The Professional (7 page)

He hummed under his breath, leaned in and took a breath. “Ah, yes. The cherry vanilla, right?”

Shock bloomed through her and she looked up at him. He’d been smelling her soaps? Had paid close enough attention to be able to differentiate one scent from another? That was a first. Men typically didn’t appreciate her work. Though he’d never been stupid enough to say it, she’d been able to tell that Luke thought it was frivolous. That this man evidently had been interested enough to smell each one pleased her more than she would have ever imagined.

Smiling, she inclined her head. “I see you’ve been checking out my display in the general store.”

“I have,” he admitted. “I like the packaging. It’s simple and wholesome and allows the product to speak for itself. I bought a bar of the citrus and sandalwood,” he said, then leaned down so that she could smell him, putting her mouth in dangerous proximity to his neck. Unable to help herself, Sophie’s eyes fluttered shut and she breathed him in. Her insides melted.

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice,” he said, his voice not quite as level as it had been a moment ago. He straightened and she felt his fingers flex against the small of her back.

“I’m so used to them,” she lied. No wonder she’d smelled oranges, Sophie thought. That hint of something else had been familiar because she’d designed it. Something about knowing that his big hands had used something she’d touched—she’d made—on his wet, naked skin made her belly clench and her feminine muscles contract. Warmth seeped into her panties and she resisted the urge to squirm against him.

If she didn’t get away from him soon, she was really going to embarrass herself. Hell, she’d already told him he smelled good, for pity’s sake, without even realizing it. Heaven only knew what she’d say next. “I want to lick you all over.” Or “You could lick
me
all over.” Or even, “Why don’t you bend me over that chair and take me until my eyes roll back in my head.”

Her poor nerves couldn’t take it and the stress of the unrelenting attraction—the seemingly endless pull of his gaze—was wearing down her resolve.

At long last the song ended and he reluctantly released her. She immediately missed his warmth, wanted him to draw her closer again.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked, gesturing toward the refreshment table. Another smile twisted his lips and he leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Since they’ve gone to all this trouble on our behalf, we should probably make a good show of it. I don’t mind if you don’t.”

Wonderful. So much for making an escape. At least one with any dignity. And now, if she said she did mind, she’d just look ungrateful and bitchy. What had happened to her plans? The one where she avoided him and lusted from afar, most specifically. Sophie heaved a resigned sigh.

But she’d pretty much thrown that plan under the bus when she’d agreed to come tonight, hadn’t she?

Yes, she had. And she grimly suspected it was a decision that was going to haunt her later, with unforeseen but far-reaching consequences.

“I don’t mind at all,” she lied, her mouth stretched into an unnatural too-bright smile. But… She gestured wordlessly toward the foyer, where the restrooms were located. “I’m just going to run to the…” She purposely left the sentence unfinished so she wouldn’t have to tell another fib. Honestly, she’d been telling so many untruths of late she was surprised her nose hadn’t started to grow.

He nodded knowingly. “Right. I’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

Sophie merely smiled and took off, dodging Cora with the same bathroom ruse. She might have been willing to change her Avoid Jeb plan for the evening, but she wasn’t about to change the other one. Mere seconds ago, Marjorie had been dance-napped by Fred Holcolm and would easily be occupied for the next twenty minutes. Fred was a slow talker—he gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “Southern drawl”—and could turn a trip to the mailbox into a drawn out event.

This was her chance. That the timing gave her an opportunity to regroup and gird her loins, as it were, was just a happy coincidence. Right? Right.

With one last glance into the ball room, Sophie zigged toward the restrooms for appearance sake, then zagged and ran out the side door.

6

J
EB
WATCHED
S
OPHIE
’
S
retreating back as she exited through the double doors and released an agonizingly slow breath. He felt like he’d been holding it since she walked in this evening and his stomach ached with the effort.

But how was a man supposed to breathe when she looked like
that
?

