Her full red lips affected a pout, but she did as he said. “I knew I was going to get caught this time,” she said.

“So, you’re the one. You’re the ex-girlfriend…Sheila, right?”

“Ex,” she said, nearly spitting it out. “I hate that word. Look, you can put away the gun. I’m not dangerous or anything.”

“I don’t think so.” With his free hand, he pulled out his cell again and called the police, even though Eddie had asked him not to. He no longer cared. While he punched in the numbers, he kept an eye on the woman he assumed was as crazy as she seemed.

His father sure could pick them.

When he hung up, she tried a sweet smile. “I just wanted to hurt the schmuck like he hurt me,” she said. “He discarded me like…like week-old trash.”

“Not to be contrary or anything,” he said, “but Eddie discards all women like week-old trash.”

A sound behind him had him taking a quick peek, because he didn’t intend to be taken down by this crazy lady’s thugs again. But instead of thugs, he saw Tessa.

And his mother.

Cheri smiled weakly and waggled her fingers at him. “Um, I need to break in here.” She eyed the hard-looking blonde with interest, then the mess at their feet, and finally Reilly, still holding his gun on the woman. “Honey, is that really necessary?”

Reilly laughed in disbelief. “Yes, very necessary. Mom-”

“Eddie doesn’t discard all women,” Cheri said softly.

“He discarded you-”

She shook her head and made her way closer. “It’s time I told you the truth, baby. Eddie never wanted me to tell you and I’m not sure if that was stubborn pride or misguided loyalty to me,” she said, sighing, “but I discarded him. I was young and stupid and didn’t want to be tied down.” She shook her head and said, “And you want to hear the crazy truth? I’ve been regretting that decision ever since.”

He stared at her. “And you’re telling me this now because…?”

“I don’t know,” Cheri said, lifting a shoulder. “Because you’re acting as if all your troubles are his fault.”

Sheila laughed. “Listen, Mommy Dearest, why don’t you take your boy’s gun away and then turn your head, huh? And I’ll just get the hell out of your hair.”

Cheri lifted a brow. Checked out the mess once more. And slowly smiled.

Sheila did, too, in relief.

“Sorry,” Cheri said, shaking her head. “You’re going to jail, and you’re never going to bother Eddie again.”

Sheila’s smile faded. She muttered, “Hell.”

Sirens sounded in the distance.

Reilly looked at Tessa, who was standing there quietly. “What happened to waiting in the car?”

“I was, but then your mother pulled up and there was no stopping her,” Tess said, smiling when Cheri put her arm around her shoulders. “I couldn’t let her come in here alone.”

Reilly looked around. “Where the hell is Eddie?” he asked.

Sheila laughed and the sound held enough evil that chills raced down Reilly’s spine. He shoved the gun at Tessa and ordered, “Keep this pointed at her until the cops come in. Mom, go show them where we are.”

“Got it,” Cheri said and Reilly ran through the house looking for Eddie.

He found him in his bedroom, tied spread-eagle to the bed. Naked. Eddie had a rueful smile on his face and the phone off the hook near his toes. “Found her, did ya, son?”

Reilly let out a disgusted sound and started on the knots. “You’re a case, you know that?” he said.

“I do.”

Reilly got one foot free. “And you sure know how to pick ’em.”

“Yeah.” Oddly enough, he didn’t say anything more, as if he was…embarrassed, which couldn’t possibly be the case, since nothing embarrassed Eddie.

At least nothing Reilly could think of.

When his father’s hands were free, he sat up, but not in time to catch the robe Reilly tossed him. It hit him in the face. Pulling it down, he said, sighing, “Look, Reilly, about tonight…”

Reilly was certain he did not want to hear this, but just as certain he was going to hear it anyway. “What about it?” he asked.

“I was thinking…maybe you could forget to mention this whole incident to your mother.”

Reilly turned to face him and blinked at the genuine look of remorse on Eddie’s face.

“It’d be a bit mortifying,” Eddie admitted, “to find yourself at the mercy of a woman you don’t want, in front of the woman you do.”

“You…want Mom?”

“From the day I first saw her in gym class.”

“But… All those other women-”

“Hey, I never claimed to be a saint. Besides, for years now she wouldn’t give me the time of day. Playing around…it was a pretty fine way to pass the time when I thought she didn’t want me. But you know what?”

Reilly was afraid to know, he really was.

