A Night of Southern Comfort (5 page)

She wanted it so bad she could taste it.

For his own good, she had to convince him that his services were no longer necessary.

“Fine. We’ll talk. Now, move your arm,” she said.

Two beats passed in tense silence. Although she shifted on her high heels, Michaela refused to break eye contact with him. This was her turf. Her practice. Her life.

Jackson nodded, a slight smile tugging at his mouth. His hand slid down the door and covered hers where it rested on the doorknob. “Meet me at the Comfort, Kayla? Have dinner with me?”

She paused before answering. Part of her was ready to run over to the diner and grab a booth. The other part wanted to hightail it over the mountains—pronto. A one-night stand was one thing, but dinner was more than she bargained for.

Oh, but Jackson looked so good standing there fueling her fantasies.

“Five o’clock. I’ll meet you there.”

Michaela opened the door and walked across the hall to an empty exam room. She shut the door, then leaned against the wall. Her knees wobbled, her pulse hammered in her head, and her stomach clenched.

What the hell were you supposed to do when your fantasy showed up in your reality?

…

“Mom. I need you to tell me everything you know about Dr. Roarke.” Jack walked around the counter in the Southern Comfort Diner to where his mother, Dolly, was making a milkshake for a customer. She poured out the shake into a glass, reached for another cup, and placed it under the machine. His mom knew everyone in this town and she’d definitely know if something weird were going on. It couldn’t hurt to pick her brain about the local rumor mill while Lucky pulled information from their security sources.

“Jackson Andrew, please stop scowling and scaring my customers.” Her exasperation made her drawl even more pronounced. “And kiss your mama before you start interrogating me.”

He leaned down, brushed a kiss against her cheek, and caught the familiar scent of her lilac perfume. He softened his tone as he repeated his question. “What do you know about Dr. Roarke?”

“Why do you want to know?” She wrinkled her nose.

“I just need to know.”

“Is this for one of your cases? Because I can’t imagine Dr. Mike being involved with some of the lowlifes you hang out with all the time.”

“Mom.” He really didn’t want to get into another discussion about how much she hated his job. It never changed anything. “If it were about a case, I couldn’t tell you.”

His mom stared. Her thirty-two years of mama-intuition peeled back his layers and got under his skin. He felt seventeen again and hated it.

“She’s a good girl and a great doctor.” She poked his chest for emphasis. “A doctor this town needs.”

Just like this town needed a good sheriff after your dad retired
.

She didn’t say the words but they’d hung in the air between them ever since he’d left at eighteen and refused to come back.

Chagrined, he crossed his arms across his chest, leaned against the counter, and looked down at his shoes. He needed to focus on the job at hand—Kayla’s little stalker problem. She’d been hiding something back in her office. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he’d figure it out.

He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Kayla being here. No, that wasn’t true. He was
glad
to see her and that was the problem. Lucky had tried to convince him that it was a cosmic coincidence, a sign.

As a rule, he didn’t believe in coincidences. Coincidences messed with his plans and he didn’t need the help. So far, he’d messed them up all by himself just fine. He had a job to do and he wouldn’t stoop to seducing Kayla.

And he
really
didn’t want to focus on why she was suddenly Kayla to him. It had rolled off his tongue without thought—Dr. Roarke was too formal and Michaela was the name her father had given her. Kayla was the woman in his bed. It was perfect.

“Mom, I just need to know.” He kept his voice low as she poured out the final shake.

After handing off the two drinks to a waitress, she turned to him, her expression giving away nothing. He’d inherited that poker face from his mom. When he saw her like this, he understood why that expression irritated the people in his life.

Finally, Dolly answered his question. “She’s from Richmond. Went to Mary Baldwin and the Medical College of Virginia. She keeps to herself but everyone loves her.”

“Why’d she come
here
?”

“Believe it or not, Jackson Andrew, not everyone thinks this town is a dead end.”

“I don’t—” He bit off his protest. His family had never understood why he couldn’t stay in Elliott. This had never been home for him.

Everyone had expected him to follow in his dad’s footsteps, but he’d craved anonymity and the opportunity to be someone other than a small-town sheriff, wanted more than a career busting redneck drinkers and rousting teenagers from lover’s lane. The FBI had been perfect until he’d believed his hype and ruined everything. Now he was back in Podunk, busting guys only a step above petty theft and facing the demons he’d ditched the day after graduation.

The chance to get his old life back was his for the taking and he wouldn’t fuck it up. His mom continued, yanking him back to the present. “She went to college with Theresa Francisco.” She dug her order pad out of her apron pocket and nudged him aside as a new wave of customers entered the diner. “You can ask her yourself since she just walked through the door.”

He turned. As Kayla scanned the restaurant, Jackson took a long look at her statuesque, lean body. His jeans tightened as he remembered how she’d felt against him, how she’d moved and responded to his touch. He’d never expected to see her again. His body wanted to make her re-acquaintance.

Another thing that messed with his plans.

She spotted him and stiffened. Like a veil, icy calm covered her face—not a ripple on the surface. Every inch of her screamed “stay away.”

If she thought that would scare him off, Kayla had another thing coming. He’d have had to been dead to miss the chemistry still zinging between them. While he wouldn’t sleep with her, he’d use their history to get her to cooperate. The job would be easier if they were on friendlier terms.

He maneuvered his way around the room until he stood right in front of her. They stared each other down like gunfighters at the OK Corral until his mom bustled up beside them and nudged him out of the way.

“Hello, Dr. Mike. Would you like your favorite booth?”

