Wedding Bell Blues (11 page)

And, just as we'd done so many times before, we climaxed
together.
Colton collapsed against me, his head pillowed between my breasts. The
only part of me that seemed capable of moving was my hand - more
specifically, the fingers of my right hand that idly played with his
hair. Our legs were entwined, our breathing heavy but timed together.
And, despite the exhaustion from our lovemaking, my desire for him
hadn't been sated.

What the hell was happening to me?

"I didn't just have sex with you," I said softly, smiling as
he turned his head and kissed the side of my breast.

"Could have fooled me." He groaned and rolled onto his side,
carefully positioning himself so our bodies molded together
comfortably. I shifted slightly, my right leg moving between his, my
hand following to once more stroke my favorite part of his anatomy.
"God, Jess, I don't know if I can."

"Just let me. Lie back and let me do the work."

I leaned over him and lightly kissed him before once more
working my way down. One thing about Colton, I did enjoy his body.

I did not sleep with Colton. I couldn't have. I wouldn't
have. But,
even as water from the shower beat down on me, I knew I had. No matter
how hard I tried to deny it, I couldn't. Not when I'd awaked, my arms
and legs entwined with his. Not when I felt that telltale afterglow
that came after an evening of very satisfying lovemaking.

Damn. I'd lost my mind. There could be no other explanation.

Well, one thing's for certain. I wouldn't do it again. It had
happened in a moment of weakness. But it wouldn't, absolutely wouldn't,
happen again.

I kept telling myself that as I finished in the shower,
dressed and
got ready for work. Carefully, I peeled the bandage from my cheek and
winced, not because it hurt - which it did, but not as badly as it had
the day before - but because the cut and surrounding bruising still
looked so bad. Breath hissed through my teeth as I applied the salve
the doctor had given me. Then I placed a new patch over the cut. No
doubt about it, I'd have some explaining to do when I got to school and
had to face my students, not to mention my principal and the other
teachers.

And wouldn't that be fun?

A few minutes later, I made my way to Colton's small kitchen
and
sighed in relief to find that he'd already made coffee. I grabbed a mug
from the cabinet over the sink and poured. I had just taken that first,
lifesaving sip when he joined me.

"Going somewhere?" he asked
as he topped off his mug. There was a hint of challenge in his voice
and I fought down the almost instinctive surge of irritation I felt.

"Yes. I'm going to work."

Very slowly, he lowered his mug to the counter and looked at
me.
His mouth was drawn tight and his right hand fisted at his side. There
was no way I could mistake his frustration. Tough. I'd spent the
weekend either hiding or being scared. In the process, I'd made a
discovery. I had too much time to think and that only made me more
scared. So, whether he liked it or not, I was going to go to work. It
was time to reclaim at least some normalcy in my life.

"Not a good idea, Jess." He shook his head, his expression
dark with concern.

"Colton, I can't just sit around here all day and think. I'll
go
crazy." I held up my left hand, cutting off whatever he'd been about to
say. "I need to go to work, to keep busy. Besides, I know you. If I
stay here, you'll stay with me and, to be honest, I want you out there
trying to find out who killed Manny and who set fire to my place. Most
of all, I want to know if the two are tied together somehow and why."

For a moment, it looked like he might argue. Then he simply
nodded
once before reclaiming his mug of coffee. I relaxed slightly, only to
tense again when he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and made a
quick call, arranging for an officer to meet us at the school and to
stay with me throughout the day.

"Damn it, Colton, I can't work with a cop in the room with
me. You
know how the kids will react to that," I snapped as soon as he rang off.

"I don't give a fuck how those brats will react, Jess. What I
do care about is keeping you safe."

"Nothing's going to happen to me at school."

"Right. The high school has such wonderful security. That's
why
we've confiscated who knows how many weapons so far this year and why
the campus has a cop assigned to it."

"That's right. There is a cop on duty at the school. You don't
need to put another one there."

