by Dawn Dugle
"That's an ominous start," Chief Dad's eyes narrowed.
Dix looked at the paramedics in the ambulance. "Give us the bus, please."
The paramedics scrambled out and the Ward/Abreo family reunion was about to turn into something akin to the Salem Witch Trials. I was going to be strung up and set on fire. Part of me wished the bomb had knocked me unconscious.
"Well, don't keep us waiting, I'm ready to yell," Tripp tried to joke, but he had his serious robot face on and his hands were in fists, perched on his hips.
"Here's the thing. I was the redhead with Luke Nelson the night of the murder."
For a moment, I thought they weren't going to say a word, then everyone started yelling at once.
"Why didn't you..."
"You're his alibi?"
"Sleeping with a suspect..."
"Now, hold on there!" Dixon grabbed both of the other men by their shoulders. "You promised to hear her out."
Chief Dad and Tripp shut their mouths but their faces were red and I wasn't sure how much listening they were going to do, but I pressed on. "I was at his house the night of the murder, but I had passed out after too much Champagne. I can't say for certain he was there at midnight, which is when Dr. Jackson says is the time of death. That's why I didn't say anything at first. My gut tells me he isn't the killer. But these weapons caches and secrets are some shady shit that I can't make sense of."
The red had gone from their faces when I was finished, and I waited.
It was Dixon who spoke first. "It seems he has taken a liking to our girl here. Maybe she can get close enough to him to figure out what's really going on?"
I didn't add that my lady parts had gotten up close and personal with his mouth last night, because why add insult to injury? Plus, I don't think my massive headache could take much more yelling.
Tripp looked at my dad. "It's not the worst idea, Chief."
Wait. My brother was sticking up for me? Maybe my concussion was worse than I thought.
"Fine. But the first sign of trouble, and you're out. And this doesn't keep you from working your regular investigations either," Chief Dad pointed at me.
"What about Kirk?" I asked.
"You let me take care of that. Now. Go home. Get some rest. You're off duty for the rest of the day and tomorrow."
I opened my mouth to argue, and Dixon gave me the Abreo Stare. Damn it. How does he do that? I snapped my mouth shut and nodded.
∞∞∞
Chapter Twenty-One
By the time I pulled into my garage, every muscle in my body was screaming. I used to be able to run and weight train and bounce right back. But my 40-year-old body had other plans. My hair even hurt, and I didn't have much of that to begin with.
I had just eased down onto the couch when the doorbell rang. I groaned. Whomever it was could go away.
The doorbell rang again. I ignored it.
My phone buzzed with a text message from Luke: I'm outside. If you can't get to the door, I'll break it down.
Alpha male nonsense.
NO! Give me a sec. I texted back. I rolled my eyes and at the same time I rolled off the couch then crawled to the door to open it.
"Oh my god Wysdom," he swept in and saw me on all fours. "I saw what happened on the news. Here, let me help."
He picked me up and carried me back to the couch where he fluffed up some pillows behind my back, and put another pillow under my knees. I stared up at him, trying to make sense of this kind, caring individual with the person who stored weapons and armor all over Central Florida.
"Guess you didn't mean to blow me up with your storage units," I tried to laugh while staring him down. That's hard to do when you're looking up at a God Among Men. Damn hormones.
"They weren't supposed to blow up at all," he moved into the kitchen to get me a glass of water. He looked at the prescription bag sitting on the island. "Do you need to take any medicine?"
"Probably. I haven't taken anything since I picked those up."
Luke looked at the bottles and shook out a pill from each bottle. He brought those and a glass of water to where I laid on the couch.
"Here is a pain killer and an antibiotic," he shook his head at me. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that my..." what did I call him? "PERSON was up to some shady shit and I wanted to find out what it was."
Luke kneeled next to me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. "There is nothing shady about me. I told you the truth, just not my name. I can't tell you more than that, but please know the last thing in the world I ever wanted to do was hurt you."
