Читать книгу: «Sunsets & Seduction: Mine Until Morning / Just for the Night / Kept in the Dark», страница 3

She wished it was Jonas’s arms she had around her, but that didn’t look as if it was going to happen. When he was around, she hadn’t feared anything. He made her feel safe. But he wasn’t here, and he wouldn’t be. She would be riding this one out alone.

The best solution was work, to keep busy. It was her usual solution to disappointment and heartache.

Maybe she could make some new scents—rosewood, jasmine and lavender for healing a broken heart. Though right now, as her mind rolled over all that had happened, she knew it would take a lot more than aromatherapy to make her feel better.

But it was a beginning.

3

5:00 p.m.

JONAS FOCUSED AS he ran his fingers along the edge of the window frame where he used duct tape to attach plastic sheeting to the edge. His entire right side was soaked from the rain coming in while he worked, and the wind kept pushing the plastic around, but he managed, proving to himself that he wasn’t entirely useless.

A few minutes after they had gotten back to their offices, Garrett went to help a friend whose house was having some serious flooding in her basement.

Jonas smiled to himself. Melissa, the friend in question, was a particularly pretty friend who had been making no bones about her interest in Garrett. Jonas wondered how serious the flooding problem was, or if Garrett was going to have a little fun during the storm.

Good for him, if so. His brother deserved some of that particular variety of fun.

Ever the responsible one, Garrett had insisted Jonas come along with him, but Jonas had made a point of wanting to stay at the office, telling Garrett to go. He said he wanted to listen to some of the most recent recordings of case files, and that he would call a taxi to get home. Garrett seemed happy about Jonas’s apparent interest in work, and had grudgingly agreed but said he would keep his cell phone on.

Jonas didn’t plan to interrupt him.

Jonas also wasn’t exactly alone in the big old Victorian in West Philly that housed their offices, as well as a few other businesses, along with one apartment on the top floor. He’d heard sounds on the other side of the wall and assumed the insurance office that resided there was open if he needed anyone. He also had Irish to keep him company, though the big old tomcat who had adopted them the year before wasn’t being much help. Irish was about six, they figured, and had some nicks and scars from his battles before he’d found his home. In that respect, he fit perfectly with the Berringers, who all had their own set of scars and histories.

Jonas knew Irish was really a lover more than a fighter, though. The big male cat had been caught soothing a sick kitten that lived next door, and wooing the pretty calico upstairs.

Right now, Jonas glanced down when he heard the cat’s inquiring noise.

“I’m fine, Irish. Just getting this window taped up, bud.”

As Jonas sat reviewing cases, a window at the back busted when a small branch had broken off a tree and fell through it.

Right now, Jonas was struggling to adjust the plastic sheeting to keep the rain out. He had asked Rhonda, the insurance company’s secretary, for help finding tape and plastic down in the basement all three businesses shared. She’d been on her way out, but offered to help, in the neighborly spirit of most Philadelphians.

Jonas had heard her saying something about “the kids being all right” on the phone when he had walked into the office, and told her to go, he was fine. Which he was. Mostly.

He’d cut himself once, a minor injury, and had a few bruises from getting up and down on a chair to reach the top of the window, but he’d gotten the job done. He took an odd amount of satisfaction from that fact. It was good to do something, to be competent in spite of his blindness.

When his phone rang, he frowned. He hated not being able to see the caller ID for who was calling, but just answered, since it was his personal line.

“Jonas.”

“Jonas, I was hoping you’d be there,” Senator Rose’s voice boomed across the line.

For the second time that day, Jonas was surprised by one of the Rose family. Not in a good way. He hadn’t talked to the senator since his accident, and had no idea why he’d be calling now.

“Hello, sir. Are you back in the U.S.?” he asked, trying to sound neutral. The guy had a lot of nerve, threatening Jonas’s family business, and then calling out of the blue, sounding as if nothing was wrong.

“No, no. In Italy, now, but I’m heading home early and I’ll be back tomorrow. Has your sight returned yet?”

