Cry Wolf (17 page)

“I couldn’t be bought, so someone tried to stop me from printing the story the next best way.” There was no trace of emotion in her voice. “They tried to kill me but just ended up killing my best friend instead.”

Andrea closed her eyes as she remembered that night. Some days it seemed just like yesterday. Others, it seemed like it had happened so long ago.

She vividly remembered waking up in the hospital after the accident, the feeling of the IV in her arm, the smell of the bandages on her face, the sounds of the machine beside her bed.

“Andi?” Sean’s voice whispered in the darkness. It actually provided some comfort to hear it. It grounded her in the here and now.

She opened her eyes and tried to concentrate on Lisa’s memory. Lisa, so full of life. She’d had nothing to do with the article Andrea had been writing. Yet, because of that article, Lisa’s adoring little girl was now motherless.

“Lisa. That was her name. We were having dinner…” Andi’s voice trailed off. “We left the restaurant and my brakes didn’t work. I didn’t realize it until too late. I don’t remember much after that. When I woke up in the hospital, I was told Lisa didn’t even make it to the ambulance. The doctors said it was a miracle that I was alive and had as few injuries as I did. Most of those injuries were to my face. I had a crushed cheekbone and a lot of scars, so I opted to have plastic surgery. Big surprise, huh?”

Sean shifted behind her, and she felt his arm pull her close against him. His embrace felt comforting, and she didn’t feel smothered like she normally did when someone held her. His breath teased her ear as he hugged her from behind. “I’m so sorry.”

She wiped away the one tear that managed to escape her restraint. She’d cried so much in those first months, she had been certain she had no more tears left. She must have been wrong.

She still missed Lisa so much. Sometimes the guilt—deserved or not—tore at her insides like a wild animal. The key, she realized, was not to think about it, to stay busy, stay focused and keep moving forward. Because times like this—when she let herself remember every little detail—crippled her.

“Was anyone ever prosecuted?” Sean asked.

It hurt to shake her head. “There was no evidence other than my brakes being cut. Anyone could have done that.”

“What about your story?”

“The publisher was behind it, and a police investigation was started, but my source had disappeared by that point. Internal Affairs could never find anything to back up my claims. That’s when I realized how pointless it had all been.”

“So you left the paper and went to work for the
Truth
.” Sean sighed and squeezed her tighter. Andrea supposed that was a large part of how she’d switched career paths, but there was so much more to it than that.

“I did what Lisa would have wanted. After all my surgeries and the physical therapy, I picked myself up and kept going.” It had helped hearing from Lisa’s husband, who’d visited her several times when she’d still been in the hospital. Without his compassion, Andrea’s guilt would have probably been her undoing.

She smiled as she remembered the first time she’d gotten back behind the wheel of a car. She’d been scared to death to drive again, but she’d done it to prove a point to herself.

“I’m sure Lisa is very proud of you,” Sean whispered. “And your brother too. Lord, Andi, I’m so sorry. You’ve had a lot of loss in your life, haven’t you?”

She refused to feel sorry for herself or to let him feel sorry for her either. She’d done enough of that already. She rolled over and faced him. “There are people who’ve been through a lot worse. I’ve been pretty lucky in the scheme of things.” She wiped away another tear. “Besides…if the accident hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t look like a model now, would I?”

Sean rose up and looked down at her. He was partly silhouetted above her, but she could see enough of his face in the dim moonlight spilling through the curtains to tell that he looked angry, hurt and baffled all at once. The shadows added an element of danger to his sexy face. How strange that she could notice that after such an emotional meltdown. What did that say about her?

“Listen to me.” His voice was thick with emotion. “I couldn’t care less what you look like. You’ve always been beautiful—inside and out. Don’t ever let me hear you put yourself down again.”

“But you said—”

He swore. “When we were in college, I said a lot of things I didn’t mean.” He shook his head. “I like to think I’m a better person now. I care about you, Andi. I hope you realize that.”

