Читать книгу Straight to the Heart - Samantha Hunter - Страница 9

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, BEN watched Joanna from the kitchen door, following the perfect shape of her ass in those jeans as she worked the lunch crowd as though she’d been doing it for years.

He stopped gawking to go help at the bar, serving up beers and getting into the flow and rhythm of the lunch hour, which didn’t leave time to think about much else. Except when he handed a tray of drinks and sandwiches to Joanna who took them with a polite, businesslike smile and turned away.

His thoughts were not as businesslike every time he thought about those long, long legs.

She’d checked out, though. He’d run his own background check, run her car, called a few people, and nothing seemed out of place. So, for now, he was just enjoying the view, he thought with a smile as he watched her walk away.

He hadn’t kept his promise about bringing the fans up to her the night before, and she hadn’t said a word about it. He knew the apartment was hotter than a sauna in mid-summer, but she didn’t complain or make demands.

Truth was, his fans weren’t going to help much, and so he’d driven into Midland the evening before to buy an air-conditioning unit for the space, and had gotten back too late to bring it up to her. He planned to install it today.

“You have the look of a starving man, bucko,” Charlie said with a laugh, sidling up beside him. “And Joanna looks like dinner.”

“You’re imagining things, Charlie.”

“No, I’m not. Been a while since you hooked up with anyone. Do you some good,” Charlie, always the practical one, said. “She looks like she could give you a good—”

“Don’t,” Ben said, cutting his friend off a little more harshly than he meant to, and then slapped his buddy’s shoulder to ease the words. “I need a waitress more than I need to get laid,” Ben said, turning away.

“Says you,” Charlie said, grabbing a bucket of glasses to carry out back.

Ben had been in a less than cheerful mood recently. He couldn’t wait for this damned trial to be over with so he could return to his life. The noise in the bar softened as the lunch crowd started thinning, as workers from the local ranches and other businesses headed to their jobs.

Joanna returned to the bar, took a seat, a thin shine of perspiration on her forehead as she smiled at him. He liked her dark, espresso-brown eyes. She was friendly with the customers, but didn’t flirt—with him, either, though there was chemistry between them—no doubt about that. There was a seriousness about her that suggested depth, and he suddenly wanted to know what books she read, what movies she liked. In the next second, he pulled those thoughts out by the root. This wasn’t a good time, and fooling around with the help was never a good idea.

Ben pushed a glass with ice and a soda across the bar at her and pretended not to notice the slim muscles in her arms, or the delicate arch of her throat as she drank it.

“Can I get you some lunch?” he asked.

“In a little while. I have to help Lisa finish cleaning up, but thanks for the drink. Hot today, even in here, with the AC.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, I’m sorry I didn’t bring the fans up last night, but I went into the city and got an AC unit instead. I can put that in today. It should help a lot. Fans would just push the hot air around.”

She looked sincerely surprised, like someone who didn’t expect people to do nice things for her.

“Hey, hot as it is, it’s a million times better than my car,” she joked with a grin.

“It’s no problem. I should have done it a while ago. If you want, I can go up and put it in while you’re helping Lisa, and—”

“No, really, it’s fine if you want to just wait until later,” she said quickly.

He paused. There it was again, that itchy feeling that something was off.

“I mean, I’m kind of a slob. I don’t want you walking in when I’d left stuff all over the floor, you know, laundry and that kind of thing,” she said with a self-effacing grin.

He relaxed again. “Sure, no problem. Tonight’s fine,” he agreed.

Ben supposed that made sense. It was her space for as long as she was renting, and it wasn’t unreasonable not to want a stranger pawing through her things, not that he would. Considering the relationship she was in before now, he couldn’t blame her for being apprehensive.

“Thanks for the drink. I’m going to go help Lisa,” she said, slipping from the chair and walking back to the kitchen.

Ben put the glass he had been polishing for the past ten minutes back on the shelf behind the bar and closed his eyes, taking a breath and trying to focus. He was rarely this scattered, but Joanna was very distracting.

Maybe Charlie was right. Maybe he should do something about that. It wasn’t good policy to sleep with the help, and she was bouncing off a bad relationship—not the best situation for either of them—but his mind kept traveling back to the same idea.

And he kept pushing it aside. There were plenty of women around to sleep with, if that’s what he wanted, but he needed Joanna on the job.

That was a shame, he thought, as she came back out from the kitchen carrying a tray of freshly filled ketchup bottles, the motion of it deepening the slight cleavage at the edge of her tank top.

A real shame.

