In This Town (16 page)

“And now you’re single, and men all throughout town are
thanking God.”

Tori grinned. “Now you’re catching on. So many men, so little
time.”

But he didn’t buy it. Not like he used to. There was more to
her than she let on, more than a need for adoration, for attention. She loved
her son and her sisters, that much was clear. She put on an act, put up a front
to protect herself but from what?

“Now that your stomach’s full, why don’t you hit the road so I
can finish up here?”

He needed to do just that, needed to move on. To finish his
investigation and get back to his real life. He couldn’t afford to get tied up,
to get entangled in the lives of anyone in Mystic Point.

But he wasn’t any closer to finding out who poisoned Dale York
than he’d been when he first came to town. Although thanks to the truth about
Ken Sullivan’s affair with Val coming to light, his suspect list was
growing.

And included many of Tori’s relatives—her father and uncle, her
sisters. Not to mention Walker was still investigating Layne and Ross for
misconduct.

No, there was no good reason to get involved with Tori, for him
to start believing there could be something between them, and a million reasons
why he shouldn’t think about her, shouldn’t dream about her.

She was caustic and guarded and fake.

She was beautiful and smart and more caring than even she
realized.

Hell.

He edged closer. She didn’t back up, didn’t move closer, just
watched him, that coy half smile of hers playing on her lips. “Did you want
something, Detective?” she asked, all cocky and confident and challenging.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly, sliding his hand along her neck around
to hold her head. Tugged her hair so her head tipped back. Her eyes flashed and
widened, her hands went to his chest, lay there, not pushing or pulling, just
heating his skin. “I want something.”

* * *

A
NTICIPATION
BUILT
until Tori was light-headed, her knees weak. Walker’s grip on her hair was tight
but instead of finding it painful, she thought the bite of it exciting. Beneath
her hands, his heart beat steadily. He was all solid muscle and warmth and she
wanted to lean into him, wanted to soak up his heat and his strength and take,
take, take.

She always took.

But she couldn’t feel guilty about it, not when he was lowering
his head slowly toward her. Her fingers curled into the softness of his T-shirt,
dug into his skin. Still he took his time and she wanted to scream with
frustration. Wanted to yank his mouth to hers.

Wanted to push him away because she had a feeling, an
instinctive knowledge, that once he kissed her, she wouldn’t be the same.

His other hand went to her lower back, dragged her toward him
until she was pressed against the hard planes of his chest, his thighs. He
kissed her, his mouth firm. This was no hesitant kiss, no soft brushing of his
lips against hers. It was ravenous and heated and, if she wasn’t mistaken,
angry.

She’d never been kissed like this before, where she felt the
hunger build inside her, a fire threatening to consume her. Where she wanted to
let the flames take her.

Sliding her hands up, she linked her fingers behind his neck
and kissed him back.

Walker groaned into her mouth, whirled them around until she
was pressed between his hard body and the cold edge of the stainless steel
counter. Without breaking the kiss, he set his hands on her hips and lifted her
onto the counter, the ease with which he did so causing her stomach to
tumble.

She slid her fingers into his hair, held his head. He deepened
the kiss, stroked his tongue into her mouth. He skimmed his hands up her side,
settled them on her rib cage, his thumbs brushing the sides of her breasts.

Tori wanted to keep kissing him. Wanted him to pull her onto
the floor, the counter, a table, anywhere, and touch her, all of her. She
wanted, more than her next breath, this hard, enigmatic man’s hands on her, to
feel him moving inside her. She ached, her core heating, her panties growing
damp.

She wanted to beg.

And she never begged. Men begged her. She couldn’t want a man
that much, couldn’t give up that control.

She broke the kiss, leaned back. Though she was breathing hard,
her blood feeling thick and slow in her veins, she wouldn’t let him see.
Couldn’t let him know how he affected her. If he knew, he’d use it against
her.

So she slowly slid her tongue over her lower lip, capturing the
taste of him, and smiled. “Well,” she said, not needing to fake her husky tone,
“seems you’re not so different from other men after all.”

