Back in the Bedroom (5 page)

He’d compromised, accepting temp office workers from Eddie’s vast and surprisingly talented working pool when his office manager needed the extra help, which she usually did. But up until now, that had been about the extent of it.

So, no, he told the officer, he didn’t know Eddie’s regular habits enough to know if the burglars had been watching him. He didn’t know Eddie’s enemies—only that given his various corporations and their successes, he was sure to have them. And, no, he didn’t know why Eddie had sent him a note if he was going to be out of town. As he said, when it came to his father’s life, he knew very little.

The police hauled the four perps out of the house and into the backs of two different squad cars.

Tessa was being questioned, too, by a woman cop, and was nodding vigorously. Then she pointed at Reilly, and followed it with a look that changed considerably when she saw him looking right back at her. She went from cool and calm to flustered and blushing.

She could have been thinking any number of things, but he figured there were two things in particular that might put that look on her face.

Two kisses.

He’d lost it with her, and if he was being honest, which he nearly always was, it had been more than just the lip-locking. Somewhere in the dark of the night
he’d shown her a little something of himself, something he liked to keep hidden.

One thing his work had always shown him, first in the military and then in the CIA, was how important it was to keep the real Reilly deep within where no one could touch him; not a commanding officer, not the enemy, no one.

Tessa, whether she knew it or not, had seen glimpses of the man he hadn’t shown anyone in years. If ever. Sure, he’d hugged and kissed and touched more than his share of women, but none as innocently as he just had with her. And none had left him in the morning with this vague uneasy knowledge that he’d like more.

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong woman.

Well, maybe wrong place, wrong time, but he couldn’t help feeling she was right. Which is why he needed the hell out.

She was looking at him again and still talking. What the hell did the woman have to say that it could possibly take so long? Her eyes were shuttered a bit as she spoke now, watching him watch her. Shuttered and a bit wary.

Maybe she was no more thrilled than he was to have this face-to-face in-the-light-of-day thing. In fact, she looked downright embarrassed.

Because of what they’d done? Because of what, for one night, they’d been to each other? They could just go their own separate ways, and forget all about this last
long night from hell. He’d go to his office, and she’d go to…wherever she belonged.

And that was a good thing, a very good thing.

W
HEN
R
EILLY FINALLY
got home, to the house on the top of the bluff in South Pasadena where he could see for miles and miles and no one could see him, he stripped—all the way to the skin this time. He took a long, hot shower, ate, and then headed for bed, hitting play on his message machine as he did.

“Reilly.”

Naked, Reilly stopped in the middle of his bedroom and looked at the machine.

“Just had a call from the cops.”

His father, of course. How like him not to bother to identify himself.

“Christ, did they really wreck the place? I hope you managed to save my Beemer, and that they didn’t take her out for any joyrides,” Eddie said, laughing softly.

That was Eddie. Everything was all one big joke, including life.

“Anyway…I hear you took care of Tessa. She’s special, isn’t she? Such a sweet kid.”

Reilly would give her the sweet part. Sweet and…hot. He was still scorching from their last connection.

But kid? He had no idea how he’d ever thought it.

“I’m glad you were there for her.”

Would Eddie still be so glad if he’d seen how Reilly
had nearly devoured her in the servant’s bed? Or how about in the kitchen, pressed there against the wall with his hand up her shirt? Just the thought of that little scene revved his exhausted engines all over again. If the police hadn’t come when they had—

“She’s the best temp I have,” Eddie continued. “Anyway, I’m coming home early, tomorrow morning.”

Well, wonders never cease, Eddie was actually going to take this seriously enough to cut short something fun. Amazing.

“Anyway, son, I just wanted to thank you.”

Reilly didn’t want to be thanked. He wanted to be left alone.

“Means a lot, that you took care of me like that,” Eddie said into the room.

Yeah, like you always took care of me?
Reilly lay on his bed and studied his open-beamed ceiling, wishing he’d turned the volume off on the machine. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said to the phone, as if Eddie could hear him.

“I’m just glad you were there. She’s one of my favorite employees.”

If that wasn’t a load of crap. They both knew damn well that as long as the employees were female, they were all Eddie’s favorites.

“Call me. You know my cell.”

Reilly closed his eyes. He meant to drift off, he’d long ago taught himself to clear his mind and sleep at will.

