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Chapter Fourteen

I released my seatbelt, reached behind me for my satchel, and grabbed my travel cup of coffee before opening the passenger door.

“Thanks for the ride.” I smiled at Beau.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What?” I asked.

“My kiss for driving you to work.”

I looked around the parking lot. People were still getting out of their cars and walking to the building.

“I can’t kiss you. People will see.”

He grinned. “I never knew you were a fraidy cat.”

“Take that back,” I barked.

“Meow.”

I put my coffee back in the holder. I grabbed Beau’s cheeks in my hands and pulled his face down for a quick kiss. His hands immediately cradled my head and tilted it. His lips parted mine, and electricity sparked.

Oh God, I was doomed.

His tongue thrust into my mouth, and soon I was sucking it, desperate for him. Desperate to take off his shirt and touch his shoulders. His back. His chest.

I let go of his cheeks. My hands dipped under his t-shirt collar and kneaded his neck, glorying in the feel of his hot, supple skin over his taut muscles. Our kiss turned passionate.

Bam-bam-bam.

We broke apart.

I looked over Beau’s shoulder and saw my co-worker Irene grinning like a fool through the driver’s side window.

“I-I-I’ve got to go.”

I tried to open the truck door and failed. I tried again but couldn’t do it.

“Maddie, calm down. Let me open your door and help you down from the truck. You’re wearing heels, and at this rate you’ll fall down and break your neck.”

“No, I can do it,” I protested.

He gave me the look. The Mr. Marine Alpha look, so I just nodded. He opened his door, then closed it. I could hear Irene introducing herself.

Kill me now.

Beau continued to stand there and listen to Irene as she told him how long we’d worked together and how everybody loved me.

Seriously, kill me now.

Finally, she walked away.

Yay!

Beau walked around to my side of the truck, opened the door, and offered me his hand. I took it and landed on my feet just fine. Then he reached in and got my satchel and coffee.

“Do I deserve a kiss for getting your coffee and briefcase?” he asked with a grin.

“You deserve a knee to the nuts, is what you deserve,” I growled.

“You wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t be able to perform tonight.”

He had a point.

I started to walk away in a huff.

“What time should I pick you up?”

“Probably about seven. I’ll call you,” I called over my shoulder.

“Gotcha.”

I marched into the building. By the time I got to my cubicle, I found Irene sitting in my chair. I wasn’t surprised.

“It seems like you’ve been keeping secrets.” She smirked.

“Have not. Beau and I are kind of recent.”

“How recent?”

“Almost a week and a half.”

“And he’s driving you to work and making out with you in the parking lot? Hell, you never did that with Tedious Ted, and you were engaged to him for almost three years. What gives?”

I looked at her with wide eyes. “Are you serious? Did you not see him?”

“Fine, he’s hot as hell. Hotter than hell. Model worthy. But I know you, Maddie. You’re kind of a prude. I don’t care if he’s an underwear model. You would not be devouring some guy in your work parking lot unless you were in deep. Explain to me how you’re in deep after a little over a week?”

Fuck . Yet another perceptive woman in my life.

“He’s the guy who was my best friend from grade school to high school.”

“The guy who joined the military when he was eighteen, and you never heard from again?”

“The very same.”

“But that guy is an a-hole, with a capital ‘A’.”

“No, he’s not. He’s still Beau. He’s still my best friend.”

“Ah, darn it. You’re in love with him.”

I dropped my head. “Maybe,” I mumbled.

“Don’t look so sad. He’s back, and he looks as into you as you are into him.”

“Yeah, but he’s still in the Marines. He has to go back in ten days.”

“Ah. That sucks.”

I gave a big sigh. “Tell me about it. Now get out of my chair.”

Irene got up. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m taking it one day at a time.”

She squeezed my shoulder. “If you need someone to talk to, you call me. Okay?”

I nodded, then sat down. I really wished we hadn’t talked. I had been doing really well before our conversation. Actually, I’d been flying high after making love to Beau this morning. Now I was depressed.

Get over it, Avery!

I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds and forced myself to smile. Then I opened my eyes, took my files from my satchel, and started to get to work.

* * *

It was just after lunch when one of the assistant district attorneys called me.

“Maddie?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“It’s Oliver, from the D.A.’s office.”

I frowned. “I take it this is not good news.”

“Nope, it isn’t. Bruce Forrester made bail.”

I frowned again, trying to place who Bruce Forrester was. Then I remembered. “He’s the asshole who came at me with a frying pan, right? He was beating on his girlfriend and her six-year-old son.”

“One and the same,” Oliver confirmed.

“What was the judge thinking, offering him bail?”

“Bruce said all the beatings on the boy were from his mom. As for threatening you with a frying pan, he said it was in self-defense because you had a baseball bat.”

“Softball bat,” I corrected.

“Whatever. That was his story, so the judge gave him a fifteen-thousand-dollar bail, and some bail bondsman took it when he put up fifteen hundred.”

“Dammit!”

