant. “Just satisfying a curiosity. I don’t want to have a boyfriend right now.”
Was that what she preferred him to believe? He didn’t think she felt much different than him—knew that they had explosive chemistry together.
“I’m not ready for that.”
As she looked straight ahead, he realized her loss of her husband might have made her say that.
“It’s been a while since your husband died,” he said.
“Yes, and I’m over what happened...for the most part. I’m just not ready for a new relationship yet. I’m not sure when I will be.”
“I can understand that.” Should he be relieved? Funny, how he felt a little sting of rejection. “What part aren’t you over yet?”
She looked at him. “Are you sure you want to hear that story?”
By that she must mean her “affair.”
“Yes.” Would she tell him the unvarnished truth? He almost didn’t want to hear her tell him. If she’d had an affair, he could not be with her intimately. He had to stay true to himself in that regard.
Putting the cup on the table, she folded her hands and seemed to gather her thoughts. Cal wondered if she plotted how to tell him, give him the best story so he wouldn’t think badly of her.
Cold Case Manhunt Page 8