Authors: Cheyenne McCray
This one was just in case…if things didn’t go the way they were meant to with Ricki, Deena would take a piece of her and keep it. Forever.
Thoughts of Ricki never left Garrett’s mind as he sat behind his office desk. She was incredible, everything he could want in a woman. Maybe he should feel bad about taking her the way he had, but he didn’t. It had been a night of raw need, the kind of need that had to be satisfied in a way that left no doubt she belonged to him.
There had been a defining moment the night before when he was drinking whiskey and he’d finally decided that he was worthy to be with her. That he was nothing like his father and he would never hurt Ricki in any way.
Everything had clicked, come together as a whole, and it was like a missing piece of him had been snapped back into place.
He leaned back in his leather chair as he held a pen between the fingers of both hands. He intended to make love to the woman in the way that she deserved. She deserved slow passion where he could take her to new places, in a way that he could show her just how much she meant to him.
Everything that had held him back from allowing himself to care for her had fallen away. It wasn’t entirely gone—he didn’t think that it was something that could be so easily thrown aside. But he was much closer to realizing that he wasn’t such a bad guy and he wasn’t his biological father’s son in that he’d never be like the man who had ultimately been nothing but a cruel sperm donor.
Hal was his true father and he was a good man through and through. Hal had raised Garrett to be the best man he could be, and his mother had taught him to be caring and compassionate. It was in his nature to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves, but he’d channeled it in the best way he knew how.
His cell phone rang and he picked it up off the desk. Craig Morris’s name was on the caller ID. The man had partnered with him for the last fifteen years on cases in southern Arizona and they’d just finished the Tunstall case together.
“Hey,” Garrett answered. “What’s up?”
“Chasin’ down a lead,” Craig said, getting down to business at once. “I’ve got a woman, Maria McAdams, who might have been killed off by a friend of hers. The police didn’t have any evidence pointing toward the friend, but the victim’s family hired me to investigate her.”
Garrett picked a pen out of the cup and tapped the end on a sticky note pad. “The trail leads to Prescott?”
“Dunno.” Craig sounded frustrated as hell. “Someone gave the victim’s family a tip that the woman in question might be north of Phoenix, but that’s all we’ve got. Name is Diane Donatello.”
Garrett wrote the name down then held the pen above the sticky pad. “What does she look like?”
Craig paused a moment, as if checking his notes. “Brunette, hair past her shoulders, fair skinned, blue eyes, five-eight, 195 pounds.”
Garrett jotted down the information. “Got a photo?”
“Sure do,” Craig said. “It’s a full body shot of Donatello and the victim, not real clear, even when zoomed in. It’s all the victim’s family had that included Donatello. I can’t contact Donatello’s family because I don’t want them to alert her if she’s still in contact with them. The cops don’t have a damned thing that I can use.”
“Anything else?” Garrett asked.
“When you get the pic, the victim is the younger woman, the blonde,” Craig said. “The victim’s family didn’t hire me until Donatello had already left town so I haven’t been able to put any surveillance on her.”
Garrett set the pen down on the sticky pad. “Send the photo and I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Will do.” Craig disconnected the call.
A few moments later, Garrett’s phone beeped. He checked his messages and saw that Craig had sent a photo. When Garrett opened up the message he clicked on the image and studied it. Craig was right, it wasn’t a good shot. Garrett enhanced it, but the photo was grainy and unfocused.
Despite the fact that it was a crappy photograph, something about the brunette struck him as familiar. He frowned. Maybe it was in the way she held herself because her overall features weren’t familiar. The blonde, on the other hand, had been a cute little thing with a pixie haircut, tank top, and cutoff jeans.
Garrett picked up the sticky note that he’d used to jot down Donatello’s information and stuck it on the side of his flat screen computer monitor. He saved the pic to download later and examine a little more when he had the opportunity. He left his phone on the desktop as he went back to working on the Johnson case.
