Susan Mallery - Under Her Skin

A few minutes later, Garth excused himself.

Lexi turned to Cruz. “Did you know he was going to be here?”

“I’d heard he might be and thought you’d enjoy the chance to meet him. What did you think?”

“I don’t know. He’s cold but there’s something familiar about him. I can’t put my finger on it.” She shook her head. “Why me? Why did he come after me?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

CRUZ STOOD WITH several business acquaintances while Lexi excused herself to use the restroom. Jed Titan joined them, greeted everyone then turned to Cruz.

“How’s life with my daughter?” the older man asked.

The rest of the people melted away.

“Good,” Cruz said.

“Have you set a date yet?”

“No.” And there wouldn’t be.

“Taking your time. That’s smart. You want to make the right choice.” Jed grabbed an appetizer from a server carrying a tray. “You never came to see me. Never asked for Lexi’s hand in marriage. I was expecting that.”

“Lexi makes up her own mind.”

“I know. She’s a smart girl, but stubborn. Don’t get on her bad side. She’s not one to forgive easily.” Jed swallowed the shrimp roll. “I arranged Skye’s marriage. He was a good man. She was in love with someone else, but I convinced her my way was the right way. Lexi would never stand for that. She’d dig in her heels. I respect that.”

Cruz liked Jed’s description of Lexi. It reminded him of C.C.-all attitude without much to back it up. Lexi might act tough, but she was soft and tender on the inside. He’d realized that this morning when he’d seen the flash of hurt in her eyes. He knew she wasn’t in love with him. He hadn’t bruised her heart-but he’d battered her pride, and sometimes that hurt more.

“I told her to marry Andrew,” Jed continued. “I insisted, but she wouldn’t listen. Turns out she was right about him.”

Who was Andrew? Not that it mattered, but Cruz was curious.

“How’s her business?” Jed asked. “That spa thing of hers. It is successful?”

“Very.” Especially now that she’d paid off Garth Duncan’s loan. “She’s a smart business woman. She has good instincts.”

Jed didn’t look convinced. “If you say so. She walked out on me, you know.”

“She wanted to start something of her own. You should respect that, too.”

Jed shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see. Skye’s a lot more cooperative.”

Did that matter? Cruz felt compelled to defend Lexi. “She created something from nothing. All you did was inherit and grow an already thriving company.”

“You taking me on, boy?”

“No, but I would if I needed to.”

Jed eyed him. “We’ll see. You’re not falling for her, are you? There’s nothing worse than a man controlled by a woman. He loses his pride and the world laughs at him. Take a word of advice from a man who knows. Never love a woman. All you do is make yourself miserable and give away your power.”

Cruz didn’t find himself at a loss for words very often, but he was now.

Jed smiled. “You know I’m right.”

The older man walked away. Cruz watched him go. Jed had been married twice. Hadn’t he cared about either of his wives? Had the women known? Was that why Lexi’s mother had left and why Skye and Izzy’s mother had killed herself? To get away from a man who would never care?

Cruz thought about his own past-his father beating his mother until she cried out that she loved him. Cruz had always thought love made a man weak.

Not that he was like Jed Titan. They were totally different, coming at everything from opposite directions.

Or were they?

SATURDAY MORNING Lexi lay in bed, struggling to get excited about starting her day. But it was warm under the covers and Cruz had brought in C.C. so they could play with the kitten.

“We could go out to breakfast,” Cruz said, pulling a string along the blanket while C.C. chased after it.

Lexi sat up and laughed. “You want to go to the Calico Café. Admit it.”

“It was a good omelet. They need to rethink the inside, though. It’s scary.”

“But worth it.”

He looked at her. “Okay, yes, it’s worth it.”

He smiled, then laughed when C.C. pounced on the string.

Lexi watched them and told herself this was actually really nice. Her deal with Cruz didn’t have to be a prison sentence. She could have fun with him and then walk away. She knew the danger and she would be careful. Everything was going to work out.

They dressed, then drove to Titanville and parked. On the way into the café, Cruz bought a newspaper. He passed it to Lexi as they waited for a table.

She glanced at the headlines, prepared to turn the page, only to stop when the words registered.

Titan Executives To Be Charged.

“What?” she breathed and began to read. Cruz looked over her shoulder.

The article was brief, probably because there weren’t a lot of details. The point was that a half dozen or so highly placed employees were going to be charged with insider trading.

She read it again to make sure her father wasn’t named as one of them, then handed the paper to Cruz.

“He wouldn’t do that,” she murmured as they were led to a table. “He wouldn’t allow it. Jed wants to win, but on his terms and that means making sure someone else can’t take away the win. He doesn’t break the law-mostly because he doesn’t have to.”

“Meaning it bends for him?” Cruz asked as he sat across from her.

“Sometimes. This doesn’t make sense. It’s not the company’s culture. These are not the kind of people he hires. Integrity matters to him. At least in some things, and this is one of them.”

She wanted to call and speak to her father but doubted he would appreciate what he would no doubt see as a sympathy call.

Cruz touched her hand. “It’s not your problem. He can handle it.”

“I know, it’s just weird. It’s like with the horses.” She told him about the doping. “That was just like this. Unexpected and public.”

“You think it’s Garth?” he asked.

Lexi didn’t want to think that. But the timing bothered her. “I don’t know, and saying it’s him makes me wonder if I’m being paranoid. What would he have against me and my father? And if this is his doing, will he go after Skye next or Izzy?”

“We’ll find out. I’ll keep investigating him.”

