Whiskey Rebellion (Romantic Mystery/Comedy) Book 1 (Addison Holmes Mysteries) (17 page)

He was
trembling behind me, and I was almost afraid to turn around and face his anger. He did kind of have a point. But when I turned around it wasn’t anger he was trembling from. His mouth was curved in a tight smile and he leaned against me trying to control the laughter. 

“One thing you are definitely not is boring,” he said, kissing me on the cheek and heading back to his cereal. “I like that in a woman.”

I had a momentary lapse of why I was mad at him, but quickly got myself back together again. 

“That doesn’t change the fact that I still want you to leave.”

“Why? We have work to do, and besides, I kind of like taking care of you.”

“Yeah, you seemed to be taking pretty good care of your sexy dancing partner last night too.”

He just smiled at the show of jealousy and continued to read the paper. 

“Did you not hear anything that Veronica said to me last night?”

“I heard several choice phrases uttered last night, some of which were even said by you. Which one are you referring to?”

“All of them. Every word that she said to me was true,
except the part where she accused me of seducing my principal and stealing her job. I don’t know where she got those ideas,” I said shaking my head in disbelief. “But she was right about one thing. I can’t seem to keep a man’s attention. I don’t need another man like Greg in my life, even if you are just for rebound sex. I think my ego and self esteem have taken enough hits for the next sixty or seventy years. You’re not worth it.”

Tears stung
the back of my eyes and I turned around to busy myself with breakfast.

“Of course I’m worth it,” he said. “
I’m one of the good guys. The woman I was dancing with was my partner for two years when I was on patrol. She’s married with four kids and would be flattered to think you thought she was sexy.”

“Oh.
”
Great, Addison. Real spiffy comeback.
“Well, Veronica was right about everything else.” I wasn’t about to let logic and truth interfere with my mood.

“Are you done with the pity party yet?” Nick asked. “You know what you look like. You’re anything but average. Someone who could try moonlighting as a stripper doesn’t really strike me as a person who’s got
problems with their ego or low self esteem.”

I groaned. “I guess my secret’s out?”

“Maybe not. You denied it, so it’s your word against hers. I wouldn’t worry about it. Besides, we’ll find out soon enough who did murder Mr. Butler and none of what she said will matter.”

“I don’t suppose you want to enlighten me on why I woke up without clothes on.”

“You were covered in chocolate cake.” Nick grinned wickedly. “Though I had no idea what the hell you were wearing under that dress. I almost gave myself a bloody nose trying to get it off of you. I finally had to cut the damned thing off.”

“Jesus, why me?”

“Don’t worry. You redeemed yourself rather well.” He folded the paper in his lap and his gaze skimmed down my body, making things tingle that had no business tingling at the moment. “I’ve got to be honest with you. I watched the tape of you squeezed into that sexy costume at The Foxy Lady, and I thought I’d gotten a good look at every curve of your body. But when I finally got that thing off you last night it was everything I could do not to wake you up and take advantage of you. There is most definitely nothing boring or plain about your body.”

“Thank you for the creepy compliment. But I still want you to leave.”

“Well, I happen to think you’re lying.” 

He
tossed the paper aside and stalked me until my back was to the wall. Blood rushed in my ears and my lungs burned with the effort to breathe.     

“Where did yo
u sleep last night?” I asked softly.

“I slept with you.”
He traced his finger down the side of my neck and then farther down to the knot that held my robe together, working it loose until it slipped free. My robe parted and I moaned as his finger circled my breast and then skimmed across my nipple. He leaned toward me until his lips were just a fraction away from my own. I watched with eyes wide open as he took my bottom lip between his teeth and bit gently.

My eyes rolled back in my head when his tongue soothed the sharp sting from his teeth.

“I want you,” he whispered.

Yeah, the part that wanted me was pressed against my belly button. His
fingers roamed lower and my brain began to function despite the new intimacy.

“Wait
, this is too fast,” I panted, pushing him away with both hands. I wrapped the robe back around me and tied the belt into a double knot.

“Okay, but maybe you could give me a timeline. I’d like to be inside you before I die of old age.”

I had to close my eyes and gather my wits, because holy shit was I tempted to let him get his wish. “It’s kind of embarrassing, considering all we’ve been through, but I’ve kind of decided that I don’t want to have rebound sex with you.”

“Good, because I don’t want to have reboun
d sex with you either,” he said.

“Oh.” There was my prolific vocabulary again.
I wanted to ask what exactly he meant. I couldn’t tell by the look on his face because he’d banked the heat in his eyes and gotten his body back under control.

“
You need to put some more cream on those scratches. They look pretty nasty, and I don’t want them to get infected. There’s no telling what kind of germs were under her fingernails.”

“Oh, right,” I said, still dazed and confused from jumping in and out of intimacy so fast.
Not to mention the fact he’d just told me he didn’t want to sleep with me.

I looked down at the scratches in question. They hurt worse than I wanted to admit
, and I shuffled into the bathroom to get the antiseptic cream. I changed into a pair of heather gray jersey shorts and a soft white tank top. When I came out of the bedroom Nick was reading the paper again.

“
Is anything else injured?” he asked.

“
Just my pride. She weighs a lot more than she looks.”

“Yeah, but you got in a couple of pretty good punches before you got stunned. She’ll have at least one black eye, and her nose was bleeding like a faucet. Very unattractive.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” I said, smiling. “Hey, what do you mean before I was stunned? Are you saying somebody tasered me?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t do it. It was the only way anyone could get in between the two of you to stop the fight. You were cemented together with chocolate icing and you had a death grip on her hair.”

