Rockwell Agency: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “Ugh,” Liam grunted, splayed out on the bayou floor. “Damn …”

  Hannah walked over to him, crouching beside him. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I should have landed it.”

  Liam sat up, and Hannah sat back on her heels, studying him. “Interesting.”

  “I could just be out of practice,” he said

  “What’s something else you’re good at? Don’t say sex.”

  He blew out a breath. “You’re really limiting me here, Hannah. Um. I’m a pretty fast runner. You want to race?”

  She shook her head, knowing that there was no way that was going to be a fair measure. She was way faster than him, no matter how fast he was. “No, that won’t work.”

  “Scared to lose to me?”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say it wouldn’t be a helpful test. I’m much faster than you.”

  “Oh, is that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.”

  “No.”

  “You may not submit something into the record without evidence, counselor.”

  Hannah stood up, tapping her chin. She needed to give him tasks that he should be able to accomplish easily. Like his work—usually he was very good at his work. And he said he’d had cases that should have been slam dunks but weren’t all of a sudden. And he’d been able to do a backflip before, but now he couldn’t. It was all circumstantial. Nebulous. Inconclusive. She knew that. But every task that he should be able to complete, that he couldn’t was just another piece of evidence that he was right about what was happening to him.

  “How much can you bench?” she asked, looking back at him, her eyes sweeping over his upper body.

  Liam grinned. “Oh, about two-hundred and twenty or so.” He flexed his biceps at her, and they were more than impressive.

  “Okay,” Hannah said, walking towards him. “I weigh one-hundred and twenty-nine pounds. Give or take. Bench me.”

  It was satisfying to see the grin drop from his face. “Wait, really? Bench you?”

  She nodded. “Yes. It should be an easy task for you, right? I’m almost a hundred pounds less than your usual weight.”

  Liam nodded, looking at her as though there was some sort of trap involved. But when she just waited, he finally shrugged. “Yeah, I mean, okay. Sure. I’ll bench you.”

  “Good. Lie down,” Hannah said, gesturing to the ground. “Your pants are ruined anyway.”

  “Tell me about it,” Liam said, lying down on his back and staring up at the sky. He put his hands up in the air, motioning for her to come over. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Hannah walked over to him. Their eyes locked for a moment, a long stare lingering between them. Then she sat down on his extended palm, his hand molding to her backside, as she leaned back so that her back rested against his other hand. He held her there, suspended above him, and she could have sworn she felt his hand on her ass squeeze gently.

  A flush of heat moved through her, but she forced it down into submission, refusing to give into him, no matter how good his hands felt on her. “Come on … Lift me up.”

  His arms began to straighten, and he raised her a few inches into the air, but then he stopped moving, and his arms began to tremble.

  “Shit,” Liam said, muttering under his breath.

  Hannah held her body as rigidly as she could, trying to make it easy for him to do just one bench press, but no matter how still she was, he couldn’t straighten his arms completely, much less lower her back down. In fact, as she lay there, propped up by his hands, his arms buckled, and she went tumbling down onto the floor of the bayou, landing sprawled out over him, a grunt escaping her, as her chest hit against his. “Oof.”

  Liam’s arms went around her instinctively as she fell, and he tried to brace her. “Shit, are you okay?” He looked down at her face, as she looked up at him. Their eyes met once again, and even Hannah couldn’t completely suffocate the sparks that flew between them. He lifted his hand to push her braid back over her shoulder, his fingers skimming along her neck. “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay” Hannah said, quickly sitting up. “How did that feel?”

  “Amazing.”

  She looked at him sharply. “What?”

  “Oh, you mean not doing the bench press. I have no idea what happened. I should have been able to do it, without a problem.”

  “You must work-out regularly,” Hannah said, keeping the conversation going so that neither of them would have time to think about their bodies pressing together. “You haven’t noticed a change at the gym?”

  Liam thought for a moment, resting an arm beneath his head, as he continued to lie on the ground. “Well, actually … I hadn’t really thought about it, but a few weeks ago I switched into maintenance mode because it seemed like I was having to work too hard at the gym. Work has been so busy, and I’ve had other obligations. I haven’t been working out as hard.”

