Reflection Point

chapter FIFTEEN





Zach drifted toward wakefulness through a hazy cloud of sensation. He felt good, real good. Warm and relaxed and—oh, yeah. Savannah. He had the Georgia peach herself clinging to him like a vine. A very soft, sweet, sexy vine. He turned his head and nuzzled her neck. She smelled like heaven. It was a similar but different scent from the one that had drawn him the night of her open house. She’d added a little something extra to this recipe, and man oh man, did it do it for him.

Everything about her did it for him.

She’d been shy in bed to begin with, her inexperience endearing. On top of all his other sins, the rat bastard who betrayed her obviously had been a selfish lover. Just as soon as tourist season was over and he had more than two minutes to spare, Zach was going to do some snooping around where he was concerned.

Unable to resist the temptation, he skimmed his hand over the soft, naked curve of her hip. She stirred. He opened his eyes, found the clock, and considered. It would have to be quick—he didn’t have time to give her more—and this early in their relationship he didn’t want Savannah feeling used.

She stretched like a cat against him. “Mmm. What time is it?”

“Quarter after eight.”

“We slept late.”

“We were up late.”

She rolled toward him and his morning erection brushed her belly. Her eyes still closed, she smiled. “Do you never stop?”

“Not when I have a gorgeous Georgia peach in my bed, no. Unfortunately, I don’t have more than five minutes to spare. I have to be at work at nine.”

Now her eyes flew open wide, her smile went impishly wicked, and she rolled on top of him. “Why don’t you show me your quick draw, Sheriff?”

She didn’t have to ask him twice.

Zach threw himself into the task and she rewarded him with a scream three minutes and forty-five seconds later. He felt like a king when he rose from the bed and padded naked toward the shower. “Ordinarily I’d invite you to join me, but … one more like that and I’d probably have a heart attack in my shower. I’d keel over on top of you, you’d hit your head on the tile, and it just wouldn’t be good. You’re better off using the shower in the other bathroom.”

“Don’t fret yourself, Turner,” she fired back smugly. “I’m done with you. For this morning, anyway.”

At his bathroom door, he hesitated and met her gaze. “So, in all seriousness, Savannah. Can I count on that? Is this more than a hookup? Are we in a relationship now?”

She pulled the sheet up over her naked chest. “Go take your shower, Sheriff. I’ll make coffee and then we’ll talk, okay?”

Zach nodded, but he cursed himself as he switched on the hot water. What was wrong with him? What happened to his patience? Had he totally forgotten how to deal with a skittish filly? He should never have asked that question. Never! His strategy of patiently waiting for her to come to him had worked superbly, and he’d enjoyed every minute of it. Why press her now?

Idiot. Impatient fool. Why couldn’t you keep your big mouth shut?

Because he wanted more from her than a one-night stand. Because he was falling for Savannah Sophia Moore, and he wanted her to fall for him right back.

Grabbing a towel from the bathroom linen closet, he wiped himself dry with brisk, efficient, frustrated motions. Minutes later, dressed and ready, he eyed the clock once again. He had fifteen minutes to get to the office. He could be a little late. He was the boss, after all. However, he liked to set a good example for his deputies.

Besides that, Gabi knew he’d had a date with Savannah last night. If he came in late this morning, she’d give him hell.

Savannah handed him a steaming mug of coffee when he walked into the kitchen. She smelled of his everyday soap, and she wore one of his T-shirts and a pair of his gym shorts. “Your dress …” he said, wincing.

“We left it down on the point. Under the circumstances, I didn’t want to run the risk of a fisherman calling in a report and you having to arrest me for public nudity. I didn’t think you’d mind sharing your clothes.”

“Peach, you’re welcome to anything you desire around here, anytime.” He sipped his coffee and forced himself not to add, Including me.

She drank from her own cup of coffee, drew a deep breath, then said, “Zach, last night was special, and I thank you for that. You treated me with respect and showed me passion like I’ve never known before. You are a wonderful lover and a great guy … even if you do carry a badge. I hope we can do this again sometime.”

Opening the refrigerator door, he bit back the question, Tonight?

“But if you’re looking for more from me, if you want a relationship, you need to understand that I’m not ready for that. I may never be ready for that. The last relationship I was in cost me six years of my life.”

“Dammit, Savannah.” He slammed the door. “I’m not Kyle Vaughn.”

“I know that, Zach.” She set down her cup. “What you need to understand is that the problem isn’t with you. It’s with me.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I’m aware of that,” he snapped back, then immediately regretted it. Frustrated with himself as much as with her, he shoved his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a jerk. If you’re not ready for more, you’re not ready. I understand that. Truly, I do.”

“Thank you.”

“I guess I’ll just have to be satisfied with spectacular sex.”

“How kind of you to sacrifice that way,” she said, her drawl pronounced.

“I am a prince of a guy.” He drained his coffee, then set the cup in the sink. Taking her hands in his, he stared down into her eyes. “I understand that you’re scared, honey. I understand that you have good reason to be so. But there is something I want you to understand. You are important to me. I care about you. I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“Love!” Her eyes went wide with alarm, and she actually took a step backward. She stared at him in shocked silence for a long, excruciating minute.

