If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (8 page)

After she’d bought her cigarettes, she’d checked into the Ash Hotel.
That
had him worried. Very worried, and it didn’t make him feel better once he started digging around and finding out more about her. Oh, he had learned some interesting things about her, too.

When he plugged her name into a search engine, he wasn’t bombarded with
Did You Go To School With
. No, she actually had information online. A photojournalist. A bit more research revealed where she lived, as well as a variety of links to her work.

So many things could be learned on the Internet these days. Still, the one thing he needed to know, that eluded him.

What he didn’t know was why she was here. Why she was back in Ash.

He’d made another trip back to town, under the guise of being lazy on a day off. Had a late lunch at the café, hit the bookstore, a few other places, chatting people up.

Yes, she’d been noticed by quite a few people. But nobody knew why she was here. Back in
his
town.

Nobody was talking. Not the boys from the sheriff’s department, not the local gossips, nobody.

There was speculation. But nobody
knew
, which meant whatever her business was, she was keeping it close to her chest. He’d learned a long time ago how to separate the facts from the fancy and all there was now—it was just fancy.

Nobody
knew
.

Coming to a stop in front of the hotel, he let his van idle as he peered down the side.

He could see her bike, but not her. She was already checked in, tucked into her room. She’d have the door locked, probably. Both the chain and the deadbolt in place, her being a city girl.

Not that it could keep him out, but he couldn’t exactly go and do something that blatant, now could he?

Still, he needed to know why she was here.

The small hotel wasn’t much but Nia didn’t need much. It was clean and it was quiet. That was all that mattered.

It faced away from the street, and the woods that rose at the back provided some extra shade against the bright summer sun. When she pulled the curtains, it darkened the room so that she could barely see her way to the bed. She didn’t need to see—stripping her clothes away, she left them in a trail on her way to the bed and paused only long enough to pull the blankets back.

She needed sleep, desperately. Sleep, then she’d figure out where to go from here.

What to do next …

Sleep …

Nightmares chased her. Taunted her. Haunted her.

In the dream, she was no longer herself, but Joely. Running—breathless and terrified—through the trees, no idea where she was going, just certain she had to get away.

And he followed along behind.

Nameless.

Faceless.

A malicious, dark presence that watched, waited …

She could feel his eyes, all but crawling along her. All but touching her.

Waiting … waiting …

She wanted to scream, but didn’t dare. Keeping it trapped in her throat, she bit her lip almost bloody to keep it locked inside. If she screamed, it made it that much easier for him to find her.

Not that he wouldn’t find her anyway.

It was just a matter of time—didn’t matter where she went, where she ran, she couldn’t escape … this was his town …

She came awake to complete dark.

As a sob tried to tear its way free, Nia fought loose from the blankets that had wrapped around her like chains. Standing by the bed, nude and shaking, she wrapped her arms around herself.

Calm down … you have to calm down …

The dream replayed itself through her head over and over. She saw herself—but it wasn’t her. It was Joely. Running, trying to get away.

No shocker, there.

Joely hadn’t been always ready to pick a fight the way
Nia would, but she wouldn’t back down from one, either—she would have fought. And fought hard.

It was disconcerting, though, the way she found herself remembering …

This was his town …

Blowing out a breath, she bent over and snagged her shirt from the floor, pulled it over her head. She didn’t give a damn what the official reports said and she didn’t give a damn what so-called evidence had been found when Joe Carson’s body was found.

She wasn’t buying it. The killer was local.

In her gut, she knew it.

Which meant the killer wasn’t Joe Carson … and was still out there. Somewhere. She shivered, rubbing her neck. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, made her feel like somebody was watching, staring at her. Waiting.

“You’re paranoid,” she muttered even as she shoved upright and went to go check the locks on the hotel door, and the curtains. The curtains were closed up tight, and the door was locked securely, the deadbolt in place. No way somebody could be watching her unless they’d bugged the damn room, and she shouldn’t even be
thinking
about that, as antsy as she was.

