CHAPTER 4

ANSWERING the phone had been a bad idea, especially with Rio in the next room. Stupid move. Really stupid. Eddie gave himself a swift mental kick. He’d have to be more careful in the future. No more meds.

Disconnecting the call, he drew a breath and willed away the caught sensation before turning to Rio.

“Sorry.” She shook her head, probably trying to feign nonchalance, and tucked her fingertips inside the waistband of her slacks.

“It’s alright,” he said. So long as she hadn’t heard too much.

She leaned against the doorjamb, leaving lots of risk-free space between them. No need to be so guarded. Eddie had a feeling she could hold her own.

A chill sliced through him and confusion fogged his brain. His legs felt like toothpicks trying to hold up a brick. Everything went black and he stumbled forward.

Seemingly from out of nowhere she caught him. He worried his frame would overpower hers and they’d both end up on the floor. She may be a kickass cop, on more levels than one, but when was a mountain ever stopped by a molehill? He was bigger than her. It was the law of physics, plain and simple.

The molehill moved the mountain toward the couch, proving him wrong. But, just as the law of physics promised, she succumbed to the pressure and they fell together onto the sofa.

Eddie’s hands trembled. What the hell...? He’d been so fixated on not hurting her that a gashing pain had snuck up on him and was now sawing his head apart with a dull hacksaw.

Pills. He needed pills. But he didn’t want them. Drugs meant losing control. Telling his secrets.

No. He could fight this. He could win. He just had to be stronger than the pain.

Her fingers invaded his mouth. She shoved in something that tasted a lot like chalk—damn it, the drugs.

“No, I don’t want it.” He protested, twisting his head back and forth, but she was too pushy. He coughed and she barricaded his mouth with the palm of her hand.

“Swallow it.” Her stern voice reminded him of Mrs. Larche, his second-grade teacher. She was scary. There was nothing scary about Rio, even though all their coworkers thought differently.

Okay. Okay. He’d swallow it. “Water,” he said, barely above a whisper.

“I’ll get you some water. But just lie down, okay? Don’t try to get up.”

“Somebody named Billy called.” Eddie propped his feet on the coffee table.

His mother’s chastising voice entered his head. Eddie, get your feet off the table. He’d heard that plenty of times as a kid.

A quick glimpse at Rio, in the kitchen pouring him a glass of water, she was oblivious of his violation. He slipped his feet off the table, unnoticed.

“Billy called? What’d he say?”

“Just that he’d call you back later.” Eddie studied Rio’s demeanor through his hazed cognizance. He pushed the confusion to the back of his mind, giving his curiosity more room to advance.

She didn’t say anything, just moved toward him with grace. Nothing about her gave away Billy’s identity. Hopefully he wasn’t a boyfriend. That would put a damper on Eddie’s plans.

“He must be a pretty open-minded guy.” He hit her with an open-ended question smothered in enough evasiveness that she might not recognize the masquerade.

“Open-minded?” She tilted her head and set the glass on the table. “Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged and sat, leaving a noticeable space between them.

“Well, I mean, you know, I answered your phone and all...”

She started laughing, one of those cackling wails born more out of absurdity than humor.

Eddie didn’t know what to make of it, but at least he’d diverted her from the phone call she’d walked in on. “I’m glad I could amuse you.” Somehow, insecurity had snuck into his tone. He didn’t like it but it was useful. It made his diffidence appear genuine.

“Aside from the fact that Billy is my cousin—” Rio shook her head. “He’s getting married soon.”

Not that marriage was an ironclad remedy against infidelity, but Eddie didn’t see Rio Laraquette as the type to settle for the role of mistress. “Billy,” Eddie said, and leaned back, relaxing. “He’s your cousin?” It was time to turn the conversation on its side. “By blood?” He let the inquiry hold all the innuendo and insinuation she was bound to imagine.

“Yeah.” She turned toward him, and, as if her legs had drawn too close, she scooted back, keeping her distance. “My biological mother and Billy’s father are—were siblings.”

“At least you can trust family,” he said with such conviction she’d never know he was feigning hypocrisy.

She snorted and showered him with brief hostility. “Well, trust and family don’t mix well where I come from.”

Mine either. Eddie stopped the words from spilling past his thoughts. He was feeling better now, and he wasn’t about to let this turn into a wasted opportunity. “Your trust is better saved for coworkers?” He’d learn, one way or another, where her alliances lay.

She cut her eyes toward him, her face skewing into a scowl.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Well...” She sunk back against the couch. “I have trust issues.”

“Trust issues?” he asked, leaning toward her.

“Thanks to dear ole’ Mom,” she said, her voice edged with irritation.

Eddie’s eyebrows lifted and he left them there until they’d crinkled into a frown. “You and your mother don’t get along?”