I turned to look at him and whispered: "Why are we whispering?"
"Because I'm being followed and I'm afraid they're listening," he whispered back, sending a cold chill down my spine.
He stood up and put a finger to his lips the pointed to his ears. They were listening - don't say anything.
"Tell me about your stepmom..."
"You mean my BONUS mom," I corrected, watching him pull a TV remote control out of his pocket. It lit up and flashed as he walked around the room. Not a remote then.
"Yes, yes. Your Bonus Mom." He nodded at me to keep talking.
"She is a great cook. Everything is made to perfection and always comes out right on time for dinner. She's always dressed to the nines, but has the worst singing voice..."
I watched as Luke pulled up a lamp and unscrewed the bottom, pulling out a little wire. I gasped and he shook his head.
"I think that's probably the worst thing about her, is her singing voice," I continued as Luke walked into my bedroom. I talked about Denise's gift-giving super power and how she always made the memory of my mom feel welcome in our home. I talked for 20 minutes until Luke grabbed a Ziplock bag and dumped in all the bugs he'd found throughout my home. They filled up the gallon bag.
"It's safe to talk now," Luke looked at me.
"They're not transmitting?"
"Not since I removed them from their power source," he shook his head. "Amateurs."
I stared at him and wondered if the painkillers were making me loopy. "How did you know there'd be bugs here?"
"When I found bugs at my house right after your brother searched my house, I thought they might be from your department. But it wasn't until I noticed a strange car outside your cottage this morning that I realized I'd been followed and they were watching you too."
Goosebumps covered my arms and I shivered. Luke moved closer and kneeled down in front of me, rubbing my arms to warm me up.
"Who are 'they'?" I asked him.
"That's what I don't know," he stared into my eyes. "I owe you an explanation, but not right now. Right now, you're going to bed."
Luke picked me up as if I weighed nothing and took me into the bedroom. He helped me get undressed and under the covers. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.
∞∞∞
Chapter Twenty-Two
THURSDAY. AGAIN.
The sun streaming in through my window caused me to stir, but it was the smell of perfectly fried bacon that got me fully awake. I opened my eyes to find a gorgeous chiseled man sitting next to me with a tray full of breakfast, and - I smiled in surprise - a steaming hot latte! If it weren't for the throbbing in muscles I didn't know I had, I would be getting a sense of déjà vu.
"It's like déjà vu, all over again," I laughed. It was something my uncle said all the time that made absolutely zero sense.
"Good morning mi amor, I thought you'd like breakfast in bed."
"Where did you get bacon?"
"You probably don't remember me bringing in groceries last night, because you were pretty out of it."
I sipped my latte and looked at the clock. It was nine o'clock, and I started to get up for work until I remembered I was benched for the next day.
"Relax," Luke added pillows behind me so I could sit up. "Eat your breakfast and when you're ready, I'll tell you what's going on."
Ugh. When he put it like that, no
w I knew I couldn't eat bacon until I heard the story. I looked down at the plate and grabbed toast instead. "Listen, I can't enjoy bacon with that hanging over my head. So, you might as well talk. Let's start with why you lied to me."
Luke took a deep breath. "I never lied to you."
"You did from the very start!" I smacked my hand down on the comforter. "You even lied about your name!"
"I never told you my name was Luke Nelson, if you remember. When we were in the interrogation room and you called me Mr. Nelson, I told you to call me Luke."
I thought back. Damn. He was right. "Well what about everything else you told me? Are you really Claire's business manager?"
"I consult with a lot of businesses around the country. Most of them are tied to the government. Like right now, I'm consulting with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement."
That was not something I saw coming. "ICE? You work for ICE?"
Luke nodded. "Well, with ICE. I've been working under cover in one capacity or another for years. My area of expertise is breaking up smuggling. Drugs. People. Most recently, I've been looking into a crime lord using art shipments to smuggle drugs into and out of the country."
I sat back and gaped at him. "How does that tie in to Claire?"
