Guarded (11 page)

“She does.” He nodded. “Give yourself a chance. You deserve to know your family. Take it from someone who will never get an opportunity like this. What you have here is a gift. Grab it with both hands, Shells.”

The touch of her cool, delicate hands between his much larger ones sent a jolt of awareness through his body. From the way her eyes widened, she must have felt it too.

Shelley sucked in the right corner of her bottom lip. The sight of it thundered straight to his tightening groin. “All right. I’ll go with you to Tidewater, tomorrow. But that ocean view had better be spectacular,” she joked.

“Satisfaction guaranteed.”

“Thanks, Dev.” She beamed at him, then cleared her throat and pulled free from his touch. “Your girlfriend is one lucky woman.”

Cam, I’m going to pound you, if I ever see you again.

“Shelley, that relationship ended a long time ago. I . . . uh, don’t have a girlfriend.”

“You broke up? I’m sorry to hear that.” But the smile on her face and the dilation of her pupils belied that statement. She licked her lips and leaned closer to him. Her soft fingers entwined with his rougher ones again. “Really sorry.”

Awareness rocketed through him.

“Don’t be. I’m not.” And, oh God, her lips were right there. The scent of Shells, vanilla and sugar, teased his senses. His mouth watered for just a taste. Just a sample. Slowly, giving her time to pull back, he lowered his head.

And screamed like a little girl.

He launched off the couch. Lucy, the demon ferret, held onto his crotch with all four paws and her evil little teeth.

“Lucy! Stop that right now,” Shelley called out, reaching for her ferret. Her fingers brushed against the undeniable but rapidly deflating bulge in his pants. “Dev, hold still or you’ll hurt my baby.”

“Hold still?” Her
baby
was trying to gnaw through his jeans. Her daggerlike teeth were biting way too close to his testicles, which were currently burrowing into his body for safety. He held himself still. With his hands behind his head, he resisted the urge to grab the ferret and toss her across the room like a slingshot flying-monkey toy.

The knuckles of both of Shelley’s hands rubbed against his crotch and his cock jumped even as his testicles drew up higher. She twisted and tugged the ferret, searching for better purchase on the animal.

“Lucy, let go of Dev this instant,” Shelley said in a voice that reminded him of his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Clark-McBride. “Look at me. He needs all his . . . parts.”

Shelley’s gaze collided with his for a moment, then she blushed. It would have been funny had his dick not been in danger of becoming a ferret chew toy.

Finally, Lucy let go and Shelley plucked the weasel off his package.

Shelley held her up, so she could stare eye to eye with her pet. Some silent communication appeared to pass between them because Shelley’s already pink cheeks flamed to bright scarlet. “Yes,” she said to the ferret as she headed to Lucy’s cage in the bedroom. “Well, that’s none of your business. Now take a nap.”

The door to the ferret cage latched shut with a snap.

Dev cupped himself quickly to make sure no blood had been drawn.
Nothing sexier than blood drawn by a wild animal during the first kiss.

“I’m really sorry about that. Are you hurt?” She gestured to his jeans.

Dev took a step back. Now that he was not on the ferret’s menu, reality set in. He’d come here to help her with her missing-animals case and to bring her home to see Jules, not get in bed with her. Although he intended to pursue her, but only after he reunited her with her sister. Because he had a feeling, given the opportunity to get her into his bed, he might not want either of them out of it before Sunday night. Or ever.

“I’m not hurt,” Dev reassured her. Hiking a thumb over his shoulder, he added, “But I should probably get to my hotel. I’ve got that case file to review for Seth. And you need time to adjust to the idea of seeing Jules again before tomorrow.”

“Oh. You don’t have to go now, do you? You only just got here.” She glanced at her watch and her eyes bugged. “Three hours ago. It’s past three thirty. If you want, we could do dinner later? I’m a great cook.”

His cell beeped, indicating another incoming text before he could answer. He checked it quickly, then shook his head. “I’d love to, Shells, but that’s my partner again. He wants to discuss our case. It could be hours before I have time to eat.” Not to mention, he liked the idea of spending the evening with her and possibly picking up where they’d left off before the ferret attack. And he doubted they’d stop with a single kiss. Then they’d never make it back to Tidewater.

