DEV STOOD OUTSIDE the county courthouse, leaning against the front fender of his police cruiser. His gaze was fixed on the door leading in and out of the holding area, and he searched for a familiar face.
A few seconds later, Jimmy Joe Babcock emerged, squinting against the noonday sun. He glanced around, searching for a friend or family member, but after testifying against his brother on the gun possession charge, he’d been shunned by his family. His friends, those who hadn’t sided with Ray Don, were in school.
Dev pushed away from the car and walked over to the kid. “I figured you could use a lift,” he said.
“Thanks,” he said with a hesitant smile. “I wasn’t expecting Mom or Dad, but I thought one of my friends would come.”
“I told them I’d come and get you. I stopped at your folks’ house and picked up your clothes and your window-washing gear. You’ll be staying with Coach Pembroke for now. He and his wife take in foster kids, and he agreed to give you a place to stay as long as you behave yourself.”
“He’s my history teacher,” Jimmy said.
“Good. Then he can help you raise your history grade from a D to an A.”
Jimmy frowned. “How did you know my—”
“I know everything about you,” Dev said. “You are my current project. I’ve decided to do everything in my power to turn you into a cop. You’ll start by finishing high school. Then, when you graduate, we’re going to find you a good college and you’re going to major in criminal justice. After that, I’ll hire you on if you want to work in Winchester.”
Jimmy chuckled. “You really think I could be a cop?”
“I do,” Dev said. “Jimmy, you can do whatever you want with your life. Just because your name is Babcock, that doesn’t mean your future is determined for you.”
He turned away, but Dev could see tears swimming in his eyes. “My parents hate me. My brother is going to prison because of me and—”
“No,” Dev said. “Your brother is going to prison because he decided to rip off that gun store. He decided to break his parole. He decided to leave that gun in a car that you drove and then was going to let you take the blame. He made all kinds of bad decisions before you had to make yours.”
Dev reached out and put his arm around Jimmy’s shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get some lunch and then I’ll take you over to meet Mrs. Pembroke. Then we need to stop at school and get all the homework you missed while you were sitting in that cell.”
“I’ll never catch up,” he said.
“You will. After school, each day, you’ll come over to the station and do your schoolwork until you have everything finished.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Jimmy asked.
“’Cause I think you’re a good guy,” Dev said.
They started toward the car but Dev stopped when he heard a familiar voice calling his name. He turned to see Elodie approaching. Jimmy Joe glanced over at him, then whistled.
“You know her?” he asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
He hadn’t seen Elodie since their argument three days ago. He’d decided that he’d leave the entire thing up to her since she seemed to be the one firmly in control of her feelings. He’d been all-in from the start. But now that she was actually making plans to stay in Winchester, everything was starting to fall apart.
News of her plans had spread quickly around town, and within a few days two very distinct camps had developed—the pro-Elodie faction and the anti-Elodie group.
Her supporters felt that anything designed to bring tourists into town could only be positive for everyone living in Winchester. The “anti” group believed the town had to be completely Winchester-free in order for it to truly heal.
Dev wasn’t sure which way the town council would go, especially since the issue was more emotional than practical. And Elodie needed the board on her side. In order for her to open the gallery, the council had to rezone her property as commercial. Since the mansion stood at the end of the street, it was unlikely that her neighbors would agree to the increased traffic. Elodie had a solution to that—she’d offered to build a new driveway through the back of her ten-acre property, coming off an already commercially zoned road. But that would also require a permit.
Dev didn’t envy her the battle ahead, but she seemed perfectly willing to throw herself into it. He had to admire that about Elodie. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. On the outside, she seemed sweet and soft, but that deceptive exterior hid a core that was as strong as steel. Dev just wished she was as determined to be with him.
Dev walked toward her, taking her hands as she pushed up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He took the kiss as an olive branch.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I had to pick up some tax information on the house,” she said. “I have a real estate broker coming over this afternoon with a buyer.”
Dev frowned. “I don’t understand. You’re thinking about selling?”
“I’m keeping all my options open,” she said.
Dev had hoped that selling the mansion was the last of her options, not the first.
“What about you? Why are you here?”
“I’m picking up a friend of mine,” Dev said. He motioned to Jimmy Joe. “Jimmy Joe Babcock, this is my friend Elodie Winchester. Elodie, this is Jimmy. Jimmy runs a window-washing business and Elodie owns a mansion with a lot of windows.”
