Good Girl Gone Bad (20 page)

Two things stood out about Ty Jamerson, two things that even a blind person could see. The man knew his job; and while he had borderline unethical means to see a case through, he wasn’t a criminal, not anywhere close to those he put behind bars.

“I’m with you, sir.”

“Good. Now let’s get a battery for the heap of yours before the stores close.”

Phil quickly changed her clothes and as she locked the door behind her, she asked a question that had been surfacing and resurfacing in her mind. She’d squashed it, but since they were in a semiagreeable state, she blurted it out. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.” Ty scowled as he stalked to the driveway, his long strides leaving her behind.

“Have you ever had one?”

He slowed, allowing her to catch up. “No.”

“Me, either, with men, I mean. I guess we aren’t missing much.”

Ty cocked his head and looked hard at the woman walking beside him. He opened the passenger door to his truck. As she settled into the captain seat, he shut the door and took his time walking around to his door. They were more alike than he first thought.

Once they were on their way, he asked, “Why no boyfriends?”

She shrugged. “Father did an excellent job of putting the fear of God in me. And the few boys who had the nerve to sniff around my front door were promptly sent on their way.”

“You never snuck one?”

“Once, and look what that got me.”

“Ah, yes, Kyle Thompson.”

“I was naïve enough to believe he was God’s way of punishing me.”

“Now what do you think?”

“I think I have some hang-ups I need to get past. But I’m also not into gratuitous sex.”

Ty chuckled. “How about some good old-fashioned sport fucking?”

She angled her head and shot him a glare. “That’s crude.”

“I guess it was. Sorry.”

“Why no girlfriends for you?”

“No point. Up until I was fifteen I never knew where I’d be the next day.”

“What happened at fifteen?” She knew, but wanted to hear from him.

Ty shrugged, the painful memories of the day he left his mother burning hot. “You read my file.”

“I read it, but it was just the facts. At fifteen your aunt Stephanie took you in after your mother died. You went to Parker High School and graduated on time, despite the fact that you had limited regular schooling. How’d you manage that?”

“I read. A lot.”

“I would lose myself in books as a kid. Of course, the really juicy ones I hid.”

“After I graduated high school I did a stint for a few years in the marines. It was a good match. I could never stomach staying too long in one place.”

“I was surprised when I read your file, how much you’ve moved around.”

Ty nodded and turned into the Kregan parking lot. “After this case is closed, I’m putting in for a transfer.”

Her startled look echoed his own surprise. Although he’d toyed with the idea for months, he’d made the decision that instant. The inside of his skin itched and he knew the cause was the woman sitting beside him. He had feelings for her and he didn’t like it.

Phil felt like a sledgehammer had hit her in the gut. Why should she care if Ty Jamerson transferred to the other side of the earth?

“Who is StreetSmart?”

Ty ignored her question until they were in the store. Walking down the aisle of batteries, Ty picked one up. “Where did you get that name?”

“You sure are good at putting a question back on someone. Who is StreetSmart?” she asked again.

“Sounds to me like a UC code name.”

“It is. It’s the bastard who set my father up. And I want to find him. I’m going to see Margery Flint tomorrow. She wouldn’t talk to me on the phone.”

Ty sighed. She was headed for heartache for sure. The decision to transfer was a good one. When she dug up the truth, she’d hate him.

“You won’t get much out of Margery Flint. She was uncooperative after she made her initial complaint.”

“Then why on earth did IA pursue the case against my father?”

Ty set the battery down on the counter. “Because he was guilty. She just opened the door. Mac wasn’t the only cop taken down in that sweep.”

“Who is StreetSmart, and how do you know so much about the case?”

Phil paid the cashier and Ty picked up the battery. “Everyone working UC knew about the case.” He looked at her fiercely. “Your old man killed himself, Phil. That alone makes one curious. Everyone was talking about it.”

At her gasp, Ty inwardly cringed. He didn’t mean to throw the obvious in her face, but she was getting too close and he needed breathing room.

“That was mean, Ty Jamerson.”

He drove the nail home. “The truth usually is.”

