Chapter 12
12
“S it here,” Conrad said to Nikki. He didn’t want to admit to himself just how right it felt to have her sitting in this kitchen. The Sturgess main house had never remotely felt like home to Conrad. Until now.
Even dirty and tangled, Nikki’s raven-like hair shone in the light. Her almond-shaped eyes were framed by long, black lashes. While bruised and cut, her skin was soft as he cleaned up the marks. He wanted to hunt those bastards down and teach them a lesson. But he wouldn’t. He’d learned from the best that anger and violence never solved a problem. It had always been Beaumont’s go-to when someone made a mistake. They hadn’t been bad kids or given in to mischief. They’d made decent grades in school. They’d done their assigned chores without much complaining. Hell, they’d been kept so busy between school and the ranch they’d been too darn tired to conjure up much trouble. Kade had stepped up as the father figure and had taken a fair amount of heat from Beaumont, saving them when they’d been too young to defend themselves. No one had escaped the old man’s wrath.
Nikki blinked up at him as he gently pressed an antibiotic ointment-covered bandage against her cuts. He started with her face, then moved to her arms.
“Trust me, you don’t want to see my feet,” she said before standing. “At least let me wash the dirt off them.”
He nodded before leading her to the bathroom, where he set out a washcloth and a fresh towel. “Do you need anything else?”
They stood close enough for him to see the way her eyes glittered with what looked a helluva lot like need.
“I should be good,” she said in barely more than a whisper. The sensual quality she tried to cover up in her tone sent fire racing through him and stirred a place deep in his chest. His gaze lowered to those perfect heart-shaped lips of hers. Pink was his new favorite color. Her tongue slicked across her bottom lip, leaving a silky trail that mesmerized him. He blinked, trying to break the distraction. It didn’t work.
“I would very much like to kiss you, Nikki,” he said. “With your permission, of course.”
“What took you so long to ask?”
She pushed up on her tiptoes, barely able to reach his lips. He met her halfway, pressing a tender kiss to those gorgeous lips. He brought his hand up to cup her chin in order to position her mouth for better access. Mini explosions fired all through his chest the second their lips made contact. But that was nothing compared to the fires that lit when she teased his tongue inside her mouth.
Conrad had never felt so much heat and promise in one kiss before. Game changer were the words that managed to cut through the fog that was Nikki.
When she brought her arms up to loop around his neck, her full breasts brushed against his chest. Bombs detonated as he released a slow moan against her mouth. As the kisses intensified, his heart rate shot through the roof. It wasn’t the only thing rising as his blood flew south.
Nikki broke apart first, her gaze glittery with desire. Desire for him. It was sexy as hell.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
She blinked a couple of times, confused. “Why not?”
“What will folks think?” he asked. Reality was a bucket of ice water. “I’m accused of murdering your father.”
“Maybe it’ll sew a seed of doubt,” she reasoned. “Maybe they’ll think you must be innocent if the victim’s daughter is involved with you.”
Should he point out all the holes? Like, it might make folks think he’d seduced her so she’d be on his side. Or it might make it look like she hadn’t loved her father.
Like it or not, perception was important.
Conrad wanted to go with the attraction. See where it would take them. He’d never experienced anything this electric in his life. If a kiss caused his body to light up, what would making love feel like?
It was time for a reality check.
“I could end up in jail, Nikki. What good would it do either one of us to kid ourselves into thinking anything happening between us might be temporary.” There was no way he would try to drag her into a relationship while he served time. It wouldn’t be fair to her.
“If I’ve learned anything in the past few days, it’s that when a chance at happiness presents itself, you take it,” she argued. Her logic made it difficult not to ask the question that had been burning in the back of his mind a few minutes ago. Could he take her clothes off right there and make love to her? Because the thought of burying himself inside her would change his entire outlook on what love was supposed to be.
Love? They barely knew each other despite the fact his heart wanted to argue the opposite. Emotions were always heightened in life and death situations. Hadn’t he read somewhere that nothing made people want to procreate more than facing death?
