Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead (12 page)

“All right,” she said. “I won’t catalog that information.”

Another knock sounded on the door.

“Come in,” Casey called out.

One of the agents from the Savannah office stuck his head in the doorway. “Sir, I need to speak to you for a moment, in private.”

Casey stepped outside for several minutes. When he came back in the room, his entire demeanor had changed. His back was ramrod stiff. His lips were compressed into a tight, thin line.

“What happened?” Tessa asked. “Has there been another murder?”

“No. Some evidence is missing.”

Her stomach squeezed into a tight knot.

“And from the look on your face, that isn’t a surprise. There are only twenty-two original letters and one
copy
. What happened to the twenty-third letter?”

Matt rose from his chair. “Sir, that’s entirely my doing. I wanted to test for particulates and I took one of the letters to my lab.”

Casey’s gaze zeroed in on Matt. “Destroying evidence in a federal investigation is a serious offense, Mr. Buchanan. Are you saying you stole the letter, without assistance or knowledge from Special Agent James?”

“Yes.”

“No,” Tessa said at the same time. “It’s my fault. Regardless of how it happened, I had a chance to stop the letter from being consumed by a lab test. Mr. Buchanan fully cooperated and was willing to return the letter. It was my decision not to do that.”

“That’s not—”

Casey held up his hand, stopping Matt. “Special Agent James, you disobeyed a direct order and destroyed evidence pertinent to an ongoing investigation. The only reason I’m not arresting you and Mr. Buchanan right now is because of the leads you’ve developed. I gave you the order not to take any of the letters for a very good reason. It’s not up to you to decide which of my orders to follow. You’re off this case. And you’re suspended until further notice.”

M
ATT GAVE
T
ESSA
a sideways glance as they walked through the Savannah airport. If it was her intention to make him feel guilty for getting her suspended, she sure as hell knew what she was doing. He wouldn’t have minded if she’d yelled at him, or even hit him. He deserved it. But she’d been nothing but polite, and quiet, ever since the disastrous meeting with Casey.

She’d refused to talk on the ride to the airport. And since their flight home had been full, they hadn’t been able to sit near each other on the plane, which meant he still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk things out. After they’d landed, he’d hurried to catch up to her, but that hadn’t done any good either. She was glassy-eyed, staring straight ahead, murmuring one-word responses to his questions.

They reached the doors that led outside the terminal. The doors opened, letting in a blast of muggy heat.

“Come on, I’ll spring for a limo,” he said.

She followed him like a docile little lamb.

He gritted his teeth. Her calm acceptance of her fate was getting harder and harder to take. The polite shell she was hiding behind wasn’t the Tessa James he’d come to expect. Where was her fire and spirit?

He knew the answer to that. She’d left them back in Charleston, in that little conference room, when Casey had suspended her. The only reason she still had her badge was so she could use it to get through airport security, carrying both her and Matt’s guns. But her boss had made it clear that if her badge wasn’t sitting on his desk when he got back to Savannah, her suspension would be
permanent
.

If Matt could have a do over, he’d have slugged Casey for that, regardless of the consequences.

They got into the limo. Tessa handed him his gun, which he quickly holstered. Then she turned to look out the window.

“Tessa, the driver’s waiting for your address.”

“What? Oh. Sorry. Apartment one-twenty-one.”

“Which apartment complex?” the driver called out.

She rattled off the name, and the driver pulled away from the curb.

She hiccupped, and in the confines of the backseat Matt couldn’t miss the smell of alcohol on her breath.

He put his finger beneath her chin and urged her to look at him. “Exactly how many drinks did you have on the plane?”

She shoved his hand away. “Not enough. Leave me alone.”

This time there was no mistaking the slur in her voice.

Matt scrubbed his hands across his jaw. Great. He’d managed to drive the woman to drink. He’d definitely sunk to a new low. What was he supposed to do now? From what he’d gathered, she was a complete workaholic. He’d never heard her mention any friends he could call. And he didn’t know where her parents lived, not that she’d appreciate him dumping her drunk on their doorstep. But he couldn’t leave her home alone. Depressed and drunk weren’t a good combination, particularly for a woman who carried a Glock 17 on her hip.