He drew the photos of Mr. Johnson and his mistress out of the envelope. He studied them with clinical detachment and wondered if he should leave out the photos where the act was consummated. He always thought about that. But he also knew he had to let people make their own decisions. And some people needed proof, no matter how painful it was.
Inevitably, they always looked at the photographs, no matter that he suggested having their attorney look at them instead. They wanted to see for themselves that it was true. He knew he would, too.
Garrett ground his teeth. The way he’d obtained the photos hadn’t been legal, but when it came down to it, he figured Mrs. Johnson was the injured party and it was up to him to help her. He was the only private investigator in town, and probably the only one who could get her the answers she needed.
Now it was Monday morning, he’d developed the photos and compiled the information, and had to break the news to Mrs. Johnson. Damn, but he hated these cases.
He picked his phone up off the desk and dialed Mrs. Johnson’s number.
Ricky turned the “Open” sign to “Closed” then headed into the back of the bakery. Garrett hadn’t returned. She’d spent the day feeling excited and nervous and thrilled and apprehensive and worried all at once. She couldn’t wait to see him yet at the same time she was afraid he wouldn’t come back and then she was worried about what would happen when he did return.
It was hard to believe that it had only been this morning that they’d been together in her office having incredibly passionate sex, the kind you only read about in romance novels or saw in the movies.
And afterward, Garrett had stayed and helped her bake everything that needed to be done before the place had opened. He’d been fun and easy to be around and she didn’t remember ever feeling so good being around a man as she had during his time here.
But he had yet to return. Ricki felt old insecurities rising to the surface. What if he’d changed his mind? What if he regretted their night together? She still didn’t know why he’d walked out on her to begin with and why he’d come back later.
At first she’d been angry with him, but that anger had faded. Yes, he’d left her but she didn’t know the reason behind it. What ultimately mattered was that he had come back.
“Hi, honey.” Garrett’s voice came from behind her.
Ricki whirled to face him. He’d clearly just come in the back door that she’d left open in anticipation of him returning.
He looked so delicious in his Stetson, boots, and western shirt. She wanted to run up to him, fling her arms around his neck, and kiss him with everything she had. But she couldn’t move, somehow feeling nervous.
The nervousness vanished as he reached her and took her into his arms. He kissed her long and deep and she gave a sigh of pleasure.
When he drew away and looked down at her, she felt like dough in his arms. Soft and pliable.
He gave her another hard kiss. “Your place or mine?”
She had a hard time thinking for a moment. She didn’t even care if they ever left the bakery, except that she did really need to get home and shower.
“I have to get up in seven hours.” Her voice was a little breathy as she spoke. “Lettie had to leave early and Poncho won’t be here tomorrow.”
He studied her. “Would you rather get together another night?”
She shook her head. “Let’s go to my place.”
“I’ll make sure I don’t keep you up too late,” he said with a sexy little grin.
If she hadn’t just had a sleepless night she wouldn’t have cared about sleep at all. But she had to function come one a.m. and it was already almost six in the evening.
“I’ll pick up something for dinner and meet you at your home,” he said after she retrieved her purse from the office. “How about fried chicken and all the fixin’s from that place on Miller Valley Road?”
“Sounds great.” She smiled as they walked out the back door and she locked it behind them. “I’m hungry.”
“See you in a bit, honey.” His truck was next to her vehicle and he climbed in and started the big truck’s engine. She went to her Prius and soon was on her way home.
She felt a swooping sensation in her belly as she thought about Garrett and their time this morning. It had been absolutely incredible, and she was more than ready for more.
It seemed like it took forever to get home but finally she was driving up her street and she parked in her garage. As she got out of her car she felt an eerie sensation trail her spine, as if someone was watching her, and she looked out at the street. Everything was dark and still, no one in sight.
She shivered then shook her head and pressed the button to lower the garage door.