“That’s putting it mildly.” If that wasn’t so sad, it might be funny.

“How about your dad?”

Rio’s mood turned bittersweet. “Daddy...” Oh, where to begin. “Daddy means well.” Too bad he wasn’t very good at it. He had no trouble showering Rio with money and gifts, when all she really wanted was love.

“He doesn't like that you’re a cop?”

“He’s not crazy about the idea,” she said, “but he’s not completely against it, either.”

“A little protective, huh?”

“Yes, I suppose so.” Unwanted emotions lingering over from her childhood began to stir and she paused, giving them a mental smack-down. “Seems lately that he’s been trying to make up for my childhood, so he tries to make everything perfect in my life.” Everything materialistic, anyway.

“Can he do that?”

Which one? Reconcile her childhood or compensate accordingly now? She didn’t care to talk about either, but then this look of understanding moved across his eyes. His compelling gaze persuaded Rio to share some of her secrets.

“Well, it’s kind of hard to make up for not one but two dysfunctional mothers.”

“Two?” his inquiry nipped at her.

Well, that’s just great. Why had Rio gone and opened that door? “Yep.” She raised two fingers, one at a time. “Count ‘em. Two.”

His dark eyes showed his curiosity. When he shook his head, she felt a sense of regret. He was going to ask questions. Questions she’d rather not answer.

“Maybe it’s the meds, but...help me to understand how you came by two mothers?”

“Well,” she said, using her fingers as visual aids, “wife number one, bio mommy, split when I was a baby.” Rio had no idea why she was telling this to a virtual stranger, yet she continued on. “Wife number two, the only mother I’ve ever known, couldn’t stand me.” She attempted a laugh, but all she got was a nervous cackle. “That, in a nutshell, is why I have issues. Both my mothers left me without so much as a hi, bye, kiss my ass or nothing.”

“Well, it’s their loss.” He closed his eyes and massaged his forehead.

She leaned toward him and touched his knee. “You doing okay?”

He opened his eyes and swathed her in a tender, ardent gaze. “You?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she said, sinking back into her chair. “I learned to adapt a long time ago.”

“Me, too,” he said softly. “You know...” His words fell into a long, exhaustive sigh. “I’m just so tired. Maybe it’s the meds but I think I need to lie down.”

Rio sprang to her feet and pulled him up by the ankles, coaxing him to lie on the couch.

She grabbed an afghan off the back of a nearby chair and stalled long enough to let her gaze travel over and enjoy the look of his tall, athletic physique before she covered him. His presence gave her comfort.

A sudden chill swept over her arms. She crossed them and strolled toward the wall of windows overlooking the Strip. Millions of lights twinkled against the twilight as the city awakened, right along with her carnal desires. Desires she’d thought she’d locked up tight—until Eddie LaCall came to town.

* * *

Sunlight, bright and evasive, pried Eddie from his slumber. Instantly, he knew he was on Rio’s couch. Vague recollections of passing out last night pierced his ego.

Eddie opened his eyes. Rio was curled up in the recliner, sleeping. Man, that girl was striking with her wild red hair and long, lean legs that could easily wrap around him twice.

He shook those thoughts out of his head but they refused to leave.

Come on, LaCall...get a grip. Considering these affluent surroundings and the expensive car she was sporting around town, this girl had claimed her spot at the top of his list. Better to wrap this up quickly and get the hell out of Dodge.

His cell rang, interrupting his mental preparation. Neither unhappy nor pleased with the distraction, he reached for the phone lying on the coffee table and flipped it open with a one-handed maneuver. “LaCall.”

“It’s Gabe Dalton.” The anxious voice of his new boss poured across the wire. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m at Rio’s,” Eddie said. She began to stir.

“Good,” Gabe’s voice barely broke through Eddie’s fixation on Rio. She sat up, eyes still closed, drew a deep breath and slowly opened her lids to look at him. “I don’t know how to break this to you,” Gabe’s tone grew tense and that cracked Eddie’s concentration.

“Break what to me?” Eddie asked, unable to cage his anxiety.

“I got a call from the fire department,” he said. “There was a fire at your house last night.”

“How bad?” Eddie’s heart rate kicked up a notch.

“You’d better get over there.” Sympathy poured out in Gabe’s voice.

The poise Rio had displayed seconds before drained from her face. It was replaced with timid curiosity. “What...?” She beseeched him to share the details of his conversation.

Eddie disconnected the call and slid the phone into the front pocket of his Levi’s. “There was a fire at my house last night.” He paused, as if that’d change the news. It didn’t. The thought that he could own nothing but the clothes on his back left him with a hollow feeling. “Would you take me there? I’d like to see if I can salvage anything.”