“I understand.” Disappointment flashed across her face so fast, he doubted he’d seen it once it disappeared. “I need to work too. I’ve got to make notes from today on my own files. Frack. I left my thumb drive in my car.”

“You keep your files on a thumb drive?” In the age of Internet clouds?

“I work on two different networks, home and the clinic. I tried e-mailing stuff to myself but ended up with too many different versions, and I couldn’t keep it all straight. The thumb drive was easier.” She sighed. “Maybe you’re right. We both have work to do.” She rose from the couch and wandered to her front door. She twisted her fingers together, a telltale nervous habit.

Stupid as it sounded, now he wished he hadn’t said a damned word about work. What were the odds he’d have more than a few minutes alone with her after she saw Jules again? He should just go for it. Tell her he’d been crazy about her for years. He stepped closer, but she said, “And I could use some time to adjust—good word, by the way—to all of the day’s revelations. I don’t think I’m up to being good company after all. God, I
really
hate Wednesdays.” She rolled her eyes.

His timing was good for shit. Following her to the door, he kept his tone casual. “Want a lift to your car?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you. I want to write my notes first. And I could use the walk to clear my head.”

He stepped through the open door and paused, wanting to ask more about the case, the attack ferret, that near kiss. Instead, he said, “Sure. Take it easy. I’ll be back in the morning to pick you up.”

And there it was again. That zing of awareness between them. It practically sizzled in the air. Then time suspended.

She drifted closer to him until he inhaled her vanilla-and-sugar scent with each breath. With just his fingertips, he touched her silken cheek. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back.

Dev leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. A gentle touch that was innocent but definitely not enough. He kissed her again, softly, teasing his senses with the feel of his mouth on hers.

Shelley turned to human fire in his arms, ramping up the kiss. Rising on her toes, she threw her arms around his neck and drove her tongue into his mouth. She both owned the kiss and demanded more from him. And more he was happy to give. Grabbing a handful of her luscious ass, he pulled her tighter against him. She moaned into his mouth.

A door slammed downstairs followed by loud voices floating up the stairwell.

Shelley’s eyes flew open. Ah, hell, she pulled back from the kiss and out of his arms. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes went from lust-filled and hazy to shocked, then to something else entirely. She took two steps backward and into her apartment. A phony smile slashed across her face but didn’t quite disguise her shuttered expression. Why did she just shut down? She’d been the one to ramp up the passion.

“Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, then she crossed her arms over her chest. “It was—
is
—good to see you again, Dev.”

It could be better if you’d invite me back inside.
Given her protective posturing, that was less than zero on the possibility scale. Damn, once again he had missed his chance with her.

Dev cleared his throat and focused on tomorrow. “Are you still an early riser? I can pick you up at seven.”

Shelley chuckled. “Yep, some things don’t change. But aren’t you a night owl? We don’t have to rush back first thing in the morning. Jules can wait a few hours. It’s been years.” She shook her head before he could answer her question. “No, I know you need to get back for your case. I’ll be ready.”

“Shells, I know this is probably strange for you. It’s why I wanted to tell you in person. I’m here if you want to talk before or after you see her. Just know, Jules
is
your family. She loves you.”

“Thanks.” She cut her gaze away, shrugging. “I’m okay with it.”

“If you change your mind,” he said, taking her hand in his. When her eyes lifted, he said, “I promise you, Shells. I’ll be right there with you tomorrow. Or if you want to talk tonight, you can call me.”

A grin tilted her lips at the corners. “I don’t have your number.”

Dev pulled out his cell, keyed in her number, then sent her a text. “Now you do.”

“Yeah. I guess I do.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I should have named her Houdini. I’m going to have to padlock that cage.”

Lucy, the ferret demon, was making her way through the apartment. Dev took an automatic step back and fought the urge to cup himself. If Shelley noticed his reaction, she didn’t let it show.

“Better close the door before she decides to make a break for it. See you tomorrow. And, Dev, thanks for coming to Elkridge.”

