One Touch More (11 page)

Damien studied her as though he wanted to climb inside her brain and rummage through her thoughts. His bright eyes clouded over and Tabitha sensed that his temper simmered close to the surface. “Did he hurt you?”

Emotionally? Yeah. Mentally? You bet. He'd thrown her self-esteem to the floor, stomped on it, torn her emotional stability to shreds, and that was before he'd used her brother as a tool to blackmail her. “He never hit me.” Though she hadn't really given Damien the answer she was sure he was hunting for, that was all he was going to get. “But he's bad news and I don't need him in my life any more than he is already.”

The cloud didn't lift from Damien's mood. In fact, at her words, it seemed to darken even more. “I'm just like him, aren't I? Bad news is bad news. What are you doing sitting here with me?”

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “You're not like him.”

Damien braced one massive forearm on the table as he stood and leaned toward her. He reached out and cupped her face in his palm, his grip firm as he forced her gaze to meet his. Tabitha suppressed a shudder that had nothing to do with fear or anxiety. When he took control this way, he didn't realize that he was giving her exactly what she wanted. “You sure about that?”

He'd meant to intimidate her. To put a little healthy fear into her.
Sorry, buddy. It's not gonna happen
. “I'm not afraid of you, you know.” She met him look for look, her tone no longer meek but full of fire.

“Oh no?” His grip tightened. Not enough to hurt her, but just enough to let her know that he could if he wanted to. As if.

“No.”

His large frame loomed above her as he leaned down for a kiss. Tabitha felt multiple sets of eyes watching them, but Damien seemed not to care. His mouth moved over hers, not roughly as it had earlier in the hotel room, but with a slow, possessive precision that made Tabitha's toes curl in her shoes.

When he pulled away, she was breathless and eager for more. His brow furrowed as he sat back down. “I'm afraid of me. You should be, too.”

For the first time since they'd met, Tabitha experienced a tiny trickle of what Damien wanted her to feel. “Maybe we're both a little scary.” Or more to the point, scared. Scared of who they were, what they'd done, and how perfect they were together despite the fact that they barely knew each other. “Life is a little scary, don't you think?”

His dark gaze swept over her and every nerve ending in Tabitha's body seemed to respond. He could get to her with a look, enslave her with those golden eyes until she was little more than a mindless minion. “Scary.” The word hung in the air, flat. “You shouldn't have to be scared, Tabitha. Of anything or anyone. Ever.”

The fierceness of his tone made her think that he'd do anything to reassure her, keep her safe. She believed his earnest expression, the concern etched into every line that marred his forehead. But did protecting her mean that he would also protect her from him? She didn't think she wanted that. Not anymore. “No one should have to be scared, Damien.” And that included him, whether he believed it or not.

Silence settled over them like an early winter snow. Peaceful and calm. Each of them lost in their own thoughts. Tabitha picked at her lunch, dipping one of the Parmesan-coated fries into a little silver bowl of fry sauce. Damien wasn't the sort of guy you pushed into anything, but Tabitha was going to do her best to urge him to leave the path that Joey had set out for him. He was a good guy. Too good to live his life peddling drugs and whatever else Joey wanted him to do.

“Here.” Tabitha looked up as Damien slid her cell and the canister of pepper spray across the table to her. “You left these in the room last night.”

“Thanks.” She tucked both of them into her purse and gave him a sheepish grin. “I wasn't too worried about the cell, but replacing a lost canister of pepper spray is
such
a hassle.”

He flashed her a grin, the sight of his dimples enough to make her heart race. A breeze of fresh air seemed to blow the clouds of melancholy away and just like that, they were back on track.

“How's it going over here?” their waitress asked as she approached the table. “Is anyone interested in dessert today?”

Their eyes met and Tabitha's stomach flipped at the brilliance of his smile. God, he was amazing. He didn't break eye contact with her as he said to the waitress, “We're definitely interested in dessert.”

Damien Evans scared the crap out of her, but not for the reason he thought. The way she felt with him, as though she might actually be falling for him, was scarier than anything he could throw at her.

Chapter Eleven

“Seth Martin. Twenty-one years old, has a record that goes back to juvie.”

Damien sat back in the swivel chair, his arms planted on the armrests, fingers steepled at his lips. “Can we get our hands on the sealed records?”

“Already done.”

Gates had spent most of the morning digging up everything he could on Tabitha and her brother. Damien's stomach soured as the deputy marshal listed Seth's laundry list of offenses, ranging from petty theft to possession with intent to deliver, and a B and E, all before he'd turned fourteen. “Boise PD picked him up at seventeen for delivery of a controlled substance. Let's face it, the kid isn't exactly a criminal mastermind. I'd be willing to bet he gets caught doing more than he's ever gotten away with.”

“What about the sister?” Damien was willing to bet that Tabitha spent most of her time bailing her brother out of jam after jam. It fit her protective personality to a tee.

“A couple of speeding tickets several years back and one parking ticket last June, but nothing major. If she's a player, she's smarter than her brother.”