Walker’s eyes hardened and cooled, a muscle worked in his jaw
and she wished she could take her words back. Wished she could be sweet and
trusting and naive and gullible.

Wished she could open her heart, just a little, just for a
little while.

“Bullshit,” he said, his voice low and gravelly and sexy. He
shifted, sliding his hands over so that he brushed against the underside of her
breasts. Her breath caught. He noticed. His eyes darkened, filled with pure male
satisfaction. “But I’m guessing that’s why you want me. And,” he continued as he
slowly, ever so slowly, took his hands away and stepped back, “why I scare the
hell out of you.”

He walked away before she could deny it with a smart-ass
reply.

Before she could admit he was right.

* * *

H
E
WAS
FREEZING
. Anthony hunched his shoulders as the wind picked up. He
hadn’t brought a jacket, hadn’t planned on being outside in jeans and a T-shirt
when he’d been driving around aimlessly. All he’d known was that he couldn’t go
home…couldn’t go back to Boston when his mom and sister needed him here.

But it was hard. Everyone in town had heard about his father’s
affair with his brother’s wife. Anthony’s family was being talked about, his
mother humiliated, his sister crushed.

And him? He was pissed. So angry he couldn’t be in the same
room as his father, couldn’t even look at him.

A car drove by and Anthony ducked down out of the line of
sight. Hanging out on the porch of the police chief’s house at 11:00 p.m.
probably wasn’t the smartest move he’d ever made but that’s where he’d ended up.
Had driven by it a dozen times before he’d found himself parking his Jeep two
blocks down and walking back toward the house.

He should go, he thought, his stomach seizing with panic. If
the chief knew he was out here…well…Anthony wasn’t sure what Ross would do but
one thing he knew for sure, Ross would tell Layne and then Anthony would never
hear the end of it. He rose only to crouch back down when headlights flashed and
a vehicle pulled into the driveway.

Huddled into the shadows, Anthony watched as a kid with brown
hair got out. A minivan, Anthony thought with a shake of his head. Poor
bastard.

The kid walked around the front of the vehicle and then he was
walking back toward the side door with Jessica by his side. They were holding
hands, Jessica’s pale hair flashing in the dark. At the last minute, they veered
to the left. They were coming onto the porch.

Shit.

Anthony moved farther back, his breathing ragged, his heart
racing. But they didn’t notice, only had eyes for each other. Jess said
something softly that had the kid smiling, then they were at the door and she
turned to him. Kissed him.

Anthony looked away, his chest burning.

“Good night,” Jess said, sounding breathless.

“Night,” the kid said, his voice deeper than Anthony would’ve
guessed for someone his age. “I’ll call you when I get home.”

“Okay.”

She stood in front of the door while the kid jogged down the
steps. She watched him back up, waved at him as he drove past the house. When
she turned to open the door, Anthony stepped forward. “Jess.”

She squeaked and whirled around, her hand over her heart. Her
eyes widened. “Anthony? God! What are you doing here?”

“Sorry,” he said, feeling like an idiot, like some weirdo
stalker. He shoved his hands into his front pockets. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I
didn’t mean to scare you, I just…”

He just what? Thought he’d wait for her to finish making out
with some other guy?

Jesus, he really was losing it. He felt edgy and out of control
and he didn’t know what to do, how to handle it.

“Sorry,” he said yet again. “I shouldn’t be here.” He backed
up, almost fell down the steps, caught his balance before stepping down.

“Wait. Don’t go.” She reached out for him only to pull back
before she could touch him. “Are you okay?”

To his everlasting horror, his eyes pricked with tears. He
hadn’t cried in years, not since he was a kid. But he wasn’t a kid anymore; he
was twenty-one, a man in every sense of the word. Instead of answering her
question, he looked behind him, down the road where the kid had driven away.

“You still with that guy?” he asked, then winced because, hey,
she’d only been making out with him not two minutes ago. “That Tyler?”

“Tanner,” she corrected, looking at him curiously. And yeah,
he’d known the kid’s name. His cousin—shit, his half sister—Nora was dating his
older brother. “Yes. How about you? Are you still with that brunette?”

Mackenzie. “No.”