When the limo pulled up to Tessa’s apartment building, Matt gauged Tessa’s condition. She was softly snoring, with an occasional hiccup. The driver opened Matt’s door.

Matt sighed and fished out a wad of cash. “I’ll take her inside. Don’t wait for me. I’ll call a cab later.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll get her door for you if you’d like, if you have the key?”

Matt hesitated. He doubted Tessa would appreciate him riffling through her purse. But it was either that or bust her door in. Luckily he found her keys without much difficulty. Her purse was just as organized as she was. He handed the keys to the driver and scooped Tessa into his arms.

She mumbled something against his throat and wrapped her arms around his neck, crushing her soft breasts tightly against his chest. He sent up a silent prayer for strength as his pulse jackknifed into overdrive.

The short walk to her first-floor apartment was torture. Her fingers were doing crazy things to the back of his neck as she played with his hair. He glanced down at her while the driver figured out which key to use. Her conservative white blouse had gapped open in a decidedly unconservative way, revealing a generous view of her breasts.

Matt’s mouth went dry.

The sound of a throat clearing had him jerking up his head.

The driver grinned, giving him a knowing glance as he handed Matt the keys.

“Have a nice evening, sir.”

The man’s smirk had Matt wishing he hadn’t tipped him so generously. He strode inside and kicked the door shut behind him.

He hiked Tessa up higher in his arms so he could free one of his hands to lock the door. When he looked down at her again, he groaned and sweat popped out on his forehead. Her blouse was gapping worse now, revealing the rosy tip of one breast just above her lacy bra.

He didn’t know if he’d died and gone to heaven, or hell. With great difficulty, he forced his gaze back to her face.

“Tessa, wake up.” He gently shook her. “Tessa.”

Her eyes opened to half-mast. She blinked at him, as if to focus, then frowned. “You’re Pierce’s arrogant, know-it-all baby brother.”

He sighed. “Apparently I am.”

She nodded. “Yep. Arrogant little college boy telling me what to do.” She pulled her hand down from around his neck and tapped him on the chest. “I don’t like you.”

“That’s a damn shame. Because I like you very much.” He looked around. The apartment was small, basically one open room that served as a living room to the left, dominated by a big red couch. A hallway split the back wall. An eating area sat to the right, just outside the galley-style kitchen. “Let’s get you to bed.”

He’d only taken one step toward the hallway when she slapped him.

He drew up short, his face stinging. “What the hell was that for?”

She thumped his chest again with her finger. “I’m not sleeping with you. Put . . .” She hiccupped again. “Put me down.”

“I’m just carrying you to your room so you can go to sleep. Alone.”

“Put. Me. Down.”

He set her on her feet and held his hands around her waist until he was sure she could stand on her own.

She waved her fingers at him. “Now shoo. Much drinking to do, I have.” She giggled at her less-than-inspired impression of Yoda and headed toward the kitchen, her gait far steadier than Matt had expected.

Still, he didn’t want her drinking any more. He needed her sober or asleep, so he could leave without worrying about her safety.

He caught up to her as she pulled a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator. He snagged her Glock from her holster with one hand and the wine bottle with the other.

“Hey, give that back.” She made a swipe for the bottle, not seeming to notice he’d taken her gun.

“I’ll pour it for you. Go wait in the living room.”

She eyed him suspiciously but seemed to accept his statement. She headed back into the other room.

Matt put the wine back in the refrigerator. He took the magazine clip out of the gun and set both on top of the refrigerator. He’d leave her a note so she’d know where they were when she woke up tomorrow, but for now, he was confident she was too short to spot them this high up.

A quick search of her pantry found the makings for coffee. He’d just pressed the on switch to start the pot brewing when the sound of slow jazz music floated in from the other room.

He leaned around the end of a cabinet to see what she was doing and promptly forgot how to breathe.

She’d managed to lose all her clothes except for her underwear. Matt would never be able to look at her the same way again, knowing she wore those sexy scraps of lace under her business suits.

