Double Dare (3 page)

Josh sighed. “I know.”

“Wash your hands and don’t forget to smile.”

Josh’s smile was saccharine sweet. Tobias bit back the laugh, because it would only encourage his brother to be more of a smart ass.

Exiting the store, Tobias stepped out onto the sidewalk. The afternoon air held a distinctive chill. One his leather jacket could have fended off. He double-checked both ways before running across to the bakery.

A bell above the door announced his entrance. Emmaline Sharp looked up, and the golden eyes from last night met his gaze. He forced himself forward. She bit her lip, and he could see the battle between acting cool and hiding behind the low counter out of embarrassment. Finally, her shoulders lowered at the third option: act as if she didn’t recognize him. The thought of pulling the wool over his eyes turned the strained smile into a genuine one that lit up the honeyed-shade around her irises.

He gravitated to the light in her gaze and felt trapped in the warmth. Then he remembered they were supposed to go into business with each other. His vision of having both of his stores free and clear from debt, a debt Tobias worried he could never repay, vanished. There was no way he wanted to be associated with a woman who ran down the street naked for fun. This deal was supposed to be the leg up in this community by connecting Caff-aholic with an established and respected bakery. Cops weren’t the only ones who loved coffee and doughnuts. This would have been his way out of debt in six months instead of a year, if not more.

“How may I help you, sir?” At the last word she flinched.

But at the first word, Tobias’ cock hardened. Her voice, as silky as her thighs, brushed along his spine. His jaw flexed. A reckless woman, Tobias reminded himself.

She also seemed to lack the instincts to protect herself against a possible threat. What she should have done was inch toward the phone in case she needed to call the police. A man who’d seen her naked stood in her, currently, empty store. Instead she stood frozen at the counter, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.

“You must have a death wish.”

Her eyes widened at the words.
Good
. Still, she stood at the counter instead of running for the phone.

He rolled his shoulders to displace the tension holding his frame tight, and hoped to dispel the ache in his groin too. “You were reckless last night and you’re being reckless now.”

“So, you hunted me down to tell me that? Great past time if you can get it.” She huffed and just like that the irritation was displaced with curiosity. “How’d you find me anyway?”

It was incredible to see the irritation come and go within a blink. “You ask as though it’s something you shouldn’t be worried about.”

“I’m not,” she snapped at him. Apparently she’d reached the end of her patience.

Like a slap to the face, he realized the mishap. A good thing they’d run into each other last night. Now he knew what ledgers and newspaper articles couldn’t tell him about Emmaline Sharp. The business deal was off. He would go back across the street and send an e-mail that he’d changed his mind. End of story. She wasn’t his responsibility so why did he care if she’d put her life at risk? No crow’s feet creased her eyes and she…well, she’d been quite perky in the chest area…and other places.

Taking a moment to calm, he finally said, “What are you? Twenty-eight, twenty-nine? Old enough to know better than to streak down a street where any pervert or derelict could have…seen you.”

He raked his gaze over her face, her luscious form. Though the apron covered most of her body, he saw right through it. An ability honed on the force allowed him to bring up the image of her from last night in painstaking detail. She opened her plump lips to speak, and then bit the side of her mouth. The action made it too easy for him to remember she tasted like sugar.

“I do know better,” she said on a sigh.

He started to say something else and remembered why he’d came in the first place. She’d given his brother a job because Josh had needed one. She was a reckless, bleeding heart. His brother wouldn’t care what this woman did in her off hours. His brother
would
kill him if he managed to ruin this.

He sighed, leeching all anger from his tone. “I found you by getting an urge for a dessert and walking in here.”

Noting the immaculate counters all around her filled with dessert after dessert, he crossed the black and white checkered floor to the register. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

She looked him up and down. “I feel we should be on first name basis. Emmaline. My friends call me Emma.”

“Which name do you prefer?”

“Oh,” she said in surprise. “Emmaline, but whatever.”

He took her hand and knew it would be soft like the rest of her. Some old and familiar feeling gripped him—attraction. The emotion was all wrong. He didn’t want her. He’d seen her naked. That was it. Tobias reminded himself this visit was for his little brother Josh.