Why had he said that? Because his nerves were raw and he was tired of trying to prove himself?

Finally she whispered a question. “Why did you say that?”

“Because it’s true. You need to know that I’ll tell you the truth. I’m an honest man, Savannah. You can trust me. I don’t need you to love me right now … that will come or it won’t. Time will tell. But what I do want … what I do need … is for you to trust me.”

Her mouth flattened. “I came to you last night, didn’t I? Believe me, buster, that took a level of trust.”

“I know it did. It blew me away. You blew me away.”

“Then why now? Why all this … this … information?”

“Like they say, information is power.”

“Power for whom?”

“For us both. I admit I don’t like it when you compare me to your ex.” She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand to ward off her protest. “I do like being open and honest with you. Truth is a powerful thing. You know that better than anyone, I expect. Now, I’ve got to go or I’ll be late and my deputies will make assumptions I’d just as soon not have to deal with.”

He leaned down and gave her a quick, hard kiss, then opened the drawer beside her and removed a key ring with a set of house keys. He handed it to her, then headed for the door. “Lock up when you leave, would you? And why don’t you just keep that set of keys. I’ll call you later. I’ll miss you today.”

“But … but …”

Grinning, he walked away from her and whistled for his dog. Ace came running, and when Zach opened the door to his sheriff’s Range Rover, he bounded up inside.

Zach started the truck and put it into gear as Savannah came out onto the porch and stood gaping after him. He tapped his horn twice, then turned out of his drive onto the road.

A glance into his review mirror showed that she hadn’t moved from his front porch, and Zach’s grin widened into a smile. “There’s a difference between truth and strategy, Ace. An intelligent leader will utilize both.”

Savannah didn’t see Zach again for almost a week. A group of hikers had a confrontation and guns had been fired, wounding two. The shooter ran off into the national forest, and the Eternity Springs Sheriff’s Department had joined an alphabet of other agencies in the search for a man who had eluded capture for going on five days. Local folks concluded that since Zach hadn’t tracked the man by now, the fellow might well have gone to ground—literally. “I’m betting he sneaked into one of the abandoned mines around here,” Sarah observed as she sliced peaches at Savannah’s kitchen table. “We lose someone every summer.”

Ali Timberlake nodded, frowning at the consistency of the cobbler dough she was mixing together at Savannah’s direction. “These weren’t hardened criminals, either, but teenage boys swigging at the liquor bottle and fighting over girls. I am so glad my boys have finally outgrown the infinitely stupid years. They are not quite through the marginally stupid years, but so far so good.”

“People can get in trouble at any age,” Savannah said, placing her sugar canister next to the bowl of sliced fresh peaches. Ali and Sarah had come begging for the secrets of Savannah’s cobbler, and she was teaching by having them do the work. “Believe me. I know.”

She must have revealed something in her tone, because Ali and Sarah shared a look, then Sarah asked, “That sounds like a story. You have something to share with the class, Savannah?”

She considered it. “Well, I could tell you about the time I got into trouble at ten, or the one when I was twelve, or about the doozy of a pickle I got myself into last week.”

“Last week?” Ali and Sarah declared simultaneously.

“I’ll bet it involves Zach,” Ali added.

Sarah nodded briskly. “You had sex with him, didn’t you? I’ll bet he’s really good at it. Am I right? I bet I’m right. His kisses can curl a girl’s toes.”

“That’s true.” Ali nodded.

“Wait a minute. Zach has kissed both of you?”

“We told you that. Haven’t we told you that?”

Now that Sarah mentioned it, yes, they had, but Savannah hadn’t felt nearly so possessive as she did now. “Did you guys … uh …”

Sarah’s oh-so-innocent look morphed into a grin. “No. Zach and I made great friends, and we were content to keep it that way.”

Ali said, “Mac and I were separated but not divorced. Zach’s attention was good for my ego, but it was innocent. So, what sort of trouble are you in, Savannah? Zach-related trouble, which could be wonderful, or non-Zach-related trouble, which is maybe not so great?”

Unaccountably, she experienced the strangest urge to tell them about her time in prison. For a long moment the words hung on the tip of her tongue. That shocked her, and she wondered just where she’d left her brain. Life was good at the moment. Why would she want to screw it up?

Truth is powerful, Zach had said.

Maybe he was right. She wrinkled her nose. However, she could darn sure start out slow. “I don’t want to talk about Zach, but maybe I’ll share my speck of trouble with the regulators.”

“Regulators?”

“It involved moonshine. I was a kid. Let’s get the cobbler in the oven, then I’ll spill the beans.”

“Awesome!” Sarah said. “What’s next?”

“My secret ingredient. The secret to my peach cobbler is—”

The ringing of her office telephone interrupted her, and though it was after hours, she didn’t want to ignore it. Besides, she had fun teasing Sarah this way.

Walking into the room she used as her office, Savannah picked up the receiver. “Savannah Soap Company? May I help you?”

