Unbreakable Hearts (18 page)

“Jesus. What’s wrong wit
h you?” He eyed her over his cup as he took a sip. “Ouch! Damn! What do you have it set on? Molten?”

Tilly laughed. “You gonna sue me?”

“I just might. Now, what’s the matter?” He leaned against the counter looking at her.

Sh
e sighed. “It’s everything. I mean, my house gets broken into.
Twice.
My cameras were taken along with my laptop. I’ll have to call my insurance agent again tomorrow. I want to stay in my own fucking house, but I’m scared to death that I’ll be broken into again.”

Jeff raised his eyebrows at her, and she knew he wa
s surprised she’d dropped the F-bomb, but she was angry. “I’m really sorry, Till. I know it sucks, but we’ll catch the fucker. Okay? Got the window fixed too.”

“
Thanks.”

He watched her carefully. “Sure that’s all that’s going on?”

She wasn’t about to tell her brother what’d happened between her and John or all she’d been thinking, so she just shook her head, staring down at her coffee mug.

“Did something happe
n last night?” Jeff asked.

She looked up at him, wanting to put an e
nd to this. “Do you really want to know?”

A
look of revulsion crossed his face as he thought about it for a second. “Not really.”

“That’s what I thought. Drop it.”

“Oz seems like a good guy.”

“God, really?
I said to drop it.” She shot him a dirty look.

He walked to the bar and stood across from her, setting his cup down
and crossing his arms over his chest. “You know what, Till? I know I’m your baby brother. And I know that brothers and sisters don’t share shit like this very often, thank God almighty, but I’ve got something to say, and you’re gonna listen, got it?”

She scowled at him, not used to his being so bossy. He stood looking at her, waiting on an answer, s
he guessed, so she nodded but didn’t lose the scowl.

“I know you don’t think I’ve noticed, but I have. You shut people out. No, let me rephrase that. You shut
men
out. Ever since Dad and Uncle Tim, it’s like you’re scared to death to let anyone in. And I get it. I do. Losing them was the worst. But you’ve got to stop this. You stayed with an asshole the past two years because he was ‘safe.’ You knew you’d never fall for him, so you just kept him around. But you’ve gotta let yourself be happy, Till. And I think this Oz guy just might be able to do that, make you happy. You need to give him a chance.”

She sighed and took a drink. “You done, Dr. Phil?”

“Don’t be a bitch about it. I’m just trying to help.”

God, she
was
being a bitch. “I’m sorry. I know you’re right. But I
am
scared and I don’t know how to change that.”

“T
o be honest with you, I was kinda the same way. I almost didn’t ask Jen out. Almost.” He had her full attention now. “But, God, she had the most spectacular ass I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t help myself.”

She stood up and went toward the sink, smacking him on the arm in the process. “You’re an idiot.” She chuckled.

“At least I’m an idiot who’s getting laid properly.” He waggled his eyebrows at her scrunched up face. “And you can be an idiot too.”

She laughed now.
“I don’t want to be an idiot. Thanks, though.”

He laughed with her. “You know what I mean. I think you should give this guy a chance. And this kinda grosses me out, but I saw the way you two looked at each other. I think you should go for it.”

Ugh. Even her brother thought she should get with John.

“We’ll see,” she said as she washed her cup out then put it in the dishwasher.

***

Graham sat at his desk in his office, staring straight ahead, not paying any mind to the smashed laptop that lay on the floor
.

The one
that he’d flung against the wall.

The one that’d screwed him
beyond all measure.

He’d been working on the Maxwell woman’s laptop. He’d cracked her password and had logged onto it, no problem.
When he’d pulled up the file that contained the parade pictures, he scrolled through them thinking maybe he’d overreacted, that she actually hadn’t captured him on film, but as he looked at each photo, he saw that there were several with him in them, even two that had him looking straight at the fucking camera. Jesus. Yeah, he’d been in disguise, but he knew there’d be some smartass detective who’d figure it out if he got hold of the photos.