Jonas paused, wondering at the question. The senator was calling to check on his health? This was getting stranger by the second.

“No, not yet I’m afraid.”

“Sorry to hear that. I need your help with something, Jon,” he said.

Jonas experienced a surge of excitement—had the senator decided to forgive and forget?

“I don’t know how much help I can be with anything right now, sir. But I can refer one of my brothers—”

“It has to be you. I need you to keep an eye on Tessa for me until I get back.”

Jonas paused, quite sure he hadn’t heard right.

“I’m sorry?”

“Tessa. There’s a problem in my office. I can’t say what it is yet. It doesn’t have anything to do with Tessa directly, but I’d feel better knowing she wasn’t alone for a day or so. Oh, and this needs to stay between us.”

“You don’t want her knowing she’s under protection?” He’d done undercover guard duty before, but this time he wasn’t sure that would work, or that he even wanted to do it.

“That would be best. You know how she hates my interference in her life. It’s only until I get back. Then things will be straightened out.”

“Sir, not to put too fine a point on it, but I’m blind. I can’t see how—”

“Jonas, it’s true I was less than happy to find out that you were messing around with my daughter. It could have cost both of you your lives,” Rose said. “I know she can be a handful, and she likes nothing more than to take a shot at her old man now and then. But you two fooling around plays in our favor now. If anyone has a chance of staying close to her and not raising her suspicions, it’s you. Blind or not, you’re probably twice as effective as anyone else. Just don’t let her get to you this time.”

In other words, keep it in your pants, son. Jonas heard the clear subtext.

“But, sir—”

“I need you to do this for me. Don’t let me down, Jon.”

The line went dead.

Muttering a string of curses, Jonas shook his head at the strange call. Tessa was not exactly his biggest fan right now. How could he insert himself into her life without her being suspicious after he’d thrown her out that morning?

The sound of something crashing outside the window made him spin back, and he teetered, falling to the floor, his foot still caught in the chair. The wind knocked out of him, Jonas lay there for a moment, getting his bearings. He grunted as Irish landed on his chest and began licking his face, obviously concerned for him.

Standing, he winced at the twinge in his ankle. Great. Just what he needed.

He made his way to the bathroom and rifled through everything seeking the first-aid kit he knew was there, and found the package of Ace bandages he sought, stripping his sock and shoe off. He could feel some minor swelling, but it wasn’t bad.

Trying, unsuccessfully, to wrap his ankle, he gave up and sought out the familiar feel of the jar of painkillers they kept on hand in the cabinet. It was barely a sprain, more of a twist, and probably didn’t even need wrapping, anyway.

However, it was clear he wasn’t up to doing chores around the office, and he reached for his phone to call for a taxi so he could get home.

And then he paused, thinking about the call from James.

Like it or not—and he didn’t—the request to babysit the boss’s daughter for the next few days was his second chance, his way to make amends for his screwup the first time. If nothing else, he owed it to his brothers to try to make amends for nearly losing their biggest benefactor.

But it was more than that for him, and Jonas knew it. His mind went back to that night with Tessa, to kissing her, as it had almost every day since it had happened.

He could still remember every detail of holding her. Kissing her. Her taste. Her scent.

The wind hit the side of the house hard, the thunder deafening.

Tessa hated thunder.

Maybe she needed him. If James thought she was in trouble, or even that she just needed someone close by, he couldn’t turn his back on that. But the senator was right—she’d never allow him to guard her. She had issued an invitation—one he hadn’t intended to respond to, but now things had changed. It gave him an in—cold, sure—but he had a job to do, and this time he would do it right. She’d hate him afterward, but that might be better, anyway.

Before he could think about it too much, he hit the second number on his speed dial.

“Tessa?”

She was so quiet at first, he thought they might have dropped the connection.

“Jonas?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry to bother you, but … um, I … I need your help.”

A SHORT WHILE LATER, Tessa was banging at the front door. “Jonas, are you there? Let me in, I’m getting soaked out here!”