A male voice said, “I’d like to speak with Ms. Savannah Moore, please?”

“This is she.”

“Oh. Very good. Ms. Moore, I’m happy to have reached you. My name is Alan Powell. I’m an attorney in practice in Atlanta.”

An attorney from Georgia. Her stomach sank to her toes. I haven’t done anything wrong. Nothing. I’m innocent! “We ship to all fifty states, Mr. Powell. Which of our items do you wish to order?”

“I’m not calling about a soap order, Ms. Moore.”

Can’t blame me for trying. “I’m not interested in franchising my business at this time.”

“That’s not the reason for my call, either. I’m calling about your nephew.”

Tommy? Surprised, Savannah shifted her phone from one ear to the other. “Excuse me? What did you say?”

“Thomas James Moore, age fourteen. The only child of your brother Gary Moore and his wife, Jane, now deceased.”

“Jane is dead?”

“We have confirmed that information, yes. Jane Moore died of a drug overdose in Peoria, Illinois, ten years ago.”

Not long after she abandoned Gary and Tommy, Savannah realized. “Is Tommy okay?”

“Your nephew is currently in a temporary foster home under the direction of Social Services. Ms. Moore, your brother Gary is being held in jail without bond on numerous alcohol-related charges. He hit a pedestrian while driving drunk.”

Oh, no.

“Luckily, the injured woman survived, so at least he’s not facing manslaughter charges. I’ve been appointed his public defense attorney and I’m good, but I will be honest. Barring a miracle, he’s going to jail. That leaves his son in dire circumstances. Ms. Moore, TJ needs your help.”

TJ? Thomas James. Tommy.

“Will you take him?”

Savannah grabbed for the edge of her desk to support her suddenly weak knees and in doing so, accidentally sent a metal staple gun skimming across the surface. It crashed against a flower vase, which teetered and then fell. Glass shattered against the wood floor, the sound bringing Sarah and Ali to check on Savannah, concerned looks etched across their faces.

Savannah only vaguely noticed them. Her mind was spinning. Gary had visited her one time while she was in jail, and he’d been an absolute ass. He’d said that he and TJ were moving to Atlanta, and he believed everything Kyle had said. He’d told her to her face that she was a worthless human being and that he was washing his hands of her. After her release, she’d sucked up her nerve and attempted to pay him a visit, but he’d refused to let her in the front door and denied her the opportunity to see Tommy.

“Ms. Moore? Are you still there?”

“I … uh …”

Ali placed a hand on Savannah’s forearm. “Honey, you okay?”

“She’s white as a sheet,” Sarah said, stooping to pick up the larger shards of broken glass with her hands.

“Mr., um … what was your name again?”

“Powell. Alan Powell. I know this is an unexpected phone call, but I’m concerned about the boy.”

“But I couldn’t possibly do that. They wouldn’t let me. I’m a … a …” She remained aware enough to remember that she wasn’t alone, and she couldn’t think of another term for “convicted criminal” that Sarah and Ali wouldn’t pick up on. “Do you know where I lived before I moved to Colorado, Mr. Powell?”

“I do. Your record doesn’t rule you out as a guardian for TJ. You are his family. You are all he has.”

“What about Jane’s parents? Are they dead, too?”

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Sarah and Ali share another worried look. In her ear, she heard the lawyer respond. “TJ’s maternal grandparents are unwilling to accept responsibility for him. They have … issues … where their daughter is concerned. They refused to take him once before when your brother spent time incarcerated—”

Gary has been to jail before, too? And he was such a jerk to me?

“—and based on conversations with them now, Social Services and I agree that even if we convinced them to step in, they wouldn’t provide a healthy environment for TJ.”

“But they—”

“They call him a delinquent, Ms. Moore. They have nothing good to say about either of his parents, either. TJ is understandably bitter, but I honestly believe that all the boy needs is some kindness and attention and he’ll be just fine.” He paused a moment, then added, “I understand that you had some troubles as a teen and that your grandmother stepped in to help.”

Savannah closed her eyes. Blasted attorneys. The good ones always knew just what to say, didn’t they? This guy was especially good. Gary had gotten lucky with his public defender. Her own lawyer had been a tool.

She didn’t have a choice. She’d lost that the moment he’d mentioned Grams.

Actually, she’d had no choice the moment Alan Powell had said TJ needs your help.

Clearing her throat, she asked, “You’re not asking me to return to Georgia for this, are you?”

“No. TJ would come to live with you.”

“Does TJ want to come live with me?” At that, Sarah’s and Ali’s eyes rounded in surprise.

“TJ wants to live with his father.”

She waited a beat for him to continue, but the line remained quiet. Great. Just great.

Savannah let out a long sigh. “All right. What do I need to do?”

She made arrangements with the lawyer, then ended the call. She stood for a long moment with her back to her friends, trying to absorb how her life had just changed. She was nervous and scared and filled with dread.

But beneath the darkness of spirit, excitement sparked to life.

Family. She had family coming to visit.