  Hannah let her eyes drift over his bare torso. “You can’t tell the difference?”

  “Maybe I’ve just lost fitness,” Liam said. “If I haven’t been training as hard …maybe that’s what this is.”

  “It could be,” Hannah said, “but if it’s just been a few weeks, you’d hardly have lost that much fitness. Or maybe …it’s hard to say. That’s the thing about a curse that leaves you guessing. There are a lot of ways we could explain away all of this. Maybe you just can’t do a backflip anymore. Maybe you’ve lost fitness. Maybe you’ve had a string of bad luck at work.”

  Liam nodded. “I know. I hate it. I hate the not knowing. I hate wondering if I just suck now, and I don’t want to believe it, so I’m choosing to think that an old woman in a bar cursed me.” He shook his head. “Wow, when I really say it like that …God, maybe that’s what I’m doing. Maybe I’m just getting older and hitting a slump, and I don’t want to see it.”

  Hannah reached a hand out and touched his arm gently. She had to be careful with him, but her nurturing nature was still very much there and in effect. “Liam, you don’t suck. Far from it. You’re successful, and attractive, and witty.”

  He reached a hand out, placing it lightly on her waist, as she sat on the ground beside him. “Go on.”

  Hannah shook her head at him, but she was smiling. “And impossible. And overly confident. And presumptuous.”

  “And you want to kiss me?”

  The suggestion alone had Hannah’s heart racing, and she knew that her eyes flicked down to his lips. She knew that her tongue moistened her own lips, as though preparing to feel his kiss against them. “I do, actually, but I’m not going to. Because boys like you break hearts, and my heart is still healing.”

  Her honest answer seemed to leave him uncertain. His brow furrowed, and his hand tightened on her waist. But what he might have said back to her, she didn’t know. His phone rang, and the sound of the trilling technology shattered the moment between them.

  Hannah got up, removing his hand from her waist. “Better get that.” She focused on dusting off her jeans and straightening her clothes after the tumble. “I’m sure it’s a very important call.”

  Chapter 8

  Liam

  “Hello?” Liam answered his phone without really paying attention. His mind was still focused on Hannah’s unexpectedly honest answer to his joking question. She had revealed something real about herself, and his mind was full of thoughts about it. Even more surprising was that his heart was filled with feelings about it, too. He didn’t like the idea of someone breaking Hannah’s heart. He didn’t like the thought of her hurting.

  “Hey, are you there?”

  It was Mark, the investigator who worked with his firm. Liam cleared his throat, focusing on the conversation.

  “Hey, yeah. Sorry. I’m here. What’s up?”

  “Just wanted to let you know that they’ve confirmed that Trinity died due to foul play. They’re past suspicious circumstances now. She was murdered.”

  Liam leaned his back up against
a tree, closing his eyes. “Shit. That’s—God. That’s terrible. She was such a nice girl, you know? Sweet. Funny. She deserved a lot better than me—that’s for sure.”

  “I’m sorry, man,” Mark said, “but, look, I think you should be on your guard. The family made a statement right away, and they’re not taking the saddened, grieving family road. They’re pissed off, and they’re demanding answers.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with it,” Liam said, opening his eyes and pushing away from the tree. “I don’t have anything to worry about, Mark. I haven’t talked to Trinity in months.”

  “Yeah, but her grandmother thinks you stole her money,” Mark said, “and Trinity had a lot of money to steal.”

  “Well, I didn’t even know that,” Liam said, balling his free hand into a fist. “I mean, Trinity lived in a normal apartment. She drove a normal car. Wore normal clothes. Hung out at dive bars.”

  “She was a millionaire, and last year …not long after you two broke up …hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared from her account, and nobody could ever track down why or how it happened.”

  Liam looked over at Hannah, who was listening intently. “But grandmother dearest is convinced I did it somehow. And she’ll be convinced that I killed Trinity, too.”

