“Come on,” he murmured, then guided me deeper into the store.
“I don’t know,” he finally said, coming to a halt at a vegetable section. Without showing any strain, he lifted two sacks of potatoes, placing them carefully on the trolley. Large bags of root vegetables followed, then, farther down the aisle, pulses, tubs of herbs, bags of rice and grains.
“I just have to,” he finished. “It’s important to me to ken that you’re safe.”
“Oh.” I stood there, my retorts fading. “Why did you bring me with you today? You want to know more about me, but also you don’t. You want me to stay away from you, but everything else you do contradicts that.”
“What’s your point?” He dropped an oil canister into the trolley.
“At the car, I thought you were going to kiss me.”
My words resounded in the air between us. No other people frequented our aisle, but Bull glanced around all the same.
“Aye, it was on my mind.”
“What stopped you?” My heart thundered, blood rushing in my ears.
“The wee bit I ken about ye isn’t anywhere near enough.”
Okay then. With no real sense of whether this was a good idea or bad, I moved into his space, breaking his hand away from where he clutched a metal shelving unit. Then I ran my fingers up his chest.
If he thought he had a better understanding of me, then so did I of him. I pushed him back a step, provoking him.
No way could a man like Bull not take control of this. He liked my boldness, I could tell, and this way beat back the vulnerability I had no desire to show.
“What if I tell you I don’t care?” I prodded him.
His gaze darkened.
“What if you stop trying to save me and take what you want instead?” I pushed again, but this time he caught my fingers.
I stared at our joined hands, a delicious frisson of fear and excitement driving me on.
“Come on then, big man. I’m waiting.”
Bull made a sound almost like a growl. He grasped my waist and spun us so my back hit a shelf, then his thick fingers took hold of my chin. He ducked and crashed his lips on mine.
I gasped at the ferocity of his kiss. This was no tender peck, but a branding. He angled his head and owned my mouth, moving with me until I opened my lips under his.
God, his taste. His wicked tongue. Bull licked into my mouth with a carnal slide, caressing me. His soft beard grazed my skin, and it only added to the heat I was burning up on his lips.
In a rapid seduction, Bull had me wanton and willing in the back aisle of a grocery warehouse.
I hooked my leg around his, aligning our bodies even more, and Bull gave a groan that had shivers running down my spine.
Then, just as sudden as the kiss started, it stopped.
Bull ripped his lips from mine and took two paces back.
“Fuck,” he swore.
Boneless, I giggled, leaning hard on the shelves. “That was one hell of a kiss.”
“Aye, it was.” He glanced around like he’d forgotten himself and wanted to make sure we hadn’t gained an audience. Down the aisle, someone pushed a creaking trolley.
“Come, Autumn,” Bull muttered, and he gestured for me to move.
We finished the shopping in record time. Who knew why we were hurrying, but both of us needed to get out of the warehouse.
In the car, Bull boosted me into my seat then loaded the shopping. When he got in and started the engine, he gave me a look that was a mix of lust and worry.
“That kiss was a mistake,” he said finally.
“Sure. A huge mistake. I might accidentally fall on your face a few more times if I’m not careful.”
His eyes flared, but he didn’t say another word, and in loaded silence, we drove away.
At Bhaltair’s, Bull parked up around the back. The second the engine was off, he twisted to face me, and I did the same with him.
“Did you sign your own fraternisation policy?” I quipped. I moistened my lips, ready for another kiss if he was willing.
A glance down showed me he was more than ready, despite where we were.
But then, at the end of the track where it joined the main street, Lena’s car pulled up.
“No, I didn’t sign it. Autumn—” Bull started, but I held up a hand.
“Lena’s here,” I said, peering out the windscreen.
My friend exited her car and hauled open the rear door. She collected a wailing Benjamin from his car seat and propped him over her shoulder.
Something was wrong.
My pulse raced for a whole different reason.
“Sorry,” I muttered and leapt out of Bull’s car and raced across the snow.
“Ma!” Benjamin wailed. “Ma!”
Oh no. It had finally hit him. His mother wasn’t here. My poor baby boy.
9
Blazing-hot Clinch
Autumn
At the busiest time for the bar, I had to take the rest of the day off. Benjamin had a temperature and clung to me, needing me close. By the evening, he had bounced back to his normal resilient self, but my worry levels remained at a peak.
“That was the first time he grieved for Tabby,” I told Lena. We’d settled into the lounge after the kids had gone to sleep. Lena’s husband, Mark, was at Bhaltair’s, attending a Christmas party with his company. A party they were running one bartender short.
“Would it help if he spoke to her?” Lena took the other end of the couch and pulled a blanket over her knees.
“Maybe, if I can organise it.” It meant driving some distance, placing the call to the jail, hoping she was free or making an appointment if not. Then trying to persuade a one-year-old to use the phone.
“Fact is, he’s going to spend years without her. And let’s face it, she was hardly the most maternal of people to start with. Has she tried to contact you?”
I shook my head. I needed to switch my phone back on, but that meant risk, and I doubted Tabby would’ve made a call.
“The new charges are being heard tomorrow,” Lena added quietly. “I figured you’d be following the case. I am.”
I goggled at her. “So soon? I thought it would be after Christmas.”
“It’s just the first hearing to open the case. Here.” She collected her tablet from the table, her browser displaying a news page. My dad’s photo sternly stared back at me. He was in his RAF uniform, his permanent scowl in place. Tabby’s name was in the text, but I could already understand the gist of it. I handed the tablet back and stifled a rising sense of panic.
Lena blew out a breath. “There’s so much money unaccounted for… I don’t think they are going to let her out for a long time. She’s not cooperated.”
“When they interviewed me for Dad’s trial, they alluded to all kinds of places he could’ve hidden money, testing me for reactions. Like I’d know. Dad never trusted me with anything. Or Tabby for that matter. Apart from Benjamin. When I left, she told me to take him away and never come back.”
Lena gave me a soft smile. “She knows how much you love him. He couldn’t be in safer hands.”
With the trial starting, there would be renewed interest in our whereabouts. That safety could be tested. All the more reason to lay low. To be ready.