Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Owen woke with daylight streaming through a window, the woman of his dreams in his arms, and an erection that threatened to get him in a shitload of trouble nestled against her ass. He disengaged and rolled out of bed, adjusting himself with his back to her. He pulled on his jeans and when he felt in control enough to face her, he found he needn’t have worried because she was still out cold.
He stared at her, for once looking his fill. Wavy brown hair that he knew in the summer would streak to a honey blonde. Faint freckles across the bridge of her nose, and lips he wanted to kiss, really kiss, and not like the stupid peck he’d given her the night before.
She wore a bandage on her forehead over stitches because of an injury that should’ve never happened. It fucking pissed him off that she’d been attacked. He’d let her go home by herself and she’d been hurt. That wasn’t happening again.
He’d been an idiot, admitting he had a thing for her, putting his hands on her, kissing her, brief as it was, as if he had the right. He might as well pull his beating heart out of his chest and offer it to her because getting involved with her would end with the same result. He’d fuck it up, and he’d hurt her, and he’d still end up destroyed.
He was used to being left, but with Keeley, he wouldn’t survive when she did.
He held fast against the desire to touch her, to brush her hair off her forehead, to stroke her cheek until she woke and then catch her lips in a kiss that could only lead down the path to perdition .
He left the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.
Waiting for the coffee to brew, he pulled his phone from his pocket and found a couple dozen messages. Most were from Delaney demanding to know what was going on.
Since it was Sawyer he wanted to talk to, he texted his friend the basics of Keeley’s night with directions to pass the info to Delaney. He wanted to forestall her coming by to check on her friend for herself. He also asked Sawyer to come to the cottage so they could strategize.
He looked in the refrigerator and found mostly what he considered girly food: yogurt, avocados, kombucha.
What the hell was kombucha?
He grabbed a loaf of bread and read the bag that identified it as twelve-seed.
Who needed twelve seeds in a piece of toast?
He spied a small bowl with eggs marked with an X on the end and figured they were hard-boiled. He rummaged around and came up with provolone cheese and decided breakfast sandwiches were on the menu.
When Sawyer drove his truck up the driveway, Owen was sitting at a little table on Keeley’s postage-stamp-size patio eating his sandwich and working on his second cup of coffee while scrolling through the news on his phone.
While still chilly, the sun shone strongly, and the day promised to be a truly warm spring day.
“ Where’s Keels?” Sawyer took the chair across the table from him, a travel mug in his hand.
“ Still asleep.”
“ That so?” Sawyer grinned.
“ Not what you’re thinking, bro. I may want that, but that’s not where we’re going.”
“ Why the fuck not? You’ve been into her for a while.”
“ I’ll screw it up, and I don’t want her hurt. ”
Sawyer cocked his head as if trying to figure out a complex math problem. “Of course you’ll screw it up. We all do. But if you love each other, you’ll work it out. That’s life.”
Owen was already shaking his head. “I’m too fucked up for her, and she’s too smart to love me.”
“ We’re all fucked up, but our women love us anyway. Look at Walker. Dude was so fucked up he didn’t come home for the good part of a decade. But when he finally did, he and Delaney worked it out, and now look what he’s got. The woman he loves married him and they have a baby coming. Nothing better than that.”
Owen kept his mouth shut.
Sawyer wasn’t ready to give up. “You tell Keels what’s holding you back?”
“ No, and I’m not going to.”
Sawyer shook his head as if gravely disappointed. “You’re a good man, and I think you two would be great together. But if you can’t pull your head out of your ass to figure that out, then don’t fuck with her by sleeping with her. She’s not a hookup.”
“ You her big brother all the sudden?”
“ I’ve always been her big brother. Same for Delaney.”
“ You’re such a Boy Scout.”
Sawyer’s grin flashed. “Yeah, and the ladies love me.” He dropped the smile. “Our girl’s been the target of an attack twice now. I want your take on what’s going on.”
“ Someone wanted her purse. That’s what the kid wanted Sunday. That’s what the woman who attacked her got last night.”
“ I read the report.” Sawyer scratched his chin. “Shit isn’t adding up.”