“Are you available?” Elodie said. “I haven’t counted the windows, but there must be at least fifty. They haven’t been washed for years.”
Jimmy grinned. “I could come by and give you an estimate,” he said. “I’ll give you a good discount ’cause you’re a friend of Chief Cassidy’s.”
“That would be fine,” Elodie said. “I really have to go.” She looked up at Dev. “I’ll see you later?”
Was that a question, Dev wondered, or an invitation? He caught her hand and pulled her into a quick kiss. “Are we okay?”
She smiled and nodded her head. “I’m sorry about the other day. It’s just that things are complicated right now. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.”
“And I’m getting in the way?” Dev asked.
“No,” she said. “Not at all. But you make it so easy to want to stay in Winchester, even if it might not be the right thing to do. I need to make these decisions with a clear head, and you have a way of muddling my brain until all I can think about is...you know. Maybe we should try to slow things down.” She drew a ragged breath. “Can we do that?”
“We can,” he said with a grin. “So, I’ll see you around, Elodie.”
“Definitely,” she said.
He watched as she walked up the courthouse steps and disappeared inside. Dev sighed deeply.
“She your girlfriend?” Jimmy asked, stepping up beside him.
“I guess you could say that,” Dev replied. “Though things are kind of messed up right now.”
Jimmy Joe shook his head. “Man, you gotta lock that down. A girl like her, she’s got her pick of guys.”
“What do you suggest?” Dev asked.
“You gotta go exclusive,” Jimmy said. “Forget playing the field. Once a girl as sweet as that walks, you’ll never get her back. Like the song says, if you want it, you gotta put a ring on it.”
“It?”
“Her,” Jimmy clarified.
“So, you’re saying I should formalize our relationship by buying her a diamond ring?”
“The bigger the rock, the better,” Jimmy said. “So big that she can’t possibly say no.”
“I’m not sure that would be the right move. It might scare her off.”
“Hmm,” Jimmy said, reconsidering his advice. He frowned. “Well, if that’s true, then she’s kind of a weird chick. You’ll have to take a different approach. If she isn’t into material things, then she’s probably all into emotions. Tell her how you feel. Reassure her that she’s your boo.”
“My boo?”
“Your bae.”
“I can’t believe I’m taking advice from a high schooler.”
“You’re, what, forty years old, and you don’t have a woman in your life. Maybe you could use some good advice.”
Dev reached out and ruffled Jimmy’s hair. “I’m twenty-nine,” Dev said. “I’ll be thirty next month. And I’ve had plenty of women in my life.”
“Not like her,” Jimmy said.
“All right, I’ll give you that. Never like her.”
Jimmy Joe patted Dev on the arm. “Why don’t we grab ourselves a cold one and we can discuss this further?”
“Very funny,” Dev said, giving the kid a playful shove. “And if I hear you’ve been out with those friends of yours stirring up trouble, I’ll bring you right back here. Now is the time to take control of your life, Jimmy.”
“Same for you,” the boy said.
* * *
A TINY BEAD of sweat dripped down Elodie’s cheek and fell with a plop onto her hand. She tipped her face up and ran the paint roller over the ceiling of the front parlor. She hadn’t realized how grimy the paint was until she’d applied a fresh coat of white.
The house was stifling hot, the daytime temperatures topping ninety, and the humidity made it feel even worse. As she stood on a ladder just a few feet from the eleven-foot-high ceilings, the heat was practically unbearable.
She crawled down the ladder and placed the roller back into the pan. Elodie had hoped that one coat would be enough, but even now, before the paint was dry, she could tell it was going to require at least two.
Elodie wasn’t sure why she was taking the time to paint. She hadn’t decided to sell and she wasn’t sure the gallery would be a go. Yet, she needed to find something to fill the void created by the absence of Dev. Up until a few days ago, she’d spent nearly every evening with him.
As she wandered back to the kitchen, Elodie tugged her T-shirt up and wiped her forehead. She found a bottle of water in the refrigerator and took it out onto the front porch. She poured half of it over her face, then took a long drink.
She drew a deep breath of the thick night air and closed her eyes. The silence made her ears ring. She’d been so used to the constant hum of the city while living in Manhattan, but here, it was so quiet, she could hear own heart beating.
The sound of a car caught her attention, and she watched from the shadows as a police cruiser slowly drove down Wisteria Street. Elodie held her breath as the car pulled to stop in front of her house. It had to be Dev. But instead of getting out, he sat in the car, the windows open, staring out the front windshield.
