Back in the Bedroom Read online

“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?”

  At her back, his fingers slid beneath the material of her blouse. “I don’t trust promises.”

  She knew he had a good reason to feel that way and her heart squeezed. “Well, how’s this for one you can trust?” Unbelievably touched by this man and unbelievably turned-on, she wrapped him in her arms. He really was her man in black, still her superhero with the surprisingly soft center, her everything. She put her mouth to his ear and let out a slow breath, gratified to feel his arms tighten around her. “I promise to dr