JOANNA DUSTED HER HANDS OFF ON her jeans, feeling better as she made her way around the small, basic apartment where dust had collected everywhere. She hadn’t had much time to clean or set the place up yet, and so she worked off some excess energy doing so now.

Changing into her comfortable jeans and a loose white T-shirt was nirvana, shucking the boots for a pair of well-broken-in sandals. Her job took her everywhere, but having her comfortable clothes with her was how she felt at home wherever she was, and this was no different.

After two hours of cleaning, the place sparkled. Callahan wasn’t kidding when he said it was small. One main room had a sofa, a small easy chair and a television. Off the hallway that led to the back, there was a galley kitchen with a mini fridge but no stove.

There was a hotplate and an old-fashioned metal coffeepot on the counter, but she supposed a stove wasn’t necessary when they had a whole restaurant downstairs. Down at the very end of the hall was a bedroom with a futon-like bed and a table, next to it was a tiny, utilitarian bathroom.

Everything was painted a monotone beige, not that it mattered to her at the moment. Her apartment in San Diego had been painted in rich, nourishing colors that were a warm welcome when she came home after a long time on the job. Now, she was between living spaces. During her recovery and transfer, she had lived with her brother and Lacey. She wasn’t sure where she wanted to land permanently yet, though she thought being back in Texas might not be all bad. Spending time with her family again had been nice.

When she had first walked in to the apartment, the windows were closed and the heat was stagnant and suffocating. Now, it was early evening and with every window open—thank goodness the screens were intact—there was a nice breeze coming in. It was still warm, but pleasant enough. She relaxed for a few minutes, looking out over the pastures and hills that sprawled beyond the parking lot of the roadhouse. It was probably going to rain tonight. She could smell it on the air.

Crickets were singing down below. After her mom had taken off, Joanna had had nightmares for months, and she had often had fears of someone being outside her bedroom window in the small, one-floor ranch home that they lived in. It was irrational, but she would wake up terrified and ask her dad to check outside her room several times each night.

So her father had shown her one night how if she listened for the crickets, they would let her know if anyone was really there. He went outside and walked up to her bedroom window several times, and each time, sure enough, the crickets went silent.

Crickets still made her feel safe, content, to this day.

The place was more than adequate for her needs, and it allowed her to be right on top of Callahan a good part of the time. She stopped in the middle of grabbing a beer from the mini-fridge, thinking about all the different ways she’d like to be on top of Ben Callahan.

Being closer to Callahan, however she managed it, would be a good thing—or potentially a bad one—if she let things go too far. There was a definite spark there. She knew he wanted her—and in some ways, she’d be stupid not to capitalize on that attraction to keep a closer eye on him.

However, there were strict rules governing the relationship between marshals and the people they protected, and non-fraternization was one of them. However, Callahan wasn’t a part of the WITSEC program, so those rules technically didn’t apply, though sharing his bed could be a problem in a number of professional and ethical ways.

Not that anyone would have to find out.

The problem was … well, she wasn’t exactly sure what the problem was, she thought, slouching back in the chair by the window. It wasn’t as if she was going to fall in love with him or something. If it got the job done and took the edge off, why not?

But she couldn’t talk herself into it.

While no doubt it would be entertaining, Joanna found the idea of sleeping with someone as part of her job distasteful. Flirting a little, or even going on a date, was acceptable. If it helped her to keep him safe, she was okay with that.

Luckily, her phone ringing on the counter discouraged any further fantasizing. She grabbed it, looking at the screen and seeing her brother Jarod’s name pop up.

“Hi, Jarod. What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Everything’s great. How’s it going?”

Her brother cared about her, but he never checked up on her. He absolutely never called her when she was on assignment. Knowing what undercover work was like, he wouldn’t want to do anything to throw her out of her mindset.

“Lacey pestering you to call and see how I am?” she asked, smiling as she realized why her brother was making an exception to the rule.

“How’d you guess? Sorry about this, but she’s been worrying about you all day. She wouldn’t have slept a wink unless I spoke with you.”

“Tell her thanks, and it all went great. Got the job, and even scored an apartment above the bar.”

“Excellent for surveillance.”

“Exactly.”

“How’s your new employer?”

She shrugged, moving out of the kitchen to go sit on the sofa by the window. “Okay. What you would expect, I guess.”

Both of them knew better than to share anything too specific on the phone. She’d have to keep this short, as nice as it was to talk to her brother.

“By the way, Lacey wants me to let you know there’s a ‘cute condo’ here in San Antonio that her friend is selling, if you are interested in seeing it when you get back,” Jarod related, obviously being pushed to do so.

