Page 1 of One Tough Love

Chapter 1

Jo

July’s late afternoon heat rolled in through the open windows of Jo’s one-year old Mazda 3. The car had been a present to herself after she had broken a story that exposed corruption in the local police department. Three officers and two detectives had mishandled confiscated evidence and the Police Department had since cleaned house, all because of her article. Her peers had congratulated her, and she had received a New Jersey journalism award that Governor Christie had personally handed to her, while her parents and twin sister had proudly looked on.

Jo had also been the recipient of numerous threatening emails and letters from people that were not so happy regarding her article. She figured many of the anonymous letters were from outraged law enforcement personnel. They hadn’t all been directly involved, but if they were found to have ‘looked the other way’ they were encouraged to look for another job or retire. Jo hadn’t been overly worried when she had received them, even though some were down right nasty. She had prudently showed them to her boss, Henry, who told her to print the emails out and save both the positive and the negative letters. He then congratulated her with a pat on the shoulder. Good journalists were always the recipients of hate mail, he had told her nonchalantly.

Traffic on the tight city street had slowed her car's pace to that of a crawl and since her air conditioning had suddenly chosen that very morning to stop working she was driving with all the windows down. She had pulled her long, straw colored hair into a messy bun to keep it from whipping across her face, but because her car was barely moving that hadn’t been an issue. Sweat trickled down her neck and she sighed in frustration when she felt it trail down her cleavage, dampening her bra.

She had been dreading today, and when her car's air conditioner had refused to work that morning she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that her day would not be getting better. Jo was a firm believer that things happened in groups of threes, good and bad.

Jo had just cleared out her desk at the Morgis Regional Ledger. A job she’d happily gone to for the last five years. The one she had landed right out of college. Today, her final day at the paper, her coworkers had thrown her a party. No one wanted her to leave; it was simple logistics. The newspapers sales were dwindling and even though they had expanded into on-line publications, Henry, the Managing Editor had remorsefully explained to her two weeks ago that she was the last hired, so to be fair, she was to be the first to be let go.

After the send off, which was as morose as a wake and with the help from Henry, Jo loaded her car and left her dream job behind. Two boxes that were packed with past articles, informative reports from LexisNexis, and promising leads for stories that she’d probably never get to follow up on, sat on the back seat of her sweltering car. A covered plate of leftovers, from the glum send off lay roasting on the floor beneath the boxes. Jo’s phone started buzzing and her sister's ring tone, Happy emanated from within her Dorney and Brooks handbag that was perched on top of yet another box that was perched on the passenger seat.

Since her car was at a stand still Jo turned to rummage through the pretty bag that her sister had just given her. As she reached towards the bag she saw a hairy arm stretch through the open window and snatch the bag off the box, pulling it out the window, ringing cell phone and all. Without hesitating Jo slammed her car into park and jumped out to chase the brazen thief who had cut behind her car, weaving easily between the non- moving traffic. The thug sprinted up the opposite sidewalk then rounded a corner. As Jo pursued him up the concrete walkway she could hear horns blaring behind her. She realized the drivers behind her were obviously peeved that her car was now effectively blocking them from moving at all.

Desperately trying to keep up with the young man sprinting ahead of her in sight Jo ran as fast as her heels would allow. The little shit thief had on sneakers and Jo had an errant thought, as she pounded the pavement behind him, that if she had her sneakers on too, she would probably be able catch the jerk wad. Glimpsing her bag as it disappeared around the back of a building, Jo turned to follow and narrowly missed colliding with a tall chain link fence that was only a foot or two away from the building and stretched across the entire back of the ally. A ten - foot high brick wall separated the small space from the adjoining structure.

Jo looked around frantically not understanding how the man and her bag could have just vanished. There were no doors or even windows leading into the nearby building. Her heart was racing and she was so damp with perspiration that her white blouse hugged her upper body uncomfortably. Scanning the dingy ally closer revealed a bent piece of metal chain link near the bottom of the fence. Jo reached down and found that she could lift a corner piece of the fence up, and a small person could easily slip underneath it. As petit as Jo was, she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to squeeze through it, and she also realized that she was not going to catch the thief. Her phone, her wallet, her ID’s, everything was in her purse. At least her house keys were on her car's key ring. Her car! Shit!

Jo hurriedly jogged back towards the street, and her car, hoping no one had hit it trying to squeeze by her. She knew she’d be facing some very angry drivers when she returned and she braced herself for that as she made her way towards her car. The previous traffic snarl must have cleared because the first thing Jo noticed was that the traffic on the other side of the city street, the one her car was not on, was now moving, and there were also no cars ahead of hers. What ever had snarled traffic was now gone. There was however, a line of cars behind hers, and some of the drivers were even standing outside of their cars yelling. It wasn’t until she got closer that she saw their obscenities were directed at a large man in a suit that was getting into her car. Damn! Now her car was being stolen.

