Armed With Steele (24 page)

Matt frowned. “Yeah, but what kind of life is that when all you’re doing is trying to stay busy?”

I glanced back over to see the hostess lead Nate and Katie to a table behind the partition. “A safe one.”

* * * *

Matt and I stayed at the restaurant well past our entrees, taking turns exchanging our favorite Grace stories. He was a funny guy, and had me in stitches over several of them. It felt so good to be out. To be laughing again.

And without the added pressure of worrying whether or not our time together would lead to anything else.

But eventually our conversation dwindled, and Matt took me home.

“Thanks, buddy.” I stepped out of his SUV and onto the curb in front of my house. “I needed this. More than you know.”

“Glad I could help. You know you can call me any time, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks again.”

I walked to the front door, put my key in the lock, and then offered an all-clear wave. As soon as his vehicle was around the turn at the end of the street, I retrieved my key and walked around to the back door. There was a certain pooch I didn’t want Matt to see who would surely need to use the little boy’s room by now.

While Brutus did his thing, I sat on the back porch, lost in thought. What if Matt was right about the look on Nate’s face? What if he
did
have feelings for me? The thought thrilled me and scared me, both.

I heard the snap of a twig and looked up in time to see a figure step out of the shadows by the garage. Brutus bolted forward, and yanked me up off my seat. Instead of protecting me, my guard dog dragged me toward the intruder. “Stop, Brutus, stop!”

The figure didn’t run, and didn’t charge forward, either. Instead, it knelt down, and freely accepted the kisses his dog lavished upon him.

I threw the leash down, my heart hammering in my chest. “Damn it, Nate. You could
call
before you show up sometime. Or learn to use the front freaking door.”

A low chuckle greeted my ears. “Where would the fun be in that?”

“What, you didn’t get your fill of fun on your date tonight?” I turned and walked back to the porch, embarrassed by the jealous tone in my voice.

“Probably not nearly as much fun as you did. I’m gonna have to tell Charlie, you know. He’ll be devastated.”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Charlie will get over it. Besides, it wasn’t a date. Just dinner with a friend.”
Not that you care. You’ve got Katie to keep you warm at night.

“Grace’s boyfriend, Matt?”

“See, right there you know it wasn’t a real date.”

Nate picked up Brutus’ leash and walked over to stand before me. “Well, I would hope your moral compass hadn’t gone that awry since the last time we spoke. But hey, desperate times call for—”

“Did you just call me desperate?” My temper began to stir.

“You?” He shook his head. “Lonely? Maybe. But desperate? Nah, I just don’t see it.”

“
You
, on the other hand…”

Nate lowered himself onto the deck beside me. “I’m not desperate.”

“Uh-huh. You just took
Katie
out to dinner.”

“Seems like I remember you saying something not too long ago about how that was none of your business—you’d agreed to be my partner, not my date.”

His words, though true, slashed at my heart. “I did. But of all the women in town you could have chosen from, you pick the one who threatened to do bodily harm to your partner the day before?” I looked down at my feet. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“Did seeing us together tonight really bother you?”

“You’re damn right it did.”

He reached out and turned my face gently toward his. I searched his eyes for an explanation. For any hint of what he was feeling, thinking. Then, without warning, he kissed me.

The kiss was tender, yet strong; sweet, yet persistent. It was everything I’d imagined and more. But as the kiss persisted, alarms began to go off in my head. Reminders of a certain threat to my nose…

Nate reached out to draw me closer, but I stretched my hand out to resist. I pulled back and studied his face. “W-what are you doing?”

His toothy white grin glowed in the dark night. “Wow, Jess. Has it really been that long?”

“No. No! I mean, what are you
doing
?”

Though I hated to move away from him, that intoxicating scent of his cologne, and the warmth emanating from his body—which, by the way, was causing heat to radiate from mine in all sorts of new places—it had to be done. There were questions that needed asked and answers to be given. I pushed myself up off the deck and put a few feet of the chilly night air between us.

Nate’s brows furrowed. “I am, or rather,
was
, kissing you. Don’t tell me you didn’t want me to.”

I definitely couldn’t tell him that—it would have been the biggest lie I’d told in years. “No, I’m not saying that. It’s just…”

He grinned, his ego saved by my admission. “It’s just what?”

I threw my hands into the air. “You were with another woman all evening,” I said, my voice low and harsh. “On a date.
Holding hands
, for crying out loud! And then you come over here and start kissing me like that?
Humph
. And I thought Charlie was the dog.”

Even in the darkness, I could see color cloud his face. “It wasn’t a date. And it wasn’t my idea.”

I remained in place, arms crossed.

Nate looked away and sighed. “Katie called earlier and asked me to come over. She wanted to talk, said she’d been doing some thinking and would I please hear her out. I knew damn well what she was going to say, after the conversation you and I had last night.”

“Oh yeah, that was a fun one.”

His eyes narrowed. “I also knew what my answer was going to be before she’d gotten a single word in. But I knew that if I didn’t let her have her say, she’d bug me to no end. So I agreed to meet if we did it on neutral ground. Rather ironic that we’d end up at the same restaurant as you and Matt.”