Perhaps his heart was trying to trick him into believing they were kindred souls because she fit him in a way no one else ever had. Conrad had dated his fair share of women. Some had been more interesting than others. Lately, he’d found himself checking the time before the chips and salsa made it to the table. Being with someone who couldn’t hold their own in a conversation bored him to tears. Not being much of a talker, it was even that much more surprising.
Nikki, on the other hand, was different. She was intelligent and strong-willed, not to mention the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. There was something else about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, like they were two broken souls whose pieces fit together.
“Under normal circumstances,” he finally said when he realized she was still waiting for a response, “I’d agree. But a murder charge is a serious threat to my freedom, and I’d only hurt you if we started something now.”
She stood her ground, staring at him like she was daring him not to fall for her. Under different conditions, she was exactly the kind of person he could see himself going the distance with.
“All I was talking about was sex, Conrad. You’re delusional if you think I want anything from you besides that smokin’ hot body.” With that, she ushered him out of the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.
He couldn’t decide if he should laugh or be insulted. She’d told him that he was nothing more than sex to her, a lie based on the flash in her eyes that said she wasn’t being truthful. But she’d also called him smokin’ hot . Nikki was the only person he’d encountered who could insult him and make him walk on air in the same breath.
For a split second, he considered knocking on the door to ask her to explain and argue that she wasn’t the one-night-stand type. The look in her eyes said she expected commitment.
Right?
Conrad chuckled and then headed back to the kitchen.
Nikki broke into a wide smile the second she closed the bathroom door. There wasn’t anything funny about their situation except the exchange she’d just had with Conrad. The look on his face when she’d basically referred to him as booty-call material instead of steady boyfriend had almost caused her to break out laughing.
He was right about one thing. This was the absolute worst time to consider being anything but friends. Prison was looming over his head. Someone wanted him to take the fall for a crime he hadn’t committed, the murder of Harrison. Thinking about her father always made her mind snap to Heath. He wanted to step into Harrison’s role more than anything. Her stepfather would be worried, as would her mother.
Should Nikki make a quick call to let everyone know she was okay? Tell Heath about the brutes he’d unwittingly sent for her?
She washed and dried her feet before meeting Conrad in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry about what my stepfather did,” she said. “He had no right.”
“He stopped by to see me in jail,” Conrad said.
She blinked. “Is that where the bruise on your cheek came from?” she asked, praying it couldn’t be true. She’d noticed it right away but didn’t want to ask because she thought it might trigger him. Her first thought had been a jail fight.
“It is,” Conrad confirmed. “Your stepfather felt very strongly about me taking a step out of your life.”
“That’s not his call to make,” she stated, irritation getting the best of her. Now, she really needed to touch base with the man to chew him out and tell him to call off the reward.
“He believes that I murdered your father,” Conrad said.
“Even so, that’s no excuse to interfere with my life.” She was a grown woman perfectly capable of making her own decisions, good or bad. Plus, Conrad was innocent. “We need to slip that ankle bracelet off so we can leave the house and get answers.”
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” she said, standing her ground.
“Those men are still out there,” he pointed out. “Waiting for you to show up.”
“If they wanted to get to me, wouldn’t they be here already?” She firmly planted her fist on her hip.
Conrad issued a sharp sigh. “Arguing with you doesn’t do any good, does it?”
“Not really.”
“You know you have a stubborn streak a mile long, right?” he asked.
“That I do.”
“Digging your heels in now can only get you in more trouble,” he said with true compassion in his voice.
She studied him for a long moment. “Why do you care so much about everyone but yourself?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His defensiveness said she’d hit the nail on the head.
“Let me ask you a question,” she started.
“Shoot.”
“Do you trust the law to solve this case?” she asked.
“Can’t say that I do now that Travis has had to pull out of the investigation,” Conrad said.
