Don't Mess With Texas (40 page)

“This isn’t mine.” She returned the flash drive to him.

“It came out of your purse.”

“You sure it wasn’t just on the floor?” She stood and dropped her purse back on the table.

Eddie sat up and dropped the flash drive on the table. “It was with your other stuff.”

“I never use ’em.” Seeing a big drip of ice cream slipping down her cone, Nikki licked it. “Umm.”

As she slid her purse away from the table edge, she pushed the napkins onto the floor.

“Ten-second rule.” Eddie snagged the napkins and passed one to her.

“What’s a few germs?”
Déjà vu
hit her. Jack had dropped his napkin when they met for dinner at Venny’s. She remembered thinking how odd it was that…

Her gaze shot toward the flash drive. She didn’t use the memory sticks, but Jack did.

Dallas and his brother had asked her if Jack had given her anything the night he was killed. Her purse had been under the table when he’d retrieved his napkin. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Hold this.” She passed Eddie her ice cream cone and called Dallas.

Dallas walked into the ice cream shop. The smell of cold, creamy sweet stuff filled his nose. Sitting at a nearby
table, Nikki slowly ran her pink tongue up a cone. A pang of lust hit so hard Dallas had to concentrate to rein himself in. Still, he couldn’t help watching her tongue slide over her ice cream.

Seeing him, she grinned, picked up the flash drive and held it out. She’d already told him about it on the phone and damn, he hoped she was right.

“I dropped my purse and it spilled out.” Her tongue licked the side of the cone.

He nodded at Nance and took the memory disk. “I saw this the first night at the hospital.” Then he snagged her cone and ran his tongue over the smooth chocolate, thinking about doing much the same to her when he got her back to his place. Just as soon as he plugged in the flash drive to see what was on it.

“So I was right.” Nance chuckled.

Dallas returned Nikki’s cone. “Right about what?”

“Right about you two being more than friends.”

Dallas looked at the blush creeping up Nikki’s neck, then glanced back at Nance. “Why would you think that?”

Nance laughed and Dallas realized it was the first time he’d heard the kid do that since he’d met him. Did Nikki have that effect on everyone?

“I used to work at an ice cream place. I know the language of ice cream sharing between a man and a woman. There’s the nibble on the other side.” He took a bite of his cone. “That means I haven’t slept with you yet, but I really want to. Then there’s this.” He turned the cone around and slowly swiped his tongue across the ice cream. “That means—”

“It means you had way too much time on your hands when you worked at the ice cream shop.” But Dallas couldn’t help but smile and offer the kid a wink.

Less than twenty minutes later, he and Nikki stood peering over Tyler’s back while he plugged in the flash drive. Dallas could have done it, but he would’ve needed to move his hands off Nikki and he hadn’t wanted to do that.

With a few of Tyler’s keystrokes, the screen changed. “One file, an Excel spreadsheet named ‘Xfers.’ Transfers.” Tyler clicked on the file.

Seconds later, the file appeared. Tyler looked at Nikki. “You know what this looks like?”

“No.”

“It looks like a list of amounts of cash. Maybe deposits,” Dallas said.

“Over two hundred thousand,” Tyler said. “Could Jack have been embezzling money from someone? The law firm?”

“No,” Nikki said. “Jack wouldn’t steal.”

Dallas resisted the urge to point out that a man who cheats on his wife might have no problem cheating his employer. Instead, he decided to be diplomatic. “Well, since he’s keeping tabs on it, maybe he considered it just borrowing.”

“No,” Nikki said again and her loyalty to her ex stung Dallas a little. “First off, Jack didn’t need the money. His parents are super wealthy.”

“Not anymore.” Tyler looked at her. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but my little Internet search says differently. Your in-laws lost their assets on the last stock market tumble. They’re actually involved in a lawsuit against their broker for making bad investment recommendations.”

Nikki’s eyes widened. “Still, Jack would never take something that didn’t belong to him.” She stepped away from the warm place at Dallas’s side.

“He took your hired help,” Dallas insisted.

“That’s different,” Nikki said. “And if he had been doing this, why would he put the drive in my purse? Why would he want anyone to know what he was doing? I think he put it in there in case something happened to him.”

“Okay, now I see your point.” Dallas looked at Tyler. “Is there nothing else on there?”

“Just dates,” Tyler said.

Dallas remembered Rachel Peterson saying Andrew Brian and Jack Leon had argued. He felt pretty damn certain he knew who was embezzling money from the firm.

“So this isn’t going to help at all?” Nikki asked, sounding deflated.

“I didn’t say that,” Tyler said. “If these numbers and dates are compared to the records of a bookkeeper’s files, even if the books were fixed, I imagine I’d be able to discover some missing funds.”

“Right,” Dallas said. “Now all we gotta do is figure out how we can get to look into those files.”

LeAnn came home prepared to ask Tony why he was there and what he wanted, because if he really wanted her out of the house, she’d move.

However, the moment she stepped into the house and inhaled the scents of dinner, heard the soft music, and saw Tony—shirtless and barefoot—bebopping around the kitchen, she lost her nerve. Or maybe, it wasn’t her nerve she lost. Maybe she didn’t lose anything—maybe it was what she’d gained. Tony. He was home. With her. A part of her wanted to weep with joy.

Another part of her felt paralyzed with fear, afraid to hope what all this really meant.

“You’re home,” Tony said, wielding a spatula and a sexy smile.

Home
. Her throat tightened.
This
was home again. She nodded, unable to talk.

“Good day?” He leaned against the counter. Why was he shirtless?

“It was okay,” she said, forcing the words out.

“You hungry?”

“Yeah.” They’d had several new patients added to her floor and she’d skipped lunch.

“Why don’t you go take a shower? I’ll get everything on the table.”

