“Not recently, right?” I didn’t know about that part of their history.
“No. Before we started dating.” She pointed a finger at me. “You. Will. Not. Sleep. With. Her.” Her finger jabbed with every word. I felt each one all the way to my soul.
She didn’t have to worry. I had no plans to sleep with Shelly. That bitch was more than a little unhinged and everyone knew it. Hell, even Shelly knew it. The funny thing about it, though, was that she embraced it. She didn’t apologize. She just was…well, she was Shelly. That was all she was and all she’d ever be.
It didn’t matter that Shelly was beautiful and smart and that she kicked ass. The bitch was completely unpredictable, and I had enough unpredictability in my life already.
Chapter 4
Clark
When the service was over and Mason and Lynn’s new baby boy had been dedicated to God and all that jazz, everyone was invited back to their house for a small party. I stood in front of the punch bowl, filling my cup, wishing it had liquor in it. But I had to work later, no matter what, and liquor and guns didn’t exactly go hand in hand.
“Thanks for coming today, Clark,” Mason, the baby’s father, said as he stepped up next to me.
“Thanks for inviting me.” I lifted the cup to my lips.
“Did you fuck Shelly at the back of the church?” Mason suddenly blurted out, turning to face me, his arms crossed over his chest as he glowered at me.
“Why does everybody keep asking me that?” I muttered, more to myself than to Mason.
“Because Shelly came out of the back of the church looking like she’d just been tumbled in the sheets.” He began to tick items off on his fingers. “Her cheeks were flushed. The hem of her dress was tucked into her panties, and her hair was all over the place.”
“Hmm,” I said noncommittally.
His eyes grew wider. “You didn’t!”
I laughed. Because, well, his indignation was amusing. “No, I didn’t.”
“Then what happened?”
“Your wife sent me to find Shelly. That’s all. I went and got her and delivered her to her sister’s side. That’s it. Nothing else.”
“You’re sure?”
I said the same thing I’d said to Aubrey. “I think I’d know if I fucked her.”
“I know she’s really pretty,” he began, using his psychiatrist’s voice on me. “But she has mental health issues that are still undefined.”
“I know that.”
“She’d eat you up and spit you out.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So why did she look so disheveled?”
“She had just changed clothes.” I shrugged my shoulders.
Mason’s chest sagged. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry, man.” He reached over and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I just wanted to be sure.”
“No worries. I completely understand.”
“Just wanted to be sure you understand. Shelly… She’s not like most women.”
I was fully aware of that. I’d put a full file together on her, back when Mason’s wife, Lynn, was missing. Shelly had been abused as a child, had been removed from the family home at the age of six, the circumstances of which I still didn’t fully understand, and she had never had a solid relationship with a man. Oh, and she was known to be homicidal. No one could prove it, but I was pretty sure she’d kill anyone who threatened Lynn. I was also certain she’d killed their father, but I couldn’t prove it.
“Well, good thing is that you never have to worry about anyone hurting that kid of yours.” This time, it was me who squeezed his shoulder.
Mason shivered. “She’s like an old mother hen with him. I never would have thought that Shelly has a maternal side.”
“I don’t think they call that maternal. I think they call it homicidal.” I took a sip of my drink. Too sweet. Needed alcohol.
“Takes one to know one,” a voice chimed out from right behind me.
Ah, fuck. Of course, she was right behind me. “Shelly,” I said. I inclined my head toward her ever so slightly.
“Clark,” she replied. Nothing more. Just that single word. I had a feeling I was in trouble.
“So,” Mason said slowly, looking from Shelly to me and back again, doing that Spidey-shrink thing he did so well, “did you find anyone to fill that job you had open?”
“Job?” Shelly parroted. Instantly, she was beside me, staring up at me, her blue eyes blinking slowly, the side of her breast pressed against my arm. “What job?
“Whoops,” Mason said and chuckled. “I think I hear the baby.” Then he walked away, leaving me with the viper.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” I said quickly.
“He said job. I heard him. What kind of job is it? What would I have to do?”
“No.” No fucking way I would ever hire Shelly Punter to work in my office.
“Tell me.” She jerked my forearm toward her.
“No.”
“You have no choice, now that I know about it.”
I heaved out a sigh. “I needed a person to help with filing, answering phones, doing data collection for cases, and things like that. Just someone to help me, that’s all.”
“I’d be perfect for a job like that.” She danced on the toes of her sexy shoes.
“No.”
“Yes.” She stomped her foot. I jerked my toes back at just the right moment.
“No.” I tipped my drink up and drained the last of the glass. “I need to go.”
“Where are we going? What are we working on?”
“I’m working on a case. You’re staying here.” She pressed so tightly against my side that I could feel her heart beating in my forearm. I put my hands on her hips and set her away from me. But then all I could think was how Shelly’s hips felt under my hands. “I have to go.”
She finally stepped away, her eyes narrowing into thin slits framed by blond lashes.
I paid my respects to Lynn and Mason, pretended to fawn over their offspring for a moment, and left.
As I walked to my car, I looked up to find either Shelly or Lynn framed in the doorway. I couldn’t tell which one it was, but my gut said it was Shelly, and it also said that Mason had just opened a big old can of stinky, smelly worms for me.
There was no way I would ever allow Shelly Punter within one hundred yards of my office.
And what was even worse was that every time I closed my eyes, I could see Shelly standing naked in that church, her hands over her nipples, and all the rest of her…well…there. Right in front of my face.
Chapter 5
Shelly
“I’m sorry I was late today,” I said to Lynn as she changed Jason’s diaper in the nursery of their home. The house was finally empty, and Lynn had exchanged hostess duties for baby duties, while Mason cleaned the kitchen.
“Why were you late?” Lynn asked, as she cooed over Jason’s naked stomach, blowing loud raspberries against his petal-soft skin. He pumped his arms and legs, his smile so cherub-like that my ovaries ached.