Hot on Her Heels (10 page)

“Gee, thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

He kissed her. “Let's get some dinner.”

Dinner as in eating together? As in going out?

“I, ah, don't think that's a good idea. I meant what I said. I don't want anything personal between us.”

He chuckled. “Dana, we're naked. My penis is still inside of you. We passed personal a long time ago.”

“I know, but we're going to be working together and we should…”

She didn't know what, exactly, but there should be rules and clarification and didn't he want to leave? Guys always wanted to leave after sex.

He kissed her again. “You just had an orgasm. Be quiet and bask like every other woman.”

“That's not me.”

“I know. Which is why I offered dinner.”

“What would you have done otherwise?”

“Offered to cuddle.”

Oh, please. “On what planet?”

“Okay, maybe I'm not much of a cuddler, but I can fake it the same as every other guy.” He nipped her bottom lip. “Which is it to be? Dinner or cuddling?”

“Dinner.”

He withdrew and sat up. “That's my girl.”

“Let's get this straight. I'm not your girl and after dinner, you're not getting any again. And don't for a moment think you're spending the night.”

“Of course not. I'm not the type.”

“Neither am I.”

“W
HAT DO YOU MEAN
you want breakfast?” Dana asked, sounding suspicious. She stood with her hands on her hips, her short brown hair still wet because she would never bother to blow it dry.

She'd pulled on jeans and a long-sleeved purple T-shirt with a designer logo. Must have been a gift, Garth thought, doing his best not to smile at her obvious annoyance. Dana wasn't the designer type.

“You kept me up most of the night with your demands,” he said calmly. “I'm hungry.”

“Stop for fast food on your way to work. Millions do it every day. It's practically a tradition.”

“I don't like fast food.”

She narrowed her gaze. “You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You're just screwing with me because you think it's fun.”

Which was true, but not something he would admit. Pissing her off was a great way to spend an hour. Besides, he liked her company.

Last night they'd gone to dinner. Afterward, she'd done her best to show him the door and he'd done his
best to get her back into bed. He'd won. Not that she'd resisted too strongly. Afterward there hadn't been any talk of him leaving. They'd fallen asleep in a tangle of arms and legs, which surprised him. He usually preferred to sleep alone.

“You're supposed to be running your own money-hungry corporation, not to mention devising a plan to take down Jed Titan. You don't have time for breakfast.”

“I'll make the time. I worked up an appetite last night, Dana. The least you can do is feed me.”

She scrunched up her face as if trying desperately to come up with a better argument. But the underlying message was clear. She wanted him gone because she was scared.

He'd figured that out the first time they'd made love and she resisted an easy road to pleasing her. She'd succumbed, but her reticence made him wonder who had hurt her so badly that she felt the constant need to protect herself. Did the fear go back to being a small child who'd been beaten by the one person who was supposed to take care of her? Or was the wound more recent?

He knew he shouldn't care. He shouldn't want to find whoever was responsible and beat the shit out of him. But he did. Something he would deal with another time. For now, he wanted to go to breakfast with Dana because he wasn't willing to leave her just yet.

“After breakfast, you'll leave?” she asked with a sigh. “You give me your word?”

“Unless you try to seduce me again.”

“I never seduced you in the first place.”

“You do it with every move you make.”

Garth was good, Dana thought, doing her best not to react to the words. He was playing with her. Teasing because it was fun. He knew the exact line to get to her. The trick was to make sure she didn't start believing him.

“Then I get to pick the place,” she said, knowing that the quickest road to getting him gone was to eat and then watch him drive away.

“Sure,” he said easily.

She gave him her first smile of the morning. “You ever been to the Calico Café?”

“No.”

The smile turned into a grin. “You're going to love it.”

They walked because the restaurant was only about two blocks away, one of the things Dana liked about living in Titanville. It had a small-town feel right on the edge of Dallas.

