Читать книгу Sunsets & Seduction - Tawny Weber - Страница 12

9:00 p.m.

JONAS WAS SURPRISED that the trains were packed. While some of the peripheral routes were closed down, the main lines were running. He supposed it made sense. The worst of the storm had hit around rush hour, and with the roads such a mess, the trains were many people’s only option to get home.

He could feel the heat and proximity of all the bodies crowded around where he and Tessa were tucked into a corner of the packed subway car. They were soaked from their dash to the closest station, a few blocks away from the shop, even having used umbrellas. It didn’t matter. Though he tried to make casual conversation, all he could think about was how close she was, and what had happened back at the apartment.

He shouldn’t have given in, but when it came to Tessa, he seemed to have a difficult time saying no. This time, hopefully, their indiscretions would stay between them. Senator Rose had said there was no direct threat, that he just needed someone to stick close to Tessa for a few days.

Rose had also been fully aware that Tessa liked to yank his chain, and was clear on the fact that she’d used Jonas to do it. Luckily, it appeared he wasn’t holding Jonas completely responsible for the last time, but Jonas reminded himself not to be so reckless this time, even though he was on fire for her.

She was also confusing the hell out of him. He had her tagged one way, self-indulgent, self-interested. He didn’t trust her motivations, and he still didn’t—not completely. But that didn’t fit the profile of someone who had traveled across town in the rain to help him, and now was doing the same for an elderly friend. Was she just playing a role, being someone she thought would appeal to him?

The air in the train car was humid and moist, though the riders were good-natured and fairly loud, everyone sharing a storm story or visiting with the person they were crunched up against.

He was pressed up against Tessa from stem to stern, and acutely aware of every inch of her. They stood inside a corner area, where she was against the outside of the train. He used his body to shield her.

He was hard again from the close contact, and grateful that it was so crowded, so no one would notice. It had been difficult enough dreaming and thinking about her for weeks, but being this close—especially after being naked with her less than an hour ago—was undermining his promise to the senator.

Tessa’s breath caressed his cheek. She’d edged in closer to him. He lifted a hand, finding her face and rubbing his thumb over her cheek, her skin dewy from the rain and humid air. The touch was to “see” her, to measure her expression, her level of tension, as much as it was to just have an excuse to touch her.

“You okay?”

“Yes, just a little anxious,” she whispered against his ear. “And far too turned on, considering our current location,” she added, shifting her hips against him so that she nestled his hardness in the soft crux of her thighs. He bit back a groan, not that it would have been heard in the busy din of the car.

He leaned in, telling himself he was just playing a part.

She had played him before, right? So turnaround was fair play, as long as he could walk away from the job at the end. Nuzzling her, he found the soft shell of her ear with his lips, and whispered, “Tease.”

“Not a tease,” she responded, turning her lips to his. “I’ll make good later, I promise.”

He swallowed hard, thinking that if he inadvertently rocked a few more times against her as the train took corners and bumps, he wasn’t going to last until later. He was so ready to come he had to do mental exercises to avoid it.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked. “You look so focused.”

“Baseball stats,” he said flatly.

She paused, then laughed against his cheek.

“You mean, like getting to third base, or sliding into home?” she asked suggestively.

He felt the vibration of her chest against his as she chuckled, and he had to smile, too. It felt good—better than good—to be so turned on, to be laughing.

To be with Tessa.

“Yeah, something like that.”

He was actually enjoying himself. In spite of his wet clothes and achingly hard cock, he felt more alive than he had in weeks. Suddenly, Tessa froze, and a collective gasp and sounds of unhappy surprise filled the car as it ground to a standstill, breaks screeching as everyone in the car lurched with the momentum of the train.

“What? What happened?” he asked.

“Power’s out. It’s pitch-black in here except for a few emergency lights,” she said as people started grumbling and shouting around them.

A baby cried from the far end of the car, and the mood changed markedly as tension rose. A tremble worked its way through Tessa’s body. He slipped his arms around her, holding her tighter against him.

“Stay next to me. It will be okay,” he said against her hair.

“I can’t see anything,” she said in a hushed whisper, pressing even more tightly against him.

This wasn’t good. Even friendly, good-natured people could be dangerous in a crowded, panicked situation. He noticed that a guy behind him was breathing too hard, starting to push against everyone around him.

“I have to let go of you for a minute, okay? Hug the wall, right behind you,” he said to Tessa, turning to face the man while still protecting Tessa.