  “I’m just warning you.”

  Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. He liked Mark, and he generally trusted him, but he didn’t trust him enough to tell him what was going on. He didn’t need Mark to know that he was standing in the middle of the bayou trying to determine if Trinity’s grandmother had actually put a curse on him. And he didn’t trust him enough to ask him to investigate Trinity’s murder independently. If it got back to Trinity’s family that Liam had a private investigator involved, it would only make him look more suspicious.

  “Thanks,” Liam said. “I appreciate you looking out for me. I’m just going to keep my head down and go about my life. I have nothing to worry about.”

  “Yeah, man,” Mark said. “Good luck.”

  The two men hung up, and Liam looked at Hannah. “Did you hear all of that?”

  She nodded. “All of it.”

  “And?”

  “I think you have a curse on you,” Hannah said. “It’s not definitive because it’s a curse of mediocrity. I can’t promise you that it’s there.”

  “But you can promise me that I appear mediocre?”

  Hannah gave him a look. “That’s not what I mean. I’m saying …I believe you. And I think that we need to be cautious. If you’re right, and the grandmother or the whole family thinks that you killed Trinity to keep her quiet after her grandmother threatened you about the money, then you might be in trouble. We need to do some digging. Investigate ourselves. Keep you low key.”

  Liam dragged a hand over his hair and looked down at Hannah, searching her beautiful eyes. “You know what I need right now?”

  “Yes, and you’re not getting it.”

  Liam smiled, faintly. “I would take that, if it was on the table. But what I meant was a drink. I need clean clothes, a drink, and I need you to come with me to get both.”

  Hannah nodded, reaching for her bag, which was near his feet. “Yeah. I think we can get you both of those things. Let’s go.”

  “You think we can avoid any wild boars on the way out?” Liam asked, picking up his shirt and slipping it on but not buttoning it. He let his jacket drape over his arm, as he started to walk out of the bayou with her. “Clearly we’ve demonstrated that they don’t like me, and that I’m not capable of fighting anything off right now. At least, not if it weighs more than one-hundred and twenty-nine pounds.”

  Hannah patted his shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll be out of here in no time.”

  In truth, it took them almost twenty minutes to make their way out of the depths of the bayou, and Liam found himself wondering once again why they had trudged all the way into it. He cast a sidelong glance at Hannah, who appeared deep in thought. “I want to play your game.”

  She looked up at him. “What?”

  “Your game, from the café earlier. I want to guess five things about you, and you say yes or no.”

  Hannah smiled slightly. “Why?”

  “Because you know a great deal about me, but I know very little about you,” he said, “and that’s not entirely fair.”

  “Okay,” Hannah said, slowly, walking with him past the tree line, so that they were out in the open again. “I suppose that’s fair. But I reserve one veto. One question I don’t have to answer.”

  Liam narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s very suspicious. I didn’t get one veto, now did I?”

  “You had one. You just didn’t use it.”

  Liam scoffed. “No way. You didn’t make that rule known, therefore it doesn’t exist. I justifiably relied on your version of the rules, so—nope.”

  “Is that lawyer talk?”

  “You bet it is.”

  They got into Hannah’s car, and Liam was careful to try not to get too much mud on her upholstery. He gave her his address, and she put it into her phone, pulling up the GPS system. “Okay,” he said, as she started to drive. “Number one. You are single by choice because being single right now is easier than trying to navigate the complexities of a relationship.”

  Hannah cut her eyes over at him, as she drove towards the highway. “Yes.”

  He nodded, feeling confident. “Okay, good. Number two … You are known for being sweet, and gentle, and all things motherly and kind, and that’s true, but you also have a part of you that is strong and unyielding—especially when someone you love is in danger.”

  “Yes …”

  Liam smirked. He always enjoyed getting the answers right. That’s why he had become a lawyer. “Although you don’t value things like …fashion, or makeup, or products, or anything else that a lot of women use to make themselves sexually appealing, you have a natural beauty about you, and, I would guess, a very sexual nature in circumstances where you’re comfortable and feel safe.”

