Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Zeke opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally clearing his throat. “I can see why you’d rather Ice didn’t tag along then,” he finally managed to comment with a mostly straight face.

  Narrowing her eyes as she caught the amusement in his voice, Honor elbowed him in the ribs. “This is NOT the time to laugh at me, Ezekiel. Right now, I’m pretty sure I can blame this whole situation on YOU.”

  “Me?”

  “Oh, yeah. As I remember it, you’re the one that was convinced therapy was just exactly the cure for what ailed me. Well, congratulations. You’ve got me fetchin’ medicine from a sex store, Sheriff!”

  Zeke struggled against laughing as he stared up at the clear sky. “Sweetheart, I can see where you aren’t exactly thrilled to be doing this, but I’m sure Bree has a plan. She’s not steered you wrong yet. But there are several stores where you could get what you need a whole lot closer to home.”

  “I am not risking running into somebody I know, Zeke. If I’m doing this, it’s gonna be under a cover of anonymity. Besides, Bree knows the lady that runs the boutique where I’m supposed to go.”

  Zeke nodded silently and after a minute relented. “Fine,” he acknowledged softly. “You call me when you leave. You call me at the mid-way point. You call me when you arrive back in town. I go more than an hour without hearing your voice, and I call out the fuckin’ army. You stay with Maggie at all times. No excuses. I mean it, Honor. You stay in her sight at all time. And you take my back-up piece,” he demanded, pulling a small gun from his ankle holster. “I know you know how to shoot it. Take it.”

  Honor took the weapon with careful fingers. “What’s going on, Zeke? You’re taking protective to a whole new level.”

  “I don’t want you to panic,” he began calmly, reaching for her hand.

  Honor scoffed. “You do realize the world’s quickest way to convince a woman to panic completely is to tell her not to, right?”

  “Today, I got a phone call. We finally have a lead on the person that’s been calling you. The lab was finally able to trace a couple of the burner phones numbers that are being used to call and harass you back to a lot of phones that was purchased by one of the convenience stores here in town. The Stop & Shop over on Ellis Road.”

  Honor’s body trembled despite the summer temperature, her entire body turning cold. She’d known for months and months that her nightmare wasn’t over, that there was still a monster lurking, waiting for another opportunity to destroy all the good she’d managed to rebuild in her life. But hearing it loomed so very close… just a few roads away. “So, at least one of the men that hurt me is still here. He’s local.”

  A muscle in Zeke’s jaw flexed. “We don’t know for sure there’s a connection yet, Kitten.”

  Honor’s eyes found Zeke’s and held them prisoner. “Maybe not officially, but yeah, we really do, Zeke. That man, whoever he is, is partially responsible for the hell I’ve been through. I just know it,” she whispered as he tightened his fingers around hers. Worrying her lower lip with her top teeth, Honor thought for a minute. “Hey, Stop & Shop is Henry Watson’s store, isn’t it? Maybe he’s got some kind of video surveillance system and we could go back and see who did this to me. You know, Henry used to be sweet on me; I bet he’ll help us.” Honestly, Honor wasn’t sure she wouldn’t make a deal with the Devil at this point if it got them the answers to their questions. And in Paradise, real estate developer and wannabe mogul, Henry Watkins was about as close to Satan as you could get. He’d pursued Honor for years, asking her on dates and trying to charm her out of her grandmother’s land that she’d bought from Harmony years ago. First Tanner had tried to terrorize her and her sisters to get it to use to run Esteban Fuentes’ drugs through the mountains, and recently, Henry had been begging to purchase it for some retirement community he wanted to build. The last time she’d declined his offer had been last week and he’d made her a little nervous when he’d stormed out of the café without another word to her.

  “Not smart to remind me that asshat is interested in you, baby,” Zeke growled, his arm contracting around Honor as his nostrils flared slightly and his eyes shine with contained fury. “’I’ve never liked the way that son of a bitch watched you, much less talked to you. Besides, if the store had anything useful, we wouldn’t need Watson’s help. I’d just get a warrant and take what we need. Problem is, I talked to Merle Edwards earlier. He’s the manager over there. They only keep surveillance for twenty four hours and then they re-record over it.”