Reaching out, he found the man’s arm and grabbed it before the flailing man hurt someone. The guy was shaking, starting to mutter in panic.

Jonas kept his voice casual. “Hey, buddy, you okay? Let’s try to calm down.”

The man pushed at him, but Jonas held firm.

“Let go of me! Who are you? Don’t touch me! I have to get outta here, let me outta here,” the guy started to shout, pushing at everyone near him. Jonas heard a woman gasp in pain, the man’s other fist making contact, Jonas assumed.

People started shouting, and Jonas knew he had to do something before a potentially deadly scenario was set into motion. Sliding his arm up to the man’s neck, he looped it around and felt for the slamming pulse at the side of the guy’s throat. Tightening his grip as he slid his arm around front and pulled his forearm back, Jonas trapped the man in an armlock, trying to hold him still as he struggled to get free.

“Jonas? Jonas, what are you doing?” He heard Tessa’s breathless question.

“Stay put, Tessa,” he said loudly, fighting the man’s huge bulk as he applied pressure.

“Sorry, man, but you need to chill for a few minutes until they get us out of here,” he said, and increased the pressure until the man stopped shouting, the heavy weight of his form going slack.

Everything around them was eerily quiet.

“Someone help get this guy into a seat,” Jonas ordered, propping the man up the best he could, the slack weight almost pulling him down. “He passed out.”

“Yeah, with a little help, I bet,” another guy said approvingly, and Jonas felt the weight lifted as others took him off Jonas’s hands.

“Good job,” someone shouted, and Jonas felt a pat on his shoulder.

“Thank you so much,” someone else whispered in relief.

Slowly, conversation resumed and the tension resolved.

He turned back to Tessa, finding her hand with his and touching her face again to make sure she was okay. He found that she was smiling slightly, and he ran a finger over her lower lip.

“That was pretty cool,” she said.

The driver’s voice over the intercom told them they would be stopped for about twenty minutes, and to please stay calm as people were working on getting them on their way again.

“He was a big guy—couldn’t have him freaking out in here. People could get hurt.”

“I know. And no one else here could have done what you did,” she said, pressing a kiss into his neck. “Way to think on your feet, Berringer.”

Jonas’s heart beat hard in his chest, aware of her again, the two of them pressed tight.

“How dark is it in here, anyway?”

“Almost pitch-black, except for a few safety lights around the edges. I can barely see you, as close as we are,” she said.

Jonas realized that this was the first time since he’d lost his sight that he didn’t feel alone. Maybe because everyone around him was also blind, in a way, or maybe because he was here with Tessa.

“I hope they get us out of here soon. I don’t think people will stand being crammed in together for long.” She sounded nervous.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” she said softly.

He drew her to him, pressing his arousal close to her again.

“That certainly takes my mind off things,” she said with a husky laugh.

“That was the idea.” He heard the anxiety in her tone dissolve into a gasp as his hand covered her breast, her nipple beading under his palm.

Leaning in, he found and nuzzled the throbbing pulse at the base of her neck, loving how it sped up every time he tweaked or rolled the sensitive nub between his fingers.

Her hand was pressed against the front of his pants, rubbing along the length of him. He shuddered at the touch, pressing in, biting the lobe of her ear a little more sharply before covering her lips in a hot kiss.

“Good thing no one can see,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

He maneuvered them more tightly into the corner, the people behind him caught up in their own conversations. Some guys had started singing, and others were laughing. More than enough noise to cover their own activities.

All he was aware of was Tessa’s scent, the honey-sweet taste of her kiss, and her nimble, satiny fingers as they slid his zipper down and then wrapped around his shaft.

“Tessa, I don’t think—”

“Yes, don’t think. Thinking is way overrated,” she murmured against his lips as she slid her tongue against his in a thrusting rhythm that matched the way she was stroking him.

Jonas was normally a highly private person, and he couldn’t believe he was letting her do this in a crowded subway car, but he was also too far gone to care. Too needy, too close to the edge.

If the lights came on, if anyone noticed, he thought, trying to find some way to stay in control. But that offered another surprise—the idea of being discovered increased the urgency and turned him on even more.

Her hands and lips were so soft, her grip just right, and his mind spun with the need to let go even as he still tried to resist. Creature of habit. As much as he wanted her, wanted this, he didn’t want to give in.

“Let go, Jonas,” Tessa whispered in his ear, her other hand sliding up inside his shirt and playing with a nipple, making him shudder and rock slightly into her hand.