He’d deleted them immediately then he’d
found the icons on her desktop that led to an online file storage site where he’d deleted all the pictures there too. But when he’d pulled up her email account, he found several emails that’d been sent to local newspapers and magazines and probably twenty more to different magazines, print and online, across the country, all of them having her pictures attached, his included.

“Fuck!” he roared
.

Only one thing left to do
. Pay a visit to Tilly Maxwell and finish this once and for all.

Chapter 17

Oz found his skip
by noon and it’d been the mission from hell. Hank had given him a bogus address, not by any fault of his own, and who the fuck knew there were fifty billion Mike Williams’ in New York City. Jesus. Even though the search had been narrowed down to Hell’s Kitchen, he’d still run into problems. He’d also embarrassed himself a couple times trying to nab the wrong guy until Hank had finally sent him a picture, which had made things a lot easier.

After turning Mike Williams #8
12,936 in to the police, Oz decided that with the adrenaline flow he had going, on top of his bad mood at how the day had been going so far, he’d give Tilly’s idiot of an ex-boyfriend a visit. After the second break-in, he’d gotten Doug’s address from Jeff who’d wholeheartedly agreed that the guy needed a good talking to.

When Doug answered the door, the look of shock on his face told
Oz that the guy knew who he was, triggering his what-the-fuck meter. “You Doug Donati?” he asked.

“Yeah.
Who wants to know?” Doug asked defensively, smirking up at Oz, a couple days’ worth of growth on his chin as if he were trying to grow his own goatee. 

“My name’s John Osby. I work for Citadel Executive Protection. I’m a friend of Tilly Maxwell’s.”

Doug laughed sarcastically.
“Oh, a friend, huh? You’re probably fucking her, aren’t you? I knew that bitch had someone else. Only reason she left me.”

Oz clenched his fists
and narrowed his eyes at the guy wondering how in the hell Tilly had spent two years with the little weasel. He stood about five-eight and maybe weighed a buck fifty. She’d definitely scraped the bottom of the barrel with this guy. Jesus.

“First off, watch your fucking mouth.
Second, thought it’d be a good idea to pay you a visit since she’s told me you were pretty pissed off that she broke up with you, and now that she’s been broken into twice, suspicion falls on you.”

Doug jerked his head back in sur
prise, huffing out, “Me? I haven’t broken into her place! It was another gu—”

Oz raised an eyebrow. “Do you know something?”

The look on Doug’s face didn’t fool him. “No! I don’t know anything! Why would I?”

Oz nodded slowly
watching the tells Doug was now displaying because of his nervousness: shifting from foot to foot, fingers pulling at his pants leg, avoiding eye contact. What a prick. “That your PT Cruiser parked outside her house last night?”

“What? No!”
Doug sputtered, and Oz knew he’d caught the idiot.

He
reached into his jacket pocket and pulled his wallet out, smirking when Doug flinched. Getting a CEP card out, he handed it to him and said, “You need to call if you know anything.”

Doug made a face as he
looked at the card, holding it with his thumb and finger as if it was covered in dog shit.

Oz rolled his eyes
continuing. “Also, stay the fuck away from Tilly or you answer to me. I find out it was you who’s been doing this shit, not gonna be pretty. You know something and you’re not telling, I’ll be the first to bash your face in.” He turned to go then stopped, looking back and added, “And get yourself another fucking car. PT Cruisers are for pussies.” He turned and walked down the steps with a chuckle.

“Yeah, well, at least my goatee looks better than yours!” Doug yelled after him, which made Oz snort
. As he headed down the walk toward the cab that’d been waiting on him, another one pulled up and an older woman in a huge hat and church clothes got out, looking at him curiously. After they passed, he heard her say, “Who’s that, Doug?” and had to laugh at the answering reply of “No one, Ma. You making lunch? Can’t do sandwiches ‘cause I saw we’re outta bread.”

Figured the guy lived with his mother.