  “Crap,” Honor muttered, pursing her lips before shrugging. “Well, it’s not like I was looking forward to asking Henry for a favor anyway. Especially not after last week.”

  “What happened last week?” Zeke looked down at her, frowning when Honor averted her gaze.

  “Oh, Henry was just bein’ Henry. He wants to buy that same land Tanner and Esteban was after us girls for, only he wants to put a retirement community on it.”

  “Honor that’s not even possible. There’s no access back there. Not for roads or water… not unless he comes right through McKinnon lands with them.”

  Honor lifted her hands, palm up. “I know that, I’m just telling you what he told me. He’s been askin’ for a while, but this last time I finally told him that I was deeding the land over to your brother so that Ice can begin work on that log cabin he wants to build out there. Henry was noticeably peeved at my decision.”

  “How peeved?” Zeke’s eyes glittered ominously.

  “Peeved enough that he threw charm out the window and stormed out of here madder than a tomcat with his tail caught beneath a rocking chair. He came back and apologized the next day, but I could tell he was still plenty upset about it. He asked me to have dinner with him so that he could tell me more about his plan for the land if I’d reconsider, but I said no.”

  “You’ve been sayin’ no to that jackass’s invitations for years, Honor, but he never quite manages to hear you. Maybe it’s time he heard it from somebody a whole lot bigger and louder than you,” Zeke mused, his eyes taking on an almost silver sheen in the sunlight.

  There was once a time when Honor might have argued with the man beside her, but feeling his strong arm wrapped securely around her, today she only wanted to lean against him and let him deal with all the jerks determined to make her life more difficult. Lately, Henry definitely qualified as one of those irritants and she was more than willing to let Zeke handle him if he became a bigger thorn in her side than he already was. “Whatever you think,” Honor murmured.

  “You’re letting me get my way? I don’t believe it” Zeke claimed incredulously against the silky hair on top of the crown of her head. “Alright, who are you and what have you done with my Honor?” he continued playfully.

  “Very funny.” She’d known all along she wasn’t going to enjoy this afternoon. A trip to a sex store wasn’t excitedly her idea of fun. Now, with the added threat of her rapist still being local and knowing he could be watching her even now, she felt an icy finger of dread run down her spine. “M-maybe I could ask Diego to drive us up there? Do you think I could do it without telling him why we’re going?”

  “You could, but you don’t need to. I’ll call Wrath and get a couple of his boys to tail you up there. Even if they know what the store is, they won’t know if the trip was for you or Maggie. They’ll just figure y’all are gettin’ supplies for a hen party or something.”

  “Wrath? You hate Wrath,” Honor replied astonished. It was true, too. Well, kinda. Zeke might not hate Wrath in the truest sense of the word, but there wasn’t any love lost there either. The president of the local chapter of the Hounds of Hell had always been sweet to her, though. His members, too. They might seem like a rough and tumble lot, but Honor could tell they were all mostly good men – especially since she was raped eight years ago. When Wrath had learned that one of his prospects had been involved in her assault, he’d been livid. She’d never asked, but she’d always suspected that he’d had a h
and in that animal’s death. Since then, however, Wrath and his Club had gone out of their way to be of any help to her and her sisters that they could. Honor had considered their debt to her paid on the day that Wrath had told her that prospect would never cross her path again, but neither he nor his brothers felt the same way. If you asked Wrath, he’d say that he and every member of his club would go to the grave owing Honor a marker they’d never be able to clear.

  “Wrath and I came to an understanding about you a long time ago, Kitten. Where you’re concerned, we put our differences aside when it comes to your security,” Zeke informed her quietly.

  “Why don’t you like him, Zeke? I know he might sometimes wander a little outside the law, but…”

  “A little?” Zeke laughed. “None of those men ever met a law they wouldn’t break for either the right price or right incentive, Honor. But, they’ve got a code, I’ll give ‘em that. But for the record, I don’t like Wrath for one very good reason.”

  “Well?” Honor prompted impatiently.