“Yeah, like that,” she encouraged.

When she slipped her hand down to caress his sac as she continued to stroke, Jonas sucked in a sharp breath, coming hard and fast with an intensity that made him bite down to keep from shouting her name out loud.

Pressing her back against the wall, the release shook him from head to toe, and he all but collapsed against her as she withdrew her hand. He caught his breath as he sensed her fumbling in her purse for something as he zipped up.

It wasn’t the way he wanted to come with her, but it had been pretty fantastic, he thought, trying to get his composure back.

They righted themselves in the nick of time, as luck would have it; seconds later a cheer went up as the train rolled forward.

“The lights are on?” he asked, his voice still rough.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Thanks for distracting me.”

He smiled. “I think I should be thanking you.”

Her kiss at the corner of his lips had the heat building again, and he knew he would do what he had to to keep Tessa safe. Whatever game she was playing, he was more than willing to join in. James Rose had put him in this situation, and Jonas didn’t care if the senator spontaneously combusted from finding out what he and Tessa were doing. It would be worth it.

Let her have her fill, and tell anyone she wanted. He’d deal with that later. Jonas wanted nothing more than to get her home, where he planned to drive them both to distraction for the rest of the night.

TESSA’S HANDS WERE shaking, along with her knees and probably everything in between as the others exited the subway car. Anxiety wasn’t the cause; she was still so aroused from sharing close quarters with Jonas, feeling his heat, his passion—his need—that she hadn’t been able to think of anything else but him.

The way he’d leaned into her, giving himself over to her when she’d touched him in the car had been sexier than anything she’d experienced, ever. He was surprising her time and time again. And confusing her.

He didn’t trust her, but he did want her. He was angry with her, but protective of her. Would the real Jonas Berringer please stand up?

She was so glad that she had him with her in the dark confines of the car—especially when things had gotten tense with the blackout. The way he had taken control of the situation and kept her, and everyone, safe, had triggered a well of emotion that touched her deeply. He was an extraordinary man, though she knew he didn’t think of himself that way.

She suspected a large part of his annoyance with her was because he liked her father. She could see it when he’d mentioned the senator, and how much her father had helped their personal security business. She also knew her father wasn’t pleased about how things had ended, but Tessa hadn’t been seducing Jonas to tick off her father.

She’d prefer that he knew nothing about her sex life, with Jonas or anyone else, frankly, but the senator made her life his business far too often. It rankled her to think that Jonas blamed her for her father’s negative reaction, but there was nothing she could do but just try to show him she wasn’t like that. That she genuinely cared for him and was attracted to him.

This was her second chance, and she wasn’t going to blow it. Her father was out of the country and couldn’t interfere.

Hopefully, she and Jonas could get to know each other well enough that her father wouldn’t be able to butt his nose in again. Still, she was taking a risk. Jonas was clearly willing to think the worst of her. She had no guarantee that he wasn’t just scratching an itch and would disappear in the morning.

Jonas obviously desired her, and he had said he would keep her safe—but did that include her heart? Though the sex was incredible, no matter what happened this night, she knew it wouldn’t be enough.

So many emotions were scrambling around inside, she hardly knew what to do with them, especially as reality returned. They stayed in the car with the man Jonas had in effect apprehended. She knew they couldn’t leave him, and that there was an ambulance on its way, but they had less time to make it to Kate now, she thought, looking at her watch.

Thunder still rolled overhead, sounding far away outside the train station. The guy in the seat had come to and was groggy and apologizing. Jonas assured him he was fine, and the EMTs would check him out to make sure.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“They diverted us. We’re at the Spring Garden station,” she said, tension winding in her chest.

The trip had taken her in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go.

“We’ll have to find aboveground transport. I heard them say they were shutting down the city train routes until the storm passed.” Again, she thought of Kate, alone.

“They don’t want to risk another stranding,” he said, nodding grimly. “That could have been really bad.”

“There’s a crowd of people looking for taxis and a line at the buses, so that could take forever,” she warned. “Maybe I should try the car rentals.”

Just then, a tall, black-haired woman and another man stepped onto the train, and Tessa saw EMTs filing in not far behind them.

Tessa could tell from her posture and stride that the woman was someone in a position of authority. The badge on her belt, revealed as she put a hand on her hip, cleared that up quickly. Philadelphia P.D.

Her green eyes lit with pleasure on Jonas, and then with curiosity on Tessa.