Through the glass, she saw him limping slightly on his way to the door, which he opened. She hurried in, soaked to the skin. Rain dripped off her coat, puddling on the polished wood floors.

“The rain is coming down sideways out there,” she said, glad to have an excuse to cover her nerves about showing up.

When she’d seen his number on her caller ID, she thought maybe he’d had a change of heart—that he wanted to take her up on her invitation from earlier.

When he’d said he needed her help, she’d been worried sick, imagining every terrible thing possible between her store and the office, but from what she could tell, he looked in one piece, more or less.

“I’m sorry to drag you out in this, but you were the only person I could reach,” he said.

His last resort, she thought, her hopes dipping. This wasn’t exactly what she’d counted on. “What happened?”

“I turned suddenly, and I think I sprained my ankle. I tried to take care of it myself, but couldn’t. If you could help me out with that, and getting me home, I’d appreciate it.”

“What’s been going on here?”

“A tree limb broke the window. I managed to get it covered.”

She walked to the edge of the room on her left, seeing leftover bits of broken glass.

“You’re going to trip yourself up again.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re standing here with one bare foot and an Ace bandage twisted around it and trailing behind you.” She couldn’t help but smile as she watched a big cat turn into a kitten as he followed the edge of the strap, chasing it. “Your cat seems to think it’s great fun, though.”

“Oh. Yeah, he would.”

“How could your brothers leave you alone in this storm? You shouldn’t have been climbing up on a chair—you could have hit your head.”

“I’m not completely helpless, you know. I shouldn’t have called you,” he said stiffly.

Tessa took a breath, and swallowed her disappointment. He obviously hadn’t wanted to ask for help, and in particular, he didn’t like asking her for help. But he had, and she’d do what she had to do.

Still, she wished it was because he had actually wanted to see her. Her pride kept her from saying as much.

“I don’t mind helping. Let me find someone to take care of the mess and fix up your ankle. Then I can make sure you get home safely.”

She led him back to the bathroom and while she worked on his foot, he talked to Ken, their handyman. It gave her a chance to concentrate. Apparently the handyman lived close by and assured Jonas he would come over to take care of the window and everything else.

“This doesn’t look too bad,” she said, trying not to feel ridiculous that the sight of Jonas’s naked foot was enough to make her pulse jump, but it was a very nice foot, by all estimations.

“Do you have any liniment?” she asked.

“Probably,” he responded tightly. “I left the first-aid kit out on the desk.” She pulled her hands back, and he seemed to relax a little. Did he not want her touching him even that much?

She got up and went to look, coming back a few minutes later. The cat purred around her feet and blinked up at her, clearly flirting.

“What’s your cat’s name?”

“Irish.”

“Interesting.”

“Fighting Irish, given his battle scars.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” she said, taking a break to scratch the cat behind the ears. At least one of the Berringer men liked her attentions, she thought.

“You’re pretty good at this,” he said.

“I dated an EMT once. I used to ride the ambulance with him when things were slow. I even thought about getting my certification,” she said absently, focusing on the task as a way of resisting the urge to slide her hand up his muscled calf.

“Isn’t that against the law?”

She snorted. “We weren’t too worried about that back then. I wish I had known what happened. I have an organic eucalyptus oil that works wonders, and smells a lot better than this stuff.” She hated the stench of the ointment she was applying. Running her hand over the back of his strong calf to steady his leg, a desire shot through her.

She was supposed to be attending an injury to a blind man, and even that had erotic overtones for her. How pathetic was that?

“You can probably manage your sock and shoe alone,” she commented, “though I’m not sure the shoe will fit unless you unlace it.”

“I have a pair of work boots over in the mudroom. Could you grab them for me?” he asked.

“Sure.”

She made her way through the classic rooms of the old Victorian, admiring the way they had remodeled and updated it without erasing its original character. The last time she’d been here had been to try to get someone to tell her what was happening with Jonas, how he was. Where he was.

The brothers had such a strong bond, seemed so loyal to each other that she found it surprising they would have left Jonas here all alone, dealing with the storm. Still, as she’d recalled earlier, he wasn’t a guy who liked accepting help. She was just amazed he had called her instead of hobbling home on his own.

