Delivering Justice (11 page)

“Is that the reason she figured he wouldn’t catch on that you were subbing for her? He must not’ve known her very well,” Tyler said.

“He didn’t. Not really. But then my sister’s personality has many layers. I’m not sure I know all of her. I never imagined she’d be in any kind of trouble like this and yet here we are. And then there’s the affair.”

“We now know that Elijah is involved,” he said.

“Up to his eye teeth,” she added.

“How close were the two of them?”

“I’m guessing he reminded her of home, barely scraping by,” she said. “He must’ve felt familiar to her and helped her miss us less.”

“I can’t help but wonder how a musician and a corporate lawyer would know each other. It doesn’t seem that they would travel in the same circles,” he said. “Not to mention the fact that Milton couldn’t possibly be currently practicing law with his criminal record.”

“That’s a good question. My sister is the only connection I can find. She never dated Elijah to my knowledge.” Jessica sipped her coffee.

“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have feelings for her.”

“No. You’re right. In fact, I’m pretty sure he did based on the way he looked at me before. There was no way she’d go out with him, though,” Jessica’s eyes lit up just then. Her eyes weren’t the only thing he noticed. There were other things, endearing quirks about her that he liked. For example, the corner of her mouth twitched when she was nervous. The movement was so slight he almost missed it the first time. He’d also noticed that her tongue slicked across her bottom lip when she was about to lie. He’d seen that a few times when she spoke to Elijah and was grateful that she hadn’t done it while talking to him.

Her laugh was almost like music and made him want to hear it more often. He vowed to himself to take her out to dinner when this was all behind them and make her laugh until her stomach hurt. Also, she blinked when she wasn’t sure what to say next.

But the main thing he noticed was how sweet she tasted when he kissed her. And just how right she fit when he’d held her in his arms.

“I’m worried about the Brasseuxs.” She sighed sharply. “And I feel like a hamster on a wheel. Every time I ask questions I go round again.”

“I keep wondering what they and Elijah have in common. Or Milton, for that matter.” Tyler stabbed his fingers through his thick hair. “I mean, the Brasseuxs could’ve had some interaction with Milton socially. But Elijah? I can’t find a connection there.”

“I know one,” Jessica said.

Tyler arched a brow.

“My sister,” Jessica said quietly. “What if she’s not as innocent as I want to believe? What if she stole the necklace to get back at Ashton and then her so-called friend Elijah sees an opportunity to make some money off of her? Everything could’ve gone sour and she got herself in more trouble than she could handle.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?” he asked.

“I don’t want to, but that’s where the evidence points,” she said. “You know what? I’m tired. I need to get some rest.”

Chapter Eleven

Jessica tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep for the nagging feeling that she was missing something important. She drifted in and out, straining to think. At three o’clock in the morning it finally dawned on her. She bolted upright and must’ve screamed because Tyler burst into the room a few seconds later.

“What happened?” he said, his low, sexy voice still gravelly from sleep. He rubbed his eyes and moved to the bed.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, forcing her eyes away from his muscled chest. This wasn’t the time to think about those ripples of pure steel and how soft his skin felt to her touch. Or the warmth his body possessed.

“I’m a light sleeper.” The mattress dipped under his weight. He had on boxers and nothing else.

“It came to me in a flash and I realized what I’d been missing. Do you have your smartphone?” she asked.

He jogged into the next room, returned a moment later and offered his cell to her.

She pulled up the internet and entered
The Bayou
into the search engine. Hope filled her chest for the first time. “It’s an actual place. The Bayou. She said that she’d see me in the bayou, which I assumed was a general reference, except that there really is a place. She took me there the very first time I visited and never again. It was one of the only public places we went. It’s really far on the outskirts of town. Actually, saying it’s near any kind of civilization is being generous.”

“What kind of place is it?” he asked.

“A hole-in-the-wall that only locals know about. See?” She shoved the phone toward him with an address highlighted on Google Maps. “It doesn’t have a website, per se, but it’s listed as a business. This is the address.”

He took the phone and examined the web page. “This is a good place to start.”

In her excitement at this first real lead, she launched herself toward Tyler and threw her arms around his neck. The covers pooled around her knees.

“This place looks...interesting to say the least. It’s literally surrounded by a swamp.” His free arm circled her waist.

Jessica realized all too quickly that her thin cotton tank top was the only thing standing between them. She started to pull back.

He dropped the phone on the bed next to her knees.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said, hauling her against his chest. His other arm wrapped around her bottom.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she kissed him. With a quick maneuver, he had her on his lap, straddling him, and she could feel the warmth of his erection pulsing against the inside of her thigh. Jessica deepened the kiss. Tyler was all hotness and fire and manliness. His hands palmed her bottom. She liked the feel of him...real...and rough...and still so surprisingly gentle. She scooted closer until her heat was positioned against his straining rod. The thought of sex with Tyler sent a thunderclap of need pounding through her, making her stomach quiver.