“Ironic?”

“Yeah. I go out with the woman who’s begging to take me back, and see the one I want across the room with someone else.”

He stood and walked over to me. Reached out to cup my face in his hands. This time I didn’t push him away.

“But we shouldn’t—”

“I don’t care if we should or shouldn’t. All I know is I want to. I’ve struggled to resist you since the day I met you, Jessica Hartley. And you’ve given me mixed signals every step of the way. Even last night, I still couldn’t tell how you truly felt. But when I saw you sitting there with another man tonight, I knew it was time to lay it on the line.” He traced both thumbs along my jaw line. “Of course, I had to get in at least one kiss before I gave you the chance to tell me no.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “So what’s it gonna be, Miss Hartley? Must we keep things strictly business, or are you finally going let me in?”

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The war raged on, battle axes of concern flying from the right lobe to the left. But no matter what attack the right side launched, the left side found a way to deflect it.

My eyes opened and locked with his. “Can I ask you something?”

His brilliant blues bore into mine. “Anything.”

“Do you like my nose?”

He tipped his head to the side. “Why, I love your perfect, little—”

“Good, commit it to memory. Because when Katie hears about this…” I reached up and pulled his face back down to mine. “She’s gonna be
pissed
.”

Chapter 18

“Okay, let’s go over this one more time. Name?”

“Jessica Hartley.”

“Age?”

I sighed. “Twenty-five.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“Here, in town.”
So much for my end to lying.

“And where did you go to school?”

“IPFW. Seriously, Nate, we’ve been over this half a dozen times. When is enough, enough?”

It was Sunday afternoon, and we were sitting at my kitchen table. The sun streamed in through the room’s lone window, giving the space around us a warm, autumn glow.

He reached across the table and patted my hand. “When the answers are ingrained in your mind. You don’t want to make them suspicious on your first day, do you?”

“But I won’t! You’ve got me answering questions I wouldn’t answer even if it really was
my
job I was starting tomorrow. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly the most outgoing person in the world. I like to keep my life a little more…private.”

Nate moved his hands from mine back to the plate of gooey chocolate brownies in front of him. “You do like to keep us outsiders guessing,” he said with a wink. “But someone is bound to ask questions. Like the gal you said had been close to Grace.”

“You mean Vanessa?” I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s possible.”

I stood, and took my empty plate over to the kitchen sink. The leaves on the trees that lined the alley behind our house had gotten a bit more serious about their annual plunge the past few days. I stood at the window and watched several more make their descent, lost in thought.

“Nervous?” Nate’s warm, strong arms wrapped around my waist.

I leaned back into him with a sigh, my eyes still on the canvas of yellow, orange and red outside.

“Sorry if I’ve been pushing you too hard.”

“No.” I wrapped my arms around his. “It’s not that. I’m…I’m just nervous. About seeing her office, sitting at her desk, typing on her computer. It’s hard enough to stay here, night after night, haunted by the room full of her memories just across the hall.”

He kissed the top of my head. “You’re stronger than you think.”

“But here, if I’m in her room, if the memories get to be too much, I can simply walk away. Tomorrow…”

Nate turned me around and put a hand on each of my shoulders. “You’ll be just fine. You can do this, Jess. I know you can.”

“You really think so?”

“Are you kidding?” he said with a grin. “This, coming from the woman who nearly beat me with a softball bat a few days ago? All I gotta say is, whoever did this to Grace better look out.”

A grin crept onto my face as well. “Damn straight.”

* * * *

I walked into Maxwell’s lobby at 7:45 Monday morning. It was my intent to be early, to set a good first impression, but that proved to be a lost cause. The ice queen had not yet assumed her usual post as ruler of the entryway, and no one else was in sight. And since I had no idea where I was supposed to go, I stood off to the side of the reception desk, rocking back and forth on my two-inch pumps, waiting.

“Can I help you?”

I spun around to see a tall, slender woman with porcelain skin and an impeccable taste in clothing step out from an interior hallway. Her hands and wrists were adorned with jewelry, as were her neck and ears. I felt a twinge of jealousy as I watched her approach, but it had nothing to do with her designer labels or glittering accessories—it was her hair. The caramel curls that adorned her beautiful face cascaded down around her shoulders and bounced lightly as she walked.

Times like this, I missed my longer locks.

“Yes. I’m Jessica Hartley, Mr. Frankston’s—”

“New administrative assistant. Of course! So nice to meet you. I’m Vanessa Smith, Mr. Frankston’s secretary.”

Ah, so it was the beauty queen we’d spied during our stakeout. I couldn’t believe my luck. “Nice to meet you, Vanessa.”

“Why don’t I take you up to your office, and let you get settled in. Mr. Frankston usually comes in a little late on Mondays, so we may even have time for a tour of the floor before he arrives.”

“Sounds great. Thanks.”

I followed my new, personal savior through a set of glass double-doors. We traveled down a short, open walkway and came to stand before a set of brushed-copper elevator doors. I looked around while we waited, to familiarize myself with the layout, all the while tapping a nervous rhythm with my fingers on my purse strap.