Part 15 (2/2)
He slid her another glance. Like her words, her face showed no trace of bitterness. Her easy acceptance was a surprise. Especially since he was used to criminals who blamed their misdeeds on parents who'd denied them video games and candy.
”And your mom?”
”She's cool. We had some pretty wild parties. My place was the hangout, which gave me ready access to a lot of hot guys,” she said in a teasing tone.
Parties. Jesse mentally reviewed Audra's file. She'd lived with her mom between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, including the time of her arrest at sixteen. Somehow he didn't think those parties included soda pop and spin the bottle.
”What about your brother?”
”My dad died when I was sixteen. Drew took it hard. He had the bar to run then, and was pretty busy. I hardly saw him again until I was an adult.”
She shrugged as if it didn't mean much, but Jesse'd learned to look to her lips for a true reaction. Audra would be a h.e.l.l of a poker player with that bland face and go-to-h.e.l.l eyes. But when she talked about her father's death, the slight tremble in her lower lip gave her away.
Those years with her mother must have been h.e.l.l. If he remembered right, it had been her brother who bailed her out of jail and had signed the court papers when she'd been arrested. Interesting.
”How about you?” she asked, turning the tables. ”Tell me about your family.
Jesse gave a laugh. ”My family? They're about as average a family as you can get, I guess.”
”C'mon, that's a copout. You mentioned sisters before. How many? Are you older or younger? Where'd you grow up, what're your parents like?”
He shot her a shocked look. ”All that?”
”Yes, all that. Now that you know just about everything there is to know about me, it's only fair to share the knowledge. Besides, you are the one who wanted to do this dating thing to get to know each other. If you don't want to talk, I'm perfectly content to have s.e.x.”
His blood went south, instant reaction stirring at her words. d.a.m.ned if his body wouldn't be perfectly content to have s.e.x, too. But as long as she was a suspect, he'd keep his pants on.
”Fair's fair,” he agreed. ”I have four sisters. Bossy, interfering know-it-alls, every one of them. We grew up in Gra.s.s Valley, an ancient house with more leaks and problems than money to fix them. One bathroom, four primping girls. It's a wonder I managed to shower at all in my teens.”
”You love them a lot, huh?”
He glanced over, expecting to see mild disdain at best, all-out derision at worst. Instead, her eyes were filled with warmth and interest, her lips tilted in an encouraging smile.
”They're good people,” he finally said, borrowing her earlier words. ”All four are married now, which makes my mother happy. She's on the warpath for grandkids, but n.o.body is in a hurry to accommodate the demand.”
”Aren't you her main target? I'd think there would be that whole 'family name' thing to live up to.”
Jesse bit back a sigh. She didn't know the half of it. Of course, in his family's mind, his being a cop meant he was living up to the family name. Thankfully, no one but him knew the truth behind his father's reputation as a cop. Or how hard Jesse worked to make sure he didn't follow suit.
”Nope, her ticking grandma clock seems focused on the females. She's had a hard time since my dad died two years ago,” he heard himself admitting. ”I mean, I know she'd like to see me settled down and all. But she's old-fas.h.i.+oned, I guess. It's okay to nag at her daughters, but once dad was gone, I became the man of the family. To her mind, that means I'm above questioning and nagging.”
Like his father had been.
”A get-out-of-nagging free pa.s.s?” she joked. ”It sounds like she's a cool mom. Tough but loving. Like those old-fas.h.i.+oned moms you see on TV Land.”
He gave a little laugh. Then as he thought of just how old-fas.h.i.+oned she was, his laughter died and bitterness coated his tongue.
”As much as I love my mother, that old-fas.h.i.+oned system might work for bringing up a decent pack of kids. But sometimes I wish to h.e.l.l she'd been less subservient to her husband. Maybe if she'd laid down the law with him as well as she had with her kids, he might have shown more loyalty.”
Jesse glanced at Audra, curled in the seat next to him. Faint shadows of exhaustion rimmed her eyes, but she still managed to look hot, s.e.xy and sweet, all at the same time. Her gaze was locked on his face, a look of compa.s.sion in those eyes.
”He strayed, huh?”
”Yeah. She never let on like she knew, though. So maybe he kept it from her.” Jesse had only found out after joining the P.D. His father's exploits were stuff of legend at the cop shop.
”She knew,” Audra said softly. ”A woman intuitive enough to successfully raise five kids, not a screwup in the bunch? She'd know.”
”She never let on,” he repeated.
”Like you said, she's strong. And it sounds like her family was number one. Some women believe it's more important to keep the family intact than open those closet doors and clean out the skeletons.”
He considered that, then nodded. ”Would you?”
”Keep the door closed?” she clarified. At his nod, she grimaced and shook her head. ”Nope. Then again, I'm selfish and greedy. If I ever end up married, he'll be loyal or I'll castrate his sorry a.s.s.”
Even though he felt the same way, Jesse couldn't keep from clenching his thighs in protest.
”After all,” she continued, ”if I ever loved someone enough to promise him forever, that means my body as well as my heart, right?”
Jesse tried to shove aside the sudden, overwhelming urge to pummel this imaginary guy who would be lucky enough to have Audra's heart.
”So,” she said in a bright tone, ”it sounds like your family is still close, though?”
”Yeah, I guess we are,” he agreed. ”How about you? Are you close with your brother now?”
”I guess we are, yeah. Once Drew and I hooked back up, I even lived with him for a while. Until he got married, actually.” Audra leaned her head against the seat and laughed. It was a sweetly sentimental sound that made Jesse grin. ”Drew even bailed my sorry b.u.t.t out of jail once.”
Feeling her gaze on him, Jesse feigned a surprised look as he shot her a glance. ”Jail? What did you do to land there?”
”I broke a friend out of death row,” she said quietly. This time, Jesse didn't have to fake the look of shock on his face. Not at her words, but at the pain in her tone.
”Death row? That's pretty serious.”
”Definitely. Jack, my dad's dog, was scheduled to be put down. He was a mean, nasty thing. The only way to keep him from snarling and biting was to give him booze. But he didn't deserve an ugly death. He'd got out one day and the pound wouldn't release him to me. Drew was out of town. I didn't have a choice...”
Her words trailed off, then she sucked in a breath and gave him a big smile. ”It was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. Middle of the night, clandestine behavior. Too bad the cops were such jerks. Even after I explained why I was breaking Jack loose, they threw the book at me. I'm a suspicious character, apparently.”
”You mean you were then?”
”Nah, it's never changed. Cops don't trust me. They take one look, see bad girl, file me under guilty.” The frustration in her tone was so subtle he almost missed it. Jesse knew he shouldn't feel like a total jerk, but he did. Then she flashed her usual smile and shrugged. ”It's too bad, 'cause one of them was really cute. I mean, usually I have no use for the police, but you gotta admire a man who carries his own handcuffs.”
Jesse gave a surprised laugh. He wondered if his having handcuffs might outweigh his being a cop in her eyes? Probably not.
Which brought him full circle back to the sister-in-law and the trip to China funded by S.S. S.S.
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