“Tell her maybe I’ll look at it,” she said, and then her phone beeped and she saw her boss’s name pop up.

“Jarod, gotta go—Don is on the other line.”

“Take care of yourself, jelly bean,” Jarod said affectionately, making her smile again by using the nickname he always called her.

“You, too,” she said, hanging up, and answering the other call.

“Wyatt,” she answered, as she always did for work.

“You in?” Don asked in a no-nonsense tone as she stood and paced the small room.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Good. You’re not still sleeping in your car, are you?”

“No,” she said, stifling a grin. Don was her boss, but he was also a friend who sometimes acted like a second big brother. Although he never cut her any slack when it came to work, and she wouldn’t expect him to. “Callahan had a room free up over the bar, so I took it.”

“Good work. Anything going on?”

“Nope. Pretty dull.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed. You could use some dull.”

“Then I’ll be back chasing bad guys in a few weeks?” she asked hopefully.

“We’ll see. A few things are still to be untangled about your part in that last case. And you could use more recovery time before you’re back out there.”

“Don, seriously, I’m—”

“Just go with it, Jo,” he interrupted, reminding her that chafing at the restrictions wouldn’t help. “This is an easy assignment, but an important one.”

“Just keep an eye on him, and keep a low profile—or try to. I know it’s not your strength,” he said dryly.

“Fine. If you could send me dossiers on a couple people he has working here, that would help.”

She gave him Charlie’s and Lisa’s names. She would feel better once she knew more about the people around Callahan. You never really knew who the enemy was in these cases.

“Will do. You’ll get them electronically. Check in when you can. We don’t have any backup out there for you in the immediate vicinity except for local law enforcement, so if you see trouble, let us know ASAP. Don’t try to handle it yourself. Do you hear that, Jo?”

Hearing a squeak in the boards outside her door, she turned, and changed her tone to a whisper.

“Same as I’ve heard it the twenty other times you said it,” she responded smartly. “Gotta go. I’ll be in touch,” she said, hanging up and walking closer to the door, listening.

She didn’t know if she had just imagined the noise or not.

It could just be the musicians setting up downstairs. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays the roadhouse had live bands playing, and she’d seen the guys drive in and unpack their gear while she was on the phone.

Her apartment would not be quiet until well past midnight tonight, or for the next few nights, but if the music was good, maybe she’d go downstairs and enjoy it.

A thudding sound, and then a hard, loud knock had her stepping back in surprise, bumping into the table and knocking over the lamp on the small table by the door, her heart hammering. The lamp didn’t break, and she picked it back up, settling it on the table.

“Joanna?” she heard Callahan’s voice on the other side. “What was that? Are you okay?”

She grimaced, standing and setting her phone on the table before she opened the door to find him standing there, a boxed air conditioner at his feet.

“Everything okay in there?” he asked, peering past.

“Fine. I just upset the lamp on my way to the door,” she said, her pulse calming somewhat as she looked back down at the AC unit.

“Here’s the air conditioner. I can get it installed in just a few minutes. Where do you want it?”

Joanna watched appreciatively as he bent to pick up the appliance, which wasn’t small. She enjoyed watching the strong play of muscles in his shoulders and back as he did so.

Swallowing hard, she hoped her warm cheeks didn’t give her away as he met her eyes again.

“So, where do you want it?”

“I’m fine, actually. The place is great with all the windows open.”

He shook his head doubtfully. “Supposed to get up over one hundred again tomorrow.”

“You didn’t need to go to so much trouble.”

She was screwing this up, she knew, and chastised herself for arguing with him. Any form of connection she could forge with Callahan would help her do her job, so why was she rebuffing him? Something about him just made her … itchy.

“Okay, if you say so,” he said, shrugging muscular shoulders as if the air conditioner didn’t weigh a thing.

He turned away, and she closed her eyes, blowing out a breath and sucking up her natural self-reliance. Joanna Wyatt, the U.S. Marshal, didn’t need a guy to take care of her or worry about her, but Joanna Wallace, the waitress without a penny to her name, would not refuse this kindness. And it was hot in the apartment, even with the windows open.

“Wait,” she said, stepping out onto the small, square landing in front of the door and putting a hand on his back to stop his progress.

They both stilled, and she paused a moment before taking her hand away. He turned, his eyes seeming a little darker, a little hotter.

“Yes?”

“Listen, thanks. It would probably make nights more comfortable. I just didn’t want you doing me any special favors.”

“It’s just an air-conditioner.”