He’d known the instant she’d walked in, of course, because the tell-tale knot behind his naval had given its warning and the hair on the back of his neck had prickled with awareness. He’d only turned around to confirm it and the second he’d caught sight of her in that dress he’d damned near choked on his tongue.

Because Sophie O’Brien had a body that wouldn’t quit.

He didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed before. How he could have possibly missed it even beneath those plain unisex clothes she typically wore? Clearly he needed his eyes examined, because her breasts were full and lush, her waist so small he could span it with both hands—he knew because he’d done just that while they’d been dancing and he’d gone so hard he’d had to put a little distance between them to keep from embarrassing himself. And her hips… Mercy. Her hips were mouthwateringly generous and curved. Hips like those put a man in mind of how he’d fit between them, how they’d cradle him as he plunged into her silky welcoming heat.

Rather than her usual ponytail, her dark hair had been left down and loose and had brushed over the tops of her slim shoulders. Those melting brown eyes had been outlined with a smoky green, giving her an exotic, sexy look which had only enhanced her appeal.

Oddly enough, he’d never paid particular attention to her mouth before tonight—another sign he needed to see an optometrist, he thought with a dark chuckle—but one look at her ripe cupid’s bow lips had left him so turned on his hands had actually begun to shake. They were a natural rosy color, pillowy soft, with a distinct extremely sexy V in the middle of her upper lip. He’d wanted to taste that V, trace its outline with his tongue.

Ultimately, though, how she looked was negligible to the way she
felt
.

Simply taking her hand to lead her onto the dance floor had left him oddly shaken. The blistering zing of awareness aside, there was something about the way her small but delicate fingers felt against his, the fleshy vulnerability of her smooth palm nestled against his bigger one that made an odd sensation wing through his chest. A curious mix of expectation,
familiarity
, of all things, and longing. That irrational urge to protect had swelled again as well, coupled with the even more disturbing need to possess.

Jeb didn’t need a degree in psychology to understand the significance of these caveman-like inclinations. They were easily enough, alarmingly deduced. Had he been a dog, he would have merely pissed a circle around her, marking his territory.

That was a singularly unique development, one that had evidently reached his twin because his cell phone had vibrated in his jacket pocket. He hadn’t checked the message yet, but was certain it contained a call back request.

It would have to wait.

Jeb cast a glance toward the doorway and frowned when Sophie didn’t emerge back through it. She’d been gone for several minutes—typical, he imagined, she was a woman, after all—but, because he was a glutton for punishment, he wanted to dance with her again. He wanted to hold her sweet, curvy body next to his, feel her small hands wrapped behind his neck, her lush breasts against his chest. He even liked the way her hair tickled his chin, the scent of her wafting up around him.

She felt…right.

Gratifyingly, her petite frame had hummed with the same sexual energy, the same hammering need, the same helpless desperation. It had taken every atom of willpower he possessed to keep from leaning down and kissing her, tasting the desire on her tongue.

Because he knew it wouldn’t be enough. He wouldn’t be content with just a kiss. He’d want to devour her. Taste every part of her—the arch of her neck, the curve of her hips, the swell of her belly, the fluted edge of her spine, the dimples in her lower back, the plump crowns of her pouting nipples, the soft moist skin between her thighs. And when he’d finished feasting on her, he’d want to take her so hard that their resulting release would tilt the friggin’ world off its axis.

For a start.

Jeb felt his lips quirk, exhaled mightily, then shifted to relieve some of the pressure behind his zipper.

On a personal level, suggesting that they spend the rest of the evening together for the benefit of their senior citizen matchmakers probably hadn’t been the wisest decision, one that was no doubt going to result in a perpetual hard-on, chronic sexual tension and the inability to relieve himself without soaking a ceiling tile, but…

If he was going to ask for her help, as Payne had suggested, then this was as good a time as any. Since the seniors were determined to matchmake, they’d undoubtedly grant him and Sophie the privacy necessary to hold the conversation.

Privacy, with her, was a tricky bit of business, but if it meant that he could get the job done, then he was simply going to have to make it work.