She swayed to the music, her eyes closed. Then she lifted her right hand and took a deep drink from a bottle of whiskey.

Damn. Where had she gotten that from?

He should have run to her, taken away the whiskey, and covered her with the blanket from the back of the couch. But at that exact moment, he couldn’t have turned away from the erotic beauty displayed so boldly in front of him if his life depended on it.

His hungry gaze traveled over her body like a starving man staring at a banquet. He desperately wanted that banquet, every little morsel. Knowing he couldn’t have her, not even a taste of her, had him clutching the edge of the countertop.

She was drunk, which was reason enough not to touch her. But even more than that, any chance he might have had at a relationship with her had evaporated the moment Casey suspended her.

He said every curse word he knew as he watched her beautiful body swaying to the music. His pants grew uncomfortably tight and he struggled to draw a normal breath. He had to sober her up, fast, and get the hell out of this torture chamber.

He wrenched his gaze from her enticing curves and searched the cabinets for a coffee cup. After finding everything from Tylenol to glasses and plates, he finally opened the right cabinet and took down a coffee cup. The sudden feel of hands stroking his rear had him jerking against the counter. The coffee cup fell out of his hands and shattered in the sink.

Soft laughter sounded behind him. He whirled around and immediately regretted that mistake as Tessa’s hands dipped down to the front of his pants. He cursed again and grabbed her wandering hands in a tight grip.

“Stop it,” he ordered, as she struggled to pull her hands free.

Her brows lowered. “Don’t tell me what to do.” She took a step forward, instead of back, trapping him against the sink. Every delectable inch of her body pressed against his. He shuddered and pulled her against him, angling his head down for a kiss.

No. No. No.
Somewhere in his lust-fogged brain a shred of honor remained, reminding him this wasn’t right, that she didn’t know what she was doing. He straightened, and tried like hell not to focus on how incredibly
edible
she smelled.

She arched her head up toward his. “Don’t stop, Matthew. Kiss me.”

Normally he hated being called Matthew, but on her lips it sounded like a lover’s caress, an invitation.

His breath caught in his throat as she wiggled her body against the front of his pants. He let her hands go just long enough to pick her up and set her away from him. But she wanted nothing to do with that. Before he could scoot around her and escape, she yanked his shirt out of his waistband.

He sucked in a breath and grabbed her hands again as she started to slide them beneath his shirt. He retreated to the eating area, his hands out in front of him to keep her back. But Tessa stalked after him like a hungry tigress.

“Stop running away,” she slurred. She stopped and swayed, pressing her hands against the side of her head. “Good grief, there are two of you.” She giggled. “Well, that will be a first for me. Come on, Matthew. You can only wiggle that gorgeous ass of yours in front of a girl for so long before you have to pay up. I’ve wanted you ever since you taunted me with that golden skin and all those hard muscles at Pierce’s house. I need to work you out of my system.”

Oh God. Words he would love to hear if only she were sober.

He grabbed her wandering hands again. “Tessa, you don’t even like me, remember? I’m the bad guy who got you suspended.”

She stilled, her eyes widening as his words sank in. The sexy siren look evaporated. “You’re right. It’s all your fault. I
hate
you.”

So
not
the words he wanted to hear.

Tessa’s face crumpled. She tugged her hands from his and reached up to feather her fingers along his jaw. “That’s a lie. I don’t hate you. I want to, but I don’t.” She shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. “I could have stopped you from destroying that letter. But I didn’t. My choice. My fault.” She slid to the floor, her shoulders shaking as heart-wrenching sobs wracked her body.

“Ah, hell, sweetheart. Don’t cry.” He scooped her into his arms.

She shoved against him, but he ignored her struggles and carried her to the living room. He sat down with her on his lap and covered them both with the blanket from the back of the couch.

Tessa smacked her fist against his chest. Once, twice, three times.

“Go ahead, hit me. I deserve that and more. But I’m not leaving until I know you’re going to be okay.”

She gradually quieted in his arms. Her fist relaxed against him and soft snores replaced the tears.