His gaze turned curious. “Something, or someone?”
The light pressure of his fingers encouraged me to step into him. I could have moved back but I didn’t want to. I stepped closer. Closer than was polite. So close my nipples touched his chest. They hardened instantly.
“Someone,” I whispered.
Banjo’s fingers grasped my chin and tilted it up. He leaned in. “You want me to kiss you, sad eyes? Because the way you’re staring at me says you do.”
I did. I really did. I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself in his lips. I wanted to inhale his scent that was an intoxicating combination of cigarette, coconut, and something distinctly man.
His lips brushed over the corner of my mouth, the barest of touches, but it sent a jolt of good feelings through my entire body.
I wanted more.
His mouth floated across my skin, to the sensitive spot beneath my ear.
“Go out with me,” he said huskily.
Good feelings gone.
I blinked, jerking back. “Excuse me?”
His lazy gaze rolled over me. “Like I said before, you’re cute. And your sad eyes intrigue me. So, I’m asking if you’ll go out with me?”
“Are you joking?”
He cocked his head to one side. “Why would I joke about something like that? You’re fucking gorgeous, Lacey. So yeah, I want to go out with you.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. He thought I was hot. Okay, that was good. Great even. I thought he was hot, too. He’d caught me off guard by asking me on an actual date, like he might have wanted something more than just sex. A date was not on the table. Sex? Totally on the table. And on the bed. Hell, if he kept checking me out with those half-lidded eyes, I’d do him just about anywhere. V-card be damned. I’d been wanting to get rid of it for a year now anyway. “Why go out? We’re both here right now, aren’t we?”
He studied me for a second, and obviously what I wanted was written all over my face. He barked out a laugh. “Well, shit. Didn’t expect that. You seem so sweet and innocent.”
I edged closer and tilted my head back to look up at him. “I’m not in the mood to beat around the bush. It’s been a shit day. I just want someone who will make me forget that for a little while.”
“And I’ll do?”
I shrugged. “That bother you?”
Something flickered in his eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “That you want to use me for sex? No, sad eyes. You wouldn’t be the first.”
Though the statement intrigued me, I was more interested in other things he could offer me. It wasn’t worth my time delving into his personal problems when all I wanted to do was fool around and forget that this day, and the last few weeks had existed. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”
I towed him back up the hill and through the glass doors. He threw a wink at one of his work colleagues, who just shook his head. My aunt would have died a thousand deaths if she’d realized her niece was about to take the hired help upstairs for more than just cleaning. But she was in bed, and the only people left downstairs were Banjo’s coworkers. None of my aunt’s friends to tattle on me. Though in that moment, I might not have cared.
All I knew was that Banjo’s hand in mine felt warm and alive. And I wanted more of that. Warmth to replace the cold dead feeling that had been slowly devouring me.
The front door opened right as my foot hit the bottom stair.
“Lacey Knight? Stop, please.”
I twisted at the unfamiliar voice and glanced past our maid, Angelique, to the uniformed officer on the doorstep.
“We need you and your guardian to come down to the station with us. Immediately.”
Banjo shifted slightly, so he was between me and the officers. “What for?”
The officer cast his gaze over Banjo, and I knew instantly what he was seeing. Banjo’s too-long hair. His waiter’s uniform. A tattoo peeking out from beneath his collar.
The officer’s lip curled slightly, distaste in his gaze. “Who are you?”
I stepped in front of Banjo. “Not important. How about you tell me why you want me to come to the station? Again. I’ve already told you everything I know about the fire.”
The officer’s steely gaze landed squarely on me. “Perhaps. But either way, you can come willingly, or I can arrest you right here.”
My anger boiled. The officer looked at me with the same contempt he’d looked at Banjo. He knew then. Knew exactly who I was. Who I’d been, and what had happened in my past. Judgement rolled off him.
“Bartholomew Johns, is that you?” My aunt’s voice from the top of the stairs held a barely constrained anger. “You did not just waltz into my house and threaten to arrest my niece, did you?”
I glanced up in surprise, meeting her eyes. She swept down the stairs without a hair out of place or a wrinkle in her clothing. Nobody would have ever guessed she’d just been trying to sleep off a migraine. Her hand found the small of my back at the same time she noticed Banjo beside me. She frowned but ignored him, nudging me forward.
I dropped his hand.
The officer went a little pink around the cheeks, but he didn’t apologize. “New facts about your husband’s death have come to light, Mrs. Knight. You both need to come to the station. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Selina took her purse from a coatrack by the door and stared the man down. “Try using your manners next time then, perhaps?”
The officer bit his lip and spun on his heel, disappearing from the doorway.
Selina sighed. “Let’s just get this over with, okay? I know you don’t like the police, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get back to…” She cast a glance over her shoulder at Banjo, who hadn’t moved. “Whatever you were doing.”
Banjo’s sharp gaze darted to my aunt but quickly came back to me. I lifted my shoulder an inch and followed my aunt’s lead, picking up my purse and heading for the door.
“Lacey,” he called.
I stopped.
Banjo had his hands shoved into the pockets of his work pants. “See you around.”
I nodded. But I sincerely doubted it.
3
Lacey
Selina shifted on the hard plastic seats, clutching her purse on her lap. She hadn’t touched the desk in front of us, or the plastic cups of water the police officers had left for us. She cast her gaze around the dingy room, her nose wrinkled in distaste.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered, not for the first time this evening.
I agreed, but I didn’t reply. Complaining about it wasn’t going to get us anywhere. The fact they’d put us in an interrogation room couldn’t mean anything good. The last few chats had been more informal. I’d given a statement. Then repeated it a few days later. Then answered some more questions. But that had all been in the hospital, our home, or the captain’s office. Today was different. There’d been a more serious vibe when the officers had come to our door. And there’d been no one here to greet us as we’d arrived at the station. We’d been left to wait, though why, I couldn’t work out.
The door swung open, and Detective Appin strode in. Another detective behind him, one I didn’t recognize, shut the door quietly. They took the empty seats on the opposite side of the grimy-looking table.