Elodie pushed to her feet and slowly walked down the porch steps. The bricks of the front walk were warm on her bare feet, as they’d held the heat from the day. By the time she’d reached the gate, Dev was out of the car, watching her across the roof.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked.
“Just checking out the residents on Wisteria Street,” he said. “Normal rounds. What are you up to?”
“I was painting,” she said.
“Oil or watercolor?” he asked.
“Latex. I was painting the ceiling.”
“On a night like this? Too hot.”
She smiled. “Being dropped into the dunk tank would feel good right about now. Or a long swim.”
“You want to swim?” he asked. “I can make that happen.”
Elodie hesitated before accepting. The last time she’d gone swimming with him, he’d stayed on shore, fully dressed, while she’d enjoyed the water. “I think Spencer’s Landing will probably be crowded tonight.”
“It is,” he said. “I’ve chased kids out of there three times today already.”
“Are you going to swim with me?” she asked.
“Sure. I’m off duty in three minutes. Come on, let’s go.”
Elodie shook her head. “I don’t have a suit.”
“You won’t need one,” he countered. “I know a place that’s very private.”
“I thought we weren’t going to—”
“It’s just a swim, Elodie, not a marriage proposal.”
In truth, a swim sounded perfect right now. She could burn off the last of her nervous energy, cool down and then hopefully sleep like the dead. “All right,” she said.
She jumped in the passenger side and they took off. Elodie expected that he’d head out of town, but instead, they ended up in the parking lot of the town’s high school. Dev got out of the car and jogged around to help her out. The lot was completely empty, the windows of the school dark.
She got out and looked around. “How are we going to get in?”
“You’re with the police chief,” he said. “I have all kinds of access.”
To Elodie’s surprise, he unlocked a side door and they strolled inside. Dev took a flashlight off his utility belt to light the way as they walked through the empty hallways. When they reached the pool, Dev flipped on the underwater lights and the huge room suddenly glowed.
“Are you sure we’re alone? There won’t be a janitor happening by or a swim team dropping in for an unexpected practice?”
“It’s a Sunday night. I come here all the time in the summer, often in the middle of the night if I can’t sleep.”
“All right. You first,” she said.
Dev didn’t hesitate. He stripped out of his clothes right there on the pool deck. He placed everything on a bench, and when he got down to his boxers, he turned and faced her. “I usually take it all off, but if you don’t want me—”
“Go ahead,” she said, nodding.
“I figured maybe because we’d decided to slow things down you’d—”
“Go ahead,” Elodie repeated.
He hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers and slid them down over his hips. Elodie groaned inwardly. If she had any sense left in her at all, she’d run the other way. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid.
But he’d said himself it was just a swim. Maybe she was the one reading too much into it. And if, by the end of the night, she and Dev were back in her bed, she had only one person to blame—herself.
Cursing beneath her breath, Elodie tried to appear nonchalant as she tossed aside the shorts and T-shirt she wore. She reached behind her for the bra clasp, but Dev stepped up and slowly ran his hands over her shoulders. “I can do that,” he murmured.
She didn’t have the strength to stop him. The touch of his palms to her shoulders had already weakened her defenses. But after unhooking her bra, Dev didn’t take it any further. Instead, he strode past her and dived into the deep end of the pool.
Elodie kicked off her bra and panties and followed him in, breaking the surface just a few feet away from where he did. Dev grinned at her. “See? That wasn’t so difficult.”
Treading water, she tipped her head back and sighed. “I remember Winchester summers being hot, but how did we ever do without air-conditioning? My father refused to put it in the house. He thought it was a sign of weakness. I think he didn’t do it because if he installed air-conditioning in the house, the town would want him to air-condition the mill, too.”
“I can’t believe we’re talking about the weather,” Dev teased. “Things have fallen apart, haven’t they?”
Elodie met his gaze. “Please don’t say that.”
“Isn’t it the truth?”
“No.”
“Then why are we naked with four feet of space between us?” He reached out, and Elodie laced her fingers through his. Dev pulled her through the water until their bodies touched.
Her pulse leaped, and her heart began to pound in her chest. Elodie looked down as his fingertips began to trace a line across the top of her breast. Just that contact, the bold caress, and she was aching for more.
His hand dropped lower, then cupped her breast, his thumb teasing at the hard nipple. A wave of exquisite sensation raced through her body.
