Material Witness (17 page)

She held up her hands in a time out
signal to halt him. “Whoa! Five sisters? Five? And you're the baby?”

He couldn't help but laugh, thinking
about his childhood. He was always trying to get away with something or another
until one of his sisters bagged him. They'd called it the sister patrol. He
didn't have a prayer.

“I'd hardly call me a baby. But yeah,
I have five of the toughest, sweetest sisters a guy could ever have.”

“They must love you.”

“They tortured me ruthlessly when I
was growing up.”

Cassie giggled. “I'll bet they
didn't. I'll bet they spoiled you rotten, and you loved every minute of it.”

Jake smiled warmly. It was exactly
that way. But even now, he had a tough time admitting it. He'd been outnumbered
too long.

“You try having five older sisters
and wait your turn in line for the bathroom. The only bathroom in the house,
mind you. They bossed me around and never let me get away with anything.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Someone save the
man,” she teased. But she sobered quickly. “They must hate you being a cop.”

“They sure as hell weren't happy
about it when I went through the Academy. I think my youngest sister, Beth,
still hasn't quite accepted it. If it was up to her, I'd be designated to desk
duty until the day I retire and get my gold watch.”

“Only Beth?”

He shrugged. “They worry. But I can't
see me changing things any time soon. I love what I do.”

“Did you always want to protect
people?” she asked when the conversation lulled.

His cheeks flamed just a bit. “Nah.
When I was little I wanted to be a cowboy.”

She laughed at the serious look he
cast her until he too was laughing.

“How in the world did you get from
cowboy to cop?”

“Well, there was the issue I had with
horses.”

“Which is?”

“I’m terrified of them.”

Her already large eyes widened with
surprise. “Really?”

Jake shrugged and then abruptly
stopped laughing. He didn't much like thinking about the dark side of life. His
profession alone was enough to give him a healthy dose of it without drudging
up old memories.

“When my sister Jenna was in college,
some guy tried to mug her.”

“Oh, God, that’s awful.”

“Yeah. Being Jenna, she wasn't about
to let the prick get away with her paycheck so she fought real hard to hold on
to her purse. My parents didn't have a lot of money and with six kids, there
wasn't much to dole out when college came rolling around. My sisters sometimes
worked two and three jobs to get through school. Law school tuition was steep,
and although Jenna knew Mom and Dad would have helped her out, she wanted to do
it herself.

“All five of my sisters are pretty
tenacious when they put their minds to it. But especially Jenna. She's a little
rough around the edges sometimes and it puts people off before they get to know
her. Most of my friends were scared as hell of her when I was growing up.”

Jake chuckled with the memory and
then sighed. Cassie wasn't laughing. She was watching him intently, hanging on
his next word.

“Her hard edge makes her a damned
good lawyer. But deep down, Jenna's as soft and sweet as they come and that
mugging did something to her. Until that point I don't think she ever thought
there was a situation she couldn't handle by herself.”

“Everyone needs someone, sometimes.”

He nodded. “At first she seemed okay
with the mugging. My parents were a wreck and insisted she go to the hospital
to get checked out. Being Jenna, she just went off about being fine and
couldn’t figure out what everyone fussing about. She didn't want to talk about
what had happened and didn't want anyone else to, either.”

Jake blew out a slow breath, puffing
his cheeks. “If you'd seen the bruises on her face….” He clamped his eyes shut
as if that would wash the image away like turning off the TV. But he could
still see the quiet fear in his sister's eyes.

“He didn't…sexually assault her, did
he?”

Jake shook his head quickly. “That's
what I thought at first. Maybe something happened and she couldn't handle
telling anyone. She was knocked around but she insisted he'd only tried to
steal her purse, and because she fought back, he'd beat her up.”

Jake got up and walked to the wood
stove, opened the door. He stoked the fire and loaded another two logs into the
stove, trying not to relive that day like it was yesterday.

“I'd gotten up during the night
to…you know, just to check on her, and as I walked to her bedroom door I heard
her crying.”

“That must have torn you apart.”

“You have no idea. I'd seen Jenna cry
before, but always when she was watching some chick flick on TV or something
like that. I wanted so bad to go into her room, give her a big hug, talk with
her…something. Just to tell her it was over and she was okay. I was so afraid
the guy raped her and she was suffering with it all alone. But I wanted to kill
the bastard for putting his hands on her.”

“Did you go to her?”

He shook his head. “She would have
hated for me to see her that way, and knowing Jenna, she would have pulled
herself together just for my benefit. I figured she needed a good cry and I'd
only keep her from it if I went to her. So I sank down to the floor in the
hallway and sat there, just to make sure she was okay. Just because, I don't
know, I needed to.”

He scratched the back of his neck,
feeling the tension gripping him from the memory. “She cried most of the night.
The next morning at breakfast she acted as if nothing had ever happened. That's
when I knew, strong as my sisters are, they need to be protected. The guy never
did get her money, but I'm sure he got one hell of a beating back from Jenna
for his effort. That's the only solace I got from it.”

Cassie sighed. “Did she ever talk
about it again?”

“Not voluntarily. A few months later,
I asked her about it, and she tensed up like it had just happened. She insisted
her body wasn't raped, but the man who'd mugged her had raped her sense of wellbeing,
and that was almost as bad. That was something she was never going to forget.”

“So you do this for your sisters?”

Jake glanced at Cassie's beautiful
brown eyes and shrugged. “Everyone has a sister or mother or someone who's
afraid to walk across a parking lot to their car. Now I have nieces and nephews
to add to the mix. I don't like thinking about what they might face as they get
older. Someone has to make it safe for them, so why not me?”

