You Really Got Me (8 page)

“Nothing.” Jason tipped his beer bottle to his mouth and took a couple of big swallows. He couldn’t say much about the case, but hell, the whole world knew nothing was happening. “It’s the damnedest thing. And…” He sighed. “We don’t even have enough manpower to investigate properly.”

Denny nodded, but his eyes were alert and focused. “What’re you going to do?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I had to call in the feds.”

Denny drew back and narrowed his eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jason shrugged. “No big deal.”

But he saw the concern on Denny’s face.

“You’re okay with that?”

“Of course I’m okay with it.”

“I just thought…”

Jason shook his head and scowled. Denny was one of the few people who knew the whole truth about the end of his FBI career. “I can’t let personal stuff get in the way. If we need them, we need them.” And he hated the fact that he needed them, those self-doubts crowding back and eating away at him.

“Okay,” Denny said slowly. “That’s good then.” He shook his head. “That Vioget family sure doesn’t have much luck.”

Jason lifted a brow. “They live in a mansion on an estate, running a popular vineyard, and are filthy rich.” He suppressed a wince at that though, again remembering Kendall’s comments that led him to believe maybe they weren’t so rich.

Denny tilted his head. “You know what happened to the parents?”

“Yeah. Well, some of it.” He frowned. “Kendall told me they were killed in a car accident. About ten years ago.”

One corner of Denny’s mouth turned down. “Yeah. Claude Vioget was driving the family home from a big wine shindig in Santa Barbara. The man liked his wine and drank too much. Everyone knew it, but the family always tried to cover it up. That night, he crashed their car on San Marcos Pass. Went over the center line and hit another car head on. The other people were killed, he was killed, his wife was killed, Kendall and Kevin both ended up in the hospital. Kevin was touch and go for a while, everyone thought he was gonna die too.”

“Jesus.” Jason stared at Denny. “She never told me that.”

Denny sighed. “Those two kids were only teenagers. Left with trying to run a winery. They made a lot of mistakes. Or, I should say, Kendall made a lot of mistakes. She was an adult but only about eighteen or nineteen, I think, so she was raising her brother and running the winery.” Denny made a face. “Kevin didn’t do much to help. Mostly caused her grief.”

“What kind of grief?” Jason’s fingers tightened on the cool glass of the bottle in his hand.

“He was a wild kid. Party animal. Took after his dad, I guess. Likes to drink. Got in trouble over that a few times. The worst was…” He paused. “I shouldn’t tell you this.” He frowned.

Jason huffed out a laugh. “I’m not going to go arrest him for something he did years ago.”

“Yeah. But still. I knew about this, but Kendall didn’t want anyone to know. If she didn’t tell you, she probably didn’t want
you
to know.”

“Tell me.”

“Kevin crashed his car into a house.” He jerked his head. “The Fowler’s house across the street. The Fowlers didn’t live there then, they don’t even know about this. Not many people do. Kevin was pissed out of his head, lost control and drove into their house. Kendall came flying down from the winery, convinced the people who lived there then not to call the cops, and paid for all the repairs herself. That musta been a whack of cash.”

Jason shook his head slowly. “Yeah.” That didn’t surprise him, from what he knew about Kendall. Of course she would rush to rescue her little brother. But Jesus, that was serious shit. Kevin Vioget wasn’t exactly a law-abiding, upstanding citizen. “When did that happen?”

“Oh. Hell.” Denny frowned. “Musta been five years ago.”

Jason did the math. “He was only nineteen.”

“Yeah.”

“Drinking under age. And drinking and driving.”

Denny eyed him with a narrow-eyed gaze. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you—”

Jason held up a hand. “I’m not doing anything with that. Just thinking about it.”

“Yeah. You think a lot. It scares me.”

Jason couldn’t help the grin that tugged his mouth. “Better than not thinking at all.”

“I guess.”

“Don’t tell me you think it was okay to do that,” Jason said. “They should have called the cops. Maybe that would have taught the kid a hard lesson.”

“I’m not saying it was right. I’m just saying those kids haven’t had an easy life, especially Kendall.”

Jason’s chest clenched and he bent his head for a moment. Shit. “She still bails him out,” he muttered, remembering their first date when she’d had to leave to go get Kevin because he’d had too much to drink.

Denny gave a slow, thoughtful nod. “Yeah. You got that right. Just like her mom did for her dad, always covering up for him.”

Jason’s insides tightened. Hell. Kevin Vioget could be in a fuck of a lot of trouble this time. His eyes narrowed as he stared across the kitchen, the stainless steel range going out of focus. Jesus. Is that what she was doing? Is that what she was lying about—covering up for Kevin?

He rubbed his face, then drained his beer. Knowing a little more about the family history helped make sense of Kendall’s behavior. And Kevin’s for that matter. But Christ…if he’d killed his fiancée…

Jason had a major hate on for guys who abused the women in their lives. If Kevin Vioget had done harm to his fiancée, he was going to pay for it.

But this wasn’t a murder investigation. Right now, all they knew was that Natalia had disappeared.

And he also knew that despite his best intentions over the last month, he wasn’t going to be able to stay away from Kendall.

Chapter Six

Kendall sat alone in her kitchen, eating animal crackers and drinking milk, her bare toes in flip flops tapping to Marvin Gaye singing “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”. The song always amused her. When she’d been a kid, she’d thought he was singing about playing in the vineyard. Now she knew the other meaning for grapevine, but it still made her smile.

The sound of tires crunching over the gravel road somehow reached her ears despite the music, and she lifted her head. Who could that be?

Hope soared inside her.

Please let it be Natalia
. That would be so freakin’ incredible.