Gathering her resolve, she pushed away and swam to the other side of the pool. “I could lose myself in you,” she murmured. “It would be so easy. As simple as breathing.”
“Then do it,” Dev challenged. “Why spend the time we have together denying what we both want?”
“I’m trying to stand up here, all on my own, and you’re like an earthquake, shifting the earth beneath my feet, throwing me off balance.” She drew a ragged breath. “Why are you trying to make this more difficult?”
“I’m not,” Dev said. “I won’t. I can’t apologize for wanting you or needing you. Besides, why are you so fixated on the future? Why can’t we just live in the present and forget about what might happen tomorrow or next month or next year?”
“You make it sound so simple,” Elodie said.
“Isn’t it?”
She sank down in the water and watched him, silently observing the play of emotion in his expression. “Then you would be all right if this didn’t work out and I went back to New York? You’d have no regrets? It wouldn’t hurt you?”
“Not if we’d spent every last moment we had together making each other happy. I could say goodbye without a single regret.”
“What if I couldn’t?” Elodie asked. “It was hard enough to get over you when I was a teenager.”
“Do you want me to convince you?” Dev asked as he swam closer.
Elodie shook her head. The look in his eyes sent a frisson of pleasure coursing through her body. Raw need. Uncontrolled desire.
She couldn’t fight him any longer. Saying goodbye to him was going to hurt no matter what. So she’d take his lead and stop worrying about the future, at least for tonight.
* * *
THE MOMENT THE screen door slammed behind him, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her. His fingers tangled in her wet hair, and he tasted chlorine from the pool on her skin. Dev was like a man frantic for food and water—only his nourishment was Elodie’s lithe, supple body.
It had taken a bit of convincing to get her to undress at the pool, but now she tore at her clothes, desperate to feel her skin against his. He hadn’t bothered with his shirt after the pool. And when she reached for the waistband of his shorts, he skimmed off the bottom half of his uniform in one quick motion.
She reached for him, wrapping her fingers around his hard shaft, gently stroking him until he was completely erect. “Here?” he murmured.
“No,” she said. She drew him along the corridor, and Dev expected to end up in her bedroom, but instead they ended up in the dark kitchen. He ran his hand over the surface of the kitchen island and smiled. The stainless steel was cool to the touch.
He spanned her waist with his hands and picked her up, setting her on the edge of the counter, and she lay back. He parted her legs and drove into her in one powerful motion, then paused, enjoying the feel of her warm body enveloping his shaft. Elodie cried out in surprise, a gasp slipping from her lips.
Then he started to move. It was rough and it was frantic, but that didn’t stop either one of them. She reacted to each thrust, urging him on, demanding every last ounce of his attention.
Dev tried to focus on something besides the naked, writhing body laid out in front of him, but it was impossible. His self-control had vanished somewhere around the front walk to her house. He tried to slow down, but Elodie wouldn’t let him. She sat up and wrapped her legs around his waist, slowly moving up and down along his shaft at will.
Again and again, she edged him closer to his release, then drew away. He knew she was close, too, her body sticky with sweat, her breath coming in quick gasps. But then suddenly, she drew back and crawled to the center of the island, giving him a predatory look.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
“You want to eat in the middle of all this?” Dev chuckled, but she seemed dead serious.
Elodie eased herself off the other side of the island and walked to the refrigerator, then pulled open the freezer door. She withdrew a container and walked over to him, then pressed the freezing plastic against his belly.
He gasped at the sensation. “What are you doing?”
Elodie smiled. “Getting something to eat.”
She opened the container, and Dev could see it was filled with strawberry ice cream. Reaching inside, she dug out a glob with her fingers and began to smear it across Dev’s chest.
She pushed him backward until he came to a stop against the edge of the counter, and she slowly began to lick the ice cream off his chest. Her tongue was warm, branding his cold skin as she moved from one nipple to the next. His fingers tangled in her damp hair, and Dev was stunned by the erotic scene unfolding in front of him. Usually foreplay came before sex, not after it. But this change of agenda was definitely working for him—until she got out the blindfold.
It wasn’t actually a blindfold, but a thin cotton dish towel. She picked it out of a drawer and secured it around his eyes then left him standing in the middle of the kitchen. He felt Elodie circling around him, her body brushing against his. He reached for her but she evaded his grasp.
“You’re not going to let me touch you?” he murmured.
