Tripp in Love by Tressie Lockwood Page B

was done, he focused on her again. “Now tell me, what’s a woman like you doing related to a…” He cleared his throat. “To Lorn?”
    Her brows went up. “A woman like me?”
    “Smart, successful by the look of you,” he supplied.
    She blushed. “Thanks.”
    “Still you’re a study in contrasts. One minute you seem very confident. The next, you’re shy and sweet. I’ve seen it all on these highways, but you, you’re different.”
    She crossed one leg over the other, effectively removing his warm eyes from her face. “I’m sure you tell that to all the law breakers you come across. But no, I am what I seem. Like I said, Lorn and I don’t have the same mother. I grew up with mine after my father left her for his. She worked to put me through college. I did everything I could to make her proud. We didn’t have much contact with Lorn. I tried a few years ago when my mother passed, but well since you know him, you get why that wasn’t going to work.”
    He nodded. “I know of your brother only because he had trouble respecting the law.”
    “That’s putting it mildly,” she quipped. “The last time I was down here, he stole all the money I had in my wallet, and only because I caught him at it did I not lose my credit cards.”
    The officer frowned. “You didn’t confront him did you?”
    “I did. He slapped me, and I was done.”
    Toya was surprised how his big hands gripped the steering wheel until they turned red. “A man hitting a woman is unacceptable.”
    She grinned. “Thanks. But as you can see, I love heels. I tried to take his toe off with one. He let go of my wallet real fast. Anyway, I wrote him off. He had no family feeling, and since he reminded me of my no-good father, who I hated at the time, I didn’t want any more to do with Lorn.”
    “So why are you here?”
    She shrugged. “With death, I feel like you should let go of everything you’re holding against people and just say your good-byes. I guess you think that’s weird, huh?”
    “No, you would see things that way.”
    She rolled her eyes and laughed. “You don’t know me.”
    He eyed her between watching the road. “Let me guess. You’re sure about yourself in situations you control. You use whatever means necessary to get the upper hand, but when things get tricky and you can’t predict the outcome, you remember you’re only human.”
    He hit the nail on the head, but it wasn’t like she kept her real self hidden or anything. Toya liked shooting from the hip. She told it like it was about herself and her situation. That’s how her mama raised her, and she wasn’t about to play games now.
    “What about you?” she said, not denying or confirming his thoughts about her. “I don’t even know your name, officer.”
    “Jeremiah Tripp. You can call me Tripp. Everyone does. I’d like to get to know you a lot better.”
     

Chapter Two
    Tripp stood at the back of the room watching the proceedings. He shouldn’t have come. There was no open case here. Lorn Foster’s death was labeled an accidental overdose. He’d taken too many pills, prescription meds. No one suspected foul play. Lorn had been a petty thief with a rap sheet a mile long. Small stuff, nobody special. But to tell the truth, he’d wanted to see her again.
    Damn, she was beautiful. A sweet face with wide, brown eyes, and a knockout body. Those long, shapely legs had given him a hard-on when her skirt rose. He’d had to try extra hard to remain professional, but in the end it had been impossible. He had unbent enough to come on to her, and she’d been interested.
    Of course he had used his influence to get her off that afternoon. Every one of the guys, including the chief had let things slide for a woman. Not so far as to put anyone in danger, but he would kick himself later if he ever locked her up rather than ask her out. So here he was, at her brother’s funeral, waiting for her. He couldn’t get more distasteful than that, but he wasn’t