He cleared his throat. “T―Graham.” He chose his middle name and was glad his shyness to the media would finally work in his favor. There weren’t pictures of the Caff-aholic owner. Even after Gabriella…he stopped the thought from taking root.

“You rescued me last night.” She donned the perfect mask of hostess to hide any leftover embarrassment. “I would have ended up in jail if I hadn’t run into you. You’re right; it was reckless. I said the same thing—believe it or not. Never mind.” She gestured to the displays of sweets. “Anything you want. On me.”

Gaze catching on the cherry éclairs, his brain jumped to the image of thick, sweet syrup forming a trail down to the thatch of hair between her thighs. What would be sweeter? The woman or the fruit? Sweat prickled along his forehead. He swiped at it and pumped the brakes on that thought too. What was wrong with him? It wasn’t like he’d never seen a naked woman before.

Her smile faltered, so he cleared his throat again and pointed at the cherry éclairs. “One of those.” He considered the array before him, avoiding her gaze. Chocolate-covered-flaky croissants had a row at the bottom. He gestured. “And one of those.”

“Good eye.” Getting the flimsy baking paper from on top of the counter, she deftly wrapped the treats and dropped them into a white bag adorned with the same logo displayed out front. She snapped her fingers. “Your jacket.” Emmaline sounded breathless. “If you come by tomorrow I can have it here for you.”

He could see her in it. The hem stopped just so on her smooth thighs. He had to get the hell out of there. Detail by remembered detail was turning him into a pervert.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m going to go.”

Not giving her time to reply, Tobias left the store before she noticed the beginnings of a pole tent in his pants. He’d win the embarrassment contest, hands down.

Chapter Three

Back in Caff-aholic, the ache in his groin eased. No way he could bite into the éclair without seeing her naked and covered in cherries while his leather jacket rested on her shoulders. He handed over both items to Josh. He had work to do, a new life to live and none of it would involve Emmaline.

His brother stuck around to eat both the éclair and croissant at the front table. An hour in, Tobias found his rhythm again. The stream of customers were more solicitous than expected. People were checking out the new kid on the block. The transition would have been easier with Sweet Tooth’s stamp of approval, but that was water under the bridge.

It was then Tobias remembered that he had to e-mail Emmaline and let her know he’d changed his mind.

“Josh,” he called, but the rest of the command stuck in his throat.

The fine hairs on his arm rose. He didn’t have to do a double take at the door to recognize the sixty-something couple who’d just walked in. The woman’s hair, a dark sable shade, hung around a face that looked so much like her daughter’s it convinced him ghosts did exist: in a gesture, in a smile, in a look.

Gabriella’s father wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist as they took in the shop. A mural of coffee paraphernalia wove through the lighting fixtures—coffee filters, beans, grinders, foamed milked—making a firm connection with the ‘aholic part of a caffeine addiction.

The detailed carvings along the edge of the mahogany tables weren’t something Gabriella’s parents would miss either. Small details that put more distance between this branch and the one in Heron. Here, no blood had to be scrubbed painstakingly out of the floor. Here, there would be no reminders of their daughter’s death.

The unspoken promise crawled out of the depths of his mind and the memory slipped in.

Gabriella wrapped her foot around his calf. The rough sheets clung to their sweaty skin. Later she’d buy him livable sheets, as she nicknamed them. No details of the room came through, but Tobias knew the apartment’s bedroom didn’t have art decorating the walls, just a bed, a dresser and a nightstand. The essentials for bachelor living, but with Gabriella there, none of it mattered.

“Honestly,” Gabriella said, placing a hand over his cheek. The scent of lavender mixed with sex tickled his nose.

In the darkness of the memory, he could see one lush hip peeking out from under the sheet. “Why wait until you hit retirement? We can open the store now. We have the backing.”

He turned his face into her palm, kissing the beginnings of a callous. One left by handling a service weapon regularly. “Your backers,” he said.

“Ours,” she corrected.

