Home Is Where the Heat Is (38 page)

“Yeah.” He sat back as the waitress set three frosty pints in front of them.

“It’s better this way. I would’ve loved to keep all of us together, but I don’t think the fantasy would’ve lasted in everyday life.”

“I know. I’m happy for you guys.” He laced his fingers with hers. “I’m glad I got the chance to… see you naked.” His heart hurt for more.

She giggled and blushed. “I enjoyed it.”

JT clapped a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “We can hang out anytime you want. Go to a Nuggets game. The Broncos are in the playoffs here next weekend.”

“Play pool?”

“Hell no.”

They laughed and Kurt sipped his beer. “I’d like that, but not yet.” The bitter hops soured his stomach. “I gotta get back to work.”

He stood but Claire refused to let go. She got up and pulled him into a warm embrace.

“Thank you for everything,” she breathed in his ear.

He nodded, but her gentle touch did little to soothe the sting in his chest. His arms turned heavy, draining the strength he needed to let her go—but she’d made her choice, so he sent his rebel princess back to her scoundrel. She’d been his last hope.

No. There is another….

***

JT drove Claire back to her house so she could change clothes. He stood at her kitchen door, gazing into the back yard as his mind raced. When would the police find the emails? Would they follow up? Was there anything else he could do?

Kurt had printed out the emails he’d sent to the police and given them to JT, then he’d covered his electronic tracks before they vacated the library.

JT read the rants over and over. Perkins never spelled out his ex-boss as the target, but he often referred to Luck as the reason for his problems and capitalized the word every time he used it. Since they’d been addressed to JT personally, he’d pretty much convicted himself.

“Do you want to stay here tonight or go back to your place?” Claire moved beside him and slid her arm around his waist.

The reporter horde had thinned out, probably to chase after a new story. He pulled her close and kissed her hair. “Doesn’t matter. I just want to be with you.”

She sighed and wiggled her hand into his back pocket. “Well, I want to soak in that wonderful tub in front of the fire. You can join me if you want.”

“I’m there, sweet thing.”

Half an hour later JT pulled into his garage, and his phone rang as he unlocked the door into his house. “Hello?”

His lawyer’s urgent tone buzzed his ear. “The police handed new evidence over to the DA’s office this afternoon.”

Shit.
Was it their evidence? He frowned at Claire as they walked into the kitchen. “And?”

“They have a new suspect. The charges against you have been dropped.”

He collapsed back against the island, bracing a hand against the solid quartz. Claire grabbed his arm and held him steady. “Thank you,” he breathed. He dropped the phone on the countertop and wrapped her up, rocking with her as he fought to regain control of his scrambled emotions.

“What happened?” Her muffled voice vibrated his chest.

“I’m free.” He eased her back and smiled into her shining eyes. “We did it!”

She squealed and leaped into his arms. “Thank God! I was so scared.”

“Me too.” He ran a trembling hand down her back. “But it’s over now. I can go back to work, try to pull this thing out of the ashes. I hope I can salvage my company.” Perkins would go to jail, JT would make sure of that, but the damage he’d inflicted may have been beyond JT’s ability to repair. “This much bad luck will be hard to overcome.”

She shook her head and pulled his arrowhead from under her sweater. “You worked hard to build your company. This,” she coiled up the chain and slapped the whole mess on the countertop, “had nothing to do with it.”

He stared at the discarded stone and recalled how he’d gotten to the point where he could splurge on the quartz countertop in the gourmet kitchen. Had luck given him this extravagant house? He couldn’t deny fortune had played a part, but the larger effort belonged to him. He’d rolled the dice and come out on top whether fate favored him or not.

But how did Claire’s situation play into the game? “What about you? Will your boss lift your suspension?”

She shrugged and snuggled on his chest. “Probably not. He suspended me for seeing you during the Manziel trial. Your arrest just prompted me to tell him about us.”

He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back. “So now that he knows….”

Her eyes lit up as a triumphant smile touched her lips. “A huge burden has been lifted from me.” She stepped back and spun, flinging her arms in the air as if she could take off and fly. “I’m not going to live in fear anymore….” Her spin faltered. “After I figure out how to pay my rent.”

He could do something about that. JT grabbed her wilting arm and pulled her in close. “Stay with me.”

A range of emotions played on her face as she considered his offer. “For how long?”

Forever.
“As long as you want.” He’d let her leave if she wanted to, but damn it, he’d gotten tired of chasing after her.
Fuck me with a crazy idea.
“Maybe this is too much of a gamble right now, but ah shit, I’m gonna let it ride.” He cupped her face in his hands and brushed a kiss on her lips. “Move in with me, Claire. Fill this empty house like you filled my heart.”

Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink as she nodded. “Yes.”

“I’ll give you everything I’ve got. For good… and bad.”

“You’re all I need. As long as we have each other, everything else is just….” She fluttered her hand in the air as if casting off her worries.

“Too many clothes on a Vegas showgirl.”

Claire laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging as she pulled him down for a kiss that seared his lips and sealed his fate—one that promised she’d stay in his home and his life for as long as they loved each other. And judging by the impossible strength of her hold and the swift beat of her heart, that’d be the forever JT craved.

She linked her fingers with his and tugged him toward their bedroom. “Where’s my ruby? I feel like stripping.”

Epilogue

Eight months later….

A cool gust of wind stirred the Aspen trees and blew napkins off the picnic table as a late summer thunderstorm rumbled over the mountains.

JT glanced up at the sky and guessed they had about half an hour before the rain hit. Mal and Zoe were playing in the pool while the adults finished their drinks.

