Showered and dressed, ready to tackle the world, Vanessa slid her arm through the straps of her purse, grabbed her travel mug and her keys, and stepped through the front door. She was in the process of locking it when she heard a voice call from her front yard. “Mrs. Scott?”
Life seemed determined to have a joke at her expense. It didn’t go unnoticed that the very moment she’d found the fortitude to think about her present instead of her past, someone had to remind her of who she used to be.
She looked to see who was calling her by her married name and found an Asian man walking toward her. He was muscular. Not spend-all-day-in-the-gym muscular, just built enough that the fitted T-shirt he wore hugged every bump and ridge of his torso and puthis pecs on display. When he stepped up onto her porch, the black denim tightened around his toned thighs and she had to remember that this stranger climbing her stairs had called her name and should therefore make her uneasy. Once he stopped in front of her, pulling his shades off and revealing deep dark eyes that demanded her full attention, uneasy was the last thing she felt. Well, she was unnerved, but not because she was afraid.
“Mrs. Scott?”
She cleared her throat and blinked through the haze this man’s presence seemed to surround her with. “Jared. It’s Ms. Jared. I haven’t been Mrs. Scott in two years. How can I help you?”
“My name is Michael Park. I’m the sheriff in Monroe Hills, Pennsylvania.” Her stomach cramped a little. Both Janae and Cree were from Monroe Hills. Was he here to bring her bad news about one of them? She’d just gotten off the phone less than an hour ago. What could’ve happened? Before she could find the courage to ask, he pulled a wallet from his back pocket and handed it to her. She opened it to see his badge resting against the leather of one side, and his identification card on the other. “I’m here to speak with you about your ex-husband, Karl.”
God, the universe has a piss-poor sense of humor.
“Whatever he did, I don’t want to be involved. Karl stopped being my problem two years ago.”
She handed him his badge and watched him take a deep breath as he slid it back inside his pocket. “Honestly, I don’t know how to say this any other way than to just to come right out and say it. He’s somehow scammed my twenty-five-year-old sister into agreeing to marry him. I need your help to prevent that.”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow as she tried to process what the stranger had said to her. “Obviously I haven’t had enough coffee. Did you just ask me to help you stop my ex-husband from marrying your sister?”
“I did. She’s young and this is the first serious relationship she’s had. She can’t see that Scott is bad news.”
Vanessa shook her head and stepped around him. She was right; she definitely hadn’t had enough coffee for this mess. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“Please, Ms. Jared.”
She had one foot on the first step when the desperation in his voice called out to her. Against her better judgment, she stopped and looked at him, twisting her foot into an awkward angle that caused her to lose her balance. Before she could feel herself fall, his strong arms were around her, pulling her to him while simultaneously setting her to rights on the leveled walkway.
“Are you okay?”
“Okay” wasn’t a word she’d use to describe what it felt like to be pressed against the wall of this man’s chest. And damn if that wasn’t exactly what it felt like—a wall. Hard to the touch, and strong enough to hold her up while his heat made her want to spread herself like warm butter against his skin, Vanessa was far from okay. Too young to be experiencing menopause, and with the early signs of fall keeping the sunny days cool, this sudden hot flash searing her from the inside out had to directly result from how good it felt to be held by this sexy man.
“Ms. Jared?”
“Vanessa,” she mouthed, then cleared her throat, trying to make her mouth work to form intelligible words. “Please, call me Vanessa.”
“Vanessa,” he whispered, his mouth close enough that all it would take was a tilt of her head and she’d know what that full bottom lip tasted like.
She swallowed, trying not to look as desperate as her fluttering heart told her she was. Vowing that if she ever regained her composure, she’d put enough distance between the two of them that she wouldn’t behave like such a sex-starved cliché. He stared at her for a long moment, and then he peeled his hands away and steppedback. “Please, Vanessa. Just hear me out. If you decide not to help me after we talk, I won’t bother you anymore.”
The way his dark eyes searched hers was enough for her to grant his request. When he added a sweet smile that curved that sexy mouth into the perfect bow and those deep dimples of his to the mix, Vanessa knew she was screwed—in the theoretical sense, anyway.
She threw up her hands and tapped one of the pointed toes of her designer shoes against the ground. “I’m gonna need more caffeine to deal with this.” When his smile broadened, her heart missed a beat again. If she were smart, she’d recognize that for the internal warning it was and walk away. Yet watching relief mixed with a spark of anticipation flash across his eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to say no.
These last two years, she’d honed her manipulation sensors. She wasn’t picking up exploitation from him, only concern.
Still, even though he seemed on the up and up, she let caution lead. No matter how attractive he was or how concerned he was for his sister, Vanessa had to protect herself. Determined never to be vulnerable again, the new Vanessa had to at least put up a “strong woman” front. “You’ve got as long as it takes for me to finish my cup of coffee at my local coffee shop, and then I’m out.”
Chapter 2
Michael sat in a booth in a nearby coffee shopdrumming his fingers against the tabletop while he waited for Vanessa. She’d insisted on meeting him there in her own car. He couldn’t blame her. Badge or no, he was a total stranger. He could definitely see how unsavory getting in a car with him might’ve been. He liked her instincts and wished his sister Cindy had enough cynicism not to be so trusting.
It was a sin and a shame that one had to be so guarded in today’s world. Unfortunately, life had taught him that people like Karl Scott preyed upon kind and open people like his baby sister, Cindy, and he wasn’t having that. So before he ended up in chains for wrapping his hands around Scott’s neck and squeezing as tightly as he could, Michael thought about how he would convince Vanessa to help him.
He’d collected enough information about her in his investigation of her ex-husband to know that she was an accountant by trade. She’d worked for Scott Pharmaceutical exclusively until her divorce two years ago. She spent most of her time here in Bergen County, and outside of a few public charity events, she didn’t seem to have much use for high society.
He glimpsed her as she walked into the coffee shop, stopping to look around briefly until she laid eyes on him. She removed her large designer sunglasses, the type people wore when they were trying to keep the rest of the world out. She gave him a small, brief smile, and it was enough to make excitement zip through his chest. He nodded in return, afraid any other gesture would reveal too much. She held up a finger asking him to wait while she stepped toward the counter to place her order. When she was done, she stepped clear of the counter and he could get a better look at her.
It was like watching the heroine enter the scene in a movie; everyone in the room turned to look at her. The few steps seemed to drag out in slow motion, so everyone could take in her beauty.
