Chapter 9
9
After spending most of the afternoon in his office, grading papers and meeting with students, Zach was glad to see his driveway. He parked the bike in the garage, then went inside through the kitchen door.
And stopped.
A familiar sense of violation moved through him.
He sniffed the air, hoping to find a telltale scent that told the story of who had been in his house while he was gone. Nothing. If it had been there, it had long since evaporated.
As he moved by the chopping block, he took his sharpest blade from the rack of knives in case the perp remained inside. Quietly, he went through the house, searching each room.
Empty. If someone had been there, they’d long since left.
Everything seemed to be in place. If it had been a burglary, no overt signs of a search were left behind. Still, he knew that someone had been inside and touched his stuff.
He returned the knife to the holder, then crossed the yard to Miss Rose’s.
Tovah met him at the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you see anyone around my house today?”
Those green eyes that haunted his sleep rounded. “No. What happened?”
Damn, he didn’t want to tell her. Fact of the matter was if Tovah had seen someone around his house she probably would have called the police on them. Unless she had learned her lesson. Great time to stay in her lane.
Zach shook his head. Telling her seemed a vulnerability he didn’t want to show. If she’d seen someone, that was different. “Nothing. Never mind.”
Tovah parked her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “You don’t come over to a neighbor’s house and ask a question like that without having a good reason.”
He rubbed his jaw. “Curious. That’s all.”
Tovah frowned. “Did you expect anyone?”
“No.”
“Is anything missing? Moved around?”
The more he thought about it, the crazier he sounded. And yet…
“Damn,” he swore under his breath.
“What?” Tovah had maneuvered him into the house and the door shut behind them, snapping him out of his stupor.
The day they met, when he had lost his key. He hadn’t thought another thing about it because he’d assumed he’d dropped it somewhere. A lone key found on the ground without context didn’t pose a security risk for the one who lost it. A key stolen off a ring was something else entirely.
Instead of elaborating, Zach mumbled an apology and left. He needed to change his locks. Tonight. Right now. This minute.
Students were in and out of his office all the time. He didn’t always leave his keys in his pocket. They had a tendency to dig into his thigh and other more precious anatomy when he sat down. The possibility he had placed his keys on his desk then left them unattended when he’d gone to the restroom was a reality.
No one to blame but himself for that situation. He should have been more mindful of them. Then again, it was the fault of the person who took the key.
But if they wanted to break in, why wait until now? Why not do it right after they had taken the key? Why hadn’t they taken anything?
As he drove back out of the neighborhood, he considered the angles. The most likely was that if they entered right after they took the key, then it looked more suspicious. However, they also ran the risk of him changing the locks.
None of it made sense.
Maybe he was being paranoid.
Still, it was enough of a feeling in his gut for him to spend the rest of the afternoon changing locks and setting up a video doorbell.
As he finished up on the backdoor, Tovah came over with a casserole dish, covered in aluminum foil. She had potholders on her hands, indicating the food must have just come out of the oven.
“Thought you might like some dinner.” Her hesitant smile, paired with the slight lift of her shoulder made her incredibly appealing.
No damnit. He loved confidence.
Why then did her mix of that and the glimpses of insecurity draw him in?
The fact she had brought him dinner, made his heart thump like a kettle drum. “That sounds good. What have you brought?”
“My own version of chicken Verde. It’s mild, so not to worry.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her assumption he couldn’t take the heat. “Do I look worried?”
“Not for over spicy food, no. But I have no idea how hot you like it.”
“Pretty damn hot.” He let the words ease out with practiced sensuality as he looked up at her.
Flags of pink colored her cheeks. “May I come in and rifle around in your kitchen for plates and other necessities.”
He stuck the screwdriver he used into his back pocket and allowed her into the house. “Kitchen is through the living room and to the right.”
The layout wasn’t the same as Miss Rose’s. It varied in both space and room orientation. He’d bought bigger than he needed, simply because anything larger than the home he grew up in was a good thing. Not only that but because he could. The neighborhood was quiet, and the price was right.
The purchase had been practical. An investment while he lived in this town. Then he’d gotten tenure and having a house he loved in a neighborhood where he felt comfortable made it easier to stay put.
