Chapter THIRTY-ONE
LEAH SNATCHED THE receipt from the cashier’s hand. Austin frowned, but she didn’t care. She was paying him back. As they walked by the restrooms, she stopped. “We could change here and head to the hospital.”
“Not yet. Tyler and Nance are bringing the cats. And I need to confirm with Rick that it’s clear.” They left the store.
“I thought the costumes made it okay.” She envisioned Luis’s face, swollen to the point that it hurt to look at him. Her chest clutched.
“They will. But better safe than sorry.”
“But we’re going today, right?”
“If not today, tomorrow.”
She frowned.
He frowned back. “I’m doing everything I can.” Damn if he didn’t sound sincere and damn if she didn’t believe him. But how could she believe him when he’d done nothing but lie to her?
“Who’s Rick?” she asked as he loaded the bags in the trunk.
“He’s with your brother.” He shut the trunk.
She almost asked him to give her the keys, her keys, so she could drive her car. But since she didn’t know where they were going she didn’t.
“I know that. But how did Rafael screw him over?”
“He didn’t. Rick’s a cop and works part-time with our agency.” He unlocked the car and she got in. He crawled behind the wheel.
“And Roberto? You guys sent him to spy on me, too, didn’t you?”
Austin nodded. “Yes, but Roberto believes that DeLuna killed his wife and child.”
Leah heart clutched. Both shame and fury burned inside her for the things her half brother had done. “If I knew where he was, I’d tell you.”
He glanced at her—his blue eyes open and honest. “I believe you.”
She stared out the windshield, trying to decipher her roller-coaster emotions about the man sitting in the driver’s seat: anger, then gratitude. All of it complicated by a sense of vulnerability. Vulnerable to her murdering half brother who almost killed Luis. Vulnerable to men in general—men like Austin, who waltzed into her life and tricked her into caring.
He pulled out of the parking lot. Five minutes passed when she suddenly couldn’t stop from asking, “What’s your real name?”
He glanced at her. “Austin Brook.”
“Not Brookshire?” Sarcasm heightened her voice.
“No.” Guilt sounded in his voice.
“You’re not married, are you?”
His brow pinched. “No.”
“Your mother never abandoned you at a day care, did she?”
“That wasn’t a lie.” Honesty deepened his tone.
“What else?” she asked.
“What else what?” He stared at the road.
“What else did you lie about? What else did you do besides keep my key?” Suddenly something dawned on her. “Was my apartment even broken into, or did you do it?”
He shifted in his seat as if antsy.
“It was you the whole time.”
“No. I…” Guilt filled his eyes. “I was in your place when the guy broke in.”
She tried to wrap her head around that. “You expect me to believe that you’d broken into my place, and then by some strange coincidence someone else broke in while you were there?”
He sighed. “That’s what happened.”
“Right.” She scowled at him.
He pointed to his eye with the half-moon purple bruise. “Do you think I did this to myself?”
“You could have,” she said.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s still up for debate,” she snapped. “What were you doing in my place? What did you expect to find? Rafael hiding under my bed?”
His hands on the steering wheel tightened. His knuckles turned white. He looked at her and opened his mouth to say something and then shut it.
“Do we have to talk about this now?”
“Yes,” she insisted, knowing whatever he had to say, she wasn’t going to like it. “What else did you do or lie about?”
An hour after she’d gotten home, Sara checked on Roberto. He was still asleep in her bed.
She studied him. Asleep, he looked less dangerous—though he had a serious case of five-o’clock shadow going. His chest, covered with a blue cotton T-shirt, moved up and down with his every breath. His bare leg extended from under the covers. He looked good in her bed. Okay, so maybe he still looked dangerous. Just in a different way.
After driving them to her apartment, she’d insisted he come in until the drugs wore off. He’d argued, but not much. The man was stoned on doggy drugs. After checking on the cat and putting him in her laundry room, she’d made Roberto remove his jeans so she could check the wound.
It had looked good, and he wasn’t feverish. She still forced him to get into her bed. He’d argued about that, too, but she’d won again.
The first thing she did was check if the extra dose of medicine could be harmful. According to his weight, he hadn’t taken enough to do any damage.
Assured he was okay, she called her mom and asked if she could keep Brian overnight. She might take a chance being around a handsome, totally hot guy who showed up with a bullet in his leg, but she wouldn’t risk him being with her son. Frankly, she wasn’t sure she’d let any guy near her son yet, bullet or no bullet.
The thought of the bullet, or more specifically, her removing it, sent her pulse racing. She’d broken the law. And she was going to have to tell Leah. Who would surely be upset. Would she understand that Sara’s following-her-heart theory? And was bringing him home with her part of that theory?
