Under the Moon's Shadow (6 page)

Beth agreed. “I may have to take out a loan before the day’s out in order to pay my fine.” 

As they reached her apartment, Jason sighed. “You and me both, sis, you and me both.”

Chapter Seven

Sunday evening, Beth was puttering around her now-clean apartment while she waited for Jason to show up. At dinner earlier, her parents had tried to convince her to stay at their house until Friday, when she was scheduled to have an alarm installed.

“I appreciate the concern, but I really just want to go back to the apartment. I can’t let this person run me out of my home,” she’d told them.

Jason had stepped in. “Tell you what. If you want, I’ll stay with you until Friday. I can sleep on the couch.”

“You’d do that for me?” Beth was touched that he’d even offer. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she was very relieved she wouldn’t be alone for the first few nights.

“Of course.”

“Good, we can have a slumber party – I can do your nails, wax your legs…” When the rest of the family laughed at Jason’s consternation, he’d just rolled his eyes and put her in a playful head lock.

“Come near me with wax or nail polish, and you’ll regret it.”

Just to mess with him, once she’d gotten home, she put what had been salvaged from her cosmetics stash on the counter in the kitchen. When the doorbell rang, she hurried down the hall and looked through the peephole. Instead of her brother, though, Ethan stood on the other side of the door. Surprised, she opened the door.

“What are you doing here?”

An overnight bag in one hand, hanging bag in the other, he met her stunned gaze with a sheepish look. “I heard you needed a bodyguard.”

She stood back and let him in. “Sort of. Where’s Jason?”

“He got called in. Robbie Bailey had a family emergency.”

“Nothing serious, I hope,” she said as she led him into the living room.

“No, I don’t think it is. Nothing life-threatening, anyhow.”

Beth wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, much less with Ethan. She’d never expected him to show up, especially not to sleep on her couch.  As he stood there, bags in hand, she cleared her throat and pointed him toward the closet in the hall. “I cleared out some space for Jason. You can put your stuff in there.”

He moved to the closet, his expression guarded as he turned to her. “Are you okay with me staying here?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She stepped into the kitchen and got three pints of ice cream out of the freezer, then gathered the other ingredients for a sundae together. “You like ice cream, right?”

“Sure.” He slid his shoes off and joined her in the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the barstools. Dressed in a soft t-shirt and worn jeans that hugged his muscles, he presented a very appealing picture. It was all Beth could do to not drool as she opened the ice cream.

As he watched her assemble one large sundae in a serving bowl, Ethan snickered. “You planning to eat all that on your own, blondie?”

She just raised an eyebrow as she retrieved the hot fudge from the microwave. “Not hardly. You’re helping me. Right?”

“I guess you could twist my arm. I thought you couldn’t cook.”

Beth laughed, licking whipped cream off her fingers. “This is not cooking. This is assembling, and I can assemble with the best of them.” She pushed the finished sundae across the island to him, along with two large spoons. After putting the perishable ingredients up, she pulled out the other barstool and sat. Her tired muscles protested, and she groaned.

“This has been the longest day,” she told him. “Not only did we have to clean this place up, but I had to shop and buy so much new stuff. All the couch cushions, my pillows for the bed, and all the food. I threw everything out. Literally every single bite of food I had, down to the salt and pepper. I was afraid to keep anything.”

He winced. “That had to hurt a little.”

She agreed. “It did. But my homeowner’s policy should cover most of the cost, once they’ve paid.” Scooping up a spoonful of coffee toffee ice cream with a large piece of toffee inside, she offered it to him on her spoon. He took it, but a small drop of hot fudge fell off and landed on his chin. Without stopping to think about what she was doing, she used her thumb to wipe the fudge off, bringing her hand to her mouth. When Ethan’s eyes widened, she realized what she’d done and flushed, looking away.

He cleared his throat and stood, going to the other side of the island. “Do you have any water?”

Inwardly cringing, she gestured to the fridge with her spoon. “Sure. In there, if you want it cold.”