A car door shut. Kendall flew to the back door and opened it to see Jason walking through the darkness across the driveway, dressed in softly faded jeans and a navy T-shirt that stretched across his wide chest and shoulders. Her heart jolted, both with arousal and hope, but when she looked at his face, hope faded. His mouth was a straight firm line, his square chin tense, brows lowered over those deep-set eyes. Kendall gripped the edge of the heavy wooden door as he approached.

Their eyes met. Slow music pulsed in the room behind her. Heat swept over her body at the memory of his mouth on hers, the taste of him on her tongue so warm and masculine. Her body went hot and soft, even though she could see he was not here with good news.

Was it bad news? She pressed a hand to her stomach, searched his eyes for a sign of what he was about to say. His expression softened slightly as he approached, his eyes locked on hers, and she wanted to throw herself into his arms.

Her heart picked up speed, her head going helium-light.

“Kendall.” His deep voice drifted through the night air above the background chirrup of crickets.

“Jason. Why are you here?”

He stopped near her, him outside the open door, her inside. Only inches separated them, and despite the shadows they stood in, she could see the whiskers darkening his jaw, the blue flame of his eyes, the thick black lashes surrounding them. A woodsy scent of oak mingled with soap filled her head.

“I was worried about you,” he finally answered, lifting a hand to touch her cheek with his fingertips. Their eyes met. And held. Awareness shimmered between them.

Her heart tilted alarmingly in her chest, making breathing difficult. “Oh.” She swallowed, her throat as dry as if she’d just drunk an overly tannic wine. His fingers slipped down to the side of her neck, leaving a trail of tingles, then beneath her hair and curled around her nape. He tugged her toward him, so gently. “You don’t need to worry about me,” she whispered, her heart picking up a frantic beat.

But she was so tired of worrying about everyon
e else–Natalia, her parents, most of all Kevin, her only family. It felt so, so nice to have someone who was worried about
her
–someone who could look after her for a change, instead of her looking after everyone else. It was so…tempting.

She breathed out a soft sigh and let him pull her closer. Or maybe he wasn’t pulling her, maybe she was leaning into him, and then his arms were around her, so strong and hard, and his chest was up against her, also hard and warm. She laid her palms there, on the soft cotton of his T-shirt over his pecs, and felt his heart thudding beneath one hand. He was so warm, almost fever-hot, and she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his shoulder. His arms tightened on her, one hand in her hair, the other on the base of her spine.

“I also came because I wanted to let you know that I’ve called in the FBI.”

Her eyes flew open and she jerked back. He held onto her. “The FBI! Holy mother of…
why
?”

“We need some additional resources on the case,” he said. “We still have no evidence there’s been a crime, so relax. I didn’t want you to hear it on the news.”

“Really?” She searched his face and he nodded. They still stood there in the open door, and she took a step back. She knew it was a bad idea. The way things had ended between them…the things he’d done to her…but still, the words slipped out of her lips. “Do you…want to come in?”

He gave another short nod, and they moved inside. She eased the door shut so as not to disturb Kevin sleeping upstairs, but the house was so huge he likely wouldn’t hear a thing. She crossed the white-tiled kitchen floor to the worn Persian carpet that lay at the far end of the great room in front of the fireplace. Jason followed her and they both sank onto one of the two loveseats flanking the fireplace, a battered antique pine trunk between them serving as a coffee table. The fireplace gilded the unlit room in mellow gold and scented the air with a faintly smoky woodsy scent. Now the plaintive strains of The Animals singing “House of the Rising Sun” came from the speakers.

“I know you’re worried about Kevin,” Jason said, his voice quiet.

She shifted on the small couch to face him, pulling one leg up under her. “And Natalia. I know I told you I wasn’t all that thrilled about them getting married, but I really am worried about her, Jason.”

“I know.”

“I felt like you thought I had something to do with her disappearing. When you were asking those questions.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Kendall. We have to ask questions.”

“I just want you to find her.”

“We’re working on it.”

She nodded.

“You always look out for Kevin, don’t you?”

Her insides tightened. “What do you mean?”

The corners of his mouth quirked. “You know what I mean.”

“Well.” She swallowed. “Of course I do. He’s my little brother. After our parents died, I had to look out for him.”

“That’s not what I mean. Of course you had to look after him. But that’s not the same as bailing him out.”

She frowned and lowered her chin.

“I heard more about what happened to your parents,” he said quietly.

“I guess the whole world knows.” Bitterness crept into her tone.

“It wasn’t your fault. What happened.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, said nothing.

“Kendall.” He lifted her chin, but she kept her eyes downcast as guilt tightened her body. “You know that, don’t you? It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes. It was.”

He made a low growling sound.

“I wanted to drive,” she continued, her throat aching and constricted. “That night. I tried to get my dad to let me drive.”

“You were just a teenager. It was
not
your fault.” She lifted her eyes and met his, and the empathy and lack of judgment in his eyes made her breath shudder out of her. “Have you been beating yourself up about that all these years?”

Once again, she didn’t respond, more shame burning her. “I could have done more.”

“Ah, Christ, Kendall. That’s a helluva burden to carry around all this time.”

She paused, her throat closing up again. “I always wonder if I could have done more and changed what happened. I tried so hard but…it was never enough.” Her last words came out on a whisper.

He nodded and his thumb rubbed over her bottom lip. He leaned forward and grazed his mouth over hers in a warm caress. “You’re so damn sweet. Talk to me about your parents.”

“Why?” She tilted her head.

“I want to understand.”

“Understand what?” She drew back. “Is this part of your investigation?”

He closed his eyes. “No. Of course not.” After a short pause, he said, “I want to understand you. I want to understand why you’re resisting what’s happening between us. What’s inside you.”