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“Tell me something, what do you think I’d find if I took a look through that bag of yours? Maybe something you used to powder your nose? Would that be foundation or coke?” He leaned forward and she instinctively leaned forward, as well.
The nerve of this man! The amount of incredulity coursing through her only hinted at how shocking she found his entire demeanor.
They were standing so close to each other in the small hallway that it was impossible for her not to imagine his lips swooping down and covering hers. She licked her lips and swallowed. What might that kiss be like, taste like, feel like.
She noticed him swallowing too. Is he imagining the same thing?
She looked him up and down taking in every inch of his muscular physique. She’d never found herself so attracted to a man before. The lean, hard frame in front of her, wearing jeans, sneakers and a white T-shirt was just too sexy and too aggravating for words…And certainly too fine to be a cop…
Why was the first adult male to make her pulse quicken and her heart race a member of the police force?
“Don’t you have anything better to do than to harass people who aren’t doing anything wrong? Or is that what cops are getting paid for these days?”
“You need to—”
“Hey, bro, we’ve been looking all over for you. You need to get back over there so we can finish celebrating. You know I’m going to be heading out to make it home to my wife and Joel can barely wait to get back to his new fiancée…” The voice of the man who interrupted them trailed off when he noticed her standing there. He was a younger version of the detective and she got a cop vibe from him, as well.
“You need some help here, bro?” The younger one gave her the once-over. He had that penetrating gaze thing down and she wondered if it was a cop thing or a family trait.
They were certainly related. She could tell because they both shared the same ruggedly handsome looks and tall, fine, muscular frames. If that wasn’t enough, they had the same bold brown eyes. But the younger one had a light in his eyes that hinted at immense happiness whereas her detective…
My detective? Oh, brother…The annoying, mean and irritating detective had a hard, impenetrable glare in his eyes. She couldn’t see any happiness there.
“I’m cool, Jason. I was just trying to warn Miss Samuels here about the company she keeps. But you know what they say…you can’t save ’em if they don’t want to be saved.” He shrugged in a nonchalant manner. “So, I’ll just leave you with this. Stay out of trouble or it will be my pleasure to show you what cops get paid for.” He turned and walked away.
The younger one stared at her for a moment and shrugged. “I suggest you take heed and watch the company you keep. We’re not soft on crime around here. And the fact that my brother warned you gives you a lot more than most folks get. Consider yourself lucky.” The younger one spouted off his added warning with a slight smirk and headed off behind his brother.
Lucky? Yeah, right!
She leaned back against the wall to steady herself. Because no matter how cool and calm she might have appeared, just two interactions with Detective Hightower had her heart pounding in her chest and her knees weak. She had to catch her breath as she replayed the exchange. But most important, she had to get out of there and as far away from Detective Hightower as she possibly could.
The man screamed loud and clear without having to say a word: he could be her undoing…
“Why the hell, did you tell him her name?” Timmy glared at his twin in disgust.
“Because…Damn…It’s not like it’s her real name anyway. And you know what a pain in the ass Hightower can be. The man is like a bad penny. He just keeps showing up. And since we’re trying to go straight now, we don’t need to give him any reason to keep sniffing around.”
“He doesn’t need a reason. That’s just his annoying way. And since we’re going straight, he wouldn’t find anything. And we are going straight.” Timmy kept the threatening edge in his voice because he knew his brother had a weak will.
“I know that. But there is the issue of that jacket baby girl brought with her…” Tommy hedged.
“I got rid of it.”
“You did what? Are you out of your mind? Aww dayyum.”
“Now is not the time or the place. Baby girl shouldn’t have been traveling with that stuff—no way. Calvin would have…man I don’t even want to think about what Calvin would do if he was alive right now.”
“Well, she brought it…I mean…” Tommy shrugged.
“She had no idea what she was holding.”
As far as Timmy was concerned, she was still the same innocent kid he remembered from their days in California. One look at her told him that. He considered himself to be a pretty good judge of character.