Which was all they could do.

“What do you think?” she asked Cruz. “What does your gut tell you?”

“That if it’s not him, it’s a big coincidence and I don’t believe in them. But without knowing why he would want to do this, it’s impossible to say. We’ll figure it out.”

She liked that he was on her side. Cruz would be a formidable opponent. He was the kind of man who did what had to be done and did it right.

“Morning.”

She looked up and saw Dana standing beside the table.

“Hi. Cruz, you remember my friend Dana.”

He rose and shook her hand. “Deputy.”

Dana grinned. “Admit it. The uniform intimidates you.”

“Not even close.” He looked relaxed as he spoke. “You finish your investigation of me yet?”

“What makes you think I bothered?” Dana asked.

“Lexi’s your friend, you don’t know me. You have motive and means.”

Dana shrugged. “I know what I need to know.” She pulled up an extra chair and sat down. Cruz settled back in his seat.

Lexi looked between them. “Are you going to arm wrestle for dominance?”

“I know who would win,” Dana said.

“Me, too.” Cruz winked at Lexi. “But I’d let her think it was her, until the end.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Dana turned to Lexi. “I read about your dad. What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Jed may not be my favorite person on the planet, but he wouldn’t do anything illegal. Not that obvious anyway. It’s strange.”

“We were just talking about that. I want to talk to my dad, but I doubt he’d be willing to have a conversation right now.” Jed would only see her as a distraction.

“It’ll get figured out,” Dana said as she stood. “Try not to worry.” She patted her gun, then looked at Cruz. “Don’t make me have to use this.”

“You’re not subtle.”

“I know. Part of my charm. Bye.”

Cruz watched her go. “Interesting woman.”

“Yes, she is. And a good friend. If you know any great guys, I’d love to fix her up with someone.”

Cruz looked uncomfortable. “Guys don’t do that. Fix up people. It always ends badly.”

“Dana dates mild-mannered men she can push around and the relationships always end when she gets bored. She needs a challenge.”

“Let her get her own guy.”

“Chicken.”

“I’m comfortable admitting I don’t want to be responsible for fixing up your best friend. Success is about knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses.”

She grinned. “Dana appears to be one of yours.”

“Not in the way you are.”

Lexi did her best not to blush. “Yes, well, that’s um…Let’s change the subject.”

“Why?”

“People are eating breakfast.”

“So?”

“We can’t talk about that.”

He leaned toward her. “Why not? Are you embarrassed about what we do in bed?”

“No. Of course not.” She was far more sophisticated than that. Sort of. “It’s just…I don’t usually…It’s fine.”

“Lexi?”

She glanced around to make sure no one was hovering, then lowered her voice. “That first time, ten years ago? You couldn’t get away fast enough. You thought it was terrible.”

He looked confused. “I thought it was great and wanted to come back for more, right up until I realized it was your first time. I wasn’t expecting that. It implied more responsibility than I wanted to take on.”

Responsibility? “I was expecting you to have sex with me, not pay for my college education. I was feeling all warm and fuzzy and you were scrambling for the door.”

She still remembered the humiliation of that morning. Cruz’s look of panic was burned into her brain.

“You recovered fast enough,” he told her. “You were very clear that I wasn’t anyone you wanted to be with.”

“After you rejected me,” she snapped. “I was nineteen years old, I just had sex for the first time and the guy in question was leaving skid marks on the floor in his effort to get away from me. I said what I had to say to protect myself.”

Cruz touched her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that. I wanted to see you again, Lexi. Who wouldn’t? But you scared the hell out of me. You were out of my league and we both knew it.”

Back then, she thought. Now-not so much.

“I was covering my ass,” he continued. He stared into her eyes, as if determined to let her see the truth. “I couldn’t be what you needed and I didn’t want to let you down. So I left.”

Had that been it? An overreaction on both their parts?

She stared at the table. “I thought I was bad in bed,” she whispered. “I thought that’s what was wrong, so I was scared to sleep with anyone else. When I finally did, I couldn’t relax. It was horrible. Everyone said I was cold and inhibited.”

“Bullshit.”

Involuntarily, she looked up. Cruz looked more annoyed than sympathetic.

“I can’t believe guys fed you that line just because they didn’t know what to do. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not cold. You’re sexy and responsive and a hell of a ride.”

She wanted to ask him to say the words again so she could bask in the warm, squishy feelings they generated.

“Really?” she asked, her voice a squeak.

He gave her a look that spoke of male need so explicitly, she wanted to rip off her clothes and do it right there on the calico-covered table. “Yeah.”

“But I wasn’t like that with them. I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t stop thinking.”

“Their problem, not yours.”

“It felt like mine.”

He looked into her eyes. “Was Andrew one of them?”

This time she did blush. She also straightened, so she could lean back in her chair. If there had been a way to pull down a physical barrier, she would have done it.

She didn’t want to talk about him, about what had happened. She didn’t want to have to think about it. But Cruz wasn’t the type to be put off.

“How do you know about Andrew?” she asked.

“Jed mentioned him. At the cocktail party. He said he wanted you to marry him, but you refused and that you were right.”

Everyone had a past, she reminded herself. If only she could have a good one. One that was exciting and involved pirates or space creatures. But no-she’d taken a more traditional route, falling for a total jerk who nearly managed to convince her he was an actual person.

“I met Andrew about three years ago, through friends. He was in finance. We seemed to have similar backgrounds and interests. He was charming and friendly and very interested in me. He made it clear our relationship was serious for him, that he wasn’t playing around.”