His hands roamed her bottom as she pressed her almost-naked breasts flush against his chest.

A throaty, sexy growl tore from his throat and she could feel his muscles as they flexed. Their breath quickened as her hands searched down his back, lingering on each ripple, memorizing his strong lines.

And then five words she didn’t want to acknowledge wound through her thoughts.
Is this a good idea?

She barely knew the guy and yet she’d already trusted him with her life. And a certain intimacy had come out of that, which couldn’t be denied. But did she really know him? Sure, the sexual tension between them was thicker than the Louisiana humidity. She had no doubt sex with Tyler would be amazing. And then what?

They were from two different worlds. He’d go back to his life on the ranch. She’d go back to hers in Shreveport, helping her parents and running the family business, which wasn’t much but enough to keep them going financially. She couldn’t imagine leaving them to fend for themselves.

Her brain cautioned her not to get ahead of herself. The future was a long way away. She had tonight. She was feeling the effects of an exciting breakthrough. And there was nothing wrong with mindless sex.

* * *

T
HE
IDEA
OF
taking a breather when Jessica’s skin flamed against his touch was almost unthinkable.

Except that he cared about her and they were stuck in a weird space between needing to blow off steam and needing to be with each other. The former was a no-brainer. That’s where Tyler existed most of the time. The latter scared the hell out of him.

Calling on every ounce of strength he had, he forced himself to slow it down a few notches.

The other side of the coin was that he realized she’d been through a lot and most likely needed an outlet for her stress. While that would normally be right up Tyler’s alley, for reasons he couldn’t explain it bothered him with Jessica.

“This is not a good idea right now.” He lifted her up and set her on the bed next to him, doing his level best to squash the disappointment roaring through his chest and the little voice in the back of his mind cursing him out. That was the same piece of brain that controlled everything south and he’d learned as a teenager not to listen if he wanted to stay out of trouble.

“Oh” was all she said, and he could hear the surprise and disappointment clearly in her tone.

“You’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But anything happening between us is not going to work,” he managed to say.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to spare my feelings.” Her cheeks blushed and that ripped right through him.

Did she think he didn’t want to have sex with her? How could he not? She had all the attributes he admired in a real woman. She was smart, had sexy curves and was damned near irresistible. In fact, if he didn’t do something to cool his jets in the next minute or two he couldn’t trust himself not to haul her into his arms again and take her right then and there on her bed. Before he went all caveman on her, he needed a cold shower. He’d explain later...when he figured it out for himself.

“We’re going to talk about this, but not right now.” He pointed at the phone. “First, we find your sister.”

Before she could protest, he walked out of the room and straight into a cold shower.

* * *

I
F
THAT
DIDN
’
T
rank right up there as one of Jessica’s most embarrassing moments in life, she didn’t know what did. Clearly Tyler wanted her. There was no denying the erection she’d felt against the inside of her thigh. Was there something horribly wrong with her that he couldn’t follow through on that desire? Maybe he’d finally realized what he was doing and decided to put a stop to it. Everything had happened so fast that Jessica got swept up in the moment. The attraction between them was real, but there was more to a relationship than physical pull. And he was right. They needed to focus on finding her sister.

Guilt washed over Jessica for losing focus. Jenn needed her and she’d gotten momentarily wrapped up with the handsome cowboy.

Shaking it off, she dressed in jeans and a cotton shirt. Throwing her hair in a ponytail she tried not to focus too much on where they were going. There’d be mosquitoes in the swamp. Alligators. Bacteria. And all sorts of creatures eager to feed off human flesh and blood.

And if thinking about that didn’t give her pause, nothing would.

Then there were the people themselves to contend with...people who preferred life off the grid with no cell service or contact with the outside world.

She took a fortifying breath and turned toward the living room. Tyler stood there, dressed and fresh from a shower, staring.

“Ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be,” she said, thoroughly confused by the mixed signal.

He picked his phone up from the bed and made a call.

“Who are you calling in the middle of the night?” she asked, slipping on her running shoes. If she was going to hike through the swamps in the middle of the night, then she figured that she’d need to be comfortable.

“It’s not safe to drive around in Zander’s limo anymore. I’m arranging transportation,” he said.

* * *

“L
ET
’
S
GIVE
OUR
eyes a few minutes to acclimate to the darkness before we head out.” Tyler adjusted the seat of the SUV that had been organized for him by the hotel manager. He didn’t normally play that card, the one that had him waking up a hotel manager in the middle of the night, but this felt like a real lead and waiting until morning could be the difference between life and death for Jessica’s sister.

