Double Dare (18 page)

She opened her door with a smile but it slowly faded. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find him and the police won’t do a damn thing since he’s eighteen. I’d get these types of cases.” He paced outside the door.

She had stepped back, which meant he was probably scaring the hell out of her. His brother was missing and that thought kept his brain misfiring.

“Young kid gone and everyone just thinks he isn’t a minor and could do whatever the hell he wants. By the time anyone starts to give a crap the person has been dead for days or weeks. Of course, all I could do at that point is find out how they died.” He stopped long enough to look at her. “I need you to help me find him.”

She motioned him inside, and it was the first time he noticed her clothes. Had to be a little past midnight, but Emmaline stood fully dressed. Behind her he could see into the kitchen, but the light wasn’t on.

“Who can’t you find?”

“Josh,” Tobias said.

“Oh.” She colored slightly.

“Oh.” He couldn’t hold back the bite in his tone.

“Hey,” she snapped back, and then she said it again softening her tone. “He’s here. In the guest room, asleep.”

“Why here?”

She blinked as though the question surprised her. “I don’t know. Why did you come here?”

Because Tobias knew he could. It wasn’t until that truth hit him that Tobias realized how on the edge he’d been since leaving Kevin’s house almost three hours ago. The stiffness in his body melted and formed into jelly. He had enough sense not to slide to the floor because this visit would be hard enough to explain without dramatics.

“I’ve been everywhere looking for him.” He shook his head. “That’s not the truth. I didn’t want to go back home only to see a police car waiting for me. Someone just sitting there, hoping I wouldn’t show up so they wouldn’t have to tell me my brother was dead.”

“All the comforting things I can say right now won’t take back the worry you’ve had for the past…” She looked at the clock on the small table by the door. A clock sat on it. “Wow. Three hours. You probably need a drink.” She motioned for him to follow her.

“No, you were probably on your way to bed.”

“If it was an imposition, I wouldn’t have offered,” she said while still moving toward the kitchen.

He followed, legs becoming steady again. His brother was ok. Asleep. If Tobias wasn’t so relieved he’d have gone up the stairs to strangle Josh, but then again, how would his brother know that missing for any amount of time would send Tobias into a panic? How did his brother know anything since Tobias never talked about what was wrong?

“Cognac or Clear?”

“Cognac?” he said with a laugh and it felt good, because he hadn’t known if it were possible for the past few hours.

“I’m highbrow like that, but I do have some corn whiskey Abigail gave me around here somewhere.” She rummaged in one of the cupboards, pulling down glasses. She then opened a cabinet filled with liquor and from his vantage point, built to store it so the liquor wouldn’t go bad. “Tell me about your day.”

Tobias settled onto one of the chairs at the table. “I’ve been alienating my brother.”

She poured the liquor with ease, but her brows had shot up. “If you said that to a therapist you’d owe three hundred bucks. What have you been doing?”

“Treating him like my kid brother who I had to protect.” He took the glass and had a moment of pleasure to see she sat down in the chair right next to his.

“Protect him from what?” Taking a sip from her own glass, she didn’t lean back, away from him. She was comfortable in his space.

“Me. The world at large.”

“Any bad emotion he might feel?” Her face softened. “You’re a good brother. I find it hard to believe Josh needed to be protected from you.”

“I’ve been lying to him and he knows it. I don’t know how long he’s known.” He shook his head. “And she was right. This whole time, she was right.”

Her
face rose up in his mind and still it wasn’t the one that smiled or looked at him from hooded lids, but the one covered in blood. Her blood. It had been on his hands when he touched her face.

“Tobias?” Concern filled her voice.

Emmaline’s face came into focus again, worry creased her brow. The ponytail bound back her wavy hair and tightened the almond shaped eyes. The caramel tints were clear and without fear. She sat closer to him now. He shook his head. She should be scared. A man, a stranger to her for all intents and purposes, was gazing off into the distance mid-conversation.

“My fiancée. Died. Was murdered. She died right in my arms. Protecting my store. The one I left. Some kid thought it would be cool to rob the ex-cop’s coffee shop. Brie―Gabriella was stopping by while on duty. He wouldn’t put the gun down and he got off the shot before she could.”