"The hell I don't." He slammed the mug down on the counter
this
time, coffee sloshing over the rim. "You have three choices here. You
either accept the guard I've arranged or you stay here and I'll stay
with you. I can work from here. Or you let me take you to your parents'
place and you spend the day with your mother."

I couldn't believe it. That bastard. He knew I'd feel better
if he
was out on the streets, investigating Manny's murder and the fire at my
place. More than that, he knew there was no way I'd want to be anywhere
near my mother today. Not after last night. Most especially not after
last night. She'd know the moment she saw me that I'd had sex with
Colton. If things were bad now, that would push it all over the cliff.

Still, I didn't like the way he tried to box me into a corner.
But what could I do?

"All right." I resisted the urge to throw the mug at him -
barely. "I'll accept the guard."

"Good." Damn it, he looked so smug. Would it really hurt
things if I
lobbed the mug off his hard head? It probably wouldn't hurt him, but it
would make me feel so much better. Still, the mug would break, coffee
would go everywhere and I really didn't feel like cleaning up the mess.
"When do you need to leave and what time do you want me to pick you up?"

"I can be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. But you don't
need to
pick me up. Remember, you've gotten me my very own personal cop to act
as babysitter. Anywhere I need to go, he can take me."

He didn't like it. Tough. He was the one who started this.
Besides,
I wasn't sure I'd be coming back here after work. Not after last night.
I needed some time and distance from Detective Colton Dougherty, not
only to clear my head but also to deal with the lust that still coursed
through me. Damn, maybe I ought to just sleep with him until I got it
out of my system. Then things could go back to normal.

Yeah, like that's going to happen - the sex, not the return
to normalcy.

"All right. But I want to know where you are at all times."
Now it
was his turn to hold up a hand to keep me from speaking. "No arguments,
Jess. We don't know what's really going on yet and we sure as hell
don't know who's behind it all. Until we do, I need you to check in
with me. Otherwise, I can't do my job."

"And just what is that job, Colton?"

"Trying to keep you alive
and
solve Manny's murder." He glared at me for a moment and then sighed,
stuffing his hands into his pants pockets. "Do we need to talk about
last night?" he asked suddenly.

Oh my. Things had changed with him over the last ten years. In
the
past, if there'd been any talking the morning after we'd had sex - I
couldn't bring myself to say "made love" because of where that would
take me and that was one place I was most definitely NOT going - it had
been me. Usually it had been like pulling teeth to get him to so much
as grunt a response. Now here he was, wanting to know if we needed to
talk. Maybe I had fallen through some sort of portal into another
dimension. Or this was one of those crazy game shows that everyone was
in on but me.

"Nope. We most definitely do not need to talk about it," I
said
quickly, too quickly. "Nothing happened. I didn't come to you last
night and I certainly didn't have sex with you."

I rolled onto my toes and then back, all but daring him to
contradict me. He didn't, but the smile that flashed across his
expression, that almost smug look of satisfaction, didn't calm me any.
Arrogant bastard. He wasn't going to let me forget this. I just knew
it. Well, he had another thing coming if he thought there was going to
be a repeat performance.

Nor was I about to give him the satisfaction of an answer.
Instead,
I grabbed my mug and all but pushed past him as I left the kitchen. If
we were going to leave in fifteen minutes, I had to finish getting
ready. Besides, if I stayed there a minute longer, I wouldn't guarantee
his safety.

It didn't get any easier in the car. Oh, he didn't refer to
what
happened again, but I knew he was thinking about it. He had that
cat-who-caught-the-canary smile. That was all the proof I needed. Well,
two could play that game. If he wanted to delude himself into thinking
he'd get me back into his bed, let him. In the meantime, I'd remember
exactly why I'd kicked him out of my bed and my life just in case
temptation once again reared its ugly head.

By the time we reached the school, my temper was on a slow,
steady
boil. Wonderful. That was never a good way to start the day, and
especially not when you were about to face eight hours with teenagers
in the throes of hormones and peer pressure to conform.