Sadness clouded Cassie's face. “I
envy you your big family. I'm an only child. I would have loved having a sister
or brother.”

“My sisters are like mother hens,
every single one of them. I made up for not having a brother by having five
brothers-in-law that take care of my sisters well. And I have more nieces and
nephews than I can keep track of half the time.”

Cassie tucked her knees up to her
chest and looked at him as if he was telling her a fairy tale, hanging on his
every word.

“You look much more relaxed now that
you're talking about your family.”

Rolling his shoulders, he said, “I'm
always relaxed.”

Cassie shook her head. “No, you're
not. At first, I thought you were so tense because of the shooting at Rory's.
Then I thought you were angry because I insisted on you coming with me into
protective custody.”

Jake's gut coiled. Had he really
given her the impression he didn't want to protect her? It wasn't his desire to
be the one to keep her safe that had plagued him for days. It was doubting his
ability to do it effectively. Because in these few short days Cassie had gotten
under his skin. He had feelings for her he didn't want to explore. Couldn't if
he was going to be able to protect her. The more time they spent together, the
harder it would be to keep from doing just that.

“I'm sorry I've been such a bear.”

A flash of humor brightened her
expression. “Don't worry. I'm getting used to it. Besides, it's understandable
under these circumstances. Who'd ever thought a few days ago we'd be here like
this now? When I was slipping into that disgustingly small dress to go to
Rory's I thought I'd be chained to my computer by now, writing about the life
of a prostitute climbing her way out of a world she didn't want to be in.”

“With CJ Carmen's help, of course,”
he said.

She dipped her head as color crept
into her cheeks. “You laugh, but I bet you'd like CJ.”

“She must have a lot of spunk, like
you.”

Cassie’s face was suddenly serious.
“I wish,” she said softly. “I'm nothing like CJ.”

“You do a pretty good job yourself,
Cassie.”

“You really think so?”

Lord, Jake couldn't help himself. He
reached out and touched her face, brushing his thumb across the beauty mark
that teased him so often, knowing he'd be in trouble before he did it. Her skin
was as soft as a rose petal, just like he remembered, tormenting him in a way
that made his groin tighten. His breath lodged in his throat.

Jake wanted to kiss her. Knew he
shouldn't. But dammit, he was going to. He'd done things far crazier than
indulging in a simple kiss.

“Jake?”

Her breathing was shallow and she
spoke on a whisper that sounded much like a plea. It wasn't just him. Cassie
wanted him to kiss her and that was all the convincing he needed to do it.

# # #

Chapter Nine

Jake’s hand had a will of its own,
reaching up to touch Cassie’s silky hair and digging his fingers into the dark
waves until his hand settled on the back of her neck. He didn't need to coax
Cassie forward to reach her lips. The distance he'd been seeking when he had
invited her to sit with him on the sofa now made it easy for him to scoop her
up into his arms and pull her into his lap.

She didn't protest. Instead, Cassie
willingly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, gazing into his eyes with a
white-hot desire that surged him on. Her full lips parted with the escape of a
soft gasp. His gaze settled there, knowing what pleasures he'd find in taking
the next step.

With her small body curled into his
lap as if they were form-fitted for each other, the way a man and woman should
be, he bent his head and covered her soft mouth with his. She was exquisitely
perfect, sweet and tantalizing. His hand slid to the small of her back,
stroking her, pressing her hard against him so he could feel more of her.

A soft moan bubbled up from her
throat. He kissed her there and made a trail of tiny kisses along her neck
eliciting the desired response. She smelled of baby powder and clean soap. A
heady fragrance mixed in with the smoky scent of the fire.

Cassie clung to him, squirming in his
lap and driving him mad. Framing his face with her hands, she pulled him back
and kissed him hard, deepening their kiss, thrusting her tongue deep into his
mouth with an explosion of passion. Her fingers dug into his neck with every
thrust, every moan of pleasure.

Cassie was not the fragile woman he'd
originally thought. She knew what she wanted and was bursting like a powerful
inferno.

They parted much too soon for Jake's
liking, breathlessly clinging to each other and trembling. As he gazed at her,
he was reminded how utterly long it had been since he'd taken any form of
pleasure with a woman. Cassie's lips were moist and swollen from their crushing
kiss, her hair a wild mass that hung forward, framing her face. Her long black
lashes fluttered open to reveal a well of desire he wanted to drown himself in.

Good God, he wanted to make love to
her. He wanted to drink her in until there was nothing left. It was all he
could think about. It would be easy to just pick her up and carry her into the
bedroom until…

The awareness that he couldn't do
that very thing slammed into him.
He couldn't
…

Jake sat straight up stiffly and
eased Cassie off his lap. It didn't matter if she noticed the visible signs of
his arousal. He needed the space. He needed even more to get the hell away from
her.

If he dared to look at her, he’d
forget all the reasons why he couldn’t make love to her and he’d come undone.
Damn,
how he wanted her.

“I shouldn't have done that.”

Cassie was still breathing deeply
when she spoke. The heartbreaking confusion clouding her delicate features was
unmistakable.

“Done what? Kiss me or pull away? If
it's the last one we can rectify that easy enough.”

She reached for him again, wrapping
her arms around his shoulders. He had to close his eyes, shut down his mind, to
keep from pulling Cassie back into his arms.

Jake drew in as much air as his lungs
could hold and held her back before attempting to speak.

“Kissing you is not a good idea.”

Her expression collapsed. “A few
seconds and you've already had a change of heart?”