Next of Kin

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“That sounds good,” Casey said.

A frozen pizza? Was he serious? “Have you had breakfast?”

“No breakfast. Or dinner, either, come to think of it. What with running back and forth between the station and the hospital—with one quick trip home to change—I don’t think I’ve eaten in over twelve hours.”

No wonder the frozen pizza sounded good to him. “Well, in that case—”

“Thought you’d never ask. I’d love to join you.”

His grin was cheeky and sexy at the same time. She wondered if there was a woman alive who could avoid a man like this. And more important, why would she want to?

Casey was unattached, he was gorgeous, he had a good job. There was no reason in the world she shouldn’t take the opportunity to get to know him better.

No reason, that is, except for the buzzing of nervous fear in her stomach. It was past time for her to start dating again—everyone said so.

But she needed to ease into the dating scene with caution. Maybe start with a nice, quiet accountant. Work her way up to a dentist. Then, maybe…maybe, she’d be ready to date a cop. One who rode motorcycles no less.

Though, maybe she was jumping the gun here. What made her think this was a date? She and Casey had shared a harrowing experience. As a result, he’d offered her a ride home. Now he wanted to join her for pizza because he really was starving, just as she was.

As her condo complex came into view, she directed him to the visitor parking lot under the building. They rode the elevator to the second floor, then walked the long hall to her corner unit.

“It’s small,” she said as she unlocked the front door. “But I do have an ocean view from the bedroom.”

“Hmm. I’d like to see that.”

Her hand froze. She lifted her head. He was smiling at her, that sparkly expression in his eyes again, as if he thought she was something special.

At the hospital when he’d looked at her that way, she’d assumed he was admiring her medical expertise. Now she had to wonder.

“Be careful, Officer Guthrie. I’m going to think you’re flirting with me.”

He laughed. “Finally she gets it.”

Oh. Her heart skipped with an excitement she hadn’t felt in years and years. Okay, so maybe he is interested. She opened the door, suddenly lighthearted. A quick glance at her reflection in the hall mirror brought her down to earth quickly. Oh, Lord, she looked worse than she’d thought. She dropped her keys in the wicker basket by the door and flung her purse on top.

She heard Casey lock the dead bolt behind her and felt a momentary doubt. What did she really know about this man?

She shook off the fear. He was a cop for heaven’s sake. How dangerous could he be?

CASEY LIKED JACKIE’S HOME. It was casual and comfortable, without much in the way of decorating froufrou. Her slip-covered couch looked inviting, the wooden table next to it seemed like something a person could put his feet up on without scratching or breaking anything. He strode to the window, but from this angle could only see the apartment building across the street.

As Jackie headed for the counter dividing living room from kitchen, she paused by the flashing red light on her phone. That light made him wonder. Jackie didn’t wear any rings, but maybe she took them off for work. Or maybe she had a boyfriend who hadn’t yet figured out what a treasure she was and staked his claim.

“This is probably a call from my older brother. Excuse me a minute while I let him know I’m okay.”

Pretending a casual interest in the volumes on her bookshelves, he unabashedly listened as she picked up the receiver and made the connection.

“Kell, it’s me, Jackie. Sorry I missed your call. My shift just ended and I wanted to let you and Nate know that I’m okay. My car, though…” She sighed. “I’m afraid it’s totaled. I’ll have to buy a new one.”

She kept the conversation brief, not mentioning the fact that she had a visitor. After she’d hung up, she went to the stove and turned on the oven. “I’m going to shower and change, really quick. Would you pop the pizza in when the oven’s ready? Help yourself to something to drink. I have orange juice and cola and I keep filtered water in the fridge.”

“Thanks.” He watched her disappear down the hall and soon heard the pounding of water from the shower in the bathroom.

He thought about her conversation with her brother. She’d been upset about her car. Casey wondered if it was too soon in their relationship to offer to help her shop for a new vehicle. He had some contacts at a few of the dealerships. As soon as he had the thought, he laughed at himself.

His usual reaction when he met a pretty new woman was to calculate how much fun he could have without getting in too deep. But he could tell already, Jackie was not going to be just another pretty new woman to him.

Considering he knew that, logic dictated he get out of here while the getting was good. The one problem with that very rational plan was that he didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to be anywhere except here, with her. Besides, he still hadn’t told her the latest development in locating Janey’s family.

