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 yearlong 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 third 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.”
“I meant, you know … perspective. Questions I wouldn’t think to ask. Plus, some witnesses or victims are more comfortable dealing with her. It works great.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
Frowning as if she’d insulted him, he pulled out onto the narrow street. “I’m not sweet.”
Boys. Tessa leaned toward him and lowered her voice to a whisper. “It’s okay, Luke. Despite what you’ve heard, men can be sweet and hot at the same time.”
“I see,” he said. “Good to know.”
She couldn’t quite tell if he was blushing, but he was staring hard out the windshield, very carefully not looking at her. Tessa waved at a neighbor who jogged past and felt very glad she’d called Luke. He had a bad-boy aura she found appealing, and yet he was a polite police detective who had no problem working with women. In other words, the guy was smoking hot. She might have to break her third-base rule for him. Though it’d always been more of a gentle suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule. A girl had to keep her options open.
Luke finally spoke. “I was surprised by your call.”
Not a question, but an opening. Tessa made a sound that was equally noncommittal.
“Jamie seemed clear that you wouldn’t be interested