"Jess, this is Officer Jennings. She'll be your escort
today,"
Colton said after parking in front of the school and helping me out of
the car.

Waiting for us was a small, compactly built young woman
about my age. Her red hair, obviously natural and not from the bottle
like that bitch Janie's, was pulled back into a braid. To my surprise,
instead of being in uniform as I'd expected, she wore a pair of black
slacks, a red blouse that looked like it might be a silk blend of some
sort, and a black blazer. I assumed her gun was somewhere under that
blazer and, surprisingly, felt a little better for it. Despite my
protests to the contrary, I really wasn't ready to be on my own just
yet.

However, I'd never admit it to Colton.

"Officer Jennings."

"Karen, please." She held her hand out and waited for me to
shake
it. Then she nodded at Colton, acknowledging him for the first time.
Good girl. Let him know that not every member of our sex falls at his
feet.

Even if I'd done a pretty good job of just that last night.

Stop it! It didn't happen.

Maybe if I told myself that often enough I'd believe it.

"Jennings, she isn't to go anywhere on her own," Colton said,
making
a point of looking me square in the eye as he spoke. "Don't let her
convince you to give her a few minutes alone unless you're convinced
she's somewhere no one can get to her without going through her."

"Understood, detective."

"Good." He nodded once and then his expression eased a little.
"Jess, if anything comes to mind today that you think might help the
investigation, have Jennings contact me."

"I will."

"And don't do anything foolish." He reached out and lightly
touched
my injured cheek and then, as if suddenly remembering we weren't alone,
stuffed that hand into his pocket. "When you're done here, unless
you've heard differently, come to the station and I'll bring you up to
date on what we know."

I nodded, glad he hadn't said to go to his apartment. I still
wasn't
sure I wanted to spend another night there. No, I knew I didn't want to
because I simply didn't trust myself not to let my emotions make me do
something foolish again. Besides, I had a pretty good idea neither of
us wanted Jennings to know I'd spent the night at his place. That had
to violate at least a zillion departmental regulations about the proper
care and protection of a potential witness.

"Let's get you inside, Ms. Jones," Jennings commented as
Colton climbed back into his car and drove off.

"Jessica or Jess," I corrected absently even as I turned and
started
up the sidewalk toward the main entrance. "Any ideas on how I'm
supposed to explain you?"

"My suggestion is to simply tell the truth if anyone asks. No
sense
in trying to deny it. Besides, if people know you're not going around
unprotected, they might decide to leave you alone."

Well, she had something there. Still, there was always the
chance
that they might try something foolish, and that didn't make me feel one
bit better.

Of course, it wasn't quite that easy. Nothing ever is. First
things
first, I had to check in at the office and run the gauntlet of
secretaries and clerks who wanted to know what had happened, had my
house really caught fire, was I all right.
Then I had to explain not only why I looked like I'd lost the fight,
but also why I had my own personal bodyguard to Mamie Peterson, my
principal. Her first reaction, after the initial concern about whether
I was all right, was to suggest I take the day - or however long I
needed - off. Oh, she tried to couch it in terms that exuded concern
over my well-being. But I knew the truth. She was worried that whatever
had happened to me might spill over into the school and the last thing
she wanted was to have to deal with upset parents should something
happen. Fortunately, Jennings was as diplomatic as she appeared to be
dedicated to her job. Before I could think of an appropriate response,
she assured Mrs. Peterson that the police really didn't believe there'd
be any trouble, that she was there simply because the detective in
charge of the case didn't like to take any chances.

At least the kids didn't have too many questions, other than
the
ones I'd expected because of the mess that was my face. Of course, that
might have been because they were all so relieved I wasn't going to
make them redo the assignment that had burned up along with my house.
So maybe it wouldn't be as hard to get through the day as I'd feared.

Of course, I could be wrong.