“Pete’s grandpa is Police Chief Victor Marcus?”
He smirked back, “Yep and always had eyes in the back of his head when it came to all of us kids getting into trouble.”
Simone chuckled, “But I’ll bet that didn’t stop you.” He laughed, dabbing at the scratch on her chin, “Hell no! Just made me more determined to get one over on him.”
He cleaned the scratch and carefully set aside the wipe in the bag he set out.
“I’ll bet you never did, huh?”
He paused in reaching for the antiseptic ointment, “No, but I’ll admit I learned to have a good poker face and I know when someone’s lying.”
They fell silent as he continued to clean and bandage her scratches and cuts before she spoke, “I’m not lying about anything, Jesse. I’m just not able to talk without breaking their confidentiality.”
He dabbed at an angry scratch running down her throat, “You talked to Jane about it.” He inwardly winced at how whiny that sounded.
She sighed, “Yeah, who’s a Detective that looked at it as a favor to Peter. I can consult the officer working the case without breaking the client’s confidentiality agreement.”
He looked up, and his eyes met hers, and something flickered between them.
“I figured as much, don’t mean I like I can’t help more.”
His eyes left hers and bagged and cleaned the last of it.
“I’ve known that boy since he was born.” A small smile formed at the memory, “He was a red, squirmy, funny-looking thing and grew even more funny-looking now. “
A laugh escaped her as his description, which was what he was going for, a laugh that was very nice. As her laughter faded, she realized how close he was to her. So close, his hips brushed against her thighs from her seated position. He stepped closer, enough she could see the flecks of blue in his gray eyes, to see he had a small scar above his left eye.
He gently cupped her uninjured cheek and leaned into her slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away. She didn’t. She leaned up and pulled his head down. Their lips met in a slow kiss, one that gradually intensified and left Simone reeling.
Chapter Four
Simone broke away, panting as she did. Jesse was doing the same, only he had something else going on. That surprised him, the last time a kiss had affected him like that, he had been a teenager. As he looked her over, he would be lying if he said the sight of her red lips and flushed cheeks didn’t affect him.
But before he could comment, the back door slammed, and his dad and a brown-haired male detective came in. He moved away from Simone and began carefully bagging up the cotton swabs and gloves he had on while tending to Simone’s scrapes. He slid them over to the detective.
“I cleaned her cuts and bagged them up, don’t know if it’s needed,” he shrugged as the detective took them, giving him a curious look as he put them in a paper bag. He walked out of the bar and down the hall to the bathrooms to clean up, and hopefully calm the raging lust rushing through him as he recalled their brief, but altering kiss.
Simone leaned back against the bar from where she sat, eyeing the detective. Based on his appearance, Sim would bet this was Jonathan Wilson. The detective that hounded Jane for a date for weeks before she finally snapped and put him in his place. She was brought back to present when he cleared his throat, “Miss, I need to ask you some questions about tonight, my first one is your name.” Simone looked him in the eye, “My name is Simone Brandon, and I’ve been working here at the bar for the past couple of weeks.”
As she gave a statement, Jesse came back in and moved behind the bar. After she had finished, he asked a question she dreaded, “Is this an isolated incident?”
Jesse spoke then, “No, she was attacked in the alley between us and the bakery beside us, a few weeks ago.”
He ignored the death glare she shot him. The detective honed in on that, “That’s two incidents, this bar the common denominator. Something you want to share?”
She gave him a cool look, “No, I don’t think I do.” He assessed her, “I suppose that a woman that matches your description is going around town, asking questions about Jimmy Petersson. Is that just a coincidence?”
Outwardly, she showed no hint of the feelings inside, inwardly she cursed her appearance for being so memorable. She decided to throw the detective a bone, “I am Simone Brandon. I just left out the Private Investigator. The Peterssons asked me, as a favor, to come out and see if I could locate Jimmy. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”
He asked the name of the firm she worked for. She felt more than a hint of pride when she told him, “Brandon and Williams Investigator Services.”
He arched a brow at that, “Owner?” She smirked, “Co-owner. My friend and his wife and I started it while we were still in the service.”
After she had answered what few questions she could, he packed away his notepad and nodded to Danny, “I’ll have Patrol step up in the rounds in this area. Maybe they’ll think twice about coming back.”
Jesse snorted, “I don’t think that’ll be a problem since Simone here, busted his nose and his balls.”
Sim smirked, “The guys that attacked me the first time; one would have a busted hand and nuts. Another would have some busted ribs.” Then she remembered the snapshot she took of the license plate. She grabbed the pendant around her neck and took it off. She looked to Danny and the detective, “If you got a laptop, we could upload this into it.”
John smirked, putting the pendant into a clear evidence bag, “A camera necklace, nice, though I’ve never seen one before.”
He sealed it and put it with the rest, “I’ll get this back to you tomorrow.” She nodded, “I appreciate it.”
“Though,” he gestured to her right hand, “don’t know why not in the ring.”
The large moonstone shined in the low bar-light, a silvery raven reflected from within the stone. She held it up; shaking her head, “Not going to happen. This has been in my mother’s family for years. I tamper with it; my Granny would come back and haunt me!”
