Good Girls Don't Read online

  Leave it to a brother to boost a girl’s spirit. She had a brief fear that Luke Asher had only checked her out because he’d been worried about her health. But surely her breasts looked okay despite the pale worry on her skin.

  “Go,” Eric said.

  “What about you?”

  “I’m going to stay to help Jamie close down tonight.”

  “Eric, it wasn’t his fault.”

  “I didn’t say it was.” The flat tone of his voice belied the words.

  She felt Jamie’s presence at her back before he spoke. “You didn’t have to say it,” he growled. “We all know exactly what you’re thinking.”

  Eric sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

  “I know you think I’m an eternal screwup, Eric, but there’s no question I set the alarm. Even you can’t argue with that.”

  “No, but somebody turned it off.”

  “And?”

  “And you’re the one who hires the extra bartenders around here. We both know their qualifications rarely extend beyond ‘guys you once partied with.’”

  “Fuck you, Eric. That’s not true. I hire guys who are good with the customers.”

  “And not so good with showing up on time or coming in when they’re supposed to work.”

  Tessa held up her hands to try to stop the violent tension spinning through the room. “Guys, just—”

  “You’re a real asshole,” Jamie snapped. “Besides us, the only people who have the alarm code are Wallace and the guys who’ve closed down the front room, and they’ve all worked here for at least three years. Some of the temp help I’ve brought in might not have been ideal, but they only ever work fill-in.”

  Eric shrugged, his mouth still tight with disdain.

  “I’d like to see you try to run the front,” Jamie said. “It requires personality. Ever heard of it?”

  “Stop!” Tessa ordered. “Just stop. Everybody’s tense. So—” Before she could finish, Jamie walked out. Tessa almost stopped him. Her instinct was to calm things down. Make them both apologize. But she didn’t have the energy, not with all that hung over their heads. So instead of picking up the threads of her family and trying to weave them back together as she always did, Tessa let them hang there and walked away.

  She was tired, as Eric had so kindly pointed out. Tired of playing the peacekeeper. Tired of trying to fix things. But it didn’t matter if she was tired. She couldn’t imagine how exhausted Eric must have been those first few years, when he’d taken on two teenagers and the brewery. He’d done his part to keep the family together; Tessa could do her part, too.

  But she was starting to worry that she didn’t know how to fix this mess. Jamie might not have screwed up the alarm, but he’d done something far worse. The chances that the High West deal would go through…she knew they were low. Really low. But she couldn’t give up hope. Not yet.

  She waved a listless goodbye to Jamie just as the first group of office workers walked into the bar, relief hanging around them like a cloud. Their workday was over. It was almost over for Tessa, too. Almost.

  She pulled the ponytail holder from her hair and shook out as much tension as she could. The drive to the High West office would take nearly an hour with the traffic. Roland Kendall almost certainly wouldn’t be there, but she had to try.

  And in the meantime… Tessa fluffed her hair and cranked up the stereo.

  She meant to think of nothing. Driving soothed her. Something about the road and the music and the hum of the engine. It was the only place she could just be and not think. But today it didn’t work. Today the music made her think of Luke Asher.

  He’d been a quiet kid, but now he looked mysterious. Almost dangerous. Dark and strong. As if she could lean on him and he’d banish her problems with one cold look.

  Maybe it was just the hint of forbidden fruit. Her older brothers had rarely brought friends around when she was a kid. When they had, as Jamie had said, there’d been no introductions made. It was an unwritten rule that male friends were not allowed to simply hang around the house as if they lived there. But that hadn’t stopped Tessa from watching their brief visits with close attention.

  Yeah. Forbidden fruit. And big strong shoulders. The kind of man who’d take care of all her problems, or at least make her forget them.

  But at that moment, the fantasy was so far-fetched that Tessa switched off the music and set aside thoughts of Detective Asher. He might be able to solve the mystery of the robbery, but there was nothing he could do about the tangled mess Jamie had created. If anyone was going to do the rescuing today, it’d be her.

  So she squared her shoulders and rode off into the sunset, clutching the steering wheel as if it were a weapon. Tessa to the rescue, one more time.

  LUKE SUSPECTED ONE of the university students was behind the robberies. Not because he hated college kids—he only marginally disliked them—but because a college kid would fit the profile. Smart, tech-savvy, daring and in need of quick money. That also described the kids who’d dropped out of school and never managed to quite leave town. And there were a lot of those. Then, of course, there were the educated meth heads. Plenty of those around, too. In other words, without fingerprints or a hot lead, this case would be solved by running down every tiny detail, even the ones that seemed inconsequential.

  Luke ran the surveillance video one more time, just for the hell of it. It offered little detail. At around 1:15 a.m., a shadow crossed the video of the loading dock. A few minutes later, it crossed again. This repeated a few more times, and that was it. No body, no height, no description. Just an approximate time of the robbery, and he’d already had that.

  He backed up the digital feed a little farther, then farther still, looking for movement, just in case someone had cased the back door earlier in the evening.

  But the only person who appeared was a woman with a blond ponytail and a happy smile. Tessa Donovan.