“ Agreed. Keeley didn’t call the credit card company until after we got back from the clinic. That means the assailant had her card for a good two hours.” He nailed Sawyer with a look. “There wasn’t a single charge.”
“ Which could mean there was something else in her purse they were after,” Sawyer concluded .
“ That’s what I’m thinking.”
The sliding door to the patio opened and Keeley stepped out, a mug of coffee in her hand. She’d pulled a hoodie over her pajama top and wore shearling boots on her feet. She sat at the table and curled her legs under her, her eyes closed as she gripped her mug with both hands and sipped slowly.
Sawyer peered at her forehead. “Jesus, Keels, that looks painful. You gonna be okay?”
Keeley nodded with her eyes still closed. She took another sip of coffee.
“ Give her five minutes for the caffeine to hit her system before talking to her,” Owen muttered.
Keeley raised her eyelids. Owen could think of about a dozen things he’d rather be doing with her while she still had that sleepy look in her eyes. And not one of them involved the cop sitting at the patio table with a knowing smirk on his face.
“ You want an egg sandwich for breakfast?” The offer was out of his mouth before he could block it.
Then Keeley gave him a sweet smile that made him feel like he’d offered to slay dragons for her. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”
Sawyer shook his head when offered breakfast and Owen headed inside. At least busying himself in the kitchen gave him a chance to lock down his control.
This was the second time he’d been around when she’d woken in the morning, and it made his desires—not only the sexual ones, but the desire to have a life with someone he wanted to share quiet mornings with—harder to resist.
Sawyer seemed to have stripped away the bullshit Owen’d been telling himself, and seeing Keeley looking so goddamn appealing was weakening the chains he’d put on his own wants and desires. If he was going to withstand her appeal, he needed time to get himself under control again .
He buttered the toasted bread, added cheese and egg, gave it a quick zap in the microwave, and when he turned around she was right there.
He shoved the plate at her. “Here.”
“ Thanks.” She set the plate next to her mug on the counter, then turned back to him. Grabbing ahold of his shirt, she went up on tiptoes and kissed him.
Not the little pecks they’d shared before. No, this was a warm laying of her lips on his with an added little hum of pleasure that vibrated through him all the way to his dick.
A snap echoed in his head as the self-imposed restraints disintegrated, obliterated by the intoxicating feel of her lips moving on his.
Her lips parted as he took control of the kiss, swiping his tongue to taste the warm lushness of coffee and an additional element that was quintessentially Keeley: sunshine, which, he discovered, tasted a lot like honey.
He moved his hands under her clothing and stroked the warm skin of her back. No way could she miss his erection jutting insistently through his pants.
She moaned against his mouth, a sexy sound that made his head spin. Hands cupped under her ass, lifted her, then set her on the counter, shoving aside the tub of butter and pushing a knife into the sink with a clatter.
Then he was between her spread thighs, rubbing against the heat pulsing through the flannel she wore.
Damn. He was ready to go off in his pants like a randy teenager.
His hand grazed the skin of her rib cage, his thumb brushing the side of her breast. He groaned. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
With his thumb he brushed the tip of her nipple and had her moaning again, a throaty sound that by itself could get him off. He broke the kiss as reality snuck up on him. “Fuck. ”
“ Yes please,” she responded. “But lock the door, m’kay?” Her eyes were soft and slumberous, and when she licked her lips, he was ready to scoop her up in his arms and dive back into bed.
Holy shit. He withdrew his hands from her skin and raised them up, taking a careful step back like she was a bomb primed to detonate with the slightest of vibrations.
Why that conjured images in his head of Keeley in the midst of an orgasm he’d orchestrated, god only knew.
The single ounce of self-preservation he’d managed to retain was yelling in his head to fucking knock it off.
Not only was Sawyer sitting outside probably thinking of the best way to castrate him, but Keeley deserved better than to be jerked around by a guy who could never be what she deserved.
“ Fuck, Keeley. No, not fuck. Wrong word.”
Her response of “yes, please” ping-ponged around in his head to accompany another round of erotic images of a naked Keeley. He shook his head to clear it. “Never mind. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let things get this far.”