Eddie arched a brow. “Lately, I’ve got the feeling I’ve got a shot with her. Unless, of course, she’d have seen me up here tonight. That might have sealed it for me, the wrong way.”

The man truly was embarrassed, when Reilly would have bet his last dollar he’d have been laughing like hell over what had happened to him.

It didn’t make sense until he thought about what his mother had said, how she’d left Eddie and not the other way around as he’d always thought.

And wondered why that, in turn, softened him, just a little, when he didn’t want to be softened. “So you’re saying that you’re not quite as smooth as you like everyone to think?”

“Oh, sure. Make me repeat it,” Eddie sighed. “Please. Whatever you think of me, just don’t tell her.”

The man was completely, one-hundred percent serious. Even…earnest. Reilly shifted uncomfortably at the compassion that blindsided him. “I’d promise, but it’s too late, Romeo. She’s downstairs.”

Eddie picked up his shirt and quickly shoved his arms in it.

Reilly sighed and tossed him his pants. “Hurry. Because… Dad?”

At the unaccustomed name, Eddie went still. Swallowed hard. “Yeah?”

“I won’t tell her.”

Reilly staggered back a step when Eddie hugged him hard, and then lifted his hands to hug his father back.

16

THE NIGHT WAS DARK and warm. There was no moon and being Los Angeles, the stars weren’t that bright either, but there was just something about a summer night in Southern California that couldn’t be beat.

Tessa put her hand on Reilly’s when he turned off the engine of his car. They were parked in front of her apartment building and it was very late.

They’d had to stay for the police and then had started to help Eddie clean up his mess, at least until Cheri had softly ordered them to go.

When they’d left, Cheri had been helping Eddie, the two of them quiet. Not an uncomfortable quiet, but the silence of two people comfortable together.

They’d had a lot of time to get that comfortable, Tessa thought, looking at Reilly. Thirty-something years. And she could tell by the warm way the two of them had been looking at each other that maybe things were about to get even more comfortable tonight.

She hoped the same for her.

She didn’t know what had happened between Reilly and Eddie in Eddie’s bedroom, but whatever it had been, it had put Reilly in a quiet, pensive mood. “You okay?” she asked and squeezed his hand. “And I’m not looking for an ‘I’m fine’ here.”

“But I am fine.”

She had to laugh. He was such a guy. “Okay then.”

Reilly looked at her and said, “How about this? When I’m not fine, I’ll tell you.”

That would have to do. Besides, he did look fine. He looked mighty fine. He looked she-wanted-to-see-him-naked fine.

She had no idea what had turned her into such a sexual creature lately, but knew he was a big part of it. She also knew he probably didn’t want to hear that.

He walked her to her door, which she took as a good sign. Her last date had hardly slowed down the car enough for her to jump out.

She hadn’t left any lights on and the porch was pitch-dark. She reached for his hand to show him the way, then unlocked and opened her door. Pushing it open she reached for the lights just inside and flipped them on. Then she turned on the living room lights and also her kitchen overhead, which illuminated her entire place in one fell swoop.

When she looked at him, he was shaking his head. He came close and cupped her face, a small smile curving his lips. “I’m not afraid of the dark,” he said.

“What are you afraid of?” she whispered.

He was silent for a long moment. Then he replied, “Besides enclosed spaces and failing? Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Well…maybe you. Maybe I’m afraid of you.”

“I’m not that scary,” she said, putting her hands over his. “I’m just a woman.”

“Just a woman.” He let out a rough laugh and put his forehead to hers. His hands went to her hips and squeezed before gliding up and down her back.

“I am.” It was hard to think past the brush of his fingers. Tessa skimmed her hands up and over his shoulders, which she never got tired of touching because they were broad and hard with muscle. Then she slid her fingers into his hair, which was short and soft and, as usual, pretty much standing up on end. “I’m certainly not as scary as, say…working in the CIA.”

He bent his head and put his face to her throat, letting out a breath that brought goose bumps to her skin. “You sure about that?”

She pressed closer and felt his body begin to react.

Her body was far ahead of him. “Pretty sure. At least I won’t ever betray you and lock you in a trunk.” She could smell his skin, feel the rumble of his voice and pressed even closer. “I’m not going to hurt you, Reilly, ever.”

“Ah.” His face still buried in her neck, he nodded and took a soft bite out of her flesh that made her knees wobble. “A promise that you can’t possibly keep.”

She tightened her fingers on his hair and lifted his head to look into his light-blue eyes that liked to hide behind a sheet of ice. “You don’t like promises?”