Page 30 of Stripping Bare

“Tessa?” Grif asked. “TheTessa?”

His family knew all about Tessa now, even though they’d never met her. “Yeah.”

“Gimme the plate number.” Jonah could hear papers shuffling from the other end of the line. “Go.”

He stepped out into the middle of Main Street in order to see Tessa’s license plate and recited the letters andnumbers.

“Gotit.”

“Thanks,man.”

“I live toserve.”

At that, Jonah just snorted and cut the call. “It’s all taken care of,” he toldTessa.

“We could just go in my car,” shesaid.

The impatience and fear that had been swirling around inside him since Dianne called boiled to the surface. The minutes were ticking away. “Are you doing some kind of defense or blocking thing on me? Is that what that is? Sorry, I don’t have time. If you don’t want to help me, fine, but I need to leave.Now.”

“Maybe if you would tell me what this isabout—”

“It’s about some women and kids who’re in a major crisis,” he nearly shouted, turning the heads of Mr. and Mrs. Trambly, who were strolling down the sidewalk toward the Mad BatterBakery.

That got Tessa moving. She finally abandoned her friend the parking meter and dashed toward hiscar.

He tried not to notice the way her breasts bobbed slightly under her jacket, but his eyeballs were like magnets when it came to her body. He swung himself back into the driver’s seat. As soon as Tessa was inside and had the door closed, he reversed out of the parking spot and pushed the thirty-mile-an-hour speed limit through town to hit theinterstate.

Once he was no longer worried about mowing down little kids and old ladies, he took the on-ramp and was doing eighty before he even hit the freeway proper. Then he added another ten to it once they were on theroad.

“Look, Tessa, about earlier…” He glanced over to find her staring straight out the front window, one hand clutching the center console and the other dialing herphone.

She juggled it to her shoulder. “Hi, Katy. Could you add King B to your list today? I’m out and don’t know when I’ll be home. Thanks. I really appreciate it.” She slipped her phone into her tote, readjusted her hold to the door handle, and eyed Jonah. “You’respeeding.”

“I drive this fast all the time,” hesaid.

A puff of laughter escaped her. “I don’t know whether that makes me feel better or worse. There are reasons forlimits.”

If Jonah had believed in all the limits people had tried to place on him in his lifetime, he wouldn’t be where he was today. But then again, he could see why Tessa might want to keep a tight hold on her life’s controls. “Who’s King B and why is Katy putting him on herlist?”

“Katy is a college student I hired off Rover.com because I knew with my schedule that I’d need backup care for Badger—aka KingB.”

“You have adog.”

“As do millions of other people,” shesaid.

“Tessa Martin and something as messy as a dog don’t go together in myworld.”

“Which just proves that you don’t know as much about me as you think you do. Now, if you could give me a little more information about this emergency, I could be betterprepared.”

She was right. One thing at a time today. “It’s called Sarah’s Smile, and it’s a women’s and children’sshelter.”

“What?” By the way her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened, it wasn’t at all what she’d expected to hear. “How in the world are youinvolved—”

“With a shelter?” Yeah, this was the part he didn’t really want to disclose. If he did, then she’d probably dig around until she ferreted out all his plans. Although he didn’t regret what he’d done on her behalf in the past, he was now trying to use his vast resources to help people rather than punish them. But these missing kids made Jonah want to find their dad and beat the shit out of him. “It’s just something I help out with once in awhile.”

“Uh-uh.” Tessa shook her head, a cautious movement. “That doesn’t fly with me. Men are rarely allowed into shelters like that. After all, men are the ones the women and kids are trying to get awayfrom.”

Jonah had never hit a woman in his life, unless he counted a few recent paintballs that might’ve splattered his sisters. Or that time Micki had put him in chokehold when they were eight years old and he’d had to stomp on her foot to save himself. But Tessa’s words made his stomach shrivel. “I don’t go inside the shelter itself.” At least not since it opened a few months ago. “But they let me work with the kids at the rec center across thestreet.”