He knew that Colonel Carl Garrett—one of the toughest old bastards Jeb had ever had the pleasure to serve under—had recommended him for his current position. Not until he’d given up trying to get Jeb to change his mind, of course, but he could hardly blame the veteran soldier for that. The Colonel had been convinced that a promotion and the benefit of time would alleviate the damage of that bedamned mission in Mosul, but Jeb had been equally certain that it wouldn’t.

Recognizing a stalemate when he saw it, the Colonel had reluctantly let him go.

While coming out of the military wasn’t ever going to wash the blood off his hands—there wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t think about his fallen team—Jeb had consoled himself with the fact that he’d never again have to execute orders against his better judgment. That Payne had made a recommendation instead of an edict was a monumental relief and gave him the benefit of his own judgment and experience.

And while he’d never
experienced
anything close to the myriad of feelings Sophie O’Brien’s presence elicited, instinct told him that she wasn’t the thief and that she was the key to solving this mystery. A single look around the ballroom—at all the trouble this group had gone to on her behalf—was only further confirmation that she was the perfect person to help him catch the perpetrator. Hell, they’d put together this event for her in less than twenty-four hours. She’d said they’d done it for
their
benefit, but Jeb certainly didn’t think so. Admittedly, everyone seemed to like him well enough and he supposed that he should be flattered that they all thought he was good enough for Sophie, but this was
her
party, not his.

Which begged one important question…

Why?

Why was she still single? Why was the Metamucil Brigade doing her match-making for her? Why were they so determined to see her with someone?

“Haven’t lost her already, have you, son?” Foy asked, sidling up next to him. Looking distinguished in his tux, a Mason’s ring winking on his finger, his pretend grandfather pulled a small silver flask from his inside pocket and took a drink, wincing with the burn.

Jeb bit back a wry grin. “She’s gone to the
restroom.”

Foy inclined his head. “Women,” he breathed with a smile. “Aren’t we lucky?”

Jeb didn’t know how one related to the other, but nodded all the same.

The older man’s gaze followed Mary around the room, a fond glint in his eye. “They’re soft and sweet-smelling. They can be tender and nurturing one moment, and fiery and fierce in the next. Younger men don’t appreciate that,” he continued. “They’re too slick, determined a girl’s not going to get their hooks into them, and can’t see past the end of their peckers.”

In the process of taking a sip of his own drink, Jeb choked.

“That’s because they’re weak and stupid,” Foy continued, darting him a concerned glance. “Only a real man, one with an evolved mind and a firm sense of self can appreciate the complexity, the strength and vulnerability—the
sheer magnificent beauty
—of a woman.” He turned to Jeb, arched a graying brow. “Have you ever witnessed the birth of a baby?”

The question took him by surprise. “No, I haven’t.”

“No children then?”

Jeb shook his head. Much to his parents’ lament. They’d been singing the settle-down-and-give-me-a-grandchild song for several years now.

Foy’s gaze turned inward and unexpectedly somber. “I have,” he said. “My one and only, a boy. Back then it wasn’t customary for the fathers to be in the delivery rooms with the mothers, but hell would have frozen over before they’d have kept me out of that room.”

Given what he knew of Foy thus far, that seemed perfectly within character, Jeb thought.

“For hours and hours, it went on, her labor,” he continued, his voice strangely even, absent of its usual enthusiastic inflection. “I have never seen anyone in my life in that much pain and never felt more helpless in the face of it. She bore it all, my Annie. She squeezed my hand so hard she broke two of my fingers.”

Like a badge of honor, he held them up for Jeb’s benefit. They were crooked, bent in two different angles and had obviously healed without a proper setting first.