“Couldn’t have kept me away.” Dev took another step back, then two. “I’ll see you at seven a.m.”

The door closed with a snap. He headed down the stairs when Shelley opened the door a crack and called out, “Dev, if Jules is so happy to have found me, why didn’t she come here herself?”

“Because I volunteered.”

D
EV HAD VOLUNTEERED.

The knowledge shouldn’t have made Shelley’s heart beat faster, but it did. That gorgeous, shy guy she’d known in college was a devastatingly handsome police detective today. And every bit as kind and caring as he’d always been. Maybe her superstar sex fantasy with Dev in the leading role wasn’t so far out of the realm of possibility. Provided Lucy, the attack ferret, left them alone long enough. She might have invited Dev back in, had she not heard Lucy playing with her little jingly ball. Sneaky beast had escaped her cage again. There was no way Shelley would risk another ferret attack on Dev’s impressive package. She might never get him into her bed if Lucy had her way.

Shelley locked the door behind Dev and spun around. Lucy sat up on hind legs, glaring, ball forgotten in the middle of the living-room floor.

Shelley glared back. “I cannot believe you tried to bite his . . . his . . . you know what. Jeez, Lucy! What was all that about?”

An image of Shelley and Cam kissing flew into her mind, courtesy of Lucy. The memory was a ferret’s-eye view of the day Cam left her, just six months before the wedding. Shelley had been on the couch, Lucy at her side, addressing the last of the wedding invitations when Cam came into their posh living room in Baltimore.

Shelley didn’t need Lucy to remind her of that horrid afternoon. Even now, almost a year later, her stomach still cramped at the memory. Cam had announced he couldn’t marry her. He’d never loved her and had realized it the moment she’d told him she was pregnant. He hadn’t been excited. He’d felt trapped. The miscarriage had been a relief for him. He’d actually said, “Now we can be free.”

As if losing the baby hadn’t been hard enough.

Shelley’s tears had started then. She’d dropped the pen. It had rolled off the coffee table and onto the pristine white carpet where it had bled a black mum-shaped stain.

The flashes of Lucy’s memories winged faster and faster through Shelley’s mind, until she thought she might hurl from the spinning images. Shelley crying on her bed. On the couch. At the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. Shelley crying, as she packed and moved out of the apartment she’d shared with Cam. Then without warning, the mental pictures shifted to Dev’s face as he’d leaned in to kiss her on her couch. The expression on his face was intent, lustful, and dear God, hopeful.

The thoughts zapped out.

Lucy might not have even understood what she saw, but Shelley did. Dev
wanted
her. If his half-hooded, nearly obsidian gaze was anything to go by, he really wanted her. Something she’d been positive she would never see. Not on his face. She wasn’t his type. And she knew all about his type. Cam had always compared her to those superskinny football groupies who’d followed Dev everywhere back in college. Shelley hadn’t been skinny since puberty. Tonight though, Dev had been looking at her with hunger in his sexy gray eyes. And again, the superstar knocking-boots fantasy became a little more attainable. It wouldn’t be more than that. No one stayed with her forever. It just didn’t happen. Everyone left or died. She was meant to be alone. Still, even the lone wolf gets to experience a little companionship.

A slow grin curled the corners of her mouth. Maybe getting fired today was a good thing after all. It freed her up to spend the next couple of days with Dev. Perhaps tomorrow might not be so bad.

She liked the idea of staying at a place with an ocean view. Tidewater was beautiful all year long. And she could see Jules.

The muscles in her shoulders knotted at the thought of facing her older sister. Shame filled her, remembering her behavior all those years ago. Jules searching for Shelley seemed illogical given their last
conversation.
She pushed away the thought and focused on Dev.

She touched her fingers to her lips, recalling his amazing kiss in the hallway. She could indulge herself in a few lusty nights of fun with an old friend. Besides, after a night or two, her fantasy would be fulfilled. And Dev probably had women slipping him their phone numbers at the grocery store, so there wouldn’t be any risk of him wanting what she could never give.

