Page 5 of Jackson
She found the MP3 player with her running playlist—she liked to start with Dio’sStand Up and Shout—and headed out the door.
With each pounding step, the night before replayed in flashes. Her thighs ached from muscles she hadn’t used at the gym. She remembered the press of his demanding and relentless mouth on hers. The way his sure, confident hands moved over her body, like he was memorizing her. She pushed harder, as ifspeed could outrun memory. It didn’t, but the burn in her legs helped drown out the noise.
Slick with sweat and still unsettled, she came back an hour later and jumped in the shower. After a quick rinse, Paula dressed for the day and went into the kitchen. She pulled a yogurt out of her fridge and fixed a cup of strong black coffee.
Her gaze slid to her kitchen table, covered with several weeks of mail, and decided to eat standing up. Leaning against the refrigerator, she spooned the blueberry-flavored yogurt into her mouth. Once she finished her breakfast, she placed the used mug and spoon in the sink and tossed the yogurt container in the trash.
She needed to do the dishes; she was running out of silverware.
Now, where had she put her phone? Oh, yeah, in that stupid clutch that went with the dress. What was wrong with pockets?
She checked her voicemail first. Two messages, neither of them urgent, but she had nine texts. What the hell? Laura had texted her twice.
Laura
1:14 am Did I see you leave with Jackson?
8:35 am You have to tell me what happened.
Paula looked over them and fired off a quick response.
Three messages from Kate.
Kate
8:23 am [Face Screaming in Fear emoji] I left with Chris last night.
8:28 am Did you spend the night with Jackson?
8:29 am Can you do coffee or lunch [Folded Hands emoji]?
Paula could use a friend, and she didn’t want to bother Laura. Since she and James had recently become foster parents, they weren’t taking a honeymoon right away, even though they were still newlyweds. Paula decided to read the other messages first. The next person in the list made her heart stutter—Jackson Cagney. She hadn’t given him her private number, had she?
Jackson Cagney
8:16 am Where are you?
How on earth had he gotten her number?
Oh, right. She’d given it to him when they’d worked together on a case involving Laura the previous year.
Jackson Cagney
8:19 am You’d better have slipped out for Starbucks or something. [Winking Face’ emoji]
8:59 am Damn it, Paula
9:12 am Garozzo’s, tonight, I’ve made reservations for 7:00 pm
She couldn’t think about Jackson yet. She’d call Kate first.
Paula eyed her friend over the rim of her coffee cup. Was Kate a friend? Hmm, yes. Yes, she was. She liked the woman as much as she did Laura, and yesterday, at the wedding reception, they’d had a blast on the dance floor.
Right up until she’d made the brilliant decision to leave with Jackson Cagney.
He was younger—much younger—and far too connected to her professional world. And damn it, he was exactly the kind of temptation she usually knew better than to touch.
Paula forced herself from her self-recriminating, dismal thoughts back to the conversation.
