“It was built in 1990. The original owners used it to store merchandise for their antique store downtown. It was bought in early 2000 by another company who used it to run a machine shop. They went out of business five years ago, and it’s been unoccupied since.”

I walked through the cavernous space, my imagination creating rooms that could potentially exist here. We’d need to add a second floor, create offices for management and space for the operatives to write out their reports. Would definitely need space for a tech office. Might need space for investigators to catch a few Z’s, space for secretaries to do their thing. And a cafeteria. We’d definitely need space for food.

“The lots next door? Are they for sale as well?”

“The one on the left is actually part of this property. The one on the right is for sale, and I contacted the seller this morning. They are more than willing to work with you to make a good deal.”

I nodded. There was already office space at the back of the building. I could put a cot in there, a television, and I’d have a place to sleep while renovations began. And the place was already wired for internet, an unexpected bonus. I could have a base of operations up and running in just a day if I bought this place.

“And they’re asking a hundred?”

“Plus closing costs.”

“Put in a bid for seventy-five, plus closing. See what they say to that.”

I knew I should consult with Brent, Aidan, Gentry, and Remy about this, but we’d already had several conversations about expanding our business. I didn’t think they would have any objections if I could show them what a good space this was. Gentry could plan the training facility. Aidan could help draw out the plans for the office space itself. With a good architect and a reliable construction crew, we could have this place fully functional by the end of the year.

The real estate agent left to make a call to her office. I continued to walk around, telling myself how good this would be for the business. But it wasn’t just the business that was motivating me, was it? The idea of getting out of the rut I’d fallen into in Memphis was definitely a plus. But there was more than even that. The thought of being close to Ruth for another few weeks, maybe even months, sent a shiver of pleasure through me. We’d only just met, but there was definitely a spark I wanted to encourage to grow into something bigger and brighter.

I chewed on my bottom lip, remembering the feel and taste of her bottom lip. I’d struggled to sleep last night, the memory of her touch so intense that I wasn’t sure I would ever close my eyes again. But, when I did, I slept deeper and more restfully than I had in a very long time.

“The bid will be submitted this afternoon, Mr. Stone,” the agent said, coming back into the warehouse. “I’ll call you when they respond.”

“Thank you.” I shook her hand and left, driving around the city with a little more purpose than my last few passes through these streets. Before, I was looking at it as a tourist. Now, I was looking at it through the lens of a business man, locating other businesses that might be helpful in one capacity or other. Potential clients, potential suppliers. So much potential.

Brent wouldn’t like it at first, but he’d get accustomed to the idea. He might even like this little pious town. Brent had always been the old-fashioned one in the family. He still refused to use a computer, even with our constant teasing and Rae’s impatient attempts at keeping him organized.

A wave of homesickness washed over me as I pulled the rental car into a slot in the hotel’s parking lot. I’d lived in Memphis all my life. I’d been assigned to Jackson when I was with the DEA, but it was close enough that Memphis was the center of all my weekend plans. But this was states away, farther than I’d ever been. Could I really find contentment in a place that was so far from home?

And then I saw her, watching me through the front display window of the bookstore. I raised a hand and she turned away, but not before I saw a flash of that perfect smile.

A man stepped out the bookstore’s front door. He was of average height, solidly built. He had the same sort of gold hair Ruth had, the same curve of his jaw, even if his was a touch more angular. He was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, but he had a blue band around his upper arm that I’d noticed on some of the other men around town. I’d thought at first that it might be a symbol of their religion, but now I was beginning to wonder if it was something else.

The look on his face was dark. Dangerous.

He was clearly Ruth’s brother. But he was also a member of the Guardians, according to the bellboy at the hotel. Was that what the blue band meant?

I lowered my head in a friendly nod. The other man just kept watching me, that darkness only growing deeper.

 

 

“They put a gosh darn hole in the steel door at the back of my shop!”

I stood in another alley, watching Harry pace. We were behind his shop, the hole he’d just mentioned quite obvious in the center of the large door. It must have been made with a large-caliber gun at very close range. I couldn’t imagine anything else that would have that sort of power.

“You call the police?”

“Fuck yeah! But they won’t do anything because they know who it was.”

“The Guardians.”

“You better believe it, brother. They want me out of here so they can bring in their own shop.”

“So you said.”

Harry stopped pacing. “You think you know something better than me? I’ve been here living with these assholes for over a year. I know it was them!”