“Hi, Dolly. That would be great.”

Kayla transformed. Her chilly composure melted away and he was transfixed by her wide smile and sparkling blue eyes. Jack envied his mother that look—especially when it faded as soon as Kayla turned back to him.

“Should we sit down or do you want to interrogate me here?”

He barked out a sharp laugh that earned a surprised look from his mom and several patrons. He had to give the lady credit—she wasn’t backing down.

Jack inclined his head and swept his arm out in the direction of the booth where his mom stood with two menus. “After you.”

He couldn’t help but watch as she walked away. She’d removed her white lab coat, revealing a sleeveless dress that showcased a killer pair of legs. He gritted his teeth as he recalled the birthmark on her inside right thigh and how it tasted.

Down boy, down.
Cursing under his breath, he willed his body to behave by mentally taking apart and cleaning his service weapon. He slid into the bench opposite the only woman who’d ever made him regret waking up alone. Both women looked at him expectantly. Kayla raised an eyebrow and glanced at the menu lying on the table in front of him.

He answered the unspoken question. “I’ll have what she’s having.”

With a nod, his mom scribbled on her pad. “Two sweet teas and two slices of chocolate peanut butter pie.”

“Good Lord, woman, your dentist must love you.” He choked out a laugh.

Kayla bared her teeth in a smile that was more feral than friendly and he gave her another point for backbone.

“So, are you really fine or did you just say it to get rid of me?” he asked, as his mom walked away.

Her only outward reaction to his question was the jump of her pulse in her neck. Her answer rolled off her tongue smooth as glass.

“No. Everything’s good.” She shrugged. “The governor’s plan failed. Simple as that.”

He processed all of her reactions—eye contact, breathing, muscle tension. Everything about her demeanor indicated she was telling the truth. But, he knew in his gut she wasn’t telling him everything.

“You know, it’s normal for these things to escalate.” He kept his tone nonchalant even though the facts should scare the crap out of her. “The stalker is frustrated by the lack of response and he works to get a more direct and instantaneous reaction.”

Her face was blank as she listened. He reminded himself to never play poker with Kayla.

“It could be as simple as a hang-up.”

She blinked. He was on the right track.

“And the next step is going into the physical space of their target—like their home.”

Son of a bitch
. Kayla squirmed in her seat and looked around the diner—probably trying to find the nearest exit. Struggling to remain calm on the outside, Jack made a mental list of how many ways he could kill the asshole who’d been in her apartment.

“Well”—she cleared her throat—“that’s good to know. If the threat were real, I’d know what to expect.”

“Kayla—”

“Hey, I thought I told you not to worry about this. Nothing’s going on.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gave away just how much she didn’t like this conversation. She wasn’t a fidgety person and he doubted she knew her “tell.”

She continued in a lighter tone, “Aren’t you off duty?”

Jack paused, deciding to stop and let her guide this back to easier conversation. If she spooked, he wouldn’t be able to stay close. He’d have Lucky install the bugs at her house and office sooner rather than later. He dialed back “cop mode” and settled back to enjoy the one perk of this job—spending time with this beautiful woman.

“A cop is never really off duty. It’s in my blood to serve and protect.” Jack smiled in response to her more relaxed chuckle. “I help everyone even if I haven’t seen them naked.”

“So, that doesn’t get me special treatment?”

“No. But it will get you a longer strip search.”

The moment the words left his mouth, their night together and the memory of all the ways they’d explored each other’s bodies walked up and slid into the booth with them. Rattled, Jack was spared the effort to reply by his mom depositing their food on the table.

Glad for the distraction, he took a sip of the cold tea and gathered his thoughts, determined to steer the topic away from the fact that she had an available bed just a few blocks away. Drawn by the sound of her digging into her dish, he looked up and was riveted by the sight of her taking a bite of the pie. The expression on her face was nothing less than simple bliss. He knew when the creamy confection hit her tongue because she moaned appreciatively—her long, graceful neck arching in pleasure. Mesmerized, he tracked the slow progress of the fork as it slid out of her mouth, the pink tip of her tongue sweeping across her lower lip to enjoy every last morsel.

Damn
. Jack groaned low in his throat.

Kayla caught sight of his face and whatever she saw there gave her pleasure. The result wasn’t a full-blown grin. No, it was a slow, knowing smile from a woman who knew the power she had over a man. The same smile had drawn him closer the night they met. It still did him in.

Visions of his dining companion in the shower on her knees swirled in his mind as his cock hardened painfully in his jeans. He grabbed the glass of sweet tea again and swallowed the lump lodged in his throat.

She took another bite. He struggled to get a grip. He was a grown-ass man, not some horny teenager who couldn’t cut through the fog of lust.

Looking quite pleased with herself, she gestured toward his untouched slab of pie. “Aren’t you going to eat?

“I’m not that hungry.”
At least not for pie.

She took another bite and rolled her eyes heavenward in ecstasy. “I never pass up a chance to have Dolly’s pies.”

He shifted in his seat and rested an arm along the back of the booth in an attempt to look more at ease than he felt. “Yeah, well, that’s the benefit of being the owner’s son. I get to eat here whenever I want.”

“Dolly’s your mom?”

He nodded. “It’s a small world.” He watched her expression change from confusion to understanding as she processed that piece of information.

Then she licked her lips and he almost forgot to breathe.

He shifted his gaze to her lips, then lower. Her hard nipples peaked the thin fabric of her dress, confirming he wasn’t the only one affected by the heat sizzling between them. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched a pink tint creep up her cheeks. She was such a fascinating contradiction.