Of course, when she’d requested her mom keep Brian, her mom had asked what was up. Sara lied and said she was going out with Leah. Leah… who was with Austin. Leah who’d sounded madder than a trapped raccoon. Sara wished Austin all the luck in the world at coming through this without being neutered. If there was one thing Leah excelled at, it was removing testicles.
Then Sara called Evelyn. She freaked when hearing about the whole mess. But, being professional, Evelyn agreed to help take care of business by calling the clients with appointments.
Of course, Sara hadn’t told Evelyn about Roberto and her now being a criminal. Evelyn would have totally flipped. Sara knew because part of herself was flipping.
Roberto stirred, knocking the sheet off. Worried he might be feverish, she went in and sat on the edge of the bed. She touched his brow. He wasn’t hot.
Her gaze dropped to his boxers and the oh-so-male frontal bulge. Okay, she had to amend that last thought. He was totally hot, just not feverish.
Leaning back against the headboard, she watched him sleep and fought the desire to reach down and brush his hair from his brow. He could have died, she realized. And if he hadn’t come to her, infection could have set in and that could have killed him.
All of a sudden, helping him didn’t seem so wrong. He’d already lost so much. His son. His wife. She sensed a goodness in him; he didn’t deserve to die.
She just prayed her heart hadn’t led her down a road she’d regret.
“I bugged your place.” Austin knew sooner or later he’d have to tell her. He’d just been hoping for later. The car hit a jarring dip in the dirt road heading to the cabin.
“You did what?” She blew air out of teeth. “You put cameras in my apartment? You’ve been watching—”
“Not cameras.” He parked at the cabin. “Just listening devices, so I could hear if you spoke with Rafael.”
“So you’ve heard every conversation I’ve had?”
He felt every bit of the louse she considered him to be.
He could almost see her mind replaying her past conversations. Her eyes rounded; her mouth dropped open. Was she remembering the conversation about the battery-operated boyfriend? He knew he’d never forget it.
From the fury in her eyes, that was exactly what she was remembering. Bouncing against the seat, she crossed her arms over her chest, twisted away from him, and stared out the window. Silent. Deadly silent.
He waited for a good five minutes before he dared to speak. “We’re here.”
“I know we’re here.”
He kept his voice calm. “Do you want to get out?”
She unlocked her seat belt and bolted from the car. Stomping to the porch, everything about her, posture, pace, and expression, exuded anger. He deserved every bit of it.
Sara felt a tickle on her cheek. Her eyes shot open. Dark brown eyes stared at her with the same befuddlement she felt.
When had they wrapped around each other? Her arm under his neck. His leg on top of her thighs. His… impressive bulge, even more impressive now, pressed against her hip.
They untangled themselves at the same time. She scrambled to stand up. He scrambled to reach for the sheet. But not before she saw it. His boxers were the open slit kind, versus the button-up kind, and something, standing rather erect, had decided to come out for air.
“Sorry.” She slapped a hand over her eyes.
She heard him continue to fight for the sheet.
“I checked on you and I must have dozed off,” she explained.
“It’s your bed.” His voice sounded raspy from sleep. “It’s safe now.”
She split her two fingers and peered out.
He stared at her. And while he was olive skinned, she could swear his face was red. And that made her blush, too.
“I see that every day.” The words spilled from her fogged brain. “My son’s. And it’s nothing.” Laughter bubbled up inside her. “Not that you aren’t…” She pressed a hand over her mouth. “I’m gonna shut up,” she muttered from behind her fingers.
He smiled. Not just a smile, but one of those really sweet ones. Or maybe not so sweet as… sexy.
They stared at each other. Her knees wobbled; her skin tingled. She felt both energized and weak at the same time. Weak from wanting to press her lips to that smile. From wanting to run her fingers over his five-o’clock shadow and slip her hand down his hard abs and into those boxers.
The air suddenly tasted different. His scent, the one she’d been cozied up to while she slept, filled her nose. She wanted to breathe it in, to surround herself with it.
He stood up, wrapping the sheet around himself. “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”
“No. It’s right there.”
She watched him step into her bathroom. Heart still racing, she didn’t move. She’d never had a man in that bathroom before. The sound of him shuffling around filled her ears. Then she heard the shower. The visual of him standing naked beneath a hot spray of water filled her head. She envisioned water droplets rolling off his chin, landing on his wide chest. Rolling down past his hard abs, to his hard sex and then his…
“Stop!” She ran to the door. “You can’t take a shower. Did you hear me?”
“Why not?” His voice echoed from the door.