Throwing a look at the clock, she wondered if it was still possible to get food around here. It was a little after 8:30 on a Monday. Was there any place
open
?

Her belly rumbled.

Only one way to find out.

She came sauntering into Mac’s Grill and if she realized everybody in there was staring at her, she didn’t pay them any attention. He suspected she noticed. Suspected she’d even noticed him, sitting in a booth and chowing down on wings. She wasn’t one to miss things.

That bothered him, even as it excited him.

She’d be a fighter, like her cousin. It was a thought that thrilled him, frustrated him. He wanted her, could already feel that burn—but knew he couldn’t risk this. Not after Jolene. Not only would it throw doubts on everything he’d done when he’d killed Carson, but there was no way he could take somebody like Nia and not expect it to be noticed
—very
noticed.

The sort of notice that he would do anything to avoid. So he would keep his distance, and he would content himself with his memories of her cousin … and thoughts of what it might have been like. There wasn’t much physical similarity between the cousins. Next to none.

But he could see … something.

Attitude, perhaps. Arrogance. And strength.

She wasn’t here to leave flowers in her cousin’s memory.

He watched as she slid onto a bar stool, watched as a few men shot her considering looks. Three of them were married. Two started toward her side anyway. He was considering moving to that empty spot himself. He could be friendly, make small talk. It would be amusing, he thought, talking to her, trying to figure out just why she was here, even though he suspected he already knew.

But one man beat them all.

Law Reilly.

Law had been shooting pool with a couple of the numerous Jennings boys when Nia Hollister came into the Grill.

Silence fell.

Even though music still blasted from the jukebox, there was an odd hush. He wasn’t fooled into thinking she didn’t notice. Still, she didn’t seem to pay any attention as she slid onto a bar stool and smiled at Leon, the bartender who had been working behind the counter for
as long as Law had lived in Ash. Law didn’t think Leon had aged a day since Law had met him. He was also sure Leon hadn’t smiled once in those ten years.

“Damn, ya see the ass on her?” Ethan Sheffield muttered. One of the deputies from the sheriff’s department, he was young, happily married, and one of the biggest flirts in the whole damn town.

And while his wife understood Ethan’s harmless flirting, Law didn’t want the guy anywhere near Nia. Smacking the deputy in the belly with his cue stick, he said, “Play the next round without me.”

Without waiting for a response, he headed over to the empty stool next to Nia. It wouldn’t stay empty for long, he knew. Even as he settled on it, he saw a few familiar faces hovering close by, almost as if they were waiting to see if he struck out.

Screw ’em.

“Didn’t know you were hanging out around town,” he said as Nia’s gaze slid his way.

“You didn’t ask.”

“True.” He nodded at Leon and the bartender brought him a beer. “I’ll tell you, if you’re out looking for wild nightlife in Ash, you already found the hot spot.”

Amused, she glanced around the small bar and grill. With the music blasting from the jukebox, the empty stage, and the booths roughly half-full, it was actually fairly busy for the small place. But he knew what it looked like—dead.

He liked it.

“I’ll try to contain my excitement,” she said, leaning in closer.

He told himself it was so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice over the music. And maybe it was. It also brought her close enough that he could smell the scent of her skin, her hair … nice …

“You want to get excited, hang around a few weeks. We start our county fair. That gets really exciting.”

“Hmmm. What’s the highlight … cow-tipping?”

He chuckled. “Nah. We save that for the yokels who don’t live close to Lexington. We’re classy here. Something to do with horses. Not entirely sure what, though. Can’t say I’ve ever been.” He tipped his beer back, desperate to wet his throat. It didn’t do much good, though.

“That’s not very neighborly of you.” She smiled, her lashes low to shield her eyes. “Your own town and you don’t go out there to show your support.”

“I show my support by coming into town on Mondays and drinking beer, buying hot wings. It’s good for the local merchants.” He grinned and gestured to the menu chalked up over the bar. “Hard to believe, but Leon’s got some of the best wings around here.”

