Garrett sat working on his laptop in what had become his stool at the far end of the Wild Rose bar. It was lunchtime and the place was filling up fast. He enjoyed watching Carly work. Whether she was serving food during the day or drinks at night, she took her work seriously. And she enjoyed it. It made him wonder when the last time was he’d really enjoyed anything.
The last two days, that was for sure. She’d been right. Resistance had been futile. And he was glad, except for the breaking her heart later part.
“Keep scowling like that and you’re going to scare away my customers.”
Garrett glanced up to find Carly staring at him. “Sorry, just thinking.”
“You think too much.”
He couldn’t hold back a grin. That was one of William’s favorite lines. “I’m just catching up after lazing around for two days,” he said, winking at her.
“Mmmm, I like the sound of that. Maybe between lunch and tonight we can do some more lazing around...”
He shook his head and laughed. “You’re insatiable, woman.”
“Yeah, well, like I told you. It’s been a long time.”
Someone called her and she wiggled her eyebrows before turning away. Garrett hadn’t missed the slight wistfulness in her voice when she’d said it’d been a long time. He started to wonder why. It certainly wasn’t because she wasn’t desirable. Any man would have to be blind not to be attracted to her. And he couldn’t think of a friendlier, kinder person. No, something or someone must have caused her to retreat from relationships. Kind of like you.
“Hey, Handsome.”
Garrett looked to his left and saw Belinda. They’d become friendly since he pretty much spent every night at the bar. “Belinda. Taking a break from your real job?” he asked before turning back to his computer.
“A girl’s gotta eat,” she said, giving her order to the girl behind the bar. She turned back to him. “So, I get the feeling you and Carly Rose are doing a bit more than dancing.”
Never one to publicize his private life Garrett immediately went on guard. He didn’t miss a keystroke, or lift his head. “What makes you say that?”
“I heard you were staying at her place.”
He relaxed a little. This he could handle. “I fell while climbing the other day and ended up with a concussion. The doctor wouldn’t let me leave the hospital without someone to keep an eye on me. I wouldn’t stay. Carly offered. It’s not a big deal. I’d probably be at William’s if he hadn’t had to leave town.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that. Carly’s a soft touch, but what about all the time you spend here? Looks like you’re staking a claim to me.”
Carly walked over and Garrett cringed a little. He really didn’t want everyone to know their private business. It would only make it harder on her when he left. And he would leave. Besides his career, there was the fact that he wasn’t husband, much less father material. And Carly deserved someone like that.
“Please, Belinda, the man doesn’t know anyone else in town. William asked him to hang around so they could go camping when he gets back. What’s he supposed to do, go to Darin’s bar so people’s tongues don’t start wagging? I’d rather he spent his money here, thank you.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll let it go,” she said as her ‘to go’ order arrived.
Garrett breathed a sigh of relief when Carly stepped away and Belinda stood to leave. When the latter leaned closer he tensed again.
“You might want to stop staring at her like you want to gobble her up if you don’t want people to know.”
His cell phone buzzed in his back pocket, keeping him from commenting before she left. Pulling it out he glanced at the display. “Please tell me you’ve got something.”
“Small town life making you antsy?” William asked.
“It’s fine, except for the part where everyone wants to know everyone else’s business,” Garrett said. He clenched his jaw while William laughed on the other end of the line.
“Yeah, that part drives Carly crazy, too. She loves the people except when they’re snooping in her personal life. Speaking of her life, how are things going? Anything happen since we last talked?”
Yeah, Garrett thought. Your sister and I are shacking up, what do you think of that? He had a feeling William wouldn’t be upset. That bothered Garrett more than if it caused a break in their friendship. They just didn’t understand his poor experience with relationships.
“No. I’ve installed a surveillance system to see if we can catch who’s causing trouble.”
“Are you still staying at the apartment?”
Garrett frowned. “Yeah, your sister seems to have checked me out of my hotel after the accident. I figured since you wanted me to keep an eye on her it wasn’t worth checking back in.”
“Good idea, and while you’re there maybe you’ll figure out you two --”
“William.”
“Hey, just a thought. Anyway, I wanted to bring you up-to-date. I’ve been splitting my time between the two issues. There is something strange going on at Blackthorn’s office. Either he’s involved or someone who uses his office on a regular basis is. I’ve found several calls from his office phone to a disposable cell.”
Garrett thought about it for a minute. “It could be one of his kids or grandkids lost their phones and picked up a cheap replacement.” Not likely, but possible.
“I checked that. Everyone’s regular cells are still sending and receiving the usual calls. I’m also doing some digging into your secretary’s background.”
