Rumble on the Bayou (23 page)

Dorie frowned at the hopeful look on their faces. The offer of Joe's place was bad enough. Why in the world would Richard tempt her with the motel? The proximity alone would leave her sleepless, or even worse, committing acts she'd regret the following morning. "Sorry, guys," she said finally. "No can do. We've already discussed this. I'll be fine."

Jenny placed the burger and fries on the table and Dorie reached for the catsup bottle. She saw Joe and Richard give each other a look. Great, she thought as she took a bite of the burger, now I have Dick and Joe siding with each other against me. What in the world had things come to if people like Richard and Joe were becoming buddies?

"Are you going to see your dad tonight?" Joe asked.

Dorie almost choked on her burger and grabbed her soda to wash it down. "No. I'm not up to it. I guess I have to call and fill him in on everything, but I figure I can be yelled at on the phone as easily as making that drive all the way to Lake Charles." And I'll be putting that phone call off till the last minute, too.

There was a lapse in conversation and everyone concentrated on the food. Grateful for the break, she tried to clear her thoughts. At the rate her mind raced, sleep would be an impossibility, which was a dangerous thing considering she probably needed to be in top physical shape given the shooting fiasco this morning.

"So when exactly are you going to call your dad?" Richard asked, completely ruining her focus on the remaining french fries.

She sighed and dropped the partially eaten fry from her hand. "You sure know how to ruin a girl's meal, Dick. I'd hate to be on a date with you.” She gave him a dirty look. He countered by looking immediately contrite and made her feel a little guilty. Very little, but a little.

"I guess I'll call him after we finish eating," she relented, "and with your choice of dinner topics, that time is approaching rapidly."

"Sorry," Richard said. "I know I'm just getting the hang of this small town thing, but I'm pretty sure someone's already broken their neck calling him with the news of our shooting adventures this morning, and he's probably sitting on the phone right now, waiting for it to ring."

"Calling now or calling later isn't going to change the facts of what happened today," Dorie said.

"Maybe not," Richard replied, "but there's no use in pissing him off even more by not keeping him in the loop. The last thing I need is for him to yank you off this case, and he has the authority to do it. Without your help, I'd be lost in those bayous for months."

Joe snorted. "You're catching on a lot faster than you think, City."

Richard laughed. "Yeah, I guess it's all those specially honed investigative skills. Or maybe just the fact that I have no idea where to find even one camp we've looked at over the last two days, much less the one we suspect Roland of using. Give me a boat at this point and I'll probably end up in Mexico."

Dorie had to smile at Richard's comments, although she was positive there was a lot of truth in them. Her dad wouldn't hesitate to pull her off the case if he thought for one moment that Roland's motives were personal or specifically directed at her. That meant more hedging than explaining when she got around to telling her dad anything at all about the events of the day. She picked up a fry and dipped it in the catsup, making the decision that at least one beer was in order before she placed that phone call to her dad.

And a few more afterward.

***

More than two hours later, Dorie locked the front door of the sheriff's office and headed down to the dock. Finally giving in to Richard and Joe's nagging, against her better judgment, she'd placed the call to her dad. It went about as smoothly as she expected-which was not at all. In fact, he had taken things much further than Joe and Richard's suggestions of bunking down with one of them for the duration. No, her dad wanted her to get the hell out of Gator Bait until Roland was caught.

The fact that Roland had evaded authorities for more than thirty years wasn't something he was interested in hearing. Not even when Dorie pointed out that the potential of her never being able to return was a high possibility given the DEAs track record.

She said good-bye to Richard and Joe, hopped into the old flat-bottom boat she kept as a spare and backed away from the dock. The six-pack in her refrigerator was calling her and after the phone call, it didn't really look like enough. She might even have to dig into the frozen cookie dough stashed in the freezer.

She blew out a breath and pushed the tiny boat harder down the bayou, eager to be home and away from everything, even if only for a night. All this stress was not good for the muscle tone. She was pretty sure no one had developed ripped abs from a diet of cookie dough and beer, but this was one time she was willing to try.

She quickly docked her boat and hurried into the cabin, not wanting to leave herself a stationary target after dark, despite her brave front to Joe and Richard. Not that she was afraid exactly, but deliberately tempting Roland would be stupid, and no one had ever accused her of being stupid.

Well, except Richard, but he didn't count. There were things he didn't know about her and never would. Already, he'd entered her world just a little too deeply, and it was beyond time for her to move him out. All the thinking about Richard made her lower back tense and she went immediately to the shower and turned the knob inside all the way to hot.

She shed her clothes and stepped into the stream of water. Thank God she hadn't let the guys talk her into staying in town. Not that it was ever a consideration for her, but sometimes she did things she didn't really want to do if it meant a lot to the other person. And Dorie knew that she was the only one who wanted her to stay out at her place alone.

Except maybe Roland.

But she would rather take her chances on her own turf with Roland than stay with Joe, who would have mothered her all night, or Richard, who, well, she wasn't exactly sure what Richard would have done. And since she couldn't trust herself around him either, it was safer to stay away.

What had happened between them that morning was a big mistake. She should never have let her guard down that way and she couldn't afford for it to happen again. Irritated because Richard had entered her thoughts again, especially while she was naked, she grabbed the shampoo and shook it.

Then she heard a noise outside of the cabin.