Zach washed his hands at the sink and pointed Tovah in the direction to the plates and utensils. All the while he watched her moving around in his space. The warmth he felt at her offer of dinner spread in heat and intensity until it ignited him.
Yeah, he liked it a little too much having her here.
Tovah lifted the foil off the dish and fragrant steam rose to paint the air.
His stomach rumbled. “That smells really good.”
“Wait until you taste it.” She took a spatula out of the caddy on the counter and served a large square onto one of the plates. The next piece was half the size. She put forks on both plates and handed him the larger one.
He crossed to the table and sat. No way was he going to have dinner standing in his kitchen. The entire idea Tovah might have dinner that way intrigued him. He’d think with her family, she’d be all about presentation and using the correct fork. Though she’d stood the entire time they had noshed on snacks over Miss Rose’s counter.
He asked her as much.
“Yes, you’d be correct. That’s a typical family dinner with the Reeses. For me, I like it to be a bit more casual.” A pained expression passed over her face before fading away.
He paused before digging into his portion. “Don’t tell me they even made family dinners hell for you.”
“Not in so many words.” She waved the air as if by doing so could erase the topic. “They were less like meals and more like a competition. I’ve come to the point in my life where fancy linens and elaborate centerpieces cause me anxiety. Give me a rustic picnic table in a backyard these days and I’m more than happy.”
That gave him the first smile of the day. What would she do at the Gus Stop? The thought of taking her there was enough to make his blood overheat.
Tovah had more of Miss Rose in her than she probably ever imagined.
“December tenth.” Zach picked up a forkful of the chicken, tortilla, green chili sauce, and gooey cheese and put it in his mouth. Flavor exploded over his tongue. Damn that was good.
Tovah narrowed her eyes at him. “What about December tenth?”
“The last day of class. Afterward, I’m going to take you to a place that will be so far away from linens and centerpieces you’ll wonder why you haven’t been there before.”
She turned her head to the side. Intrigue lit her eyes. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. Food is greasy spoon, but it’s good. Drinks are beer and shots. You’ll enjoy it.”
“I can’t wait.”
They finished the meal with Tovah telling him stories of Miss Rose’s exploits since losing her husband. The woman was an adventurer at heart.
“The thing that I love most about her, is that her husband encouraged her to be and do and learn anything she wanted. My grandfather never told her no.” Tovah raised a shoulder. “I guess he figured with a will as strong as Rose’s, he knew it wouldn’t have done a bit of good. She has always done exactly as she pleased.”
“She’s never talked much about your grandfather.” Something he always assumed was due to her being glad the old man was gone, but maybe it had been out of pain and loss.
“No. She doesn’t. Not to many people. She does to me, though. She loved him fiercely. That’s one of the reasons she’s never remarried, though there have been many offers over the years.”
Zach laughed as he remembered something Miss Rose had told him once. “Your grandma said that the only thing she needed a man for was to open jars.”
Tovah laughed with him. “It’s her hands. They’re very tiny. She can’t get them around most standard jar lids.”
Feeling a bit dangerous, Zach kept his gaze fixed on Tovah’s. “And what do you need a man for, Tovah Reese?”
Her breath hitched a bit. Heat flared in her eyes. “Well, there’s nothing quite like having one grind me into the mattress, my thighs on his shoulders, feeling him all the way down the rabbit hole.”
Everything in Zach stilled before it went seriously thermonuclear. Speech deserted him. Not for one moment did he believe his teasing would garner that graphic of a response. Not from Tovah. The words didn’t seem in character for her.
Had he heard her correctly?
He had to clear his throat where it had gone dry. “Could you repeat that?”
Tovah leaned forward. “Judging from your expression, I think you heard me just fine. However, you look a little stunned that I may have ever experienced an event like that.”
Was the sauce burning its way back up his throat or was that adrenaline?
“I think that’s as far out of your shell as you can be.” He picked up a napkin out of the holder on the table and wiped at his mouth.
Tovah had narrowed her eyes studying his face. “Of course, I’ve only ever had sex with men in the corporate world. Clean shaven, immaculately groomed. I don’t know if their ideas of hot sex are the same as someone a bit more…earthy.”
