Getting Rid of Bradley Read online

  The windows were gone, replaced temporarily with boards, and the plaster ceiling sagged, and the hole in the middle of the bed had left it only a charred frame.

  Lucy bit her lip. “I don’t care if it wasn’t a big bomb. It did a lot of damage. There wouldn’t have been much left of me.”

  Zack put his arm around her. “You’ve got great instincts, kid, but we shouldn’t be here now. Close the door and come on upstairs.”

  “My quilt.” Lucy looked down at the torn and stained mess on the floor.

  Zack tried to be helpful. “It has to stay where it is for now. The lab people will be back tomorrow to look at it. But maybe after that we can fix it.” He looked down at it doubtfully. “Or something.”

  Lucy tilted her head to look at it. “Is that the way it was on the bed?”

  “I suppose. I pulled it straight off. Why?”

  “It’s sideways. The square from the Confederate uniform goes at the top. I always put it at the top. Now it’s over here. That’s what I noticed, that the quilt wasn’t right.”

  “Good for you.” Zack tightened his arm around her and pulled her away from the door. “Come on. We’re not supposed to be here.”

  He closed the door and put the tape back across it, and they turned toward the stairs. Then from inside the room, there came a loud cracking noise and a massive thud.

  Lucy stopped cold. “Was that another bomb?”

  “No.” Zack opened the door to the attic stairs. “That was your ceiling. Falling. Don’t go back in there, okay?”

  Lucy swallowed. “I don’t think I’m ever going to feel safe again.”

  Zack felt a surge of anger. Lucy loved this house and now some creep was making it a hell for her.

  Then she turned to him, and he forced himself to grin. “Well, I can guarantee that if you go upstairs and get into bed with me, you won’t be safe. I guarantee that you’ll be attacked immediately. All my instincts say so.”

  Her eyes widened, and he held his breath.

  “I thought we were finished,” Lucy said. “I thought you left.”

  “I thought so, too.” Zack stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “I can still go if you want. My instincts could be wrong, for once.”

  Lucy shook her head slowly. “Your instincts are never wrong.”

  “Good.” Zack breathed deeply again and jerked his thumb at the stairs. “Get moving.” She smiled at him suddenly, and he went dizzy just looking at her. “You know, I really like your hair,” he said, trying to keep his voice light.

  “Thank you,” Lucy said, and went up the stairs.

  “You didn’t call Junior, did you?” Zack asked, and followed her.

  ZACK WOKE UP THE NEXT morning, shifting against Lucy, feeling her warm weight as both a memory and a promise.

  Thank God, he was back with her. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to stay with her. But he was going to have to be subtle. Take it slow. Think it through.

  Then he looked down at Lucy, waking slowly, flushed and warm from sleep.

  He’d think it through later.

  Lucy yawned. He bent to kiss her, and she said, “Ouch.”

  “What?”

  “Whisker burn.” Lucy rubbed her cheek.

  “I know, I know.” Zack started to roll out of bed. “I’ll shave.”

  “No!” Lucy caught at his arm and pulled him back. “Don’t shave.” She snuggled up next to him. “I like it.”

  “I thought on the porch the other day you said...”

  “Well, I like waking up with you like this,” Lucy amended. “You’ll have to shave later to go to work, but I like it now. It reminds me of the first time I saw you.”

  Zack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him so he could see her better. “So it’s all right in bed, huh?”

  “Mm-hmm.” Lucy balanced her chin on her folded hands and smiled sleepily into his eyes. “It helps with one of my new fantasies.”

  “Yeah?” Zack shifted a little to center her on top of him for maximum pleasure. “What new fantasy is that?”

  Lucy grinned, the sleepiness in her smile melting into guile. “The one about the innocent schoolteacher and the vicious, uncivilized cop. Want to play?”

  “Sure.” Zack ran his hands up her back. “Who do you want to be?”

  “I, of course, will be the innocent schoolteacher.” Lucy batted her eyes at him.

  “Which makes me the cop. All right, you have the right to remain naked.”

  Lucy laughed.

  “Innocent schoolteacher, huh?” Zack watched her eyes close as he moved his hands over her. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “Why not?” Lucy popped her eyes open.

  “You’re not that good an actress.” Zack rolled and pinned her beneath him.

  “Well, I used to be an innocent schoolteacher,” Lucy said, and then he took her mouth, and she drowned in the heat there. Thank goodness, I’m not anymore, she thought, and then she thought of nothing but Zack.

  THE DAY DRIFTED BY, a mix of unpleasant reminders like the forensics unit showing up to take Lucy’s bedroom apart, and mindless pleasures like laughing over lunch and playing with the dogs in the backyard. Everything was back to normal between them except that they were being very careful not to discuss anything controversial, like marriage. By the time dinner was over, Lucy still didn’t know what she wanted in the future, but she knew what she wanted in the immediate present. She wanted Zack.

  She leaned against the dining-room table and watched him as he sat on the floor and talked to the dogs.

  And wanted him.

  It was a new feeling for her, this helpless love and lust and longing that grew while she watched him. She’d never felt more out of control and had never enjoyed a feeling more.

  She just wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  Zack looked up at her and caught her watching him, and she blinked.

  “Say it,” Zack said.

  “What?”

  “Say it” He grinned at her from the floor, Maxwell in his lap. “I’ve been meaning to mention that to you. You’re about as transparent as window glass.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Every time you start to say something you think you shouldn’t say, you stop and blink.”

  “You’re kidding,” Lucy said, wide-eyed.

  “Nope. Every damn time. Anthony noticed it, too.”

  Lucy felt herself blush. “Well, that’s humiliating.”

  “No, it’s not.” Zack’s smile washed over her, and she stopped blushing. “We thought it was cute. Anyway, the point is, you don’t have to do that with me. There’s nothing that you can’t say to me. Just say it.”

  Lucy opened her mouth and shut it again.

  “Say it” Zack tipped Maxwell off his lap and stood. He stepped toward her and put his face close to hers and his hands on each side of her on the table, trapping her there. “Nothing you can say will shock me. Just spit it out, honey.”

  “Make love to me here,” Lucy said suddenly, as if she had to get the words out fast. “On the dining-room table. Right now.”

  “What?”

  “Now,” Lucy said. “I want you now. On the table.”

  “I was wrong,” Zack said. “I’m shocked.”

  “Well,” Lucy began, and then he put his hands on her waist and boosted her up onto the table.

  “And delighted. Did I mention ‘delighted’?” He moved himself between her knees, parting her legs as he moved closer to her, pulling her skirt up as he moved his hands up her thighs. “Don’t you ever blink again. I might have missed this.” Then he kissed her, and she fell into his heat, moving her hands across his shoulders to the back of his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair as he pulled her hips hard against him and licked his tongue into her mouth. She wrapped her legs around him, and he moved against her once and then stopped.

  “Lucy.”

  “Don’t stop,” she said into his neck. “You feel