“Thanks,” he said grudgingly as she handed him the boots.

“You’re welcome,” she responded in the same tone. “Let me see if I can just reinforce that plastic around the window to keep the rain out, and I’ll call a cab.”

“You don’t have to do that. Ken will be here soon.”

“It will only take a few minutes, and it will keep your floors from being ruined.”

He nodded reluctantly, and resumed trying to get his boots on. So much for him wanting her around—he seemed happy to have any excuse to ignore her.

Tessa busied herself adding more tape to the plastic around the broken window. When the job was done, she phoned for a cab. It took three calls to find a company who had someone available.

“Our ride will be here in a bit. Things are getting rough out there,” she said, jumping a little as a crack of thunder sounded as if it was splitting the world in two.

“You shouldn’t have gone out in this,” he said, sounding as if he regretted calling her. “I know you hate storms.”

“Emergency Services has enough on their plate right now, and I didn’t mind. Don’t worry, you’ll be away from me soon enough,” she couldn’t stop herself from adding, hurt and disappointed that he was so obviously displeased by her presence.

She knew he believed the worst of her, but she didn’t deserve it. She also knew from a lifetime of being a politician’s daughter that once people’s minds were made up about you, they rarely changed their views. When she had been bandaging Jonas’s foot, it seemed as if he could barely stand her touch.

“Listen,” he said, running a hand through his already wild hair. “I’m … grateful you came.”

She didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched between them.

“You’re welcome,” she said eventually, and was relieved to hear the honk of a cab outside. She didn’t say anything else, either. What was there to say? She thought that she cared for Jonas; they definitely had chemistry, or so she thought. But she wasn’t going to beg him to be with her. Still, it hurt.

“What about Irish?”

“He’ll be okay. He doesn’t do well being transported, and his food, water and bed are here.”

“Okay. If you’re sure he’s okay.”

“He has a cat door in the back if he needs to get out, but he usually just hunkers down at night.”

“Let’s go, then,” she said, and he pulled back when she took his hand.

“Cripes, Jonas, relax. I’m just helping you out to the cab, not trying to come on to you,” she said, gritting her teeth.

He blew out a breath, seeming as tense as she was. “It’s not you, Tessa. I hate this, my situation and being led around like a poodle all the time,” he admitted.

Her own aggravation softened. He was a protector, a man who wasn’t used to being vulnerable. He stood in front of others who were. She put her own feelings aside, realizing how difficult this was for him. He let her lead him out through the maelstrom to the shelter of the cab.

“Hardly a poodle. More like a rottweiler with a nasty temper,” she muttered under her breath as they climbed inside the cab, and thought she might have seen him smile, just a little.

TESSA ALMOST BOLTED from the cab by the time they reached her store. The silent tension between her and Jonas was intolerable.

“No more fares,” the cabbie said, looking back at them as she started to get out, but Jonas didn’t.

“My friend needs you to take him home,” she said to the driver, who shook his head vehemently.

“No more fares,” he repeated, shifting his light to Out of Service, and staring at Jonas, not that Jonas could notice.

“He says you have to get out here,” she spoke to Jonas.

“Yeah, I got that.” His tone was clipped and short. He was obviously not happy about that option, and she couldn’t help feeling insulted.

It infuriated her, but she held her temper. “You can come into the store and wait for another taxi,” she offered.

She’d call one herself, and make sure she told them to hurry, she thought testily, helping him from the taxi. He insisted on paying the fare, and she let him.

“Careful stepping up,” she cautioned as they ascended

to the shop, and he pulled his hand out of her grasp, taking the railing.

“I’m fine. I have this whole property memorized. It was part of my job,” he said.

She made some faint response, noting that he did seem to move easily up her stairs and inside the door, as if he could see.

Why did it make her heart constrict in an uncomfortable way to think he knew her space so well? That he had committed something about her to memory? It didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself. He’d said as much.

It was just a side effect of his job.

