Searching for Winslet (Fallport Rescue Operations #5)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Winslet sat at her kitchen table and stared at her cell. Twenty-five fucking text messages in the last week. Six voice messages. All saying the same thing.

We need to talk.

It’s important.

Call me.

But he never once said he was sorry that he hurt her or that he was married. Or that he lied.

She sighed.

What could be so damn important except to apologize for being a dick? Which she’d take in a text message.

When she’d seen him standing outside that hotel, kissing his wife and his two kids, she’d been mortified. Frozen in space and time. Unable to move or say anything. She stood there like a fucking idiot. When he finally saw her, he didn’t bat an eyelash. He didn’t wave. He didn’t even acknowledge she was there. He got in his car service and left.

Didn’t even have the decency to call.

Nope. They didn’t speak for four days.

She turned around, called an Uber, flew back to Seattle, and informed the department head that she would be unable to give the lecture, hooking them up with someone else. She didn’t know what else to do. She’d been heartbroken.

And humiliated.

All in one split second.

When he finally did call, he didn’t bother with excuses. Or lies. Or an apology. All he had to say was that things had gotten out of hand, but that he was glad the truth had come out. He was tired of the secrecy. But he also needed to end things. He loved his wife, and he had two kids to think about. He even had the nerve to tell her their names and ages.

As if that would make it easier for her.

Well, it only made it worse because it made what she’d done real.

She’d openly had an affair with a married man. She wanted to scrub her body with a Brillo pad.

It would be so easy to call Jett and have him come sit with her while she made this phone call. He was a kind and caring soul. Whatever hang-ups he had in relationships, they didn’t spill over in friendships.

But she had to do this on her own. She helped create this mess and she had to put on her big girl panties and deal with it like the grown-up she was.

She tapped Shamus’ contact information. It rang twice.

“Finally,” Shamus said.

“I take it you’re alone.” Every word that tumbled out of her mouth dripped with sarcasm and disdain.

“I wouldn’t have picked up if I wasn’t.”

“Of course not. If you had, you might risk someone finding out what a two-timing?—”

“I get you’re pissed.”

“You have no idea what I am, but I’m not angry for me. Not anymore,” she said. “However, I didn’t call you back to argue with you. Now, what do you want?”

“I just learned that you’re teaching this semester in Virginia. After Seattle, I heard you were looking for a dig. Imagine my surprise when I found out you’d taken a position there.”

“I’ve taught here before, and you know that.”

“Not the point. I just figured after everything, you’d want to go follow your passion and that’s having your hands in the dirt with old bones.”

Wow. He didn’t really know her at all. While it was true she loved doing that, she much preferred to solve crimes. Working for the FBI, CIA, or any other government agency that wanted to hire out her services, was her true calling. It’s one of the many reasons her grandparents’ case going unsolved for so long made her nuts. “Why does it matter to you what I do?” she asked.

“Because you had to have known I was on the schedule to give a guest lecture in a couple of weeks.”

She dropped her head to the table. So far, two other professors had come in and spoken to different sections of the forensic science department, and she knew there were more scheduled. As a matter of fact, that was always the case. And his coming wouldn’t necessarily affect her three courses. While their specialties almost always intersected in the field, he preferred teaching over digging and working criminal cases.

“I haven’t seen the list of professors and frankly, I’m not sure how you potentially coming here affects me. We don’t have to see each other. Or talk to each other. And if you’re scheduled for my courses, I don’t even have to introduce you.”

“Your team is there. Emory, Jackson, Elizabeth, and Jonah. It would be awkward if you didn’t, especially since they all knew about us. And that’s what concerns me. I’m bringing my family. It was a planned trip from a few months ago.”

She jerked to an upright position, pinched the bridge of her nose, and laughed. Hard. It wasn’t funny. Not even close. “To Fallport, Virginia? Where your ex-mistress was born and raised. Why the fuck would you do that? You have got to be as dumb as a doornail.”