Tidewater was looking better and better. Then she could come back to Elkridge and beg Dr. Kessler for her job back. Or if that didn’t work, see if his offer to help her find another one would lead to a new adventure. In the meantime, she’d get Dev to help her solve the mystery of the missing animals.

“Oh, Lucy,” Shelley said, gently cradling the ferret and rubbing her belly. “You can’t protect me from everything. I wanted him to kiss me. Dev isn’t Cam. He can’t hurt me. I happened to adore the look you saw in his eyes. So please, don’t interfere again. Otherwise, I won’t be able to take you with me tomorrow. And I need you with me if I’m going to see Jules.”

Lucy went boneless at the tummy scratch, then yawned and lifted her head to make eye contact again. An image of Shelley saying, “I promise,” winged into her mind. It was the closest Lucy could come to actually saying the words and it touched Shelley’s heart.

While she booted up her laptop, Shelley let Lucy run free in the apartment. The computer hummed to life. Opening a new document, she spent the next hour documenting everything she’d seen, heard, smelled, and sensed today. She reached for her flash drive but remembered it was back in the zoo parking lot. As much as she hated duplicate files, she didn’t want to risk forgetting the details. Saving the file to her hard drive, she shut down the computer.

Scooping Lucy from her latest hiding place, Shelley’s computer bag, she said, “Want to go for a walk? I need to get something from my car. Come on, we can both use the exercise.”

Shelley grabbed the leash and harness from the hook on the wall near the front door. Settling on the couch, she helped Lucy wriggle into the apparatus. Five minutes later, they were on the sidewalk headed toward the zoo parking lot. Corner streetlights buzzed to life as the setting sun’s rays faded. At barely five o’clock, the tourist shops had started to close for the night. Main Street was busy with people heading home from work. Four cars waited for the light to turn green at the corner of Main and First. Ah, rush hour in a small town.

“He’s gone? Missing?” The words carried on the wind.

Shelley glanced around to see two familiar shop owners, Mrs. Blaney and Mrs. Hoffstedder. The Elizabeths, as Shelley often thought of the pair, were gossiping outside of Elkridge Antiques. Both hard of hearing, the women stood close together, heads bent, but their voices were too loud to be considered whispering.

“Why, I saw Colbert last week. He stopped in my shop on the way to his cabin. Told me to put that lovely carnival-glass butter dish aside for Janice. She’s been wanting it to complete her collection, you know,” Mrs. Blaney said. Her blond curly hair bounced as she bobbed her head. “Told me he’d be back yesterday to pick it up.”

“Oh, the blue dish? That was a nice piece,” Mrs. Hoffstedder said. She frowned, pushing her black horn-rimmed glasses up on her nose. “And he didn’t show? Curious. You know, Maureen said that Colbert Rush didn’t come to the barbershop for his monthly trim either. First haircut he’s missed in thirty years.”

“I tell you, it’s just like what happened last summer with John Wallace,” Mrs. Blaney said. “He went missing too.”

“Tosh. You read too many mysteries. Everybody knows John Wallace ran off with some woman he met on the Internet. And Colbert, that man has barely been a part of this town in twenty years. He’s some uppity jeweler in Tidewater. He only comes here for the antiques and his haircuts. He probably just forgot about your carnival glass.” Mrs. Hoffstedder waved away the other woman’s concern. “You mark my words, he’ll call next week wanting that dish. And when he does, you should charge him double.”

At that moment, the pair caught sight of Shelley with Lucy.

Shelley’s cheeks heated. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was kind of hard to ignore them. Plus, they were discussing
two
missing men from Elkridge. “Good evening, Mrs. Blaney, Mrs. Hoffstedder.” Shelley pretended not to have heard their conversation just like the shop owners pretended they hadn’t been gossiping.

“’Evening, Dr. Morgan,” Mrs. Blaney said with a grin. “Lovely night for a walk.”

“Yes, it is,” Shelley agreed, stepping up her pace to get past the two busiest bodies in twenty miles. “Have a nice night.”

“Good night,” the two owners called out in unison.

