Making It Right (A Most Likely To Novel Book 3) Page 13

  Jo leaned over him and pulled out of her shirt, unfastened her bra, and tossed it to the floor.

  Gill’s mouth watered before he let his tongue seek her flesh. Her breasts fit his hands perfectly, and tasted like sugar. Or maybe that was the shots of whatever it was she’d been drinking before leaving the bar. He grinned into the thought and teased her nipple with his teeth. Either way, she tasted divine, and he wanted more.

  Her hands were everywhere, and she had too many clothes on.

  Gill rolled her around, took the dominant position, and unbuttoned her snug jeans. Jo lifted her hips and helped kick them free.

  She slid a free hand into the elastic of her panties and he stared. When she reached farther down, he pulled her down the bed by the backs of her knees and slid his hands up her thighs.

  “Too much staring, not enough doing,” she complained, her voice husky.

  He unwrapped her, tossed her panties across the room, and dropped to his knees. He started at her knee, a nibble, a kiss, and as slowly as he could, worked his way up. He teased with the tickle of his beard, the heat of his breath.

  Jo tried to push closer and cussed under her breath.

  Still Gill took his time until it was he who couldn’t hold out any longer.

  Sugar and sex hit his senses, and Jo’s moan had to be doing a good job of waking her neighbors. He wanted to know her, learn what she liked, what drove her wild.

  Like any map, he studied and learned by the signals she gave, until finally her hips rose from the bed, her short pants and words telling him not to stop when he’d found her spot.

  He smiled into her when she cried out the loudest and sensations became too much to bear and she pushed him away.

  Gill looked up the length of her body, her head to the side, her hair wild on the bed, the smile on her face as radiant as any satisfied woman he’d ever seen. He leaned over, took a swig of the water she had sitting by her bedside, and found a condom in the back of his wallet.

  “Let’s do that again,” he suggested.

  Jo spread her hand over her stomach before helping him with the latex and pushing him onto his back.

  His sex strained toward her, and she didn’t make him wait.

  Jo took control, and he let her. Only when she begged him to finish did he let himself go.

  Once they were both breathing normally and Jo rolled off to snuggle into his arms did she say, “We’re really good at that.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “We are.”

  Half an hour later, when he’d slipped out of Jo’s arms after she was fast asleep to use the restroom, stared down at her lax body and realized how much he liked the woman.

  He slid under the sheets, pulled them up over her shoulders, and pulled her close.

  For a woman who claimed to always sleep alone, she had no problem seeking the heat of his body. Gill made himself comfortable, knowing that if she wanted to wake alone, he would be the one that would have to leave.

  And he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Chapter Eleven

  As liberating as it was to leave River Bend, the feeling faded quickly as the chains started to slowly link back together the closer Jo came to landing.

  Rain met her return, which was fitting.

  Zoe waved from the doors of baggage claim, not that Jo had anything but her carry-on backpack for luggage.

  “Now look who is jet-setting across the country,” Zoe teased with a hug.

  “I don’t have frequent flyer miles like you.”

  Zoe might be dressed in jeans, a button-up shirt, and a jacket, but she looked like she’d just stepped through the pages of a fashion magazine. The contrast between how she dressed now and when they were kids always stunned Jo when she saw it after a week away.

  “Tell me you had fun.”

  Jo smiled. “I had fun.”

  Zoe narrowed her eyes. “So Agent Hottie stepped up?”

  Jo’s smile grew. “Yes, he did.” She kept the details to herself.

  Her friend blew out a breath and turned toward the doors of the airport and out to the curb, where some travelers were waiting for rides. “Good. Otherwise I was going to have to book you another flight this spring, and I don’t think River Bend would survive it.”

  “Has it been bad?”

  “From my perspective. Cherie and Deputy Emery nearly came to blows. One of the neighbors called Luke because the yelling overpowered that of the dogs barking.”