Zach cleared his throat. What was she playing at? “I guess it depends on the individual.”
Tovah picked up her fork again and speared a piece of chicken off her plate. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
She spent the rest of the meal staring at his beard, making Zach think she was imagining how it would feel between her thighs, and he for one, would love for her find out.
All right, maybe she’d gone a bit overboard at dinner. Maybe she didn’t have a right to tease Zach the way she had, but it had been good practice to prove she could.
And now she couldn’t get the idea of Zach bending her in two and sliding home out of her head.
Tovah hadn’t seen him for two days, and now sitting in class waiting for Zach to hand back the tests, she had a hard time focusing on anything else.
Great. She was hot for teacher.
“Professor? Are you going to grade on the curve?” Came a question from the other side of the room.
Zach continued to pass out papers, not looking in the direction of the speaker. “No. In order to do that, no one in the class has to make a perfect score. Since that was not the case, there are no prizes awarded. However.” He stalled in front of Tovah and handed her paper to her. “If at mid-term your grades are not high enough to pass the class, I will give you an opportunity to write an in-depth and researched paper on a new or experimental medical trend.”
He walked back up to the lectern. “Look, class, I’m not a mean-spirited person. I want to see all of you pass this class and move on to the next stage of whatever major you’ve chosen. I will work with you. That said, I am happy to report that every one of you passed this first test by a wide margin.”
He opened his laptop to begin the lecture, then stopped. “I always felt that the first test is a good gage of how that professor will continue on during the semester. Now you know my testing style and can better prepare for the next section—even if some of you found my questions poorly worded.”
Tovah folded her paper in half. His little note and smiley face didn’t mitigate the acute embarrassment at having him mention her words during class.
Maybe he was trying to get her back for being so bold at dinner a few nights before. Still, it was a true statement and she’d stick behind it. Both about his question on the test and the one about what she needed in a man.
“Let’s go over the questions and clear up any misunderstandings you may have on the material.”
By the time they had finished that, it was time for a break. Tovah did her usual walk to the restroom, then went to grab a tea at the campus coffee shop. The weather had turned a bit brisk in the past day as a front moved through the area.
“Does this mean no tea after class?” Zach said into her ear.
She’d been so lost in her thoughts; she hadn’t heard him come up behind her. A quick glance around showed there were a few of the students from their class near the door, but she didn’t think they’d seen him speak to her.
“There’s always tea and snacks after class. It’s how I center myself to study.”
“Am I invited?”
She took the paper tea cup, lid, and bag from the barista. “Always,” she whispered as she turned away.
Eloisa stood in the middle of the line. She gave Tovah a look filled with daggers. “Fat-ass old hag.”
Tovah stopped and turned to look at the young woman with haughty disdain. The stare went on longer than was comfortable and then some. Eloisa finally turned away. Better not to engage trolls. Obviously, the woman labored under the delusion that Zach was interested in her and that no other woman had a right to speak with him.
Well, it was more than speak. Tovah considered Zach a friend. She wasn’t sure how or when that distinction became clear, only that he was. Maybe it was the fact he’d gone to visit her grandma, or that Rose loved and trusted him. It didn’t matter, he’d become important to her, and she wasn’t going to let some coed, who was probably fresh out of high school, put a damper on that friendship.
Later that evening, Zach was seated at Rose’s counter, a cup of tea between his big hands, and a plate of cheese and crackers in front of him. “I heard what Eloisa said to you. She’s wrong on all counts.”
Tovah picked up a hickory smoke-flavored almond. “I don’t care one way or the other what she thinks of me. My self-esteem isn’t tied in any way, shape, or form to her opinion.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Tovah looked down into her teacup. “I was never what you’d call popular. Not even with those of my own circle. If you want to know the truth, I didn’t much care. There were always other things to do besides worry about what the in-crowd was doing.”
“But you would have liked to fit in.”
“Maybe.” Memories, long faded and forgotten, moved to the surface and opened a pit she thought had closed years before. “I think it’s always nice to be asked. To feel included.”
“Is that why you’re changing professions? To feel included?”