He closed his eyes, readying himself for the deluge of images, but none came. He opened his eyes. “My brother didn’t know, or at least I didn’t think he knew about the relationship. She used to be my partner. Her being around all the time, on her days off, made sense.”

“He watched.” She paused, licking her lips in a nervous gesture, and then went on, “He’s been watching you deal with the loss of someone very close and dear. I bet you tried to shrug it off so he wouldn’t know or couldn’t tell. Your brother’s sharp. He’s seen right through you.”

Her simple understanding went beyond words. The belief no one could or would understand what he’d been suffering from popped like a balloon with too much air. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what to do, so he picked up his drink instead.

“You’ve gone quiet on me.” Something as dark as he sometimes felt, passed behind her gaze.

He stilled at her reaction. “I don’t feel right yet.”

“It takes time.” She went silent a moment. “How about we kiss for a while? It’ll be life affirming.”

He quirked a brow. “Forgetting your rules?”

“Tonight they don’t matter.” She put down her cup and then moved over to him, straddling him in the chair. “It’ll make me feel alive, too.”

He took in a deep breath and the scent of vanilla filled him. She wasn’t trying to seduce him. The jeans and simple white shirt, three buttons open, hugged her curves, but it might as well have been lingerie. He knew what she looked like without an inch of clothes. He cupped her butt, brought her closer to his stiff manhood, and knew the skin there would be supple and soft beneath his rough hands. A moan parted her lips and he kissed her.

Tonight she didn’t pour lightness into him, but something more textured and unknown. The grief she refused to speak of overwhelmed him and sucked him in, surprising him and arousing his senses. He placed his hands on her arms, taking in the warmth of her and pulled her closer. Her breasts flattened against his chest and he scooted down into the chair. She moaned again and bit her bottom lip.

“Josh.” She shuddered, grinding along the length of him. “He’s upstairs.”

“I know. It’s just a kiss.” He took her tongue into his mouth again.

She laughed low, but it sounded pained. “Lie.”

“It is.” He nipped at her bottom lip until she parted her mouth to allow his tongue entrance. He pulled back for a second to ask, “What kind of pie did you feed him? Apple?” She hummed in agreement and he said, “I can taste cinnamon, too.”

“There’s some left. Amazingly enough.” She placed her hands on the sides of his face and took the kiss deeper. Minutes later, she said, “I can heat it up.”

“You. Off my lap.” It wasn’t the thought of the pie that had his head dizzy and so muddled that he forgot his next thought while kissing her. She shifted again and he remembered. “You getting up is probably a good idea.”

“You showed me the skeletons in your closet,” she said never backing up from his lips.

“And you haven’t showed me yours. Interesting.”

She shut him up with her mouth and it distracted him long enough that he didn’t care. “I did,” she said. “If we’re going to talk in code I might need to get up.”

“You might,” he said and felt the smile deep inside him wanting to cross his face. He situated her back on the hardness between his thighs. She gasped in his mouth.

“You pigheaded bastard.”

He did laugh against her lips before kissing her again. “Feel better?”

“I feel like feeding you pie.” The husk in her voice pleased him. “I wasn’t worried when I made it so it’ll be like foreplay for us.”

“Better than Late Night?”

“Nothing is better than that.”

He could think of one thing, her mouth, but he refused to form the words and speak them. He felt too raw, too hollow already and didn’t have the courage yet to put those feelings out there.

Instead he kissed her until she got the good sense for the both of them to get up and make him a plate of apple pie. When it was gone, he gave her one more kiss goodnight. He’d give her this last chance to change her mind about them being serious, to think what had happened over and then it would be a different game. Things would change, finally.

*****

“What?” Josh’s belligerent tone was subtle, but Tobias heard it.

“Gabriella and I planned to get married.” He cut to the heart of the problem.

His brother wanted confirmation. Validation, really. Tobias should have given it to him a long time ago, but he would do it now without hesitation. “She was killed in front of me. She died in my arms…” He had to take a moment to push the rest of the words out. “And I haven’t been the same since.”