  Jo ducked into her jacket as they crossed to the covered parking lot. The rain was coming down steadily, which made her wonder what the road conditions were in River Bend. Then again, River Bend was two hours away, and the weather could be clear there. Not that her weather app said it was. “I thought I had that all cleared up. Cherie was supposed to keep the dogs inside at night.”

  “Which I think she was doing, but according to Emery, a complaint came in during the day, so he had to go over and put his foot down.”

  Jo checked her messages on her cell phone. Nothing from Glynis. “When did this happen?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Emery called the pound in Waterville—”

  “He what?” Jo interrupted.

  “Said he had no choice.”

  “He had a choice,” Jo muttered. She’d have to have a talk with the man. Something she seldom did unless forced to. He was twice her age and had worked under her dad. He didn’t adjust to her being boss for some time, and now, so long as she didn’t go out of her way to tell him what to do, they worked well together.

  “That’s what the Millers thought. Either way, they came in and cited her, gave her a big fine, and told her she had two weeks to find homes for four of her dogs.”

  “Not the puppies?”

  “The puppies would need to go, too, but not until the eight-week mark.”

  Zoe opened the back of her SUV, and Jo tossed her backpack inside before climbing into the passenger seat.

  “What a mess,” Jo said once she was buckled in.

  “Yeah. The woman has too many dogs, we all know that, but how Emery went about it was just wrong.”

  “He has the law on his side, but I can’t disagree. If she hadn’t let her dog get knocked up, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  Zoe backed out of the parking spot and worked her way out of the lot.

  “Everyone knows Emery hates animals.”

  “His bias shouldn’t come into play,” Jo said.

  Zoe offered a smile. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  Jo groaned. “Any other messes I’m walking into?”

  “There’s a big pothole in front of Sam’s diner.”

  “Pothole?”

  “Almost like a sinkhole.”

  Great!

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah . . . I think Mel is pregnant.”

  Jo lost air turning her head. “She’s what?”

  Zoe lifted her palm in the air. “She hasn’t said anything to me, not sure why . . . but she was in the kitchen helping me with some of the pastries for the guests, and I saw her scarf two éclairs, half a bag of potato chips, and then she opened a jar of pickled beets and finished the thing with a fork and a glass of milk.”

  Jo winced at the thought of how all that would taste together. “That’s horrific.”

  Zoe nodded. “An hour later she was talking about dinner.”

  Yep, sounded like something was hormonally off with their friend. “I wonder why the secret.”

  “Maybe she wants to tell us together.”

  That sounded like Mel. She was the pleaser, and since she was already mother to Hope, probably familiar enough with the whole pregnant thing to know when to tell the world and when to wait.

  “So do we play dumb and wait, or do we confront her?”

  “Let’s wait, see what happens.”

  Jo shrugged.

  They pulled onto the interstate for a brief while before merging onto the highway that would take them home. The windshield wipers flapped ag
ainst the glass with a steady beat that reminded her of dancing with Gill the night before.

  When she’d rolled over in the morning as her alarm rang, she was stunned to find Gill still curled up in her bed.

  She couldn’t remember the last time someone had spent the night with her. It had to have been before her father had died.

  There Gill was, naked, semiaroused, and pulling her close when she tried to slip out of bed.

  They’d made love slowly, and then she rushed her shower to make sure she would make her flight in time.

  He told her he’d see her before she could miss him.

  She told him she never missed men.

  “We’ll see about that,” had been his response.

  Arrogant man.

  “What is that look on your face?” Zoe asked, glancing her way from the driver’s seat.

  Jo shook her head.

  “Don’t even try to keep crap from me. I tell you everything.”

  And Zoe did, from her and Luke’s sexcapades to the proper way to cut herbs to retain their flavor. Not that Jo cared, her herbs came from a jar like they should.

  Jo let her grin stay. “I met someone.”

  Zoe’s smile dropped. “As in met someone, met someone . . . or just hooked up with someone you’ll never see again?”