He’d also arranged for a flashlight but he wanted some peripheral vision as they made their way through dense woods to The Bayou.

“How far is it from here?” she asked.

“About twenty minutes on foot.” He’d parked off the highway near the gravel road leading to the place. Any lights on that road would give them away and he didn’t want anyone to know they were coming. He had no idea if The Bayou was a safe place or not. Given its coordinates, he couldn’t imagine that it was...this was a place people went to fly off the radar. He grabbed a package of bug repellent wipes out of the bag he’d arranged to have in the vehicle, opened one and held it out. “Rub this on any exposed skin, neck, arms.”

She took the wipe and her fingers grazed his palm. Again he regretted not following through with sex earlier. He still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. The tension between them was a distraction they couldn’t afford and he half figured a rousing round in the sack would help with that problem. Maybe then he could fully concentrate on finding Jenn instead of thinking about the curve of Jessica’s sweet bottom in his hands.

Tyler tore open a packet of bug repellant and wiped his arms and neck. The last thing he needed was a case of West Nile to take home, and he sure as hell could use a distraction from thinking about Jessica’s backside.

“We’ll go in dark, meaning I’ll cut off the flashlight when we get near the clearing to the building. If we’re lucky, everyone on the premises will be asleep. If we’re not, there’ll be dogs and people with guns who will wake up when they bark. Based on the Google Earth picture, it looks like the kind of place there’d be Dobermans or pit bulls. So, not only will we go in dark but we’ll go in quiet.”

His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and hers were huge with fear.

“You want to wait it out here?” he asked, his voice more curt than he’d intended.

Her reaction was immediate. “No. I’d do more good with you and I’m not sitting out here alone.”

He silently cursed at himself for not being able to stop thinking about their encounter in the hotel room. “You know how to handle a gun?”

“They scare me to death.”

“Well,” he conceded, “then we’ll find something else for you to—”

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t get over it,” she interrupted. “I’m not
that
afraid and especially if it means getting my sister to safety or keeping one of us from getting shot.”

She held out her flat palm and he could see her hand tremble in the light of the full moon. He had to hand it to her. She got extra points for bravery.

“The safety is on.” He molded her fingers around the SIG Sauer. “It’s important to get a good feel for how it fits.”

She brought her other hand up and cupped the butt. “I got this.”

“You gave me the impression this was the first time you’d touched a gun.”

“I said that I was scared to death of them, and that part’s true, but my dad taught me how to shoot when I was twelve because he kept guns in the house.”

“Was he a hunter?”

“No. We lived in a bad part of town and he wanted me to be ready in case he couldn’t be around.” She opened the magazine and checked the clip. “This should do but I’m hoping that I won’t need to use it.”

“Make sure it’s aimed at someone besides me if you decide to shoot,” he said, only half teasing. After his stunt back at the room she had to be angry with him. Heck, he was angry at himself. He still didn’t know why a bout of conscience had come over him.

Taking a beautiful woman to bed didn’t normally have him getting inside his head about not being in a relationship with her.
Damn, O’Brien.
He’d really loused that one up. If he got another chance with Jessica, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen based on the wall she’d erected between them, he wouldn’t waste it like he had the first time. But then second chances rarely happened in the real world. Tyler muttered a curse.

“What did you say?” she asked, looking at him oddly.

“Nothing.” He hesitated. “Are you ready?”

“As much as I can be,” she said softly, and her blatant honesty pierced his heart.

Yeah, he was going to live to regret his actions in the hotel. Because walking away from a woman with that much strength and beauty was going to be the end of him. But, hey, just like his short-lived baseball career and his last relationship had proved, everything had an expiration date.

Tyler tried to let this thing with Jessica roll off his back, ignoring the fact that it had more staying power than a determined bull on rodeo day.

* * *

T
HE
SOUNDS
OF
a swamp in Louisiana at night were not something Jessica would ever get used to. There was a clicking sound to her right as she navigated the dense forest of live oak. Everything sounded alive, even the trees, and more awake than in daylight. Something rustled in the undergrowth a little too close for comfort and her heart skittered as she stepped over gnarled roots.

Crickets chirped, her skin crawled and the sound of footsteps slogging through muddy water sent her pulse racing. This was home of the alligator.

Owls hooted in surround sound and she could tell they were literally all around her as she stepped in the marsh. Something moved underneath her shoe. She bit back a scream and reached for Tyler.

He positioned her beside him and she kept her gaze focused on the light beam that hit a tree and then bounced to the ground and back. Step by step she held her breath, trying not to focus on the chorus of insects. Heaven only knew what other creatures were lurking in the dark. She couldn’t help but check for a set of eyes as the light skimmed the deeper water right next to them and she prayed they wouldn’t end up waist deep as they trudged along.