“I’ll call another taxi,” she said.

“Thanks.”

Tessa was on her phone for several minutes, watching Jonas stalk around her shop like a caged tiger. She called one company, and then another, but no one could send a ride for at least an hour, if then.

The city was paralyzed by the storm. The taxis were starting to return to the garage for the night.

As she redialed, she watched Jonas lift one scented bar to his nose and turned his attention to her.

“This is new,” he said, and she blinked in amazement.

He paid that much attention to her products? Most of the time he had acted as if he couldn’t care less.

“Yes,” she answered, while seeking another taxi service.

She didn’t tell him what he had picked up was one of the soaps in her new Erotic Enhancements collection. That particular scent could intensify orgasm. Standing and watching him lift the soap to his nose, inhaling, made her skin warm. Her heart fluttered. From her brief experience in Jonas’s arms, he wouldn’t need any help giving intense orgasms.

“Tessa?” he interrupted her train of thought.

“Oh, what? Sorry,” she responded, shaking her attention away from Jonas and sex. Even when he was being unpleasant, she couldn’t stop picturing him naked.

“Any luck?”

“No, I’m sorry. We can keep trying, but the city is—”

She stopped as everything went dark around her. The store was suddenly pitch-black, no light outside or in.

“Oh no.”

“What?” he asked sharply.

“Blackout. Everything just went dark. Really dark.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Um, yeah, but it looks like you might be stuck here for a while.”

He was quiet, and she bit her lip. He certainly couldn’t think she’d orchestrated this.

She stepped down from the register where the phone was, and started to make her way across the store, but couldn’t find anything to focus on, and gasped in pain as she knocked into the corner of a display.

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just having a lot harder time than you making my way around in the dark,” she said grumpily. It seemed the tables had turned.

“You stay put, but keep talking. I’ll find my way to you,” he said, and she thought she heard a slight smile in his tone.

“This isn’t funny.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know what to talk about,” she groused.

“Then sing something,” he offered, sounding closer.

“I don’t sing outside the shower,” she said, and then, a second later, felt his hand on her arm.

“There you are,” he said.

His strong fingers closing around her forearm reminded her of that morning, and memories swamped her.

She had been so frightened by his call, and then so relieved to find him with only a minor injury, that it had been easy to set desire aside. Well, mostly.

Not so now. Here, in the familiar setting of her store, where they had spent so much time together, it was harder to ignore her attraction to him, stupid as it might be. He obviously didn’t feel the same way about her.

His breath warm and close to her cheek in the dark. She had a feeling it wouldn’t take much to turn her face to his and lean in for a kiss.

“I guess we could go upstairs and wait it out. This can’t last for too long. I could get us something to drink,” she suggested.

“Thanks. I—” he started, and then stopped. Then started again. “I know this is awkward.”

“It is. Here, I can use my cell phone to light the way,” she said.

“Don’t use your phone as a light. It’ll kill the battery. I can get us there.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed her hand this time, his grip firm and warm, and she stayed close as he navigated perfectly to the stairs.

“You didn’t change any of the displays,” he commented as they climbed.

“I don’t, typically. I want people to find things easily when they come back for a second or third visit,”

she said. “I have an area for new items, and they know where to find those, too.”

“Makes sense.”

She did use her phone as a light for a quick minute to insert her key into the lock and let them in, finding her apartment as well in total darkness. It felt comfortable talking about the store, something neutral.

“We’re both pretty soaked from the rain,” she said.

It had been coming down so hard even the short walks to and from the cab had been drenching. “My brother left some things here after his last visit. They should fit you well enough, if you’d like to change.”

In spite of being soaking wet, the heat and humidity made the apartment muggy, and she felt a fine sheen of perspiration on her brow. Or maybe it was repressed arousal.

“I’d appreciate that,” he said simply.

“Wait here. I’ll get the clothes and some towels.” She carefully walked into the guest bedroom and found the Levi’s and a silky black T-shirt in a drawer where Tim had left them behind.

