Chapter 3
Chapter Three
This whole situation was way, way out of control. She tried to get back on track. Hard to do, when his touch was making her whole body ache. “Everett named four bars that he visited before he was caught by surprise and left handcuffed. Moonshine. Whiskey Sour. Midnight Rose. And LeBlanc’s.”
A nod. “And that’s why you’re here tonight. And why the cops stopped by. Good to know. For a minute there, I thought you’d tracked me down because you’d just never been able to forget me, and you were dying of unrequited love for yours truly.”
Her mouth opened. Remained open. What could have been a squeak emerged. What. The. Hell?
“It was the kiss that made me suspicious. When a strange woman kisses you like her very life depends on it…” His head lowered. His mouth hovered over hers. “It does give a guy ideas.”
“I’m…” Staring at his mouth. “I’m not strange.”
“Sweetheart…”
The endearment rumbled from him and made her toes curl.
“You play with killers for a job. If that doesn’t qualify as strange, I’m not sure what does.”
Again, she wasn’t playing. “I get their stories in order to help people. When you can understand their motivations, when you can see how they hunted, why they selected certain victims, you can learn to stop them. You can be on guard. You can?—”
“You want to know why he hunted you, don’t you?” Low. Deep.
She licked her lips.
“Never caught. Still out there. The arsonist—the fire killer who got away. Why’d he pick you? Why were you a victim? Did you spend all these years playing with monsters because you’re trying to figure out what made you a victim?”
Okay, so, she’d been with him five minutes, and the man was psychoanalyzing her. Very effectively psychoanalyzing her. Why not just rip her skin away and peer straight into her soul?
His thumb brushed over her lower lip.
“Instead of being scared and hiding from the world,” he murmured, “you went straight for the monsters. Takes one hell of a lot of guts to do something like that.” There was no missing his admiration. “Of course, it’s also dangerous as fuck.” He let her go. Stepped away. Put his hands behind his back. “But you do you, sweetheart.”
The second time he’d called her sweetheart in that deep, dark voice of his.
“Thanks. I usually do.” She lifted a slightly trembling hand and shoved back her hair. Big problem. Normally, she could sit across from a convicted killer and maintain her pose of fake calm. But with Beau, she was ragged at the edges after only a few moments of conversation.
At her response, his mouth kicked into a half-grin.
“Did you do it?” Avalon blurted.
“It? Sorry. You’ll need to clarify. Turns out, I do lots of things.”
“Happy to clarify.” A quick exhale. “Did you slam a two-by-four into the back of Everett’s head?” Because one had been found at the scene. One that had included hair and tissue from Everett. “Then did you cuff him and put a bow on the guy?”
“Doesn’t really seem like something I’d do,” Beau mused. His gaze darted down her body. Slowly. Then came back to her face. “I tend to spend my nights busy with other activities.”
“Great to know.” Her nostrils flared. “That wasn’t actually a hard no, by the way.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
“That was a hard no.”
She stared at him. It had been.
He…winked at her. “This walk down memory lane was far more amusing than I anticipated. Tell you what, feel free to stop by my bar again anytime. Drinks will be on me.” He headed for the door. Hauled it open. Then just stood there, holding open the door. Clearly waiting for her to leave.
She’d gotten zero helpful answers. One hot kiss, yes. But zero real answers. Exhaling—rather huffily, she knew—Avalon squared her shoulders and marched for the door. She didn’t exit, though. She stopped on the threshold and turned to look at him. “Yes or no.”
“Another game?”
“Yes or no,” she repeated, “did you attack Everett Thomas?”
“I remember the fellow coming in the bar. He was rather a…nuisance to one of my waitresses. Got handsy. Didn’t understand when to back off, so I may have escorted him out.”
Her heart surged in her chest. “That’s a very specific memory.”
“My mind works like that. Very specific things get burned into my head.”
She knew his wording had been intentional. “Burned, huh?”
“Um.”
“Yes or no, did you attack Everett?”
“Gonna believe me if I say no?”
The question caught her off guard. “Why would you lie to me?”
“Freaking adorable, that is what you are. Sexy and adorable. A very tempting combination.” His grip seemed to tighten on the door.
“You didn’t answer me.”
“No.”
She blinked.
“Happy?”
“No.” She was not.
“Ah, so we both can say the word. Good for us. Goodbye, Avalon.”
That goodbye sounded final. She turned her head away from him. Stared straight ahead and— “Dammit!” Avalon whirled and caught him staring at her with blatant longing.
What?
But in a flash, an unreadable mask was back in place on his face, and she thought that maybe she’d imagined the longing. Or projected what she was feeling. Because… “I thought about you for years! And when we’re finally face to face again, you barely have time to talk to me? Seriously? Haven’t you ever been curious about me? Didn’t you ever wonder what became of me? I would have died without you!”
