Overwhelming Force Page 5

  She couldn’t do this again.

  She wasn’t mad at Joe, the opposite, in fact. Spending time with him just made her remember why she had fallen for him six years ago.

  Which was also adding to her panic.

  She’d been around him a little over an hour and she was already back to the person she’d been. Worried about her looks, about what people thought. How many different ways did she have to be told that she and Joe were from two different realms before she accepted it as the truth?

  Somebody clicked their picture. The flash made Laura wince.

  Joe turned calmly to the man. “Hi, we’re having dinner if you don’t mind.” His voice was friendly but firm. Laura saw the manager heading toward their table to ward off any problems, but the man with the camera left.

  It could’ve just been anyone who recognized Joe and wanted to snap his picture.

  It could’ve been someone from a major gossip rag.

  Either way Laura knew she couldn’t stay. She put her napkin down beside her plate; she felt like she had a knot in her stomach that wouldn’t ease. Joe studied her with concern.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I can’t be here with you, can’t do this again. Thank you for dinner, thank you for the apology. I wish you the best, Joe.”

  She started to stand, but he grasped her hand before she could.

  “Laura, you’re panicking. Don’t. Please.” She felt his thumb brush over the back of her palm. “It was just a photograph and doesn’t mean anything.”

  “No, what it was was a reminder. You are you and I am me. Our worlds aren’t compatible. You would’ve thought I learned that lesson well six years ago.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way. I wasn’t prepared tonight, but I can take measures to protect you from the press. From the gossip.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Who’s going to protect me against you, Joe?”

  He gripped her hand more firmly. “I don’t want you to protect yourself from me. You don’t need to, because I’m not going to do anything that will cause you harm. I give you my word.”

  Laura shook her head. She believed that he meant it, but that didn’t change anything. “I can’t be the person who opened up to you so completely before. That person got crushed in the fray. I don’t think she exists anymore.”

  “Then open up the woman who does exist.” A moment of pain crossed his features. “I’m sorry. I know I hurt you badly. I wish I could take it all back.”

  Laura let out a sigh. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, truly. It’s just I don’t know if I can open up to you. If I even want to.” Didn’t know if the price would be too high. “All I know right now is that it’s been a long day. I need some space. Some time.”

  Joe stared at her for long moments. She knew he wanted to say more, wanted to plead his case. Part of her wanted him to, but she knew it could just lead to disaster.

  He nodded and let go of her hand, leaning back in his seat. “Okay, you’re right. I’m trying to rush this. To force it. And that’s not what I meant to do at all. So we’ll take it slow.”

  “Joe...” She wanted to tell him to just leave her alone for good, that she didn’t want him around her, but couldn’t do it. She couldn’t force herself to say the words.

  Because she knew they would be a lie.

  He leaned forward pinning her with his blue eyes. “I’m not giving up, Laura. I’ll let you go now, but I want you to know I’m not giving up.”

  * * *

  LAURA THOUGHT ABOUT his words the entire way home, thankful she’d had the foresight to insist they drive separate cars to the restaurant. She thought about the intensity of his blue eyes and the way his entire body had leaned toward her as he told her he wasn’t giving up.

  She had no doubt he meant what he said.

  But despite the attraction fairly simmering in her blood for him, Laura knew she couldn’t go through it again. Joe Matarazzo might be the most handsome, charming, wealthy man she’d ever met, but he was no good for her.

  She would have to make him understand. Make him see that she wasn’t just playing hard-to-get. That her very survival depended on him choosing to leave her, and the life she’d built, alone.

  But was that really what she wanted? Deep down did she hope for something different? For him to pursue her again as he once had?

  She had pushed those types of thoughts immediately out of her head for so long that she could no longer even answer them honestly. Even to herself.

  She wished the universe would send her some sort of sign.

  It did, with a vengeance.

  One moment she was driving down a relatively deserted patch of Highway 87, the next another car had slammed into the back driver’s side of Laura’s vehicle.

  She screamed as her head struck the side window and struggled to hold on to consciousness, her vision immediately blurry. Her car flew out of control, spinning in a sideways direction almost off the road. She jerked the steering wheel but it didn’t seem to do any good. She looked over her shoulder and found the vehicle that had hit her still pushed up against her Toyota.

  Was the other car trying to ram her toward the safety rail on the side of the road?

  Laura glanced in that direction for just a second. She knew this part of Highway 87 pretty well. The drop past that safety rail was steep. She would definitely flip if she went over the edge.

  Looking back again at the car still locked against hers, Laura slammed on the brakes with both feet, causing her car to stop and the other one to separate from it and speed past. Once her car wasn’t trapped by the other, Laura had control of the steering again and overcorrected, causing her to swing around backward and land hard up against the rail. Her head flew back the other way from the force of the hit.

  Her breath sawed in and out of her chest. That driver had to be drunk. Idiot had almost killed them both.

  In the rearview mirror Laura noticed the other driver tap the brakes and wondered if the close call with death had sobered the person up enough to realize what they had done. But the car sped farther away. Laura tried to get a glimpse of the license plate but her vision was too blurry.