Perfectly arched brows lowered over hazel eyes. “ I kissed you , Owen. I’m the one who initiated whatever this is. And I’m perfectly fine with how far things have gone. In fact, I’m pretty sure I indicated I’d be happy if they went farther.”
“ Right. Sure. But they can’t. We can’t.” He scrubbed his hand over his face.
“ You weren’t acting like kissing me was a chore. Or like having your hands on my breasts was distasteful. In fact,” she glanced at his crotch where things had yet to subside, “evidence suggests you enjoyed what happened as much as I did.”
He turned away so he wouldn’t have to lie to her face. “That’s a physical reaction.”
“ I see. You’d have responded like that with any woman.”
“ Right. Yeah.”
“ You’re such an asshole. And a liar.” Keeley pushed herself off the counter. “At least I can admit I have feelings for you and feel good about it. You say you like me then have a freakout when we actually do what people with a mutual attraction do.”
“ I’ve been clear I don’t have relationships. Sure, I like you, but that doesn’t change anything.”
Asshole that he was, he shoved away from the sink and strode out of the house.
***
Jerk. Keeley stood in her kitchen. Sure, I like you. Who says that? She rubbed her forehead with a balled-up fist, then winced when it pulled at the stitches.
What the heck had just happened?
She’d gone with the impulse and kissed him, and, oh boy, had Owen responded.
She’d put that kiss right up there as the number one kiss of all kisses she’d ever experienced.
He’d been into it until it seemed his brain had caught up with his body and he’d slammed on the brakes. Of course he could say no, his feelings didn’t have to match hers. But that’s not what she got from him. Something was holding him back, and he wasn’t willing to explain.
Deciding she couldn’t do anything about the situation in that moment, she refilled her coffee mug and picked up the plate with her egg sandwich and carried both out to the patio.
Sawyer was on his phone sounding like he was wrapping up a call while Owen sat in his chair, a scowl on his face and arms crossed over his chest. She gave him her sunniest smile for the express purpose of messing with him.
Sawyer tossed his phone on the table and leaned back in his chair. He pinched the bridge of his nose and released a sigh that sounded like it came from the depths of his soul. He dropped his hand and said, “That was a detective from Sacramento PD. A woman’s body’s been found buried under trash in a dumpster behind an office building.”
His gaze zeroed in on Keeley. “Her clothing matches the description you gave of your assailant last night. Medium height, medium frame, blue fleece jacket, and blue and green New Balance shoes.”
Keeley set down her sandwich, nausea suddenly making her stomach roll.
Owen swore under his breath.
She licked her lips and asked, “How was she killed?”
“ Preliminarily, it looks like head trauma. Rigor had set in already when the body was found by an individual searching for recyclables around seven a.m. That puts the time of death a minimum of two hours before that.”
“ Have the police ID’d her?” Owen asked.
Sawyer nodded slowly. “She had her phone in her pocket, ID in the phone case. Photo on the driver’s license matches the body. Forty-two years old, lived in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael. Her name is Pamela Lynn Demaris.”
Keeley set her mug on the table with a thunk. “That’s not possible.”
“ Identification is preliminary, but unofficially SPD believes it’s her. I’m sorry, Keeley.” Sawyer’s gaze remained steady. “There’s more. Your purse was found in the possession of a homeless woman trying to use one of your credit cards at a convenience store about a mile from where the body was found. The Sacramento police want to talk to you.”
Keeley felt the blood drain from her face. “Do they think I killed her?”
“ You were with me all night,” Owen snapped. “No one’s going to believe you had anything to do with it.”
“ Being with Owen gives you a solid alibi,” Sawyer affirmed. “Plus, you were in the emergency clinic. You had nothing to do with her death, but the detectives will still have questions. I gave them your contact info. They want to talk with you this afternoon so be expecting a call to set up a video conference.”
“ A kid Demaris knew tried to take your purse.” Owen pinned her with a steady look. “Someone brought him to Sisters, and that could’ve been Demaris. Fernando could’ve been following orders from her, and when that didn’t work she decided to snatch the purse herself. But she didn’t use the credit cards. What else do you carry in your purse, princess?”