After she walked into the house, she hung her purse on the back of a chair. She went to the fridge to grab a bag of pre-made salad to go with the chicken along with bleu cheese and ranch dressings. She emptied the salad into a big bowl and put it and the dressing bottles on the table before she retrieved a couple of paper plates and plasticware and set the table. She had some fresh lemonade in the fridge and took it out along with a couple of plastic cups. Paper napkins were already in a holder on the table. No dishes to worry about tonight.
She should have been dragging after working since midnight, but just knowing that Garrett would be there soon gave her a kind of excitement and energy that had her smiling and humming.
When the doorbell rang she hurried to the door and opened it. Garrett was holding a big bucket of chicken and a couple of bags.
“That smells wonderful.” She breathed in the scent of fried chicken and her stomach growled.
She locked the door behind him as he carried everything to the kitchen and set it all on the table. He opened the bucket while she grabbed the bags and took out a box of biscuits, a container of mashed potatoes, another container with gravy, and then corn on the cob.
He set his western hat on the same chair where she’d hung her purse and sat across from her.
The chicken was crunchy, juicy, greasy, and delicious as she happily ate a couple of pieces while Garrett devoured a good half of the chicken.
While they ate, they discussed each other’s day at work and continued on to talk about their families.
“I miss my parents, my sisters, and my nieces.” Ricki shifted in her seat. “I want to go to Phoenix and visit them soon.”
Garrett swallowed a bite of chicken. “I’d like to meet them sometime.”
“I think they’d love to meet you.” Ricki smiled. “My nieces are a handful but you’re used to that, I imagine.”
“Yep.” He wiped his fingers on a napkin “And it looks like there’s more to come.”
Ricki nodded. “It’s exciting that Danica and Megan are pregnant. Creed and Ryan looked so proud.”
Garrett gave a quick grin. “Scared, too.”
With a laugh, Ricki said, “I don’t know them very well, but from what Megan has told me about Ryan and how he likes to work with 4-H kids, I think he’ll be fine.”
“Creed has spent most of his life bull riding,” Garrett said. “That’s a challenge, but this is going to be a helluva new one for him.”
“Do you want kids some day?” Ricki asked, then immediately wished she hadn’t. It was too personal, too soon.
Garrett looked thoughtful. “I’ve always wondered what kind of dad I’d be. I didn’t have what you’d call a good father until my mom married my stepdad.”
“From what I saw of Hal at the Easter celebration, he looks like a great guy,” Ricki said.
“He’s a good man.” Garrett was quiet for a moment. “As far as having kids myself, if I can be half the dad my stepfather is then yeah, I’d love a couple.”
“I genuinely think you’d be a great father,” Ricki said.
Garrett seemed a little uncomfortable. “What about you?”
“I’ve always wanted children.” Ricki gave a soft smile. “Three or four.”
He studied her for a moment. “There’s not a doubt in my mind you’d be a damn good mother, Ricki.”
“Thank you.” Heat rose to her cheeks and she went back to buttering a biscuit.
When they finished eating, they put the leftovers in the fridge and tossed the paper plates and other garbage.
She put her hand on her belly. “I ate way too much, but it was great.”
He stepped close to her and put his hands on her hips. She moved her palms to his chest and gripped his shirt, wanting so badly to rip it off.
“Now to get your butt to bed.” He kissed her forehead. “You’ve got to get up in just over five hours.”
“Come with me.” Her voice was low, throaty, as she spoke.
He shook his head. “You need sleep. If I go to bed with you, sleep is the last thing you’ll get.”
She moved one of her hands to his and took it. His hand seemed so big as he closed it over hers, making her feel almost petite in comparison to him. She led him to her bedroom and flipped on the switch so that the bedside light glowed on the opposite side of the bed.
He forced her to a stop. His eyes were dark and hungry but he said, “This is far enough.”
She shook her head. “Sleep with me.”
“I told you, Ricki,” he said, his expression tight, “I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.”
“Good.” She reached up and put her lips against his.
A low growl rose up in him and he brought her close. “Ricki, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
She couldn’t help a little laugh. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, she saw flames of desire in his gaze, a barely contained fire that wanted to burn out of control.