“I know you know who StreetSmart is.”

He remained silent. He would not give her any more info than he had to.

After repeated tries to get him to talk, all of them failing, Phil finally shut up.

Once back at her place, Ty got to work installing the battery. Phil left him alone.

Ten minutes later, she came out to the garage.

“Would you mind letting me take your truck for an hour?” she asked.

He cocked a brow.

“I have to go to the grocery store and I want to pick up the files from the office.”

He tossed her his keys. She caught them. When she turned around and wagged that fine ass of hers at him, his head hit the hood and he cursed loud and long. She was a damn distracting female.

As he washed his hands an hour later, she pulled up. When she shrugged off his efforts to bring in bags, he ignored her. She’d bought enough food for an army.

“What’s up with all this, Phil?”

Her lips pursed, she went about stocking her cabinets and fridge.

“Ah, the silent treatment.”

“Are you done with my battery?”

“She speaks.” He grinned. “Yep, the old Taurus runs as smooth as glass now.”

Phil wiped her hands on a nearby towel, then extended her hand to Ty. “Well, thanks. What do I owe you?”

Ty’s green eyes sparked, always a warning sign he was in prowl mode. He took her hand and instead of shaking it, he wrapped his long fingers around her hand and drew her toward him. “You’re most welcome, Phil.”

Her body stiffened. “Don’t.”

He moved toward her. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t try and seduce me. It won’t work and I’m not in the mood.”

The spark in his eyes died and he released her hand. Phil shivered. As tired as she was both mentally and physically, if she had a choice with no repercussions, she’d love nothing more than to slip between the coolness of her sheets with Ty. But with Ty, there would always be repercussions of the emotional kind.

The vision of them snuggling together appealed to her as much as one of them thrashing beneath the sheets in a sexual frenzy. She was going soft on a man as hard as granite. She’d end up with a bloody stump of a head after repeatedly knocking her head against the brick wall that was his heart.

For the first time in her life, she found herself attracted to a man. Why was it to the one who crowed to the world he was only interested in hit-and-run encounters?

“Dinner.”

She shook her head, dispelling the visions and thoughts of what would never be. “Huh?”

“Dinner. You owe me dinner for the battery.”

“I can’t cook.”

He grinned and moved past her, opened the fridge, and gave the contents a long perusal.

“I can.”

“On one condition,” she said.

He turned, holding the door open. His long legs tightened against his jeans and even though he wasn’t aroused, the bulging fabric below his waist strained. She remembered all too vividly the beauty of his cock. Her eyes trailed up the hard line of his abs, to his chest and to his face. Their eyes clashed. He smiled slowly and she scowled. He cocked that damn brow of his.

She rubbed her forehead. “We talk shop only,” she said. “I brought home all of the updated employee files. We can go back over those.”

He nodded.

“I want your word you will not lay one finger or any other body part on me.” Her temple throbbed miserably. She wanted no more cat and mouse. She needed to focus on the case, not continually find reasons to keep the object of her desire out of her bed.

He grinned and nodded.

“No sexual insinuations, no innuendo, no nothing. Shop talk only.”

“Agreed.”

Despite his agreement, she didn’t like the way his eyes raked her body, halting briefly at her breasts and causing them to swell. Warmth pooled between her thighs and she had a feeling she would regret her conditions.

“Fine, good.”

She made busy noises putting the rest of the groceries away. “So what’s for dinner?”

“Looks like you picked up a couple of nice steaks here. Do you have a grill?”

“Out back.”

An hour later, over perfectly grilled steaks and a yummy salad, they hashed over the case.

“I think,” Phil began as she sipped her iced tea, “we need to shadow every Kashmir employee. One of them has to make contact.”

Ty slowly chewed a piece of rare filet. “First of all, we won’t get the manpower, and secondly, the contact may not be made in person. Home phone, cell phone, or computer.”

“Then we get the records.”

He smiled, nodded, and took a long pull of his beer. “Now that we can do.”

“You take half the files with you and I’ll work the other half, compiling what info we can glean so we can start pulling the records tomorrow.”