“Jonas! You’re the guy who prevented a riot on the train car? I should have known,” she said with a wide grin.

“That would be me.”

“Well, that just made my job a whole lot easier.”

Jonas smiled widely, and a twinge of jealousy grabbed at Tessa. He had never smiled like that for her, so openly. How well did these two know each other?

“Rachel,” he said warmly, and accepted the woman’s brief hug as EMTs boarded and took the man out with them.

Tessa stood, too, holding out her hand, meeting the woman’s eyes. “Hi, I’m Tessa Rose.”

The green eyes narrowed as the woman’s head tilted slightly to the side. “Detective Rachel Pankewski. I know you. You’re Senator Rose’s daughter?” she asked.

“Yes, but more importantly, Jonas’s … friend,” Tessa said pleasantly, holding the woman’s stare.

The detective smiled widely, looking at Jonas again, seeming even more amused.

“So what happened here?” she asked.

“He started to panic when the lights went out. He was big, and started hitting, pushing.”

“Yeah, we have someone with a bruised eye where he clipped them.”

“I got him in a choke hold and tried to talk him down, but he got really riled up,” Jonas said. “I know it was risky, but it was getting bad in there.”

Rachel nodded. “He’ll be okay. He’s still kind of groggy and doesn’t know what happened exactly. We’ll explain the situation to him, and as long as the EMTs clear him, there’s no problem that I can see. He was a public danger to himself and others. We owe you one. We’re all doing whatever we have to tonight. It’s nuts. I had an assault close by, so I responded. I’ll write it up and catch up with you over the next few days. Thanks for keeping this from turning into a real problem.” Rachel smiled. “What are you two doing caught in this in the first place?”

“Tessa has an elderly friend in Germantown who needs some help, she’s low on insulin. We were trying to get there, but with the stoppage on the tracks, they rerouted us here,” he explained. “We’re trying to figure out how to get the next leg.”

“You’ll be stuck here for a while, and the streets are a mess. I have to go, but first let me see what I can do.” The detective quickly reached into her jacket for her phone.

Tessa noticed two other things: her gun in its holster and her wedding rings on a chain around her neck.

“Old flame?” she asked Jonas, her voice not as casual as she’d hoped it would be.

“Old friend. We were street cops together, not partners, but had the same shift and we made detective together. She’s a good egg. And very, very married,” he added with another twitch of his lips.

Tessa’s cheeks burned. She knew she was making an idiot of herself over a man who didn’t even necessarily like her very much, except for the explosive sexual chemistry they shared. She thought again about how he had rarely shared the easy humor or banter with her that he had with his old friend, and she realized it was something she wanted with him.

She craved the passion, and the explosive sex, but she was interested in the other stuff, too. The things that real relationships were made from. The shared intimacy of tiny details that all couples experienced in everyday life. Coffee in the morning, holding hands while watching television, finishing each other’s sentences.

She had no idea if Jonas wanted more than sex with her, or with anyone, for that matter. It pinched at her to think that was all they had, and barely that, even.

The detective joined them again. “Well, there’s no way for me to get a unit down here to take you … we’re stretched beyond capacity, as you can imagine. There is one possibility for transport, if you are open to it,” she said.

“Anything you can do would be wonderful,” Tessa said appreciatively, trying to make up for her previous jealousy. “My friend needs her insulin within an hour or so.”

“Well, we’ve recruited some help from mounted details, and I have officers willing to take you where you need to go, if—”

“Horses?” Jonas said incredulously.

“Yep. Some of the local cowboys and a few of the state police are offering services to get where regular transport can’t go. They can get you there with no stopping, unless the skies open up again.”

“I love horses, no problem,” said Tessa. “I learned to ride as a kid.”

Jonas looked less sure.

“I don’t know, Tessa, maybe you should go, and I can wait—”

“It will be fine, Jonas. Just trust in the universe. This could even be fun,” she said.

“Fun. Right.”

“Don’t worry. The officer will ride, and all you have to do is hang on.”

“Right,” he said again, sounding less than convinced. “Well, let’s go, then.”

The detective led them out through a side exit, and Tessa smiled at the large, handsome quarter horse that stood with his rider under a roof that protected them from the rain, which had lightened considerably, she saw with relief.

The quarter horse belonged to the state cop, who stood next to a younger man, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Tessa recognized him as one of Philadelphia’s native urban cowboys.