  Gill’s voice hummed in her head. “You’ll see me before you miss me.”

  “Shauna’s partner.”

  Zoe squealed and pounded the steering wheel in her excitement. “Your someone is Agent McHottie?”

  “Yeah.”

  While Jo gave the short version of Gill, knowing full well she’d have to go over all the details again with Mel and Zoe together, Jo realized Gill was wrong . . . she already missed him.

  For years, Jo thought her answering machine was a waste of electricity.

  When she dropped her bag on her couch and hit the blinking button on the machine, she was shocked to hear she had fifteen messages.

  First was Glynis. Apparently the woman had forgotten that Jo was leaving within ten hours of her departure. Glynis stuttered a few times, then laughed at her memory before hanging up. Two of Cherie’s neighbors called repeatedly, and one called twice to say she was sorry for bothering her on her vacation. The machine cut her off after a few minutes, so she called back to make sure that Jo knew she wasn’t upset with her for taking time for herself.

  There were several hang-ups, and two calls about the pothole Zoe had told her about. The last call was from Cherie herself, telling her that Deputy Emery wasn’t fit to wear a badge.

  Jo looked at the time.

  A quick shower and she’d manage to get to the station before five thirty, when Glynis left and the place all but closed up. Jo knew she’d have a night of work ahead of her. She didn’t remember if she’d had Emery working the day or if it was one of the relief help from Waterville. Either way, she’d need information on what was being handled and what was handled badly.

  The rain had let up when she parked in front of the station.

  Glynis had a country radio station playing, filling the silence of the station.

  She jumped to her feet when Jo closed the door behind her.

  “Jo!”

  She caught the woman’s hug.

  “I missed you. The whole town missed you. I can’t believe you were gone for a week. How was it?” Glynis stepped back, the questions kept flying. “Did you see the hole in front of Sam’s? I bet today’s rain made it worse. Fitzpatrick will be back here anytime. He can fill you in on all the crazy that always seems to happen when you’re not here.”

  “I’m never not here.”

  Glynis waved her off. “You were gone for Melanie and Wyatt’s party in Vegas, and there was that trip to Texas when Zoe was living there . . . now this.”

  Jo refused to feel guilty about fifteen days off in eight years of service. “I have more vacation time available to me than anyone.”

  “That’s because we encourage Emery to take his time.” She lowered her voice. “We like you better than him.”

  Jo moved around her longtime employee and toward her office. “That may be, but I should be able to take some time off without River Bend falling apart.”

  Glynis took her place in the chair on the other side of Jo’s desk while Jo picked up the mail stacked up with her name on it.

  “We didn’t fall apart . . . we frayed a little at the edges.”

  There were bills for the station. A notice from the company that provided the cruisers she and Emery used. She opened that first, saw a recall notice on both vehicles.

  “What is being done about the road hazard in front of Sam’s?”

  “Fitzpatrick spoke with an asphalt guy in Waterville.”

  Jo looked up from her mail. “A couple bags of concrete won’t fix it?”

  Glynis blinked a couple times. “You haven’t seen it.”

  No, she’d not driven past Sam’s on her way in. “That bad?”

  “Swallowed a massive wheel on one of Zoe’s production trailers.”

  That gave Jo pause. “Did the trailer cause it?”

  “Hard to say. It was there before the crew came to town.”

  Something told her that was going to be trouble.

  “Luke pulled them out, but it’s going to take more than a few bags of anything to fix properly.”

  “ETA on that?”

  Glynis shrugged, motioned toward the back window. “Rain has to let up longer than five minutes first.”

  The bell from the front door of the station signaled company.

  Glynis stood and peeked around the corner.

  “Deputy Fitzpatrick, look who’s back.”

