Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) (33 page)

“What about your dad?”  Sunny asked.

“Never knew my dad,” he answered. “It’s always just been my mom and me. She never told me what happened with my dad, and after a while I quit asking.”

“You said they didn’t speak for twenty-five years, so they’ve been in contact the past five…” She looked at him questionably, “…or ten years?”

“Something like that,” he said. “My mom finally broke down and called her mom, my grandmother. I was on assignment in another country when all this took place, but according to my mom, the two of them met, had a tearful reunion, yada, yada, yada, and my grandmother begged my mom to forgive her dad and meet with him. Betty explained to my mom that, of course her dad was upset, but if she would have only stayed long enough to finish the argument, they could have worked it all out together. My mom threw back the “take care of it” comment my grandfather had made, and my grandmother explained that Walter had really meant take care of it, as in he and Betty would help to ‘take care of’ as in ‘raise’ the baby. She told my mother how her leaving had broken my grandfather’s heart. Fast forward thru more weeping and explaining, and suffice it to say my mother and grandmother patched things up just in time for my grandmother to find out she had cancer. My mom took me to meet her before she passed away, but my mom just couldn’t face her dad yet.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you got to meet Betty, though. She was a wonderful lady. I’m sorry you missed out on knowing her your whole life. And Walter, too. He’s really a great guy. Did your mom ever get to see him?”

“She did. She finally called him last year, and the two of them met and were making progress on repairing their relationship. Then I came back stateside and got involved in the Black Widow case. When Walter’s name came up as one of her possible next victims, I made arrangements to come out here and meet with him. I had spoken with him on the phone, but we hadn’t scheduled an actual visit. He said he wanted to see me, and then all of sudden we couldn’t reach him, and I stopped hearing from him. We waited a week or so, and then I flew out and came to his house. I focused mainly on the house and had only looked thru the windows of the garage before it exploded. I was afraid that he could have been in there, either alive, or he could have already been dead when the place went up in flames. I’m still waiting to hear the final results of the arson investigation from Tom Marshal, the detective assigned to the case. He told me it would be several weeks before all the tests came back. I hope to hear something from him soon.”

“Did he know you were an FBI Agent?”

“Who, Tom
?
Not until after your Mini-Ms. Marple threw suspicion on me by telling him I carried a gun. Then I had to fill him in on the investigation.”

“Do you really think this Mona-woman killed Walter?”

“I don’t know for sure. It’s definitely her style of making a death look like an accident. We know he was communicating with a woman on the dating site, but we haven’t been able to directly link him to Mona.”

“So, what now?” 

“I’m not really sure. We wait for the detective to come back with the results, and I keep investigating, and we hope I get a hit from her on my fake online dating match site.”

“But what now…for us
?
Why did you tell me all this now?” Sunny looked into his eyes, and his face turned serious. He slid his left arm behind her on the sofa as he moved closer.

“I told you. I like you, Sunny. I have since the first day you chucked those frozen chicken chunks at me. I don’t want secrets between us, and I sure as hell don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

Her heartbeat quickened. “I like you, too,” she said softly.

He reached under her knees and pulled her legs forward to rest in his lap. Beau lifted his head so Sunny’s foot wouldn’t kick him in the face. Jake’s left arm dropped from the back of the sofa to curl around her shoulders, and his right hand crossed to cup her hip.

He moved his face closer. “You okay?”

Was I okay
?
Okay enough, despite the fact that her heart was beating out of her chest, her mouth was dry as unbuttered toast, and she was pretty sure she was sweating. But this amazing man, who actually was dangerous, but in a good way, liked her enough to divulge his undercover operation to her. And now his hand was running up and down her arm, coming treacherously close to her breast with each movement.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she whispered. Sunny’s back arched as she pressed herself to him.

He slowly brought his mouth closer, and took her bottom lip into his with the gentlest of kisses. He softly kissed her again and then again.

He had kissed her before, but this time felt different. Her suspicions were gone, and he had told her personal details about his life. This felt comfortable, more intimate.
And sexy as hell!

He kissed her once more, his hand running down to her knee, then back up to finger the fringes of her cutoff shorts. Sunny moaned softly into his mouth. His hand tightened on her outer thigh. His arm curled around Sunny’s back and pulled her closer. The same arms he had used to gently carry her dog to her when she needed him. The same arms he had flexed as he helped her pull weeds in the flower garden. The same arms that held her when her neighbor’s garage burst into flames, and he came running to find her.

Her thoughts ran to images of Jake as he...

Oh hell, why am I thinking anyway?
Sunny threw her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers as her hand fisted in his hair. She clutched his back and squirmed to get her bottom more into his lap. Sunny accidentally kicked Beau, who acted affronted and stepped off the sofa with a groan.

Jake’s strong arm laid her back as he smoothly adjusted their bodies so they were lying side by side. His kisses deepened, and her skin burned as he slid his hand underneath the tank top to cup her breast. He thumbed her erect nipple through her bra, and Sunny groaned again and pressed her hips closer to his. She could feel that he wanted her, and she rubbed herself against him in slow movements.

She sighed as he pulled his hand free from her shirt and moaned with pleasure as his hand ran across her denim-clad thighs to cup the mound between her legs. He rubbed his thumb across her magic button, and she clutched his back tighter.

Brrriiinnnggg!

Jake lifted his head, and Sunny tried to catch her breath.

“Let it ring,” she said and gasped for air.

He kissed her again as they waited for three more rings and the message to start.

“Sunny, it’s Edna. I’m just calling to check on you. Your car’s in the driveway, so I know you’re there. You better pick up or I’m coming over.”

