A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [80]
Tom considered long and hard. It was a measure of how much he really liked Tessa, maybe even loved her, that taking such a small risk scared him.
“All right,” he finally said. He whistled for Elvis, who got to his feet and crossed the office. Holding the office door open for Melissa, Tom added, “After you, counselor.”
“I’m proud of you,” Melissa said.
She ducked into her office for her purse—Andrea still wasn’t back—and ducked out again.
“There’s a catch,” Tom informed her, when they were both strapped into the squad car and Elvis had taken up his post in back, behind the folding grill.
Melissa’s stomach fluttered slightly. “What kind of catch?”
“Fair is fair,” Tom said. “If you get to hang around when I ask Tessa to go to the dance, then the reverse is true. I have to be there when you ask Creed.”
Awkward, Melissa thought. Her most recent exchange with Steven hadn’t exactly been a friendly one. And, anyway, there was a big difference in situations here—she’d slept with Steven Creed. Recently. There had clearly been no such intimacy between Tom and Tessa.
Still, how could she refuse without explaining? And she certainly wasn’t about to admit that she’d spent the night with the man, even though Tom had expressed his suspicions.
“You’re on,” she said finally. She’d think of a way out later.
Tom nodded and started up the cruiser, and they headed for the Sunflower Café and Bakery. Alice McCoy was out front on her three-wheeled cart, putting tickets on windshields, and she waved merrily to Tom, one crime fighter acknowledging another.
Tom smiled and waved back, but he looked a little pale around the jawline, and Melissa knew he was nervous.
She felt fairly sympathetic toward him, even—until they walked into the café that is. There was Steven, sitting on the same stool as the first time she’d laid eyes on him, sipping coffee and going over plans with Alex Royce, an architect from Indian Rock.
Steven turned immediately to face Melissa, and his eyes sparked when he looked at her. The corner of his mouth quirked up, too.
Tom was so pleased to see Melissa put on the spot like this that he must have forgotten his own mission, at least for a moment.
“We’re on a coffee break,” Melissa said, perhaps a touch too loudly.
Conversation ceased all over the small eatery, and everyone looked in their direction. A few people smiled to themselves before going back to their late lunches, early suppers or afternoon snacks.
Steven spoke to Alex, who nodded, and then rose from the counter stool to walk over to Melissa and Tom.
“Have you calmed down a little?” Steven asked, unsmiling, gazing deep into Melissa’s eyes. She felt as though she were being undressed, and her cheeks flamed.
She flushed, too tongue-tied to speak, while Tom grinned down at her, plainly enjoying her discomfort.
Steven’s gaze held hers. “Evidently not,” he said, apparently in answer to his own question.
Melissa glared at him. How was she supposed to ask this obnoxious man out on a date, for heaven’s sake, and in front of half the town, too?
“I’m fine,” she managed.
“That’s good to hear,” he said.
At the same moment, Tom gave Melissa a light poke with his elbow. “Go ahead,” he said, in a stage whisper that probably carried clear past the jukebox and down the short hallway to the restrooms. “Ask him to the dance.”
Melissa tallied up her chances of getting away with murder and decided they weren’t good. Too many witnesses, for one thing.
So she had to let Tom live. For the moment.
Steven’s grin was even more crooked than before. He might have thrown her a lifeline of some sort, said something, but not a word came out of that highly kissable mouth. He simply stood there and waited.
Melissa cleared her throat, painfully aware that everybody in the place had an ear cocked that way. “There’s a dance at the Grange on Saturday night,” she said, because there was no way out. “And I was wondering if you’d like to go.” She paused. “With me, I mean.”
“Is it Sadie Hawkins’ Day?” some redneck joked, from one of the booths.
“Say what?” someone else called.