“I’m a cop. I was a detective. I grew up on the bayou. I’ve slept in cars, tents, old shacks, boats, outside. In the cold, rain, with animals roaming around that might like to take a chunk out of me. I'm fine lying here in a pair of jeans for a few hours.”
“The most uncomfortable place I’ve ever slept was upright in the backseat of Max’s car while we were on a stakeout.”
Fuck. Yeah, just telling himself not to be interested was definitely not how interest worked. “Max took you on a stake out?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He didn’t really like it. And he did know that he didn’t like not liking it. He shouldn’t give a shit what stupid, possibly dangerous stuff she’d done in the past. Or that she might do in the future.
But telling himself wasn’t how that worked either, apparently.
He could see her smile in the faint light. Or maybe he just sensed it.
“We were in tenth grade. Max was trying to find out who Derek Robbins was dating so we followed him all over one Saturday night.”
“Did you find out?”
“Nope. He went to a ballgame, then out for pizza, then to a friend’s house to play videogames. He didn’t see a girl all night. We fell asleep across the street from his friend’s house and totally got busted the next morning.”
Zander chuckled in spite of himself.
“Just so you know,” she said softly, a moment later. “Brantley’s never seen me in lingerie. We’ve never slept together.”
Let it go. Just let it fucking go.
He did not let it go. “That’s good to know.”
See, that was not the kind of thing he should be admitting.
She nodded. “I don’t know why, but I wanted you to know that. Maybe so you won’t feel bad about arresting him. I’m not in love with him. We’re not a real couple.”
“You were going to get married.”
“No.”
“Brantley thought so.”
“Brantley was just going along with what he thought everyone wanted him to do. Like he always does. Do I think he was upset about the engagement? No. He’s always flirted with me. When he and Chris were fifteen, I overheard him telling Chris he had a big crush on me. It’s how I came up with this whole plan. But it’s not love. And I really doubt he’s brokenhearted now. Or even surprised.” She paused. “I guess that’s why I can’t believe he came after me. Maybe my dad or his dad made him.”
“He said that you had something he needs back. He came to get it,” Zander told her. “Any idea what that might be?”
She seemed to give that some thought. But then shook her head. “The jewelry? The lion? I mean, I suppose he’d want those back for the money he could get for them?”
Zander nodded. “I wondered about that. He wants to talk to you tomorrow.”
“Oh great! He can come back tomorrow when your FBI friend is here and he can arrest him.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Zander said. “They have to investigate. They have to have a reason to arrest him. Proof. Evidence.”
“But I told you—”
“I know,” he cut in. “And you can tell Spencer everything, too. But it will take more than that.”
She deflated. “There are more animals in trouble, Zander. This can’t take weeks or months or years.”
“The more information you can give them, the faster they can work.”
“I’ve got some more stuff,” she said. “Some documents.”
“Great. We’ll give it all to Spencer.”
“Okay.”
She got quiet and Zander clenched his jaw.
You don’t have to comfort her. You don’t have to make her feel better. There might not be anything that will be better. Spence might not be able to do anything. Just let it play out. She’s a grown woman.
He had no chance of resisting reaching out and squeezing her arm, though. “Spencer will do everything he can.”
“Okay.”
“Caroline—”
“That lion cub isn’t old enough to be away from his mother, Zander. Think of how scared he is. And is he even going to be healthy? And how many more are there?”
Zander felt his chest tighten. “The vets and people running the sanctuary here are very good.”
“I know. I’ve followed Donovan Foster for awhile.”
Don’t be jealous of Donovan and her clear admiration. Donovan’s a great guy. She should definitely admire him. The self talk didn’t work. He wanted to help her. He wanted to fix this. He wanted to be the one making this better.
Yep. He was in a lot of trouble here.
“They’ll be very good to him,” Zander finally said.
“It’s not as good as him being left with his mother.”
No. It wasn’t.
Then…she sniffed.
And his chest tightened again. As did his hand on her arm.
Fuck.
But he gave in to the inevitable. As he tugged her closer, he wasn’t sure why in the hell he’d tried to resist this from the very beginning. He should have just kissed her in the foyer of his aunt’s house. He’d known even then that he was trying to prevent something from happening that was absolutely going to happen no matter what he told himself, tried, or did.
Caroline came across the few inches of mattress easily. Almost eagerly. Zander wrapped an arm around her as she curled into his side, resting her head on his chest.
At least he hadn’t undressed. Not taking his pants off was the one really smart, rational decision he’d made where this woman was concerned.
Her body heat soaked through the soft cotton of the shirt she wore and the scent of her floated up to him as her hair tickled his upper arm.
“I’m sorry I’m being pushy,” she finally said softly.
“I’m sorry I can’t make it go faster.” And he was. Because yeah, there were animals potentially being harmed, but also because he wanted to fix this so Caroline would move her sweet ass on down the road and out of his orbit.
Here he was, four days after meeting her and telling himself all the reasons he was going to ignore his natural inclination to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay, holding her…in his bed…and wanting to make it all okay.
“I guess I’m not used to this part,” she said.
“This part?”
“I usually just turn the information over to Max. I don’t talk to the cops or other sources or anything.”
“And everything happens fast?”
“Yeah. I guess. I mean, it feels faster because I’m not right in the middle of it.” She sighed. “I’m not always waiting on a criminal investigation either. I’m mostly happy with the story exposing the person as a piece of crap that my dad and other people shouldn’t trust.”
Zander frowned. He was trying very hard to ignore how perfectly she seemed to tuck against his side. They barely knew each other. They’d never hugged, danced, fucked. How did it feel like he’d held her like this before and that their bodies knew exactly how to fit together? He cleared his throat. “Why’s that?”
“I do it to remind my father that the people he associates with aren’t good people and that if he’s not careful he could get pulled into their corruption and cheating and lying and problems.”