Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker Off the Books #4) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,42

a mini pity party in the here and now, because yes, he’d left at her request, merely doing what she wanted, so it wasn’t his fault. It was just that, deep in her heart, she’d hoped he would ignore her pleas for space and distance. Just once she wished someone would push back, demand that she listen to reason rather than walk away.

“It’s the right thing. Makin’ him leave … it’s the right thing to do,” she whispered, more to assure herself than to continue the conversation with Tesha.

JJ glanced at her computer screen one more time, sighed. No way would it benefit her to sit here another minute. As it was, her thoughts were elsewhere, her focus for shit, and every attempt she’d made to find Juliet Prince today had failed.

Maybe she should go to Moonshiners, have a couple of beers with Brantley and Reese. It would be the only way to avoid ringing in the new year alone.

Or perhaps she’d just go home, have some wine, and go to bed early. What did celebrating the new year get her, anyway?

JJ glanced at the full bowl of popcorn and the opened can of Orange Crush. She suddenly wasn’t in the mood for those either.

“All right, girl,” she finally said, pushing to her feet. “Let’s get you in the house.”

It only took a couple of minutes to gather her things, another few to let Tesha do her business then get her into the house and settled.

It wasn’t until she’d locked the front door and was off the porch that she realized Baz’s truck was still in the driveway, the detective sitting in the driver’s seat.

Son of a—

Her heart skipped a beat, but she ignored it. This was for the best. She had absolutely no business bringing Baz down, which she would do if she let him hang around any longer. It was inevitable. She brought everyone down with her mood swings and her self-loathing. Her father said it was her superpower.

As she clicked the key fob to unlock her little SUV, she wondered whether her father actually believed that made her feel any better about herself. Then again, she seriously doubted Joshua James cared. He did hate her. Both of her parents did. For whatever reason, they blamed her for her brother’s death. For years, they’d accused her of letting Jeremy down, not bothering to help him in his time of need, and because of that, according to them, he’d had no other way out, so he had taken his own life.

They couldn’t have been more wrong. About all of it.

Without looking at Baz’s truck, she reached for the door handle, fully intending to jump in and speed off. No sense making this night worse than it already was.

His window lowered. “JJ.”

She sighed, fingers curled under the door handle. So close.

“I don’t want to leave things like this,” he said, opening the truck door and getting out.

There should’ve been no reason her body responded to such a simple statement, but it did. Every time. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself she didn’t want this man, that they didn’t belong together, her body still craved his touch.

“JJ, please.”

She doubted it was his words, more so his voice that had goose bumps forming on her arms. She’d always liked Baz’s voice. Hell, she liked everything about the sexy detective, had since she’d first laid eyes on him. And that was the problem, wasn’t it? There wasn’t anything about him she didn’t like, which scared the shit out of her. JJ was all too aware of what falling in love could do. Which was the very reason she had no desire to bring about heartache if it was at all possible. After all, that was why she had continued that ruse of a relationship she’d had with Dante for so many years. It damn sure hadn’t been because she thought the guy would ever change.

Baz’s boots crunched on gravel as he approached. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. She could do this. She would be strong.

“Why don’t we go grab some coffee,” he suggested. “Talk this out.”

“Baz…”

When she turned around, she found he was closer than she’d anticipated. Close enough she was forced to look up at him. Close enough she could feel the warmth of his body against her front, smell the delicious scent of his cologne. She had no idea which fragrance it was because he was obsessed with so many different ones, but it