“I don’t doubt you.” I walked up to the door and ran my finger over the smooth edges of the hole. “I’m just wondering what they were trying to prove with this.”

“Who cares! They put a hole in a four thousand dollar door! How am I supposed to repair this?”

“Order a new one. I’ll pay for it.”

Harry shook his head as he started to pace again. “Money ain’t going to fix this. Nothing’s going to fix this but going to war with those religious pricks!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Did you know they hit Alli’s again last night? But they were damn careful to stay out of the range of your fancy cameras.”

“What did they do?”

“Spray painted the tree in the parking lot. Put a couple of nasty words on there that don’t wash off like the walls do.”

I sighed. “You should have called me.”

“I didn’t know until an hour ago.”

Harry seemed more bothered by Alli’s choice not to inform him sooner than he was over the information she’d kept to herself. He turned and focused on me, his eyes dark and filled with frustration.

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to draw them out. Make them come talk to us.”

“How?”

“We’re going to fix this door and power wash the tree. If we show them this intimidation isn’t going to scare us off, they’ll have to choose a more direct option.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, well, we’ve been patient. We’ve put up with this crap. But I can’t make promises that I’ll continue to do so.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s rough being on the other side of the gun, isn’t it?”

“Hell, yeah.”

Harry ordered the door, and we spent the afternoon at Alli’s, doing what we could about the tree. I took a perch on a stool by her front door again, a gun borrowed from Harry’s shop on my thigh, visible to everyone who walked through the door. I figured that sight would get back to the Guardians quicker than the power-washed tree. Harry relieved me a little before ten, eager to be there when Alli was ready to call it a night. He liked to drive her home. I got the impression she’d invited him in once or twice, and he was desperately hoping she’d do it again.

I patted him on the shoulder, hoping for his sake that Alli had mercy on him tonight.

The lights were once again on in the bookstore. I wondered if Ruth was in there alone, or if her brother had taken up his own protective position near her side. I was willing to take the chance.

Rather than go to the front door as I’d done before, I slipped around to the alley and tapped on the heavy door that was ironically identical to the steel door behind Harry’s place. She didn’t seem surprised when she peeked out through the open door. She took my hand and drew me inside, her expression deadly serious when she turned to me in the darkness of the storeroom.

“My parents and my brother heard about our dinner last night. I’m afraid we won’t be able to do that again.”

I touched the side of her face. “Should I go, then?”

She shook her head so gently that if I hadn’t been touching her, I wouldn’t have been aware of it. She moved into me, one hand slipping up over my chest as the other rested against the backside of my hand where it lay on her cheek. Her lips were softly parted when she tilted her head back to look up at me. It was too irresistible.

I kissed her with more passion than I’d intended, forced to remind myself that I had to be gentle with her. But when I started to back off, she moved into me, returning the kiss with a surprising force that sent fingers of pleasure dancing up and down the length of my spine. I buried my fingers in her thick, gold hair, drawing her closer as I allowed myself a little taste of her. She opened to me, welcoming me like a lover who knew exactly what it was she wanted. It was the hottest kiss I’d experienced in a very long time. Ruth took me back in time, to when all this was new to me. And it was just as exciting now as it had been back then.

We stood there in the dark for a long time, exploring one another while our hands stayed completely still. It’d been a long time since I’d done anything that could be compared to that teen pastime: making out. I’d thought myself incapable of the kind of patience this took, but maybe that was more about the partners I chose than the act itself. Ruth’s kiss was slow, gentle, her touch curious but still filled with such innocence that I could feel her hesitations, her fascination in learning something new. And every little moan that I earned was like a badge of honor in some way.

But my hands had a mind of their own. After a time, I couldn’t help but slip one hand around her waist and pull her even closer, needing to feel the length of her body against mine. And then my palm just itched to feel the curve of her hip, to touch that place that looked so amazing as she walked away from me. She moaned softly, and that only encouraged my hand, giving my fingers the courage they needed to slip down even lower, seeking out places her long skirt hid quite well. And, in the process, bring her even closer against me until there were few secrets that could be kept.

Ruth stiffened when the reality of what she did to my body revealed itself against her belly. She pulled back, not extracting herself completely from my arms, but far enough for me to see her eyes were once again widened by surprise.

I ran my hand over the side of her face, my thumb tugging at her bottom lip. “It’s okay, Ruth. You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I just…this is all so new to me.”

“I know.”