She nodded. Callahan was a stand-up guy. A nice guy.

She was being ridiculous. This was about her and her hormones, not about him.

“Uh, this is getting heavy,” he said, interrupting her train of thought. “I thought the bedroom might be the best idea?”

Her heart rate skyrocketed. “What?”

“It will keep it cool at night. For sleeping,” he said, not seeming to notice her reaction.

“Oh, right, that makes sense,” she agreed, stepping back into the apartment and holding the door open for him.

“Bedroom it is,” he said, and walked past her and then back to the bedroom.

Holding her breath and praying he would leave before she gave in to her baser instincts, she followed him into the small bedroom, ignoring every warning bell that was ringing in her head.

Joanna turned out of the room and went back to the kitchen, pacing, as she listened to Callahan in her bedroom wrestling the air conditioner into the small window. When she heard profuse cursing, she gave in and went to see if she could help. Surely she was not so pathetic as not to be able to stand in a room with the man, was she?

“Everything okay?” she asked from the doorway. “Do you need help?” Was that her voice sounding a pitch higher and slightly breathless?

“As much as it dents my masculine ego to admit it, I could use a hand with this window,” he said with a short laugh. “The sash cord seems to be broken, and I nearly got my hand caught in there on the last try,” he said. He was squatting on the floor in the small space between the bed and the window, wearing a chagrined smile.

She nodded, crawling over the bed, the only way to get to the other side of the air conditioner without crawling over him.

She wasn’t trying to be enticing, but as she crawled on all fours over the fresh linens that Lisa had brought up, she saw a muscle tick in his jaw as he watched her.

It made her want to lick the spot.

He might let her, too. She’d been around enough men to sense that particular sort of tension in their bodies, that look that said they wanted to get naked as soon as possible.

She was here in a small, overly warm bedroom with a sexy hunk of a guy who she was pretty sure could make her sleep well tonight. Or not sleep at all.

A noise from below, the strong strum of a guitar chord made her jump, and she looked up, seeing him smile.

“Forgot the band was warming up.”

“They any good?” she asked, making small talk as she swung her legs over and squatted down on the opposite side of the AC unit, pinched between the wall and the bed’s frame.

“They’re good. One of the more popular bands around here. Helps the draw on Thursdays,” he said, and her hand brushed his forearm as they wrangled the unit into position.

The idea of being wrapped in Callahan’s powerful arms, keeping her warm all night long, flooded her mind. She had sexual fantasies about guys—who didn’t? But she never thought about them holding her through the night as she slept. She’d never been one for romance novels or lovey-dovey fantasizing. Still, tripping over her thirtieth year a few months before, and thinking about that bullet drifting an inch in the other direction made her wonder about what she might have been missing in her life. Spending time with her brother and Lacey had only driven that home for her, but at the end of the day, Joanna was the job. She loved it, and she didn’t know anything else. She certainly wouldn’t give it all up for a man.

Ben seemed absolutely clueless about her inner conflict as he managed to line up the unit with the window frame once more.

“If you can hold the window up while I get this positioned, that would be great,” he directed, distracting her yet again with how the T-shirt he wore clung to his skin in the hot room.

“Sure,” she said casually and pushed the window up, holding it higher than necessary so that he had room to maneuver.

Within a few minutes, he had the air conditioner fitted tightly into the window, and it was ready to go. As Joanna let the window down, he leaned over to plug it in, and then set it so that cool air immediately started pulsing out of the appliance.

It felt great, Joanna had to admit, and pushed her hair back from where it clung to her cheek. When she looked down, she caught him staring up from the floor, his attention clearly caught by the way her nipples were at full attention from the cold air blasting on her.

He turned away, fussing with something.

“It’s a small room. Probably can set this on low,” he said, more to himself than to her, and Joanna murmured something just as unintelligible.

She wasn’t even aware of what she said, more to herself than to him; she’d rarely felt chemistry like this, not this fast anyway.

Thinking he was going to turn around to walk out, she moved in that direction as well, but he leaned down to get some packing plastic that had dropped on the floor.

Legs tangled, arms flailed, and a second later, Joanna was sprawled on the firm mattress with Callahan spread over the top of her.

The cool air from the AC on her bare feet made her shiver—or was that the heat from the heavy length of his body that was burning into hers?

“Um,” she said, licking her lips and looking up at him. He didn’t move. She didn’t ask him to.

He felt good. Heavy, masculine and hard. She had to force herself not to widen her thighs and arch against him. It was almost embarrassing.