“I’m not going to get into all the details as to why this is happening. It’s not your business. But I’m sure your team all knows by now that I’m married. I need your assurance that if they run into me and my family, they aren’t going to say anything.”

“Are you serious right now?” She glared at the phone. What little love she had left for this man flew out the window. “This is what was so fucking important that you had to call me a million times? You’re worried your wife is going to find out you’re a liar and a cheat? All you want is for me and my friends to help you cover it up after you… you…” No. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d broken her heart. “Jesus, you’re a piece of work.”

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask of you or your friends. My wife hasn’t done anything to you. My children are innocent in all this. What do you want me to say?”

“How about I’m sorry for being an asshole,” she muttered. “But at this point, it’s honestly too late.” And sadly, the tears she’d thought she’d already shed and would never come again, flowed down her cheeks like a damn river. They weren’t because she loved Shamus. Or even because he’d made a fool of her.

No. They were because her world was different. Thanks to Shamus, she wanted more from life. She wanted a partner, not men she had flings with. She wanted someone to share her life with. Someone she could have a family with.

Maybe she’d wanted that all along and it took falling in love for her to find that out, but why did she have to fall in love with him?

She hated crying.

It was worse than a fucking hangover.

Or being sloppy drunk and barfing in front of a sexy stranger.

“You have nothing to fear. I’m not a vindictive bitch and my friends would never. If we see you and your family, we’ll be professionals. All she’ll know is that we’ve worked together in the past. I wouldn’t dream of telling her that your ugly dick was ever in my precious vagina.”

“Winslet—”

“Take care, Shamus.” She tapped the red button and ended the call. Swiping at her cheeks, she glanced around the studio. It was five in the afternoon. She wasn’t due at Jett’s for another hour.

Fuck it.

She’d already made an ass out of herself in front of him, what was a cryfest among strangers.

“Evelynn, you’d love it here.” Jett adored his little sister. They were only two years apart and best friends. She’d always been his rock. His sounding board. He could tell her anything and everything.

And he did.

Kiki hated it. Resented their relationship. Thought it was weird. Told Jett that if Evelynn had been his brother, she might understand it.

But Evelynn was Jett’s only sibling and family was everything to Jett.

“You have to come and visit,” he said.

“Oh, I plan on it. But it won’t be until July.”

“Why so late?” Jett leaned against the mantel and stared out the window. His family room was the size of Winslet’s bedroom and living room combined. But his kitchen wasn’t much bigger. However, he didn’t need much. He was a simple man and living alone made his life much easier.

Although, he did miss some of the fancier things that came with marriage and a partner. But he didn’t miss all the damn throw pillows. He would never understand a woman’s need for so many pillows.

Including his sister. She might even be worse than any other woman he knew.

“School doesn’t get out until the end of June up here. You know that. But both me and Doug will have the entire summer off.”

“Ah, the perks of being a teacher and principal.” Jett laughed. “Well, I only have one bedroom. It was all I could find on short notice. But maybe we could find something to rent when you and the kids come down. Something with a pool.”

“We thought we might want to drive to Georgia to see his folks. So maybe we could stay with you for five or six days on the way down. See Doug’s parents for a week and then stop for a night or two on the way back, but we’re talking about leaving the kids with his folks for a couple more weeks, and then they’d fly home later.”

“That will work. You know you’re welcome anytime. But we need to coordinate with Mom and Dad. I want to buy them airline tickets. But Mom gets so pissy and insists on paying me back. I hate it when she does that.”

“Sometimes I swear she forgets you’re forty-one and I’m thirty-nine with two kids.”

Jett laughed. His parents understood his and Evelynn’s bond. The only time things got weird for them was when one of them dated the other’s friends.

And that did happen a few times.

They tried not to, but they were close in age and glued together at the hip. They had similar interests and enjoyed the same sports. About the only thing his sister didn’t like doing was fishing, but she went with him and his buddies anyway, but more because she wanted to work on her tan.

Doug had been Jett’s best friend in high school. Still was a dear friend, but now he was Jett’s brother-in-law, and he loved him as though he were blood.

