Chapter Three
Once the plane landed and stopped at the gate, he stood and stretched.
Damn seats were too close together for someone his height and build.
He exited the plane and headed to get his luggage.
After renting a vehicle, he drove to his hotel and checked in.
It was a nice room.
A large king size bed sat centered on one wall and a row of patio doors led to a balcony.
The sitting room boasted a large red sofa with a matching chair and flat-screen TV.
Too bad he wouldn’t be staying long enough to enjoy it.
He could use a vacation since he hadn’t had one in almost three years.
Walking to the bed, he sat on the edge. Needing to check in with Patsy, he unlocked his phone and dialed his house. The machine picked up. Micah sighed and spoke.
“Patsy, pick up. It’s me, Micah.”
“Hello,” she answered.
“Are you doing all right?”
“Yes. I just hate not being able to go anywhere. I have a job I need to get back to. ”
“I know. I’m doing what I can. I’ll be leaving in a few minutes to go to the prison. I need to change clothes first.”
“Are you telling me that you’re not in your suit, Agent Turner?”
He chuckled. “No. I like to be comfortable when I fly.”
“So…what are you wearing?” she asked in a low tone of voice which sounded entirely too sexy to him but he could hear the laughter in her voice.
“Jeans, a T-shirt, and cowboy boots.”
She burst out laughing. “You are not.”
“I am. I was born and raised in Wyoming. It’s one reason I requested to be transferred there. My dad still lives there on his ranch. I grew up working that ranch until I left for college. I was riding a horse before I could walk and when I visit my dad, I dress the part. We usually go riding together so, yeah, I’m a cowboy at heart.”
“Now, that I’d love to see.”
“You’ll see when I get home. I need to go. I just wanted to make sure you were doing all right. Has Coby been by?”
“Not yet.”
“He’ll be there soon. I know he’ll check on you. Gotta go. I couldn’t get a flight out until tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”
“Tomorrow evening?” There was a moment of silence and he knew she wasn’t happy about being alone that long, but then she spoke again. “All right. Be careful big bad FBI agent.”
He chuckled. “You too, pixie.”
He hung up and shook his head. She was trouble and he’d love to see just how much trouble he could get into with her. Sighing, he quickly changed clothes and left the hotel to drive to the prison. He wasn’t looking forward to this at all.
Once he’d passed through various levels of security, a guard escorted Micah down a hallway to an interrogation room.
He stood, leaning against the wall while he waited for White to enter.
He’d be shackled to the table for safety reasons.
Micah didn’t care.
He just wanted to talk to the bastard.
He didn’t move from his position when the door opened, and watched as White was ushered in and pushed down onto the metal chair and a guard began locking down his shackles.
White glared up at Micah.
“Who the fuck are you?” he growled at him.
“Special Agent Micah Turner, FBI.”
White sneered.
“I ain’t talking to no FBI.” He turned to the guard. “Get me back to my cell.”
“No can do, White. You’re going to talk to Agent Turner whether you like it or not,” the guard stated then left the room.
Micah pushed away from the wall, pulled the chair out across from White, and took a seat. He stared at White until the man began to fidget.
“What do you want?” White’s eyes narrowed at him.
“Call off your goon.”
White leaned back in the chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Micah folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “Sure you do. Call him off.”
“If I did have this goon as you call him out there, what’s he doing?”
“I don’t have time to play games with you, White. Call him off Patsy Murphy.”
“Ah yes. Miss Murphy. What a nice looking piece of ass she is. A real shame she helped put me away or I’d have her.”
Micah blew out a laugh. “In your dreams. You’re sixty-seven years old and ugly as hell. What makes you think a beautiful woman of twenty-nine would want you?”
“I wouldn’t give her a choice,” White said smugly.
“You’re a real son of a bitch. Why am I not surprised?” Micah growled.
White laughed. “Want that piece for yourself, huh, Agent Turner?”
“Call off your goon and I’ll see what I can do to get you off death row.”
“You have that kind of pull? How long have you been an agent?”
“I don’t know what that has to do with anything, but I’ve been an agent for ten years. Since I was twenty-three. I know what I’m doing. ”
White stared at him and then shook his head.
“I don’t have to worry about being on death row. I’ll die before they get around to killing me off. Two words for you, Agent Turner—fuck off.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Guard! I’m done here.”
Micah stood, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and glared down at him. “You’re making one hell of a mistake, White. I’m going to do everything I can to expedite your execution.”
He walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind him when he wanted to slam it, but he wouldn’t give White the satisfaction of knowing he’d pissed him off. Son of a bitch!
