Billy was grateful that Joy didn’t try to revisit their earlier conversation. He had almost admitted to her how badly he wanted to kiss her. He knew in his gut that would be a mistake. In another week she would be leaving and he’d never see her again. If she let him kiss her or touch her the way he wanted, he’d just be setting himself up for heartache.
Joy was already showered and making tea when he went inside. He gave her the basics about the dead animal, but didn’t mention the missing persons flyers. He thought it would be better to wait until they had more information about that. By the time he showered, she was ready for bed. She was saying goodnight when he remembered to tell her about the plans for the following day.
“Oh, tomorrow Grant will be here when you wake up. I’m taking off early for the day. He thought you might like to spend some time in town with him and Ana.”
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw disappointment flash across her pretty features. “Okay. It’s your day off?”
He smiled. If she thought he’d even consider taking a day off when he was supposed to be watching her, she really had no clue how he felt. “No. I actually might be gone a couple of days…or longer. I’m going to do some hiking and see if I can find a campsite or a cabin up there where this guy is staying.”
“Take me with you.”
He tried not to smile because he knew that would piss her off, but that was the craziest idea he’d heard yet. “No. This is backcountry, Joy. It’s terrain that most humans never see. The animals are wild, the brush is so deep in places that it’s as tall as me. It’s dark and cold. I’m sorry, but it’s no place for someone that didn’t grow up hiking and hunting and camping.”
She looked sad, but he was happy she didn’t argue with him. “Okay. Be careful.”
He nodded and smiled. “I will. I’ll see you when I get back, sleep well.”
“Billy?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t underestimate him, okay? I know you grew up in this area and Trent didn’t, but everyone that he’s hurt so far has given him the opportunity to hurt them by underestimating him. He’s not just smart. He’s a genius. He broke into our middle school after hours when we were in seventh grade. He vandalized it horribly and then he hacked into the computer system and deleted that time frame on the video. He told me what he’d done and what he’d do to me if I told anyone. They never figured it out. There were rumors in our little town that the school was haunted for a long time because there was no evidence that anyone had ever been there.”
Billy’s pulse sped up. “He deleted how much time?”
“Um, I think he said about an hour.”
“Son of a bitch,” Billy muttered. “I have to call Dan.”
“What is it?”
Billy looked at her for a moment, contemplating whether or not to tell her, but he knew he had to. He sighed. “A delivery man went missing the day of the fire. He was last seen leaving his warehouse and headed to that hospital. No one ever saw or heard from him again. The detectives investigating the case ran into a dead end at the hospital because there was no sign of him on the security videos. If your brother knew how to hack in and delete time in seventh grade…”
“It’s definitely something Trent could do. Did they talk to whoever was supposed to receive the delivery?”
“Yeah. No one saw him.”
“Or Trent made sure they wouldn’t say anything,” Joy said, frowning. “When he was sixteen, I was on my first tour in Europe. He called me one night to tell me that he had broken into the neighbor’s house, killed their dog, and stole some cash and jewelry he found lying around. As he was coming out of the house, the man that lived down the street saw him. He started to call the police. Trent said, and I quote, ‘I stood there watching him dial and as he was doing that, I described to him in great detail what I would do to his wife and his two little girls if he ever said a word. The man closed his phone and when the police came around, he didn’t say a word.’ He laughed as he told me that and said something like, ‘I’m invincible and one day the whole world will know.’” Her breathing had become ragged as she spoke and she looked on the verge of tears. Billy reached for her but she stepped back and wiped a tear rolling down her face away. “You should call Sheriff Dan before it gets any later.”
“Are you alright?”
“I will be. Go make your call.”
Billy went into the kitchen to call Dan. He was on the phone for at least twenty minutes so he was surprised to find Joy still in the living room, sitting on the floor near the fire. He’d expected her to go to bed, but he was glad that she hadn’t. As much as he wanted to catch this crazy SOB, he hated the idea of leaving her to do it.
“Hey, I thought you were turning in.”
She looked up in surprise like she hadn’t heard him come back in. “I’m sorry.” She started to get to her feet. “I’ll go so you can lie down. You have to be up early.”
