Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 01 - Stilettos & Scoundrels Page 14

  “You leaving already, sweetheart? Don’t you want to hear about all the other gossip?” she asked merrily. “Like who else is sleeping around? I bet I could tell you a few things that might surprise you. This town may be small, but it has its fair share of secrets! Come back tomorrow,” Betty said. “I’m trying out a new recipe for cranberry walnut muffins. Gotta challenge this new cook—make sure she is up to snuff.”

  “I will, Betty. Thanks.” I started to walk out the door and had one more question I was almost afraid to ask.

  “Hey, Betty?”

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Nothing. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I wanted to ask her if she knew anything about my parents. My dad lying really threw me for a loop. As much as I couldn’t fathom my dad doing anything wrong to my mother, I wasn’t sure I was ready to handle hearing if it, by some crazy circumstance, there was something he was hiding.

  As I walked out of Betty’s Baked Goods, I saw a tall, lean figure resting against my SUV. Lucky me, as it wasn’t every day I walked out to find a hot guy waiting for me. It sure was something a woman could get used to. While I could appreciate a fine specimen like this, the look on Cooper’s face wasn’t anything to admire. In fact, if I wasn’t so curious about why he was leaning on my car waiting for me, I might be a tad bit worried. He looked pissed. Little did he know that, in a strange way, it made him look even more attractive.

  “I recommend the peach cream cheese muffins,” I said sassily as I walked up to him. I knew damn well he wasn’t waiting for me to get my opinion on the muffins. “Betty just made some fresh. You really should try one.”

  “What do you think you’re doing, Pres?” Cooper asked quietly.

  Gosh, but he was hot. I got weak in the knees in spite of myself, just looking at him. “Nothing but enjoying Betty’s muffins. I tell you, they’re the best.”

  “I suppose you are also going to tell me that you went to the library strictly to check out the latest book,” he said, questioningly raising one eyebrow, which made him look even sexier. “Are you really that bored?”

  “Like it’s any of your business, but maybe I did,” I said, trying to not stare shamelessly at his mouth. This would be so much easier if he wasn’t so attractive. “I do read, you know.”

  Obviously, someone had called him the minute I left the library. That had to be Ruth. But why would she call Cooper? Unless maybe she called Helen? And Helen called Cooper. And how he knew I was at the bakery was a question I would like to have answered too. Had he put GPS on my car when I wasn’t looking? This made me a little uncomfortable. I knew things that I wasn’t ready to share with him, but I still wasn’t completely unhappy to find Cooper waiting for me. Seeing him, leaning casually against my car, made me have thoughts I shouldn’t be having, especially about Cooper. What is wrong with me? I wanted to grab him and kiss him, and that was just for starters.

  “Listen, Presley,” Cooper said, grabbing my arm none too gently as if to make a point, but not forcefully enough to piss me off. “You shouldn’t be sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  I shrugged off his grip. This was not the circumstance under which I wanted him to be touching me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him tell me what to do. “You’re not supposed to be investigating this either. Unless things have changed recently,” I said, glaring at him, my arms still feeling warm where he touched me. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. “Since you still are, then I guess I can too.”

  “Is that why you’re dressed like this?” he asked. “Is this supposed to be a disguise?”

  “What’s wrong with the way I look?”

  “You look ready to attend a luncheon to plan this year’s garden show.” Cooper laughed while looking me up and down. “Baby, not your best look.”

  “Don’t ‘baby’ me! Like it matters to you what I wear.” I said, secretly happy he noticed. I wished I had said to hell with trying to dress to please the ladies of this town and had something more presentable (a.k.a. sexy) on besides khaki. But how was I to know I would run into Cooper like this?

  “I get paid to be observant. And I would always notice what you’re wearing,” he said, huskily, looking me up and down. “…Or not wearing.”

  I shivered, feeling a heat that surged through my whole body and I quickly realized the khaki I had on didn’t really matter. Cooper’s look was doing things to me I hadn’t expected. This was not in my plans, but…to hell with plans. Rick always told me I should be more spontaneous. Maybe I should start taking his advice. I chuckled to myself because I wasn’t sure this was what Rick had in mind.