The city had developed a program to help inner-city youth avoid crime and learn to ride, caring for their horses and riding them around the city, as long as they stayed out of trouble and did well in school. The program had some ups and downs over the years, and had had its share of controversies. Struggling to stay afloat in terms of funding, it still was active.

Tessa supported the program through her business, and knew her father did, as well—it was one of the few things they agreed on. It was a good idea, and she loved seeing the horses being ridden down a Philly side street in the evening, the cowboys appearing like some vision from the Old West. She also liked to think about the kids in the program getting a second chance.

“Ricardo? Officer Styles?” Rachel greeted them, and introduced herself, as well as Tessa and Jonas.

“You think you can deliver these two safely to Germantown? They have a friend in need,” the detective explained. “Jonas is a former detective with the force. Tessa owns a store down on South.”

Jonas spoke up upon hearing the younger man’s voice. “Ricardo? Ricardo Nunez?” he asked.

“Detective Berringer,” the young man said happily. “I remember you.”

“Not a detective anymore, but I take it you’re doing well?”

“Yes. Thanks to you,” he said. “Detective Berringer introduced me to the stables when I was a kid. He got me out of a crack house during a raid when I was ten and got me into a good foster home,” Ricardo explained to the rest.

“Ricardo is planning to go to the academy,” Officer Styles interjected. “He wants to be in our Mounted Division.”

Tessa saw the pleasure reflected in Jonas’s expression.

“Ricardo, that’s great,” Jonas said. “I’m proud of you.”

The young man crossed to Jonas, who held out his hand for Ricardo to find, shaking it and pulling the young man in for a quick, manly chest bump.

Tessa’s throat was a little tight with emotion as she looked on. There was so much about Jonas she didn’t know, and she wanted to know it all.

A roll of thunder was dull in the distance, and they all glanced up at the night sky.

“We’d better go. We can get you there pretty quickly, but we have to keep the horses out of the worst of this,” Styles added.

“Okay,” Tessa said, looking at Jonas. “You ready?”

He blew out a breath, offering a sideways smile that made her heart skip. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“REMIND ME NEVER TO do that again,” Jonas said, wincing as he stretched out his legs in front of the counter where Tessa was waiting for the pharmacist who was gathering Kate’s supplies.

“Oh, it was fun!” she said, smiling and looking as if she really had enjoyed herself.

It had only been a twenty- or thirty-minute horse ride to the pharmacy, cutting cross-lots, but it had been a bit rough considering he didn’t have anything but his jeans between him and the saddle.

He hadn’t been too crazy about Tessa riding with the mounted officer, either. Officer Styles had been enjoying her company a little too much, from what he could tell of the way the guy flirted, encouraging her to “hold on.”

At one point, they had galloped across the park, and he and Nunez had to catch up. Jonas wasn’t sure, but he thought he overheard the guy asking Tessa out.

Regardless of his confused feelings about her, he didn’t want anyone else touching her or flirting with her.

Jonas hadn’t been jealous of anyone in a long time, and he’d almost forgotten what it was like to feel this possessive.

He also reminded himself that he had no ties to Tessa, and didn’t want any. The sexual chemistry between them was combustible. They were willing adults sharing some mutual enjoyment, but that was it.

In the morning, they would have to accept that nothing had changed.

Liar, an inner voice accused.

“It was kind of exciting, don’t you think?” Tessa asked, interrupting his thoughts and sounding more relaxed. Jonas knew she was relieved to be at the pharmacy, and they could walk the rest of the way to Kate’s. Officer Styles was willing to take her as far as she wanted to go, as he’d made clear, but once Jonas was down off that steed, there was no way he was getting back up on it.

“Exciting. That’s one word for it,” Jonas said dryly, and felt her nudge him.

“You looked good up there. You should take up riding. I can toally see you in a cowboy hat and boots,” she said, and he wasn’t sure if she was teasing.

“Not likely.” He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, recalling the ride. “I do have a bike.”

“A bicycle?”

“A motorcycle,” he corrected. “An eighties Harley that I take out on the road when I’m off duty.”

“Very sexy,” she purred, sliding up close to him.

“So, did the Mountie ask you out?”

“Hold on,” she said, kissing him lightly and avoiding the question. “They just called my number at the counter.”

Jonas sighed in frustration. She wasn’t making this easier. He couldn’t get a fix on her. She was sexy and alluring, flirtatious and open about it. He couldn’t see what had gone on between her and the officer, but he knew that flirty laugh, and figured she’d had a good time. It confirmed his earlier suspicions about her.