Not to mention their two little crazy monsters.

“Speaking of Mom, when was the last time you spoke with her?” Evelynn asked.

“Right before I called you.” Jett rubbed his unshaven face. For years he’d thought about growing a beard, but the military wouldn’t let him. Now he thought he just might. “She’s still not happy I moved or took this job. She’s worried I’m going to fall and snap the metal in my body. I keep trying to tell her this is no different from Grandma’s metal hip, but she manages to spew all these reasons why she believes what happened to me is different.”

“For Pete’s sake, Jett. It’s totally different. You’re her little boy. And she doesn’t narrow it down to your knees and hip. Or even your shoulder surgeries. She’s thinking about the spinal injury. The heart issue. They told her that you flatlined. Twice. While en route to a hospital in Germany from some undisclosed location. And this was a week after it happened.” The strain in Evelynn’s voice was almost too much to bear. “What you fail to understand is that Mom didn’t hear that they brought you back, what she heard was that her son had died.”

He glanced at his watch. A few minutes after five. Time for a beer. He meandered into the kitchen and ducked his head into the fridge. “I wasn’t making light of Mom’s feelings. But I passed all the physicals required of me for this job. The heart doctor says my ticker is doing great. That I’m as healthy as a horse. My lungs are strong. And as far as the rest of me goes, I know I have limits. I know I can’t do what I used to. But some of that comes with age. I’m not running around getting shot at anymore. I’m a park ranger. I’ll use my medical training out there on the trails if that’s never needed. I’ll deal with unwanted critters. And use my charm to help stranded ladies.”

“Oh my God. Only you would go down that road,” Evelynn said. “Speaking of which. Have we met anyone? Because I know you and while you might say you’re on a sabbatical from dating, it’s been a while, and you never go too long.”

“I’ve been here one night, so not really.” He plopped down in the recliner. The furniture that came with the place wasn’t horrible. But it wasn’t all that great either. When it came to discussing his love life—or lack thereof—with his sister, he always treaded lightly. It wasn’t that he held back or didn’t trust Evelynn, because he did. But she wanted for her big brother to be happy, and for her, that meant marriage and kids.

“What does that mean exactly?”

He took a healthy swig of his beer. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I met a woman last night who happens to be my next-door neighbor.”

“Oh, goodie. I’ll get to meet her.”

“Maybe not. She’s only here temporarily.”

“And that makes her all the more appealing to you,” his sister said with a huff.

“Actually, it doesn’t and that weirds me out a little.” He fiddled with the label on the bottle. “She’s got her own set of baggage.”

“Sounds like you learned a lot about this woman in a single night. Did something happen?”

“Not like you think,” he said. “We just talked. More like she got drunk, and I listened.”

“Oh shit. You are a sucker for a drunk girl with problems and that almost never ends well for you because that’s the wrong girl to fall for.”

That wasn’t a false statement.

“Is the baggage the problem, or do you like this chick more than you want to? Or both?” his sister asked.

“I have no idea,” he said softly. There was something about Winslet that tugged at more than his heartstrings.

“Uh-oh. Is that bleeding heart of yours kicking in? Do I need to worry about you becoming a knight in shining armor? Because that never works out for you.”

He chuckled. “I’m not going to try to save her.” But he wasn’t about to turn his back on her either and that was where he got himself in trouble more than once. It was how he ended up with Kiki and Becky.

“You have a kind soul when it comes to women who have problems and need help. What’s going on with this one?”

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

He jumped to his feet. The pounding at the door wouldn’t stop. He glanced through the peephole. “Hey, sis. I’ve got company. I’m going to have to call you back and it might not be until tomorrow.”

“We are not done with this conversation. You better not blow me off.”

“I won’t.” He ended the call, stuffed his phone in his back pocket, and yanked open the door. “Winslet? What’s wrong?”

She threw her tiny frame at him, wrapping her arms and legs around his body.