Was he serious? She studied his eyes and expression trying to decide. Oh, he was serious. Sincere, even. She thought she was getting to know him well enough to determine that much. She smiled slightly and mocked, “Yes, sir.”

“I mean it.”

She nodded and grew serious. “I know.”

Talking to him about it helped. She didn’t feel so…empty or numb anymore. The pain wasn’t as strong as it usually felt, when she was alone and remembering.

She gazed up at him. It was just like the fantasies she’d had in college of Sean snuggling up against her in bed, sharing secrets and other intimacies. She sighed and focused on the possibilities of that rather than painful memories. She was so tired of the painful memories. She wanted new ones, better ones. The ache that had bothered her head all afternoon was gone. Andi lifted a hand and touched his jaw. She felt stubble and wondered what it would feel like against her skin. She slid her fingers into his hair until she was able to urge his head down lower, toward hers. “Sean.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.

He hesitated, but only for a second.

Her breath grew short in reaction to the heat in his eyes as they zeroed in on the lips she’d just wet for him. He needed no more urging as he lowered his head and moved his mouth slowly against hers, taking away her breath and sending her heart thumping like a piston. Andrea closed her eyes, slid her arms around his neck and, for once, didn’t try to hide the way he made her feel. She wasn’t sure she could if she tried. Not now. Not anymore.

As his body pressed hers farther down against the mattress, Andrea felt Sean’s hands slip beneath the pajama top she wore to touch her midriff. His lips nudged hers wider, gently, and she sensed he was taking great care not to take liberties she might not want to grant. He kissed her with such tenderness, but his kisses were also growing hungrier.

Well, so were hers.

Andrea didn’t want to play it safe anymore. She went to move her legs and found them restricted by the covers tangled around her. With a sound of frustration, she lifted her whole body up, pushed and twisted until she lay on top of him and the covers were no longer an issue.

Sean looked into her eyes as he adjusted to their new positions. He reached up and cupped her breast beneath the fabric. His other hand was under her shirt again, teasing the bare skin at her waist. “I’m trying to be a gentleman here, but you’re making it hard on me, Sunshine.”

“I’m
trying
to make it hard.” She sent him a wicked grin. He groaned, and Andrea lowered her head and worked her mouth over his, sliding her hands beneath the shirt he wore and tracing the tight flesh that stretched over hard stomach muscles. When her hand slipped lower, beneath the fabric of his jeans, his breath stuttered and his mouth grew greedy beneath hers.

He grabbed her and rolled so he was again on top.

She nipped at his bottom lip. “Make love to me, Sean.”

His kiss was hot and insatiable before he groaned as if in pain and pulled away. “I’m dying to, Andi. You don’t know how much.”

He was. She could see it in his expression. “So what’s the problem?”

Sean untangled himself from her and moved to the side. “For one, that hard head of yours got knocked around pretty good today, remember? For another, I don’t like feeling I’m taking advantage.” He lifted a hand and brushed her hair away from her face with a soft caress. “And you’re pretty susceptible right now.”

Andrea struggled to think of a logical argument. Sean must have seen that instinctive fight spark in her eyes, because he smiled a little. “Besides, we’re in my sister’s house. When I make love to you again, Sunshine, it’s just gonna be you and me and no distractions. Deal?”

She swallowed and nodded. How else could she respond to such a promise? Sean reached down, gathered the covers and lifted them back up around her. He tucked her in and settled back down beside her with a hearty sigh. “Thanks,” she mumbled awkwardly.

Sean pulled her to him for another kiss. “I’m not a saint. If I’m gonna hold you all night long, I need you under those sheets a barrier to keep me in line.”

She bit back a smile. “Hold me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s for my sake, not yours, so don’t get testy. You can’t tell a story like yours and not expect me to get all emotional.” His tone was teasing. He shifted her so that she could curl up against him. “Okay?”

She nodded, but her mind was busy thinking,
No, it isn’t okay.

It was perfect.

“It sure is beautiful out here,” Andrea whispered to herself.

