The Hot Sergeant (Second Chance Military Romance) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #2)

by Alexa Davis

  “Yes, that was where Brett had told me he was,” I said.

  “Well, at least we know it will be safe,” Adam smiled. “We’ll be surrounded by law enforcement.”

  “Comforting,” I said, somewhat sarcastically. The whole situation felt so covert and surreal to me. I really, really just wanted things to go back to normal.

  I made it home around five thirty. My parents had had a terrific time at the show and were both in a very good mood, even my mother. I had the shrimp from the night before still marinating. I put it under the broiler and prepared rice pilaf and asparagus to go with it. My mother came in to help set the table, and that was when I told her that Adam would be joining us. She almost seemed sincere as she said, “Oh, how nice.”

  I added some fresh sliced fruit to a bowl of whipping cream and put it in the freezer to set for dessert. Lastly, I picked a bottle of white wine that I knew both of my parents liked. As I was setting the basket of sourdough bread out, the doorbell rang. I heard Daddy call out that he would get it, and I said to myself, “Here we go…”

  CHAPTEREIGHT

  ADAM

  I was forty years old and the last time I met any parents was twenty years ago when I met Marjorie’s. It took a hell of a lot to make me nervous, but this did it. I took forever getting dressed. I didn’t want to show up in a black suit and look like I was going to a funeral, but the lightest one I had was a dark blue. I had this thing about light suits making me look like a car salesman. I put on the dark blue one and changed my tie four times, finally settling on a light blue paisley.

  I stopped at the florist and bought two bouquets of flowers, one for Alicia and the other for Lady Winston. Then I went by the smoke shop and picked up a cigar for Lord Winston. On top of meeting parents, these two had to be a Lord and a Lady. My stomach was having convulsions.

  When I got to Alicia’s apartment building, Luis met me at the door. “Don’t you ever have a day off?” I asked him.

  He smiled and said, “I work a lot of overtime. I have five kids to feed.”

  I whistled. “Wow, five! That’s a lot of kids.”

  “Tell me,” he said. “The wife is Catholic. Who knows, we might end up with ten.”

  I laughed and clapped him on the back. “You’re a better man than me, Luis.”

  He wished me a good evening before I nervously rode the elevator up to Alicia’s floor. I was hoping she’d at least answer the door. Just looking at her pretty face calms me. The Lord Winston pulled it open instead.

  “Well, hello there,” he said in an accent much stronger than his daughter’s. “You must be Adam.”

  “Yes, sir,” I tried juggling the flowers so I could shake his hand.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m John and it’s nice to meet you.” He smiled warmly.

  “You, too, sir.”

  “John.”

  “John,” I said. I didn’t want to call him John. It felt wrong somehow, too casual. I stepped inside and saw Alicia in about twenty-five years come around the corner. Lady Winston was the spitting image of her daughter, only with darker hair and a few more lines around her eyes.

  “Hello there,” she said.

  I held out the flowers that were hers and she took them. I took the hand she offered and brought it to my lips. “Lady Winston, it is such a pleasure to finally meet you.” Alicia’s mother at least seemed pleased with my manners.

  “The pleasure is mine, Adam. I’m so happy you could join us tonight. The flowers are lovely, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Now that I have a free hand, sir, I have something for you, too.”

  I pulled out the cigar and Alicia’s dad said, “John,” again before taking it. He brought it to his nose and slid it underneath and inhaled. “My favorite, how did you know?”

  “I have to give Alicia credit. I texted her earlier and asked.”

  “Well, thank you anyways, it was very thoughtful of you.” I looked up then and saw Alicia standing in the dining room door looking at me. She was wearing a green sweater dress that brought out the green in her hazel eyes and her hair was down around her shoulders. I wished we were alone suddenly.

  “Hi, baby,” she said.

  “Hi. You look beautiful.”

  “So do you,” she told me. “Are the flowers for me?”

  “Oh yeah.” I handed her the orchids.

  “They’re beautiful, thank you. Dinner is ready.” She took her mother’s flowers and brought both bouquets back in a vase. We all took a seat at the table. I wasn’t sure I could eat. My stomach was doing cartwheels. Alicia’s father sat at the head of the table with Alicia to his right and Alicia’s mother to his left. That left me between Alicia and her mother.

  I did my best to make conversation with her and after I asked her a few questions about her hometown in England and what charities she was involved in, she seemed to warm up to me. She asked me about myself and I told her I was born and raised in New York, that both my parents had passed away, and I didn’t have any siblings. I complimented her necklace and earrings and by the time we finished our main course, I think she was almost flirting with me.

  The nerves were beginning to recede if for no other reason than Alicia’s calming presence. Her father didn’t talk much, but when he did it was with warmth or humor. I decided quickly that I really liked him. He seemed like the kind of man I could be good friends with someday.

  After dinner, Alicia sent her parents out to the sitting room with a fresh carafe of coffee and I helped her cleaned up the kitchen. “That went okay…so far,” I said with a grin. “I think your mother actually likes me.”