  She sat for long minutes trying to take inventory of herself. Nothing seemed to be broken. She definitely had a knot on her head where she’d cracked it against the window and her hands were shaking. But it all seemed to be pretty minor bumps and bruises, considering she’d almost been run off the road. Overall, she considered herself lucky.

  An older couple pulled up behind her—well, in front of her since her car was facing backward—and immediately got out to help. They opened the passenger side door and assisted her across the front seats and out of the car. The police were called and at the scene soon enough.

  Laura was tempted to call Joe. He would still be nearby and she knew he would come immediately.

  She also knew there was no way he wasn’t going to end up in her bed if she did that.

  She would attend to her bumps and bruises herself. At least right now they were just on her body; if she called Joe she was sure he’d soothe all her physical aches. But the ones he’d leave on her heart wouldn’t be so easily healed.

  Chapter Six

  Convincing Laura to let him back into her life wasn’t going to be as easy as Joe had hoped. Not that he had really expected it was going to be easy. As a matter of fact, he would’ve sworn before Friday there was no way in hell she was ever going to let him back into her life. That she would punch him if he ever dared show his face around her again.

  Although he had known she was a better person than that. She had even accepted his apology. But he knew when she left the restaurant she had no intention of ever seeing him again. The person who had snapped their picture had spooked her. Maybe she could agree that Joe wouldn’t be cruel, wo
uldn’t say unkind things to or about her, but the press?

  Joe tended to be the press’s darling, but he knew they could often be harsh and callous. They certainly had been to Laura.

  What Joe said to her when they broke up had been unkind, but what the gossip sites had published about her while they had dated had been downright brutal.

  Once he and Laura had been seen together multiple times over a few weeks, one blog had gone so far as to print a picture of her and point out her top ten flaws. Publicly and without mercy. He hoped she had never seen that, but wouldn’t have been surprised if she had.

  Joe had been stupid enough to begin to believe some of what was printed. The digs against her that pointed out her flaws. He would never be so idiotic as to pay any attention to gossip sites now—particularly since he knew how much those sites got wrong—but had let it get the better of him then. Let the sites, and some stupid friends who had his ear, convince him that Laura just wasn’t the right one for him.

  Because it was much easier to dwell on that than to face the real scenario: he’d been falling for Laura.

  Complete and utter panic because he had been falling so hard and so quickly for her. She’d been real, so full of life, and honest and passionate about helping people. She’d had a smile that lit up an entire room.

  She still did. Still was. All of those things.

  Had he really ever thought Laura unattractive six years ago?

  No, never. No matter what the gossip sites had said about her physical appearance, Joe had always found himself overwhelmingly attracted to her. The passion between them had sizzled. Looking at other women had been unappealing.

  And honestly, another reason why he’d panicked. Because for the first time he was in a relationship where he wasn’t thinking about who his next conquest would be. Wasn’t feeling trapped or penned in, when he knew he should be.

  He was too young for love. So when his friends and random websites who didn’t give a damn about Joe or his happiness had told him Laura wasn’t good enough, he’d latched onto that idea.

  He shook his head now at the idiot he’d been then.

  Getting back into Laura’s life wasn’t going to be easy, not that he blamed her one bit. But like he’d told her Friday at the restaurant: he wasn’t giving up.

  He’d sent flowers Saturday, stargazer lilies, her favorite. On Sunday he’d had four pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream delivered to her house, picking out the ones he remembered she’d always loved when they’d sat on her couch watching football games together.

  He didn’t expect either of these gestures to make a difference; Laura would see straight through them. But they were a start.

  It was Monday morning now and he was walking into the room that held his desk at Omega, an open area where most of the Critical Response Division team members’ desks were arranged. The team wasn’t at them a lot, but it was the home base. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the room provided a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains to the west.

  At least they normally did. Today they were covered—completely, top to bottom—with photocopied images of Joe in his well-fitting, black boxer briefs. Hundreds of them, all different shots from the scene at the bank when he’d been proving to Ricky and Bobby he was unarmed.

  And—oh joy—they all had comments. Most of them read something asinine like “he’s unarmed but his weapon works just fine.”

  The audible snickers from the nearby desks surrounded Joe as he walked over to the pictures, studying all the different shots.

  He knew everyone was waiting to see if he was going to get angry or embarrassed. He wasn’t.

  He took one down and turned to face his colleagues. “Hey, I’m going to use these to re-cover my bathroom if that’s okay with everyone. Most gorgeous wallpaper I’ve ever seen.”

  The laughs burst out then.

  “Yeah, you guys are a riot.” But he smiled, beginning to take the sheets down. “I should leave these up here. It would serve you all right.”

  Lillian, along with Ashton Fitzgerald, another SWAT member, jumped up to help him. “It was just such a memorable occasion.” Lillian smiled at him. “We wanted to make sure everyone at Omega had the pleasure of experiencing it.”