Only today his mind wouldn’t clear and sleep evaded him.

Instead, he pictured mossy wet eyes and lips that tasted like heaven—when they were kissing him, that is, and not talking.

T
ESSA WENT HOME
to her little apartment, trying not to think. She didn’t want to remember facing those burglars and she didn’t want to remember meeting Reilly. And she really didn’t want to remember what she’d done with him, because to have lusted like that so quickly, so…fiery, was just damn uncomfortable in the light of day.

Being just outside downtown Los Angeles, she had a lovely view of the city line, complete with smog to the south and the Angeles Crest Mountains to the north.

She parked beneath the carport and felt smug about getting a covered spot—normally she was forced to park in the blazing hot sun. But normally she wasn’t coming home at ten in the morning on a Saturday either.

She got out of her VW but instead of seeing her place, she saw Eddie’s. She remembered how Reilly had looked standing outside the house, his dark hair gleaming beneath the sunrise, his face not giving away much of anything. He’d stood there with easy confidence and a relaxed air, even though she knew damn well he wasn’t relaxed.

They hadn’t said goodbye.

Her building was red brick with white trim, and being mid-spring, the small yard was out in full bloom. Since her sister, Carolyn, who was in charge of the landscaping for the place, hadn’t yet mowed, Tessa sank in up to her ankles as she crossed the small lawn to her front door. Two-B, home sweet home, where there were no nasty-tempered burglars, no guns, no small gray cots and no tall, dark and wildly magnificent strangers who kissed so well she lost brain cells every time she thought about it.

She sighed and fished through her purse for her keys. Everything seemed so normal here, so quiet, it was hard to believe what the last twenty-four hours had held.

Her sister popped out of apartment One-B so fast Tessa dropped her keys.

“So did you forget my phone number?” Carolyn asked very politely, tossing back her long, dark-blond hair.

Oh boy, the queen of the Delacantro household was ticked. “No, I didn’t forget your phone number.”

Eyes that matched her own flashed at her and Tessa sighed. Carolyn thought of Tessa as her little chick, and she really hated it when her little chick didn’t toe the line. “Then maybe you got swept off your feet by a wild hunk of a man who held you prisoner all night long,” she suggested. “Maybe that’s why you didn’t call me to join you at your boss’s fancy house.”

A half-hysterical laugh bubbled out of Tessa. “You know, that’s just close enough to the truth to be scary. Except—” She opened her apartment door, not surprised when her sister followed her inside.

Her sister always came in uninvited, ate her ice cream uninvited, felt obligated to tell Tessa she was wrong on a regular basis uninvited…and Tessa loved her anyway.

She tossed her purse and keys into the wicker basket on the floor where she put everything she didn’t want to lose, sank to her couch, and sighed in pleasure. God, it felt like it’d been a year since she’d been home.

“Except…what?” her sister asked.

“Well, while he
was
a rather wild hunk, he didn’t hold me prisoner all night long. Four other guys did that.”

Carolyn laughed.

Tessa didn’t.

And slowly Carolyn’s smile faded. She eyed Tessa’s sundress, a bit dusty from her crawl through Eddie’s attic. “You wore that yesterday.”

“Yep.”

“You never repeat clothes.”

“Nope.”

“Tessa…where’s your left shoe?”

“Oh. I forgot to go back for it.” Her apartment consisted of the “great” room—kitchen, living room and dining room all in one—and a small bedroom and bathroom. Since she favored bright colors, the place
was full of them, from the blue-and-green couch she sat on to the sunshine-yellow kitchen table and matching chairs she’d painted herself, to the plants she had thriving in every corner. On the walls were Rafe’s photographs—some abstract, some of their family, some of the places he’d traveled to far and wide. She sank deeper into the couch, kicked off her one shoe and put her feet up. “I’m starving.”

Carolyn was still staring at her. Slowly she came to the couch, hunkered down near Tessa and took her hand. “Honey, you’re scaring me.”

“I know how you feel about cooking, but I swear I’ll be your best friend if you could whip me up some toast and an egg or something. Even PB and J would be great.”

Carolyn didn’t budge. “Are you hurt?”

“Do I look hurt?”

