Flirtation (7 page)

“The last time was back in New Hampshire. There was a guy who was helping me with my search. I was depressed one night, he was there. It wasn’t a good decision. I was never cut out for meaningless sex.”

EJ quirked an eyebrow, taking in the lushness of her breasts, the softness of her skin. As far as he could tell, she was built entirely for all kinds of sex. But then her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I…oh, shoot. I mean, I know this was just sex, and I’m not crazy, you know, like going to go all
Fatal Attraction
on you if this doesn’t turn into more, but this wasn’t meaningless. Not really. This has been one of the best nights of my life, and I wanted to share this with you even if…you know, we don’t see each other anymore.”

EJ watched the rush of emotions race across her face and smiled.

“It wasn’t meaningless, Charlotte. I don’t know what it will mean, but for the moment, it means a lot to me. You’re…different.”

As he said the words, he realized it was true. His dick was already ready for another go, semihard and nudging at her thigh. He was wondering how this was going to play out—all of the possibilities not very good—when she reached down to remove the rubber and started stroking him again until he was fully erect and breathing hard.

The notion of consequences faded into the darkness as he lifted his hand, tweaking her nipple and watching it bud as she continued to stroke him. He reached down between her legs to return the favor.

He was more relaxed this time, watching her
accept his touch, her eyes glued to his, her bottom lip caught in her teeth as she increased the speed of her movements and started to rock against his hand, sighing.

“Don’t close your eyes when you come, Charlotte. I want to see.”

She nodded, her breath coming faster. “You, too…”

He reached forward, sliding a finger inside of her, then two, and moving them in conjunction with his knuckles against her clit and her hand moved faster on him, in time with her own excitement. Her breasts were close to his face, swaying softly, and he captured one in his mouth, sending her over the edge. He followed almost directly after, sucking her hard as he came, pumping his fingers into her until they collapsed again.

She laughed breathlessly against his chest, and he didn’t know why, but he joined her. As they pulled apart and searched for their clothes, his mind was a scramble. What the hell had he done? What was he going to do now? And most of all, how thankful he was for this night, regardless of what might be on the horizon.

C
HARLOTTE WAS QUIET
in the passenger seat as EJ sped back along the highway, quieter now due to the late hour, each of them wrapped in their own thoughts after the passionate interlude in the backseat.

What happened now? What would he think when he took her home and found she wasn’t really a
designer lace and fancy restaurant kind of girl—would she still be as sexy to him?

There was a squeezing sensation in her chest so she took a deep breath, and tried to relax. What had just happened between them had been meaningful, but she feared it may have been more meaningful for her than it was for him. While she hadn’t met anyone she could fall for in years, she knew she’d fallen for EJ almost before she met him.

She didn’t want to be unreasonable. They’d just met, had one date, made love one time. Well, okay, two times. That was surprising enough; never had she been so carried away with a man, and regardless of what happened she was glad to have experienced that kind of passion at least this once. When she was old and gray, she would still remember.

They took the left onto the long avenue where her apartment was. The moment of truth.

“It’s up there, on the right, beach side.”

He turned into the parking lot she indicated, and she watched him furtively, checking his reaction, but he simply parked the car, smiled at her and got out. She reached for the handle, only to find he was already opening her door.

She leaned up to kiss him, smiling. “Thanks for a magical night.” She turned away, not expecting anything more. Unsure what to expect.

“Charlotte.”

She stopped, turned. “Hmmm?”

“Let me see you inside. It’s late.”

“My apartment is right up there. I’m fine, thanks.”

But then he was at her side, his hand on her elbow and she sighed. Time to face the facts; EJ was not about to leave her at the driveway, so she just had to bite it and let him walk her to her door.

“I want to see you again.”

If he hadn’t held her elbow, she would have tripped.

“You do?”

He stopped, turning her to face him for a moment in the passageway. “Yes, I do. I’m not just going to drop you at your door and walk away.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Did you really expect that?”

She shrugged, wrapping her arms around. “I didn’t really expect anything. Tonight was wonderful. If nothing else ever came of it, I would always treasure it.”

Though her pulse leapt at the thought that he wanted more. Oh, so did she. So much more. She was just afraid to hope.