There was no mistaking the creaking of the cabin floor and she immediately knew she wasn't alone. Reaching one hand out of the shower, she turned off the light but left the water running. The sound of the shower would give her intruder the idea that he had the edge. He might let down his guard.

She watched the hall closely, her eyes quickly adjusting to the dark. It was only seconds later when she saw a figure emerge in front of the bathroom door. At once, she jumped out of the shower, tearing the curtain with her as she went. Grabbing the intruder around the neck, she shoved her gun to his head.

C
HAPTER ELEVEN

"Give me a reason," Dorie said, her finger tightening on the trigger. "Just one good reason."

"Dorie," the man managed to choke out. "It's Richard.”

She lowered her gun and released him from the choke hold. Reaching into the bathroom, she flipped on the light. Sure enough, it was Richard, dripping wet from the attack of the flying shower curtain and rubbing at red marks on his throat.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she exploded. "I could have killed you."

"I'm beginning to see that," Richard said and reached behind her for a towel hanging on the wall. "I thought you were in the shower. I didn't want to disturb you. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. But then the lights went off and I got worried. Jesus, Dorie, don't tell me you shower with your gun."

Dorie gave him a derisive look. "Of course I shower with my gun. I built a special shelf for it right into the wall."

Richard gave her a look of disbelief, and she pointed to the crude tile shelf on the shower wall, placed just high enough to be out of the stream of running water.

"You're crazy," he said and shook his head.

"I'm crazy? I'm not the one who almost got his head blown off for breaking and entering someone else's private residence. Is this the kind of thing they teach you at the DEA?"

Richard finished drying his face and took a good look at her. "No, but if they'd told us that the view was always this good, I would have tried it before now." He gave her a grin.

Dorie threw her hands up in the air, turned off the water in the shower, and stalked past him to the bedroom, her only relaxing moment of the day completely ruined. "What is it with you and boobs, Dick?" she asked as she slammed the door behind her.

Richard stared at the closed door for a moment, trying to collect all of his thoughts. All day, it had been obvious that Dorie was trying to put some distance between the two of them. The question was, should he let her? Deciding that another view of Dorie's boobs was probably worth being yelled at, he opened the door and walked into the tiny bedroom.

She was sorting through a pile of unfolded laundry, tossing the rejects all around the room and looked up in obvious surprise when he walked in.

"I thought we were done talking," she said. "I don't need any protection. You'll do yourself a favor to go ahead and go back to the motel."

He gave her a smile and looked her naked body up and down. "Talking wasn't exactly what I had in mind." He took a step closer and positioned himself directly in front of her.

Dorie shook her head. "Oh, no. I thought we'd already agreed that what happened today was a fluke and it wasn't going to change things."

He ran one finger down the side of her breast and her nipple immediately popped to attention. "You agreed. I never did. Making love to you was not a fluke, although I do consider myself extremely lucky. What's wrong with a little fun between adults?"

He saw her stiffen as the words "making love" left his mouth and instantly realized his faux pas. Dorie played things fast and loose. Any indication of caring or love seemed to make her want to run for the bayou. Fine, he decided, he'd just play it her way.

For now.

"I've got enough things about this investigation distracting me already," she said. "I don't need anything else adding to my stress."

Richard reached one arm around her and roughly pulled her against him, squeezing her butt in his hand. With the other hand, he cupped her breast firmly and stroked his finger over the hardened nipple. "I'm not trying to add to your stress. I'm trying to relieve some of it." Lifting his hand from her breast, he grabbed her by the back of the head and forced her lips to his, kissing her deeply, sucking on her lip.

She gasped as he grabbed her. Then she pulled back to stare at him in obvious surprise, but as he lowered his hungry mouth to hers again, there was no mistaking the desire. And for someone who was trying to rush him out of her life, she wasn't putting up much of a fight.

Her lips and tongue answered his with a sense of urgency and he felt his body stiffen. Dorie groaned as he pressed his length against her naked, wet body. Reaching down with one hand, she stroked him through his blue jeans. A rush of heat ran through his veins and the jeans bound tighter and tighter, inhibiting further progress.

"Whoever made jeans this tight in the front didn't know about you," he said.

She looked at him and smiled. "I guess we'll have to do something about that." Grabbing his jeans with both hands, she worked the buttons loose and pushed them, along with his underwear, down his hips. Richard decided he wasn't doing his share to help out and quickly removed his shirt, tossing it to the floor behind them. He was just about to reach down and take off his shoes when she lowered herself in front of him.

When he realized what she was about to do, his body froze in anticipation. It was a good thing, he decided, because the instant she took him into her mouth, he would have buckled had his knees not been locked. Looking down at her body, still glistening wet from the shower, he almost lost control.

Those gorgeous curves alone were enough to send him over the edge. But the way she made him feel was fast overtaking her appearance, and the flicker in his chest made him briefly wonder if this was really as casual as they both pretended it was. Shifting his eyes away from the view, he tried to think of something, anything to help distract his rising need and prolong the pleasure.

Root canal, Aunt Sarah's meatloaf, stepping in gum.
He groaned. It wasn't working. He couldn't take his mind off the activity below, and that activity was about to send him quickly over the edge. He made one last desperate attempt to hold himself back, but the orgasm was already building, his body a mass of nerves, his muscles locked into place.