“ Nothing significant.”
The men shared equally dubious expressions.
“ I’ve never even looked in a woman’s purse,” Sawyer claimed.
“ Me either,” Owen grumbled. “Who the hell knows what women carry in those things.”
“ It’s not like we have the nuclear codes.” Keeley remembered at the last moment not to roll her eyes. “Really, I have nothing special in my purse. The only things of value are credit cards and my phone, which I don’t always carry in my purse. I have my driver’s license and insurance card in my wallet. Other than that, probably a hairclip, pens, tampons. Maybe some receipts. That kind of thing.” She shrugged. “Nothing interesting or of value.”
Sawyer leaned forward. “Let’s try this. Think back over the past several months and the interactions you had with Demaris. Is there anything that stands out as odd or out of character? Also, consider anyone else you’ve been in contact with where things felt off. And I mean anything. This could be here in town, at work, in your social life.”
She nibbled at her breakfast sandwich. “My tires being slashed was unusual. Owen coming to rescue me was unusual.”
“ Anything between you and Demaris in the weeks leading up to you getting the flat tire?” Owen asked.
She shook her head slowly.
“ You said before Yousef thought Demaris was jealous of you,” Owen reasoned. “We established she was a loner while you were accepted as part of the in crowd. That could lead to jealousy. ”
She glanced at Sawyer. “Owen and I already talked about this. I don’t like the term ‘in crowd’ because it makes us sound cliquish, which we weren’t. We invited new teachers, substitute teachers, secretaries. We welcomed anyone who wanted to join us for lunch, or when we went to the cantina after school on Fridays. Even the custodian, Angie, joined us.
“ The group was fluid because everyone was welcome. Pam was invited, but she preferred opening her room so kids could eat there during lunch and she chose not to join us for happy hour.”
Sawyer picked up his phone. “Give me Yousef’s last name and phone number. I want to talk with him.”
“ I don’t want Yousef bothered.”
“ That’s not how this works.” Owen’s words were clipped. “Cops will talk to anyone with insight into what was going on with this woman. There’s a killer out there only a few degrees separated from you. There’s not a chance I’m letting them get any closer than that.”
She told herself not to read anything into his comment. She chewed her bottom lip as a memory surfaced.
“ There was something at the holiday staff party in December. It was kind of pathetic more than anything else.” She had the attention of both men. “The party was at our principal’s house and I brought Jaxon. At the time, we’d only been dating a few weeks.
“ Anyway, Pam was flirting with him. She’d worn this tight, lowcut dress and she was drinking. The evening progressed and she was drinking more. The drunker she got, the more aggressive a play she made for Jaxon.”
“ Could be she was trying to make you jealous,” Sawyer suggested. “How did Jaxon respond?”
“ I wasn’t jealous. Maybe that should’ve told me something about my lack of feelings for him. I could tell Jaxon was flattered by the attention. He was eating it up. But then when she wouldn’t leave him alone, I think he was embarrassed.”
“ Do you know if they saw each other after that night?” Owen asked .
Keeley leaned back in her chair. She wanted to be helpful, but she also wanted to crawl back in bed and pretend this morning had never happened. And the cut on her forehead hurt. “I don’t think they did, but I can’t say for sure. Jaxon and I were dating, but didn’t see each other more than once a week or so. We were both busy.”
“ You broke it off with him?” At Keeley’s nod, Owen continued, “Why?”
She shrugged. “We weren’t really clicking, and he was secretive about his work. The more I got to know him, the less I liked him. That was in February.”
“ What kind of work does he do?” Sawyer asked.
“ He’s a CPA. He’d worked for a firm, but wanted to make more money so now he does freelance work. I’m not sure what that means if you’re a CPA. I do know he didn’t have his own office. He worked from home, or sometimes he’d go to the location of the business he was working for.”
“ You said he was bothering you for a couple weeks after the breakup?”
“ Yeah. He kept calling, then he wanted to meet up one last time. He said he wanted to reclaim our courtship. His words.