“Limp with exhaustion, soaked with sweat, she’d smile at me between contractions—
smile
,” he emphasized wonderingly, “because she’d fallen in love with our baby the instant she’d learned she was pregnant and she understood the reward waiting at the end of the agony.” Foy paused, swallowed, his expression grave. “I didn’t, at that point. All I could see was her suffering and, with every cry of pain, I just knew she wasn’t going to survive it, that I was going to lose her. It didn’t matter that the doctor told me that everything that was happening to her was perfectly natural, that she wasn’t in any danger. I didn’t see how her little body could go through all of that and not fail.” Foy hesitated, bit the inside of his cheek, and a sense of unease slid up Jeb’s spine. “She was the first to notice that something was wrong,” he said. “Because he didn’t cry, you see. He never made a sound.”

Jeb inwardly swore.
Jesus
…

“I was too busy looking at my boy—my
son,
blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh—and falling hopelessly in love.” A soft smile caught his lips and he shook his head, clearly lost in the memory. “It’s true that men are visual, because I can tell you that, while I was excited about having a baby and made all the right noise and said everything that was expected of me, I just didn’t get it. I didn’t recognize the wonder and awe and significance of what that meant…until I saw him, and the world changed.” He released a slow breath, took another pull from his flask. “All of that happened in the space of a few heartbeats, and then, in a few more, that new world crumbled.” Foy glanced up, held his gaze. “It broke me,” he said simply. “And my wife, whose own heart was broken, whose body was spent and bleeding, turned and held on to me so that
I
wouldn’t fall to pieces.
That
, my friend, is strength.” He looked away, surveyed the room once more. “They’d wanted to take him away, didn’t want to let her see, let alone hold our son, but Annie wasn’t having it. She insisted that they give him to her—” He frowned thoughtfully, hesitated again. “—and I’ll never forget the look on her face, the bittersweet longing in her eyes as she slipped her fingers over his cheek…” Foy cleared his throat. “We named him Beau, after her father. She sang him a lullaby, thanked the Almighty for the privilege of carrying him, then dressed him in the clothes we’d bought to bring him home in so that he could be properly buried. They’re side by side now, the pair of them, and my name has already been cut into the stone.” He shrugged, blew out a breath. “All it’s waiting on is for me to die. She made me promise to live until then—
really live
—so that’s what I’m doing. I never broke a promise to her and I never will.”

Jeb swallowed. “She sounds like an amazing woman.”

Foy chuckled, inclined his head. “That she was,” he said fondly. “Let me tell you, any man who thinks of them as the weaker sex is a fool, and any man who thinks he doesn’t need one is an idiot. We weren’t designed to live alone. There’s a reason Tab A fits into Slot B.”

Er… While Jeb appreciated that Foy had shared his story with him—it certainly gave him more insight into his pretend grandfather—he sincerely hoped this wasn’t going to segue into the birds and the bees discussion. Admittedly, Foy had the benefit of wisdom and experience when it came to women and relationships, but when it came to sex Jeb was confident that he didn’t need any direction. A subject change was in order.

“Sophie tells me that this ball was only set into motion yesterday. That it hadn’t been in the works for months.”

“She’s right. I lied.”

Jeb blinked, stunned that he’d admit to it so readily. “Why?”

“Because Mary told me to.”

That’s it? Really? “Did Mary tell you why she wanted you to lie to me?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. These ladies know how to put on a party and Mary gets frisky when she’s been into the sangria.” He grinned up at him. “If I can get the band to play some John Legend, it’s going to be a win all the way around for me.” He leaned in as though sharing a secret. “Word of advice. Don’t just dance to the slow songs. Get out there on the floor and put a little hip action into it.” He gave a little swivel of his own for demonstration. “Do a little advertising, if you get my drift. You save the slow tunes for the end of the evening, when it’s time to close the deal.”

Before Jeb could formulate a reply—not that he could think of one off the top of his head—Foy waved at Mary and took off. Determined to live. Keeping his promise.

Another look around the room confirmed that Sophie still hadn’t returned from the ladies’ room. He frowned. Granted her clothing probably made a trip to the bathroom more time consuming than it did for him, but he really would have assumed she’d be back by now. A thought struck.