She blushed, finally pulling away from me. She crossed the room, settling down on the edge of a low desk that had been pushed up against one wall. She stared at the floor for a long moment, her eyes so downcast that I couldn’t read their expression.

“Why would a man like you be interested in me?”

I grunted. I had no answer for that, except for the obvious. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’m not.” She brushed the back of her hand over her cheek. “I can’t imagine I’m anything like any of the other women in your life.”

“No, you’re not. But maybe that’s what I need in my life right now.”

“And a week from now? A month?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

She sighed as she looked up. “My brother thinks you’re trouble. He says you’re just playing games with me, that you like the idea of deflowering a virgin.”

That made me laugh. The last thing I wanted in my bed right about now was a woman who needed special care, a woman who would be overly emotional over an act that was as natural and ordinary as breathing to me. If sex was the only reason I was there, I could have found it almost anywhere else. Hell, I knew that if I gave Alli the right signals, she’d be more than happy to warm my bed. Why would I go out of my way to find an innocent when experience was so much simpler?

I had no idea why I was there, why Ruth was such a draw for me. But playing games had definitely not crossed my mind.

“It’s your brother’s job to protect you. He sees a stranger from out of town sweeping in and catching your attention, he automatically thinks I’m up to no good. But he hasn’t met me. He has no idea what I want.”

“What do you want, Jack Stone?”

She studied my face as she waited for my answer. I met her gaze, aware that if I looked away, she would read more into that gesture than she would anything I might have to say.

“To be perfectly honest? I have no idea. But I like you, Ruth. I like spending time with you.”

“Why?”

I shook my head. “Because you’re beautiful, and you’re intelligent, and you fill my head with thoughts I haven’t entertained in a very long time.”

“Do I?”

“What do you want from me, Ruth?”

That question brought surprise back to her eyes. Her head dropped again, and she studied the floor as she gathered her thoughts. “I like the way you make me feel when you look at me,” she finally said in a gentle voice that was almost too low to hear. “I like it when you tell me I’m beautiful.”

“You are beautiful.”

She giggled softly. “Like that.”

“I have no intention of hurting you. I just want to spend time with you.”

She stood and came to me, taking my hand between both of hers. “There are things you should know about me if we’re going to continue this…” She gestured vaguely. “If we’re going to continue whatever this is between us.”

“Okay.”

“My religion takes a very hard line when it comes to modesty. We believe that intimacy between a man and a woman should be restricted to the marriage bed.” She stole a peek at me before her eyes fell to the floor. “I’ve never even kissed a man until you.”

Even though I’d suspected as much, those words still caused me to gasp a little. This was the new millennium, a time when boys lost their virginity before they could drive, and girls had taken their sexuality by the balls, determined to find pleasure when and how they dictated, not when or how society dictated. Yet, this beautiful woman was as pure as the day she was born.

I had to admit, it was a little exciting to know I was the first. And a little intimidating.

And frightening.

“I was supposed to wait until I was engaged to kiss a man, but the other night…you were so charming, and it felt like I was caught up in this fairy tale.” She blushed deeply. “I know that sounds stupid.”

“No. It’s nice.”

She shook her head. “I must seem like a child to you.”

“You seem like an incredibly beautiful, seductive woman.”

Her blushed deepened. I slipped my hand under her chin and forced her to look up at me. “I don’t know what it is I want from you,” I admitted. “I’m probably not the guy you should fall for. I’m not religious, I don’t believe a lot of the things you believe. But I like you, and I want to spend time with you. And if you want to spend time with me, great. If not, I understand.”

“I like you, too,” she said, her blush returning—if it had ever left. “I want to spend time with you, too. But my brother—”

“Forget your brother.”

She looked up at me. “I like kissing you.”

I smiled. “Good.”

“But we can’t do more than that. And we can’t be seen together. If my parents knew what we were up to, I’d be in so much trouble!”

“Then we won’t tell them.”

She giggled nervously, but there was fear clearly written in her eyes. But when I lifted her chin and brushed my lips against hers, she immediately responded, her lips parting softly, welcoming me back to the explorations I’d been so enjoying earlier. Restraining myself to just that was going to be a trick, one that I was sure I would grow weary of quickly enough. But, for the moment, I intended to enjoy it as much as I could.

There was something to be said about this sort of anticipation. It was pure torture, but torture that included a deep pleasure I was sure I could never have experienced under any other circumstances. And that made it worth it.