Glad that they were back on friendly terms, Jason reached and took her hand in his, gratified when she didn’t pull away. He didn’t want them to be enemies. If the arousal stirring inside him at the touch of her skin was any indication, he wanted something much more.
“Will you tell me about it? Is he still an issue?”
If this guy was making life difficult for Brinley Jason would happily get involved. Holding himself very still, he waited while she decided if she could trust him. Even in the moonlight he could watch the expressions flit across her features one by one until she settled on acceptance.
“No, he’s not a problem any longer. He really wasn’t even before I left Chicago.” Still holding his hand, she tugged him back to the fallen log where they’d been sitting earlier. “I think I better start at the beginning.”
Jason settled next to her while she gathered her thoughts. He wished he didn’t have to make her talk about something that was obviously upsetting but he didn’t have a choice. It was the life in law enforcement… Weeding through good people to find the bad. Sometimes innocents could get hurt in the process.
“I met Tom when I was teaching his daughter. He came to a parent-teacher conference and he was—oh, I don’t know—charming, I guess. Very charismatic. He had money and connections and he swept me off my feet. I kept saying that we couldn’t date and that it wouldn’t be ethical but he continued to send flowers and gifts. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
A million warning bells went off in Jason’s brain all at once hearing her describe some rich douchebag who pouted when he didn’t get what he wanted. Brinley seemed too down to earth to fall for a guy like that.
“So I finally went out on a couple of dates with him.” She groaned and rested her head in her hands for a moment. “To say that he and I weren’t compatible is an understatement. He wanted someone to listen to him. Adore him. Needless to say after two dates I told him I didn’t think things were going to work out between us. That’s when the trouble started.”
“Sounds like he needed an attitude adjustment,” Jason observed, ready and willing to give the lesson if need be. “So he started stalking you.”
“Not right away. At first it was more subtle. He spread rumors about me at the school. Made it difficult to work there. Then he went to the board and said I wanted to keep his daughter Cicely back for second grade. It wasn’t even true. Cicely had issues but academics weren’t one of them. Mostly she wanted attention from her father and she didn’t care much how she got it. She was a real behavioral problem.”
“And the board listened to him,” Jason prompted. “Sided with him?”
Brinley rubbed her temple and nodded. “Some of them did, yes. I didn’t find out until later but several of the board members knew what he was like. He’d done this before to another teacher a few years ago. God knows who he’s torturing now.”
She shuddered delicately and he didn’t hesitate to place an arm around her, pulling her close to him. Resting her head on his shoulder, he felt her relax against him. Humbled by her forgiveness and trust, he stroked her hair and let her finish the story at her own pace.
“Even when it was over and he’d moved on to another victim I knew I needed a change. I quit and took another job but it wasn’t what I was looking for. I have a teacher friend who works in Denver who has a friend in Tremont. My family was shocked when I accepted the job but I have no regrets. This was the new start I’d been looking for and not just because of Tom Leeds.” She looked up at him and his heart skipped a beat at her beautiful face outlined in the moonlight. “I never mentioned Tom because I don’t think it could be him. He’s moved on and so have I.”
“He has an alibi and Jared can’t find a connection to Roger Gaines.”
“Because there isn’t one. Tom Leeds is a dead end.”
Jason hoped that was the case. “I just need to make sure. I can’t be too careful with your safety.”
“You worry a lot. I’m fine. No one is going to mess with me with you around to scare them off.”
“That was the plan. But what about that guy tonight? Do I need to scare him off too?”
Jason hadn’t yet met the idiot who had cancelled dinner on Brinley the other night and had only seen him drive away earlier this evening but he would happily let the guy know that he was no longer in the running.
Brinley deserved better.
“Greg? I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again. I told him that it wasn’t going to work out.”
“How did he take it?”
“He wasn’t happy but I think he got the message. There wasn’t really anything between us. We’d only been out a few times. I met him at the coffee shop. We didn’t even kiss.”
Confirmation this Greg guy wasn’t very bright. “Two dates and he didn’t kiss you? He’s a slow mover.”
“Maybe he wasn’t that attracted to me. What do you usually do by the second date?” Brinley slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled. “Forget I asked that. I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Of course he was attracted to you. Who wouldn’t be? I sure as hell wouldn’t be just holding hands with a beautiful and desirable woman. I’d at the very least get a kiss on the first date.”
*
The electricity had been building between Brinley and Jason for the last twenty-four hours. Maybe more. When she’d fallen asleep in his arms last night, she’d never felt more safe and protected despite the fact that she might be in danger. She trusted that Jason would never let anything happen to her.
Now hearing that he found her attractive…even beautiful and desirable made her heart leap at his softly spoken words. Gathering every bit of courage she had inside she gazed into his eyes, curiosity winning over fear.
“Is this our first date?” she asked, trying to sound light and playful but her throat was tight with an unnamed emotion. Arousal swirled in her belly whenever Jason was near. She needed to know if he felt the same.
Jason smiled, a dimple appearing in his cheek. “The night you invited me to dinner was our first date. And then last night when we watched movies together was probably our second. So this would be number three.”
Brinley had a decent idea of what Jason did with a woman on the third date and she wasn’t nearly ready for that. He was a good man and she was attracted to him but she’d been burned before, moving too fast in a relationship.
One step at a time.
“I don’t think those count but we can call this our first date.”
She tried to keep her tone neutral but the words came out rushed and breathless. Wiping her damp palms on her shorts, she tried to rein in her racing heart. The thought of kissing Jason overwhelmed everything and anything.
His hand slid behind her neck and tugged her closer, heat sweeping through her from head to toe. “Then we both know what comes next.”
His hands stroked up and down her spine in a slow, soothing motion that did little to settle the maelstrom of emotions whirling inside. Her bones turned to jelly under his hypnotic ministrations even as her breath hitched at his touch.
She let her hands slide up his strong arms, feeling the hard muscle under her palms. His skin felt warm as her fingers trailed up his shoulders to loop around his neck. He had moved closer, and his lips were mere inches from her own. She could feel his warm breath as his lips slowly descended. He stopped mere millimeters from kissing her.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first day I saw you.”
Then his lips were on hers. The kiss began as a gentle whisper, a brush of his mouth. She’d expected an alpha male such as Jason to devour and dominate but instead he seduced and cajoled, drawing her ever closer. Moth to flame. Magnet to pure steel.
Jason nipped at her lower lip and ran his tongue along the seam until she was practically begging him to dip his tongue inside her mouth. His mouth finally sealed with hers and his tongue began a gentle exploration. The sensuous foray sent desire coursing through her veins and settled low in her abdomen. She pressed closer to his body and answered his tongue with her own. Her head spun and her arousal inched higher as she breathed in his delicious scent. Spicy and distinctly male, Brinley let it wash over her, pulling her further from the horrors of the last two days until they were only people in the world.