“What was the brother's most recent arrest?” There was more to Tabitha's story than her brother's arrest records and her involvement with Joey.

“Possession with intent to deliver, about eighteen months ago. He did six months and got thirty-six months of probation. I read the transcript and the judge told him if he stepped a toe out of line again, he'd be going away for the duration.”

“Six months isn't a long sentence for that type of charge.”

“No,” Ryan agreed. “But when Boise PD picked him up, he only had a few baggies on him, not more than an ounce of weed apiece. They'd been following him for a while, I guess, but according to the arrest record, the narc guys figured he'd unloaded most of the product by the time they got their hands on him.”

If Seth was on probation with a stern warning from the Ada County magistrate hanging over his head, there was a good chance that Tabitha could easily be coerced into giving Joey a hand if he had something on her brother that could get the kid arrested. “I take it Boise PD and Seth Martin are well acquainted?” Then again, Damien could be grasping at straws. Anything to excuse Tabitha's involvement.

“Oh yeah.” Gates sat back in his chair and nibbled on the cap of his pen. “I talked to John Rader this morning and he said that they'd been investigating Martin for a couple of years. As clueless as the kid is, they were sure someone was using him as an expendable mule.”

“But they never made an arrest?”

Ryan shook his head. “Whoever was supplying Martin with product kept a low profile, and Seth wouldn't give him up even when they offered him a plea bargain.”

Maybe Seth didn't give up the supplier because the asshole was dating his sister at the time? “My money's on Cavello for the supplier.”

“Yeah, mine too.” Damien swore, the way Gates was going to town on that pen cap, he was going to be picking bits of plastic from his teeth for weeks. “He was more than likely dating Martin's sister at the time, and her continued involvement with Cavello indicates that they've had a working relationship with him for a while now. But the last time Martin was picked up, he was still just peddling weed. The Bandit task force said that the synthetic only showed up on the streets a few months ago.”

“About the time Lightfoot's organization pulled out of Oregon.”

Gates examined his pen and threw it in the trash. Thank God. That Bic ballpoint was no doubt loaded with germs. “Yep. But here's where I'm lost. How did Cavello get hooked up with Lightfoot in the first place? We know now that he's distributing Stardust, and we know how he's getting it—good work, by the way—but there has to be something or someone to connect the two. Cavello was small-time before this. I don't think he would've had the sort of rep to garner Lightfoot's attention.”

“True.” Damien had been racking his brain for a couple of weeks, searching for that very connection. “But maybe that's the point. Lightfoot knows we're looking for him. High rollers and well-known dealers would bring too much heat. Someone like Cavello—small-time, expendable, who asks very few questions and does what he's told—would be the perfect distributor. What does Cavello care where Lightfoot is and what he does, as long as he's getting a fat paycheck?”

Ryan dragged a hand through his hair. “If that's the case, our chances of getting our hands on Lightfoot through Cavello are slim.”

Damien swiveled in his chair. “I disagree.”

“Evans, come take a look at this.” Chief Deputy Callihan stepped up to the cubicle Damien was working from, his expression pinched.

He exchanged a look with Gates, who was equally nonplussed. “Sure,” he remarked as he pushed himself up from the chair. “What's up?”

Ryan joined them and they followed Callihan to the hallway lined with windows that looked out over the parking lot of the federal courthouse building. Sitting in the parking lot was an older model gold Toyota 4Runner. “She's been sitting down there in her car for the past half hour. Security called up because it seemed suspicious. How would you like to handle this?”

Damien swallowed down the groan that rose in his throat. Confronting Tabitha here could potentially blow his cover, and likewise, how would she react to finding out that the guy she'd been fooling around with wasn't what he seemed? He had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate being lied to.
Fuck
.

“What's she been doing down there?” Not that he thought she was dangerous or even erratic. But why in the
hell
was she here?

“According to security, just sitting in her car. She told the guard at the security gate that she had an appointment, but I asked around and she hasn't contacted anyone here.”

Damien continued to stare down at the parking lot, his brain working a mile a minute as one scenario after another played out in his mind. The door of the Toyota opened and Damien watched from the fourth-story window as Tabitha got out of the car and paced from the hood to the back bumper, back and forth, back and forth.

“Is she talking to herself?”

Damien glanced over at Gates before turning his attention back to Tabitha. It did appear as though she was coaching herself, her palms open, forearms stretched in front of her and gesturing as she paced.

“Looks like it,” Callihan chimed in. “Is she unstable, Evans? Should we have someone go down there and get her?”

Whatever internal debate she had going on, Damien knew that instability wasn't an issue. “Send Gates to talk to her.” No way was he about to blow his cover now. “But don't shake her down.”

“So you're saying you want me to pour on the charm?”

Damien's eyes narrowed as he took in the shit-eating grin on Ryan's face. The last thing he wanted was to watch from the fourth-floor window as the suave deputy flirted with Tabitha. “I'm saying that you should go down there and feel her out.”
Dude, wrong choice of words
. “See if you can get her to tell you what she's doing here. We'll decide what to do from there.”