  “What’s so funny?” Cooper asked as he reached out and traced the pearls around my throat with his finger. I sharply inhaled as his touch felt electric. It was feather light and sensuous, and I didn’t want it to stop. It made me want to feel his touch even more. As he drew his hand back, I leaned ever so slightly toward him. I couldn’t help it. I looked at him, trying to decipher what he was thinking.

  “Will you please leave this to the professionals?” Cooper said, breaking the connection like it was nothing. I looked at him, eyes narrowed, wondering if he did it on purpose or if he wasn’t feeling the connection at all. No, that wasn’t possible; he had to feel it. He started it. And he made that comment about my outfit. Plus, who wouldn’t want me? In fact, he should feel lucky to be this close to me. Maybe he was just afraid of where it might be headed. Yes, I nodded, that definitely had to be it.

  “Dirt told me what happened,” I said, annoyed as hell. Fear or no fear, who did he think he was?

  Cooper looked at my questioningly and then smiled. He knew what he was doing to her and that she was trying to distract him. He knew the effect he had on her and was enjoying every minute of it.

  “About what happened between you two?” I brought this up to get the focus off how much electricity was flowing between us right now. While it worked, the look of hurt on his face, although fleeting, made me almost wish I hadn’t brought it up. There was definitely some unresolved business between those two.

  He tensed up for a minute and then slowly relaxed as if to think carefully about what he was going to say next. “Why?” Cooper asked. “What was Dirt thinking?”

  “I asked him, well, actually, I badgered the hell out of him. I was curious why you two used to be such good friends and now can’t seem to be in the same room with each other.”

  “It’s none of your business, Presley. It really doesn’t matter now anyway.”

  “Why didn’t you ever try to convince him that you were innocent?”

  Cooper looked at me with surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “C’mon, I don’t believe for a minute that you had anything to do with selling drugs. That’s not you. It’s not who you are…or who you were. I guess I don’t really know who you are today, but I knew who you were back then, or at least I think I did. I don’t know who you were covering for or why, but the core of who a person is doesn’t change.” I shrugged, not even knowing if any of that made sense. “But, I figure you must have had a good reason or you wouldn’t have done what you did.”

  “Too bad Dirt didn’t have the same faith in me. What makes you so sure?”

  “I’m not sure.” I shrugged. “You should talk to him, Cooper. It’s not too late. Good friends are hard to come by.”

  Cooper reached to caress the back of my neck and drew me close to him, his lips touching mine, softly at first, then more deeply. I started to melt and enjoy him for a minute and then was the one to break away. I needed to give myself a break from his intoxicating kiss. I couldn’t allow myself to be sidetracked and, boy, he could get me off track in a minute. Not to mention that I still wanted to ask why he was such a jerk after that night, but now was not the time. Plus, it was somewhat embarrassing that I even still cared.

  “Before I forget, Betty did tell me something useful. She said that Mabel Winters’ daughter’s son, Victor, saw the Senator in Vegas arguing with some men. I alrea
dy heard that maybe he had a gambling problem, so this could be a real lead,” I said, willing to give up some information to get things back to the matter at hand and to get my mind off kissing Cooper. Not to mention to see if he said anything about being there with the Senator. “But, you already know all that.”

  Cooper’s eyes danced, showing he didn’t think for a minute I stopped our kiss because I didn’t want to forget this information. He pulled me close and tried to kiss me again.

  “We can talk about that later, King.”

  “No,” I pushed him away and God it was hard. I wanted to kiss him, but he made me mad, trying to get me off the subject of the murder and assuming I wanted to continue our kiss. Though, who was I kidding? I was more than a willing participant, but he needed to learn that I did things on my own terms, whether it was good for me or not. I liked being in control, to the detriment of many relationships.