“Your great, great, I don't know how many greats, grandfather founded this town,” she said as they left her small apartment. “During the eighteen hundreds. He was something of a gambling man who liked his women. Apparently he didn't care who he slept with. He left a lot of women disgraced. You would have liked him.”

He glanced at her. “I'm very nice to the women in my life.”

“Are you? Mind if I take a small survey?”

“Not at all. They'll speak well of me.”

Damn him, they probably would, she thought glumly. He was just that kind of guy. Good in bed. Too good. She was still experiencing sensual aftershocks. Little tingles that came out of nowhere. They zoomed to life, pinged her privates, then disappeared, leaving her slightly aroused and a little flustered.

“Not all of them,” Dana said. “There have to be at least a couple who hate your guts.”

He chuckled. “Want to meet them and form a club?”

“I don't hate you.”

“Now you're just talking sweet to flatter me.”

He was teasing. She knew that. But knowing didn't make it easier to respond. She'd never been the type who knew how to flirt with a guy. She hadn't been born with the skill. Or maybe it was a confidence issue. Either way, it was a whole lot easier to be crabby. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a reason.

They walked toward the café. Seeing the familiar big windows and calico curtains lifted her spirits. She couldn't wait until Garth got a look at the inside.

He held open the door. She went in and he followed. She turned and waited.

He glanced around the small space. She followed his gaze, anticipating his reaction. There were dozens of tables with glass tops. Underneath, long tablecloths hung down nearly to the floor. Wallpaper added color on color. There were shelves of china figures, bowls,
cloth-covered books in stacks and every single item was done in calico.

It was an explosion of the pattern. The tiny floral print bred in the night and grew. The menus were calico, as were the seat cushions and the plates. It was calico heaven…or hell—depending on one's perspective.

Men rarely survived more than a few minutes without visibly withering. Most begged for mercy and ran. The problem was, the Calico Café had the best food in ten counties. Their motto, clearly printed on their menus, stated they served breakfast all day and if you wanted something else, go away. It was an attitude Dana could respect.

Garth barely reacted at all. “It's nice,” he said. “Is the food good?”

She frowned. “That's it? You don't want to talk about all the calico?”

He shrugged. “Somebody must like it. I've eaten in worse.”

Where?

Renee, one of the regular servers, bustled out of the kitchen. Her ample hips brushed against chairs as she moved. She barely glanced at them.

“Get yourself a table,” she called, carrying a heavy tray to the west side of the café. “We don't stand on ceremony here.”

Garth put his hand on the small of Dana's back. “Wherever you'd like,” he told her.

Her usual choice was up front, by the window. She liked to keep an eye on the sleepy town. But maybe today that wasn't such a good idea. She could see but she could also be seen.

“How about there?” she asked, pointing to a table in the back.

“Fine.”

They were barely seated, her with her back to the wall, facing the room, when Renee hurried over with two menus.

“There's no special,” the fiftysomething waitress snapped, turning their coffee cups over and pouring. “The cook wasn't in the mood. If you want…”

Renee finished pouring the coffee and actually looked at her customers. Dana braced herself, hoped desperately that nothing was going to happen, then wanted to bolt for freedom when the woman she'd known most of her life said, “Dana. A man? I'm so proud.”

Why? Why did it have to be like this? Why did Renee have to look so happy in an uncomfortably maternal way, as if Dana were a baby turtle who had finally found her way to the sea?

The red-haired waitress looked over her half-glasses, studying Garth intently.

“And you are?”

“Garth. I'm a friend of Dana's.”

“Uh-huh.” She patted Dana's shoulder. “I'll let you two decide on breakfast. Take your time.” She winked, then left.

Dana did her best to think cool, restful thoughts. She was calm. She was one with the universe. She'd forgotten this wasn't Renee's morning off.

Garth's dark eyes sparkled with humor. “I'm guessing you don't bring a lot of guys here.”

“Not only could I shoot you, I would know how to hide the body so no one could find it. Ever.”