Ryan looked to his superior and Callihan replied, “It's his show, Gates. Go ahead.”

Damien waited with his face plastered to the window, glad that the mirrored exterior surface wouldn't rat him out to Tabitha. The only thing that would make him look more pathetic at this point was if his palms were splayed on the glass, the surface fogging from his breath. A façade of calm indifference was tough to maintain when all he could think about was Tabitha's reaction if she knew he'd lied to her about who he really was. Their lunch on Sunday was the best date Damien had been on in years, and for the past few days he'd been counting down the hours until he returned to the IdaHaven, just so he'd have an excuse to see her again. When had selling drugs become an acceptable excuse to see a woman? Jesus.

“You don't think your cover is compromised? If it is, we might have to take her into custody,” Callihan remarked. “Are you ready for that?”

Of course the chief deputy was speaking in regards to Damien's investigation, but all he could think of was the hurt that she'd suffer if they arrested her. “An arrest might be a little overboard. But if I'm compromised—which I don't think is possible—it might be a good idea to take her into custody.”

“You want to try and flip her?”

Honestly, Damien doubted it would be too hard, considering her opinion of Joey and what he did. “Maybe. We'll wait to see what Ryan finds out first.”

From the corner of his eye, Damien caught sight of the deputy as he emerged from the building and crossed the parking lot. Tabitha continued to pace until Gates got within earshot. She froze midstep and turned to face him.

Damien's breath stalled in his chest as Ryan approached Tabitha. Goddamn it, he wished he knew what was going on down there.

This is a mistake
. A huge, enormous, gigantic mistake.

Tabitha still didn't know what she was doing standing in the middle of the parking lot of the courthouse building. Why she thought the U.S. Marshals would be less intimidating than the FBI was a mystery. She was already terrified, and she hadn't even made it through the front door yet. It's not like she'd never been in this position before. But her past decisions had been made in an effort to protect Seth. And Joey's threats had made it clear that any attempt to protect her brother now would only land Seth in jail. These guys were feds. If this didn't go the way she hoped it would, her brother wouldn't end up in a county jail or state pen. He'd be looking at federal prison time. It was a risk she didn't think she could take.

“Hi. I'm Deputy U.S. Marshal Ryan Gates. Can I help you with something?”

She practically jumped out of her skin when the marshal approached her. She wasn't ready to talk. Had no idea what to say. There was still too much to consider and it wasn't just her own hide she was eager to protect; she had to think about Seth as well.

Cute, clean-cut, with short dark hair, moss-green eyes, and a friendly, open smile, Deputy Ryan Gates was the sort of guy that Lila would sell her soul to climb into bed with. Too bad all Tabitha could think about was a bulky, muscled body, tousled hair, tattoos, and the most intriguing golden eyes she could imagine. What would happen to Damien if she came clean to the marshals? She couldn't ruin his life just to protect Seth. Could she?

“Miss . . . ?”

“Oh, um . . . Lila. Lila Simmons.”
Oops
.
Way to panic, you idiot!
She'd already given her license to the guy at the security checkpoint. If Deputy Gates decided to follow up, she'd be caught in the lie and she might be down a best friend by tomorrow. Too late to worry about it now, she supposed. If she fessed up she'd only come across as crazy. Or guilty. Neither prospect was all that appealing.

Deputy Gates quirked a brow as though he knew she wasn't telling the truth.
Crap!
Maybe he'd already checked with the guy manning the check-in. In which case, she was screwed. “With as much security as we have around here, it can make everyone a little nervous when anyone hangs out in the parking lot for a half hour. Would you like to come up to my office, maybe talk about what brought you here today?”

Tabitha looked down at her feet and wished that the parking lot would split open and swallow her. She thought she could do this when she'd pulled up to the building. Thought she was brave enough to risk the consequences. But now that she'd had time to mull over her decision, she just couldn't do it. “Oh no, that's not necessary,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I, um—I wanted to . . .” What? What could she say that would be a passable excuse for being there? “I've been thinking about a career in law enforcement.” If there was a desk nearby, this would definitely be a moment to introduce her forehead to it. “Maybe something federal. But just thinking about the training made me break out into a sweat.” Another nervous laugh. “I'm obviously not ready.”

Deputy Gates's green eyes darkened with disappointment. Had he been expecting a different response? Maybe people showed up in their parking lot to confess to criminal activity on a daily basis. “Why don't you come up anyway?” His soft, charming smile must have made the girls—and probably some of the boys—in the office giddy. “I can give you the tour, show you our offices, and maybe give you a little background on what we do. We might not be so scary if you see for yourself that the U.S. Marshals Service is staffed with some pretty damned good people.”

She sensed that he was speaking past the cover story she'd given him, to Tabitha Martin, woman on the edge. It unnerved her to think that he could see through the pretense to the fear and trepidation she was working so hard to disguise. If she didn't get the hell out of there soon, she'd crack for sure. “I can't today. I spent too much time trying to work up the courage to go inside.” At least that little bit wasn't a lie. “I'll be late for work if I stick around now. But maybe I could schedule an appointment to come back some other time?”