  “Pres…”

  “Don’t ‘Pres’ me,” I said hotly. “Don’t think you can have your cake and eat it too. If you won’t work with me in this investigation, then you can’t kiss me either.” I stepped back, arms crossed defiantly, wanting to add ‘so there!’, but feeling that to be a little childish.

  Cooper groaned and looked at me as if I was crazy. He leaned back against the car, running his hand through his hair. “Fine. I know he had an issue with gambling too, but I don’t have hard evidence, and until I do, there isn’t much I can do about it.”

  I was somewhat miffed that he had given up so easily. My ego demanded that he not want to give up. I wanted him to want me, so then I could turn him down. Was that too much to ask? I needed another muffin.

  “Isn’t there a way to check it out? Don’t you have connections or something?”

  “It’s not that easy. You don’t just call up the casinos and ask them if a certain Senator owed money. I do have a couple friends that work out there. Maybe they can do some nosing around.”

  “Speaking of being nosey, how did you get into the security business, Coop?” I knew this was a bit off topic, but I had been curious since becoming reacquainted with him. It’s not what I would have expected him to do.

  He looked at me with surprise at this quick change in topic. A few seconds went by and he didn’t say anything. I started to become distracted again by his lips and by remembering how nice that kiss had been, so I asked again.

  “That’s not important, Presley. I will check on the casino angle, but only if you promise to stay out of this.”

  I looked at him. He looked back and sighed, resigned to the fact I was going to do as I pleased and that he wasn’t going to be able to stop me.

  “Fine, but at least quit bugging the town ladies or you’ll regret it.”

  “Why? What are you going to do about it?”

  “I’m not the one you have to be worried about, your mother is.” He tapped me on the nose and turned to leave. Oh, crap! He was right. If he had already heard about my visit to the library, so had my mother. He’s lucky, because if he hadn’t reminded me about what I was sure to face when I got home, I would have been livid about the tap on the nose thing. Seriously, what the hell was that all about? How do you go from a passionate kiss to a tap on the nose? What…did he think of me as a Cocker Spaniel?

  “Oh, by the way,” he turned back around. “If a reporter named Lisa Simmons comes sniffing around you wanting information, do me a favor and don’t talk to her.”

  “I saw her at La Casa the other night, but why?”

  “Because the last thing I need, or the police need for that matter, is more nosey females poking around.” I stuck out my tongue at his back as he walked away. Jerk! Shit. I slapped my forehead. I forgot to ask him if he was with the Senator in Vegas. At least it gave me a good excuse to call him later.

  Chapter 9“Damn it all!” I muttered to myself. In my haste to drive to Katy’s, already being over an hour late, I took a corner too fast and spilt the coffee that I had picked up for her as a peace offering. Oh well. It just added to the other numerous coffee stains on my upholstery that I had kept meaning to have cleaned. That’s one of the main reasons I had a black car – I didn’t want to spend time and money cleaning it all the time, and black hid a lot. Maybe I should try it with my clothing. My soft pink shrug, paired with a white camisole and grey cargo pants, had some of the same coffee on it that was also on my upholstery. Now I would have to incur a dry cleaning bill I couldn’t afford because the shrug was cashmere purchased on sale from Filene’s Basement—not something I could afford to buy again. I would just hope the stain came out.

  I was running late, thanks to my mother. As anticipated, she was waiting for me when I got home from Betty’s. She was livid that I had bothered Ruth and was sticking my nose into other people’s business, blah, blah, blah. I tuned out after the first five minutes, as my mom’s litany of complaints tended to be the same after that. It was a pretty standard argument. Anyway, she demanded that I help her plant some flowers before I left again. It wasn’t worth the argument to say no, especially when it was my penance for bugging Ruth; so I gave in and spent what she thought was some quality mother/daughter time with her. It ended up being enjoyable as we had a chance to talk, and although it ruined my manicure, it was worth it because I’d made my mother happy and had her off my back for a while. Plus the weather was warm, with a light breeze, and it made being outside even better. So things were good between us until my next mistake. I just had to laugh. It was such a vicious cycle with us, but I did love my mother—no matter how crazy she made me. I was sure the issues with my mother were universal across the world.