  Jo moved around her desk, held out her hand. “Hey, Stan.” Stan Fitzpatrick had been a deputy in Waterville for longer than Jo could remember. He’d known her father personally. As it worked out, Stan would step in when her father took a long weekend up at the hunting cabin, or on the very rare occasion he left the area altogether. A few too many fast food burgers sat around Stan’s waist, and his receding hairline was peppered with gray.

  He knew the people of River Bend, and they liked him. So whenever Jo needed to leave, she asked Stan to step in.

  He always did.

  “You look rested,” he told her.

  “That’s going to be short-lived from the laundry list I’m being given,” she said, waving the mail in her hand.

  “The perks of being the big cheese, Jo.”

  “Yeah, yeah . . .” She moved back to her desk. “Anything happen I need to know about?”

  Stan glanced at Glynis, then back to Jo. The look said he had something to say without an audience.

  “Glynis, thanks for keeping things going while I was gone. We’ll catch up with everything in the morning.”

  She took the hint and moved to her desk to retrieve her purse. “Great having you back, Jo.”

  Once the door was closed behind her, Jo offered a chair to Stan. “You have something to say.”

  Stan lifted his duty belt so he could sit without cramping his weapon. “I’m sure you heard about the whole dog ordeal.”

  “Yeah. Zoe picked me up from the airport and filled me in.”

  “It wasn’t handled right, Jo. I’ve pinch-hit here in River Bend since when your dad was alive. That kind of strong-arm stuff is needed in Waterville, but here it just makes enemies.”

  “Neighbors on both sides left messages for me at home complaining about the noise. Didn’t Cherie take the dogs inside?”

  “She did. Still Karl jumped in and said he heard excessive noise outside her house and thought he needed to step in for the safety of the animals.”

  Jo shook her head. “Cherie is the crazy dog lady, but she loves her fur babies. Would neglect herself before she’d cause them any harm.”

  “Yeah, well . . . now the ASPCA has their eye on her, and they’ll be back to make sure she has fewer animals, with the promise to return when those puppies are eight weeks old.”

&
nbsp; Jo felt the headache travel from the back of her head to the front.

  “Even the neighbors who complained thought the punishment didn’t fit the crime.”

  “Making her get rid of four of her pets would be like me asking you to give away one of your kids.”

  Stan laughed. “Well, my oldest is pissing me off these days. Damn teenagers.”

  Jo smiled. “Anything else?”

  Stan told her about a fallen tree that still needed to be removed from the side road past Miss Gina’s Bed-and-Breakfast. He did a well check on Mrs. Kate, ate some of her pot roast for the efforts. Said he made a point of driving by her house a few times, made sure none of the local teenagers thought it would be a good time to decorate the town with toilet paper.

  She thanked him for that. Seemed picking toilet paper out of trees was becoming a thing. She could only guess teens were to blame.

  Jo needed to catch them and introduce them to toothpaste and a toilet . . . and Lob Hill, where she would run their toilet papering asses until they wanted to puke. They’d be too tired to toilet paper her house and maybe stop others from thinking she found it amusing.

  Truth was, she had given more than one admiring thought to the culprits of last year. In all her days of toilet papering houses, never once did she consider taking on the house of a cop. That was probably because that would have been hers. But even Emery’s house, which wasn’t far away, she didn’t consider. Now that he was pissing her off, she wished she had.

  “Everything else, which wasn’t much, I wrote in my log.”

  Jo stood and walked Stan out. “I can’t thank you enough for helping out.”

  “Did you get a lot out of the Fed training?”

  Jo pictured the final simulation exercise, the praise from those who saw her in action. “I learned a thing or two.”

  “Not sure why you thought you needed to go. You have a quiet town here.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. There’s been a fair amount of media vans pulling into River Bend in the past couple years. Even small towns have their problems.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Thanks again, Stan.”

  “Anytime, Jo.”

  She sat down to her pile of mail and dug in. It was after seven thirty when she left the office and went to Sam’s to see the cement pond everyone was so up in their armpits about.