  Luke very purposefully didn’t pause the video and look at her. Instead, he shut it down entirely just to avoid the temptation. She was cute, and that was that. There were thousands of cute women in this city. Granted, most of them were way too young for him, but then so was Tessa. Oh, she was past college age, but her eyes were still clear and bright and happy. She made Luke feel ancient.

  “I’m heading home,” Simone said, gathering up her purse and briefcase. She wasn’t quite waddling yet, but she was definitely moving with more care. Luke shut his computer down and grabbed his own stack of work. “Here,” he said, reaching across his desk to grab for her heavy case. “Let me get that.” But she was still quick enough to jerk the briefcase out of his reach before he could touch it.

  “I’ve got it,” she muttered, irritated by his offer of help. Lately, she always was, and that pissed Luke off. They were partners, damn it. They were friends, or they once had been.

  “It’s seven,” he said as he followed her toward the front door. He watched her back as she shrugged. “You’ve been here since eight. You shouldn’t be working these kinds of hours.”

  She slammed the door open with both hands, the briefcase banging against the glass. “You’re working them.”

  “Simone. Don’t be stupid.”

  Her shoulders snapped straight and she stopped so quickly that he had to grab her arm to keep from knocking her over.

  “What,” she ground out, “is that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to guess from your reaction that you feel stupid about something.”

  “Luke—” She cut herself off at that one word, but he could read fury and sadness and resentment, all tied up in that one syllable.

  She walked on, heading straight for her car, but he followed, waiting until she opened her door and ditched her bags. Before she could slip into the driver’s seat and escape, he put a hand across the door. “Please talk to me.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “I know that, damn it. It’s pretty obvious. Why?”

  “It’
s none of your business.”

  He felt a sharp stab of pain and a sudden anger. He tried his best to tamp it down, but some of it leaked past his hold. “It is my business, because the whole town thinks I knocked you up.”

  “So tell them that you didn’t.”

  “And then what? They’re going to want to know who did, and I can’t answer that question. What the hell are they going to think about you, then?”

  “I don’t care.” Her face was as blank as any hardened criminal’s under interrogation. She’d always been good at that, but Luke used to be the one she’d actually talk to.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” he growled.

  She met his gaze with a cool stare, and when he tossed up his hands and backed away, Simone simply got in her car and shut him out. He felt the dull, hard thud of the door all the way through his body.

  If he had knocked her up, he could understand this, but he and Simone had never had sex.

  Luke retreated to his own car, then sat there with the windows down, trying to breathe his way to calmness. After a few minutes, he made his hands unclench from the steering wheel, and he laid his head back. The sun was setting and the breeze was cool enough to soothe his temper. He heard the subtle whir of a pack of bikes sliding past the parking lot. Then the click of dog claws against the cement. His gut still burned, but the rest of him was calm when his phone rang. By the time he raised it to his ear, Luke had convinced himself it was Simone calling to apologize.

  “Asher,” he said neutrally.

  “Hi, this is Tessa Donovan.”

  His head snapped up so quickly that the world blurred around him.

  “Am I bothering you?” she asked.

  Tessa Donovan? “No, it’s fine,” he managed to say.

  “You’re not in the middle of a big murder investigation or something?”

  Luke smiled. “No, we don’t get a lot of those around here. Luckily there are enough lesser crimes to keep me busy.”

  “Luckily!” She laughed, and the sound was richer than he’d expected, not the least bit like a giggle at all.

  “So what can I help you with?” he asked.

  “Well, I don’t seem to have a dinner companion. Could you help with that?”

  “Um.” Not the smoothest answer, but Luke’s brain was having trouble making the transition. “Pardon me?”

  “Dinner? I’m driving up from Denver right now, but I’m almost home. I could be changed and ready in forty-five minutes.”

  “For dinner.”

  “Yes. Unless it’s against the rules. I don’t want to get you put on desk duty because I’m a material witness.”

  Luke found himself grinning at his dashboard. “You didn’t witness anything. And you watch too much TV.”

  “Wow, you figured that out quick. You really are a detective.”

  Shit. She was cute as hell. “I promised your brother I’d stay away from you.”

  “Really? Well, that’s interesting. Which brother?”

  “Jamie.”

  “He told you to stay away from me?”

  “He did.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  Luke wasn’t stupid enough to offer up his divorce at this point, not even the truthful version of it. Especially not the truthful version. “Why? Because I’m a man. And you’re his little sister.”

  She chuckled again, and this time it was a soft, sensual sound. “Well, what my brother doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

  Yikes. Luke’s brain stuttered, preventing him from coming up with a witty response. Or any response at all. Dinner was tempting enough, but when she said something naughty like that…

  Luke glanced over at the empty space where Simone’s car had been parked. He thought about going home to his empty condo and having yet another cold sandwich for dinner. He’d promised Jamie he’d stay away from Tessa, but this wasn’t medieval England. Tessa was right. What Jamie didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  “Should I pick you up?” he asked.

  His question met silence, but he was sure he could actually hear her smiling.