“No. But you can taste me.” She guided him to her left breast, and he found the nipple covered with strawberry ice cream. He sighed softly, drawing the stiff nub into his mouth. He found the same treat on her right nipple and then followed a trail of ice cream down the center of her belly.
He set her on the edge of the counter again and knelt down, finding the sensitive spot between her legs. Without using his hands, he began to tease her with his tongue. Dev knew she was watching him, deriving her own pleasure from the sight of his seduction.
But because he was blindfolded, he was forced to imagine the scene. Every move flashed an image in his head that was wildly erotic. It was a strange, tantalizing experience, like nothing he’d ever done before. And he found himself caught up in the overwhelming passion his imagination evoked.
The pleasure continued for another hour, sometimes with the blindfold off, sometimes with the blindfold on. They each took turns tasting and touching the other. Dev had never enjoyed such a long path to release. In truth, he wasn’t sure what to expect when the moment finally came to surrender.
He finally found himself deep within her heat again, Elodie’s body soft and pliable after multiple orgasms. He stroked slowly at first, running his hands over her hips as she lay across the counter. He reached between her legs, determined to bring her to the edge once more. She shuddered once, and when he felt her come, Dev let go.
Wave after wave of pleasure washed over his body, the orgasm so powerful it made his knees buckle and his body spasm uncontrollably. It seemed to go on forever, and Dev rode it out until the very end, until he was drenched with sweat and completely spent.
He bent over Elodie and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Is there room up there for me?”
“Hmm,” she said. “Plenty.”
He crawled up beside her and lay back on the cool steel, staring up at the ceiling in the dim light. “This is now my favorite spot in the house,” he said.
“What was your previous favorite spot?” she asked.
“Your bed. I liked your bathtub, too. And the front porch. But this is my favorite now. I could live here.”
Elodie giggled.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m not sure your mother would appreciate your naked, sweaty body on her clean kitchen counter.”
Dev groaned, rolling over to face her. “Did you have to bring my mother into this?”
“Sorry. But we will have to clean up the evidence of our night together before she arrives in the morning.”
He sat up, pulling her along with him. “I need something to drink. How about you?”
“There’s beer in the fridge. And iced tea and limeade.”
Dev got up and grabbed a beer, then poured a glass of iced tea for Elodie. He leaned against the counter as he took a long swallow of the beer, content with his lot in life. He had Elodie back, at least for the near future. The passion was still blazing between them and nothing would change that.
They’d grown so comfortable with each other that even this seemed natural—the two of them, naked, lying across the kitchen island drinking a cool beverage on a hot summer night. Dev leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Tomorrow night is the zoning meeting,” he said. “Are you ready?”
She shrugged. “I guess so. There won’t be much to it. I’ll give them my proposal and they’ll vote on it. If they vote no, there’s an appeal process that I can go through, but I have a really good proposal. And by putting in the new driveway and a parking lot in the rear of the house, there won’t be any disturbance to the residents on Wisteria Street.”
Dev wasn’t sure he should tell her the truth, that things wouldn’t be as simple as she thought. They’d put their relationship back on track and he didn’t want to spoil it. But he wanted to prepare Elodie for the fight ahead. He was the only one who could help her.
“Ellie, maybe we should go over your presentation. It wouldn’t hurt. I’m familiar with the guys on the board. I know what kind of questions they’re going to ask.”
“It’s not a big deal,” she said.
He grabbed her hand and laced her fingers through his. “It is a big deal. There are people in town who don’t want you here and they’re going to do everything they can to get you to leave. They’ll bring their complaints to this meeting.”
“And where do you stand?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“You know where I stand. With you, all the way. I’ll be at the meeting to keep the peace. It’s liable to get a little rowdy. Just be prepared.”
A worried expression settled on her pretty face, and Dev regretted even bringing the matter up. She had no idea how intense this meeting could become.
Elodie sat up and then slid off the counter. “I’m going to go take a cool bath and then go to bed. Are you coming with me?”
Dev nodded. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
She walked out of the kitchen, clutching her iced tea glass in her hand.
Dev sighed softly. He wanted to protect her from anyone or anything that would hurt her. But she’d made it clear that she wanted to do this on her own. So this was one time when he’d have to stand back and let the events play out.
Tomorrow, the town council of Winchester would determine his entire future. It would decide whether Elodie made a home in town or left the next day. All he could do was hope they made the right decision.