“You’re chilled. Let’s get inside.”

“My apartment is the last one at the end.”

“You have a beach view?”

“Yes, it’s one of my very favorite things about living here.”

“I used to come down here all the time as a kid. It’s a great stretch. A miracle it’s remained relatively undeveloped.”

“Well, I hope it stays that way.”

Charlotte sought her keys in her bag, relaxed by the more normal conversation—EJ didn’t seem in the least concerned about where she lived, which went to show that all wealthy people were not necessarily shallow and materialistic.

She stuck her key in the door, but made a soft “oh” sound of surprise when the door pushed open before she even had the key all the way in the lock.

She stopped. Had she left the door open? Had Ronny stopped by and forgotten to lock it? Unlikely; he was always telling her to remember to keep things locked.

“Charlotte. Wait here.”

“I’m sure it’s just…”

EJ pushed her gently back and gave her a stern look that was all business.

“You just stay put. I mean it.”

He pushed the door open a bit more and hugged the wall, entering her apartment. She watched how he moved—stealthily and slowly, like a cat—like someone who was used to moving that way. Curiosity almost trumped her fear, though she jumped a few seconds later when he appeared in the doorway again, his expression tense and concerned.

“EJ?”

“You had better stay out until we can call the police. We don’t want to disturb anything.”

“What do you mean? What happened?” Panic
made her voice high and sharp, and she pushed past him, unwilling to stay out of her own home. She wanted to know—oh my goodness.

She stood in the doorway, a lump heavy in her throat as her eyes drifted over her cozy little apartment where everything had its place. No more.

Everything had been trashed. Pictures were even pulled from the walls, carpets lifted, drawers emptied. Even her refrigerator had been raided; emptied containers and broken eggs dirtied the kitchen. She started to shake, and sagged against EJ when she felt his solid presence behind her.

“Who would do such a thing? I don’t have anything to steal. Oh, no!” She wrenched away from EJ, running to her bedroom. EJ followed closely behind.

“Charlotte, stop. Tell me. What?”

“My laptop! They took my laptop!”

EJ halted in the doorway, looking around her tiny bedroom that was probably once light and cheerfully decorated, but was now just as trashed as the rest of the apartment. Whoever had been here had been looking for something, and they wanted it bad.

“What was on your laptop that someone would want to steal, Charlotte?” Account numbers? Customer information? Evidence? The damning thoughts popped up in his head one after the other. She looked at him in shock and confusion.

“What do you mean? There was nothing of value on my laptop—not to anyone else—but all of my
tarot records, my personal files…who would want it? It was an old model, used.”

She sat on her bed, looking at him with a blank, wounded stare, and his gut wrenched.

“Charlotte, if you are involved in anything dangerous, if you know any dangerous people who might do something like this, you should tell me now. This is the time to come clean.”

She shook her head, her brow furrowing in confusion. “What are you talking about? Come clean about what? I don’t know any dangerous people! I don’t know why anyone would want to do this to…”

Her voice faded off, as if something occurred to her, and EJ honed in.

“What? What is it? Did you think of something?”

Tears filled her eyes, and he had to hold himself back from going to her. Not now. Not yet.

“My brother, Ronny. Sometimes he hangs with a rough crowd. Maybe…that’s all I can think of. Maybe he owed them money, or something—”

“Is Ronny involved in anything illegal?”

“Not that I know of, I mean, he smokes some pot, but that’s about it. But his friends are, you know, a little sketchy.”

“And he’s brought them here?” The thought that Charlotte could be innocent and that her brother could have put her in the path of danger angered EJ, but he choked it back when he saw Charlotte’s eyes widen as she watched him. She was already in enough shock.

“Sometimes. He would never let anyone hurt me, though, I know him better than that. He has his problems, but he loves me. He’s really very…sweet.”

Tears started pouring out, her shoulders shaking as she still sat there in her beautiful dress, her hair still a mess from his hands. He relented against his professional judgment and crossed the room, sitting on the bed and pulling her up against him. Regardless of her level of involvement, she was a victim at the moment, and she was a woman he’d been intimate with. And she was hurting.