“Martha? Why? You know I do complete background checks on everyone. There wasn’t anything.”
“Okay, not her background more like her present. Some charges to her credit seem odd and she’s missed a couple days of work.”
“Martha? She never misses work.” A chill ran down his spine with the realization. Had he misjudged a woman because he felt sorry for her? When would his guilt stop coloring his judgment? “Damn it.”
“Hey, it could be nothing. Let me check it out before you jump to conclusions. One more thing.”
What the hell else? “I’m listening.”
“From what little time Scarpelli’s cell is on it looks like he’s left New York.”
“Great. Where?” Could a day go downhill any faster?
“Last blip was PA so don’t get all riled up. I’ll keep track of him. As to Clandestine, there’s a board meeting scheduled for Monday. They tried to force it sooner, but Clay held them off. He is not happy.”
“Send me copies of whatever he gave you on that issue. I’d like to know what evidence they have on me. Maybe I can go over it and give him some ammunition for the meeting.”
“Okay, but I mainly want you to keep your mind on the problems there. Got it?”
“Yeah.” He flipped the phone closed and jammed it back in his pocket. He checked the room out. About to turn back to his computer, he noticed the sheriff walk through the door. So, yeah, the day could go downhill faster.
Garrett forced himself to keep his hands open on the bar top when he saw Darin appear beside his father and tilt his head toward the back of the bar. Pushing his laptop closed as he stood, Garrett waited while the sheriff walked toward him. Darin, coward he was, stayed by the door.
“Sheriff,” Garrett said, but didn’t offer his hand.
“And you would be?”
“Steele,” Garrett said. The sheriff’s eyebrow rose at the single name. Obviously he wasn’t accustomed to people not folding under his scrutiny.
“I hear you’ve been hanging around Carly Rose. Causing trouble at the bar. I don’t like strangers causing trouble for my people.”
Garrett raised an eyebrow of his own. “I’m not sure what trouble you’re talking about, sheriff. I’m an old friend of William O’Bannon’s. If I’m at the bar a lot, it’s because William had to leave town and Carly’s the only other person I know.”
“I heard you started a fight the other night.” The sheriff’s hand rested near his gun.
Garrett wanted to ask why it had taken him so long to check it out if he were that concerned. Unfortunately, Carly came up beside him before he could.
“It wasn’t my friend who started the fight, Sheriff. It was Darin,” she said.
Damn, he wished she would have stayed out of it. Now, the jerk would think he and Carly were together. Garrett had no doubt Darin wanted Carly for himself.
“That’s not how I heard it,” the sheriff said.
“Yeah, well your son tends to twist things around to his own liking. You know that. The other night he was pushing me about wanting to buy me out. Garrett walked in when Darin grabbed my wrist.”
“I don’t like people manhandling my friends,” Garrett said, staring hard into the sheriff’s eyes. He’d used the word specifically so the man would get the idea of what his son had really been up to. Carly might want to play it down, but Garrett had no such inclination.
The man gave Garrett a serious once over before glaring directly at him. “Just make sure you keep your nose clean.”
Garrett wanted to tell him to keep his son away from Carly and there wouldn’t be a problem. She kicked his foot before he could open his mouth. He didn’t like it, but he got the message. “Not a problem, Sheriff.”
“You take care, Carly.”
“I will, Sheriff. Mary’s got your order at the register,” she said with a smile.
Garrett watched the man until he and his son left the bar. Narrowing his eyes, he turned to Carly. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to rescue me from the big bad sheriff. Knowing his kind is my job. I can handle it.”
“I thought you’d be happy I told him what Darin did.”
The annoyance flashing in her beautiful eyes didn’t distract Garrett. He leaned forward, wanting to intimidate her. She had to understand the dangerous game she was playing.
“Told him what Darin did? You didn’t even come close. If you had, the bastard would be in handcuffs. No, you sugar-coated it as women do when they refuse to accept someone is abusing them. All you’re doing is making it possible for him to do it again. I might not be here next time to stop him. Have you thought of that?”
His strong arm tactics didn’t work. She glared back as she leaned forward herself. “Why? Is there some place you need to go, or am I just getting too close?” She turned and stalked away.
Wanting to grab her and shake her, he let her go. This had nothing to do with them. It was about her safety. Why did she have to make it personal?
Because it is personal. You care about her.
Garrett reached in his pocket, pulled out a ten and slapped it on the counter. Picking up his laptop he left without a word. The coffee shop across the street had free wireless. He would go there and still be able to keep an eye on the place. He needed space, but couldn’t risk being too far away. If Darin or the mysterious visitor from Sunday afternoon returned, he wanted to be close by.