Jo raced down the street and crossed the road dodging a Mini Cooper as she watched her car begin to move forward. She lunged at the open driver side window and doorframe and grasped the car's door handle with her other hand.

“That’s my car!” She snarled, completely out of breath, looking into the open window.

The man behind the wheel whipped his head towards her and it was at that precise moment that a heel on one of her shoes gave way, which put her off balance. With her hands still firmly attached to her precious car, Jo went down hard, her knees hit the hot street and she yelped in pain.

“What the hell?” The man inside the car yelled as he slammed on the brakes.

Her car was now far enough to the side that the cars behind hers began to quickly speed past. Jo kept hold of her car and tried to stand up. So many things were going through her head; first and foremost was that no one was even stopping to help her.

With the cars whizzing past her Jo quickly pulled in her leg so it wouldn’t be run over by the ice cream truck, merrily tinkling out a catchy tune as the driver cussed her out through his open side door. She looked back up at her driver’s side window just as the car thief leaned out to look down at her.

Deep green eyes widened then narrowed expressively upon s

eeing her almost get clipped by the big truck.

“Shit! You’re going to get killed!” The car thief yelled down at her.

“I’m not letting go of my car!” Jo yelled back at him.

Jo heard the cars engine turn off so she took her hand off of the car's door frame and placed it on the heated pavement to steady herself. The man opened the car door, which pried Jo’s other hand from the handle. The suited stranger stepped from the car and immediately put his hand under her elbow to help her to stand up.

Jo shook off his hand and stood up on her own.

“Get away from my car!” She yelled heatedly.

“I was moving your damn car to the side of the street! Why would you just leave it there?” He began by yelling right back at her, but then he lowered his voice. His tone was harsh and disparaging.

Jo paused, then heaved a sigh of relief as she realized that he was not trying to steal her car, he'd been simply moving it. She was holding on to her car's rooftop to steady herself, while she balanced on her one high heel shoe. The pavement was too hot for her to put her other foot down. It was then that Jo noted the man’s formidable size. He was huge, easily 6’4” with wide shoulders and a broad chest that was encased in a tailored business suit.

“Oh.” Was the only word she could muster as she swallowed uneasily. The tears that she’d kept at bay all day finally released and even though she was fighting to hold them in, they trickled down her cheeks.

“I, uh, thought you were stealing it.” She muttered, completely embarrassed by her ranting and emotional out burst.

“I wasn't stealing your car. See. I moved it off to the side.”

He waved his hand to indicate where he had been moving the car too.

"I know that now." Jo said sarcastically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out like that." She quickly added knowing she had just sounded so bitchy.

“Are you hurt? Is that why you’re crying?”

His voice had softened which only made Jo feel worse. She shook her head no, indicating she was not hurt.

“Umm, well you’re not hurt, so it’s all good. Please don't cry.”

The large man really looked distressed. Jo giggled because he looked so adorable and discomfit, but it came out more like a chortle, as she bit back a sob, trying to control her emotions. The Good Samaritan continued to stand near her, looking a bit out of sorts. Points for this guy Jo thought. Most men would have bolted from the crazy woman by now.

“Crud, I usually don't get emotional like this.” Jo said quietly, totally annoyed with herself for appearing fragile. “Thank you for moving my car.” She gave the man a halfhearted smile.

The handsome man ran his hands through his hair. Jo could tell he was still a little frazzled.

“Why did you leave it?” He asked.

A car flying past them came ridiculously close to Jo’s backside and the man quickly maneuvered them in a 180-degree turn so he was now closer to the moving cars instead of her.

Remembering why she left her car sent another wave of tears flowing. The man produced a handkerchief and handed it to her. Jo dried her eyes and rubbed her nose with it. Realizing that she’d just wiped her runny nose on the Good Samaritans hanky she abruptly froze and sheepishly looked over the hanky to the man in front of her.

“Uh sorry, I uh, I can wash it?”

The man grinned at her and when she saw that he wasn’t grossed out and was actually smiling she relaxed and sighed audibly giving him a small smile in return.

“It’s okay you can keep it.” The man said still amused.

Jo looked at the man standing before her. She had already noted his size and that he was wearing a business suit, but now she took in the total package. He had dark brown hair and beautiful eyes that his eyelashes showcased. Women would kill for them; they were so thick it appeared almost as if he was wearing eyeliner; which was ridiculous, because this man standing before her was all male; alpha, testosterone filled, knight in shining armor, hunky male.

He had classic features, a strong chin and high cheekbones. His teeth were white and straight and his lips were perfectly proportioned. He was sporting a little scruffy growth and upon further inspection Jo noticed a thin scar about an inch long hiding under the stubble near his jaw line. His tie was pulled down from its Windsor knot and his top shirt button was undone. The man was hot, not summer over heated hot, but sexy, man hot. Jo lowered her eyes when she saw that he was giving her the same perusal that she’d just given him.

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