“In a way.” Tovah picked up a wedge of cheese. “Mostly because I find forensics fascinating. I could probably use my business degree in a bridge into forensic accounting, but I think that might bore me silly. I want to be out in the field, not behind a desk.”
Why was he probing her like this? Did he really want to know what she thought, or was he seeing if she’d fold under unkind words? Hard to tell and she really didn’t want to ask.
“I can understand that. I like teaching because every semester is different and I don’t have to spend all my time in an office, or in a lab doing research.”
Zach didn’t seem the type to be a professor—at first—after being in his class for over a month, she underwent a change of mind. He was extremely competent in both subject matter and presentation. His need to be fair and impartial was upheld in every class.
The phone rang, and Tovah looked at the screen. A smile spread across her face. “Hey, Grandma.”
“Hello. I tried to call earlier, but there was a bit of a commotion here and I wanted to stick my nose where it didn’t belong.”
Alarmed, Tovah clutched the phone a bit tighter. “What happened?”
Across the counter from her, Zach frowned.
“Grandma, Zach’s here. I’m going to put you on speaker.”
“Oh, yes. Please. That way I don’t have to repeat myself when he calls me.”
Tovah’s gaze flew to connect with Zach’s. “He calls you?”
She hit the button to fill the kitchen with the sound of her grandma’s voice. “Every day. At least once to check on me.”
Warmth filled Tovah and she fell a little bit harder for him.
“What happened, Miss Rose?” Zach’s brow furrowed as he leaned toward the phone.
“Well, one of the older gentlemen here died tonight. One moment he was in bed complaining about his pain meds being late, the next he keeled over.”
Tovah put her hand to her throat in shock. “Good Lord, do you need me to come and get you?”
“Don’t be silly. He was old. Old people die.”
“Well, why else did you call? I mean, I’m glad to hear from you but don’t lead with that unless you want me to think you’re bothered by it.”
“It takes a lot more than a dead body to bother me.” Leave it to Rose to put things in perspective. “No, the reason I was going to call was because I wanted you to hear it from me first before your father or brothers had a chance to…spill the tea, as they say. None of that bunch have any finesse.”
The bottom fell out of Tovah’s stomach, and she pulled out one of the bar stools to sit. “Go ahead. It can’t be any worse than what is going through my mind at the moment.”
“Vincenzo is engaged to your cousin, Daphne.”
Only a momentary pinch of pain came and went. She had made her decision where Vincenzo was concerned and stood by it. Let her cousin be used by him. “Thank you for the head’s up. I hope they’ll be very happy together.”
Nothing against her cousin, but the two of them deserved each other. Daphne was a vain and self-absorbed mannequin, whose thoughts were about as deep.
Still didn’t explain why he continued trying to contact her. Maybe he’d been trying to tell her about Daphne, but Tovah doubted it.
Rose laughed. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you came to your senses where he was concerned. You need someone who will see your worth and cherish you.”
Tovah lifted her gaze and found Zach looking over the counter at her. His eyes had turned dark and fierce.
“December tenth,” he mouthed to her.
Heat shot to her face and moisture filled her panties.
“It’s fine, Grandma. I wouldn’t have gone through with it, even without the incident. He was a bad fit all the way around.”
They said the requisite I love you and then good night.
“I take it this Vincenzo was the one who was handpicked to marry you.”
Tovah nodded. “I doubt he’ll make anyone a good husband. For that reason, I feel bad for Daphne, but who knows, maybe they’ll make it work.”
“But you don’t think so?”
She started to shake her head then turned it into a shrug. “Who’s to say? I have a hard time getting my own relationships off the ground. I’m not about to speculate on someone else’s.”
“A safe policy.”
“The only policy, especially as pertains to my family.”
“Will you go to the wedding?”
That made Tovah laugh outright. “I doubt I’ll be invited. I’m too much of an embarrassment for the family to even bother. If Daphne invites me, it will be to gloat that she won some great prize.”
Zach placed his hand on top of hers. “Your sarcasm is showing.”
“I’ll make you a deal. If I get invited, you can come as my plus one and see my family up close and personal.”
A devilish smile turned his mouth up at the corners making him impossibly handsome. “Deal.”