Taking a deep breath, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Coby.
“Romero,” Coby answered.
“It’s Micah. White won’t go for a deal. Have you gone by the house yet?”
“Almost there.”
“All right. I know he’s not going to call off his goon. He wants her dead for spite.”
“I’m pulling into the driveway now. I’ll call you if there are any problems.”
“Thanks, Coby.” Micah hung up and swore again.
The sun beat down on him as he strode through the parking lot. After climbing into the rental car, he hit the steering wheel hard with his palm. He started the car and headed back to the hotel, all the while feeling as if he’d just signed Patsy’s death warrant.
****
Patsy about jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang. Creeping toward the door, she peered around the wall of the foyer. She could see a shadowy figure on the porch. She jumped back when they pounded on the door.
“Miss Murphy? It’s Agent Coby Romero. Open up or I’ll use the key.”
He has a key?
Patsy sighed, her body filled with anxiety. She tried to look out the door, but the glass was frosted.
“I can’t see your badge,” she called out.
“I’ll go to the back door.”
She saw him walk off the porch and head around the side of the house. She quickly walked to the back door. With fifteen panes of glass, she’d be able to see him and his badge. She saw him walk across the deck and stop at the door. He pressed his badge up to the glass. Sighing out her relief, she unlocked the door and allowed him to enter.
Wow! The man was striking. Tall with black hair and dark eyes, he was very sexy but strangely, he didn’t do anything for her. Of course, he was wearing a wedding band too.
“Are you doing all right, Miss Murphy?”
He walked to the panel to shut off the alarm .
“Patsy, and yes, I’m fine. Just bored and scared to death.”
“You’ll be safe. There are two agents out there keeping an eye on you. One is out back, and one is across the street. They’ve been there since Agent Turner left this morning.”
“There are? Why didn’t he tell me?” She couldn’t believe Micah didn’t tell her.
“Probably because he thought you didn’t need to know.”
“Or maybe because he thought I’d try to go out and they’d tell on me,” she muttered.
Coby laughed. “If you did leave, you can bet your ass they’d tell.”
He ran his hand through hair. “Look, do you need me to get you anything?”
“No. I’m fine. Like I said, just bored.”
“I’m sorry you’re bored, Patsy, but it’s for your own safety.”
“I know. Go home. I’ll be fine. I have two babysitters out there.”
“Those two babysitters are there to keep you safe.”
She winced. “I know. I’m sorry, I’m just scared.”
Coby huffed. “I know you are. Like I said, you’re safe here and once Micah gets back, you’ll be even safer. I know he won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I just hate staying here alone at night.”
Coby touched her shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Set the alarm as soon as I leave and remember those men out there, are here for you.”
“What if someone cuts the phone line?”
Coby chuckled. “You watch too many movies. Though the system is through a phone line, it has a battery backup so if the line is cut, they’re wasting their time. You’ll be fine. Lock the door behind me and reset the alarm.”
He walked out the front door.
Patsy locked the door and reset the alarm then leaned back against the wall and wondered what she could do now. Entering the living room, she turned the TV on then walked down the hallway to retrieve her laptop in her suitcase.
Taking a seat on the sofa, she opened the laptop. She really wasn’t sure what she was able to do and not be found. Could they find her if she used her computer?
You’re getting paranoid, Patsy!
“It’s only paranoia if they’re out to get you,” she mumbled.
It was going to be a long night. She wondered how the interview with White went. Was Micah able to get any information from him? She hoped so, and then the man following her would leave her alone. She wanted to get back to her life in Dry River. She missed her job and her friends. Especially, Isabella. They’d been friends for years. They supported each other through thick or thin. She knew Bella would be terribly worried about her, but Patsy couldn’t take a chance and involve her. There was no way she could tell Bella, Mont, or Nathan about this.
Nathan Walker might be the Sheriff of Dry River, but she refused to involve people she thought of as friends. Agent Micah Turner was not a friend but she knew by the way Bella and Mont spoke of him they admired him and thought him one of the best agents out there. It was the reason she’d come to him. They might not like each other but she knew he’d put that aside and protect her in the best way he could. It surprised her to know how much she trusted him. Completely. The fact that he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen had nothing to do with it. The minute she saw him, she forgot to breathe. Then he turned those dark eyes on her and she almost told him she’d let him have his way with her and all he did was glare at her. She smiled thinking about him calling her pixie. It didn’t bother her as much as she let on.