  Zeke offered Honor a long look before answering. “Because if it wasn’t me for you, it’d be him.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “I did, but that doesn’t mean I understood a blame word.”

  “Wrath wants you, Honor. If I ever fucked up and gave him the chance, he’d do all he could to be sitting right here where I am.”

  “Oh, bullfoot!” Honor snorted. “Wrath doesn’t see me as anything other than a woman that was wronged years ago by one of his so-called brothers or prospects, or whatever you call it. He’s ashamed that anyone is his club could have done something so awful to a girl. That’s all.”

  “All that’s probably true, but what I said holds as well. Wrath wants you, Kitten, but he’ll respect my claim on you because at the end of the day, he’s a decent man that observes the rules of fair play where it comes to you, but don’t mistake his interest in you, darlin’. If it wasn’t me, he’d do his best to make sure it was him.”

  Honor slowly scanned Zeke’s serious face before rolling her yes. “You’re all insane. You know that, right? There are hundreds of women in Paradise that would give their back teeth to have either of you in their beds. And yet, two of the hottest heroes Paradise have to offer waste their time wanting the one woman that can’t give them what they want.”

  “Well, I’m damn happy Wrath won’t ever be getting anything from you, but as far as I go, you give me what I want every day, Honor. I have you, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  Honor pressed her lips together and fought off tears as his beautiful words began to sink into her. She might have him, but he had her, too, whether he knew it or not. Each day in every way, she fell a little deeper in love with Ezekiel Monroe. And in that moment, she knew she wanted to be healthy enough to embark on a relationship with him. And to do that, she needed to do her damned homework. “Call in your favor from Wrath and his club then, Zeke. I’ve got some homework to do tonight.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Two Hours Later

  On a Road Leading to Hell (Or Gatlinburg, Tn. )

  1:00 pm

  Honor

  Clinging to the seatbelt crisscrossing her chest with one white-knuckled hand as the driver navigated the vehicle around another hairpin curve on two wheels, Honor tried to remind herself why she’d thought Maggie would be such a good choice to accompany her on her field trip to Gatlinburg this afternoon.

  “I told you this car would fly, didn’t I, Maggie,” Honor heard her elderly aunt cackle from her position in the passenger’s side of the front seat. Looking from one woman to the other, Honor swallowed hard, forcing the rising bile in her throat back down as she felt the car accelerate up another mountain. “M-maybe I should drive,” she suggested faintly from the backseat.

  Glancing up in the rearview mirror to meet Honor’s unamused eyes where she sat in the middle of the backseat, Maggie winked. “Just hold tight back there, Lollipop! I’m gonna have you there in a hop, skip and a jump. Just you wait and see. Now, tell me, what are we going after in Gatlinburg that we couldn’t grab somewhere closer? C’mon. You promised you’d tell me when we got on the road.”

  Closing her eyes as she fought another wave of motion sickness, Honor pressed her lips together. “That was before you let Aunt Orla talk you into letting her come with us,” she returned without opening her eyes. Aunt Orla was a handful of trouble on the best of days, and her presence this afternoon could very well send Honor sailing over the edge of sanity if she wasn’t careful.

  “Hey! Old people like road trips, too, little missy,” Aunt Orla admonished huffily from the front seat. “Besides, I already know where we’re going.”

  Cracking one eyelid, Honor frowned. “Where?”

  “Little business by the name of Cupid’s Arrow, I do believe. I looked ‘em up online, Maggie,” Orla informed the other woman, lightly smacking the back of her hand against the red-haired woman’s silk blouse. “Ask me what they sell. Go on, ask me,” she chortled with a wide grin.

  Looking over her shoulder at Honor, Maggie arched an eyebrow. “Do I wanna know?”

  “Sex toys!” Orla blurted, laughing like a hyena. “We’re takin my baby to buy her very first vibrator! Why, I oughta get your baby book down, Honor, so I can set down the date for this, child!”

  Honor’s face turned a bright shade of red. “Aunt Orla! You were eavesdroppin’ again, weren’t you?”

  “It’s not eavesdroppin’ if you’re talkin’ right outside an open window, Honor Grace. It’s just called listening.”