“ He sounded so pathetic, plus I wanted to make it clear we were done, so I agreed.” She grimaced. “We met at a coffee shop and it was plain weird. He was agitated. His head went up every time someone came in, and he kept looking out the window and checking his phone. He led off with the idea we should get away so we could focus on us. He proposed a vacation to Mexico.”
“ You’re shitting me,” Owen muttered.
“ I’m not, and it gets better. He said he had a short-term rental in Acapulco picked out but wanted to put it in my name and for me to pay for it. He’d pay me back as soon as he could, and by the way, we’d need to drive to Mexico and would have to take my car.”
She laughed. “He seemed stunned when I turned him down. I think he understood I wasn’t budging on that, so he pivoted and asked if he could borrow five thousand dollars. ”
She caught the men giving each other a knowing look. “I know what you’re thinking. Jaxon is nuts. He said he needed the money to help him get through a rough patch, but that things would be looking up for him soon, and he’d pay me back with two percent interest.”
“ Fucking incredible.” Owen’s frown grew deeper.
“ It’s so crazy it’s funny. I told him no, and left. After that, he stopped bothering me. I took for granted that he understood we were done.”
“ The next time you saw him was when you’re working for me and he came in?” Owen asked. “How’d he know where you were working?”
“ I don’t know,” she replied. “That was my second day at Easy Money, and I hadn’t told more than a few people where I was working.”
“ What’d he want, Keels?” Sawyer asked.
“ To get back together.” She sighed. “I was so irritated with him. I turned him down, but he kept pushing so I ended up telling him Owen and I are together to get him to back off.”
“ Oh yeah?”
“ We’re not.” Keeley glanced at Owen. His expression gave nothing away. “Together, I mean. Owen said he was okay with Jaxon thinking we are.”
“ You said he’d started texting again and you had to block him,” Owen pointed out. “And Demaris texted wanting to meet up for lunch.”
“ I didn’t respond to Pam’s invitation.”
Sawyer leaned forward in his seat. “Two people contacting you out of the blue at about the same time, and then one of them turns up dead? Add in that they knew each other. And a third person used to be Demaris’s student. The whole thing strikes me as suspicious.”
“ I don’t like it,” Owen muttered. “You need to bring this asshole in for questioning.”
“ Agreed. What’s Jaxon’s last name?”
“ Romero. ”
He tapped on his phone. “Okay, send me Jaxon Romero’s contact information.” Once he had it, he said, “I’ve got to take off so I can get the ball rolling.” Sawyer rose, directing his next comment at Owen. “You’ll keep doing what you’re doing.”
It wasn’t a question. “Damn straight,” Owen replied.
Keeley narrowed her eyes, but before she could ask what he meant, Abby stepped out of her house to make her way across the courtyard. Sawyer greeted her with a wave as he headed to his sheriff’s vehicle.
Abby looked like she hadn’t gotten much sleep. She bent over her daughter, brushing Keeley’s hair off her forehead.
“ Oh, my baby. That looks painful. How are you feeling?”
“ Like I’m ready for some painkillers.” She glanced at Owen. “There’s more, Mom.”
“ I don’t like the sound of that. Tell me.”
Keeley was relieved Owen took the lead in relating what they knew about Pam Demaris’s death.
She still couldn’t believe it.
Why would Pam have stolen her purse? It didn’t make sense.
God knew teachers weren’t the best paid of the professions, but they weren’t in a dire enough situation they’d need to steal.
Maybe Pam had been involved in something that had led to desperation. That might explain the need for money, but not why she’d specifically target Keeley.
“ I’m so sorry that woman is dead.” Abby pulled her jacket closed with shaking hands. Keeley worried the news had rattled her mother. “I can’t imagine why she’d target Keeley.”
“ I was wondering the same thing,” Keeley said. “Here’s a thought: What if she had an addiction to illegal drugs or gambling? Or was in debt to someone who was a threat to her and she needed money fast? Add in jealousy, if Yousef is right, or that she’s never liked me. She decides to resort to crime to pay her illicit debts so she targets me because, you know, two birds, one stone. ”
“ That’s as good a theory as any, other than that she didn’t use your credit cards,” Owen said. “Could be she hadn’t had time before she was killed.”
They tossed around some other theories, but in the end, that’s all they were, theories.