Loaded (2 page)

That conjured up all kinds of
decadent images, and if her blind date had the same train of thought, Tucker
might end up on the wrong side of his own bars tonight. “So, why don’t you bail
on him?”

“I can’t. Dixie is always on
me about getting a life, and she seems to think this guy would be perfect for
me.”

Tucker gripped the steering
wheel as he silently cursed Dixie for meddling in her cousin’s love life. “What
makes her think that?”

She shrugged. “He’s been
coming into her place for a while. She swears he’s a really nice guy.”

Tucker grunted. He and Dixie
went way back. She wouldn’t know a nice guy if he fell at her feet. “What else
do you know about him?”

“He’s an accountant from
Lindsay. I think he has a client in Brant, so he stops by to see Dixie whenever
he’s in town.”

He clenched his jaw. “If
Dixie likes him so much, why doesn’t she go out with him?”

“He’s way too nice for Dixie.
You know her; she only goes for the bad boys.”

Yeah, he knew Dixie too well,
which would probably hurt his case if he was trying to score points with her
cousin. “And you prefer the nice, boring guys, is that it?” If that was her
speed, he might as well drop out of the running now. No one had ever described
him as nice or boring. He’d been called reprehensible, hot-tempered, downright
nasty at times, but never boring.

“To tell you the truth, I
really don’t date.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You
mean, ever?”

She nodded. “I’m too busy. Starting
a new business is more difficult than most people realize.” A smile teased her
full lips. “It so happens, the local police chief isn’t too happy about the
fact that I have a massage clinic in the back of my studio, so I’m working real
hard to try and book more dance lessons and classes so I don’t have to do that
anymore.”

It wasn’t illegal for her to
massage clients, but his attraction to her made him hate the idea even more.
The thought of her rubbing down some half-naked guy who was probably ogling her
tits as she worked his shoulders from the front of the table made him wish he
could walk in there and shut her down tomorrow.

“That’s probably a good
idea,” he muttered.

She crossed her arms over her
chest and glared at him. “In spite of what you might think, I’m not doing
anything wrong, Chief. I’m a licensed massage therapist, and those girls were
my apprentices. I was well within my rights to…”

He reached across the
gearshift to grab her hand. “Relax, I’m not accusing you of anything,
gorgeous.”

“But you were not too long
ago. What changed your mind?”

If he wanted to cash in on
their obvious attraction, Tucker knew he’d have to do a little groveling. “I
can be hard-headed sometimes.” He stole a glance at her breath-taking smile,
and for the first time, he didn’t mind acknowledging his mistake. “Let’s just
say, what happened with you was one of those times.”

“Does that mean you’re
willing to give me a break?”

“Yeah, I think I can cut you
a little slack.” He grinned. “But I may have to come in and check out the
massage room tomorrow, just to be sure.”

She smiled. “Do you want to
set up an appointment?”

He’d love to, but when he got
her hands all over his body, a massage would be the last thing on either of
their minds. “Let’s see how my day goes. I have a meeting at the mayor’s
office, and I have no doubt he’s going to shoot down my proposal for three new
squad cars. If he does, I just may need that stress reliever, after all.” Of
course, sinking into her lush little body would do more to relieve his stress
than a deep tissue massage.

“I thought your father was
the mayor?”

“He is, and he likes to bust
my chops every chance he gets.” He pulled into the parking lot at Dixie’s and
noted that Dave, Craig, Jake, and Cole were already there. Great, now he’d have
to explain to his buddies why he was walking in with Rachel. They’d accuse him
of going soft. If only they knew how wrong they were. Ever since she’d claimed
the passenger’s seat, he’d been trying to conceal the raging hard-on biting
into the zipper of his jeans.

“Well, if you decide you need
a little help relaxing those tight muscles, you know where to find me.” She
settled her purse strap on her shoulder after un-doing her seat belt. “It’s the
least I can do, after you gave me a lift.”

“You don’t owe me anything. It
was my pleasure.” This was the moment he’d normally ask for a woman’s phone
number, but Rachel had given him no indication she was interested in pursuing
their mutual attraction. He had an idea. “Let me give my buddy a call before we
head in, see about getting your car towed.”

She treated him to one of
those dimpled smiles he was learning to love. “If you’re sure it wouldn’t be
too much trouble… that would be great.”

“No trouble at all.” He cut
his engine and pulled out his Blackberry.

Jimmy answered on the first
ring. “What’s up, Chief? You need me to tow another D.U.I.?”

“Hey, Jim. No, a friend of
mine is having a little car trouble and I need you to pick it up and tow it to
the shop for me.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Another thing. Remember that
exclusive contract we were talking about yesterday? Consider it yours if you
take care of this for me and make sure the boys at the shop make it their top
priority.”

“You got it; I’m headed over
there now, Chief. Just give me your friend’s contact information and the
location of the vehicle, along with the plate number and model.”

“Her name’s Rachel Morgan…”

Jimmy laughed. “Not that hot
little dance instructor with the studio on Main Street?”

Tucker cleared his throat. If
Rachel hadn’t been in the car, he would have told his friend to back off, but
her presence meant he had to keep his mouth shut, which incensed him even more.
Tucker Carlton was not used to holding his tongue. He told people what he
thought, whether they liked it or not. “Yeah, that’s the one. I’ll text you
with the details in a bit. Later.” He hung up before Jimmy could respond, which
gave him a small measure of satisfaction.

He handed Rachel his phone.
“Enter your information in my contacts so I can forward it to Jim. He needs
your license plate number and model of the car, too.”

She smiled as she took the
phone from him. “I thought you’d be able to rhyme that information off to him. Are
you telling me you didn’t run a background check on me, Chief?”

