Chapter 96
He simply couldn’t get enough of her. He might have taken her right there on the dresser, if he hadn’t felt a persistent buzzing from his pocket. His phone. He tried to ignore it. It rang. Then the text message alert chimed. When the whole sequence started again, he broke free from the kiss and, panting, rested his forehead against hers.
Willing his body back under his control. Suddenly, he felt seventeen again.
Desperate. Needy. Unworthy.
He pulled his phone from his pocket. Instead of obliterating it, the way he wanted to, he pulled up the text message. It read: Check in. News about AM. J.D.
Nolan had pulled away from her so quickly, it left her head spinning. One minute he was kissing her, the next he was tugging her robe closed and stepping away from her. He left her sitting on her dresser. Panting, wanting, needing.
He stood with his back to her for a moment, his posture tense. When he turned back, he was buttoning his jacket. He shoved a hand through his hair as if to smooth it down, but it did more damage than good.
“What the—” she began.
“This isn’t the time.”
His voice was rough with unspoken desire. Desire he could have sated just now, but chose not to. Why? Before she could ask, he was heading for the door. Running, practically. She caught up with him at the front door.
“Where are you going? I thought I was your best lead. That you were going to stick by my side until Andrew contacted me.”
His eyes searched her face and for an instant she thought he would cave, but then he said, “I’ll watch the house from the car. I trust you’ll let me know if he calls. Don't call or involve Michelle into this yet.”
“Wait a second. After everything, you’re going to spend the night in your car? That’s crazy.”
His lips twitched ever so slightly in amusement. “I also wanted to make sure you were safe, but I guess it is safe after all.”
Or you think it’s more dangerous in here.
She bit back the words as she watched him walk out her door. Once again Nolan had left her unsatisfied. Was this just more of his twisted revenge? Or was Nolan simply too honorable to take advantage of her?
Neither answer was good for her psyche. If she was honest with herself, she felt a bit as if she were back in high school, twisted into knots over a boy. She wished she could pretend that what she felt now was an illusion. A mere echo of her feelings. But she was very much afraid that things had progressed beyond that.
Nolan… There was something about him. His commanding presence. His strength. And still, the sense of honor, which he had somehow maintained despite his cynicism. He may be distrustful, but he wasn’t cold. He wasn’t unfeeling. In fact, it seemed almost as if he felt things more deeply.
And none of this was good for her. She didn’t want to fall for Nolan all over again. Not when so much stood between them.
After all, between protecting her brother and protecting Nolan, how could she possibly protect her own heart.
___________
"Tell me she’s not involved.”
Nolan regretted the words—the sheer vulnerability of them—the moment they left his mouth. However, his regret didn’t keep him from holding his breath while he waited for a response. Besides, he’d had hours to think of a better question, but that was the only one to come to mind.
He’d been on the phone with J.D. on and off throughout the night. Until now, he’d let J.D. do most of the talking. The news had ranged from pinning down where the security system had been overridden to picking up an accomplice in the airport. None of the news had been good. At least not in terms of exonerating Andrew.
J.D., who’d just climbed into the passenger seat of Nolan's car, tugged on the zipper of his coat and ignored his boss’s statement. “It’s freezing in here. You sat in here all night?”
“Freezing” was an exaggeration, as was “all night,” since it was hovering near fifty and he’d only been here about three hours, it being just after six now. He’d barely noticed the cold. He’d spent every second of those three-plus hours thinking about Candace. Reliving the past, replaying the kiss, wondering what the hell he should have done differently last night. Frankly, it hadn’t occurred to him to feel cold.
“What have you found out?” Nolan asked J.D.
“Not much.” J.D. handed over a folder, then cupped his hands and puffed into them. “You want to turn on the heat in here?”
“Wimp,” Nolan muttered as he flipped open the folder and scanned the first few pages.
Beside him, J.D. shifted in his seat, tucking his hands inside his coat pockets. “Hey, what can I say?” J.D snapped his omnipresent gum. “I’m a sand and surf kind of guy.”
Nolan ignored his second in command as he continued reading. His feeling of dread grew stronger. The situation was about what he’d expected. Damn it. Sometimes he hated being right. Candace had wanted proof. Well, here it was. He didn’t know if he’d have the heart to tell her.
He snapped the folder closed. “Got anything else for me?”
“Coffee?”
It took a second for J.D.’s offer to register through Nolan's preoccupation. Finally, he smiled and nodded. “Sure. You have a doughnut to go with it?”
“I’ll check.” J.D. made a call on his phone. Before he was even finished talking, someone hopped out of the car behind them, which J.D. had driven up in only moments before. The woman—Alyssa—from J.D.’s team approached Nolan's car, tapped on J.D.’s window and, when he rolled the window down, handed through two cups of coffee and a brown paper bag.
Nolan quirked an eyebrow. “So you brought breakfast but didn’t want to arm me with hot coffee until I’d read the bad news.”
J.D. shrugged as he peeked into the bag. “Didn’t know how you would react. No doughnuts. Two muffins. Looks like blueberry.”
Nolan took the proffered muffin. And then said, by way of thanks, “I can handle a little bad news. I don’t need to be coddled like a damn schoolgirl.”