He stood a foot taller than she did and she’d love to climb up that hard body. The man was definitely sex on two long legs. Even if he did wear a suit. She’d never been into men in suits. She now definitely preferred jeans, T-shirts, and cowboy boots. Since moving to Wyoming, she’d fallen in love with cowboys.
She moaned as she recalled Micah telling her what he was wearing earlier. She’d never taken him for the cowboy type, but he’d been born in Wyoming and it was a state full of cowboys.
She set her laptop aside, rose from the sofa, and headed down the hallway to his bedroom. She slowly pushed the door open and walked to his closet. Opening the doors, she peered in. Several suits hung together and then rows of jeans. On the floor sat several pairs of dress shoes that looked very expensive, and two pairs of well-worn cowboy boots. She squatted down and smiled. She just loved the distressed pair with the snip-toe. They were her favorite type of boot for men. They could be brand new but were made to look as if they’d been well-worn and of course, they could very well be. A person couldn’t really tell with them. They were so sexy to her. The other pair looked like dress boots since they were black and shiny. She liked that neither pair had those real pointy toes. She’d always wondered how men walked in them without their feet hurting. She grinned as she thought men had to think the same thing about women wearing high heels.
What were the boots he had with him?
You’re getting way too interested in the man’s cowboy boots.
She’d always liked cowboys and even more so from seeing so many of them in Wyoming. Rugged men who weren’t afraid to do hard work. They worked hard, played hard, and probably loved hard. She knew Mont was a cowboy at heart too, even though he was a deputy for Nathan yet another cowboy who had been raised on a ranch. Nathan’s brother, Dakota, owned a horse ranch and was close friends with Mont and the other bad boys of Dry River —Lucas Taggart, Cooper Lang, Lincoln Cole, and Storm Bateman. Cowboys were sexy to her and now to find out that the big bad FBI agent was a cowboy at heart…well, that just moved him up the ladder.
She stood and glanced around the room. His bed was unmade and by the look of the pillow in the center, he took up the entire bed. She groaned. She’d love to be in that bed with him. What was it about him? Yes, he was good-looking and sexy but he didn’t like her. Maybe that was it. She wanted to make him like her. The only thing she didn’t like about him was the fact he didn’t like her. What would he think if she tried to get him into bed? She’d never had a problem with that before. She loved men and sex. Some just didn’t do it for her, and the ones who did…well, none had exactly given her a mind-blowing orgasm. Just a little one on occasion—a little o not the big O . Never one that made her want to scream as she’d read happened in romance novels. Of course, that might be the only place it really happened, but she wondered if she’d ever find out.
Walking out of the bedroom and back to the living room, she took her place back on the sofa. An old black and white movie was on. She flopped back and stared at the screen. Nothing was registering. All she could think about was where that man was. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t know to look for her at Micah’s house. He probably knew nothing about Agent Micah Turner.
Patsy sat up suddenly feeling anxious. Could he figure it out? Oh, my God!
If the interview didn’t go as planned with White, he could tell that man to look into Micah and if they did, she was sure they’d be able to find him. She had no doubt White knew computer hackers and it wouldn’t be hard for them to find out where Micah lived. White’s man was already in Cheyenne.
Dear God! He could find her through Micah!
She got up and ran to the kitchen to look at the phone numbers by the phone. Micah had written down a list of numbers for her. The FBI headquarters, Coby Romero’s number, and his own cell phone. She picked up the phone and dialed his cell phone.
“Turner,” he answered.
“Is he going to call off his man?”
Micah’s sigh came across the line and she knew, even before he had to tell her, that White hadn’t played along.
“No. I dangled a get out of death row card, but he didn’t go for it.”
“He’ll tell that man and then he will figure out where I am through you.”
“I have men outside the house, Patsy. ”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks for telling me about that, by the way. I could have freaked out if I’d seen them.”
Micah laughed. “Trust me, you wouldn’t see them and neither will anyone else.”
“Like that’s supposed to make me feel better? Damn it, Micah, you should have told me.”
“Why?”
“Why? What do you mean why?”
“Why should I have told you? What difference would it have made? They are there to watch the house and keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior in the neighborhood. Telling you they were there wouldn’t have made any difference to how they do their jobs.”
“Except, maybe I would have felt safer,” she practically shouted.
“Holy hell. I can’t win with you. I’ll be home tomorrow night. Calm down and go relax in the hot tub.”
“I’m not going outside. I’ll just use the Jacuzzi in your bathroom.”
“You know I have a Jacuzzi tub? How is that?”
Shit!
“Never mind. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She hung up, but not before she heard him chuckle. Damn man!