“You can’t get your leg wet.”
The door swung open. He’d removed his shirt but held the sheet around his waist. His dark eyes, filled with heat and desire, met hers. A thousand butterflies stretched their wings in her stomach. She was nurse Sara, and he was her patient. She wouldn’t let him do anything that cost him more than he’d already lost.
The sound of the shower and puffs of steam filled the small bathroom. Who knew that standing in a bathroom with someone could feel intimate, but it did. It felt good, as if she was suddenly a part of something, a part of someone’s life. Was that why her heart led her here? She was so lonely for companionship, she’d taken risks?
“Why can’t I get it wet?”
“It could get infected.”
“So I’m not supposed to bathe?”
“A spit bath. Or, I can wrap it. With cellophane and tape. For a quick shower.”
“I need a shower,” he said.
“I’ll get the cellophane.”
They looked at each other again, and oddly she recalled the times she’d brought home an injured creature, a bird, or a baby squirrel, and her mom would say, “You know, Sara, eventually you have to set it free.”
Her mom knew it always hurt her to let something go after she nursed it, and down deep Sara knew this was the same. She couldn’t keep him.
But was it wrong to enjoy it just for a little while?
Austin let her into the cabin and then returned to the car for the purchases. When he brought in the bags, Leah was sitting sat at the small pine table staring at nothing. He set a few of the bags on the sofa. He put cold stuff away. She never glanced at him.
The one-room cabin, two if you counted the bathroom, wasn’t what you’d call fancy, but rustic didn’t describe it, either. The main room was divided into three areas: a full-size bed with a dresser and nightstand took over the back of the cabin, the stove and fridge with the dining table took up the center area, and then a small sofa, which made out into a bed, and a coffee table and television fronted the room. Other than the bathroom, it hadn’t been built to offer privacy. He hadn’t needed it. This wasn’t a love nest, rather his own private getaway. Only his partners had visited it.
“I can’t believe you bugged my apartment,” she spit out.
He put the avocados and half dozen tomatoes in a basket centering the table.
He took a deep breath. “At the time, you’d hardly speak to me, and it felt like the only way to get information.”
“You violated my privacy.”
“I know. I regret it. But at the time, it didn’t feel wrong. I’m sorry. If you want to hate me for it—hate me. But remember I’m doing everything I can to help you and your brother.” He went to grab another bag.
“I don’t hate you!”
He turned around. She stood up. “But I’m so angry I could…”
She grabbed a tomato from the basket and threw it. She got him in the thigh. The ripe fruit burst and tomato guts rolled down his leg.
He looked up at her. Another tomato came hurling at him. He took that one to the head. He wiped the juice from his ear. “This is childish, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead.” He pointed a finger at her. “But you won’t have tomatoes in your salad tonight.”
She threw another one.
The juicy ripe fruit whizzed past him.
“What the hell?” a voice boomed behind him.
Dallas stood in the door. Plastered on his wide chest was a splattered tomato.
The look on Dallas’s face almost had Austin laughing. But when he looked back at Leah, the hurt in her eyes, nothing seemed funny. She hurled another tomato at Austin.
He waved at Dallas to leave. As Austin followed, the last tomato hit the back of his head. Knowing there were still two avocados, he shut the door.
“Girl’s got a good arm.” Dallas wiped tomato off his shirt.
Different emotions ran amok in Austin’s chest. He shook the bits of tomato from his hair. A noise erupted from Dallas. Laughter. He tried to disguise it. Just not enough.
“Don’t!” Austin warned.
Dallas wiped a palm over his face. “I thought you said she’d calmed down?”
“She had until I told her I bugged her place.”
“That’d have made me mad, too.” Dallas looked back at the door. “Let me talk to her.”
“No.” Austin blocked the door. “I can handle this.”
Dallas quirked a brow. “I saw how well you’re handling it. Someone needs to intervene.”
“I’m not letting you read her the riot act. She has a right to be mad.”
“I’m not going to read her any riot act.” Dallas frowned. “I told you from the beginning this wasn’t a good idea. I’m going to try to convince her not to press charges against you. I don’t want to have to visit your ass in prison.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Austin said.
Dallas studied him. “You’re awful protective of the little tomato thrower.”
“I’m not… I know her better than you.”
“And that’s why she needs to hear this from me.” He picked up his briefcase. “I’m just going to smooth things over.” Dallas hesitated. “Did you sleep with her?”
Austin shook his head. “No.” His gut knotted when he realized it didn’t seem to matter. He didn’t think she could hate him more.
Dallas sighed. “Thank God for small favors.”
Austin watched Dallas step inside. “Watch out for the avocados.”