“Shhh. Deep breaths. We’ll figure it out. We have to call the police.”

“I have to find Ronny. I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“Give me his address. We’ll send a unit there right away.”

She looked at him, blinking back tears. “You’re talking like a cop.”

EJ sighed heavily, closing his eyes, and then met her gaze frankly though not without regret. “I am a cop.”

C
HARLOTTE LOOKED AROUND THE
tattered surroundings of her bedroom, and then stared down, her fingers having found three frayed pieces of lace hanging from the dress.

“Oh, no!”

EJ leaned in cautiously. “What?”

“The dress. It’s not mine! I have to return it in the morning, but look, I must have caught it on something and it’s torn!”

“Why do you have to return the dress?”

“The woman at the thrift shop loaned it to me, and I’m supposed to bring it back in the morning. There’s no way I could afford something like this, even secondhand, but I wanted something special…”

She couldn’t deal with one more thing, and had chosen to not even process what EJ had said to her just moments ago, instead obsessing on the dress. Everything around her was being ripped apart, and she needed to figure out how to fix it.

“Charlotte, look at me. C’mon, darlin’.”

He tipped her chin up, bringing her face close to his. She stared into his concerned green eyes.

“You lied to me.”

The concern she saw flickered with hints of something else—regret maybe? Guilt?

“Yes. I didn’t mean for things to go that way, what happened between us. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”

“Why not?”

Secrets turned his eyes a deeper shade of moss, she observed.

“Like I said, I’m a police detective. I’ve been investigating you.”

“Me? Why?”

“Your tarot business. The fact that it’s a front for online thefts. The more you can tell me about it now, before we have to deal with this, the better. You’re obviously not in this alone.” He softened his tone, touched her hair. “I want to help, Charlotte, if I can.”

She drew away from his touch, her eyes meeting his steadily, and not liking the doubt she read there.

“While I appreciate you wanting to help me, I don’t need any help. Not like that. I am not a front for anything. I can’t tell you anything, because I am not involved in thefts or anything else! I don’t know why you would think I am.”

She stood from the bed, walked to a bookcase and began mentally counting the books strewn across the rug, wondering if anything besides her laptop
was missing, too distressed to deal with what was happening between them at the moment.

“Charlotte, listen…”

She whirled on him, stopping him in his tracks.

“No,
you
listen. I don’t know what’s happening here. My home has been violated, my trust has been violated, and I am not going to sit down and take this. I am
not
part of any scam, or any thefts, and I don’t know why any of this is happening. Whatever you know, I would appreciate it if
you
would tell
me
right now.”

She crossed her arms over her heaving chest, stubbornly refusing to avert her eyes from his, and waited. He nodded, his mouth flattening into a serious, businesslike line, and he did tell her. Who he was, why he was watching her, and what he thought she was guilty of. By the time he was finished, she was numb with rage and confusion.

“I don’t understand—just because I did a reading for all of the people who were robbed, you thought it was me doing it? That seems pretty flimsy.”

“It is. That’s why I was, uh, investigating further. We needed more evidence. But you were our only lead.”

“I didn’t do it, EJ.”

He stared at her hard for several seconds. “Okay. But something has obviously gone bad here, and we have to figure out what it is.”

“It could have just been a random break-in.”

“Could be. But if it was random, just thieves
looking for stuff to sell, why didn’t they take your television or your camera? Yet they only took your computer. And this—” he gestured to the destroyed room “—looks intentional. They weren’t just looking for
anything
—they were looking for
something
.”

The words chilled her and she started to pace, then stopped abruptly.
Ronny
. Ronny always wanted to borrow her computer, and her computer was missing. She never checked to see what he was up to—could he possibly have been involved in scamming her clients and she had no idea?

Her heart broke at the thought, and then froze—if Ronny was involved, he could be in danger, too. She turned to EJ, grabbing the lapels of his jacket urgently.

“We have to find Ronny. He could be in danger.”

“I’ll send a car to his address,” EJ said, immediately understanding why.

But Charlotte was already out the door before he could dial the first number. “I’m not waiting around for the police. I have to go make sure he’s okay.”