Patsy laughed as she walked from the kitchen and headed to his bedroom.
She was definitely going to use that tub.
She’d love to use the hot tub but was too scared to go outside.
It didn’t matter that the FBI agents were out there, that man could be anywhere. Now since Micah had talked with White about calling the man off and had no intention to do so, all White had to do was have someone do a little research and find out exactly where Micah lived. White had to have a suspicion she might be under his protection because Micah was the one to speak with him. If they thought she was in a safe house, they could still find Micah to try to get information from him about where she was. Although, she had a feeling Micah would never divulge any information he didn’t want to give up, no matter how they tried to get it from him. She shivered. To say she was terrified was a huge understatement.
She entered the bathroom after stopping in her bedroom to get bubble bath.
She turned the water on, and added the bubble bath then stripped while the water filled the tub and bubbles rose to the top.
After piling her long hair on top of her head, she stepped into the tub and slid down into the water.
Groaning as the warm water engulfed her. The bubbles surrounded her up to her nose.
She leaned her head back and sighed.
It felt wonderful.
The only way it could be better was if FBI Agent Micah Turner was in here with her.
You really need to stop thinking of him !
She snorted.
Like that would happen.
She’d never forgotten him since the first time she saw him.
He was one sexy man and she’d tried to ignore him, but it never worked. She’d asked Bella about him anytime she could without seeming to be desperate to learn anything about him.
When Bella had told her he’d been dating someone for quite a while, Patsy’s heart had cracked. Even now, she was frowning just thinking about it.
Where was the woman now? Were they still dating? What would she think of Patsy being in Micah’s home?
Patsy had convinced herself she was finally over her infatuation with Micah, that was until she saw him again at Dakota Walker and Megan Carson’s wedding.
He oozed sex and she wanted him desperately.
Roni and Isabella had teased her about him while they all helped Megan get ready for her wedding but she had denied her attraction.
She told her friends constantly that she wasn’t interested in him, but she knew she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
She’d actually hoped he’d ask her to dance at the reception, but he hadn’t. He had slow danced with other women though, and women were always all over him and his tall, dark, and handsome good looks.
Patsy had wanted to pry their fingers from his shoulders when they danced with him. Bitches !
Sitting up, she pressed the button for the jets and immediately was overrun by bubbles.
The jets were making more of them.
Patsy quickly shut the jets off.
Note to self: never add bubble bath if you want to use the jets!
She laughed and leaned back again.
She could get used to this.
She could get used to being around Micah Turner too.
The man was an enigma and she wanted desperately to figure him out. He acted like he didn’t like her, and yet didn’t hesitate to help her.
There was a real tension between them—sexual tension perhaps? She wanted him, but did he want her? Could she get him interested in her?
Should she try? She snorted. Unless he truly did hate her, she was sure she could probably get him into bed. He was a man after all, and men rarely turned down sex.
Hopefully, he would be really hot in bed.
It would be such a waste if he wasn’t.
He had a fantastic body…well, what she’d seen of it.
Too bad she hadn’t peeked at him when he’d been standing in front of her in all his glory. What his sweatpants outlined had her mouth watering. She wanted to taste every inch of him and feel him inside her.
Moaning, she knew she had to stop this.
It could bring nothing but heartache.
If they did have sex and it was great, how could she walk away? A long distance relationship wasn’t something she was interested in, and there wasn’t an FBI headquarters in Dry River.
Not that Micah would move but even if he would do that for her, there wasn’t one close. She shook her head. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t think like this. They weren’t a couple. They never would be. She knew if they had sex that was all it ever could be. They lived too far apart to be in a real relationship. She loved her job in Dry River and he loved his job in Cheyenne.
Damn it! Why are you even thinking of a relationship? You don’t do those.
Patsy sighed with frustration as she pulled the plug and the water drained out of the tub.
Standing, she reached for a big red fluffy towel.
After drying off, she wrapped it around her then headed for her bedroom.
She really wished Micah was coming home tonight because she knew sleep wouldn’t come easy.
Once in her bedroom, she stripped off the towel.
Pulling her lounge pants and a T-shirt out of her suitcase, she put them on then picked up the towel, walked back into his bathroom, and hung the towel on the rack then headed to the living room to watch something on TV until bedtime.
She found a Tom Cruise movie and settled on the couch to watch it.
Before long, her eyelids began to feel heavy.
Okay, so maybe sleep would come more easily than she thought tonight and then Micah would be home tomorrow.
One thing for sure, she was going to use that tub one more time before he arrived .