“How do you know that? We haven’t seen baby girl in a long time. She could have changed a lot from the kid we knew.” Even though his twin argued the point, he could tell that Tommy didn’t believe it, either.
Timmy shook his head. “She’s still innocent and gullible and without Calvin, she’s gonna need a whole lot more than us to protect her.”
Tommy laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. She seemed to handle Detective Hightower pretty well.”
“Quiet. She’s coming back.” Timmy didn’t say anything else because if what he suspected was true, they had a lot of trouble on their hands.
Tommy nodded. They both turned to her when she walked up. It was hard to believe the petite bombshell with the flashing, doelike brown eyes, flirty pouting smile and dimples was the same nerdy kid sister of their best friend from their youth in South Central. It was even harder to believe that Calvin was dead. Timmy knew they would do the best they could to protect her or they’d die trying. Some bonds, like the ones they shared with a friend and Crip brother like Calvin, went beyond the grave.
Lawrence returned to the table where two of his brothers, Joel and Patrick were waiting. All Hightower men shared the same trademark, Hightower good looks. They were tall, had skin in varying shades of mahogany, and rugged good looks that had been known to drive women wild.
“Dang, bro. You look like you’re just waiting for one of the McKnights to so much as drop a piece of paper on the floor,” Joel said, chuckling.
Lawrence glared at Joel.
Joel was the joker in the family. And he had finally regained his sense of humor after suffering a career-ending back injury, meeting and getting the love of his life to agree to marry him, and starting a new career in the family business, Hightower Security.
Lawrence tried to decide if he liked his brother better when he had lost his annoying I’ve-got-jokes personality. Between Joel and his woman Samantha, who also had a tendency to come up with the witty, smart-mouthed commentary, the family now had two wise-crackers in the mix.
“Just jokes, man. Lighten up. You’re off duty and the McKnight twins look like they’re on their best behavior tonight.” Joel smiled and Lawrence knew without a doubt that his brother had been much more bearable when he had been sulking.
“What’s up with the girl?” Patrick took a sip of his brew and then tilted his glass toward the table where the McKnight twins were sitting. Since his bitter divorce, Patrick was the lone member and president of the He-Man-Woman-Haters-Club. Catching his ex-wife in bed with another man had made him pretty much distrustful of the female population in general. The breakup of his marriage and an ugly divorce had left Patrick cold.
Lawrence shrugged. He didn’t know. He had no clue why he couldn’t take his eyes off her, either. She had a sassy mouth and looked like trouble waiting to happen. She also had the cutest face with darling dimples and a sweet, petite, and sexy body that gave her an aura of the perfect mix of innocence and sin. And she smelled like fresh-cut flowers. He wondered if it was a perfume or her natural scent.
He felt the overwhelming need to save her by getting her away from the McKnights and to lock her up and throw away the key.
She was hardly the type of woman he normally went for. He liked them tall, shapely and pliable. So why couldn’t he stop staring?
His younger brother, Jason, came back and Lawrence wondered what had taken him so long. Had he gotten any more information about Minnie Samuels?
Jason’s face seemed to be on constant grin since he’d reunited with his high school sweetheart, former video dancer, Penny Keys. Marriage must really agree with him.
“Okay, you’re scaring me, bro. What’s the deal? Before when I found you back by the rest room, you looked like you had the girl hemmed in back there. Since when did you start giving criminals advice and helpful hints?” Jason’s inquisitive gaze was all cop as he slid into the booth.
He couldn’t even pretend his behavior wasn’t odd. He had no idea why he’d followed her to the rest room, waited for her to come out and tried to talk some sense into her. And then for a brief moment he had thought of what it might be like to kiss her. Hell, he’d had to restrain himself from halting her mouthy retorts with his lips, his tongue and his teeth.
Lawrence shrugged, shaking off his thoughts of placing his mouth on hers. “Can we change the subject?”
“Hell, no, not now.” Patrick leaned back and gave him the once-over. “You’ve been staring at that girl ever since they walked in. And now baby bro says she’s a criminal? What’s the deal?”