He shifted toward her. “I
did, but I hit a dead end. Why is that?”

She swallowed, looking
visibly nervous. “Seriously? You went digging around in my past?” She punched the
numbers into his phone. “Why would you do that?”

He smirked. “I suspected you
of committing a crime, Rachel. It’s my job to find out your story.”

She tossed his phone at him.
“I already told you I didn’t do anything wrong.” Her voice broke. “Why won’t
you just leave me alone?” She grabbed the handle and threw the door open,
slamming it with enough force to rattle the windows.

“Hey, stop right there!” he
shouted. “Don’t walk away from me. We’re not finished talking.”

“The hell we’re not,” she
said, stalking inside the bar.

Chapter Two

Rachel was still shaking by
the time she made her way through the crowded bar.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Dixie
asked as she reached out to grab her cousin’s hand. “You look like you saw a
ghost.”

“The chief of police has been
digging into my past,” she whispered, looking around to see if anyone was
listening in on their conversation. She half expected the man in question to
storm the bar and drag her out in handcuffs. She should have known better than
to believe he was being nice to her because he’d had a change of heart. He
wanted to lock her up, and if she wasn’t more careful, he would have all the
ammunition he needed.

Dixie snorted as she drew a
beer from the tap. “Tucker’s bark is worse than his bite. That’s not to say I
wouldn’t let him bite me again.” She winked. “If he asked real nice.”

Her cousin and the chief? She
couldn’t think about that right now. She had bigger problems. “Didn’t you hear
what I said? What am I going to do?”

Dixie looked over Rachel’s
shoulder. “Hey there, handsome, what can I get you tonight?”

Tucker ignored Dixie as he glared
at Rachel. “We weren’t finished talking.”

Big, mean, imposing men still
intimidated Rachel, especially when they had a license to carry a gun. “I have
nothing left to say to you.” She turned her back on him to hide the tremble in
her bottom lip.
I will not cry. I will not show fear.
Not that the
mantra ever worked for her in the past.

He grabbed her upper arm and
spun her around to face him.

The shock of being
man-handled prompted her to react without thinking about the consequences. The
sound of flesh hitting flesh could be heard in their immediate circle, and as
soon as people realized the chief was the one on the receiving end of the blow,
a deadly silence ensued.

Rachel covered her mouth with
a trembling hand as Tucker stared at her, obviously in shock. “Oh God, I’m so
sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. It was just a reflex; I got scared when you
put your hands on me like that. I thought…”

“Rachel,” Dixie hissed.
“That’s enough. You apologized to the man, just leave it at that.”

Tucker looked from Rachel to
Dixie, as though he was trying to read their minds before scowling at the
patrons staring at them. “Show’s over people. Go back to your beer.”

“Excuse me,” Rachel said,
running to the ladies’ room.

People were still staring as
she made her way down the narrow hallway to the restrooms. She stopped to look
at her reflection in the mirror. She never thought she’d have to see that
wild-eyed look in her eyes again, but it was back with a vengeance.

A tall woman with long dark
hair and pale skin walked through the door, took one look at Rachel, and
started applauding. “I would have paid money to see someone put that bastard in
his place. He sent my old man to the joint last month. It’s good to see him get
his for once. He thinks he’s so goddamn high and mighty just ‘cause he wears a
badge and a gun. If Daddy Warbucks wasn’t the mayor, he’d be slingin’ horse
shit, just like my Floyd.” She snorted. “Give ‘em a cushy fuckin’ job and the
son of a bitch walks around town like he owns it.”

Rachel had no doubt Tucker
was good at his job, which meant it was only a matter of time before he was on
to her. And instead of reaching for the olive branch he’d extended in the car,
she beat him with it. She was an idiot. There was no question about it. Instead
of inciting the tipsy woman offering her praise, she tried to ignore her.

“I told my old man it was
only a matter of time before someone gave that prick what he deserved.”

Another woman opened one of
the stall doors, took a look at the dark-haired woman spewing venom, and rolled
her eyes. “Give it a rest, Tina. Tucker was just doing his job when he arrested
Floyd.”

She thrust a finger in the
buxom blonde’s direction as she swayed precariously to one side. “You’re just
sayin’ that ‘cause you wanna fuck Tucker. You and every other bitch in this
place would spread your legs for that pompous asshole if he was willin’ to give
you the time of day.” She sneered at her rival. “But he ain’t, is he? I saw you
in here last week, hangin’ all over him, making a fool of yourself, and he
couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”

The woman walked over to the
sink to wash her hands. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Tucker may
not have left here with me, but I can promise you, he
came
with me.” She
laughed at her own lewd joke. “Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

“He don’t give a shit about
you. You’re just like all the rest, an easy lay when he gets tired of his own
hand.”

The blonde turned toward
Rachel, her eyes narrowed. “Why’d you slap him? You two sleeping together?”

“No, God no,” Rachel said,
hoping she wouldn’t have to add cat-fight to list of reasons why she shouldn’t have
crawled out of bed this morning. “There’s nothing between us. He doesn’t even
like me.”

The woman looked her up and
down. “I can see that. You’re not his type. He’s a leg man; he’s not into big boobs.”
She looked in the mirror as she adjusted her push-up bra to enhance her
cleavage. “He says anything more than a handful is just a waste.” She took a
step closer. “But just in case you get any ideas about making a play for him,
don’t.”

Rachel took a step back to
claim some space when the overpowering scent of cheap perfume and whisky made
her stomach turn. “No worries. I have no interest in Tucker.”

The blonde glared at Rachel
once more, as though she was trying to decide whether to believe her, before
pushing her aside to engage Tina in an argument.