She hadn’t seen much of it last night, but in the morning glow of the sun, the landscape outside Megan’s house looked quite picturesque. Andrea cupped her hands around a warm mug of fresh coffee and leaned against the front porch railing. She glanced at her watch, wondering how much longer Sean would be, and decided to just enjoy the view while she waited.

Meg and her two kids lived in a nice white two-story traditional farmhouse tucked neatly behind some trees, about five hundred feet from the main road. Personally, Andrea would feel isolated, living so far away from any of her neighbors, but she had to admit, the setting oozed serenity. Though she loved city life, Andrea felt oddly at ease in these country surroundings.

Of course, she got the feeling this family had done everything they could to make her feel welcome.

Andrea couldn’t remember the last time she sat down to a regular meal with her parents and younger brother. Maybe last Christmas. Her brother grudgingly stayed for all of twenty minutes before rushing off to spend time with friends, and Andrea’s father disappeared not long after to watch a football game on television. What little discussion there had been came from her mother, who talked about church activities and the work she neglected around the house in order to slave over the meal she’d prepared.

Not even Andrea’s accident had brought them all closer. Dull and unaffectionate, that was her family. At least when Nick had been alive, Andrea had had someone to talk to. She’d gotten used to being shut out in the following years, but she still missed that closeness she’d felt with her older brother.

Andrea had now spent two meals with Sean’s family. Two meals full of affectionate teasing, familiar laughter and genuine fondness, all of it extended to Andrea, a stranger for the most part.

The screen door screeched a warning that she wasn’t alone anymore, and Andrea heard Meg’s voice. “Sean’s still helping Jason get ready for church.”

Andrea had been invited to go with them, but she lacked the clothes for such an occasion and didn’t want to intrude any more than she already had. She turned to smile at Sean’s sister. “Thank you, again, for letting me stay. You have a lovely home.”

“It’s always nice to have another woman in the house.” Meg leaned against the porch and looked out toward the forest. “You know, I don’t think Sean has ever brought a woman over here.” Her smile held a hint of mischief. “And I’ll never let him live it down that you had to be brought here unconscious.”

Uh-oh. All through breakfast Megan hinted that she hoped Sean’s relationship with Andrea was of a romantic nature. After last night, Andrea wasn’t sure how to define the relationship anymore, but she knew enough not to encourage such wistful thinking. “Meg, you realize we’re not…I mean, Sean and I are just colleagues. That’s all.”

“You’ve known each other a long time, though.” It was a statement, not a question. “I remember Sean talking about you when he was in college.”

Andrea found that hard to believe, and her expression probably showed it. “You must have me confused with someone else.”

“No, I remember reading your stuff. You were the features editor for a while, weren’t you?” Andrea nodded. Megan sighed. “Sean always said you would end up running your own paper someday, you were so good. He was really sweating it when two of you competed for editor-in-chief.”

That wasn’t the impression Andrea had at the time.

“Well.” Andrea scoffed. “Look where I ended up. I’d say he called that one wrong.”

Meg didn’t look judgmental or patronizing. She faced Andrea with a look that suggested she understood all too well. “Did Sean explain how
he
ended up in South Carolina?”

Andrea shook her head.

“My ex-husband was abusive—to me, not the kids.” Meg sounded as if she were talking about nothing more emotional than what they’d had for dinner, so Andrea was more than a little surprised by the words that came out of her mouth. Meg shrugged. “If it weren’t for Sean, I don’t know how we’d have ever managed. I know he should go back to his big city career, but heaven help us if he ever does.” Meg reached up to wipe away a runaway tear and then smiled. “Believe it or not, I can hold myself together pretty well until I start talking about my baby brother and what he’s done for us.”

Andrea smiled gently and nodded. “Actually, I’d say you’re holding up pretty well even then.”

The screen door squeaked out another warning. Obviously Sean had finished wrangling his niece and nephew into their church clothes. He glanced at his sister and then at Andrea with a wary smile.

“Are you ladies behaving out here?”

“Why would we want to do a crazy thing like that?” Meg winked at Andrea. Kelly and Jason came tearing out of the house arguing and Meg sighed and followed them to her car. “I’ll see you later,” Meg told her brother as she climbed into the driver’s seat.