“I don’t know what the deal is. All I know is she’s setting off my alarms. And I’m going to keep my eyes on her. And for the record, we don’t know if she’s a criminal. The only thing we know is she’s from California and she’s currently here with a couple of ex-con, gang-banger, suspected drug dealers.”
“Birds of a feather, bro, birds of a feather.” Jason took a swig of his beer.
“I don’t think she’s a criminal. She looks sort of sweet and maybe a little spicy…But she doesn’t seem like a criminal.” Joel tilted his head in contemplation.
“She may seem sweet and innocent. But she’s a woman and that means she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a barracuda.” Patrick frowned.
Lawrence watched as the McKnights and the woman, Minnie Samuels, left the bar. If he didn’t think his brothers would have given him a serious ribbing, he would have left, too, and followed them. But he knew his brothers. Most of all he knew what he would say to them if the situation were reversed and one of them had become suddenly obsessed with some sexy, sassy-mouthed little hood-girl.
He decided he couldn’t possibly be attracted to her. He just wanted to make sure she was okay. He’d keep an eye on her until he found out more about her and figured her out. Then he’d know if she needed saving…or jailing.
Chapter 2
Detective Lawrence Hightower was a pain in her behind. He irritated her no end and she was halfway tempted to go downtown to the Paterson Police Department and file a complaint. She would have, too, but the Los Angeles Police Department was looking for her for questioning about her brother’s murder. So how could she? That alone kept her from blowing the whistle on Lawrence Hightower.
It had been almost three weeks since her initial encounter with him, and she’d seen him in some capacity almost once a day for the past twenty-one days. It made no sense. He was watching her like a hawk. There had to be a rule, or a law or something…
She thought about it as she watched her clothes spin around and around at the Laundromat.
She’d been in Paterson for almost two months. The McKnight twins had a nice way of being protective and still allowing her to have her space. At first, one of them was constantly at her side. However, it became harder and harder for them to pull that off with their work schedules. The only jobs the twins could get with their records were temporary construction jobs and kitchen jobs washing dishes in restaurants. She could tell they were really trying to turn their lives around. And she felt sad that her brother hadn’t been able to do the same thing before he died.
As much as she adored the McKnight twins, she was glad for the time she had to herself away from their tiny apartment and their big-brothers-always-hovering routine. Even if she had to take the time at the Laundromat, at least she had it.
“Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette I can borrow, would you?”
Minerva looked up to see a petite, fair-skinned woman with beautiful wavy black hair streaked with strands of gray pulled into a ponytail that hung down her back. A bright red scrunchie held the ponytail and her front tooth was chipped. She looked like she might have had a hard life at one time, but the gleam in her eyes hinted that nothing had stolen her joy. For some reason the woman made Minerva think of her own deceased mother.
“Sorry, ma’am, I don’t smoke.” Minerva smiled at the woman. She seems nice enough.
“Ma’am? Girl, please, I’m too fresh and too cool to be anybody’s ma’am. My name is Carla by the way.” She grinned and sat down next to Minerva. “It’s good you don’t smoke. It’s a nasty habit. I quit smoking myself. But every now and then, I need a cigarette.” She glanced over at a tall, handsome man with salt-and-pepper hair putting clothes in the machine. “This old man I got decided we aren’t smoking any more at all and won’t let me have an occasional cigarette. You believe that?” Carla rolled her eyes playfully and shrugged.
Minerva laughed. “My name is Minnie.” For some reason she couldn’t imagine anyone trying to tell this woman what to do.
“Girl, these men will try your patience for real.” Carla let out an exasperated sigh.
“You gonna just sit over there while I do all the work?” The tall, handsome man called over as he placed the coins in the machine.
“I like watching you work.” Carla winked at her man.
He shook his head as he smiled.
Minerva laughed at the antics between the older couple and again she felt a pang of sadness. She tried to call up the visual image of her own parents. It was getting harder and harder to remember.
“Hello, Carla. Minnie.” A deep voice pulled her away from her memories.