The three men laughed, unaware she was very serious. Growing up in the Bayou of Louisiana, made Simone a believer of more than what the eye could see.
***
That night, after the scene has been processed and cleared to go home, Jesse packed Sim’s bike in the bed of his truck and drove her home at his and Danny’s insistence. They sat in the driveway in silence, before Jesse broke it. “So, are we just gonna ignore what happened earlier?” Simone looked at him, “No, I just…I can’t get personal while I’m working this case. Maybe after the case is finished, we can see where it goes.”
He got the feeling she’d run as fast as she could back to North Carolina once the case was finished. She shook her head, “I just can’t get personal with this case going on right now.” He stared into her eyes, “Why, cause Jimmy’s your little brother?”
***
Simone froze when she heard those words. She stopped in the middle of getting out of the truck and sank back onto the seat. It took her a moment to find her words, “What did you say?” she croaked out. Her heart was pounding in her chest; the fear of what he knew was an unknown.
He sighed, “I’ve know from the start; the morning after you were jumped. I figured it was your business if you wanted people to know.”
He shrugged and looked at her, “If it was my sister, I probably would be doing the same thing.” Simone didn’t speak- hell, she couldn’t breathe. She just knew she had to get out of this truck before she either lashed out or had a panic attack. She jumped out, slamming the door as she went, not hearing Jesse calling her over her thundering heartbeat. She didn’t hear him call out to her, or his softly exclaimed, “Dammit.”
***
Jane awoke from a deep sleep. Confused to what awoke her, she looked around, seeing Peter was sleeping peacefully and spooned behind her.
She pulled away and threw back the covers as she got up. Grateful she was in pj's, she grabbed her
robe at the foot of the bed and walked down the hall to Luke’s room. He too was sleeping peacefully, but the newest addition to the family was not.
A perked head looked at her from his curled position at Luke’s side before moving and jumping off the bed. Jane smiled at the blue-tick beagle puppy and stooped to pick him up. She snuggled him and set him back on the bed. Seeing all was well in her home, Jane realized it was something else. Going back to her room, she grabbed her phone. There was no text from Simone, saying she was home. She sent a quick text to ask if she was home yet. Several minutes passed and still no text, Jane became concerned. It was not like Sim to not send a text when she got home.
She threw her robe off, slipped her shoes and jacket on, took her gun and holster as she walked downstairs and, grabbed her keys and a flashlight. She went out the back door and crossed the shared porch to Alex’s side. After checking, where she went inside and called out, “Sim!” When she walked through and checked the lower floor where she found Simone in the living room in the middle of a panic attack.
Jane was at her side before she realized she moved. She could see she was in a deep one, her eyes were wide and dilated, and her breathing was harsh and labored. She was surprised, the last time Sim had one this bad was when a mission Sim had been on that had gone bad in every way. For months afterward, she would wake up from her nightmares and have one.
She wrapped her in an embrace, petting her sweat-soaked hair.
“You’re okay, Sim. You’re safe, Simmi. It’s okay.”
They stayed like that for a long while, Jane soothing her and comforting her till her breathing evened and the shaking stopped.
Eventually, she looked up at her with wet eyes.
“Sim, what’s wrong?” She looked up at Jane for several minutes before speaking, “Jesse knows.”
Jane was puzzled, “Knows what?” She looked at her, pulling away.
“I mean, he knows Jimmy is my brother.”
Jane knew that to Simone, this was terrible.
While she wasn’t embarrassed over her natural father and brother, she didn’t advertise it. That was due to her work as a P.I. and ex-military. Simone had been very good at her job while she was in the Army; she hadn’t gotten that way without making a few enemies along the way.
She also knew it also had to do with her step-father. Jane knew he died a few years after they moved to Anderson, but nothing else.
Over the years, Jane gathered he had been involved in something bad, and it had included Simone in some way.
She had often wondered if it would come back to Simone and the new life she made.
She was drawn from her thoughts to Sim’s muttering as she began pacing the living room. She knew Simone was a private person, but this-
It clicked then. Simone was attracted to Jesse and Simone didn’t do deep emotions well. At least with men that weren’t related to them. She knew Simone had had flings, but nothing past a few weeks.
Anything that looked more serious, she ran as fast as she could. So, for her to be panicking like this, had Jane wondering if she was feeling more than just attraction to the handsome bartender.
Eventually, Simone calmed enough for Jane to feel comfortable enough to leave the now manic-cleaning Simone alone and go back to her home, her cover-hogging lover and her soft bed. She laid down and was immediately pulled back into the sleep-warm arms of a half-asleep Peter. She drifted off to sleep, thinking about tomorrow and it would be her first day back on the job since Alex died.
***
As Jesse saw Simone practically sprint into the house, he realized he made a mistake.
That night, he had an uneasy rest and the next morning still didn’t know how to make things right with Simone. So the next morning, he called an early meeting with the one man that might have an idea on how he can fix this.
His old man.
Danny had a knack for both getting in and out of trouble, especially with his wife, Angel. So, when Jesse called a meeting, he knew his son was subtly asking for advice. He came down to the bar and grill, long before the rest of the staff, with hot coffee and doughnuts that would have Angel wanting his cojones for knockers if she knew he had them. Lousy damn high cholesterol!