He turned off the grill, grabbed a beer from the cooler, and plopped down next to his new best friend, prosecutor Alex Sheridan. “Guilty as charged. I never doubted you for a second.”

Alex grinned and clinked his bottle against JT’s. “I’m surprised it went to trial with all the evidence against him, but Perkins insisted he never sent those emails.”

JT cast a sideways glance at Kurt, laughing with Claire and the girl he’d brought along. “But he wrote them.”

“Yep. That was all I needed to prove.”

“Claire was so disappointed not being able to help you with the case, but she had complete faith in you.”

“Working without her felt like I was missing my right arm.” He reached over and rubbed Talia’s thigh.

She turned away from her conversation with Kaylee and squeezed his hand. JT noticed that Will had arrived later and spent most of the time chatting with Simon. To the casual observer, he appeared to be nothing more than Alex and Talia’s close friend….

Alex finished his beer and set the empty bottle on a table. “When does your vacation start?”

“Labor Day weekend,” JT answered.

“You’re taking her away from me for two weeks. That’s gonna hurt.”

“Sorry. She heard about a nude beach in Maui, so we have to go explore it.”

Alex laughed. “More than I needed to know.” He got up and grabbed another beer, then joined Will.

Kurt moved into the abandoned seat. “Claire said you’re taking her to Hawaii next week.”

“Yep. Gonna hit all the islands. I found a nice, private beach house on Lana’i.”

“Is that where you’re going to….” He peeked over JT’s shoulder at Claire and his date dipping their feet in the pool, then lowered his voice. “Ask her?”

JT rubbed his pocket and a moment’s panic sent his heartbeat into overdrive when he found it empty, but he regained his composure when he remembered stashing the box in his nightstand. “I picked up the ring yesterday. I haven’t planned how I’m going to do it. I’m just going to carry it with me and gamble on the perfect moment.”

“She’ll say yes.”

“I know.” He hadn’t feared rejection in months.

A drop of water splattered on the back of JT’s hand. He glanced at the pool, but the kids were swimming at the far end, not close enough to splash him. Another large drop landed on Kurt’s glasses, followed quickly by several more. A flash of light reflected in the darkening windows and thunder cracked directly overhead. “Oh shit.”

Kaylee hauled her children out of the water as rain poured down. JT closed the grill, Claire grabbed the potato salad, and they followed their scrambling guests into the house.

JT shook raindrops from his hair while Claire ran to the bathroom and grabbed towels for everyone. “That came in quick,” he said to Kurt as the geek searched for a dry spot on his shirt to wipe his glasses with.

Laughter rose above the wet chaos, filling JT’s kitchen with happy echoes. He leaned back against the French doors as rain danced on the deck. Claire rushed by him, skidding on the slippery tile as he grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

“Did I miss someone?” She plucked at his wet shirt. “Oh, you need a towel.”

But he held her tight and let her breathless heat soak through to his heart. “I have everything I need right here.”

She followed his gaze to their family and friends gathered around the island, laughing, eating, and dripping together. “This is nuts.”

“This is what I imagined when I built this house.” He pressed his lips against her ear. “But you made it happen.”

She turned and settled against him, sticking to his chest through their soaked clothes. “
We
did.”

He brushed her damp hair from her cheek. Her eyes sparkled brighter than the jewel around her neck, and her smile chased the chill away. Everything he needed. Right here. Right now.
Fuck me with the perfect moment.
“Marry me, Rebel.”

Claire shivered and sucked in her breath. She clapped a trembling hand over her mouth, but her eyes glowed.

All the noise and commotion surrounding them faded into the background, and his heart pounded in his ringing ears. He sweetened the pot, hoping she’d surrender her hand. “I promise….” The word brought a smile to his lips. “To keep this heat between us roaring hotter than the fireplace over our tub.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Oh hell yes.”

He twisted the doorknob behind him and pulled her out onto the deck, picked her up and spun her around, splashing and slipping through puddles as she laughed. He grinned as the downpour washed away his worries. “I knew you’d say yes, but I still can’t believe it.”

She clasped his face in her hands. “I knew you’d ask, but I thought you’d wait until vacation.”

“That’s what I’d planned, but life doesn’t get any better than this.” Rain poured down over them, dripping from his hair and her eyelashes.

“Oh yes, it does.” She giggled and ducked around a corner, out of sight of the crowded kitchen, then she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him close, catching his lips with hers as he tumbled into her.

He crushed her up against the wet brick and fondled her mouth with his tongue, generating enough heat to fuel their hearts through endless rain. Their home’s towering walls sheltered them, surrounding them with love and family.

Their dirty, romantic kiss turned hotter, fusing a bond that neither blind luck nor cruel fate stood a chance against.

---THE END---

Acknowledgements

Many people helped me to make this book a reality. Among them are….

My beta readers: Lori Whitwam, Tonie Briggs-Horlick, and Mara Brandon.

My certified geek husband for providing technical details and Star Wars references.

Heather Cox, who helped me name several characters and gave me the title.

My Street Team for helping me spread the word about this book.

And the members of Trashy’s Happy Place, who provide me with encouragement, laughter, man candy, and endless escape. They’re an awesome resource, too. I love these ladies.

About the Author

I got hooked on trashy romance novels in junior high. My mom took them away from me, but she couldn’t stop me from daydreaming. After I got married, I wrote some of my naughtier daydreams down and sent them to Playgirl magazine. Two of them got published. I kept daydreaming and writing stories until my dirty stories turned into trashy books.

I live in Colorado, but I’ll always be a loyal Wisconsin Cheesehead. When I’m not lusting after my next bad boy hero, I’m looking for inspiration in sci-fi and action movies, football players, bloodsucking lawyers, muscle cars, and kick-butt chicks.