Her heart started beating double time in her chest at the sound of his masculine baritone. She looked up to find Detective Lawrence Hightower walking into the Laundromat. Since he was not carrying any clothes and looked like he was on duty, she had the feeling the good detective wasn’t there to wash a load.
“Hey! If it isn’t my second favorite Hightower cop.” Carla laughed. “Hey, Gerald, you better watch out. The po-po is here.”
“You know him?” Minerva spared a caustic glance at the detective before turning to Carla.
“He’s my son-in-law Jason’s brother. He’s cool people. A little too moody and he-man for my tastes, but he a’right.”
Lawrence frowned as he stared at them and rubbed his jaw in contemplation.
“Awww…don’t be mad, Hightower. You know I’m too much woman for ya anyway.” Carla laughed.
“Do you know this woman, Carla?” Lawrence eyed Minerva suspiciously as he asked the question.
“Who, Minnie? Yes, this is my new girl.” Carla glanced from Lawrence to Minerva. “Why you asking?”
“How well do you know her, Carla?” Lawrence leaned against the washer and folded his arms across his chest.
“Is there a problem over here?” Gerald walked over and stood in front of Lawrence. “How’re you doing, Lawrence?”
Minerva’s dryer stopped and she got up to get her clothes out. No way was she going to sit there and listen while the annoying Hightower cop talked about her as if she wasn’t right there in front of him.
Jerk!
She emptied out her dryer and rolled her laundry cart to the back table to start folding, while mentally calling Lawrence Hightower every kind of idiot she could think of. Was the man so determined to arrest her for something, anything? Was he willing to provoke her until she slapped him upside the head to get her on assaulting a police officer? That must have been his plan.
As she placed her folded laundry in the big red sack she’d purchased for transport, she wished the sheets and blankets would hurry up and finish drying. She didn’t bother going back up front because she could still hear Hightower’s voice. She looked up when she heard him saying goodbye to Carla and Gerald. Rather than head out the door, the detective was making his way to the back.
She leaned against the table and he came and stood right in front of her. He was close enough for her to get a nice whiff of his cologne. It was one of those fresh, clean, masculine scents. The kind that made a woman think of getting swept away on an ocean. It could knock a girl off her feet if she wasn’t careful, that was for sure.
Minerva inhaled and immediately regretted it.
She didn’t bother saying hello. She moved her eyes from his hard-edged handsome face to the rock-solid wall of muscle that made up his chest.
“Why’d you walk away, Minnie? Did my appearance throw a wrench in your plans to try and sell your wares to Carla?”
“Go to hell.”
“She says she knows you and you’re her girl. But she got awfully quiet when I mentioned your relationship with known drug dealers.”
She pursed her lips.
“How long are you planning to stay in Paterson, Minnie?”
“Why? You planning on throwing me a party, Officer?” She slanted her left eye and licked her lips, leaning over slightly so the little bit of cleavage she had made its presence known.
She could tell he was gritting his teeth by the pull in his jaw. His lip twitched and his eyes lost their typical suspicious stare. She licked her lips again before rolling her eyes.
“You need to stop harassing me, Detective Hightower. People might get the wrong idea and think you like me or something.”
There was a pause before his lips curled into a snarl. “Anyone in their right mind would know you are certainly not my type of woman. I like them taller, shapelier and, most important, crime-free.”
She felt a pain slice through her heart. No way should she have felt anything akin to hurt because the idiot cop had basically rejected her. She didn’t want him to want her. She wanted him to leave her the hell alone. She gave him a once-over and noticed the considerable bulge in his pants. She might not have a lot of experience with men, but she’d kissed and made out enough times to know when a guy was getting excited. Between his bulge and his gulping for air like a fish out of water when she licked her lips, she thought maybe, just maybe, the detective was protesting a little too much.
She licked her lips again and watched his Adam’s apple bounce. Looking up, she found his penetrating gaze zeroed in on her lips. And glancing down she found his bulge still prominent.
“Well, since I’m not your type, maybe you might want to send a memo to the rest of your body, because clearly parts of you haven’t been told the news.” With that she cut her eyes and walked back to the front of the Laundromat.
