Behind the Pines (The Gass County Series Book 3) Page 4

  Before tucking the throw around him, covering his skin, she studied him. Again. His length, even now in complete relaxation, the nice shade to his skin, the pattern of dusted cinnamon freckles on his bare shoulders, and the light sprinkle of brown hair trailing between his nipples. Nipples decorating a most magnificent chest: wide, hard, skin looking soft as expensive silk. His legs were long and muscular, dusted in dark hair, and with oomph she had placed them both on the soft armrest of the suede couch and then tried to pull the blanket over him, unable to cover his shoulders and feet at the same time.

  On tiptoes she walked back to the hallway to check the front door. It was locked and she let the porch light continue to gleam in the darkness of the evening before returning to the rocking chair and the man on the couch.

  “What time is it?”

  A voice woke her, and slowly she lifted her face away from the fabric of the rocking chair only to notice a small spot of drool on the beige fabric, feeling a pattern from the lines of corduroy going in waves on the side of her face. With tired eyes she peered at Brody, half sitting on the couch, blanket pooling at his taut waist.

  “Um, one thirty,” she responded and didn’t make an effort to hide a yawn.

  “Have you been here the whole time?”

  “Um, yeah.” She sat up straighter in the chair, the motion rocking it gently.

  “Why?” His voice was rusty from slumber.

  “You fell asleep earlier and I didn’t want to just leave when you said you might be drowsy from medicine.”

  “That should have been your first clue to leave.”

  “What’s the second?” she asked, shaking her head at his nonsense.

  “Um, we don’t even know each other. For all I know, you could be an axe murderer or a thief.”

  “Thanks for the high regards, idiot,” she muttered and threw off the blanket that had hugged her in warmth.

  “Hey, don’t get snippy with me.” Brody held up his hands in defense. “It’s the truth.”

  “If I was an axe murderer, I doubt you would have even woken up. Instead your dissembled body would be scattered around this place.” Sunshine gestured around the room. “And, yeah, I might not be rich but surely you could see I’m no thief.”

  She watched as Brody’s drowsiness started to wear off and he ran his hand through his short hair. “So, why are you here then? Taking advantage of someone under the influence? Very low if that is true.”

  “Honestly, Brutus is at the vet for a surgery and won’t be back for a few days and—” She stopped and licked her lips.

  “And?” he probed.

  “And I felt too scared to be all by myself in my trailer, all right. There you have it. You know what it looks like out there: no light, thick forest, and a car that only starts when it wants to. Not the best place to be when the man you’re looking for hasn’t been found yet.”

  “Yeah, not the best combo you got there.”

  “I did some shopping at Harold’s and while I spoke to Truly about the problem, a man behind me in line told me to come and see you. I know we’ve had an awful start, and you probably hate me, but maybe you know of a place I could stay for a while? Being a sheriff and all, maybe you have some pointers on where to turn.”

  “Who was the guy?”

  “John, Joseph . . . something.”

  “Jefferson?” He grinded his teeth and shook his head.

  “Yes, that’s right. You know him?”

  “Do I know him? As close as brothers.”

  “I’m sorry, I just panicked, felt too scared to go home and took his advice. Surprising moment of weakness.”

  “Great, fuck. It’s too late to find you a place right now. I have a spare bedroom.” Brody pointed down the hallway. “You can have that room for tonight. But only one night.”

  He rose and stared down at his naked chest, pulling the blanket around his waist, covering his boxers. With a quick glare at Sunshine he noticed a smile at the corner of her mouth and silently cursed Jefferson for telling her to come over.

  “This is it.” Brody flicked on the lamp at the nightstand in the guest bedroom and stood back, running a large hand through his hair. “Feel free to use the bathroom down the hall. Now, if it’s not too much trouble, I’m going to sink back onto the couch and get a few more hours of blissful sleep from these pills.”

  As he walked out, leaving Sunshine standing in the middle of the room, he took a last glance before closing the door, perfectly timed to witness the pale, freckled skin of her naked back as her shirt came over her head and fell to the floor. Something inside his chest restricted his breathing, and he tried to strangle the feeling.