He shrugged. Shrugged. “You’re in the news a lot. I think I’ve read one or two of your books. I knew what became of you.”
Well, fantastic for him. “I didn’t know what happened to you!”
“Here I am.”
Yes, indeed. Here he was. Living in the exact same town she lived in. He’d been so close, and she hadn’t known. Soon, though, she’d know everything.
By this time tomorrow, she intended to absolutely rip into his life and discover every detail that she possibly could.
“I wouldn’t.”
“Excuse me?”What was he talking about? What had she missed?
“You’re curious about me. You want to know more. You’re going to use those research skills of yours and dig into my life.” A negative shake of his head. “I don’t recommend doing it. You won’t like what you find. I’ll become one very tarnished hero in your mind. The disappointment will consume you.”
“Have skeletons in the closet, do you?” He was just making her more curious. A bad mistake.
“More like I have bodies buried under the bar.”
She laughed.
He didn’t.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” Gruff.
And Avalon stopped laughing.
“Be careful in this world.” Flat. Grim. “There are too many people who like to destroy beautiful things.”
People like Everett? People who needed to be stopped?
She stepped over the threshold. Tried to think of something to say. This couldn’t be how their night ended. Not how they ended. Not after all this time. Avalon spun back toward him. “I?—”
He shut the door.
And she heard the flip of a lock.
“Dick move,” she snapped.
Did soft laughter echo through the door?
“I will be back.” A warning for him. But when she came back, she’d be armed with a whole lot more intel. “Goodbye for now, Beau LeBlanc.”
“Goodbye, Avalon Trahan.” His hand pressed to the wood of the door. Yep, total dick move. But he’d had two options. Either shut the door and be a dick…or grab tight to Avalon and never freaking let go.
When your obsession walked straight up to you in your own bar, it tended to screw with your head. Break your control. Make you want to take and take and take the one person you wanted the most.
Avalon was here. I kissed Avalon. My Avalon.
She didn’t know about the things he’d done in his life. At least, she wouldn’t know yet. But the woman was truly hell on wheels when it came to investigative work, and he understood that she’d start digging at the first opportunity. She truly would not like what she discovered. No one ever did, not when it came to his past.
I kissed Avalon.
And it had been even better than in his fantasies. His damn dick was still hard.
He jerked his hand from the door. Whirled for his desk.
A knock rapped on the door. Every muscle in his body locked down. Avalon wasn’t giving up. And if she was so determined to see him again, then, screw it. She’d get him and she’d find out what happened when his control absolutely shattered.
In a flash, Beau ripped open the door. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have slammed—” He stopped.
One of his bouncers—Kai—lifted a dark brow at him. Kai had grown up in Maui, and Beau didn’t really get why the guy had left paradise. But, hell, they were all running from something, weren’t they? So when Kai had turned up, wearing one of the loudest Hawaiian shirts in the world and looking for work even as shadows filled his eyes, Beau had offered him a job.
That had been a year ago.
“Boss, did you just apologize?” Kai stared at him as if Beau had two heads.
So Beau flipped him off. He and Kai were friends, dammit, and if you couldn’t tell a friend to fuck off, then who could you tell? Oh, wait, I tend to tell everyone that. “I wasn’t apologizing to you.”
“Sounded like you were. I’m the only one here.”
He glowered.
Kai smirked. “You thought I was the pretty lady.”
He raked a stare over Kai’s six-foot-two frame and bulging biceps. “Yep, that’s what I thought.”
“She’s gone. Recognized her, of course, from the photo I saw on your phone that time.”
Sonofabitch.
“Remember when you showed it to me that night when I drank your ass under the table?”
Beau crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you talking to me right now?”
“Because she left alone. On foot. It’s close to one a.m. And I know about your…habits.”
His teeth snapped together. “On foot?” Why the hell hadn’t she taken a taxi or a ride share or some shit?
“Uh, huh. Walked right out on her own two feet. Want me to make sure she gets home all right? Seeing as how I know she’s important to you, I thought you might want someone to be there for her?—”
He shouldered past Kai. “Run things while I’m gone.” He’d been training Kai as a bouncer-slash-manager. The man could handle the bar.
And I’ll handle Avalon.
“On it!” An immediate reply from Kai. “You just go take care of that very, very important business. And may I say, she is even hotter in real life.”
Beau stopped. Turned. Looked at Kai.
“Got it.” An understanding nod. “I may not say that. Message received.”
Beau growled, then he went after his prey. Not like it would be the first time that he trailed Avalon Trahan into the night.
Not the first time.
Not the fifth.
Hell, Beau had lost count of the number of times he’d followed her through the dark. Because…
I’m the woman’s fucking stalker.
And she had no idea that she’d just kissed her stalker as if she’d been hungering for him her entire life.