The Stranger Next Door (11 page)

While she appreciated Robbie’s excellent looks—and they were excellent—Jack’s were better. She cast a quick glace at Jack and couldn’t help but picture him on her front porch shirtless, his auburn hair ruffling in the breeze, his abs rippling with every movement, and his eyes twinkling when he laughed.

He was definitely the better looking of the two.

But as she gave Robbie the once over, something caught her eye.

A man dressed immaculately in a black suit stood between what appeared to be two bodyguards, talking seriously with another man, complete with guards of his own. They stood to the side of the terminal against the wall, well out of the way of the passers-by.

That can’t be…

But it was. Blond hair, muscular build, and as he glanced up and met her inquiring gaze, she easily recognized the man who’d caught her eye.

Officer Holdings?

A sly grin tilted the corners of his wide mouth momentarily before he went back to his conversation.

“Welcome back,” Jack said as Robbie approached and clapped him on the back.

As Tess listened to the men greet each other, she couldn’t help but wonder what Danny was up to.
Bodyguards?
Danny was a cop. Why would he need bodyguards?
Perhaps he was undercover. That would certainly explain his strange behavior. Struggling to get her curiosity under control, she turned to Robbie as he spoke. The last thing she wanted to do was blow Danny’s cover, and if he kept looking at her as he was, that’s exactly what would happen. It took balls to go undercover. The last thing she wanted was to get another officer hurt. Danny had been looking for a way to move up on the force; maybe the captain had finally relented and given Danny an assignment.

“Thanks,” Robbie said easily, “it was a long flight.” Turning toward her, he flashed a crooked grin and extended his hand. “You must be Tess. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Reaching out, she shook the proffered hand and smiled wryly, Danny and his odd situation already slipping from her mind. “That’s amazing, because I can name what I know about you on one hand,”

“That’s all I could tell you about him without embarrassing you,” Jack said to her lightly before retaking his seat, this time next to her in the booth.

“How’d your meeting go?” Jack asked.

“Aw, man, let’s talk about that later. Right now, I’m starving, not to mention, there’s a beautiful lady in our presence whom I need to get to know a little better.” Robbie smiled before heading toward the counter to place his order.

Tess couldn’t keep the smile from her face as Jack cast a scowl in Robbie’s direction.

“He’s something else, isn’t he?” Tess joked.

“You don’t know the half of it.” Jack grinned.

Chapter Thirteen

“While you finish wiping that down, I’m going to go grab a tube of silicone from upstairs. When I get back, we should be able to seal around that,” Tess said to Patrice as she stood.

Jack watched as Tess left the room, as he’d found himself doing incessantly for days now. He stood to stretch from where he’d been working on removing the molding so it could be refinished. Taking a peek around the room, he smiled as he watched Patrice and Robbie working together, completely lost in their own conversation. They’d never notice him missing were he to slip away. He hadn’t been able to sneak away and taste the sweetness of Tess’s lips all day.

Her sweet taste had become an addiction to him. Every moment they were alone together brought them closer to taking that next step in their relationship.

Hurrying out of the room quietly, he reached the middle of the stairs just as Tess was coming down.

“Something wrong?” she asked with a worried expression.

“Why?”

“You look a little … upset,” she said with concern.

Unable to control himself, Jack reached out and snared her around the waist.

Yanking her against his chest, the tube of silicone fell from her hands as she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I’m not upset, just … needy.” He smiled.

Twining her fingers into his hair, she purred, “And what exactly is it that you need?”

Jack lifted her; smugly pleased her legs automatically encircled his waist. Turning, Jack pressed her back against the wall and pressed his obvious desire against her center.

A gasp slid past her lips as he pressed himself against her more firmly.

“Something only you can give me,” he growled next to her ear before claiming her lips.

She responded to his touch, to his kiss with a fiery passion he’d never encountered in any other woman. Tess clutched his shoulders, pressing herself against him with obvious desire. She always came to him willingly, and she always made him stop. He didn’t know why, but she held him at arm’s length, especially when it came to taking their relationship to the next level. She’d allow kisses and caresses but never anything more.

Slipping his hand beneath the hem of her old t-shirt, he cupped one full breast in his palm and tweaked the already budded nipple through the thin scrap of material she considered a bra.

She shivered and arched into his caress while sliding her hands inside his shirt and up his back to graze her nails lightly across his heated flesh.

He knew they needed to take this interlude someplace more private but couldn’t stop. What if he did, and she stopped him completely?

Reaching between them, Jack cupped her sex and pressed firmly.

She moaned into his mouth, then just as quickly as she’d came to him hot and ready, she stopped him.

“We have to stop,” she panted. “We need to get back to Robbie and Patrice before they come looking for us.”

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to get himself under control, he kissed her once again, set her back on her feet, and smiled at her reassuringly.