  Chapter Eight

  Brody’s large boots slammed against the floor of the hospital corridor. Not that his step was hard, but the bare green walls heightened every sound there was. If it wasn’t the soles of his shoes, it was his breathing. And every time he tried to control the sound of his exhale, it came out even worse. Each door had a number and he was happy he wasn’t walking the endless hallways of the university hospital where Wayne had received most of his treatment but in Primrose Valley. Here, door numbers never went beyond two digits and he rarely witnessed severely injured patience, unless there wasn’t a chance in hell they’d make it to a larger facility with more specialists on staff. “Thirty-two,” he mumbled and coughed nervously, before he pushed in the door to the hospital room. “Good morning, Wayne. How are you today?”

  “Hey, morning, Brody. How’s it going?”

  “Didn’t realize you got off daddy duty this early, Jefferson. It’s not even seven thirty.”

  Jefferson leaned back in the chair next to the hospital bed, on which a large yellow blanket cradled Wayne’s long legs. “He just brought me coffee.” Wayne held up a cup sporting the logo of the local bakery that Brody visited daily. “Celebrating now that it’s my last day here at this nut house. No more therapy, no more antidepressant drugs. I’m a free man with a free mind and body. It feels freaking amazing. I’m ready to leave any minute you are, Brody.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Brody swiped away moisture at the back on his neck and watched Jefferson and Wayne halt their cups of coffee, and stared at him. In silence.

  “What?” Wayne broke the silence, looking at his friend, obviously troubled by something.

  “Yeah, you can’t stay with me at the moment.” Brody chewed on the inside of his mouth, not daring to look Wayne in the face.

  “But, we already decided this. If I can’t stay with you, I won’t be released. What the hell, man?”

  Jefferson rose from his chair and finished the rest of his coffee, then placed the empty cup in the trash can by the wall. “He’s got a girl and he’d rather not replace her with you.”

  “It’s actually his fault.” Brody pointed across the small room at Jefferson, who looked back at them both in disbelief.

  “My fault,” he repeated and pointed at his own chest. “How can this be my fault?”

  “You were the one who told that girl it was a good idea to stay at my place. Remember, you met her at Harold’s? Does any of this ring a bell?”

  “Oh, yeah. She was cute and frankly terrified. I didn’t know what else to tell her. You’ve housed people before and she had nowhere to go.” Jefferson’s threw his hands up in defense. “Because you,” he pointed at Brody, “haven’t captured that guy who escaped from prison and she was scared. Everyone knows you have a large house, spare bedrooms, and you are, after all, the sheriff. How can it be wrong? I feel more like I saved her . . . and she was cute.”

  Brody’s sucked in a deep breath and, to steady his rage, he slowly blew it out between his lips and watched as Wayne tossed off the blanket, whipped off his green hospital gown, and pulled on jeans and shirt. “You are taking me home, Brody. There is not another answer to this. That chick has to find another place to stay. You promised me first and I will go nuts if I have to stay here another night. Do you hear me? Not one more night.” A bear couldn’t have
growled less.

  “Fine.” Brody blew out steam and glared at Jefferson, who raised his shoulders in an apology.

  * * *

  Brody pulled on the string under the lampshade and let the room bathe in the darkness of the evening. “What a day,” he mumbled, raking his hands through his short hair, releasing sigh after sigh in the darkness. If this level of stress kept up, he would grow bald before he turned fifty. Downstairs he heard another flush from the bathroom and the door to the guest room closing. Wayne had made himself at home in the vacated spare room the second Sunshine had packed her meager belongings and hitched the large bag over her shoulder and headed out the door. Before Brody left, Wayne had nodded in approval of the young woman, which gave Brody the opportunity to punch him in the shoulder. He knew Sunshine was pretty. He also knew he had no dibs on her, and he didn’t even know why he’d thought of her at all. Yet, something inside him had burned that evening he’d seen her without a shirt on, even though it was just a bare back, a spine, and white delicious skin.