“Your life is on the line, and I’m trying my best to help you,” she continued, hoping she was gaining ground. Under normal circumstances, she could talk circles around people. Conrad had the ability to see right through her despite her doing everything in her power to put up a shield. Going up against him in court would be near impossible while he had the superpower no one else seemed to have. In mock trials, she’d always come out on top. Others had teased her that if becoming a lawyer ever fell through, she ought to consider becoming a professional poker player since she could bluff better than the rest of them. That’s what it took to be a damn good lawyer. She had to be serious and believable, one hundred percent committed to the story she told on behalf of her clients.
Was she more like Harrison than she wanted to admit?
Damn. The thought struck a deep chord.
“Can I ask a question?” She wanted an outsider’s perspective.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Feel free to ask me anything. You don’t have to prep that a question is coming first.”
“Okay,” she said. “How well did you know my father?”
Conrad shrugged. “As well as you can know any of your parent’s closest confidants, I guess.” His gaze pierced through her. “Why?”
“I didn’t know him very well,” she admitted. “And I was just wondering how much I’m like him.”
“Not at all,” he said without hesitation.
She felt mild relief. Honest answers usually came without contemplation. “How so?”
“First of all, I never wanted to kiss the man,” Conrad said with the kind of earnest quality that made her laugh.
“Fair point,” she said. “What about his ethics?”
“You are nothing like him,” he said.
“Why are you so certain?”
“Because you’re risking your own freedom to help me, for starters.”
She couldn’t argue there. “I have a personal interest in finding the real killer. Doesn’t that make this a selfish move?”
Conrad shook his head. “That’s not the reason you’re doing it.” She must have given quite the look because he added, “You’re a good person, Nikki.”
“A case could be made for the opposite,” she argued.
“And it would be proven a bad theory,” he said as he closed the distance between them. When he brought his hand up to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes, her heart squeezed. As he stood there, gazes locked, she would believe anything that came out of his mouth.
Conrad would have made a good litigator.
Nikki blinked in an attempt to break the spell that came over her every time she looked into those golden-brown eyes framed by the thickest set of lashes she’d ever seen. Conrad’s eyes were beautiful, though he would laugh at the compliment. He wouldn’t see himself in that light.
“How different am I?”
“For one, you have a kind heart,” Conrad said.
“No, I don’t,” she said. “I’d rip you to shreds in court if it meant winning.”
“I doubt it,” he argued. “Because you care about what is right more than most. And you’re willing to step in and help someone even when you wanted to hate them from the get-go.”
She couldn’t argue there. Her mouth opened to protest anyway. It clamped shut just as fast.
“You’re reconsidering law school because you know that you don’t have it in you to fight for someone who is guilty,” he pointed out.
Again, her mouth opened and clamped shut just as quickly.
“There’s not a mean bone in your body,” he said. “I can’t say the same for your father. No disrespect meant.”
“Understood,” was all she could manage to say as she tried to blink back tears threatening to fall. Her stepfather had bragged about how great she would be in the courtroom. How she would tear anyone down who got in her way. He’d been proud of her killer instincts.
In truth, winning in amock trial when she pulled the straw that made her defend a liar had never felt like a victory. In fact, it had felt like she was compromising herself on the deepest level.
“You don’t have to quit law school to be a good person,” he continued.
“What makes you think I’m serious about leaving school?”
“You wouldn’t be conflicted about who you are if you thought it meant getting a degree and stepping into Harrison’s footsteps,” he said.
No one had really seen her before Conrad. Not her father. Not her stepfather. Certainly not her mother. Not one of them had discouraged her from going to law school and opening a lucrative defense practice.
The fact Conrad knew her better than those closest to her was both surprising and confusing because the connection felt a whole lot like they might be soulmates.
And she believed in those about as much as she believed in the Tooth Fairy.
Could spending time with Conrad change her mind? Was it worth it to stick around and find out when he could end up in prison?
Logic argued against it while her heart disagreed.
Nikki was nothing if not logical.