“Sounds fair.”

“We’ll have to do reverses on the called numbers. I bet we’ll have a few surprises.”

Ty chewed his last piece of beef. Phil’s mind wandered. As delicious as the meal was, she was miles away.

“Where are you, Phil?” Ty asked softly.

Hearing his voice, her eyes heated. She was so tired. The strain of undercover work, her grief over her father’s senseless death, all wrapped around her surfacing feelings for the man sitting across the table from her—it was all almost too much to bear. She’d always done a good job of compartmentalizing her emotions. Now it seemed she couldn’t get a grip on them.

Sighing, Phil pushed to her feet and cleared the table. Taking the dishes to the sink, she felt Ty’s hot gaze on her back.

“I think you should go home now.”

“Why don’t we crank up that hot tub out back?”

The impulse to do just that almost beat out her cautious nature. Her tense muscles could use a good soak. But she wanted to get to bed early. She had a big day tomorrow.

She turned facing him, leaning against the counter. “I have an early call tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow is your day off.”

“I’m aware. But I have to go make a statement regarding Scott Mason. I want to go see Margery Flint, and in case you haven’t noticed, I also have a case to work.”

Ty eyed her suspiciously. “Don’t go off half-cocked looking for the whodunits in your father’s case. It’s closed, and the people involved who are still around town will take extreme exception to you poking around.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, sir. It’s not like I’m a trained professional or anything.” She turned back to the sink.

Ty stepped close to her near the sink. Scraping the dishes clean with a butter knife, she realized she was gripping it like a weapon.

“Look at me, Phil.”

“Just leave me alone. Go home.” She continued scraping. She felt his body heat and her anger diffused. Why the hell was it every time the man got within sniffing distance she turned into a pile of mush?

He curved his hands over her shoulders. “Put the knife down.”

“You promised not to touch me.”

“Arrest me.”

Slowly, she turned around and faced him. “What is it?”

The somber look in his eyes caught her off guard. He looked…sad?

“Without trying to bully you or convince you I know more, which I do,” he said, his sadness erased with a cheeky grin, “I want you focused only on the Klub Kashmir case.”

“I can do both.”

“You have a hot case,
now
; if you stray you could miss something.”

She shook her head. “I can do both equally effectively.”

Determination sharpened his features and his grip on her shoulders tightened. He let go, then stepped back from her. “I’m going to say this once and feel free to take it any way you want, but I will not repeat myself.”

Phil notched her chin up so her eyes met his. She knew what was coming.

“On the record, as your commanding officer, I forbid you to work on any other case open or closed until such time as Operation Internal Affairs is closed.”

She stood silently fuming.

“Do you understand?”

“But I—”

“No buts!” he roared. “Your father is dead, Philamina. And dragging up the dirt is not going to bring him back.”

“My father is dead because someone set him up! Can’t you understand my need to clear him of the bogus charges and put a murderer behind bars?”

“I’m commanding you to back off.”

“Then tell me who StreetSmart is. Give me that name and I’ll have the person responsible for killing my father.”

“End this now.”

“Get out.”

“Give me your word you will not pursue your father’s case until we are done at Klub Kashmir.”

“If I refuse?”

“Then I pull you, here and now.”

She smiled slowly, the effect not meant to be endearing. “Fine, Lieutenant Jamerson, o great leader, I give you my word.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

T
hrough the haze of sleep, Phil’s skin warmed, and warmer still were the lips that licked her distended nipples, the pull jerking her hips against hard muscle. Her hands slid down a hard wall of tendons, muscle, and skin. She languished in the thrall of it.

Ty had come back, slipped into her bed, and it felt so right. Their bodies fit perfectly, his hands, his lips knowing just where to touch, suck, and titillate her body into a thrashing agonized frenzy. His big hands cupped her breasts and she hissed in air, his teeth laving her nipples before sucking them like a starved babe. His hips pressed against her and the long hard heat of his cock stabbed her belly. She burned red-hot for him. Opening her thighs, she welcomed him, needing the satisfaction of consummation.