She wrinkled her nose. “That’s not hard to believe. The only places I’ve seen serving wings are chain joints. Those aren’t good wings.”

“This being your first night in town, how about I buy you dinner?” He wondered if she had any idea how damned nervous he was, just saying those words. Law didn’t do nervous. Granted, he also hadn’t asked a woman out on a date in … shit. A couple of years? Even then, he didn’t think he’d been
this
nervous. And this wasn’t even a date. He was just being neighborly, right?

“Dinner.” The faint smirk on her mouth curled into an all-out smile and she glanced down at herself. “I’m not sure if I’m up to dinner at such a classy place. But what the hell. I think I should buy, though. It’s the least I can do.”

Law opened his mouth to argue. Then he snapped it shut. Hell, she was sitting there next to him. That was what he wanted, right?

Sitting there … and waiting for him to take offense. “How about this, you get this one … and let me take you out sometime? Assuming you’ll be in town.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nia said.

For some reason, he wasn’t surprised to hear that.

S
HE SHOULDN
’
T BE SITTING THERE
.

Nia knew that.

Not because she wasn’t worried about Law Reilly. She actually worried about Law Reilly a lot, and in a lot of ways.

She should worry about Law Reilly. She also knew that. Law Reilly was bad for her state of mind—and her hormones. Law Reilly was just plain bad for her. And maybe, later, when she was back in her room and her hormones had cooled off, and her brain had settled and she had a chance to get herself back on course, maybe then she would convince herself that she needed to worry about Law Reilly.

Worry about things like staying away from him.

But just then, all she wanted was one night where she didn’t think. Didn’t think about
anything
.

What was so wrong with that?

She hadn’t enjoyed a night with a guy in months. Eight months. Not since her cousin died. Hell, longer than that. Before Joely had died, Nia had been so fucking focused on her job, she hadn’t been thinking about anything
but
the job. The few nights she’d had with her last
boyfriend, it had been more about scratching an itch than anything else.

Empty—her life had been empty and she hadn’t even realized it. Empty, except for her cousin, and now it was too late to tell Joely how much she’d meant to her. Now, with Joely gone, all she wanted was her cousin back. A chance to spend time with her again. To live, to think about things other than a job.

A chance to watch Joely walk down the aisle. Throw a bachelorette party for her. Take her to the store and watch her do all that goofy bridal shit. Things Nia had dreaded. Now she wanted them more than anything and she couldn’t have them.

But she could have a nice night with a good-looking guy. She could do something about the raw, empty ache of loneliness in her heart. Nothing was stopping her. Except herself, and she wasn’t going to let that happen either.

Glancing at Law, she found herself thinking about the girl … Hope. Hope Carson—timid, quiet, that petite, delicate type—the kind a guy would want to rescue. Nia hadn’t ever needed rescuing.

But she supposed guys might find it appealing—the damsel in distress thing. Law had said she wasn’t his girlfriend. She wanted to ask more about that, but just then, she didn’t care. Well, not true. She did care, but she didn’t want the truth to ruin things. Didn’t want the truth to mess up her night.

She needed her night, needed to enjoy it. So she shoved those questions aside and decided it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but now. Having a few beers, having some hot wings, and enjoying talking about nothing in particular with a hot guy who seemed to enjoy looking at her.

As the evening wore on, people came in and out of the Grill.

At some point, they moved from the bar to a booth.

Finally she found herself alone in there, just Law, the bartender, and her, and she realized the time had slipped away without her even noticing. That hadn’t happened in … months.

“Where did you go?”

She glanced up, looked into Law’s intense hazel eyes, found herself caught up in them. Then she looked away. “What do you mean?”

“You went away,” he said.

Frowning, she started to count the bottles in front of them. Eight beers. They’d put away eight beers, and she suspected she’d probably drunk half of them.

As she spun around to put her feet on the floor, the room tipped around her. “I didn’t go anywhere,” she said, taking great care not to slur her words. “I’ve been right here.”