"What I told you about Claire was true. I was her business manager and I do have a law degree, so I could help her with contracts when she started out. But that was all I planned to do, until the day she closed in on leaving her cousin's gallery."
"She found something suspicious?"
"Every third or fourth painting that would be shipped overseas would be stuck in customs for months, then returned, where it was once again stuck in customs. That meant she didn't get paid for her painting, because it was returned. And it also meant no one else could buy it because it was tied up in red tape.
"Claire thought her cousin was screwing with her the closer they got to the five-year mark, trying to keep her from earning a living. And she became suspicious when he expanded the gallery. She didn't know where the money was coming from, although the books said it was art sales," he rubbed his hand over his face.
"That's when she called you."
"Yes. She knew what sort of work I did and asked me to look into it. The more I looked, the weirder it got. Her paintings would only weigh five pounds, but they were sent in giant crates that weighed 55 pounds when it entered customs, and five pounds when it was sent back. And not a typo on the forms."
"You thought there was an insider involved."
"Problem was, I couldn't prove it just by looking at the records. It was fishy, yes, but no proof of anything, except incompetence by Seth. Claire was ready to make a clean break from him, but I was the one who persuaded her to stay, asking her to help me set up a sting operation to catch him in the act."
"If all he was doing was shipping paintings to cover up for the drug trafficking, he didn't need her art to do it," I finished my toast and started on my latte. Mmmm. Coffee.
"That's right. I think it was Seth's way of saying 'fuck you' to his cousin."
"But if Claire was suspicious all these years, why go after her now?" I asked. That didn't make sense.
"I don't know. That's the strange thing in all of this. We have insiders in Asia where the phony shipments were being sent and here in Florida, but we have yet to narrow in on any particular suspect."
I shook my head. "This wasn't an assassination because someone got too close to the truth, this was straight-up murder. A crime of passion. You didn't see the body. She wasn't just stabbed in the neck, someone kicked the shit out of her after she was dead. This was someone who hated her. Like Seth Campbell."
Luke nodded.
"I told my dad about us," I blurted out.
Luke didn't miss a beat. "Good. I don't want you getting into trouble because of me."
"Does your boss know what's going on? Why didn't he come to bail you out when you were locked up over the weekend?"
"SHE didn't want to blow my cover," Luke winked at me and I felt like a total sexist ass.
"And I can't tell my dad or brother about this, because it will end up in the police report and out you."
"Which is exactly why the ATF has swooped down onto this investigation and taken it from your PD. They'll be scrubbing any mention of Lucio Saber from the reports."
I sat back and looked at him. "I can't take your word for this. I need someone to verify it for me."
Luke leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Yes, mi amor. I knew you'd say that, which is why we are having lunch with Celia Cruz at one o'clock."
"You're saying we have some time?"
He grinned at me. "Time for what?"
"I seem to recall you promising to rock my world when I was awake for it..."
Luke squinted his eyes and tilted his head, like he was trying to remember such a promise, then smiled at me as he leaned in for a tentative kiss. "I don't want to hurt you, you're banged up."
"Listen Bébé Guy. You let me worry about my bruised muscles and ribs. You made a promise and I am here to collect."
"Yes ma'am."
He nodded, lifted the breakfast tray from me and took it into the kitchen.
When he returned, he pulled the comforter down and off the bed in one swift motion. He laid out on the bed beside me and pulled me closer until he could kiss me again. This kiss wasn't anything like the first one of the morning. Far from tender, this one was a claiming from the moment he parted my lips and swirled his tongue inside.
His hands swept down my body to cup my ass and rolled on top of me, positioning himself so his rock hard erection was only separated from my lady parts by millimeters of fabric that was now soaking wet.
"Let's fix that, shall we?" Luke said as he ripped my t-shirt off, then tugged down my shorts and underwear. I grabbed at his boxer briefs like a crazed maniac, tearing them from his body and tossing them across the room.
He paused and sent that scorching hot gaze from my head to my feet and then back up again. I flushed all over.