Carly watched Garrett leave through the window in the kitchen door. She couldn’t believe how much fighting with him hurt. She had meant it when she said all she wanted was this week. He was a safe bet to have sex with. He didn’t expect anything more, no one else here knew him, and he’d be leaving soon. So why did his very sensible statement about not being here if she needed him hurt so much?
Furious with herself for acting like a lovesick fool, she turned back to the busy kitchen. She had enough on her plate without worrying about a relationship. Like the flames she could see in one of the ovens.
Running toward the oven she yelled for her head cook.
# # #
Three hours, two more minor catastrophes, and a headache later, Carly closed the door on the last lunch customer. She needed a drink. No, she needed everyone to leave so she could be alone. After telling all the waitresses and kitchen help to take an early afternoon, she locked the front door again. Knowing better than to sit down and start thinking, she busied herself cleaning up the front before moving to the kitchen.
She was finishing up putting the utensils away when she dropped a spoon on the floor. When she bent over to pick it up she saw a pair of boots less than two feet away. Fear clutched her throat before self-preservation kicked in. Grabbing the spoon from the floor, she jerked up, swinging it like a weapon.
The man easily deflected her move.
“God, you scared me half to death,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest as she recognized him.
“Good,” Garrett said. His eyes were hard as ice and his jaw clenched tight.
He didn’t move. Didn’t apologize, just stood there holier than thou. Oh lord she wished she’d beaned him with the spoon. “Good?”
“Maybe now you’ll think twice when you send everyone home. Maybe now you’ll make sure you lock all the doors. Good God Carly, Darin could have come in here and . . .”
Carly stared at him. When he’d started speaking her irritation had hit the stratosphere, but watching his eyes, it came back to a normal orbit. He couldn’t bring himself to say what Darin might have done. He cared more than he wanted to admit.
But you don’t want anyone to care that much, remember? Caring leads to relationships. Relationships lead to happily-ever-afters, and she wasn’t made for those. Just a fling, that’s all she wanted.
Right, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate his actions. She reached up and stroked his jaw. “You’re right. I was preoccupied and forgot to check the back door. Of course, if you hadn’t picked a fight with me earlier, I wouldn’t have been so distracted.”
He reached up and pulled her hand away. “Another reason the two of us shouldn’t be--”
She covered his lips with hers to shut him up. He fought it, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and persisted. Unfortunately, his hands at her hips weren’t pulling her closer. She broke the kiss and met his intense blue stare.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said tunneling her fingers in the hair at the back of his head. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like I wanted you to stay forever. You just made me so mad with all that abuse talk. It’s not like Darin and I are a couple and he beats up on me all the time.”
“You don’t have to be a couple. You don’t understand how people like him think. I do and you’re playing a dangerous game.”
Still holding him behind the neck, she leaned even further back considering what he’d said. This was very personal for him. Not because of her, though. Something or someone else had taught him about abuse. “How do you know?”
Under her hand his neck muscles tensed. Definitely hit a sensitive nerve. He stretched his neck a little, trying to hide the reaction.
“Observation. It’s a big part of my job.”
Carly shook her head. “Unh-uh. This isn’t coming from work. This is personal. I can see it in your eyes. Tell me.”
His narrowed his gaze. “Don’t trust these eyes. They’re as likely to lie as tell you the truth. I work undercover most of the time. If people could read me that easily, I’d be in trouble. Besides,” he said, pulling out of her hold, “look at me. Do you really think anyone ever tried to bully me?”
Leaning back against the counter she considered him. “It didn’t have to be you to be personal. How do you know how people like Darin think, Garrett?”
He had leaned back against the stainless steel sink. They were about three feet apart. It felt like a mile to Carly. Talk about dangerous ground. The space between them might as well have been molten lava Garrett was so reluctant to cross it, or even speak across it.
“I lived with someone like him.”
She needed to be very careful or he’d clam up fast. “Your father.”
“No.”
The single answer shut her down. Not his father? “Your mother?”
“It’s complicated,” he said, looking everywhere but at her.
Carly feared if she breathed too hard he wouldn’t say more. Standing still as a stone, no small feat considering her usual state of constant motion, she waited for him to continue in his own time.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but our little exchange earlier got me thinking. My parents fought a lot. The yelling and things breaking was bad, but afterward was always worse. The silence drove me and Brian crazy. Dad always left first, I could tell by the weight of his steps on the stairway. Later Mom would leave and we’d come out of our room. We would clean everything up so they wouldn’t have anything to fight about later.