Andrea took a deep breath and studied the landscape. She wasn’t sure what to expect after spending most of the night in this man’s arms. When she’d woken up, he was gone—presumably to protect her reputation, or his; she hadn’t been sure which. During breakfast, he’d been his usual friendly self. No more heated glances. No more affectionate caresses. She wasn’t sure if she liked it better that way or not.

“Finally, alone,” he murmured and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “How’s that head of yours feeling, Sunshine?”

She relaxed in his embrace. “Better. Thanks.” He leaned his head against hers, and she felt very safe, very protected in his arms. It was so peaceful. No loud traffic. No people shouting in the distance. No sounds of any hustle and bustle at all, just birds chirping and a cool breeze blowing past.

Maybe she would have to rethink her opinion of this crazy little town.

She saw he was looking at her and pulled away. Sean’s charm only made it harder for her to do what she knew she had to do.

Moving past him to take a seat in the porch swing, Andrea confessed, “I’ve made a decision.” She met his eyes. “I’m going back to Florida tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” He scowled as he ran a hand through his hair. “Listen. I’ve thought about it and I wish I could say I won’t run your sighting, but I have to. I might hold it until Halloween, but it’s gonna run.” His eyes begged her to understand.

She nodded. “I know. I would do the same.” She didn’t like it, but she could accept it.

“Then why are you leaving? I thought you planned to stay until we figured this thing out.”

“The more I’ve thought about it, the more I realize leaving is the best way to go about that.” Curling up in the corner of the swing, she pulled her knees up to her chest. “Talking to Tom Davis on the phone isn’t going to assure me of anything. Talking to Brandon face-to-face will. I know him. I know when he’s lying. Besides, I’ve decided the publisher needs to be made aware of what happened here. The credibility of other
Truth
reporters shouldn’t be called into question in the future because of mistakes made by people like Brandon Montgomery.”

“Look, if this has anything to do with us…” Sean began hesitantly. “If I’ve pushed too hard, too fast, I—”

Andrea shook her head. “No, Sean, this has nothing to do with you. You’ve been nothing but…wonderful. It’s something I need to do for me.”

Sean dropped down beside her in the swing, causing it to sway. He remained quiet for a minute or two, steadying the rocking motion with his foot, and then he nodded. “Okay.”

She’d expected more of an argument. She actually felt a little disappointed that he didn’t want her to stay badly enough to try to talk her out of it.

He leaned back and stretched an arm along the back of the seat as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “When will you be back?”

She fought a smile. “Who says I’m coming back?”

“Well, you have to come back. We have a date.”

“Oh, really?”

“Me, you and the kid. We’re supposed to have a werewolf film festival at my house. No one in their right mind would miss that.”

She shook her head, amused in spite of herself. She decided to play along. “There is still a lot of work left to be done here. Lord knows I don’t trust you two to get it done for me.”

“Exactly.” He grinned. “So when will you be back?”

With a sigh, she straightened her legs and stood. “I figure I’ll be back sometime next week. Maybe the first of October.” She glanced at her watch. “Right now, though, I should head back to my motel room and let you get some work done.”

Sean looked like he was deep in thought. His eyes snapped back to hers and he smiled. “Not so fast, Sunshine. Doc said I needed to keep an eye on you for twenty-four hours. We’ve still got a few hours left.”

“Sean—”

“Besides,” he interrupted before she could protest. He moved to his feet and stopped just short of pressing her back against the house. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

She eyed him warily. She knew the house was now empty and they were alone, but surely he—

“I want to hire you for a few hours.”

“Excuse me?”

He leaned down and snatched a brief but gentle kiss. Pulling back, he grabbed her hand and tugged her after him. “Trust me, Sunshine. It’ll be fun.”

The
Naked Truth
’s newsroom was humming with activity when Andrea walked in and few people paid attention to her as she made her way to the office of Jeff Hammond, managing editor. Andrea had only been inside Jeff’s office a dozen or so times during her employment here, but everyone knew it was the heart of the place. No decisions were ever made unless they were made there first.