Getting in the cab, Oz gave the driver Tilly’s address. He’d been thinking about her all morning and hadn’t liked the way things had been left between them, so he was going to get a few things straight with her.

At her place, h
e knocked on the door waiting for her to answer, ready to argue with her, but when she opened it and saw it was him she threw herself into his arms almost knocking him off the porch.

“Hi
, baby, I’m happy to see you too,” he said with a chuckle. When she pulled back, he saw that she’d been crying. “Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” He frowned down at her as he held her by the shoulders. Shit. He hadn’t gotten an alert on his phone about her alarm, so it couldn’t have been that.

“Come
on in,” she said with a sniff, taking his hand and leading him inside. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“I’m good. What’s going on, Til
ly?” he asked, worried that maybe Doug had called and said something.

“I
’m gonna get you a beer. Hang on.” She hurried off, leaving him to frown after her. A minute later, she was back with two bottles, handing one to him then taking a long pull from hers. “All right. Can we talk?”

“
Yes, but tell me everything’s okay first.” If that bastard had been rude to her…

She led him to the couch
and they sat. She turned to face him, sitting on her leg that she’d tucked underneath her. “Everything’s fine. Well, I mean, there hasn’t been a break-in, but I guess you know that since you weren’t alerted. Oh, and my ex, Doug, just called.”

He knew it.
Son of a bitch. “What’d he say?”

She chuckled, waving a hand and making a “pfftt” sound with her mouth.
“Nothing important. Thank you for talking to him.”

Well, thank
God the guy hadn’t upset her. But now the way she was looking at him, like he was her hero or something for having talked to the dumbass, made him want to grab her and kiss her hard and long and wet and deep, but noticing her nervousness and the serious look she wore, he kept his hands, and his lips, to himself.

“
I need to tell you something, John, and I want to be very honest with you, okay?”

Shit. Here it came.
And now he knew he’d read her wrong, that the look she’d just given him wasn’t one of adoration but sympathy. She’d just that morning run and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant. She was going to dump him before they even got started. He took a long drink from his beer thinking he might need it then nodded for her to proceed.

“Y
ou know about my dad and all. Losing him was the worst thing that ever happened to me.” She bit her lip and looked down at the bottle she held resting on her thigh. “But I don’t think you know about my Uncle Tim.” Looking back up at him, she continued after he shook his head. “Uncle Tim was Dad’s brother and a cop too. He was my favorite person ever. He taught me to ride a bike, took Jeff and me to the park on his days off and he was the one who encouraged me to stick with my photography. He even talked to me about opening my own studio one day.” She cleared her throat. “He, uh, also knew about you.”

Oz jerked his head back sharply in
surprise, looking at her confused. “Me?”

Great
. Her uncle must’ve known about his record and the stupid shit he’d done when he was a kid and told her, and now she was going to tell him that she couldn’t date him because he’d been such a dumbass.

“Yes, you.”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “I don’t think you realize what a crush I had on you when we were in school.” She bit her lip again and looked at him from under her lashes as her face reddened. “Well, I guess you kinda do since I told you last night.”

“Babe,” he said, his lips twitchin
g at the sides. She was so fucking cute admitting to it again; something that he himself had been too chicken shit to do.

“
I crushed on you so hard that I actually told him about you.” She took a drink from her bottle. “He, uh, checked into you.”

She did know.
Fucking great.

“I knew you were a bad boy, but I didn’t realize you’d been arrested a couple times.”