“Humph.” He stumbled backward. His knees felt nothing. His metal hip, same. The other one, well that was an entirely different story. The muscles in his shoulders burned. His spine grappled to understand the strain that was just required of it. Quickly, he found his footing, kicked the door closed, and eased back onto the sofa.

She buried her face in his neck. He couldn’t describe her tears as sobs. More like faint bursts of blubbering. If there was such a distinction.

“Are you hurt? Do I need to go get my medical kit?”

She jerked her head back and blinked. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Excuse me?”

He brushed them away with his thumbs. “I was a combat medic. I’m a qualified EMT. The fire department wants me to volunteer. I don’t leave home without my bag.” He shrugged. “Now, are you injured, or are these tears from something else?”

“Can I just cry for a few minutes?”

“Yes.” He pressed his lips against hers softly. Mistake.

She shoved her tongue into his mouth on a search and destroy mission. It was anything but aggressive. It was wild and out of control. Certainly not what either of them needed in the moment.

“Nope. We’re not doing that.” He cupped her cheeks.

“You started it.” She sniffled.

“I guess you can blame me for that.” He tucked her face back into the crook of his neck and held her close.

When she sighed again, her body shivered.

He adjusted her on his lap, holding her tight to his chest. He ran his hands up and down her arm and back, letting his fingers get tangled in her long locks. Ten minutes ticked by and not a word was spoken. But her sobs had softened. Her breathing had returned to normal.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He tilted her chin. “Care to tell me what that was all about?”

“I called Shamus. He’s coming to town. With his wife and kids and he wants to make sure me and my friends will help keep his dirty little secret—a secret.” She blinked out a few more tears. “When I learned I was the other woman in this love triangle, that was a hard pill to swallow. I mean, I couldn’t say he was cheating on me with his wife. It was always the other way around. That’s what has made this so hard. And that jerk has not once apologized. Not even when I called him tonight. If I had known, I could have either decided not to get involved or been the other woman. But it would have been a choice. He never gave that to me and now I’m reduced to this gross thing he did that he has to hide under a rug. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?”

“I can only imagine.” He cupped her beautiful face. He couldn’t decide if he should be his usual sarcastic, inappropriate self and say something ridiculous in hopes it made her laugh.

Or be serious.

He held her gaze for a long moment, contemplating his words. His sister would tell him to be himself. That if any woman couldn’t handle his dry sense of humor, she wasn’t the woman for him.

But he wasn’t looking for a woman.

His mother would tell him to be softer. Kinder. To think about how his words affected others.

“You look constipated,” Winslet whispered.

“That’s because my mind is.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “My initial reaction to this dilemma goes something like this.” He cleared his throat. “At least you have a boyfriend now to rub in his face.”

She cracked a slight smile. “That’s a little bit funny.”

“But that doesn’t really help you through this tough time, now does it?” God, how he wanted to kiss her again. But this time he wanted it slow. Controlled. And not because her emotions were all over the map. “Listen, just because he made a bad choice, that doesn’t make you a dirty secret. That’s on him. You’re a beautiful, intelligent, witty woman who has more going for her than he’ll ever understand. Don’t let his inability to see you for who you really are stop you from moving past what he did.”

She scooted off his lap, grabbed his beer, took a small sip, and scrunched her face. “I want to hurt him. That might not be right. But I want to see him suffer.”

“I think that’s a normal reaction.” He took the brew back and swigged.

“Maybe so, but I don’t want to hurt his wife or his kids.” She dropped her head back and closed her eyes. “Especially his kids. I know what that’s like.”

“What do you mean?”

She rolled her head and curled her legs up on the sofa. “My father cheated on my mom. They’re still together. I have no idea why she stays, because that man can’t keep his dick in his pants.”

“You really do call it like you see it, don’t you?”

She nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad. He’s not the worst man out there when it comes to being a father. He came to all the important stuff. Supported me. Did all the things a dad was supposed to do,” she said. “I don’t know if it was because of all the whispers about his dad killing his mom and running off with the neighbor or not, but ever since I can remember, my dad has cheated on my mom. I’ve caught him and it destroyed me.”