“When they did come home dad would apologize and life would be good for a little while. Then, one day while Brian and I were at school, she left. That night the police came to the house and told him she was gone. Her car had missed a turn and she went off a cliff. The silence after that was deafening. I almost wished I could hear them fight again just to have some noise. Even a year or so later when the women started coming around the place was quiet. That was when I realized mom was the fighter. And you know what they say about abuse, it runs in the family.”
He looked at her for the first time since he’d started talking. Carly almost wished he hadn’t. The anguish she saw in his eyes, the derision was palpable. She didn’t care what he said about his eyes lying, he was wrong. No way could he act that well.
“Ask William if you don’t believe me. I have a nasty temper. I may have more control than my mother, but I walk a very fine line. And that’s why I know how Darin thinks.”
“You can’t believe that,” Carly said pushing off from the counter. “I’ve never known a more considerate, respectful, gentle man than you. Good heavens, I threw myself at you, not once but twice and you turned me down.”
He shook his head. “Don’t sign me up for sainthood, Carly girl. You don’t know me that well. And when all was said and done, where did we end up?”
The man was infuriating. But she wasn’t letting him take the blame for something he didn’t do. “In my bed, exactly where I wanted us.”
“Exactly where a man like me does not belong.”
“What the hell does that mean, a man like me?”
“There’s no future with me, Carly. I won’t start a relationship because it won’t last. I’ll either screw it up, or you’ll get caught up in the mess called my life. Either way I’d be responsible. I can’t do that again. You deserve someone who will give you that happily ever after life.”
Most of her anger and frustration melted away. It was like looking into the hurting eyes of a thirteen-year-old. “Garrett,” she said, stepping close and again touching his cheek. “Any woman would be lucky to have a relationship with you, but it won’t be me. I’m not interested in forever with anyone. Here and now is all I’m asking, all I want.”
“You say that now. But later . . . .”
Carly shook her head. “Like you, I have my reasons. Trust me.”
“Trust isn’t something I do well. That’s why most of the time I work alone rather than with a partner. Or, in William’s words, because I don’t play well with others,” he said, leaning his head down and staring into her eyes. “You know my reasons, what are yours?”
She shook her head. “I think we’ve talked enough today,” Carly said and watched his eyes to see if he would push her. She could see he wanted to but didn’t. And she was glad because opening up that wound was something she didn’t ever want to do. Standing on tip toe she touched his forehead with hers. Their eyes only inches apart. Closing the distance she brushed her lips across his.
This time he surprised her and didn’t resist.
# # #
Garrett sat in the dark of Carly’s apartment watching the activity in the bar on his laptop. He was purposely keeping his distance. The two hours between her closing after lunch and opening for happy hour had been a strange combination of euphoria and regret. Why had he let her back in? Instead of going to the coffee shop and keeping an eye on the building, he should have packed his stuff and gone back to the hotel. Once there he should have called William or Clay and insisted on going back to New York.
What had he done instead? He’d spent the better part of the afternoon finding myriad ways to please his Irish pixie. He’d been sitting with the chair tipped back against the wall, now it came crashing down from where he’d been tilting back. She wasn’t his. He had to stop thinking like that.
“Get a grip, Steele,” he said aloud, trying to get a handle on his emotions. Hell, when was the last time he’d allowed emotions in at all? Five years ago, the answer popped in his head. The time he’d almost proposed to a woman. Five years before that around Carly O’Bannon. And the time before that when his brother died. Before that, his mother’s death. All negatives. When would he learn that emotions meant trouble? His cell phone rang and he grabbed at the distraction. “Steele.”
“I hope you’re enjoying your vacation.”
“What do you want, Scarpelli?” Garrett asked. He really needed to pay more attention to the Caller ID.
“We didn’t want you to think we’d forgotten about you.”
“And who would that we be? You and Murphy? He’s already in jail, where you’ll be joining him soon.”
“Like he could find his way out of a paper bag,” Scarpelli said with a laugh. “I thought someone who thinks he’s as smart as you obviously do would have figured it out. But I guess you are stupid.”
“I don’t think Martha counts as far as being in on what you were doing,” he said, hoping to keep Scarpelli talking. Something had been bothering him since before he left New York. Maybe Scarpelli could help clear it up.
“Martha, now there’s an interesting woman,” Scarpelli said. “Besides being game for pretty much anything in bed, she has a helluva head on her shoulders. Using her position as a secretary made it easy to keep an eye on you.”
“You’re trying to tell me she was in on this all along?”