“Charlotte, wait—you don’t know what kind of danger he could be in.”

“We have to find out.”

EJ
DIDN’T LIKE IT
one bit that they were on their way to Ronny’s apartment—Charlotte had been through enough for one night—but at least she hadn’t objected when he’d called for backup and sent someone back to her place. It was going to be a long night.

When he set down his cell phone, she was looking at him quietly, like he was someone she had never met before. He guessed that was more or less the case.

“I’m sorry I lied to you Charlotte. I’m sorry for taking advantage.”

“Is that what it was?”

EJ honestly didn’t know. Maybe making love to her wasn’t so much taking advantage as it was giving in to the buried desires being with her had stirred up, but the results were the same. Maybe the wild way he’d lived his life for the past two years had finally caught up with him, and he’d been a little too casual where he should have been in control.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, regardless of how it might seem.”

Amazingly, she reached across the car, and laid her hand on his arm. “I know that, EJ. And I realize that you had a job to do, I really do.”

“So you’re okay with this?” He found it hard to believe she could just let go of the fact that he’d not only gotten to know her, but had sex with her, under false pretenses. But her next words clearly showed her priorities were elsewhere; he obviously had to get over himself a little, he thought with a self-deprecating sigh.

“Now we just have to figure out what’s going on, if anything, and help Ronny.”

“If he’s the one orchestrating this, Charlotte, I
have to bring him in. He’s guilty of serious crimes. And he may try to implicate you—he already has.”

She withdrew her hand and wrapped her arms around herself again, not responding. EJ let her be; he wasn’t sure how to navigate this mess, but first things first, which meant tracking down Charlotte’s brother.

Though his cop’s mind reflexively generated a hundred schemes within which Charlotte could still be guilty, he didn’t believe them. His gut had been telling him she wasn’t a criminal all along, but his mind had refused to listen. But she was going to end up an injured party in this, regardless.

He kicked himself for not checking out Ronny before now. It was such an obvious miss. It also made more sense—the more he learned about Charlotte, the more unlikely it seemed that she was a con artist. He hadn’t known her long, but he knew how much her brother—her only family—meant to her. And it would be EJ’s job to put him away, if Ronny was involved and if whoever had wrecked Charlotte’s home hadn’t gotten to Ronny already.

He pulled up in front of the house with the address Charlotte had given him and held to one final, doubting thought: he hoped it wasn’t a setup.

He looked at Charlotte, trying to distinguish any telltale clues, but her eyes were glued to the house, fretful and anxious, her hand on the door handle, ready to bolt.

“Wait. Let me talk to the officers first.”

Uniformed officers met him at the car, and he spoke to them in low tones, giving them instructions that Charlotte couldn’t quite hear, EJ’s iron-clad grip on her hand keeping her from rushing into the house.

“Charlotte, I want you to stay here. Let us check it out first. Please.”

Though she wanted to object, she knew there could be real danger here and agreed to stay back, if reluctantly. She squeezed EJ’s hand.

“Be careful.”

His eyebrows lifted in mild surprise and then he turned, walking to the front of the house with the officers, who peered in windows and tried to see anything out of the usual before entering. Within seconds Charlotte could see them hesitate at the door, which pushed open easily, just as hers had.

She held her breath, knowing it wasn’t a good sign.

There was no noise, no movement, and she actually jumped when she saw a light flash on inside the apartment.

What was happening? Her mind raced to all the awful things that could have happened, and she took a step forward, only to stop when EJ showed up on the porch. He signaled to her to come in.

But before she could so much as take a step forward, a car peeled around the corner and barreled down the street. Charlotte stood, looking at the vehicle in blank confusion, the sound and speed startling her.

She was still frozen on the sidewalk as EJ yelled
and ran down the steps, lunging in her direction. The officers appeared on the porch, and Charlotte hit the ground very hard, broken glass shattering somewhere and sounds of men shouting and muffled gunfire filling the air.

Her arm hurt but she didn’t move, hearing EJ’s harsh breathing and muffled curses as the car sped away. When she felt the weight of his body lift from hers, she still didn’t move, unsure what was going on or what she was expected to do.

“Charlotte, get in the car and stay down.”