  “I knew I should have gotten directions from Dr. Daniels before I left her office? Why didn’t I just ask her then?” Honor groaned, burying her hot face in her hands.

  “Oh, c’mon, Hon. There’s no shame in it,” Maggie tried to comfort the self-conscious woman. “Everybody does it.”

  “Not me,” Orla announced, looking out the window. “Jethro likes to do it for me,” she continued proudly. “Besides, we never had contraptions to do the job for us when I was your gals’ age. We had our fingers or we got us a man.”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus. I’m gonna open the door and dive headfirst out of this car if you don’t quit talkin’, Auntie!” Honor vowed, eyeing the car door with longing. At the moment, a roll down the mountainside sounded a whole lot less painful to her than continuing this car ride. Because there were just some things she did NOT want to know about her kinfolk.

  “Oh, cool your jets back there, Honor. Sex is a beautiful thing when it’s with the right person and Jethro’s been the right person for me for around fifty-five years. Heck, he better be the right one. He’s sure been the only one,” Orla shared as she rolled her window down to let in some fresh mountain air. “You should just let Zeke….”

  “Either you stop right there or I jump,” Honor threatened desperately.

  “All I’m sayin’ is a man can do a whole lot of talented things with his tongue and fingers,” Orla proclaimed knowingly, tapping her fingers against the door in time with some country song on the radio. “Tongues are right slick and agile, they are. Bendy in ways metal just ain’t!”

  Maggie choked on her laughter as Honor’s jaw went slack and fell.

  “Well, at least now you know that there are other options available to you, Honor,” Maggie drawled as they reached the city limits of Gatlinburg.

  “I shoulda jumped outta the car when I had the chance,” Honor mumbled, as she lifted her eyes to stare at the roof of the car. “That would have at least been a quick death.”

  ~***~

  Pulling into the parking lot of Cupid’s arrow twenty minutes later, Honor reached for her door hand. “Y’all can just wait in the car,” she offered hopefully. “The lady should already have my order bagged, tagged and ready to go. All I have to do is pay for it.”

  Of course, her breath was wasted since Orla already had her door open and was standing beside the car before Honor finished speaking.

  “Nothin
’ doin’, Sunshine. I ain’t never gotten to explore one of these here establishments, and I plan on takin my time. You never know what kind of goody I might find for your uncle in here.”

  Exchanging a horrified look with Maggie, Honor swallowed hard. Her aunt…turned loose in a sex store… yeah, this trip had just devolved into a scene from one of her worst nightmares. It even had a name. Aunt Orla Does Gatlinburg. Hopelessly shaking her head at Maggie as she climbed out of the car, both women collected their purses from the car as Aunt Orla headed for the boutique’s door. Pausing as she heard the sound of a motorcycle’s pipes pulling in to the lot, Honor watched as a bike parked in the space behind their car. Lifting a hand to halfheartedly wave at the Hounds of Hell MC member they called Giggles. Giggles was a huge, granite faced biker with long curly black hair he kept pulled back in a low ponytail. The man looked half-rabid on his nicest of days. Wrath McKay had assigned him to follow and guard her this afternoon, and Honor couldn’t help but think a person would have to be nuts to mess with a guy that looked like Giggles. Nodding at him one last time, she watched him lift his lips in a barely perceptible smile and slide his sunglasses off his face, tucking them into his saddlebag. Hurrying after her aunt with Maggie at her side, Honor prayed this didn’t end in disaster and devastation for all parties involved.

  The bell above the door tinkled as Honor stepped inside the store, the tantalizing scent of lavender and vanilla lingering faintly in the air. Looking around cautiously, Honor was relieved to find the front room of the store tastefully decorated with nary a dildo or vibrator in sight. Instead, she found mannequins wearing all manner of lingerie. Some outfits were silky and sweet like the short baby doll nightgown with the frilly, flouncy hem that one of the mannequins wore. Other figures wore sets that were a bit lacier and more risqué like the one wearing the red lace bustier and boy shorts set. To Honor’s relief all the garments were classy and elegant.