She finished the pictures and passed them out. Kyle shook his head. “So…Len says you’re going to be a cop, right? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a cop but…these are great.”
“And she has a photographic memory. Draw someone from today—show them,” Jan insisted.
Karen placed a hand over Ashley’s. “Not the highway,” she said.
Ashley shrugged. “All right.”
“You go ahead, I’ll get the check,” Len said.
“Hey, Len, that’s not necessary.”
“You’ve fed me plenty of times, Ash, at Nick’s place.”
“That means my uncle fed you,” she protested.
“Don’t argue with an officer of the law,” he teased and walked to the bar. Ashley watched him go, shook her head and set her pen to the paper. She hesitated, then started another face. She was startled herself when she saw what she was doing. Strong, craggy features, dark hair, dark eyes, square jawline, high, broad cheekbones, and the mouth…drawn into something of a tight line, but a good mouth…
“Wow. Cool. Who is it?” Karen asked, picking up the napkin.
“The guy I spilled the coffee on this morning.”
“Good-looking son of a gun,” Karen murmured.
“See, photographic memory,” Jan said, pleased.
“Not really. But I like to draw faces. I always have,” Ashley said to the two firefighters. Kyle whistled softly. She stared down at her own drawing, oddly stirred by it. Good-looking son of a gun. Yeah, he had been. Walking aggression and testosterone, but…hmm. There was something about him. A beckoning power or strength or sensuality. Maybe all of them. She hated the saying, but animal attraction might just be the right phrase to describe him.
He did have something that…
Something that, for her, Len just didn’t.
Don’t you ever just want to have sex?
She looked back at her drawing. His type probably had lots of sex. He wasn’t the kind of man with whom she would ever want to become involved. Not that she wanted to be involved.
With luck, she wouldn’t even run into him again. Literally or otherwise. Even though he did seem to know Nick, and she had actually seen him around the place before. Lots of customers came and went, some of them frequently, some of them not so frequently.
“You’re good. You shouldn’t waste this kind of talent,” Kyle said, interrupting her introspection.
She exhaled, glad to return to the present. “Thanks,” she said, then crumpled up the napkin.
“You destroyed it!” Mario protested.
“She didn’t like him very much,” Jan said, grinning.
Len returned from paying the check. They talked as they exited the dance hall, Len expressing his regret that they were heading back the next afternoon, since Mario and Kyle went back on duty the next day.
They parted outside to head for their respective hotels, but not before Kyle and Jan exchanged numbers. As they walked back, Karen suddenly linked arms with Ashley and let out a soft whistle. “Wasn’t it a great evening?”
“Yes, I had a good time, and I really hope you and Len do keep seeing each other.”
“Yes, a guy like Len shouldn’t go to waste,” Jan said. “And, Ashley, your guy was mature…a little scary. But…appealing.”
Ashley stared at her, frowning as she arched a brow. “Definitely a nice guy. And married,” she informed her.
Karen laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “I don’t think Jan means the firefighter. She means the guy in the sketch.”
“He isn’t my guy!” Ashley insisted, startled.
“Oh, yeah? You should have taken a good look at that picture you drew. You saw something in that guy,” Karen told her.
“I don’t even know him. And with any luck, I won’t.”
“There’s nothing like a mystery man,” Jan teased.
“Oh, yeah, right, nothing like one.”
As soon as they reached the suite, they headed for bed. But Ashley couldn’t sleep. When both Karen and Jan were deeply out, she was still wide awake. So she closed the door over to the bedroom, went out to the living area to make a cup of tea, and picked up her sketch pad from the coffee table.
When the three men reached the room they’d rented for the night, Len suddenly drew back as Kyle fumbled with the plastic card that had replaced the use of keys at most hotels.
“Hey, you know what? I’m suddenly dying for a burger.”
“You want us to come with you?” Mario asked. “I guess I could eat a burger.”
“Hell, no, you don’t really want a burger, and I don’t need help to take a ride to Denny’s,” Len said cheerfully.
“You sure?” Mario asked. He yawned. “Hell, I’m beat.”
“Get to sleep. I won’t be long, and I’ll try not to make a racket when I get back.”
“Last man in gets the cot,” Kyle reminded him.
“Yeah, well, one of us had to get it, right?”
He grinned, turned and headed back for the car.
He didn’t drive to Denny’s. He turned his car toward the girls’ hotel and parked.
Karen had given him their room number, and mentioned that they’d wound up on the first floor, so the sliding glass doors at the back opened up to a little courtyard and garden area.
He headed for the courtyard and figured out which room it would be.
The lights were on. One person was moving inside. He knew it was Ashley.
The drapes were thin, the light behind them bright. He could see her every movement. She walked around, paused by the window, drew the curtain back and looked out.
He flattened himself against a gardenia tree.
She was holding a cup of something, just gazing out. She was wearing a long T-shirt that clung to her. In the artificial light, her hair blazed. The wavy ends seemed to curl protectively around her breasts. The knit shirt hugged the length of her. She never could have imagined just how provocative she looked.
His fingers wound into his palms, and tension streaked through the length of him. You don’t know just how well I know you, Ashley, he thought. I knew you’d be the one who was awake, I knew I could come here and see you. And one day, Ashley, you’ll find out just what you’ve made me feel all this time.
One day.
The sliders were open, only the screen in place, letting in the breeze.
That one day…
Could be tonight.
No. Not tonight. Tonight, he would just watch.
But soon. Soon she would know. He’d make her know.
The night was beautiful. Just beautiful. But not even the stars in the sky or the soft glow of moonlight on the exquisite little garden could draw her attention.
She stepped back into the room and went over to the desk. She’d already taken her sketch pad out.
She started to draw. First, the body…the body on the highway.
A man, young, muscle structure taut beneath…the