Sunny scrambled from Jake’s arms to get to the cordless phone on the end table. She missed and knocked it to the floor. Sliding from the sofa, she grabbed the phone and depressed the tiny on button. “Hello.”

“Oh, good, you are home,” Edna said. “Are you all right
?
You sound a little out of breath.” 

“I’m fine,” Sunny answered. Her top half was hanging off the edge of the sofa, and Jake ran his hand up her leg, sliding his fingers up the back of her shorts. His thumb brushed along the curve of her butt, and Sunny bit down on her lip to keep from moaning.

“I was just checking on you and wondered when you were heading down to the police station?” Edna asked.

“Police station?” Sunny asked. Jake’s hand stopped moving and pulled free from her shorts.

“Yes. Remember Mr. Sleep-on-the-Sofa told the police he would bring you down this morning to file a report against Hank the Tank?”

“Oh, yeah.” Sunny pushed up to her elbows, and Jake grabbed her arm to pull her back onto the sofa. “We’ll head down there in a little while. Thanks for checking on me, Edna. I’ll call ya this afternoon.” Sunny clicked the off button and set the phone on the table.

Jake smiled and shrugged.

A call about her stalker was a definite mood breaker.

“I’m still planning on driving you down there,” he said. “When do you want to go?”

“We might as well get it over with. Let me change clothes, and we’ll head over.”

* * *

“Anything else you can remember, ma’am?” the officer asked. After waiting twenty minutes, Sunny had been ushered in and placed at a desk strewn with folders, Styrofoam coffee cups, and a takeout bag from a local hamburger joint.

A young cop named Officer Ryan had taken notes as Sunny replayed the events of the night before. He took her back to when she first met Hank, and they reviewed the date, the phone calls, and the first time he tried to enter her bedroom.

Jake had sat next to her, his presence alone serving as a source of comfort and strength. Sunny could see his hand clench into a fist against his leg as she gave the officer the details of Hank’s assault.

“That’s all I can think of,” Sunny said.

“All right, we’ll be in touch,” the young officer said.

“I’m gonna try to find McCarthy for a minute before we take off.” Jake stood and scanned the precinct room for the tall, balding man. Spotting him, Jake slipped from the chair and headed across the room.

“That’s it for now.” Officer Ryan was obviously ready for her to move on. Sunny took her purse from his desk, knocking over one of the Styrofoam cups, the dried brown coffee residue stark against the white of the cup.

Sunny stood and headed for the exit, and a strong male presence fell in behind her, cupping her elbow with his hand. Assuming it was Jake, she turned with a smile only to find herself looking up into the gorgeous face of Officer Royce, her young flirtee from the first encounter with Hank.

“Hey, I was hoping to catch you. I saw you sitting at Ryan’s desk. You look really pretty today.” His eyes appraised her, and Sunny was blinded with the bright white of his delicious grin.

“Oh, thanks.” Sunny tried not to break into girlish giggles.
He was just so cute.

“I heard about what happened last night. Are you doing okay?” he asked with genuine concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said.

“Well, hey, I wanted to give you my card so if you ever get scared or just want to talk, you can call me. I’ll take you out for coffee or something…”  He handed her his card, and she
read the inscription. ‘Officer S
. Royce, Amazing Gorgeous Stud
, oh wait, it actually said
, Criminal Investigations Division.’

“Thanks,” Sunny said, amazed at her witty verbal skills.

Even though Officer Cutey had her tongue-tied with his attention, he was still no Jake. No amount of coffee with this young hottie could compare with the passion she had felt for Jake this morning when his lips had touched hers.

“I appreciate the offer, but–” The little card was snatched from Sunny’s hand as another male presence came up behind her.

“She won’t be needing this,” Jake said and passed the card back to Officer Royce. “Thanks, though.”

“Okay, man.” Royce held his hands up in mock surrender. “I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes. It’s cool.”  He nodded, gave Sunny a wink, and one more dazzling grin before ambling off.

“Geez, I leave you alone for five minutes, and you’ve got half the police squad hitting on you,” Jake said as he opened the door for her.

Half would imply the police squad was made up of exactly two officers.

“What? He wasn’t…” she stammered, the verbal skills again coming up with nothing. Give her a roomful of seven-year-olds, and she could have them rolling on the floor in laughter, but two good-looking men talk to her in the same five minutes, and her brain freezes like chocolate in a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

Oh, wow.
She could really go for a Blizzard right now. Her stomach rumbled at the thought, and she looked up to see Jake good-naturedly shaking his head.

“You’re thinking about food right now, aren’t you?” he asked.

She blushed. “Well, it is about time for lunch.” 

“All right. Come on.” Jake took her hand as they walked toward his car. “I’ll buy you some lunch.”

“And a Blizzard?”

He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her.

“A girl’s gotta eat,” she said.

He continued to stare at her.

“Well, she does.”

“Yes, I guess she does.” He laughed and then leaned down and kissed her.
Right on the mouth. Right on the street in front of God and everybody.

A warmth spread through her all the way to her toes, and all thoughts of ice cream riddled with frozen chocolate chunks melted from her mind. Sunny knew this man must be special if he could make her forget about a chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard
.
  

26

“Hey, Sunny,” Cassie said as she picked up the phone. She cradled the cordless unit against her shoulder as she spread chocolate frosting on the last of the cupcakes.

“Hey, yourself. How’s family day going?” Sunny asked
.

“Good. Matt’s team won their football game and I’m just finishing the cupcakes. Tyler got his dad to take him on the hike, so I was released from scout badge duty. What’s goin’ on with you?”