“Cold is good.” He grabbed two bottles, handing her one. “So what’s the plan tonight?”

Beth grinned. “Well, I was going to torture Jason with a manicure and leg waxing, but somehow I can’t see you going for that.”

Ethan looked at her, then at the cosmetics on the counter. Poking through the nail polish options, he picked up a bottle of hot pink, sparkling color. “I don’t know. This would look pretty good on me, don’t you think?” When she just narrowed her eyes at him, he laughed. “I don’t even know what all’s involved in a manicure.”

“Seriously?”

“I’m a guy. I don’t know these things.”

“Let me see your hands.” His expression wary, he put his hands in hers. They were warm, with a few calluses, and she ran her fingers lightly across the backs. “You have such nice hands, well-shaped and masculine.” She ignored his startled jerk. “I’d start with a soak in some warm, soapy water. Then do a salt scrub, massage with some oil or lotion, and trim your nails, shape them up a little, although they really don’t need it.” Standing, she took the empty bowl and spoons to the sink and rinsed them, then put them in the dishwasher. When she turned back to Ethan, he had a contemplative look on his face.

“Okay. Sign me up. But no nail polish, right?”

Beth was stunned. “Really?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

“Well, in that case, let me get set up. Have a seat.” He resumed his seat on the barstool as she went to the closet in the hall and pulled down a large box. “You got lucky – whoever trashed this place somehow missed my stash of massage lotions and oils.”

As she set up everything she would need, Ethan watched her closely. “I figured you’d be exhausted by now. You look tired.”

Beth’s smile was tinged with bitterness. “Yeah, well, I am tired. I just can’t seem to settle down for more than a minute or two. Honestly, I feel like I’m coming apart inside. My skin is the only thing holding me together at this point.”

She sat the bowl of warm water down in front of him and added a few drops of almond-scented soap, gently frothing it up so that it was bubbly. “Go ahead and put your hands in there,” she said. “We’ll let them soak for a few minutes.”

“You’ll regain your equilibrium before long. As for tonight, just try to relax. Remember that you have a big, strong man here to protect you, and you’ll be fine.” His self-deprecating grin let her know he was teasing.

“I do appreciate your being here. I’m independent, you know that, but I wasn’t looking forward to spending the night alone. I know you probably had more interesting things to do than babysit me.”

He looked at her, puzzled. “What, like laundry? That was the plan for tonight. I don’t have nearly as exciting a social life as you seem to think I do.”

Beth just snorted. “Yeah, right. You and my brothers are out every week doing something.”

“Yeah, and people are going to start thinking the three of us are involved if we don’t add some females to the mix soon.”

She couldn’t help it – she burst out laughing. The image he’d invoked was just too much. Holding her stomach, it was all she could do to stay on the barstool as she dissolved into giggles.

“I’m glad you think it’s funny,” he said. “Chase asked something last week about curtains, for crying out loud, and I almost answered him ‘yes, dear.’”

That set her off again, and this time, she laughed so hard that she cried. For several minutes, she couldn’t look at Ethan, because every time she did, he made a face that sent her back into spasms of hilarity. When she finally stopped laughing, she had to get a tissue to wipe her eyes.

“Feel better now?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Yes, actually, I do. Thank you.”

“Glad to help. But can I take my hands out of this water now?”

“Of course. Here,” she said, holding out a towel for him. He placed his hands on the towel and she gently dried them. Scooping up a dollop of salt scrub, she started working on his right hand. “We’ll leave your left hand wrapped for now.”

“What’s this stuff do?”

“Exfoliates dead skin, and it just feels good. You wouldn’t believe how good it feels on your feet.”

Ethan looked skeptical. “I’ll take your word for it. Speaking of active social lives, I figured you’d have something planned this evening.”

Beth frowned. “No. I usually stay home on Sunday evenings. It’s one of the only days I can kick back and relax.” She wiped the salt off his hand with the damp towel and switched to his left.

He hmmm’d. “I thought you liked the whole parties and dinners thing.”

