Make Me Melt(28)

Caroline nodded and rolled her lips inward, as if she could still taste him. “Okay. Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.”

“I’ll make us something to eat while you shower,” he offered and lifted her from the table.

“Someday,” Caroline stated, glancing at Eddie’s file, “you’ll tell me about your past and how you got those scars.”

Jason tried to keep his tone light. “Don’t count on it.”

Leaning up, she kissed him briefly. “Oh, but I will. You won’t stand a chance.”

After she left, Jason sighed, knowing she was right. He didn’t stand a chance. While he might want two uninterrupted weeks with her in the bedroom upstairs, now wasn’t the time. But he promised himself that when this was all over, and if Caroline was still interested in him, they’d find a quiet place to hole up and get to know each other better. He just hoped when they did, she wouldn’t be disappointed with what she discovered.





8


CAROLINE SAT NEAR her father’s bed and watched his chest rise and fall. The only sounds in the room were the rhythmic whir of the ventilator as it pumped air into his chest and the steady beep of the heart monitor, reassuring her that he was still alive. She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, willing him not to die. She only knew that she couldn’t lose him.

After a moment, Caroline dropped her head into her hands. Why hadn’t she visited him when she’d had the chance? Why had she stubbornly insisted on remaining so far away for so long? Her reasons now seemed so ridiculous and unimportant.

Let him live, and I’ll come home. I’ll be a better daughter. I’ll make sure he knows how much I love him.

Raising her head, Caroline swiped at her damp cheeks and dragged in a deep breath. Then, setting her shoulders, she pushed herself to her feet and crossed the room to where Jason had left the box of case files on a small table in the corner. She needed to do something to stay occupied, and when she’d suggested to Jason that she could review her father’s case files, he’d been more than happy to let her do that. He’d seemed to understand her need to be useful.

Sitting by her father’s bedside gave her too much opportunity to think, and she didn’t want to overanalyze whatever it was that she and Jason shared.

Despite the fact they’d been as intimate as two people could possibly be, and even though he’d been incredible in bed, ensuring she reached her pleasure before he found his own, he remained emotionally detached. She hadn’t expected a declaration of love, but she’d thought he might have given her some indication of how he felt. But he’d been distant and preoccupied on the ride back to San Francisco. Still, she hadn’t been too concerned until he’d told her that he wouldn’t be staying with her at the hospital that day. Instead, he’d turned his protection detail over to Deputy Black and had left. He hadn’t even given her the courtesy of an explanation or an idea of when he would return.

If Deputy Black knew where Jason was going, he didn’t tell Caroline. She couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with her, if perhaps he’d needed some time to himself. They hadn’t spoken about the previous night, although it consumed all her thoughts.

After he had returned to bed, they’d taken their time exploring each other. He had known just how to touch her, so that before long she was squirming in his arms, desperate for release. They didn’t have a second condom, so he’d used his fingers and mouth to torment her and finally bring her to completion. After that, he’d let her reciprocate, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen anything as erotic and thrilling as Jason Cooper losing control.

But in the morning, his law enforcement persona was firmly back in place, and he was all business. She thought about the file she had seen on the kitchen table for a career criminal named Eddie Green. She only vaguely recalled hearing stories about him when she was a teenager and wished now that she had paid closer attention. What she did know was that her father had sentenced Eddie Green’s brother to death, and Eddie had promised retribution unless his brother was released. That made him a top suspect in Caroline’s eyes.

She quickly examined the folders in the box and then scanned through them a second time. To her dismay, the file for Eddie Green was missing. Had Jason taken it with him? Did he believe that this man was somehow involved in her father’s shooting?

And then she knew.

Jason had gone to see Eddie Green. The file had listed his address as Hunters Point, which was also where Jason had grown up. Caroline wondered if they had known each other, and recalled how Jason had deliberately shut her down when she’d asked that very question. Had their paths crossed when they had both lived in Hunters Point? It would make sense that Jason might have fallen in with Eddie as a kid, which had led to him getting into trouble.

Curious, Caroline went in search of Deputy Black and found him standing outside in the corridor, speaking into his earpiece. When he saw Caroline, he turned away from her and lowered his voice, then abruptly ended the conversation. When he turned around again, she could see the concern on his face.

“Everything okay, ma’am?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Is it?”

He narrowed his eyes, as if trying to decipher the meaning behind her words, before drawing her a little away from the door and the guard who sat outside.