The sound of dejection in her voice had him feeling like a jerk. He pulled to the curb a few houses short of their destination, but left the air conditioner running to beat back the heat. He didn’t know how people lived here in the summer. The humidity in March made it feel like he was stepping into a sauna every time he went outside.
“I liked your parents very much. Or, I would have, if I wasn’t working so hard not to tell a bunch of lies that I’d have to apologize for later. And your mom is a fabulous cook. We couldn’t have bought something at any restaurant around here and had better. But that’s not the point. I’m already getting over my anger. But I deserve the truth. Why tell them I’m your boyfriend when I could have just been a friend or a friend of a friend? Now, when they ask you about me later and you tell them we broke up—or whatever your cover is going to be when I don’t come back around—it will be that much harder. And it will probably make me look like a heel, thank you very much.”
She clutched her hands together in her lap, and he suddenly felt like the heel he’d just described. After everything she’d been through, and the upcoming interviews about her ordeal, here hewas dumping on her. Regardless of the little drama that had just played out, it was nothing compared to what she’d endured.
He placed his hand over the top of hers. She glanced at him in surprise.
“I’m sorry, Teagan. I’m making it out to be far more important than it was. Let’s just drop it and—”
She shook her head. “No. I owe you an explanation. And it was far more important than you realize. Yesterday, at your house, you mentioned that your girlfriend left after your injury. Well you’re not the only one. Except it was my longtime high school sweetheart. It wasn’t official yet, but we’d always assumed we’d get married after we both graduated from college and got our careers going. He couldn’t...he couldn’t handle knowing what happened to me. Or how messed up I was for so long afterward.”
He took her hand in his and entwined their fingers together. “You don’t have to do this. It’s okay. I understand—”
“No. You don’t. Look, I’m over him. Way over him. Anyone who can’t stick around through the bad isn’t the one you want with you during the good. It was a blessing that I found that out before vowing to spend the rest of my life with him. The breakup was just a few months after the attack. I barely even think about him anymore. But I’ve never...since then I haven’t...well, it’s been hard to—”
“You haven’t dated since?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then nodded.
He waited in silence until she looked at him again. He tugged one hand free and gently smoothed back a recalcitrant curl that had escaped the long braid down her back. “Since someone as gorgeous and bubbly as you could have a date any time she wants, that’s obviously a personal decision. But your parents don’t understand your choice, do they? They worry about you because you haven’t, in their eyes at least, moved on.”
She blinked as if in surprise. “How did you figure all that out so fast?”
He glanced down at his shirt and frowned. “Where’s my I’m a Profiler badge? I could have sworn I was wearing that today right along with my Eagle Scout badge.”
She managed a weak laugh and it warmed him inside to see her smile again. “You, Bryson Anton, were never a Boy Scout.”
He pressed his free hand against his chest. “You wound me to think I couldn’t be a scout.” He winked. “What gave me away?”
She shook her head, her smile more carefree. “You’d have been bored to tears doing all the things they make you do to earn a badge. Instead, you’d rather be out there in the thick of things, getting lost in the woods just to see if you could find your own way out. Or setting a fire to see if you could put it out. Not exactly good scouts material.”
“Looks like I’m not the only profiler around here.” He squeezed her hand before letting it go. “If using me helps to make your parents worry less about you because they think you have a boyfriend, then I suppose the subterfuge is okay. Just give me some warning before you throw me in a fire next time, okay?”
He barely had time to blink before she was straddling the console, one thigh plastered against him, her generous breasts flattened against his chest. All his logical, well-thought-out arguments about not getting involved with her, especially while working the case, were incinerated the second her lips touched his.
So much for warning him before throwing him into another fire.
His whole body was being scorched from the outside in, her tongue doing amazing things with his, her long nails raising goose bumps of pleasure across the back of his neck. But he wanted more, so much more. He groaned deep in his throat and wrapped his arms around her sensuous body. Then he halfturned, pulling her the rest of the way onto his lap. He kissed her the way he’d wanted to since the moment she’d stood in his doorway looking so adorable as she breathed the word “Hi.” If the pain from his hip hadn’t stopped him that day, he’d probably have done something juvenile, like drool. Instead, he’d focused on the pain to keep from acting like a letch.
Teagan was unlike any woman he’d ever met. He never knew what to expect from her. Half of him was annoyed that he couldn’t predict her reactions even with his years of training as a profiler. The other half of him was sliding his hands around to the front of her shorts, grasping her zipper. Realizing what he was about to do, he drew on deep reserves of strength and forced his hands to release her zipper. Instead, he gently grasped her shoulders and eased her back to straddling the console instead of him. His lungs labored in his chest as they blinked at each other from only a foot apart. And he couldn’t help but be pleased that she seemed to be struggling for air just as much as him.
“Holy smokes,” she whispered, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat, her hands shaking as she reached up to check her hair. “Lennie what’s-his-face was junior high compared to you. Heck, elementary school. That wasamazing. I can’t even remember what he looks like anymore. And we were an item for over eight years.”
He grinned, his ego ridiculously inflated by her compliment. “Wait. Lennie? Your old boyfriend’s name wasLennie?”
“No judging. People don’t choose their own names.” Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, making him groan. “Kiss me again, Bryson. Before I start remembering what what’s-his-face looked like.”
He grabbed her upper arms and gently but firmly pushed her back. “Hell, no. We need to talk about this...thing going on between us before it goes any further. Besides, another kiss like that and I won’t be able to walk for a week.” He grimaced andshifted in his seat. “As it is, I won’t be able to walk for a few minutes, at least.”
Her gaze flew to his lap and her eyes widened. “Oh, mercy. Lenniereallyhad nothing on you.”
He laughed and pushed her farther away. “I’m starting to feel sorry for this Lennie guy.”
Her lips firmed. “Don’t. Trust me. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy.” She settled back down on her side of the car and drew a ragged breath.
Seeing her mood change so quickly, as if swimming through a layer of dark memories, had an ice water effect on his traitorous body—which was a good thing right now. But it also had him wanting to punch her ex-boyfriend for the hurt he’d obviously caused her.
“I’ve got a few friends at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “Where’s Lennie live? I bet I could rack him up enough speeding tickets so he’d be riding the bus to work for the next six months.”