“Your dress has a tear—” She fingered a rip at the seam over Tessa’s collarbone. Then her eyes went hot, and she reached out and touched Tessa’s throat. Her extremely bruised throat. “Oh my God. Baby, you’re—”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m calling the police.”

Tessa caught her hand and brought it up to her cheek, turning her face into it. “I’m okay.”

With her other hand, Carolyn stroked Tessa’s hair off her face. “Are you sure? What happened? Tell me everything.”

“This is the worst of it,” she said of the bruises. “I promise.”

“So you weren’t—”

“No one touched me.” Well, no one that she hadn’t wanted to.

“Spill, damn it. Tell me right now or I’m calling Rafe.”

Their brother was the oldest of the three of them and even more protective than Carolyn. When his sisters had first started dating, it’d nearly killed him. Eventually, he’d gotten used to it, but only by pretending they were still virgins.

If Rafe thought she’d been hurt, nothing would stop him from exacting revenge. “I was supposed to watch Eddie’s house this weekend.”

“Yes,” her sister said impatiently. “The boss’s house in the La Canada hills with all its riches and finery. What happened, Tessa?”

“When I let myself in, I interrupted a burglary in progress.”

Carolyn’s mouth fell open. “Oh my God.”

“Before I could get out of the house, one of them grabbed me and locked me in a room so he could finish what he’d started, which was stealing from Eddie.”

Carolyn wrapped her arms around Tessa. “He grabbed you?”

“Luckily, all he wanted was me out of his way. Eddie’s son had also been shoved into this room, so I wasn’t alone.”

“Eddie has a son? Is he okay?”

“He’s not a little kid, he’s…all grown up.”
Really
grown up.

“So the two of you were together, locked in a room? All night long?”

She tried not to squirm because Carolyn could read a squirm at thirty miles. “Yes.”

“Tell me he’s a nice guy, Tessa.”

Her sister looked so distraught, so worried, she managed a smile. And though “nice” wasn’t quite the word she would have used to describe Reilly Ledger, she said, “He’s a very nice guy.”

Her sister studied her for a long moment. “You must have been terrified.”

How to explain that with Reilly her terror had taken a back seat to other things, such as a lust she was embarrassed about now.

“How did you get out?”

Good. A question she could answer. “We waited for dawn, then crawled up through an attic access. Eddie’s son beat the crap out of the bad guys and called the cops.”

Carolyn’s eyes were huge. “Does Eddie’s son have a name?”

“Reilly.”

“And he was good to you.”

“Very,” she said simply.

“Well, then.” Carolyn squeezed Tessa again. “I want to hug him, too.”

“He’s not really the huggable type.” She hugged her sister back because, now that it was over, things other than fear were beginning to make themselves known. Embarrassment, exhaustion, hunger… “You know what I really want?”

“What, baby?” said Carolyn, stroking her hair. “Anything. You want me to go burn something for you?”

Tessa let out a little laugh and burrowed in closer. “Yes. But while you do that, I want a long, hot shower. I’m going to go wash it all out of my system.” She pulled free and headed toward her bedroom. “Lots of butter on the toast, okay? And can you try to scramble an egg? I have cheese you could add to it—”

“I’ll get it.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, a little too close to tears. All her life she’d fought her two siblings for her independence, for liberation from “baby” status, but at the moment, she felt just shaky enough to be grateful for the way they loved to smother her.

As she stripped and stepped into the steam and hot water, nearly whimpering in gratitude at how it felt on her bruised, tired body, she wondered what Reilly was doing right now.

The man had a serious back-off attitude. She sincerely doubted he’d ever let anyone baby and comfort him… So where was he now? All alone? Shaken? Needing to be consoled and reassured?

Lonely?

Then she laughed at herself. She had a feeling that the man enjoyed being alone, very much. He wouldn’t ever be weak enough to need someone to comfort him.

And he sure as hell didn’t seem the type to need to be reassured about anything.

A knock came on the bathroom door, just before it opened. “I brought you some hot tea,” Carolyn said.

“Thanks.” Hot tea. She should want that and her bed. But she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep with her mind whirling around in circles the way it was.

“I’ll just leave it here on the counter,” her sister said over the rush of the water. “You doing okay?”

“Sure.”

“Are you almost done?”

Tessa sighed and stuck her head out of the shower curtain. “You called him, didn’t you.”