“Tilly, I—”

She put a hand on his forearm.
“No, this isn’t bad, John. I promise. Just hear me out.” She offered him a small smile as he sighed wondering how it couldn’t be bad. “Anyway, even though he knew about you, he didn’t judge you. He told me that teenage boys sometimes do stupid things and that you were just a stupid teenage boy.” She chuckled at his eyebrow raise. “Uncle Tim did know better than to tell my dad about you because he knew Dad would’ve thrown a fit that I’d even give you the time of day, but Uncle Tim was the kind of person who always gave people a chance. I mean, not that Dad wasn’t. It’s just that I was his daughter and he wouldn’t have understood.” She huffed out a breath moving her hand back to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “What I’m trying to tell you is that Uncle Tim and I were very close, especially after Dad was killed. And then nine months after Dad died, Uncle Tim died too. Same way. Almost the same exact circumstances.” Her voice had gotten quieter on the last part and her eyes shone with unshed tears. She closed her eyes and a tear escaped, falling down her cheek.

Oz wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him
, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry, Tilly. I didn’t know.” God, all the pain she’d suffered. No wonder she was so afraid of getting close to him.

She
pulled back facing him and set her beer on the coffee table then used her fingers to wipe her eyes. “Talking about them always makes me cry.” She smiled sadly but then a determined look covered her face and she went on. “What I’m getting at here is that I’m closed off.”

“Noticed,” he said, curling a hand behind her neck, squeezing lightly.

She looked at him in surprise. “You did?”

His
lips tipped up at the sides. “Tilly, every time we’ve gotten close, you’ve run. It was only two times, but, yeah, I figured it out.”

She frowned. “Well, the first time I ran, nothing had happened yet. I mean, everything was good in my life!”

“True. But it still tells me that when you get scared, you run.”

Her mouth hung open as she looked at him. “Well, you don’t have to be all smug sitting there acting like you’ve psychoanalyzed me.” She got up in a huff, and he
reached out quickly, looping his arm around her waist, making her let out a little yelp, and pulled her back to sit sideways in his lap. “What are you doing?” she screeched. She tried getting up again, but he was having none of it, holding her there. “John!”

“
Tilly. Listen.” She kept struggling to get away. “Listen!” he said more loudly, jerking her to him more tightly with his arm, making her finally stop trying to get away. She looked at him, none too happy. “Not psychoanalyzing you, baby. It’s just that I knew about your dad. Thought that was probably the reason behind it. Didn’t know about your uncle, though, and I’m really sorry.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “So what is it you’re trying to tell me?”

“Let me up.”

God, so feisty. “Not happening. Did you see what happened when I told you that you run?”

She frowned at him for a few seconds then it was like a light bulb went on in her head.

“Yeah. Told you you run, which made you uncomfortable, so you tried to run,” he stated with a chuckle.

“
Oh, God, I did, didn’t I?” she said quietly. “I’m like an open book, so easy to read, aren’t I?” She looked at him as if disappointed in herself.

“Baby, you’re a woman, and I’ve never met a woman who was easy
to read.” That garnered him a smack on the arm from her, which made him laugh. He cupped her face gently with one hand, turning her to look at him. “Tell me what it is you’re trying to say.”

“Can I please sit on
the couch? I promise not to run.” She smiled sheepishly at him. He raised an eyebrow but let her go, and she resumed her previous position. “What I’m trying to say is that, well, despite my feelings for you, even if they’re not reciprocated and all you’re wanting is sex, I’m willing to, um, try this with you.”

What the fuck?

He narrowed his eyes at her.
“You think that’s all I want from you? Sex? Jesus Christ.” He set his beer on the coffee table and got up, walking away from her, ending up at the pictures she’d taken of him in high school.

He heard her small voice say, “You mean it’s not?”

He turned and frowned at her shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest. “Where’d you get that idea, Tilly?”

“Well, last night when I, uh, said what I did, you didn’t seem to feel the same. I mean, not that I expect you to or anything! It’s just that
since you didn’t, I thought maybe you weren’t interested in me that way, and, like, um, you just wanted a, uh, physical relationship.”

He put his hands on his hips and stared at the ceiling.
Women. He had no idea where she’d gotten this from, had no clue what the hell was going on in that head of hers. He had to chuckle that she’d worried that she was an open book. Yeah, right. He looked at her. “That why you left this morning?”

She put her head down, looking at her fingers she nervously worked in her lap. “Yes.”