"Wysdom, I gotta' tell you up front, I'm not going to last very long. I've been thinking about this since the night we met and I'm afraid it's going to be quick."
I leered at him, reaching up for his face. "Then let's make it quick and dirty."
Shock registered on his face for about a second, then he gave me another "Yes ma'am" and reached down between my legs. I had been ready for him since I woke up, and I pushed into his hand, begging for some delicious friction.
He positioned his shaft at my opening, then slowly pushed inside, one maddening inch at a time. It was driving me into a frenzy and I wiggled, trying to get him to move faster.
"Wait, Wysdom. Wait. I need to do this slowly, you're incredibly tight and I don't want to hurt you."
"I want all of you Luke. All of you. So, give it to me," I demanded, smacking his ass in the process. He looked at me and I smiled like a lunatic and waggled my eyebrows.
Sweat popped out on his forehead and his arms were shaking as he got all the way inside. I wrapped my legs around him, my heels digging into his lower back trying to pull him even closer to me. He moaned, but began to move, much too slowly for my taste.
"Oh my god, Luke!"
It had been years since the last time I had sex, and quite frankly I wasn't even sure if those previous times counted, because they were embarrassingly short. Lord knows I hadn't had an orgasm from someone else in, well, ever. And from the feel of it, I was beginning to think my virginity grew back.
Yet, here I was on the brink of another earth-shattering explosion and Luke hadn't even really gotten into his groove yet.
I tilted my hips slightly and my inside muscles gripped him. Luke sucked in a breath. "Mi amor, I'm doing my best to make this last, but if you keep doing that, I won't be able to resist."
Score one for Kegel exercises. I gripped him again.
Luke cursed in Spanish and then picked up the rhythm, grinding into me hard and fast, I could only hold on for dear life.
I let go and the pent-up explosion ripped through me. I tilted my head back and screamed his name. My eyes closed and I could see fireworks in a million different colors behind my eyelids. He shouted my name with his explosive orgasm seconds later that left the both of us shaking, then collapsed on top of me, making sure his forearms took the brunt of his weight.
We laid there for seconds? Minutes? A day? I no longer cared. We were wrapped up in each other and nothing else on the planet existed but us. He peppered sweet kisses all over my face and body. Then, my God Among Men was ready to go for Round Two that lasted three times as long as Round One.
Then, Round Three.
There probably would have been a Round Four, but we had an important meeting. And we both needed a long, hot shower to wash off all the sex. But nothing could wipe the perpetual smile off my face.
Luke insisted on "helping" me get showered and dressed for our meeting. And by helping, I mean he got in the shower with me to scrub my back and wash my hair, which took three times as long to actually do.
After Luke checked my car for trackers, we drove to the airport, parked in long-term parking to change cars.
"Do you have cars stashed all over the city?" I asked him.
"No, just in places I might need them."
I shook my head and got into the boring white sedan, which looked like every other boring white sedan in Florida, and we headed to Tampa for our lunch meeting.
∞∞∞
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Columbia Restaurant sat in Ybor City, the Cuban neighborhood of Tampa. It is Florida's oldest restaurant and has been owned and operated by the same family for 116 years.
Celia Cruz was already waiting for us in a private dining area and stood up to kiss Luke on both cheeks. "Lucio, right on time. And this must be your Wysdom."
I blushed and stuck out my hand. "Wysdom Ward, nice to meet you."
Celia Cruz was 5'5" tall and probably weighed 150 pounds soaking wet. She had that exotic Latina thing going for her, with mocha skin, high cheekbones and almond-shaped light brown eyes that tilted up ever so slightly at the corner. Her thick hair was cinnamon brown, where the natural auburn highlights would show up in the sunlight. She wore it past her shoulders and I wondered if she ever had to tussle with a suspect, because that hair would be a liability. She wore an off white skirt suit that had zero wrinkles or stains. Something I couldn't pull off on my best day.