“In on it? Not exactly,” Scarpelli said.
The tone of his voice started that itch at the back of Garrett’s neck again. He forced himself not to rub it. “I didn’t think so.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter now. All you need to know is we haven’t forgotten you. When you get home we’ll take care of all the loose ends.” The line went dead.
Garrett’s teeth were clamped so tight pain shot through his jaw straight to his temple. “Gaaaahhhh,” he growled barely stopping himself from throwing the phone. Instead he hit the speed dial for Clandestine Investigations.
“What the hell are you doing calling in?”
His boss’s less than welcome greeting didn’t faze Garrett. He stood and started pacing the apartment. “Scarpelli just called. I think he’s still in New York.”
“Why?”
“He said when I get home he’ll take care of all the loose ends.”
“I’ll get William on it right away. You don’t do anything. Got it?”
“Come on, Clay. I can’t just sit here. If I can’t work on corporate or the Blackthorn case I need another assignment. Something. Anything. I’m going stir crazy.”
“How the hell am I supposed to send you on an assignment when I’m not supposed to be talking to you? Add to that the fact Scarpelli’s still in the wind. Oh yeah, and I’ve got a board meeting I’ve got to prepare for. Where is your brain, man?”
In my pants almost popped out of his mouth, but Garrett caught himself in time. “That’s just it. My brain is short circuiting without anything to focus on. I don’t take vacations for a reason, Clay. They drive me insane.”
“Okay, William told me he sent you a copy of the evidence against you. Check it out and give me your input before the two o’clock meeting tomorrow. I can’t imagine where any of them could have gotten information like this. You buy a yacht? Now there’s a laugh?”
Garrett had to agree. The thought of boats made him seasick. He needed to do some real digging and find out how they got his signature on bills of sale. He just needed to focus on work instead of Carly. “I started looking at it earlier. You’re right there are enough problems for me to work on.”
“No, I said look it over and send me your ideas. I don’t want you on the company site, or anywhere people will track you. William and I will straighten this mess out. You need to relax.”
“Work relaxes me.”
“No, work distracts you so you don’t have to have a life. Life is usually good, Garrett. You should try it some time.”
“With people wanting to kill me, or at least get me fired, I don’t think this is the best time.” Clay laughed and Garrett wanted to throw the phone.
“Guess I’ll have to give you that one,” Clay admitted. “Still, try not to worry. I am controlling stockholder, I can override pretty much anything. I’ll have you back in the trenches in no time.”
Garrett felt like he’d been living in the trenches lately. Unfortunately it had little to do with his problems in New York. It was the constant need to remind himself, and Carly, what they had wasn’t a relationship. The words were starting to sound hollow to him. He really needed a serious distraction.
“It’s just--” Hearing a sigh on the other end of the line, he gave up. “Fine, I’ll look at the files and send you my input,” he said, glancing at the monitor again. A vague figure stood at the entrance to the alley that ran beside Carly’s building. “Gotta go,” Garrett said into the phone and flipped it closed as he continued to watch the figure. A few seconds later the person turned toward the front of the building and disappeared from view.
After Carly’s chat with the sheriff earlier, Garrett had worried there would be some form of retaliation. He was certain Darin wouldn’t take any kind of reprimand from his father well. He just hadn’t expected it to be quite this fast. Clipping his holster and gun on his waistband, he pulled his shirt tail out to cover it. First order of business was to check on Carly. He went down the inside stairway.
# # #
Carly kept glancing at the cameras wondering where, or better yet why Garrett was hiding. She thought they’d straightened things out. They’d certainly enjoyed her break between the lunch and evening hours of the bar. Looking to her left again she saw him come around the corner. Her heart started racing. Then she noticed his demeanor. Serious, stoic, business, no sign of the lover she’d spent the afternoon with.
He met her gaze and crooked his finger. Now her heart raced for a totally different reason.
“Your sweetie’s signaling,” Belinda said. “Just in case you forgot what it looks like for a guy to call you over.”
“Cute, B,” Carly said, walking toward Garrett. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Everything okay down here?”
“I forgot about this big arts and music event going on this weekend in Estes Park. We’re getting a lot of people who wanted to set up early coming in. So, other than being unusually busy for a Thursday night, yeah everything is fine. Why?”
He looked out over the crowd without answering. She watched him do a slow scan of probably every face in the bar. The slow movement of his head stopped when his gaze was about halfway across the room. He dipped his head forward. “Who’s that guy?”
“Which guy?” she asked, looking at a sea of males out there.
“Two tables away from the stage. The one trying to act like he’s not watching us.”
~~~