  I walked into Katy’s salon with what was left of the coffee, wondering if my friend had uncovered any gossip with my own sleuthing techniques. Although foremost on my mind was Cooper Sands. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and that kiss.We had a connection once, but hell, that was years ago. But if that kiss was any indication, that connection was alive and well. How could I still be attracted to someone I hadn’t seen since high school? Maybe I was desperate. Even though I was confused about how I felt about him now, I was positive Cooper felt it too, but, he, too, seemed reluctant to give into it completely. I could tell it wasn’t from lack of want. Ugh. There was no time for this, as I had just got out of a relationship. Besides, I had a murder to solve. But, I couldn’t deny how great those tingles of attraction felt.

  Katy was working on a client and the place was hopping already, but she saw me come in and waved. I was proud of my friend. Katy had a thriving business and seemed very happy with her life. For a moment, I felt envious. I wanted my life to be that good.

  “I’ll just be a second,” she said when I stepped close enough to hear her. “I need to set Mrs. Johnson under the dryer.”

  “No problem.” I wandered over to the reception area and sat down with our coffee. There were several ladies waiting under the dryers who were engaged in their favorite pastime—gossip. Maybe I could find something out from them. In a salon, gossip was currency.

  I recognized two of the three women as friends of my mother. I inwardly groaned. Guess more yard work was in my future, since I was sure to say something inappropriate. I wondered how many calories you burned doing penance gardening.

  “Presley? Presley Thurman?” A voice came from where the women were all sitting. I turned and looked at the woman. I thought her name was Margaret Coombs. This was my opening, and I had better take advantage of it. These women probably knew everything going on about town and, unlike my mother, might actually be willing to tell me the dirty little secrets. I was sure they thrived on gossip. If I found out something good, it would be worth doing more yard work. I walked over to where the women were sitting underneath the dryers and joined them.

  “Hi, ladies,” I said sweetly. After all, I did want information from them, and my mother had taught me a few things: one being how to get what you want.

  “Your mother told us you were coming home to visit at our last organization meeting for the Four
th of July picnic,” Margaret said. “She was upset when you didn’t show up.”

  It was now April. Did what happened almost a year ago really matter?

  “Yes,” another one of the ladies, whose name escaped me, said. “She said you had an important job and had to work. She is very proud of you, you know.”

  Again, I was surprised. My mother didn’t often say supportive things to me, so hearing it indirectly was somewhat nice. In my mother’s circle of friends, people were driven to ‘out-do’ each other with stories about whose kid was better. Why, I had never understood. Maybe it was because I didn’t have kids yet. Before I could think of a good comeback, Margaret started to speak again.

  “So, what are you going to write about now that Senator Daniels is dead?” Margaret asked.

  I looked confused so Margaret added, “Your mother told us you were a very important writer doing a piece on the Senator. She hasn’t stopped bragging.”

  I wanted to laugh—nothing like stretching the truth, Mom. I wouldn’t actually say I was important, or even a writer, to be honest; this was more of a fluff piece and my first one on top of that. Though this was the second time someone had told me about the nice things my mother said about me.

  “Well?” Margaret looked at me expectantly. I thought her question was rhetorical—obviously not. No one but these women could get away with being so blunt. If someone else tried it, they’d be ripped apart. These ladies felt they were entitled to information and weren’t too shy to ask for it. You had to admire that.

  “She can still write about him even though he’s dead, Margaret,” the woman whose name I still couldn’t remember said, completely ignoring me.

  “I know that, Hildy. I was just asking, that’s all,” Margaret retorted.

  Ah-ha. Hildy Thomas was her name. She was the one who always won the best garden award every year. The one my mother wanted to win and said Hildy didn’t deserve, for reasons I had never really paid attention to. My mother didn’t like Hildy. She said she was a mean, gossipy woman, exactly the kind I needed right now. I leaned in and was even more attentive.