He knew she was afraid of something; he just didn’t know what. He wouldn’t press her to do anything she didn’t want to do. She’d come around. It would just take time. He had no doubt that she desired him every bit as much as he did her. He would have to wait and try to help her get over whatever obstacle kept stopping her from giving in to their passion.

“You’re right.”

Bending down, Tess snatched up the tube of silicone.

As she stood, Jack smoothed a stray lock of hair behind her ear then followed as she led the way down stairs.

* * * *

A week had passed since Jack and Tess had picked Robbie up at the airport. While Jack remained in the guestroom at Tess’s house and Robbie had taken up residence in Jack’s, Robbie spent most of his time helping Jack, Patrice, and Tess with her house.

It didn’t bother Jack. Robbie’s presence was more protection for Tess should a situation arise, not that one had since the kidnapping attempt, but it did hinder his quest to become intimate with Tess. There seemed to always be someone in the house with them.

They’d also been so busy repairing Tess’s house that he and Robbie hadn’t sat down to discuss Robbie’s recent case. Which was why they were now holed up in Jack’s room going over some files while Tess and Patrice hung some pictures in one of the guest rooms.

“How’d the meeting with the client go? I should have asked when we got back to the house that first day you arrived but didn’t really get the chance with all of the deliveries and what-not.”

“It’s cool; Tess keeps us all on our toes. She has some big plans for this place,” Robbie said lightly.

“Yes, she does.”

“It actually went easier than I initially thought it would. I guess she’d suspected him of cheating for so long she’d resigned herself to it. She looked over the video and pictures and didn’t so much as blink,” Robbie said with a shake of his head.

“That’s nothing new. I’ve seen a lot of women respond to the truth like that. It’s sad, but it happens,” Jack said wearily.

Leaning back in the desk chair, Jack laced his fingers behind his head.

“Now, back to Tess,” Robbie began.

“What about her?”

Leaning his hip against the windowsill, Robbie shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been here a week, and all I’ve seen is us and those ladies remodeling this house. Are you sure someone’s after her?” Robbie asked. “There hasn’t been so much as a stray leaf fall from a tree and hit her in the head.”

Letting his feet drop from the top of the desk to the floor, Jack shook his head. “I’m not sure of anything anymore. There were two attacks on her the first day then nothing. I’m thinking that the people who set those attacks up just got spooked when I foiled their kidnapping attempt and they’re waiting for the right time to strike again.”

Robbie shook his head. “I still think the partner has something to do with this.”

“That’s highly unlikely, seeing as her partner’s very much dead,” Jack countered.

“It doesn’t have to be him in particular,” Robbie said easily. “It could be someone he knew or was related to. I looked him up like you asked, and it turns out he’s from a very prominent family.”

Jack nodded. “I know. His father’s some big oil tycoon. What’s that got to do with anything?”

Robbie stared at him as though he were an idiot. “You know yourself that where there’s money, especially big money, there’s someone out to get their hands on it. Isn’t it possible Dean’s family made some shady dealings and now they’re coming back to haunt them?”

Scowling, Jack let Robbie’s words roll around in his head before nodding. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Robbie’s suspicions could be right.

“I guess you could be right, but we don’t have any evidence. Our suspicions are just that, suspicions. Besides—” Jack lowered his voice, “—Dean’s dead, so this can’t be someone out to get revenge on him by killing his wife and taking Tess, although it would explain a lot were he alive. But that just isn’t possible. So, why would his shady dealings come back on Tess?”

Robbie looked thoughtful for a long moment, and Jack continued. “Besides, if Tess knew we suspected her lifelong friend or his family of being behind the attacks on her and the murder of said friend’s wife, she’d kick us out on our asses so fast we wouldn’t know what hit us.”

“Maybe so,” Robbie said with a smile. “But I wouldn’t be the one losing anything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, just that if Tess wants to kick me out, if she gets her ass in the air at me for doing my job, my part to protect her, I wouldn’t give two licks. But the way you drool all over her, if she pitched you to the curb, I fear I’d spend the next year nursing you back from a broken heart.”

Tossing a wadded ball of paper at Robbie, Jack shook his head and smiled reluctantly.

Over the last couple of weeks he’d come to like Tess more than he ever expected.

Every chance he got—which weren’t too many—he clutched her to his chest and kissed her thoroughly. She always came to him willingly, and for that, he was grateful. He knew she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. The only reasons he hadn’t taken that next step was because they never seemed to have a moment alone together and she always put on the brakes.

Someone was always there with them. If it wasn’t Patrice and Robbie helping with the house, it was the plumbers—the Marsten’s—replacing pipes or some delivery guys bringing in more material for whatever projects Tess had taken on. The only time they were alone was at night, and by the time night fell, they were both so exhausted they collapsed into their beds. Tess really was quite capable in her remodeling abilities. If she decided not to go back to work as a cop, she definitely had a future in the remodeling business.