  “Veto,” Hannah said, almost before he stopped talking. “First of all—you can’t ask me to say yes or no to whether I’m naturally beautiful. Secondly, I’m not confirming whether or not I have a …deeply sexual nature in any circumstances at all.”

  “So, I’m right, is what you’re saying?”

  “That is the opposite of what I’m saying.”

  “Then the answer is no,” he said. “So, by saying that you veto instead of just saying no, you’re basically saying I’m right.”

  “No. I’m saying that I …decline to have this conversation.”

  Liam looked over at Hannah, and she looked right back at him, more than a hint of defiance in her eyes. He worked hard to hide his smile, not wanting to actually upset her. Besides, perhaps it was best if they moved on from this conversation, because just his own suggestion that she might be deeply sexual was getting him aroused again.

  “Fine,” Liam said. “Next one. You have a large, warm, loving family to whom you are very loyal.”

  “No. I’m an only child.”

  “But family isn’t just blood ties, now is it?” Liam asked. “You can take a lot of people in as family who have no relation to you at all.”

  Hannah’s lips curved upward in a hint of a smile. “Yes, that’s true. Okay, I’ll give you that one. Last one. Make it good.”

  Liam went with his gut. “You have a deep secret that you keep from everyone, and it’s fundamental to who you are, and why you do what you do.”

  Hannah cast him a sidelong glance. “Why would you say that?”

  “Yes or no?” he asked. “Those are the only answers, remember? No qualifications.”

  “Veto …”

  “No way,” Liam said. “You already vetoed the sex one.”

  “Okay, I’ll answer that one then.”

  Liam laughed in surprise. “You’d rather talk about your sex life than just admit that you are harboring a deep secret?”

  They pulled up to his house, and
Hannah parked the car in the driveway, turning the engine off. “Oh, we’re here. Game’s over.”

  “You do not play fair,” Liam said, unbuckling his seat belt and opening the car door. “We’re not done with this game, just so you know. But I’m desperate for a shower, so let’s go.”

  She followed him inside the house, and Liam breathed a deep sigh of relief, as he headed for his bedroom and the adjoining bathroom. “Make yourself comfortable,” he called back to her. “There’s another bathroom just off the hall and to the left. I won’t be fifteen minutes.”

  The moment that his bedroom door closed behind him, Liam stripped out of his muddy clothes and walked, stark naked, into his bathroom, turning the water on as hot as it would go. He stepped under the spray of the shower and groaned with delight, as it fell down around him, washing the dirt and grime from his skin. Soaping up his hair, he tried his best to just focus on how good it felt to get clean rather than thinking about Hannah. Standing there under the water, he couldn’t help the flashing images in his head of her, naked, joining him under the spray. He would pull her body to his and feel the soft swell of her breasts against his chest. His hands would slide down over her slick backside and grip the backs of her thighs. He would pull one leg up and hook it around his hip, and then he would drive himself into her and watch as her beautiful face flushed and went slack with pleasure.

  Liam groaned, realizing that he was now hard as a rock and desperate for relief. He wrapped his hand around his hard length, and he brought Hannah’s face to mind. Only moments later he found his release, and it shuddered through him as he gasped her name quietly and leaned his forehead against the shower wall, realizing that he was in deep trouble with this woman.

  Chapter 9

  Hannah

  Left to her own devices in Liam’s house, Hannah poked around ‘til her heart was content. She started in the entryway, flipping on the lights and looking around at the strong, elegant, masculine décor. The walls were a rich taupe-gold color, and the mirror that hung to the left of the front door was framed in jet-black. The table beneath it was also black, with the same clean lines, and on top of the table a few framed pictures sat beside a bowl of black and gold decorative balls. Hannah picked up one of the frames and saw Liam standing between two beautiful women. There were five kids in the photograph standing in front of them, all smiles and bright blue eyes. She could only imagine that the two women were his sisters, and the children were his nieces and nephews. They all looked so much alike that it was impossible that they weren’t family.