He’d broken up with her the night his father had admitted the
truth. He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone, hadn’t wanted to explain why he wasn’t
coming back to school, not for a while anyway.

Hadn’t liked her enough to want to make it work.

Jess sat down on the step as if it was the most natural thing
in the world for her ex-boyfriend to visit her out of the blue, late at night.
She slid over and he hesitated, then finally dropped down beside her.

He kept his distance, though, didn’t want to get too close,
didn’t want to touch her.

“How’s school?” he asked, unable to think of anything else to
say, unable to say what was really on his mind.

“Good. I…” She rubbed her palms up and down her thighs. Up and
down. “I’m taking some college prep courses. I’m going to be a nurse,” she
blurted, then looked at him as if daring him to make a hurtful comment about
it.

“That’s great. Really.”

“How about you?” Jess asked, and he could feel her watching him
with her big blue eyes. “How are your classes?”

He shrugged. “I’m taking a break,” he heard himself say, though
he hadn’t really decided until that very moment to go through with the idea that
had been whirling around in his head ever since he’d come home. “I’m going to
take the rest of the semester off.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Really? What do your
parents think of that?”

“I don’t care,” he said, knowing he sounded like a bratty
kid.

“So, what are you going to do? While you’re off, I mean.”

He had no idea. He couldn’t work at his dad’s law firm,
couldn’t be around his father that much. “I’ll get a job. I’ll probably find
something here in town.” Though he had no idea what. He could probably work at
the café. Celeste would hire him.

Anthony and Jess sat in silence for a few minutes and for the
first time since he’d found out about his father’s affair, since he’d discovered
Nora was his sister and not just his favorite cousin, he felt like he could
breathe. The sky was clear, the air crisp and, yeah, still cold. But his
thoughts weren’t racing, and he didn’t feel as if he had the weight of the world
on his shoulders, didn’t feel suffocated with anger and bitterness.

“I hurt my cousin’s feelings,” he said. “Nora. Except, I guess
she’s not my cousin, but my sister. She and Griffin came to dinner—it was the
first time she’d been to the house since…since the truth about Dad and Aunt
Val…”

Jess brushed her fingers over the back of his hand. “I know,”
she said softly.

He nodded, curled his fingers into his palms so he wouldn’t
reach for her. “Mom and Dad were trying so hard to act like everything was
normal except nothing’s normal. Dad’s sleeping in the guest room and Mom cries
all the time and Erin walks around like a zombie. I just…I couldn’t take it. I
walked out. Just got up and left, right in the middle of dinner.” He swallowed
but bitterness still coated his throat. “Nora came after me but I couldn’t even
look at her. I love her, have loved her my entire life but the only thing I
could think about was how, if she hadn’t been born, my family wouldn’t be torn
apart.”

He looked at Jess, saw the sympathy in her eyes and was filled
with shame. He didn’t deserve her sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m really sorry about what’s going on
in your family. Layne’s upset about it, too. She tries to pretend that
everything’s all right but I can tell it’s not.”

“Did you ever forgive your mom?” he asked.

Jess smiled sadly. “It’s hard to forgive someone who keeps
making the same mistakes, the same decisions again and again. I realized a long
time ago that my mom would always put the drugs ahead of me, that there was
nothing more important to her than the next high. After a while, I just stopped
waiting and hoping for her to change.”

“What if she gets clean and stays clean this time and finds you
and apologizes. What if she wants a second chance?”

“I don’t know,” she said thoughtfully, a frown marring her
pretty face. “I mean, I’d be thrilled if she finally got clean but I’m not sure
I’d trust it, you know? Some people don’t deserve a second chance. Some people
don’t deserve forgiveness.”

Anthony realized with another flush of shame that he hadn’t
thought Jess deserved forgiveness, either, not from him. She’d lied to him. But
more than that, worse than that, she’d hurt him. He hadn’t been able to give her
a second chance, couldn’t have even if he’d wanted to. But he could’ve given her
his forgiveness.

“I’m sure Nora understands what you’re going through,” Jess
said, surprising him by laying her hand on his arm. Her fingers were warm
against his chilled skin.