  “Gah . . .” Brody turned and punched the pillow, not so much to smooth out the pillow but to release aggravation. Most definitely because something about Sunshine had stirred his insides and he wasn’t sure how the heck to deal with it. The darkness of the room made nothing easier—quite the opposite. There was nothing to look at to distract him from Sunshine’s image, and in an attempt to find diversion, he turned the light back on, only to find himself looking at the clock on the nightstand and wondering what Sunshine might be doing at this time of the evening. Maybe she was in bed and slept without clothes on?

  “No, I’m not going to. My self-discipline is better than this,” he mumbled into the pillow, not wanting the sound to travel in the vents through the old house. His mind stirred and his fingers ran from his head down his chest to land on the comforter between his legs. He shook his head at his useless attempt to control his mind: he had an erection, and it was all because of Sunshine. He found it impossible to stop imagining what the front of her body might look like compared to her back. If her skin was just as pale, if there was a dusting of cinnamon-colored freckles across her chest, and if her nipples were the same rosy colors as her lips. His mind didn’t let up and there was no use fighting what was coming, instead he reached under the comforter and found his cock, hard and throbbing. With just a few strokes, he swallowed hard and imagined it being Sunshine’s hand instead of his, or even better, her mouth.

  “Fuck,” he hissed and released the grip of his cock, letting it rest in his hand, knowing if Sunshine had been in his bed, the sheet around him would have stayed dry, and it would have been her mouth that would have been wet.

  Chapter Nine

  Brody was as handsome in profile as he was head-on, and while she couldn’t resist a glance in his direction, she made sure it was a short one before she shifted her gaze and looked out the windshield. Being in the same vehicle, sitting side by side, ratcheted her senses to a level of madness that nearly took her breath away. She’d noticed it before, during the visit at Hayley’s salon, when she’d sat down in the chair next to Brody, who’d been having his hair cut. Even being in the same room with Brody was like walking on hot, slippery lava, and when he’d turned to look at her with those eyes and said nothing but a hello, it had felt as if she’d grabbed hold of a live wire or poked a finger in a light socket.

  He turned at the next light and rolled into a stop at the animal hospital. “This is your stop,” he’d said without looking over, his eyes focused on something at the horizon, his fingers drumming the steering wheel.

  “Thanks for dropping me off. I’ll be off your back in no time.” Sunshine closed the door to the cruiser and got Brutus out from the backseat, who was ever so happy to sniff the air and the occasional pee stain at the sidewalk outside the veterinarian’s office. She walked around the cruiser and allowed enough time to let Brutus get accustomed to the environment and to relieve himself before she opened the door to the clinic.

  “Sunshine.” Brody’s voice stopped her in her tracks and she grabbed a tighter hold on Brutus’s leash, the dog already halfway into the building.

  “Yes?” she mustered, wrapping the leash around her wrist more securely.

  “He’ll be fine. He’s a big dog with thick skin, in more than one way,” he said, and pushed his sunglasses up on his nose before placing the transmission into drive and pulling out from the curb.

  “You too, I hope. Sorry,” she answered, feeling the light prickle of heat starting at her neck and blossoming on her cheeks.

  She knew what he meant, but a dog, no matter the size, running across an icy pond in the late afternoon, just to go through the sharp edges and bathe in the cold water, could have hurt himself. She remembered how her voice had carried from the shore of the small lake, across the field, and into the backyard of Brody’s residence. She’d been lucky he’d been out back cleaning up the mess Brutus had made of his mother’s gnome garden, pushing over figurines and fairy houses on his quest to chomp up a squirrel that had had the nerve to run down the trunk of a pine tree and onto the largest of statues.

  While out for a jog, Brody had seen her by the shore waving her arms frantically. Something was not right. Then he’d seen the dark figure out on the ice trying to hold on to a piece of cracking ice, and he’d sped up. He’d worked shirtless, rimmed in the last dazzle of sunlight, with his worn-out jeans riding low on his lean hips. She’d swallowed hard at the sight, palms sweaty, and not just because of Brutus’s situation. Her heart pounded with a longing she didn’t want to acknowledge, let alone give any more thought. He was a cop. She knew the type. She knew to stay away.