Nick shuddered at the memory. 

“I got knocked on my ass twice trying to get to you. One of the beat cops pulled a taser out of her purse and got you both.”

“I guess that would explain the memory loss.”

“Sweetheart, be lucky you don’t remember
. It’s something people are going to be talking about for years.”

I grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it with coffee. Nick had left the sugar and cream out, so I put both into my steaming mug and then put them away in the proper places. He at least had the decency to rinse out his cereal bowl and put it upside down in the drain pan. I gulped the coffee standing up and the cobwebs started to clear from my mind. There was something different about my kitchen, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it hit me. The cream and sugar. The cereal. I had food.

“Where’d the cereal come from?” I asked. I still hadn’t had time to go to the grocery store since starting the job for Kate. I just hoped Nick hadn’t gone begging for food from my neighbors. I’m sure my mother had had enough phone calls about me in the last twenty-four hours.

“I went early this morning and got a few essentials,” Nick said,
not looking up from his reading.

I opened the fridge and the pantry to see what Nick considered essential. “Two loaves of bread, whole milk, macaroni and cheese, pork rinds, beef jerky, beer, potato chips and Frosted Flakes. It’s good
to see you eat such a well-balanced diet.”

“You didn’t think I kept such a manly physique by eating a bunch of fruits and vegetables, did you?”

“Hmmm,” I said, getting my own bowl of cereal. “You have some explaining to do about a few things.”

“Like what?”

“Well, for starters you said you needed my help on Mr. Butler’s murder and then you don’t tell me anything about it. And then last night you drop the bomb that Greg was there at The Foxy Lady at the time of Mr. Butler’s death. Care to explain?”

“
Eventually. But first I want to know about these.” He upended a big manila envelope full of photos on the table. They all had one thing in common. I was in every photo.

“Where did you get those?” I asked. The spit in my mouth had dried up so the question came out as a croak.

“They were taped to your door when I got back from the grocery store this morning.”

I flipped through the photos. There were pictures of me leaving yoga class and in the teacher’s parking lot.
There was one of me leaving my mom’s after a Sunday dinner and another of me having dinner with Kate and Mike at a restaurant in Savannah. I tried to look at them dispassionately, but inside I was sick.

“Is this the first time
someone has left photos?” Nick asked.

I winced inside because I knew he wasn’t going to be happy with my answer. “Not exactly,” I said.

I shuffled through my bag until I found the photo that had been taped to my car, and I handed it to Nick. “I also received a phone call,” I said and punched the play button on my answering machine.

Nick listened to the entire message without saying a word, but his face darkened and took on the appearance of a thundercloud.

“Jesus Christ, Addison. Did it ever occur to you that whoever left that message could be a killer? And now he’s stalking you.”

“When you say it that way it sounds a lot worse than what I’d worked out in my mind.
I just figured it was some kind of prank.” I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought it through. “Mr. Butler took this photo with his camera phone while I was on stage. I saw him do it. But someone left it taped to my windshield after Mr. Butler’s murder. If Greg was at The Foxy Lady, do you think he could be Mr. Butler’s killer and the one who left the photograph?”

Nick looked through all the photos and I could tell he was thinking things through in that methodical cop way he had. “I wouldn’t rule it out
,” he said.

Nick picked up a black duffle bag and riffled through it. He pulled out an envelope lined with bubble wrap and pulled out a disc. “I’ve got the surveillance tapes from The Foxy Lady I’d like you to look at. You seem to be the only link between The Foxy Lady and Bernard Butler and Greg, and maybe you can spot something I can’t. I’m desperate at this point.”

“Oh, thanks a lot. I’m so glad you resort to my help in times of desperation. I’m not completely incompetent you know. I’m even thinking of getting a real P.I. license.”

“God help us all,” Nick said with a smile. “Make sure you take out personal protection insurance. You haven’t had the best track record since you started this job.”

“I don’t have to take this from you. You’re the one that needs my help. And to show you what a team player I am, I’m willing to make you a deal.”

“I can’t wait to hear this.”

“I’ll help you on your case if you’ll help me on one of mine. It’ll be an even trade.”

“You think it’s an even trade for me to help you with amateur detective work while you help me with a murder investigation? You’re out of your mind.”

“Unless you’re afraid that I’ll be of more help to you than you will be to me. I guess it would look pretty bad for a detective to get shown up by a history teacher.”

“Ha! You’re as transparent as glass, Addison. You don’t think that
you
can solve your case by yourself, whereas I know I can solve mine, it just might take a little longer without your help.”

I wasn’t willing to admit that he was right, so I stared him down with a look that any poker player would be proud of.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I’ll help you out. But—I have a couple of stipulations.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve already told you I don’t want to have sex with you, so you can steer clear of that idea.”

“No, you told me you didn’t want to have rebound sex with me. I, however, would like a date with you. With the chance of non-rebound sex to be followed closely after.”

“That’s blackmail,” I said, outraged.

“Take it or leave it,” he said, the grin on his face challenging. “Your nipples are hard, so I have to think that the idea of spending a night with me isn’t completely repulsive.”

“
It’s cold in here,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Liar.”

“Fine, it’s a deal.” I took the surveillance DVD from his hand and headed over to my 52” television.

“
Everything about you is such a contradiction.” He sat back on the couch with the remote in his hand and I took the spot beside him. “You have all this sweet electronic equipment, fancy furniture and a sexy car. Why the hell do you live in this dump?”