  Steve Drackett, head of the Critical Response Division, walked out of his office and looked around. He rolled his eyes. “I don’t even want to know what this is all about. I need SWAT members in my office. We’ve got a situation.”

  Ashton, Lillian and a few others turned to follow Steve. “By the way, Joe, nice skivvies.” Steve winked at him.

  Joe watched as they left, glad, not for the first time, that he wasn’t a part of the SWAT team. Let them go shoot all the bad people. Joe had to write up the report from Friday anyway.

  He hadn’t gotten very far in the paperwork when his phone chirped with an incoming email.

  Sarah Conner, an old girlfriend.

  Wow, that was a blast from the past. He and Sarah had dated briefly not quite a year ago. Nothing serious, just a few weeks of a good time. She hadn’t expected anything from him nor had he expected anything from her. She’d ended it because she desired to have someone around more often and Joe couldn’t be since he traveled so much for his job. Everything had been on good terms although they hadn’t really spoken since.

  He opened the email, not sure exactly what he was expecting. Maybe her telling him that she’d found someone and planned to get married. Instead, the email contained a brief, cryptic message.

  I need to talk to you. It’s important. Come to my place ASAP.

  Joe wasn’t sure what to do with the email. On one hand he wasn’t at all interested in seeing Sarah, not romantically at least. But it sounded like maybe she needed some sort of help.

  He called Sarah’s number but didn’t get an answer. He’d been to her place enough times to know where it was in south Colorado Springs.

  Not quite as far south as Fountain, where Laura lived, but definitely in that general direction. He would go to Sarah’s house, then after he took care of whatever she needed, he would stop by and say hello to Laura in person.

  Maybe offer her one of his colleagues’ pieces of art. She’d love that. He could use it to prove he didn’t take himself so seriously anymore.

  That would probably go further than flowers or ice cream.

  Regardless he’d be able to see Laura. Even if it was only for a few minutes, he’d take it.

  Joe let one of Steve Drackett’s secretaries—all beautiful, intelligent women—know that he was going out to deal with some residual issues with Friday’s case and would be back later in the afternoon. They knew how to contact him if there was a hostage situation for which he was needed. But it sounded like SWAT was going to be busy somewhere else.

  Joe’s Jaguar F-TYPE sports car made short work of the miles to Sarah’s house. Although he was curious about what Sarah had to say, he was anxious to see Laura.

  He pulled up to Sarah’s house, a nice chalet-style place off on its own. It didn’t look like anyone was home, which only made Joe happier. But he’d driven all the way here; he might as well at least try to see what Sarah wanted.

  Joe parked and bounded up to the steps leading to Sarah’s front door. He rang the doorbell and waited. Nothing. He rang it again, but received no response.

  Well, he could at least tell Sarah he tried.

  He knocked just in case the doorbell wasn’t working and was surprised when the door pushed open under his knuckles. It hadn’t been completely closed.

  He knocked again, still staying outside, but stuck his head in slightly and called out.

  “Sarah, you around? It’s Joe.”

  Nothing.

  Something wasn’t right here. Joe took the slightest step inside.

  “Hey, Sarah? You emailed me to come over. I just want
ed to see what’s going on.”

  Still no answer.

  Joe went back to his car and got his Glock from the glove compartment. Although he didn’t use it often, it was still his official Omega weapon. He was licensed to use it. Trained to use it.

  He prayed he didn’t need to use it now.

  He ran back to the door. “Sarah, I’m coming inside. I’m armed. Let me know if you’re in there so no one gets hurt.”

  Still nothing. Joe went from being afraid he might be walking in on Sarah in the shower to hoping it. Embarrassing, but at least she would be alive to be embarrassed.

  He checked all the ground floor rooms first. When he found nothing in the kitchen or living room he slowly made his way upstairs.

  He saw her immediately when he entered the master bedroom. Sarah laid sprawled facedown on the bed, naked, arm over her face as if she was sleeping off a hangover.

  Except for the blood that had pooled all around her.

  He rushed over to check for her pulse, just in case, but knew as soon as he felt the coolness of her skin that she was definitely dead, probably had been for hours.

  Joe took a few deep breaths to center himself, focus on what had happened. He was an Omega agent, had seen dead bodies before, but never someone he’d known so personally.

  Training took over. This was now a crime scene, and that definitely wasn’t Joe’s area of expertise. He needed to call in the specialists. Both local law enforcement and Omega.

  He speed-dialed Steve Drackett’s direct number.

  “Joe, what’s going on?” Steve said in way of greeting. Joe didn’t call his direct line very often and only when there was a problem.

  But there’d never been one like this before.

  “Steve, I’ve got an issue. Dead woman, an ex-girlfriend of mine. I got a message from her earlier asking me to come by but when I got here she was dead. Murdered.”

  “You sure it was a murder?”

  “Unmistakable.”

  He heard Steve’s muttered expletive. “Okay, call the locals and get them there. I’ll send Brandon and Andrea to see if they pick up on anything the locals might miss.”