Ten minutes later, showered and dressed in a simple yellow sundress, and vowing to get through the evening, she went back into the kitchen.

“Smells good. What are we having?” Her gaze kept slipping to his chest. All that bare skin begged to be touched.

He handed her a glass of wine. When his fingers touched her, it was like a thousand volts of electricity shot right to her heart.

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll serve you?” he said.

She sat and Tony quickly placed a plate of tiramisu in front of her.

“Dessert first?” She brought a big spoonful of the fluffy sweetness to her mouth. The flavors, the different textures on her tongue, made her purr.

“It’s what you like.” He sat in his normal spot across from her.

God, she’d missed seeing him there. Missed eating tiramisu. Missed breathing the same air he breathed.

“You’re not having any?” Unable to resist, she took another bite.

“I’m saving myself for dinner.” He sipped his wine, watching her over the rim.

“Am I supposed to believe you made this?” The mocha flavor exploded on her tongue.

He grinned and put a hand on his bare chest. “Of course I did. I have no idea how the Little Italy box got in the garbage.”

“Mm. I haven’t eaten there in forever.” She savored another bite.

He watched her and a slow heat built in his eyes, as if her eating was turning him on. From experience, she knew it didn’t take much to arouse Tony. He liked sex. How could he not like something he was so good at? The thought brought a tightness low in her belly. Suddenly nervous, she put the spoon down.

He reached over and ran the tip of his finger over the edge of her plate and then tasted it. “Isn’t that the restaurant where we went on our first date?”

“Yes.” Memories of that night filled her mind. Had he chosen to buy the dessert from there because of its history? Was he sitting across from her without a shirt on to make her want him? If so, it was working.

He turned his wineglass. “Why don’t we go there next weekend?”

Her pulse started racing. Did he plan on being here next weekend? What was his plan? What was Tony doing? “Won’t your bedbug situation be cleared up by then?”

The moment the question slipped out, she wanted to take it back. She didn’t want to talk about why Tony was here, because that conversation might lead to why he’d left. And she wasn’t ready to talk about that.

She saw him studying her.

“You ready for the second course?” he asked, ignoring her question.

“Yeah.”

Tony served her fried oysters, twice-baked potatoes, and candied carrots—one of the few vegetables she liked. They made small talk. She asked about his dad and about his work. He asked if she’d heard from her father lately and, when she said no, he frowned. Tony wasn’t exactly a fan of her father. Not that she blamed him. She wasn’t exactly a fan herself. She’d forgiven him for many things in her life, but not showing up for Emily’s funeral was the last straw.

Trying to pull her thoughts from that path, LeAnn turned the conversation to Nikki. “You don’t really think Nikki Hunt killed her ex-husband, do you?”

“My gut says no. But there’s a hell of a lot of circumstantial evidence against her.”

“Then follow your gut. It’s always right.”

He toyed with the stem of the glass.

“You could be nicer to her, too. She thinks you don’t like her.”

“I’m just doing my job, LeAnn.”

“Do it nicer.”

“I’ll work on it.” He stacked their plates and pushed them to the side. “You know Dallas has a thing for her, right?”

She smiled. “I kind of got that.”

“Did you know she puked on him?”

“What?”

He told her the story and she couldn’t help laughing. “How serious is it between them?”

“I know they’re hitting the sheets already. I think the
thing with Serena made him gun-shy.” Tony paused and stared at his wine again before looking up. “I think people sometimes let the past get in the way of the future. They let it stop them from moving forward.”

Emotion caught in her chest. She knew he wasn’t talking about Dallas anymore. “It’s not always easy, Tony.”

“Not easy. But I think it’d be worth it.”

She knew where this conversation was leading. And like the door down the hall that she couldn’t open, she wasn’t ready to face it. Not with Tony. She was almost to the point where she didn’t blame herself for Emily’s death, and if she discovered Tony blamed her even the tiniest bit, she simply didn’t think she could handle it.

“Thanks for dinner.” She stood up. “Just leave the dishes and I’ll wash them tomorrow. I’m tired.”

“Well, I did ask you if you were gay.” Nikki rubbed the arm of the pink sofa as Dallas returned from the kitchen where he’d drop off their plates. After Tyler left, they’d run to the grocery store for steaks. “You know, the only thing that keeps me from revoking your man card is your aptitude for grilling.” She giggled.

“Hey, I’m so masculine that I can own a pink couch.” He dropped down beside Nikki. “You have to admit it’s comfortable.”

“Very nice,” she said.

“Let’s see how it feels lying down.” He pushed her back and stretched out beside her. “Hmm, not quite soft enough,” he said and positioned himself on top of her. “Much better.” His warm mouth, flavored with the wine they’d drunk, moved over hers in a soft, wet kiss.

He pulled back. “Do you have any idea how many
times I’ve gotten hard thinking about you today? In public. Once in an elevator in front of two nuns.”

She laughed. “So sorry.” She moved her knee slightly between his legs.

His expression turned serious. “Thanks for being nice to Eddie. He wouldn’t even take the check Tyler tried to give him before he took off. He said you gave him art lessons.”

“He’s really a good kid. You’re going to be able to get him off, aren’t you?”

“Actually, I got a call from my brother while I was grilling our steaks. He seems to think Eddie’s problems will go away. We should know something in a few days.”

“Really? I guess I shouldn’t judge your brother so harshly.”

“He’s a good guy, Nikki.”

“Did you tell him about the flash drive?”

“Not yet. I wanted to talk it over with Austin and Tyler and hear their thoughts.”

“Three heads are better than one, huh?”

“Yeah. In spite of how they act sometimes, they’re really good guys, too.”

“I don’t doubt it.” She ran a hand over his cheek. “Friends are important. I’m close to Ellen like that.”