His door was closed, and Jeff was on the phone. She saw through the windows that Brandon sat in the chair in front of Jeff’s desk, shaking his foot to a silent rhythm as if he were nervous.

Yeah, you’d better be.

She saw Jeff end his phone call, and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Jeff said and waved her inside. He turned to Brandon. “Give us some privacy, but don’t go anywhere.”

The look Brandon gave her when he passed was nothing short of hateful. She didn’t know what had been said or done prior to her arrival, but she got the feeling it wasn’t good—for at least one of them.

Jeff’s phone rang and he swore. “Excuse me a second.”

Andrea gathered from his end of the conversation that he was doing his daily checkup with the Los Angeles bureau. She took the opportunity to study his office—an office that was as rich in character as the man himself. On the wall behind his desk was Jeff’s journalism degree from Yale, framed and matted, beside a collage of magazine covers ranging from
Time
,
Newsweek
and
People
to
Rolling Stone
,
US Weekly
and
The Truth
with a framed heading that read,
So which one is the tabloid?
The fact that they all had similar headlines about the same stories made the display all the more thought-provoking.

Her thoughts went back to her last day in Woodbine. Sean had recruited her to help him get the next issue of the
Dispatch
to press, and she’d loved it. She’d forgotten how much fun it was to pitch in and do it all—write up obits and wedding announcements, edit copy, organize advertisements and do page layout.

Working here, all she had to do was write.

She looked at the short, middle-aged, timid-looking man sitting behind the managing editor desk and listened to his side of the phone conversation. Jeff might look timid, but he sounded like a mobster.

“There’s a DWI charge pending. Chase it down…whaddya mean, how? Go through the freaking court files!” Slamming down the phone, he sighed, made a note of something on the pad on his desk and then spoke to Andrea without even looking up. “Why the hell does someone get into this business if they’re afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings?”

She shrugged. “TV—makes people think the job is glamorous.”

“TV is evil,” he said and leaned back in his chair. He sent her a level look. “Montgomery tells me you quit. That true?”

She nodded and reached into her bag for the letter she’d typed. “Here’s my official letter of resignation, but—”

“Keep it.”

She blinked in surprise. “But—”

“I figured when you two started sleeping together I was gonna lose one or the other. No offense, but I always hoped it would be you.” When she looked startled, he tapped his desk. “You’re one of the best reporters I’ve ever had, but your last name isn’t Montgomery and you don’t give me half the contacts that one does.” He nodded toward Brandon’s desk in the newsroom. He leaned forward and popped an antacid pill into his mouth. “I heard what he did with the stuntman from Hollywood.”

“Special effects man,” she corrected.

“Whatever. The result was the same. You should have called and told me about it yourself.”

“It’s all in my letter. How
did
you find out?”

He explained that Tom Davis had called him personally, threatening a lawsuit against the magazine because of what had happened. “By the way, don’t speak to Davis again. Our lawyers are handling it. Slimeball. He’s just trying to have his cake and eat it too.”

She didn’t tell him she’d already spoken to Davis and learned all she needed to know from him.

Jeff crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it into his trashcan. “What have you got on this werewolf? Is it a story, or is it a dead lead?”

A week ago, Andrea would have begged to be asked that question by this man so she could opt out of doing the piece. Now, she took a deep breath. “It’s shaping up to be a credible story.”

She explained about the recent sightings, the fur, the footprints, and she ended with her own sighting.

“You wanna stay on it?” Jeff asked, looking directly at her for the first time since she’d entered his office.

She took the question to mean she wasn’t fired. But was Brandon?

“Is Brandon still an editor here?”

“Hell no. You wanna stay on it or not?”

She nodded. “But I might need a few weeks.”

He was quiet for a second. “It’s running in the October 30 issue so we’ll need it by the 25th. Just make sure what Montgomery did doesn’t taint the credibility of the piece when it’s finished. I want that part in the article too. Got that?”