“There’s nothing the matter with that, by the way.”

Glancing in Robbie's direction, Jack cocked a brow. “What do you mean?”

Turning his back to the window, Robbie leaned against the windowsill again, and his expression sobered. “You’ve been doing this job for a long time. I know it’s not the ideal job for someone who wants to settle down and start a family. All I’m saying is, if you like Tess the way I think you do, there’s nothing wrong with trying to make a go of it.”

Jack pondered Robbie's words.
Did he want to make a go of it with Tess?

Yes, he did.

When he pictured his life ten years from now, he pictured Tess by his side. She was the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last thing he thought about as he drifted off at night. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he more than liked Tess; he loved her. But that couldn’t be right. Love didn’t develop in such a short period of time … or did it?

The question, and the possibility this might be the case, put his mind into a whirlwind of commotion. He’d never been in love before and wasn’t sure that was what he was presently feeling. All Jack knew was that he’d never felt this way about a woman before, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. Perhaps it was an intense infatuation, one easily shaken by a round of bed play. He tried to convince himself, but it was no use. He knew what he was feeling was stronger than any infatuation. He was falling, and he was falling fast. This was a dangerous course he was currently navigating, and he had no idea where it would lead or what would happen once he got there.

“What has you looking like you just ate an entire lemon?”

Blinking back from his wayward thoughts, Jack shook his head and frowned. Robbie wasn’t the best person to ask for advice when it came to relationships. But, at this point, Jack needed all the help he could get, especially if he wanted to take his relationship with Tess to the next level, which he most certainly did.

“So, what do I do?” he asked wearily as he scrubbed a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Tess is still very vulnerable. She just lost her best friend a little more than a month ago, and now with all the changes going on in her life and with her job, remodeling this house, the attempted kidnapping and so on, I’m not sure she’s ready to start a relationship.”

Robbie nodded thoughtfully and ran his hand over his mouth.

“Has she ever turned you away when you pull her to the side for one of those kisses you like to sneak in during the day?”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “How’d you know about that?”

Robbie laughed. “It isn’t really a secret. One minute we’re all working right along together, and the next, the two of you are gone.”

Jack shook his head and smiled. He thought he’d been so brilliant when he’d used the excuse of going to help Tess to sneak out and proceed to devour her. As it turned out, he hadn’t been fooling anybody.

“That, and I saw the two of you on the stairs yesterday. I was afraid clothes were going to start flying over the rail at any minute, so I went back into the kitchen to distract Patrice. I’m certain you aren’t fooling her, either.”

Shaking his head, Jack admitted, “No, she hasn’t pushed me away. In fact, she seems just as eager until things get a little too hot. Then she slams her panty drawer.”

Crossing the room, Robbie grabbed his jacket and shrugged into it. “In that case, my advice is to get her alone and do what comes natural. Perhaps her anxiety to get naked with you is just because of everyone running in and out of her house while you’re trying to climb into her panties. Maybe she’s just nervous. This cute little game of cat and mouse you two seem content on playing isn’t helping matters any. Once the deed’s done, perhaps you’ll both have a better idea of what exactly it is that you're feeling and wanting from each other.”

Zipping up his jacket, Robbie said, “I’m looking into Dean Camillo’s family a little further tomorrow, so I might not be around much. I’m hoping I can clear them and drop this suspicion for Tess’s sake.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll call you before I come by in the morning.” Turning, Robbie grasped the doorknob. “Oh, Jack?”

Peering back at Robbie where he stood by the door, Jack asked, “What is it?”

“Don’t take too long where you and Tess are concerned.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked curiously.

“You never know what’s going to happen.”

Jack noted the faraway look in Robbie's eyes and couldn’t help but wonder what had caused such emotion to bubble to the surface of his normally lighthearted friend. “I won’t,” he assured Robbie.

Nodding once, Robbie turned and exited the room.

Standing, Jack moved to the window and watched as Robbie crossed the street and let himself into Jack’s house.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Robbie was right about everything they’d discussed. Especially where he and Tess were concerned.

Toeing off his shoes, he headed into the bathroom and showered quickly. He had a lot on his mind and a limited amount of time to come up with the answers he needed. He wanted Tess, but how to proceed eluded him. Every time he attempted to press her further than their shared kisses or caresses, she stopped him. He knew what she was doing and understood. Tess had a kind heart and already feared he was in danger just staying with her. She had enough guilt on her plate. She didn’t need any more. Or at least that’s why he thought she was holding him at arm’s length. Of course, he could be wrong, which was exactly what he feared the most. What if he went to her and she pushed him away completely? Or worse yet, what if she didn’t have the same feelings for him? Rinsing the shampoo from his hair, he shut off the water. He was exhausted. Perhaps a good night’s sleep would help him come up with some much-needed answers.