“You want me to stop touching you, Angel?” I prayed to every religious deity I could think of, then threw in a few celebrities and musicians for good measure. Sweet Dolly Parton, please don’t let her say yes.
Her lashes flickered. Surprise and something else sparked to life in those beautiful brown eyes.
“No.” It was a whisper. A smoky plea that started my blood simmering.
Our gazes met and held as I skimmed my hand an inch higher until my fingers brushed the underside of her breast. My dick throbbed painfully behind my fly. Little licks of flames warmed my muscles.
Lina let out a sexy little whimper, and I swear to Dolly, I almost came then and there. I committed the sound to memory, knowing I’d pull it out over and over again. Knowing even if my dick never worked again, I’d still wrap my fist around it remembering that sound coming out of those parted lips.
She bucked her hips against me and nearly broke me. Maybe it would have. Maybe I would have dragged her to the floor and used my teeth and tongue and fingers on her until she was naked and begging for me.
But maybes weren’t in the cards.
“What in the fucking fuck are you doing?” Knox snarled. He was holding a broom in one hand and a beer in the other and looked as though he wanted to break both over my head.
“We’re havin’ a private discussion,” I snapped.
“The hell you are,” my brother growled.
“Actually, I was just leaving,” Lina said, her cheeks flushed a tantalizing pink. “If you want to have another private interrogation, Chief, I’ll make sure I have my lawyer present.”
“Swear to God, Nash, if you don’t back the fuck up, I’m gonna break this bottle over your head and then make you clean it up with this fuckin’ broom.”
Being happily engaged was definitely affecting my idiot brother’s ability to craft threats.
Still, it wasn’t smart for me to keep my back to him. I removed my hand from Lina’s waist and tried to take a step back. But she was still clinging to my shirt.
“You’re the one who’s gotta let go, baby,” I whispered.
She glanced down at her hands clamped on my shirt and slowly released her grip.
“Are you okay to drive?” I asked her.
“She had one fucking beer. You gonna run a sobriety checkpoint in my dining room?” Knox demanded.
“I wasn’t talking about the beer,” I said to him through clenched teeth.
“I’m fine. Thanks for dinner, Knox. I’ll see you around.” She slipped past me and headed out the front door.
“What. The. Fuck. Was. That?” Knox punctuated each word with a jab from the broom handle into my ribs.
“Ow.”
“No,” he said.
“No what?”
Using the broom handle, Knox pointed to the door Lina had exited through, then back at me. “That. It’s not happening.”
I ignored his comment. “How much do you know about Lina?”
“What the hell do you mean? I’ve known her forever.”
“Do you know what she does for a living?”
“She works in insurance.”
“Wrong. She’s an insurance investigator for Pritzger Insurance.”
“Not seeing a difference.”
“She’s basically a bounty hunter for personal property.”
“So what?”
“So she shows up in town right after I take a couple of bullets. She lies about what she does for a living, and she knows the U.S. marshal who’s up my ass. You don’t think those are some interesting coincidences?”
“Why does everyone in my fuckin’ life wanna talk shit to death?” Knox muttered.
“Why does she wear a watch that monitors her heart rate?”
“How the fuck should I know? Don’t all those idiots who run for fun do that? I’m more concerned with why my brother had one of my best friends pinned up against a wall.”
“You got a problem with that?”
“Yeah. A big one.”
“Care to elaborate?” I asked.
“Fuck no. You and Lina ain’t happenin’。 End of story. No elaboration necessary.”
“That strategy ever work with your girls?”
Wearily Knox pulled out one of the chairs and sat. “Not so far, but I’m hopin’ one of these times they’ll let me take the win. Sit your ass down.” He indicated the chair Lina had vacated.
As soon as I sat, Piper scrabbled at my shins and I picked her up. She cuddled up against my chest and let out a sigh. As if I made her feel safe. Damn dog.
“You wanna talk. Fine. Shut the hell up and listen. Trust me when I say Lina’s the kind of friend you want on your side. Not just cause she’s hell on wheels when you’ve pissed her off, but because she’s one of the good ones. If she ain’t runnin’ her mouth about job descriptions and stupid smart watches, she’s got a reason for not sharing. Maybe that reason is you haven’t earned her trust. Or maybe that shit’s because it’s none of your damn business.”
But there was something in me that knew it was my business.
“I know—”
Knox cut me off. “Shut it. She’s one of the best people I know. So are you. Fix things with her and then leave her alone. I’m not lettin’ you two play games with each other. And stop pinning her to goddamn walls. The woman hates to be touched. I can’t believe she didn’t detach your balls on her way out.”
Lina hated being touched? This was news.
“We’re goin’ out tomorrow night. You, me, and Lucy,” my brother continued.
I shook my head. “I’ve got a lot on my plate—”
“We’re goin’ out tomorrow night,” he repeated. “Honky Tonk, 9:00 p.m. It’s your day off, and if you try and cancel, Lucy and I are gonna show up at your place and drag you out. We’ve got shit to discuss.”
NINE
A NEIGHBORLY COCKBLOCKING
Nash
Iflipped the bird to my federal shadow in the parking lot, dropped Piper off at my place, and then grudgingly headed next door. Lina’s door loomed in front of me like a castle wall. There was music coming from inside. Something with a driving beat. Something that said “Beware: Angry Woman.” I hesitated for a second, then knocked hard.
The door swung open almost immediately, and I blinked in surprise when Mrs. Tweedy appeared in the doorway. She was holding her usual evening glass of bourbon on the rocks and dressed in her usual uniform of workout tights, tunic, and frosty pink lipstick. Her white hair was tall and poufy, adding another four inches to her five foot even frame.
I checked the apartment number, wondering how in the hell I’d knocked on the wrong door.
“Well, if it isn’t Studly Do-Right,” she said in her southern twang. The ice in her glass clinked merrily.
2B. Right next door to my place. I hadn’t gotten the wrong place. Mrs. Tweedy was answering the wrong door.
“Lina here?” I asked.
“Nope. I’m breaking and entering. Wanna cuff me?” She held up her hands, wrists together, and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
January Tweedy was feisty enough at 76 that I shuddered to think what she’d been like as a teenager.