Turning left at the corner, Shelley made her way up Zoo Lane. One more block and she’d be at her car. Good thing. Lucy’s pace had slowed considerably. “Hang on, girl.” Shelley bent down and scooped up the exhausted ferret. Lucy might love her walks, but she’d worn herself out attacking Dev this afternoon. “I should make you walk for trying to eat Dev,” Shelley groused teasingly, then tucked Lucy inside her coat.

The day had been unseasonably warm, but the moment the sun set, it definitely felt like November in Elkridge.

Once Lucy settled inside her jacket pocket, Shelley continued strolling. Her mind replayed the beginning of that interrupted seduction scene on her couch.

Oh my, just remembering the heat in his gaze as he’d stared at her. She’d licked her lips intentionally, just to see how he’d react. It had been the first time she’d been certain he was looking at her with that intensity. The few times she thought she’d seen it, he had looked away before she could be sure. And man alive, on the couch, he looked at her as way more than his old college buddy.

And that incredible, soul-melting kiss at the door.

Chances were, if Lucy, that little magician, hadn’t escaped her cage, Shelley would have pulled him back into her apartment and would still be kissing him. Maybe more.

Definitely more.

And suddenly her coat was stifling. Unzipping her blue fleece-lined jacket, she started to fan it. Lucy popped her head out of the pocket and Shelley froze. “Sorry, girl. Forgot you were there.” She zipped the jacket back up.

Dang, she needed a cold shower or Dev to come back and finish what he’d started.
Next time, I’m locking Lucy in her cage in another room. Possibly on another floor.

Shelley crossed the street at the light, still lost in thought. She passed the squat evergreen bushes that framed the parking lot of the zoo and was nearly to the entrance when she stumbled over something.

She flew forward but managed to clutch Lucy to her with one hand. Tumbling down, her knees and right palm skidded along the cracked white sidewalk, but Lucy remained safely clasped against Shelley’s chest.

“You okay, girl?” Shelley righted herself and unzipped her jacket enough for the ferret to poke out her head. Her round pink eyes were wide and searching before she sniffed the air. Lucy sneezed, then burrowed back into the warmth of the coat. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

Shelley turned her palm and blew cool air on the skinned heel of her right hand. She started to rise, still blowing on the stinging wound and searching for the source of her fall.

A pair of blue sneakers protruded from beneath a nearby bush. A very familiar pair of sneakers. Fear had her bolting to the shrub, her skinned hand all but forgotten.

“Beau?” She gently patted his leg through his threadbare jeans. “Beau, speak to me. Are you hurt?”

“Doc?” His voice sounded thick. Like he had a bad cold.

“Yes, it’s me.” Relief flooded through her at the sound of his voice. If he could talk, then he was conscious, breathing, and had a pulse. All good signs. “Can you come out from under there?”

“No, ma’am. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He paused, then added. “Sorry I tripped you.”

“Beau, that’s okay. I’m not angry.” When he didn’t respond, she said, “I really must insist that you come out. You could get hurt lying on the ground like that.”

Beau made a derisive noise and muttered something that sounded like “Too late.”

The fallen leaves crunched on the ground, and the shrubbery rustled as Beau drew his legs farther beneath the bushes. More rustling leaves and branches. Then he slowly poked his head out. He lumbered to his feet with one arm wrapped around his midsection and awkwardly shuffled just beyond the reach of the halo of light cast by the streetlamp. In the fading strains of the sunset, he was mostly in shadow.

Even in the dimness, he kept his head down, his eyes not meeting hers. A chill sank into her bones. Then a Carolina chickadee hopped out from the bush he’d just been under. It made eye contact with Shelley and images washed through her mind like a rapidly rising river.

Beau, right eye swollen and lip bleeding, ran up the street. He raced past the shrub, past the zoo gate, to stare through the zoo’s chain-link fence, only to run back again. He dropped to his belly and army-crawled under the bush. His hair and shirt snagged on branches as he burrowed farther inside until his whole body was camouflaged. His head dropped to his knees.

A hand jutted through the bushes. Beau’s head snapped up, his eyes dark with fear. Red-tipped fingernails scraped across his face. He turned his head and bit the attacker on the wrist. A fist slammed through the bush, colliding with his left ear, knocking him sideways into the many branches.