She was also a concerned friend and a kind person. A passionate woman who didn’t hide who she was.

If he was really honest, maybe he was as angry at himself as he was at her. No matter how much he could blame Tessa for getting him in a bind with her father, Jonas had been the one placed in a position of authority, sent to protect her. He was also the one who’d caved to temptation.

And still wanted to.

It wasn’t the first time he’d made that mistake. His mind wandered back to his last year on the force. His unit had been working with the Bunko Squad to take down an underground gambling ring.

The bodies of several people associated with the ring had surfaced around town, and Homicide was called in, where Jonas had made detective two years before. When Bunko undercover officers had snagged an inside CI, a confidential informant, to serve as a witness, she’d been given to Homicide to watch while the undercover team closed in.

Jonas, the junior detective at the time, had been on protection detail at the safe house. He still remembered Irena Nadik. Young, lovely and lethal.

The lethal part he’d had no idea about. Jonas had believed she was a victim, and that was how she played it. Forced to comply with a ruthless crime boss’s orders, she’d tearfully relayed a story about her father’s murder by the men who held her now against her will, the constant threats to sell her into the sex trade when they were done with her.

Jonas had fallen for her, let her seduce him, and looked forward to when the case was closed and they could be together. He’d even thought of marriage. Maybe that was how he’d rationalized breaking the rules for love.

He’d had no idea she was playing him the whole time. Slept with him, got him to tell her things he shouldn’t have.

On the night of the raid, she’d drugged him, and used his own phone to try to warn the ring. Luckily, his partner had shown up and caught her before she succeeded.

The ring was taken down, Irena was in jail for a good long time, but Jonas had messed up big-time. He was suspended during an investigation, but eventually cleared for duty with only a light reprimand on his record.

But Jonas knew the truth. He couldn’t look the guys he worked with in the eye each day and expect them to trust him when he had messed up so seriously. For a woman.

He left the force the following year and joined the personal security business Garrett was launching. It had taken him a long time to trust his instincts again, and that’s what bothered him the most. He didn’t know what to think about Tessa.

It was easy to focus on the job.

The senator was out of the country, and he was given a light-duty assignment to keep her company, make sure she was okay. He had no idea what the senator’s agenda was, or Tessa’s, for that matter, but he could focus on the job. That he knew how to do.

“All set. Kate’s house is about six blocks from here, though we had better hurry,” Tessa said briskly, breaking into his brief foray into the past. “The storm is winding up again.”

He didn’t say anything, still caught up in dark thoughts, but let her take his hand.

“I picked up a few things for later,” she said mischievously, putting a bag in his hand, where he felt the corner of what he assumed were several rather large boxes of condoms.

“You’re overestimating my endurance,” he said.

“I just thought we’d like some variety,” she countered.

Feeling cornered, wanting what he couldn’t, and shouldn’t, have, but not knowing how to walk away, he just kept moving.

“Everything okay?” she asked, clearly picking up on his change in mood.

“Let’s get to Kate’s before the storm hits,” he said shortly.

He couldn’t let this go any further.

He had to walk away. He’d get her safely to her friend’s, then back to her place, and try to finish this job without making things worse. The crunching sound of the bag of condoms he carried seemed to mock him.

The wind was picking up, and she linked her elbow in his, picking up the pace.

“Is this storm never going to stop?” Tessa said breathlessly as they hurried down the street.

She guided him flawlessly, alerting him to step down or up, holding him close with her elbow linked in his. “It’s like some bad Armageddon movie out here,” she joked.

The end of the world as we know it.

Jonas twisted his mouth sardonically at his own sense of melodrama.

“Tomorrow the sun will come out, and it will just be a memory,” he said, unsure if he was talking completely about the storm.

She yipped as thunder cracked overhead, and jumped closer to him, moving faster.

Jonas stopped suddenly, wrenching her to a stop as well, the flash of light obliterating any of his previous thoughts.

The flash that he saw.

He pointed. “Was that lightning—over there, this direction,” he asked while pointing, his voice urgent.

“I think so,” Tessa said cautiously. “It’s kind of all around us.”

Then it happened again. A dim flash at the corner of his eye, and he whipped his head in that direction.

“There!”

Tessa sucked in a breath, realizing what he was saying.

“Oh, my God, Jonas, you saw it! You saw the lightning!”