On impulse he said, “I’m not going to be able to go to sleep just yet. I was thinking about having some of that ice cream I saw in the freezer. Want some?”
She gave him a small smile. “What kind?”
“Mint chocolate chip.”
“Mm, one of my favorites. I am on vacation…” she said, trying to convince herself.
He grinned. “What would a vacation be without ice cream?”
“I was thinking just that,” she said as she got to her feet. “I’ll get it.”
He shook his head at her. “No can do. Sit back down, I’ll be right back.” He held back a yawn as he headed back into the kitchen. He was tired, but he would gladly forego sleep for days or even weeks for more time with Joy. He fixed two bowls of the minty ice cream with dark chocolate chips and took them back into the living room. She was sitting on the couch now and he sat down on the other end as he gave her a bowl. She took a bite of the ice cream and closed her eyes as she savored it. Billy wondered if she had any idea what she did to him. Fire seared his veins as he watched her finally swallow the bite and then absently lick her lips before scooping more. He was staring at her lips and hadn’t even realized she opened her eyes until she spoke to him.
“You’re not going to eat yours?”
He felt his face go hot as he shoved a bite into his mouth.
“Mm, that’s good,” he said quickly, his mouth full of ice cream.
As if they had a mind of their own, his eyes flickered back to her lips. He caught himself, but not before she did too. She blinked at him at first, but then gave him a small, almost shy smile before setting her ice cream down on the coffee table and sliding closer to him. Without another thought, as if his mind had said, “fuck it all,” he set his own bowl down and reached for her. He buried one hand in all that dark hair, the way he’d dreamed about doing for years. He wrapped his other hand around her waist and pulled her in even closer before lowering his lips down to hers and finally tasting her. As rockets exploded in his head and shockwaves reverberated through his body, he realized it had been worth the 5,256,000 minutes he’d waited since the first time he saw her ten years before.
Her sweet tongue slid against his and the hotter the kiss got, the more of her body he felt against him. She was practically In his lap and he was tempted to give her just one more pull so that she would be. She felt so good in his arms and the kiss was sexy and sweet all at the same time. He felt her warm hands on the bottom of his t-shirt and realized that as they kissed, she was pushing it up. He broke the kiss just long enough to help her, pulling it over his head and then finding her lips again. He let his tongue explore her mouth while her hands explored the bare skin of his chest and back. Her touch didn’t just feel good; it felt right. It felt like he had been lost all these years and he’d finally come home. He finally said the hell with it and effortlessly pulled her up into his lap in one swift motion. He had one of his hands on the small of her back as she sat straddling him, deepening the kiss, devouring his mouth like she was starving. He lifted his hips up off the couch and ground them into her. She didn’t run or seem the least bit rattled or offended by it, but for some Godforsaken reason, that was when Billy’s good sense kicked in and he realized what he was doing. It took every ounce of strength in his body to break the kiss. He almost didn’t have enough left to grab the warm hands that were still exploring his body and still them. She pulled back and looked at him with those sexy green eyes. She looked confused and he didn’t blame her. He was probably the only idiot on earth who would turn down Joy Casey.
“What?” she asked, drawing her brows together. “What happened?”
He had to clear his throat and find his voice. She was still too close. He wouldn’t be able to think straight or form a coherent sentence with her sitting in his lap. He lifted her and gently set her back on the couch before reaching down to the floor for his shirt.
“Billy…talk to me, please.”
He pulled his shirt over his head. Her eyes took in his chest like she was memorizing it, and he was almost compelled to pull it back off again. “We shouldn’t be doing this. I’m sorry. I got carried away.”
“We both got carried away. That’s what kisses are meant to be. It felt good to get carried away, at least on my end.”
He was still trying to catch his breath and forming words was still difficult. Swallowing hard he said, “It did feel good, but it’s wrong.”
“It’s wrong? Why is that? Did you forget to tell me you were married or…”
“No, nothing like that,” he told her quickly. “But for one thing, you’re a client. I’ve never crossed that line.”
The line between her eyebrows grew deeper as she furrowed them harder. “No, technically, I’m not a client. I didn’t hire you and I’m not paying you.”
He sighed. “Technically or not, you’re still my client. I never should have crossed that line.”