  “Absolutely,” she said before rattling off her address.

  When Luke hung up, anticipation was streaking along his nerves like fireworks. Hadn’t he just been telling himself that she wasn’t his type? Then again, what was his type? Jaded and dumped like him? What a tragedy that would be.

  Still, Tessa Donovan was a complication he didn’t need. Too sweet to be a quick hookup. Too innocent to date a guy who’d already been married and divorced. This was going nowhere. But he needed some kind of distraction for a few hours, and he was damn glad the distraction was going to be her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TESSA PUT HER HANDS on her hips and made a slow turn, watching herself in the bathroom mirror. The shirt was perfect. Vivid blue and draped just right so that it looked entirely modest even though the neckline scooped low. She leaned slightly down to be sure she was showing just the right amount of cleavage—a lot. Perfect. Luke Asher had only seen her in Levis and T-shirts. Hopefully he’d like skinny jeans and high heels even better. She knew her ponytail made her look like she went to the U, so Tessa had quickly blown out her hair and left it down. She added some red lipstick to top off the look, then gave her reflection a nod.

  Jamie was working the bar tonight, and Eric was closing up with him, so she didn’t have to worry she’d run into one of them. And that was a good thing. She had enough to worry about.

  As she’d expected, Roland Kendall hadn’t been at his office. She’d had no idea what she was going to say to him, anyway; she just needed to know which cover-up to enact. Was it a matter of swearing Jamie to secrecy and hoping that Monica Kendall never told a soul? Or was it DEFCON level 5, wherein she pulled off the miracle of calming down an angry father while simultaneously convincing him to go through with the deal and forget he ever saw a thing?

  It would be difficult, but she was sure she could pull it off. Hadn’t she convinced the principal not to call Eric that time she’d been caught skipping class to go river rafting? Hadn’t she gotten Jamie off a year-long academic probation without even a hint to Eric that anything was going on? If she could handle the public education system, surely she could handle one sixty-year-old businessman. His daughter was a grown woman, after all. Maybe Roland Kendall wasn’t even upset.

  It was a foolish and stupid hope, and that’s exactly why she’d called Luke Asher. She couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. She’d go crazy. Five minutes into her drive home from Denver, she’d been close to hyperventilating. Luke had been the only thought strong enough to distract her.

  And she hadn’t been able to shake the appeal of his quiet strength. He was a man who needed nothing from her. No emotional tiptoeing. No complicated negotiations. No pretense of sweet temper and sisterly innocence. Whatever Luke was interested in, it was something he might want from her, but not something he expected.

  Ignoring the brief thought of how pissed her brothers would be if they knew about the men she’d dated, Tessa gave herself one last review before she switched off the light and walked out of her room. Her heels snapped against the old wood floors of the house. The floors needed refinishing, but every time she considered it, she decided it could wait another year. This was the house they’d all grown up in. It was the house where her parents had raised them. Every scar on the oak was a story, and she didn’t want to let those stories go.

  She wanted everything to stay the same.

  Entering the living room just in time to hear the hum of a car pulling up to the front curb, she bit back a smile, then waited for the knock on the door before walking toward it. She hadn’t listened to all of Eric’s advice about boys—in fact, she’d ignored most of it—but she had found him to be right about some things. Men liked the thrill of the chase…almost as much as women did. So Tessa tried to encourage a good give and take. She might ask a man out, but she wouldn’t rush breathless and smiling to the door. She might let him get to thir
d base on the first date, but then she might not answer his calls for a week. It kept things interesting, and that was just the way she liked it.

  Though when she opened the door it was damn hard not to grin in nervous excitement. Luke looked like he had stories to tell and things to teach her. His black hair had the slightest unruly wave to it. His brown eyes were dark as chocolate, but hard with sadness. His body was hard, too, and lean. He’d changed out of his work clothes, and now wore black slacks and a pale blue shirt. His eyes traveled down her body so quickly that Tessa would’ve missed the glance if she hadn’t been watching for it. He was good.

  “You look great,” he said.

  “Thank you.”

  “Where would you like to eat?”

  “Why don’t you surprise me?” she suggested as she locked the door behind her. “Take me to one of your favorites.”

  She could feel him watching her, but when she turned around, she didn’t catch even a flicker of his eyes. Yeah, he was good. Some sort of cop skill, maybe.

  And a gentleman. When she walked down the porch steps, Luke put his hand under her elbow, and he didn’t even accidentally brush her breast with his fingers. Still, a sizzle crept up her arm where his skin touched hers. The pads of his fingers were slightly rough and made him seem that much more intriguing.

  He opened the car door and when she slipped in it smelled like leather and…perfume?

  “Did you just finish another date?”

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he got into the car. “Excuse me?”

  “It smells like perfume in here.”

  “That’s from my partner. Maybe her soap or something.”

  “Oh, your partner is a woman? The pregnant woman?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that weird? Having a female partner?”

  He cleared his throat. “It’s not weird, no. She brings stuff to the table that I don’t have.”

  Tessa smiled. “I’d hope so.”