Except that he seemed to be having the same trouble—more so because he couldn’t hide his reaction, his heavy shaft pressing into the crux of her thighs.

“Don’t do that,” he said, his breath sounding short.

“Don’t do what?”

“Lick your lips like that.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. She couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t moved yet.

“I should probably get up,” he said, his breath warm on her cheek.

“Yeah.”

“But I really don’t want to,” he admitted, and she might have imagined it, but it seemed that he pressed himself against her thigh ever so slightly.

Heat streamed through her, making her wet and all too close to the edge. All he’d have to do is edge one of those thighs down in between—or any part he wanted—and she’d be gone.

Resisting temptation never had been one of her strong suits.

He dipped in suddenly, fusing his lips to hers, diving his fingers into her hair and wiping her mind clean of anything but him.

The surprise of it shook her, and Joanna opened underneath him, her lips parting, her thighs opening, her arms sliding around his massive torso as she gave herself over.

For the first time in her life, she knew what it was like to be truly carried away by the moment. By a kiss. By a man.

“This is better than I even imagined,” he whispered into her ear, taking a break to catch a breath, and drawing the tip of his tongue along the lobe.

Joanna had to bite her lip hard to stop from moaning in pleasure at the contact.

“So you’ve been fantasizing about me, huh?” she said, trying to reach for something light, something to ward off the intensity that had exploded between them.

“From the second I saw you,” he admitted, much to her surprise, as he drew back and looked straight down into her face. She could tell by his eyes that he wasn’t lying.

His gaze dropped to her mouth. She wanted him to kiss her again almost more than she wanted to breathe, and that scared the daylights out of her. As much as she enjoyed sex, usually men wanted her more than she wanted them.

“Maybe we should get up now,” she said, trying to control her voice and her breathing as something close to panic set in.

She didn’t know why; she wanted him, and she wasn’t afraid of him. But at the same time as her body was screaming for him, her mind was sending out red alerts.

“Are you sure?” he asked, not moving.

His hand slid up the side of her rib cage, his thumb moving lightly over a nipple, making her suck in a breath and arch, even though she tried to stop her reaction.

“You’re my boss,” she said, unsure what relevance that would have, but apparently she’d hit the right key.

He stilled, pressed up tight against her, staring down.

“I would never use that. Not in this way,” he said seriously, his hand dropping to the side of her. “Not at all. In fact, I’ve never slept with anyone I worked with, though I have to admit, none of the people I worked with were as hot as you.”

“I—I didn’t mean it like that. You don’t … seem like the type to coerce someone into sleeping with you. It’s just that … it can make things complicated.”

“Yeah, sometimes. Is there someone else? Are you worried about your ex?”

“No to both,” she said, knowing that she was just opening the door she really should be closing.

“Good,” he said, looking down at her intently. “I’m fine with being your in-between. Your rebound guy,” he said, leaning down to nuzzle her throat in a way that made her melt again. “We could have some fun,” he promised. “No strings attached. At work, it’s just work. No pressure.”

So, so tempting.

Joanna wasn’t sure she wanted to say no. What was the harm, after all?

Then he lifted away from her, and the heat of his body was replaced with the blasting air of the AC hitting her directly.

Callahan stood by the side of the bed, extended a hand. She ignored it, and rolled to standing, fixing her clothes. She didn’t catch herself in time to prevent a wince as she rolled over her still sore shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Your shoulder, you hurt it.”

Thank goodness the T-shirt she wore hid the scar from the bullet wound. She covered it up with makeup when she wore anything revealing, but she knew he’d recognize it for what it was. Thank God he hadn’t managed to get her shirt off. She kicked herself for forgetting, but it was a good reminder of why this couldn’t happen.

“I tweaked it carrying a heavy load of dishes, that’s all.”

“You could let one of us get the really heavy trays.”

“Sure. I will next time,” she said cooperatively, which made him narrow his eyes.

“I think it’s not a good idea. You know, us, hooking up,” she added.

Looking him in the eye, it took no small amount of discipline not to let her gaze slip lower.

“Sure, whatever you want.”

They stood there, facing each other until she turned and walked out of the room. He followed, not saying a word. In the front room, comforted by the brighter light from the lamp, she wrapped her arms around herself, still warm and aroused, trying not to focus on how amazing he looked.

He smiled a little, killing her, and walked to the door. “Let me know if everything is okay with the AC, and, you know … if you change your mind.”

She smiled, nodding, and didn’t dare say a word in case she asked him not to go. When he was gone, she fell back into the chair and thought the next few weeks might not be quite as easy as she thought.