Carolyn held out Tessa’s portable phone.

Tessa turned off the water and put the phone in the crook of her neck. “Hey, big brother.”

“Tell me you’re really okay.”

At the sound of Rafe’s voice, low and rough with concern, her throat went tight. “I’m really okay.”

But her voice cracked and he swore softly. “Tessa, listen. I’m in Paris on a photo shoot but I’ll get on the next plane—”

“No.” She both laughed and sobbed and wiped her nose. “I’m fine, I promise.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“It’s your voice. That’s all,” she said. “I heard you
and…I miss you. But I’m not hurt, I’m just tired and hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.”

“Yes, so you know I must be okay, right?”

Rafe sighed. “Promise me. Promise me you’re not lying just so I won’t come home early.”

“I promise.”

“I’m going to call you tonight.”

“And probably every day until you come home,” Tessa teased, somehow feeling better just for talking to the brother who’d spent a lifetime making her feel better.

“You know it,” he said. “And Tessa? You also know Carolyn’s going to be hovering.”

“Doesn’t she always?” They both laughed over that for a moment, then Rafe got serious. “Take care of yourself. I’ll see you soon. And when I do, I want to meet this guy who helped you.”

“Love you,” Tessa said, avoiding the subject of Reilly, and when she clicked off, she tried to find the peace the shower had given her, but the thought of Reilly had shattered it.

He kissed like heaven.

That thought came out of nowhere, and as Carolyn left the bathroom, Tessa went still in the act of drying off, having conveniently and completely blanked that part out of her recollection of the events to her sister.

She’d instigated the kiss. The
kisses.
She’d practically begged him for them. That he’d caved in spite of trying
to be hard and edgy and distant was of little consolation now.

She hated that she’d gone weak and girly on him, that she’d needed comfort in the first place, but bottom line…it had happened and she couldn’t change it. So it was probably for the best that they’d each gone their separate ways after the police had arrived, without speaking again.

Sighing, she tossed aside her towel and prepared to go on with her life, secure in the knowledge she could make it through anything, including being held hostage.

Including being kissed and touched by a man she’d inexplicably been drawn to in the face of danger; a wild, tough kind of man she’d never see again.

Which was just as well, really. She was quite certain in the light of a normal day she’d never be attracted to a man like Reilly Ledger. Never.

R
EILLY GOT UP EARLY
on Sunday morning. He ran his usual five miles. Showered and grabbed a quick breakfast.

Alone. The way he liked it.

Alone was easy. Alone meant not needing to worry about anyone but himself. Alone meant doing as he pleased, when he pleased.

Alone was…habit.

He knew what that said about him. At least he knew what his mother thought that said about him. He sure
as hell knew what the women in his life thought that said about him—they’d all been clear as crystal on their way out his door.

He was selfish.

He didn’t feel.

He was a robot.

Then there’d been the woman who’d simply tried to kill him. That was a memory for the books and had a great deal to do with his dislike of close, dark places, but he wasn’t going to go there.

And yes, maybe he
was
a little selfish, but he sure as hell
felt
things, far more than he liked. As for being a robot, well, would a robot have responded to Tessa’s soft, giving body and hungry mouth?

Not likely.

Okay, settled then. He spent the rest of his weekend in precious solitude. And if he occasionally thought about Tessa, wondered how she was coping with the memory of the ordeal, he told himself it was out of general concern. The way he’d be concerned about anyone who’d faced such a trauma.

It was nothing personal. He just knew personal trauma, that’s all.

So why he dreamed so vividly at night—dark, haunting dreams that he couldn’t quite remember in the morning—was beyond him.

Or maybe he just didn’t want to remember.

His father called and again thanked him for helping Tessa but, looking back, Reilly couldn’t say that he’d
helped her all that much. Everything he’d done had been for himself—climbing through the attic, nailing his captors…kissing Tess. That had definitely been for him. At the time she’d overwhelmed his body and senses. He supposed he should be glad it hadn’t gone any further, as that would have been even more difficult to face now.

And things were pretty difficult as they were.

M
ONDAY MORNING DAWNED
bright and clear. Just as Reilly was leaving for work, he heard a knock at his door. He grabbed the leather saddlebag he used as a briefcase, figuring he’d turn down whomever was trying to sell him something on his way out.