He strolled to the kitchen, noticing little things like the vibrant lime-green of her tea towels and an opened envelope on the counter by her phone. The return address was from a Dr. Michael Temple, clinical psychiatrist. It looked like the sort of envelope that would contain an invoice for services rendered.

Ignoring the urge to check to see if his hunch was right, he pulled the boxed pizza from the freezer and removed the wrappings. Once he had their meal in the oven, he returned to the task of inspecting her bookshelf. He wanted clues about this woman. Her novels were mostly bestsellers, like the kinds he enjoyed. Lots of action, mystery, suspense.

Interesting, but he needed more personal information. He picked up a framed photograph of Jackie and two men, obviously her brothers. Both were good-looking guys, with thick dark hair like their sister. He was surprised when he recognized the older one from the police station. Robert Kellison—Kell—rode mounted patrol. Jackie’s other brother looked familiar, too, but Casey couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.

The photograph had been taken in the country, probably at a ranch, since the three were posed on and around a wooden fence. There was a horse in the background, a real beauty.

They looked like a close-knit bunch, he thought, noticing the easy way Jackie’s hand rested on Kell’s shoulder and the protective way both men leaned in toward their sister. He set the photo down, then was about to turn on the television to pass the time when he caught a glimpse of something silver behind a crystal vase filled with colored glass disks. Was that another picture frame? He was reaching to move the vase when Jackie came out dressed in gray sweatpants that hugged her hips and a short white T-shirt that didn’t quite meet her navel. With her damp hair brushed back behind her ears, her thickly lashed eyes appeared huge.

“Something smells good.”

He’d forgotten about the pizza. He dashed back to the kitchen and pulled it from the oven, thankful that only the edges of the crust had begun to darken. She took plates from a cupboard and put cutlery on the counter, but neither of them bothered with anything but a napkin. She inhaled her first slice standing next to him. By the second, they were on the floor in the living room. She couldn’t finish the third, but he did. And a fourth, too.

“You were hungry,” she teased.

“Apparently so.”

Her long legs were spread out on the carpet as she leaned her back against the sofa. He noticed she was still careful about how she moved her head. After cleaning his hands on an extra napkin, he went to sit on the sofa behind her.

“Tell me how this feels.” Slipping his fingers under the neckline of her T-shirt, he massaged the muscles of her shoulders. He could feel the clenched knot to the right of her neck. Gently he worked his thumbs in opposing circles. It took several minutes before she finally relaxed.

“That feels great.”

“Good.” He kept his touch gentle, enjoying the soft feel of her skin, the minty scent of her shampoo, the warmth of her body between his legs.

“What a crazy day.”

She sounded drowsy. Really, he should leave and let her get some sleep. But he lingered for ten more minutes…fifteen. Finally she leaned forward, out of his grasp.

“That was so nice, Casey. But we should probably…”

She got to her feet awkwardly, leaving him no choice but to stand, as well.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ve stayed too long.”

“No. It’s been nice.”

Her smile was tentative, but the moment they made eye contact, he felt again the novel certainty that this woman was somehow different from every other woman he’d met.

“Do you feel it, too?” he asked.

“What?”

He should have dropped it then, but something inside him wouldn’t let him. “That it wasn’t just a coincidence we were both on the scene of that collision today.”

“You think we were meant to help those people?”

“Yes.” And also that they were meant to meet each other. But he could tell from the way she’d begun to back away from him again that it was too soon for him to say something nearly that serious.

“Well, I’m not sure that it was fate or anything. But I’m glad we were able to be of some use.” She folded the pizza box and stuffed it into the garbage.

“Are you going to visit the baby again?” he asked.

“Yes. Definitely. I wonder if they’ve found her family yet. Do you know why it’s taking so long?”

“Her mother didn’t have any ID on her,” he explained. “Not a purse, not a wallet, not even a driver’s license in her pocket.”

She frowned. “That’s strange.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Were there any registration papers in the glove compartment?”

“Yeah. According to them, the car belongs to a Myra Bedford in Los Angeles.”

“But you don’t think the woman driving the car was Myra?”

“We know she wasn’t. About an hour after the accident, Myra Bedford reported her vehicle stolen.”

Now Jackie was really looking confused. He didn’t blame her. The situation was bizarre to say the least.

“Myra Bedford was visiting her daughter in Courage Bay. She went shopping in the Super Value Mall with her three-month-old grandson yesterday afternoon, and when she came out of the mall, she found her Taurus wagon missing.”