EJ had opened the car door and practically threw her in the backseat, pushing her down into the leather. She thought she heard him whisper, “Sorry, sweetheart” as he closed the door and rushed back toward the house. As the numbness of surprise passed, she swallowed her breath in gulps and lifted up, just enough to peer through the backseat window. EJ was on the sidewalk in front of the steps; he and one of the other officers were crouching over something—someone—the other officer.

“Oh, my God,” Charlotte whispered, reaching for the handle. Someone had been hurt. She opened the door and ran up to them, clamping her hand over her mouth as tears burnt her eyes when she saw the dark stain on the cement sidewalk surrounding the officer.

“Is he…?”

EJ looked up, bleak. “Charlotte, get back in the car. They could come back.”

“Is he dead?”

“No. But it’s bad. Help’s on the way, please get back in the car.”

“I want to help.”

“There’s nothing you can do, darlin’.”

Sirens screamed in the distance, and Charlotte took a few steps backward, though she didn’t obey EJ’s orders—how could she? How could she just go cower in fear as this man lay dying out in the open on the sidewalk? She stepped forward, crouching, and took the wounded officer’s limp hand in hers, willing him her energy to hold on.

“Charlotte,” EJ bit out her name, but then looked deeply into her eyes, his own gaze weary and sad. He signed deeply, relenting. “Okay.”

Charlotte flinched when tires screeched to the curb, but she knew this time it was the ambulance and more police. As EMTs rushed up the sidewalk, shouting to make room, she let go of the officer’s hand and backed away. Chaos ensued, and she felt as if she were in a fog, drifting up the steps and into the house, away from the horrible intensity of the moment. That man had to live. She couldn’t bear the thought that someone died because of something Ronny might have gotten involved in.

She pushed a battered, plastic shade away from the window—she’d always offered to make Ronny some curtains, but he thought they were girly—and looked on as the officer was carted into the ambu
lance. EJ stood on the sidewalk talking with another man and a tall, gorgeous woman who looked really pissed off.

Were they all cops? Suddenly she felt very alone, and very scared. Ronny was gone, her home was devastated, she was suspected of being a criminal, someone had been shooting guns over her head, and EJ was certainly not who she thought he was—what was going to happen to her next?

Looking down, she noticed she had some bloodstains on the hem of the dress, and felt her stomach clench. The scrap of material she wore was unimportant, relatively speaking, but she’d made a promise to Phoebe, and now the dress was ruined. It was the last straw. With a peek back out the window, she headed for the back door.

“D
ID YOU FIND ANYTHING
inside the house?”

EJ had called Ian to the scene as soon as he’d called for an ambulance, and he shook his head.

“Not yet. We didn’t really have time. I came back out to get Charlotte, and then all hell broke loose.”

“Any idea who was in the car?”

“Hell, no.”

“Will she know?” Ian tipped his head toward Charlotte, who was peeking out through a shade. EJ knew he was walking a thin line on this one—to say his behavior was unprofessional didn’t even begin to describe it. Ian would want to take Charlotte in for
questioning, but EJ had a gut feeling that wouldn’t get them anywhere.

“I don’t think so. She seems pretty clueless about the entire thing.”

Sarah stepped forward. “Are you making that assessment with your big head or your little one?”

EJ’s temper flared, his emotions stripped too thin to put up with Sarah’s shit tonight, and he stepped forward, toe-to-toe with his colleague. “Don’t push it, Jessup.”

Ian sighed. “Though badly phrased, I think it’s a fair question, EJ. Not that I don’t normally trust your instincts, but it could have been you getting loaded into that ambulance tonight. If you’re off on this one, for whatever reason, you need to be straight about it.”

EJ took a deep breath, neither he nor Sarah breaking their standoff, and he answered Ian. “I’ve seen her house, spent time with her, asked her straight on about what’s going on—she could be lying, I’ve played out the scenarios, but I don’t think so. There’s a better chance her brother’s been using her to run his own scams. He sounds like trouble waiting to happen, and probably got in over his head.” He took a step back, watching as Charlotte stepped back from the window. “She didn’t stay down. When Nate went down, she came and sat with him. Held his damned hand.”