Tomorrow was my day to do home inspections. I had called into the Pattersons and had heard nothing but good things about how well Eli was doing, but I intended to see for myself tomorrow. There were other situations that didn’t sound nearly as good, that I would have to check out, so I saved that for last. End the day on a high note.

“Do you know how Colleen is doing?” I asked the A.D.A.

“Colleen?”

“She’s the girlfriend and Eli’s mom. I’m pretty sure she went into rehab…again.”

“Oh yeah. I had an associate go to get her statement. You’re right, she is in rehab, and can barely string two sentences together. When she did manage to, she insisted that Bruce never laid a hand on her, or her son. The good news is, she’s in no shape for Bruce’s public defender to put her up on the stand.”

“You’re kidding me,” I squawked.

“Nope. And what’s worse, our perp is saying that he never touched the kid. He’s saying that it was the mom.”

“Dammit!”

“Yeah, that’s what I say.”

“Any priors?”

“Only for beating up girlfriends, nothing for child abuse,” the A.D.A. explained.

“Did those other women have kids?”

“None that were in the reports.”

Shit, nothing was going my way.

“Thanks, Oliver. Do you have a court date for this creep?”

“Next month, on the twenty-fourth. You’ll get an official summons.”

“Okay. Again, thanks for the heads-up. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can get something from Eli.”

“That would be much appreciated. Gotta go.”

“Bye.” I hung up the phone.

This meant that visiting Eli tomorrow would not be as fun as I’d hoped. Dammit .

I called Evie. It would be nice to hear an uplifting voice. Who would also say some nasty things about assholes.

The phone only rang once when I dialed her number.

“I hope you’re going to tell me all about Beau,” she answered.

“Nope. Right now, I want to bitch about my job,” I whispered. I didn’t want Richard, the nosy bastard in the cubicle next to me, to hear my conversation.

“Go for it,” Evie responded.

“An abuser, who I’m positive was beating up a six-year-old boy, just got out on bail. He’s blaming it on his girlfriend, who is the mom. She’s a junkie and refuses to lay blame on the boyfriend. He did try to come at me with a frying pan, so I’ll have to testify. Hopefully, I can get him put away, but it isn’t likely since he didn’t hurt me.”

“Maddie, I’m really sorry. Will he go after the kid?”

“I don’t think so. Unless I can get the little boy to talk, he’s going to go scott-free is my take, and his lawyer probably told him.”

“Do you think you can get the kid to talk?”

“It’s a crap shoot.”

“I’m sorry, Mads. I always hate it when you have to deal with stuff like this. I know you’re making a difference, but I just hate it when it gets you down. Truly, I don’t know how you manage to do your job. I couldn’t. The first week, I’d be up on assault charges.”

I giggled. It was true. Evie would have taken the bat to Bruce before Beau had had a chance to get into the house.

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?” I asked my sister.

“Not since our last telephone conversation,” she said with a smile in her voice.

“Well, I do.”

“I love you, too. Do you love your Raider?”

I sat up straight in my chair. What a question.

“Come on, answer the question. This is Beau we’re talking about. It’s not a hard question.”

I still didn’t say anything.

“Maddie, you there?”

“Oh my God, Evie. I do. I really do love him. I’m head over fucking heels in love with him. He means everything to me.”

“Is he going to leave the teams?”

“Huh?”

“He’s special operations. A Marine Raider. Is he going to skip his retirement and move to Jasper Creek?”

“I don’t know,” I wailed.

Richard peeked over my cube, and I glared at him. He sat back down.

“It isn’t the end of the world if he doesn’t. You can do like I did. Move to California and wait til he retires. That’s what I’ve done with Aiden.”

“Evie, he hasn’t even said he loves me.” I choked out the words.

“He loves you,” she assured me.

“How do you know? Are you reading tea leaves these days?”

“Don’t have to. I’ve talked to Trenda and Drake. They both said Beau’s crazy about you.”

“They did?” I winced at the hope in my voice.

“Yep.”

My shoulders slumped. “They don’t know him all that well.”

“Well, I know somebody who does,” Evie responded.

“Who?

“You. You know him that well, Mads. Sounds to me like it’s time for you to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.”

I sighed. She was right.

“I heard that sigh. You’re going to have to pull up a pair of big girl panties. Probably cotton granny panties. Knowing you, you have a pair. Go dig ‘em out and put ‘em on. Then talk to the man.”

“Fine,” I muttered.

“Then I want a full transcript of the conversation. Got it?”

“Do you want me to record it?” I asked sarcastically.

“That would be great!” She sounded far too excited.

“Dream on, big sister. Dream on.”

“I’ve got to go. Holden just climbed up on the counter. He’s reaching for the top shelf where I keep the doggy treats. Last time, he fed Rufus all of them, and I had an ungodly mess to clean up.”

“Bye, Evie. Love you.”

“Love you too. Now tell Beau that.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I didn’t know if I’d get the words right, but I had to try. Because loving Beau felt too important to keep quiet about.