  Yet her mind said otherwise, or was it her heart? Now that is a man. He’d pulled Brutus’s large body up on the ice and by scooting back on his bottom with the soaked dog in his lap he made it back safely to the shore. With a sigh, he retrieved the blue-and-red-checkered shirt from the shore and pushed his arms into its long sleeves, but left it open. The hard muscles of his abdomen rippled as he completed the process. Goosebumps spreading across his skin, prickling his nipples into hard rocks. She had a hard time keeping her focus solely on her dog, but when he looked over and noticed she was staring, he’d smiled and nodded to Brutus, telling her to keep a closer eyes on him.

  Maybe staying in a rented room in town had its perks over going back to the trailer.

  Chapter Ten

  “It’s been so long since we’ve just had girl-to-girl time, you and I,” Hayley giggled and elbowed Sunshine in the ribs as they were sweeping up strands of hair from the floorboards of Hayley’s rustic salon. The place was straight out of a Country Western romance novel where wood mixed with flowers and bull horns on the walls. The woman wasn’t exactly an angel, but Holy God could she cut hair.

  “Hardly a way I’d choose to spend the evening if I’d ever planned a get-together with friends,” Sunshine muttered, wiping off another drop of sweat making its way down her brow.

  “Oh, come on!” Hayley shouted, crouched underneath a leather-covered seat, hand sweeping the metallic pedals. “We haven’t seen each other in way too long, and I’m sorry I didn’t bring you over to Rick’s for a drink.” Suddenly she stood, rubbed her long fingers with nails decorated in bright pink across her chin and smiled like the devil. “But I do have something else.” She smirked and crossed the floor to the front door, pulled the blinds shut and rechecked that the door was closed. “Follow me to the kitchen. I have something that would suit us just perfect after an evening like this.”

  Sunshine held tight to her broom and watched her friend turn the corner into the kitchenette that held nothing more than a small fold-out table attached to the wall and two white chairs. A small fridge, a microwave, and a sink demanded space along the wall. Hayley was standing with her back against the doorway as Sunshine placed her broom in the corner and sat herself down at the table, admiring the miniscule angel at its center clutching a comb to her chest.

  “This is the cutest little
thing, Hayley. Where did you get it?”

  Hayley glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “My mom gave me that the last time she was here from Austin. I’m her only girl and her angel. She might have also heard the possible rumor of not being an angel in this town, with the boys I mean.” She sighed, knowing how much the senior knitting group had disliked her too-short shorts and tight top, promoting fifteen-minute haircuts to all men of the senior center one morning.

  Sunshine let her fingers touch the white porcelain of the figurine before a tall glass of white appeared at her hands, a lemony aroma filling the room.

  “What’s this?” she asked sniffing the drink in her hand.

  “Lemon drop martini, but in a tall glass. I don’t have the proper glassware for these things here, but tastes just the same, if not better, in a tall glass.” Hayley raised hers for a toast and waited for Sunshine to treat her to the same honor.

  “To a long week of meager earnings and lots of back pain.”

  Hayley laughed, clinked her glass with Sunshine’s, and took a long sip of the cold drink, a world of citrus and burning vodka coming alive in Sunshine’s mouth, and she breathed out a sigh of contentment.

  “This,” she said to Hayley, “is exactly what I needed.”

  One hour and a second empty glass later, Sunshine and Hayley rested their backs against the wall, swirling their glasses in their hands.

  “Oh, Sunshine, you’re in love with Officer Jackass.” Hayley giggled and went up to mix another drink. Sunshine, too relaxed to care about the effects, sighed heavily and closed her eyes.

  “How does anyone know if they’re in love, Hayley?”

  “Haven’t you been before?”

  “Yeah, but that wasn’t right in the end.”