She let out a whoop and flew into his arms as the thunder growled even more loudly above, following the lightning strike.

Jonas held her, but lifted his face into the rain, eager, urgently wanting to see another flash, needing more confirmation that he hadn’t imagined it.

Tessa’s arms were tight around his neck, and he wasn’t sure if it was rain or tears he felt on her skin. In his excitement, he’d forgotten how afraid she was of the storm.

“I’m sorry. I just remembered you don’t like storms. I … can’t believe I might have actually seen something.”

“I don’t care about the storm,” she said. “I’m so happy for you.”

Then she was kissing him as the rain came down harder and the wind picked up around them. He gathered her up close, returning the kiss with everything he had, jubilant in the moment.

Tessa’s not Irena, he thought, and neither were his feelings for the two women at all similar.

Irena had been exotic, different and had appealed to him as a younger man who was easily fooled by beauty and charm.

Jonas wasn’t as easy to fool anymore—was he?

He wasn’t so sure he could walk away, in spite of his temporary resolve to do so. They parted, breathing heavily, as the rain came down harder.

Jonas wished more than anything that he could see her. Maybe if he could see her face, her expression, her eyes, he could know if she was being honest with him. If any of this was real.

Soon, he thought, another bright flash showing up in his field of vision.

“We have to go,” he said.

They ran the rest of the way to the address where Kate lived, and Jonas was relieved to finally be under cover as the weather worsened. On the relative shelter of the porch, Tessa searched for her keys.

“Damn, I left Kate’s keys at home,” she blurted in frustration. “How could I have done that?”

Jonas’s attention was split. His body felt electric, as if the storm was surging through him. He’d seen several more flashes on the way to the house, enough to cement his certainty that his vision had started to return.

One of the flashes had even been very bright, from a relatively close lightning strike that had scared the death out of Tessa, but thrilled him—both because he saw it and because it sent her into his arms.

He couldn’t find any way around his dilemma. There was no way to counter the damage that Senator Rose could do to his family, but he would take every chance he had to taste, touch and experience Tessa while he could.

“Kate will love meeting you, but I warn you, she’s a real pistol,” Tessa said, pressing the doorbell.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, nipping at her earlobe. “You’re delicious, you know,” he added.

“Behave,” Tessa warned playfully as they stood outside Kate’s door, and she pushed the buzzer one more time.

There was no answer.

“It’s me, Kate. Tessa. I have your medicine,” Tessa called through the door, knocking again as they saw someone pull back a curtain near the window.

“Who? I don’t know you. Go away,” the woman yelled through the door, sounding frightened.

“Kate, it’s me, Tessa,” Tessa said again. “I have your medicine.” She tried to turn the doorknob, but it was no use.

“I don’t take any medicine. You are here to rob me,” the older woman claimed in a high-pitched voice.

“She must have miscalculated for her next dose,” Tessa said worriedly. “Confusion and paranoia can be part of ketoacidosis. We have to get in there.”

“Call 911,” Jonas instructed. “Do you have anything small, like a bobby pin?”

“No—wait,” Tessa said, clearly shaken. “I do, here,” she said, shoving something into his hands, dialing her cell phone to call paramedics.

Jonas focused, finding the door lock. He hadn’t done this in a number of years, and he’d never been great at it, but urgency fueled his movements.

He found that not being able to see actually increased his awareness of the mechanism of the lock. Not using his eyes, he could focus instead on the sense of movement or resistance offered by the pins, and almost as soon as Tessa hung up her call, he had the lock open.

“You are amazing,” Tessa said, opening the door, only to find the chain and a chair propped up against it. Kate really did think they were there to rob her.

“Time for a little brute force, huh?” he guessed.

“I think so,” she agreed, and they both put their shoulders to the door and shoved, breaking the chain and pushing the door inward.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a voice bellowed behind them. “I have called 911!”

Tessa turned to see an older woman on the porch holding a broom up in the air as if to swat at them. She calmed as she squinted, focusing in.

“Tessa, is that you?”

“It is me, Betty. I’m so sorry to worry you, we have to get inside to help Kate—she’s out of insulin.”

“Oh, no,” Betty said, dropping the broom and joining them, sizing up Jonas in the process.

“And you are …?” the older woman asked him.

“Friend of Tessa’s.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Jonas, ma’am.”

“Do you knock doors in often?”

“Only for beautiful sounding women,” he said with a smile, and Betty smiled back.