He patted her hand. “It's all right, Dana. Your secret is safe with me.”

While they were on the subject…

“Look,” she said, leaning toward him. “No one can know. About last night.” She'd almost said “us” but there wasn't an us. One night of hot monkey sex did not an
us
make. “Especially your sisters. We're not going to talk about it or even think about it.”

He reached for his coffee. “I plan to think about it, Dana. A lot. You're incredibly passionate. Do you know how rare that is? No pretense, no games, just one-on-one pleasure.” He sipped his coffee.

Her well-honed sense of control seemed to crumble to dust. She wasn't passionate. She was difficult and crabby and she didn't let anyone in. She was restrained.

She opened her mouth to tell him so, only to realize that when she thought about this morning, Renee would barely be a footnote when compared with everything else that had happened.

The front door of the café opened and in walked all three Titan sisters. They were talking to each other and
hadn't looked around the place, but in a few seconds they would. They would look and they would see her with Garth.

He turned around and laughed.

“It's not funny,” she snapped.

“As this place was your pick, it is. You'd better stop looking so guilty, or they'll guess in a second.”

“I don't look guilty.” She cleared her throat and forced her expression to something she hoped was neutral. “If they ask, this is a working breakfast. We're discussing strategy. Nothing else.”

She wanted to say more, maybe even threaten him if she could figure out how, but just then Lexi looked up and saw them. She looked puzzled for a second, then Izzy turned and spotted them.

“What are you two doing here?” she asked as she walked over. “Never mind. I already know. Do you ever sleep? Work, work, work. Dana, when this is over, you have to swear you'll take a vacation. Hey, big brother.”

Izzy bent down and hugged Garth from behind. He smiled at her.

“You're all up early,” he said. “A sisterly tradition?”

“We still have a lot to talk about and this is the best breakfast in town.”

Skye and Lexi joined them.

“How's the plan coming?” Skye asked. “Are we interrupting? Should we go away?”

“No. Of course not.” Dana rose and reached for a larger table. “Let's pull this over and we can all have
breakfast together. Garth and I were working out the details. There are actually a few things we need to discuss with all of you, so this is perfect timing.”

Skye and Lexi grabbed the other side of the table and dragged it close.

“You're just going to sit there?” she asked Garth.

“I like watching women work.”

“I'll just bet.”

She had hoped in the confusion that someone would take her seat, allowing her to settle a little farther from Garth, but the sisters took other chairs, forcing her back across from him. It wasn't that she minded the view, it was that she was terrified of what she might say or do. Rational thought was more challenging when there were still tingles going on.

Renee returned to the table. Dana started to panic, but the waitress simply raised her eyebrows then passed out menus.

“Big crowd this morning,” she said, giving Dana a knowing wink, then announcing there wasn't a special.

“But I love the special,” Izzy whined.

“You're always the difficult one. I'm bringing you coffee. By the time I get back, I want you to all know what you're ordering. And no, Lexi, we don't have organic butter, eggs, juice or anything else. So get over it.”

Lexi laughed. “I didn't say a word.”

“You were going to.” Renee looked at Lexi's impressive belly. “You're due to pop soon, and speaking
as the person who's heard the organic lecture fourteen thousand times, I can't wait.”

“I have two months,” Lexi told her with a grin. “Plenty of time for us to talk about renewable farming.”

“Gotta go.” Renee scurried away.

“I'll need herbal tea,” Lexi yelled after her.

Skye shook her head. “You should give Renee a break. She's old-school.”

“She loves the attention,” Izzy said. She turned to Garth. “So you're in Titanville early.”

“There's a lot going on,” Dana said, hoping she looked and sounded casual. “I'm going to be speaking with some guys I know at the Dallas Police Department. While a lot of their investigation is confidential, I'll be able to get a sense of what they have and what they need. There's no point in duplicating work. But before I do that, I want each of you to be sure about this. Once it's done, it can't be undone. If Jed is charged, it sets a course in motion.”