He was drawn from his thoughts by the sound of Jesse’s footsteps. He saw his son had the cream and cane sugar they kept in the bar refrigerator and poured a generous amount in his coffee, then his own. He grabbed some napkins from a nearby table and laid the bag’s contents on the bar and split them between the two. Danny took a bite before getting to the meat of the matter. “So, I take it you found out Jimmy is Simone’s little brother and you told her?”
Simone was going through her notes and had her laptop open to compare more, when her cell phone rang interrupting the silent house. She picked it up after the second ring, “Brandon here, what do ya got?” she answered, thinking it was another one of her detectives with a case to discuss.
The electronic voice on the other end told differently.
“What I got is you sticking your nose where it don’t belong. Now drop the case, or you might end up like your little friend, the hot blonde.”
The click and dial tone said the caller had hung up, but the words were still echoing in her mind.
‘Like your little friend, the hot blonde…’
Alex. He was talking about Alex and the crash.
Simone felt ill as it occurred to her for the first time, maybe the accident hadn’t been meant for Jane after all, but for her.
Chapter Five
It was a few days after the call, and Simone was down in the basement of the duplex and was walloping the bag to work out her frustrations and at the new turn in the case. She was responsible for the crash.
Hit.
Jane wasn’t the intended target, she was.
Kick.
She punched and kicked till she was broken from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps outside the basement door, then coming down the steps; she saw the booted feet of one Jesse Fletcher.
She finished the water she had in her hand before getting back to the bag.
“I’d appreciate it if you let me be, Jesse. I’m not much up for people right now.”
He sat down on the last step and shrugged, “That’s ok. I can watch you spar.”
A mock leer swept across his face, “Nothing like watching a sweaty, gorgeous woman beating the crap out of a punching bag.”
Despite herself, a surprised laugh burst from her mouth. She gave a wan smile; she could see what Pete meant about Jesse having a way of making you laugh, even when you didn’t want to.
She nodded to him, “Thanks, I needed that.”
He shrugged it off, “I’m sorry about what I said the other night. I should have respected your privacy about Jimmy.”
She dropped eye contact then, “Thanks. It’s just…I’ve known Jimmy a couple of years now. And…I guess I just wanted to have him to myself for a while. My other family didn’t know about Jimmy. They knew I had found my birth father and had a family, like an aunt, uncle, and cousins, but that was it.”
She smirked at him, “In case you didn’t know, we really don’t have many secrets in our group.” She shrugged, “It was just nice to have a secret, something to myself.”
At least a good secret that don't get someone killed, she thought.
Jesse nodded, “I get that. You wanted him to yourself for a while.”
He stood up and walked over, “I also get why you want to be the one to find him.” She shook her head and decided to speak what she had feared what happened.
“It’s more than that now.”
She sighed, “Do you remember Alex?” Jesse had thought back a moment before he answered, “She was the friend that died in a car crash over the summer, wasn’t she?” Sim nodded, “Yeah, except she wasn’t just a friend. She was…like an older sister to me. She and Jane were more like twins than Alex and her brother, Cole. She also was helping me with Jimmy’s case.”
She took
a breath before continuing, “The accident Alex was in, it wasn’t an accident. We thought it had been meant for Jane. She was working a case and receiving threats.”
Tears stung her eyes and couldn’t help the one that trickled down her cheek.
“But I have new information that the accident could have been meant for me.”
She didn’t know why she didn’t connect it earlier. Alex had been driving her car. Her dark blue Challenger and Jane’s black Charger were both dark colors, and at night they could have been mistaken for the other if you didn’t know the make of them. She looked up at the gentle touch and saw Jesse looking at her with empathy. As he leaned down to wipe her tear, she leaned up and brushed her mouth against his.
They both froze at that moment, neither sure of the other one. When neither pulled away, the kiss intensified. Simone moaned as she felt his hardness rub against the cleft between her legs, making it clear through her thin workout pants. Jesse took advantage of her moan, his tongue boldly tangling with hers. He pulled her closer to him, pressing his chest against her breasts, moaning when he felt her hard nipples through the thin tank she had on. Suddenly, Simone needed more. She broke the kiss long enough to yank his shirt out of his pants and have it up and over his head. Her hands greedily mapped every inch of skin she exposed. Her fingers lightly traced the sleeve tattoos covering his muscled arms, fingertips tracing the intricate Celtic cross over his heart. Lips touching the hollow of his collarbone. Teeth gently scrapping a male nipple into an aching point to her own, her tongue tracing the inked path as her fingers had done. Tongue tasting the salt flavor of his muscled stomach.
When she knelt to unbuckle his pants, he stopped her with a growl and yanked her to her feet and nearly ripped her top, pulling it off. Leaving her heated skin bare to the cool air and Jesse’s heated gaze. He leaned down and hungrily took a rosy nipple in his mouth. Her loud moan filled the air as his other hand played with her neglected nipple.
Simone's Midnight Call (Mississippi Series Book 2) Page 3