“No one would expect you to.” Josh took the confession in stride though he shifted the chair in his hands. A chair he had created from scraps of wood.

The coffee shop was to open in another hour. The nonverbal agreement between them was Josh helped him in the morning. Tobias had taken one of the quiet moments they had to talk.

“It’s made me touchy about certain things.” Tobias took a deep breath and pushed on. “I went looking for you last night, to talk to you and couldn’t find you. It worried me.”

Josh’s hand stilled on the chair. Finally, he placed it on the ground. Tobias kept grinding the vanilla flavored beans, which had become popular, behind the counter. But, he saw the frown and then the entire effect of his words on his brother. Apparently, Emmaline hadn’t told his brother about the late night visit.

“As you can see I’m ok,” Josh said.

Tobias wanted to smile. His brother wouldn’t give the ground he had, in his mind, marked between them. “You are, but for a while I’d appreciate it if you told me where you’d be until I can get a handle on my worry.”

“How long would that be?” Josh’s tone was less sharp now, but no less intent. “I can’t always plan where I’ll be at any given moment.”

After eating apple pie, Tobias had gone home even though it had felt right to stay with Emmaline. The invitation to spend the night had been implied, but not in a sexual way. Her home had an openness about it. Not the decor, but the woman gave off the feeling you could stay as long as you needed. Made sense it’s where his brother ended up. It explained why her friends had keys to the place and found themselves there often. The woman took in strays. Surprising she didn’t have a million pets in her home. But it made sense.

Tobias considered the question and tried to answer. “Not much longer,” he settled on, his throat tight. “I miss her. I see her in my head sometimes.”

“When you zone out?”

Though he knew his condition was obvious, he’d been struggling for well over a year, it still surprised Tobias his brother had known this long without saying anything. “Yes.”

Josh nodded. “I liked her.”

The simple words gut punched Tobias. He had to stop grinding the beans to rub a hand over his stomach. “She was amazing.”

“And Miss Sharp?”

“No less amazing and I’m seeing where that goes.”

Josh nodded again, having finished putting down the chairs. “She let me stay over last night. That’s where I was.”

“I know,” he said.

His brother glanced up sharply at him. “How?”

“I went over to see if she would take me to all the college spots you might’ve been, but when I got there I found out you were asleep upstairs.”

“She didn’t say anything to me.” There wasn’t a hint of betrayal in the tone.

Tobias fought the smile. “Would she?”

Josh shook his head after a moment. “She’s a secret keeper.”

Tobias grinned at his brother. No, Josh would never be a cop, but damned if he didn’t have the instincts. “She is.”

“Do you plan to break them out?”

It went without saying, but his brother needed to hear it. “Yup.”

Josh snorted. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.”

Josh was edging toward the door as if ready to leave, but suddenly stopped. “Did Tina and George know?”

“After.”

He placed a hand on the handle. “You keep secrets, too.”

“I do.”

“I won’t,” Josh said, the steel back in his voice.

“I hope you never have to.” They met each other’s gaze and there was understanding, one they never truly had. “We good now?”

His brother did a slow shrug, up and down telling him it was ok, and then left the shop. They’d be fine. Tobias’ frame relaxed, and he kept grinding the beans.

Chapter Fifteen

Emma waited until Abigail left the porch for a bathroom break to pounce on Sasha. There wasn’t a need, yet, for the porch light to be turned on since the sun snuck in through the oak trees leaves still clinging to the branches, but summer had made a quick comeback, warming the air, and flies kept trying to land in the lemonade. She had more important things on her mind than flies in the lemonade.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep up this charade,” Emma said. “You don’t look so hot.”

“Haven’t been sleeping very well.”

Ya think?
It looked like Sasha had been getting a little too happy with her mascara and black eye liner beneath the eyes. “You’ve got three more days, because you’re looking like death, and what if it’s something way more serious that you definitely shouldn’t be putting off.”

“What could be more serious?”

“Dying,” Emma said.

There was none of her inherent sensuality in Sasha’s shrug, just a plain tired lift of shoulders. “I’m exhausted. That’s all.”