“I – well, sort of. I mean, I enjoy talking to people, learning about them, that sort of thing, but it gets old after a while. After so many times when you’re invited here or there, or when you have to cover this event or that one, you really start to wonder if the people you’re with would have anything to do with you if it wasn’t your job.” His hand tightened around hers, and when she looked up, he was frowning. “What?”

“I just didn’t expect you to feel that way.”

She laughed and wiped his left hand down, then used the water to rinse her own hands off. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. Because you always seem to be so… comfortable with who you are when I see you working, or out somewhere.”

Beth didn’t know how to respond. Getting out oatmeal-almond scented lotion, she went back to his right hand and started massaging. “I do love my job, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes, it would be nice to be asked out or have someone want to spend time with me the person, not me the reporter.”

“That just blows my mind, that you say that. All this time, I’ve thought you just liked dating.”

Her hands stopped moving on his. “Excuse me?”

He groaned. “That didn’t come out right. I just can’t imagine anyone not going out with you for any reason other than they wanted to be with you.”

“Okay, you prettied that up well enough, so I guess I can forgive you,” she said, blushing at the intense study he was giving her. “And some guys are nice. I don’t mean to imply that they aren’t. But most of the people I go out with, they see that I’m blonde, that I’m ‘upbeat,’ and they think ‘oh, bet she’s a load of fun, loves to party.’ They don’t think ‘bet she’s smart and capable, loves to curl up and read.’ When they find out who I really am, you can see the trail of dust spiraling up behind them, they run so fast. They don’t want someone who has a thinking brain in her head.”

“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” he asked.

She got more lotion and started on his other hand. “Maybe a little. It just all gets so old, Ethan. Is it too much to ask to find someone who looks beyond the surface?” When he was quiet, she looked up, surprised by the somber expression on his face, and she remembered what Stacy had said to her a few days earlier. His next words confirmed what the other detective had theorized.

“Yeah, sometimes I think it is. People look at me and they see the badge, or they see I’m Hispanic, and that’s all they see. It does get old.”

Ethan’s father had been a first-generation American, with his grandparents having immigrated to Texas from Mexico just before his father’s birth. With his dark hair and olive complexion, Beth knew Ethan had found growing up in a small town in southern Indiana to be something of a challenge, and had endured a good amount of snide comments about his heritage through the years.

Beth tilted her head to the side. “Not everyone sees you that way, you know.” He just looked at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “They don’t. I don’t. None of your friends do.”

“I guess not.” When she finished with the lotion, he pulled his hands back and looked at them. “That was nice. Thank you.”

She could see him withdrawing into himself, and she suppressed a sigh of disappointment. This was the first time in perhaps years that she and Ethan had spent any time together alone, and it had been a tantalizing glimpse into the man that not a lot of people got to see. She decided to not push him any further, and started putting the manicure supplies up while he wandered over to the living room windows to look out.

“The couch folds out into a queen-sized bed,” she told him. “I washed the linens earlier, so you’ll have clean sheets to sleep on.”

“Thanks. What time do you usually get up in the mornings?” He helped her move the table out of the way and started taking cushions off the couch.

“Usually around seven thirty. What time do you need to be up?”

“Six thirty. I can set the alarm on my phone. If you show me where everything is, I’ll try to be quiet in the morning when I get ready. By the time I’m ready to leave, you’ll probably be up.”

“Come with me, then.” He followed her into the bathroom, and she showed him how to use the shower. “It’s a little tricky. Not that I think you’re too stupid to know how to use a shower.”

Ethan just tugged her ponytail. “I know.”

With nothing left to do, Beth figured she might as well call it a night. “Just holler if you need anything. I’m pretty tired, so I guess I’ll hit the sack.”

“I have a book that I want to finish, so I’ll do that if keeping the light on for a while won’t bother you.”

“Not at all. Good night, then,” she told him.

“Night.”

Going into her bedroom, she turned the light on and closed the door, leaning back against it with a silent groan of agony. It just wasn’t fair, she thought, that any man should be so damned appealing and so far out of reach.