Her brother, a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago, wasn’t quite as broad in the shoulders as Jonas, but they were about the same height and weight, she figured.

She shivered in anticipation, in spite of herself. The storm didn’t seem to be letting up. Jonas might be here for the night.

Maybe … No.

There was no way she could sleep with him. He’d just think she was using him again, to get back at her father or for some blue-collar thrill, whatever. He’d memorized her home, her store, but didn’t he get to know her better in those weeks when he’d been guarding her?

Apparently not.

Could she have been imagining the chemistry between them?

She thought back to their encounter in his apartment, earlier in the day. It felt ages ago. He wanted her—he just didn’t want to want her.

Though in all honestly, she was partly to blame for what had happened to him. She wasn’t guilty of the things he accused her of, but she did bear some responsibilty. She’d set her sights on him, flirting, tempting, and did whatever she could to break his control.

That had backfired big-time. She also hadn’t believed in the threat that he was guarding her from, and he had ended up paying the price for that.

So maybe he had good reason to be angry with her. And maybe this was her chance to make amends.

“Well, I have the clothes, but as to skivvies, I don’t have anything like that on hand, unless you would like to try on something of mine,” she teased lightly as she entered the living room.

He did chuckle then, a gravelly, masculine sound that warmed her blood.

“Not necessary,” he said, and that turned her tease into a groan as she thought about Jonas and nothing between her and him but the thin denim.

Her mouth went dry as she put the clothes in his hands, and then the towels.

She licked her lips, impossibly turned on by him being here, so close and about to take his clothes off.

“You can use the bathroom,” she said quickly, turning back to her bedroom to change her own clothes, and promptly slamming her shin into the table leg.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Though I feel stupid for not being able to find my way around my own apartment in the dark,” she admitted.

“It gets easier with practice. Maybe you should use your phone for light before you really hurt yourself.”

She frowned, but did light her way back to her room as he disappeared into the bathroom with no trouble whatsoever.

Stripping out of her wet clothes, she dried off and applied some smoothing sage and lavender lotion to her skin, enjoying the calming scents. Her phone dimmed a bit, and she knew she was losing the charge, so tried to finish her ministrations in the dark.

Peering out the window as she was slipping on a pair of light capris and a tank, she couldn’t see a thing. Rain hit the glass so hard that the entire view was obscured, and everything was pitch-black, including the streetlights.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to make it through this night. She wanted Jonas, but he clearly had no such intentions toward her. They were stuck together, and she’d make the best of it, but she ached inside and wished things could be different.

Making her way back out to the main room, she did as he instructed and walked slowly forward, until she caught the edge of the flip-flop she wore on the throw rug, pitching forward and landing with a thud on the hardwood floor.

A lamp fell from the table beside her and she cursed loudly. That was her favorite lamp, a one-of-a-kind that she had handmade by a glassblower in New York.

“Are you okay? Where are you?” Jonas called, emerging from the bathroom.

“Yeah, I just stumbled over the rug, and I think I broke a lamp.”

“Don’t move, you could cut yourself on broken glass.”

The next thing she knew, he was there, his hands finding her in the dark.

The scent of sweet-smelling lavender and sage lotion on her skin rose between them as he helped her up and over to the sofa. As he sat down with her, he didn’t let go.

She’d dabbed some patchouli oil on her pulse points earlier in the day. The sweet, earthy scent was traditionally one used in erotic ceremony, and connected historically to sensual practice. Right now, combined with the humidity in the room and Jonas’s manly scent, it was a heady mix.

Or maybe it was the way one of his hands lingered on her back, and the other on her wrist. The storm raged outside, but Tessa hardly noticed.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“And yet here you are.”

She saw the green light in the tense posture of his body, as if he was using every muscle he had to hold himself back.

Time stopped. The world outside the window was invisible, everything was swallowed by the storm. It was only the two of them, here, alone, and suddenly nothing else mattered.

“Jonas,” she whispered, but it was all he allowed her to say before his mouth was on hers, and they fell back to the soft cushions of the sofa, forgetting everything else.