“Did you tell your mom?”

She nodded. “She cupped my chin and had the nerve to tell me I didn’t know what I was seeing and to forget about it. I tried to argue with her, but she shook her head and told me never to speak such nonsense again. So I didn’t. I know he still cheats, but we don’t talk about it.”

“I understand now why this is affecting you at your core,” Jett said. “Unrelated question, but I kind of have to know. Who raised your dad? I read that he was only fourteen when the murder took place, but I didn’t get much further.”

“Poking around in my background?”

“Just fascinated and Weston was telling me about it.”

“My grandfather’s brother,” she said. “Not many people know this, because it was kept from the public, but Weston knows. My great-uncle Xavier was a suspect for about five minutes. Rumor had it he was having an affair with my grandmother. It was a pretty solid rumor and he and my dad never got along. But his uncle wouldn’t turn his back on my dad. They’ve always had a weird, but adversarial relationship.” She shrugged. “Seems this is a thing with my family and I’m just perpetuating it. Must be in the genes.”

He waggled his finger. “Don’t do that. And next time you have the hankering to call Shamus, come bang on my door before you do it. And if he calls you, don’t answer it unless I’m within shouting distance.”

“Aw, aren’t you the sweet fake boyfriend.” She let out a long sigh and stretched out her legs. “Thanks for letting me fall apart. Again. I promise you, this is not how I usually am. It’s just that when Shamus and I were together, he never hid his affection for me. At least not around my friends. I didn’t have to lie about him being my boyfriend to that small circle. The only weird thing he did was withdraw at any place he was teaching. That was the only time he preferred our colleagues not know about us. But most places had rules how we conducted ourselves romantically.” She narrowed her stare. “And he never introduced me to his parents or siblings. We would make plans, but something always got in the way.” She smacked her forehead. “God, I was so stupid.”

“Let’s stop going down that road.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I’ll cook us a nice dinner and we can chat about how to deal with Shamus’ visit. Outside of my work schedule, I can make myself available for whenever you need me.”

“You don’t have to play the boyfriend .”

“I know you’ve got a lot of friends in this town, including your girlfriends I saw you with last night.” He took a calculated risk and pressed his mouth over hers in a gentle kiss. She tasted like peaches and cream. Sweet and dreamy. He could easily allow himself to get lost in the moment. But it wasn’t the right time. Perhaps there never would be. He leaned back, holding her gaze. “We already set the stage with Shamus to have me around. I don’t mind. I want to be there for you.”

“Why? You barely know me.”

“Sixteen months ago, when my helicopter went down, Zeke got on a plane and flew to Germany. He didn’t have to do that. But he was at my bedside for what seemed like forever. He stayed with me during my darkest hour. He held my mother’s hand. He helped my sister and my dad with all the arrangements, making sure I had the best doctors. When I was finally stable enough to be flown back to the States, he was right there with me. I don’t know if I could have survived without his support.” He palmed her face. “Zeke cares about you. Therefore, I care about you. Not to mention Weston and I go way back. They are like family. I’m not going to leave you to deal with this alone. It’s that simple.”

“You military guys really stick together,” she whispered. “I appreciate it, but I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation, especially one where you have to lie.”

“It’s not that big of a falsehood.” He arched a brow. “Of all the women in that bar last night, I noticed only one. Only one who turned my head. Only one I would consider asking out. To be totally honest, I want to take her out on a real date.” He’d lost his ever-loving mind. Getting tangled up with Winslet had disaster written all over it.

His sister was right.

His savior complex was coming out in spades.

But he had been attracted to her before he knew a single thing about her past. About her problems. That had to mean something.

“Now you’re being a dork.”

“I’m being honest,” he said. “Shall we consider this our first date?”

“How about we see how the night goes, and I’ll decide at the end.”

“Fair enough.” His sister was going to have a lot to say about this one.