“Our investors will be your parents who are ecstatic about anything that will get you away from patrol.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’ll be ours. You can ease up about your brother and I’m telling you
he knows
.”

He brushed the cobweb-like memory aside, shoved the grief associated with it into a cold, dark place. Those intimate moments weren’t his reality anymore. He forced a smile to his lips, but it slipped when he saw Tina and George had moved away from the door and were talking to Josh at the front table.

“I told you, you didn’t have to come,” Tobias directed his comment at the older man. George’s thumb rubbed up and down Tina’s waist. He added, “But, you’re here. What can I get you?”

“Don’t bother. We came to check out our investment.” George held himself in a stiff manner, letting Tobias know the older man was uncomfortable in the store. Or more likely, uncomfortable with Tobias.

Tina pffted. “We came to check on you.”

Ah, the reason for the discomfort. Unfortunately, one paragraph in a will forever linked their lives together. Seeing Tobias was a constant reminder George had lost his baby girl and had gained an unwanted son. Maybe not unwanted, that wasn’t fair. How could any father look at the man and not see his daughter?

You couldn’t. Grief fueled by anger made it hard for Tobias to breathe. He wanted to hate Gabriella for the gift she tried to give him―family. Tina’s face softened and the smile of pride cut him deep.

How could Tobias look at them and not see her?

“Josh,” he said, unspent emotions clogged his throat. He pushed through it, putting on a mask of indifference.

“I know, I know. Wash my hands, don’t forget to smile and man the counter at all cost.”

Tobias scowled. “Don’t stray from the formula. You forgot that part.”

Josh gave him a mock salute with a smile. That was the problem with well-rounded and confident kids, they tended to be smart asses without encouragement.

“In the back,” he said to Gabriella’s parents.

He went to the end of the counter and unlocked the door to his office. White Diamonds filled the air and it teased a smile from his lips before flat lining again. He went in first and leaned against the farthest wall next to the file cabinets. With a nod, he offered his seat to Tina and the office chair to George, but the other man declined.

Tina smiled at him and the genuine warmth washed over him, but as soon as she looked at her husband she sighed. “
We
wanted to wish you good luck before the meeting.”

Tobias winced. “Who’s watching the store?” Tobias meant the one back home—no, his old home.

“Employees,” George answered. Judgment and disapproval pounded into the one word. “Quite handy.”

Quite expensive for what Tobias wanted to do, but saying that would highlight another reason for George’s anger. On paper the main store was his, Gabriella’s will had been very clear on the percentage. Though George and Tina would have given him the store without having to be asked.

After Gabriella had been murdered, everybody had been knee-deep in his or her own grief. Guilt had trickled into his grief and it was hard to let it go. He had no trouble recognizing survivor’s guilt. Being a former homicide detective, he could point out the symptoms with ease. Knowing it was there didn’t make it any easier to muck through it.

Tobias mucked through it, pointed out who put up majority of the cost, which he had to pay back to get both stores free and clear. If this branch of Caff-aholic did half as good as the main one, he’d have the rest of the money in six months. Less if he pinched every penny until it screamed uncle. They needed the money, though they’d never ask him for it and Tobias couldn’t get there in half a year if he refused to work with Emmaline Sharp.

“Oh, well, about that…” He looked between them.

Tina radiated support, and George was meeting Tobias’ gaze. Anger simmered right below the surface of the silent exchange. Every exchange they had included that pissed-off vibe for the general reason Tobias had slept with the man’s daughter. The added reason, his daughter left Tobias a gift. One Tobias kept rejecting. George saw it as crapping on Gabriella’s memory, and it was so far from what Tobias intended. Severing the connection would honor her life. Keeping it wouldn’t. Ever.

The decision settled in his chest like a stone. “I don’t want to be tied up when Emmaline comes.” He looked at the clock hanging behind Tina’s head. “And, I won’t have numbers until the end of the week.”

Tina turned her scowl his way, and George sniffed in irritation. “I didn’t say anything about the money until five minutes had passed,” Tobias said with a smile.