“Emergency is en route, but we have to keep her calm and give her an injection right away, if we can, the 911 operator instructed,” Tessa said.

Jonas nodded. “I can try to hold her still if need be, while you do that.”

“I’ll help keep her calm. She might recognize me,” Betty offered, and came in with them.

Kate was resistant but weak, and still very confused. Jonas felt terrible having to restrain her, even gently, but he spoke quietly in her ear, saying small, nonsensical things until Tessa had administered the shot of insulin. Kate seemed to relax against him moments later.

“She passed out,” Tessa said, sounding panicked just as the sound of the EMT sirens could be heard out on the street.

“The EMTs will take good care of her,” Jonas said just as patiently. “She’ll be fine. You got here in time,” he said to Tessa, putting his hand to her face and feeling hot tears.

He wanted to go to her, to hold her, but he was supporting the unconscious woman and couldn’t move.

“You’re very handsome, you know,” Betty interjected, silencing him and making Tessa laugh as EMTs came in and took over for them.

“I hope she’s going to be okay,” Tessa said, holding Jonas’s hand. “Will you excuse me for a moment? I need to use Kate’s bathroom,” she said to Jonas, and squeezed his hand before she walked away.

Jonas chatted with Betty and a few other neighbors who had come out to see what was going on while the EMTs prepped Kate for transport.

“Tessa is such a special girl,” Betty said. “She’s always so good to Kate, and even brought us homemade soup when my husband was sick last winter. She even cleaned house for me.”

“Really?” Jonas asked.

“You’re blind?” Betty asked curiously.

“Yep.”

“Well, I can tell you that she’s gorgeous, inside and out. I hope you appreciate that,” Betty told him.

“I’m starting to,” he said more to himself than to anyone else.

Jonas thought the older woman might ask about his intentions, next, but was glad when one of the other neighbors engaged Betty in conversation.

He knew Tessa was gorgeous. As for the rest, he was trying to match his earlier assumptions about her with everything else he was learning, and was coming up short. All he had to base his ideas of her on were media reports, her background check and her father’s opinion.

But he had his own opinion, as well.

Could he have been wrong about her motives?

“Hey, what are you doing here, Jon?” Jonas heard a familiar voice ask.

“Brad?” he guessed, not sure he was identifying the voice right.

“Yeah, it’s me, buddy. How are you?”

Brad was a firefighter/EMT that Berringer Security had helped out a while ago. Brad’s sister had been bothered by an old boyfriend, and Chance had helped keep an eye on her and made it clear to the ex that he needed to go away for good.

“I heard you lost your eyesight. Tough break. Job go bad?”

Jonas decided to skip over that, and got to the heart of it, hoping he could use this connection to their advantage.

“Yeah, something like that, but it’s temporary. I think my vision will be back soon,” he said. “Listen, we’re kind of in a bad spot here. I was hoping we could ride along with you. My friend is this woman’s caretaker, and is very concerned, but we don’t have a vehicle.”

“The blonde? She’s your client?”

Jonas could hear the high five in Brad’s tone.

“Yeah. She’s mine,” he said, maybe a little more possessively than he meant to. “I’d appreciate it, though I know it’s not usually allowed.”

“I can make it happen. It would be good for the patient to see someone she knows as she comes out of this, too,” Brad said.

Jonas thanked him and returned to tell Tessa, who hugged him tight, much to the tittering approval of the older women looking on.

“Thank you, Jonas. Thank you so much for your help with Kate,” she said, hugging him again. Her concern and her gratitude were so authentic, he felt like a total jerk for ever doubting her motives about anything, and doubly so for lying to her about why he was with her.

If Tessa knew that her father had ordered him to be with her right now, he had a feeling she wouldn’t be as thrilled with him. But he was also under orders not to tell her. James was right, that if she knew, she would not only be upset, she would reject his protection, and he couldn’t let that happen.

As they started following the EMTs out as they wheeled Kate along, Jonas heard his name called from behind. Betty, the woman who had thought he was handsome, met him as he turned around.

“Here, handsome, you forgot these,” she said conspiratorially, pushing the small bag he’d dropped out on the porch—the condoms—into his hand. “Being blind is no excuse for not being careful,” she added.

He choked out a thanks, and felt his face turn hot as he turned back to Tessa, who was laughing. Hard.

“Jonas, if you could only see your face,” she said, breathless with laughter.

He smiled, optimistic for the first time in a while. “Soon enough, I think. Soon enough.”