“You didn’t even make the first move, I did. Billy, if I was just a woman you met in a bar would you have stopped me?”
He chuckled nervously. “No, and you would have never had to make the first move. But let’s face it, Joy, you’re not just any woman.”
“Because I’m famous? That doesn’t make me any less human than any other woman. I still have the same feelings and needs.”
“Not because you’re famous and not less human…Jesus, Joy, you’re just—different than other women. I don’t know how to describe it.” He stood up. He had to put more distance between them so the fog that kiss had left in his brain would clear.
She stood up as well and stepped toward him. He took another step back. She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to attack you.”
He felt his face go hot. How could he explain to her that he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman but that he knew getting any closer to her would be setting himself up for the kind of heartache he hadn’t experienced since his mother left?
“We’re not the same, Joy…you and me. Today is the first glimpse you got of the guy I am when I’m not following you around, trying to be a professional. But it gets a lot worse. Do you know why Rosa said, ‘Not in the tree’ when I took Ana to blow bubbles?” Joy shook her head. “Because one day she wanted to climb the tree out behind Rosa’s little house and I didn’t think anything of it. I put her up there and when Rosa came home she was standing on one of the branches…a thick one, mind you, blowing bubbles. Rosa freaked out. I got her down and Rosa spent the next half an hour telling me all the things that could have happened to her daughter, up to and including death. I never even thought about it. I grew up as wild as the mountain I was growing up on. I have very few social skills. I spend more time at the bar in town than I do at home. Sometimes I let my beard grow out like a fucking caveman because I hate to shave. I’ve spent many a night in the county jail for fighting or other stupid shit like setting off fireworks in the town square or drag racing out on lovers lane…”
Joy took another step toward him. This time he didn’t step back. She put her hand up and covered his lips with two of her fingers.
“I heard lots of stories today, Billy. All you have done is confirm that most of them are true. I like you…but I think I like that guy, the wild one, even more. I like him because from what I heard, he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He doesn’t live his life for anyone but himself. He is blessedly normal.” She paused and smiled charmingly. “And he’s hot and his kiss leaves me breathless. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the next day or next week but who really does when they first meet someone they like and are attracted to? Being with you today made me feel normal. Being with the people in this town made me feel like having a normal life might be possible. I never wanted to be famous. I did all of that for my mother and by the time she got sick, it was just my life and I didn’t know how to change it. I never knew what home felt like until now. This place feels like home, Billy, and when I kissed you tonight, you felt like home too.”
She had tears in her eyes and Billy reached up and wiped one that was about to fall from her pretty eyes. His head was in a state of chaos and part of him, a big part, wanted to pick her up, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her down the hall like a caveman. But no matter what she said about liking his “wildness,” he didn’t think that was a good idea.
“Please don’t cry. Please understand that I feel the same way when I’m with you. But you’ve been through so much lately and you’re lonely and looking for an escape…I believe that you mean everything you’re telling me right at this moment, but I just think you would regret it in the morning.”
“You think you know me better than I know myself?” She took a step back and he dropped his hand to his side.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” he said, shaking his head.
“You said that I don’t know what I want, right? I would regret it in the morning. In the first place, ‘it’ was a kiss and in the second place, you have no idea what I will or will not regret. I thought you were different. I thought all that ordering me around was just because you were doing your job. But this isn’t about your job. It’s about whether or not I know my own mind and my own heart and you don’t think I do.”
“I just think that all the stress you’re under could be playing a big part in how you think you’re feeling,” Billy responded carefully, trying not to say the wrong thing.
“How I think I’m feeling? Again, implying that I don’t know.”
“Joy…”
“Never mind, Billy. Just forget everything I said. You do your job and when this vacation is over, I’ll go home and do mine. You’re right. I don’t know what I’m thinking. I don’t belong here. I’d never fit in.”
“Joy, please…”
“Goodnight, Billy, and good luck tomorrow. The sooner you catch Trent, the sooner I can get back to my life in LA.” Joy stormed down the hallway and a few seconds later, slammed the bedroom door. He heard the lock engage and he collapsed on the couch with his head in his hands.
Had he really just turned down Joy Casey?