  “How could she not? You were so charming.” She smiled at me and continued, “And handsome.”

  I couldn’t stand it any longer. I grabbed her and holding her tightly I kissed her on the lips,

  “I’ve wanted to do that since I got here.”

  “Me, too,” she said.

  Once we finished in the kitchen, Alicia fixed a tray of dessert cups along with the frozen fruit and cream and brought it into the sitting room with us. I helped her father stoke the fire and when we were all seated comfortably, her mother finally said,

  “So, Adam, Alicia tells us you’ve asked her to marry you?”

  I looked at Alicia and then back at Lady Winston, “That’s true; it would make me the happiest man on earth.”

  Alicia’s mother smiled. “Well, that is a good answer. I have to say, however, I hope you can see how we might be worried about your futures based on what has been going on lately in your lives?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I would absolutely be concerned if it were my own daughter. All I can tell you is the truth. I love your daughter more than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone. I promise you that I will always love her and take care of her needs. She and I are an awesome team and I believe that with Alicia by my side, I can rebuild my practice to be even more successful than it was before.”

  Alicia’s father said, “I’m glad to hear all of that, son. A marriage is a partnership. For better or worse aren’t just words. What you’re going through now may just be scratching the surface of what is yet to come of the worse. The important thing is that you see you and Alicia as a team. As long as you keep seeing it that way, I believe you two will make it as well.”

  Happily, for me at least, that was the last of the serious talk for the evening. We chatted and laughed and played a game of scrabble before I finally announced that I should be going if I were going to be able to get up for work the next day. Alicia walked me out.

  “Thank you so much for coming. I think they really like you. I knew they would,” she told me.

  “I’m glad. I like them, too. They did a great job with you. That was something they had going for them right from the start.”

  She laughed and before she turned to go back inside she turned serious and said, “Don’t forget our meeting with David in the morning.” I hadn’t forgotten it. I was just trying not to dwell on it. It seemed the
more I knew about the Brigham case, the less I wanted to.

  “I won’t,” was all I said to her. I didn’t want to end the wonderful night on a depressing note. I put my arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. It was a long, languid one and we were both breathless when we pulled apart. “Damn, I wish you were coming home with me.”

  “Me, too,” she said. “Goodnight, love.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I watched as Luis’s nighttime counterpart called the elevator down for her before I took my keys from the valet and headed home. I couldn’t wait until the day that her home was mine and vice versa. I would never want ten kids…or even five, but I have begun to like to think about having at least one or two with Alicia. We’d never talked about children so I’m not really sure how she feels about it, but if she’s open to it, so am I.

  CHAPTERNINE

  ALICIA

  I was still smiling as the elevator doors closed to take me back up to the apartment. I could tell Adam was nervous when he first got there tonight, but as usual, he’d charmed the pants off of everyone in the room. The elevator stopped on the second floor and a man stepped on. It took me a second to realize it was Miles IV. “Mr. Brigham, what are you doing here?” I asked, feeling very uncomfortable.

  “You and I need to talk, young lady.” He looked – and smelled – as if he had been drinking heavily.

  “Why don’t you come into the office and see me in the morning? I’ll be there by nine.” Miles pushed the stop button on the elevator. I was beginning to feel panic well up inside of me.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I said we need to talk. The papers and the television are smearing my family’s name all across this State. I’m up on charges for a murder I didn’t commit. My son will probably be arrested soon for a murder he probably did commit, but no one was supposed to know about, and all of the information my company has kept private and personal for years will probably pop up any day now. You and your damn boss are responsible for all of that, and I want to know what you plan to do about it.”

  My heart was racing and I could feel the sweat on my palms. I stood my ground though.

  “Mr. Brigham, I will forgive you for this, just this once, because I believe you have had too much to drink. In the future, however, if you wish to speak with me, you will use the phone and make an appointment to see me at my office. Now, I have company waiting for me in my apartment and would appreciate it if you would press that button and get us moving again. If you choose not to do so, I will press the emergency button and you can explain to the police why you felt it was okay to trap me here against my will.”

  Miles looked at me and smiled. “I like your balls, young lady,” he said before pushing the button for my floor. We rode up without speaking further, but as I stepped out, he said, “I’ll be calling you for that appointment.”

  “That’ll be fine,” I told him.

  I waited for the elevator doors to close before turning my back on him. The hairs on the back of my neck were still standing up. I thought about calling Adam and telling him, but decided to let him rest easy tonight. I would tell him in the morning.

  ********

  I told Adam about Miles on our way out to meet with David. “He’s so used to using intimidation in his business and family dealings, he probably thought it would work with you, too. Way to go putting him in his place, babe.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, I can take care of myself when I have to.”

  “I know you can,” Adam told me as he took one hand off the wheel and reached over to take mine.

  We arrived at the diner ten minutes before David was supposed to be there and went inside to order coffee. We were both alternately anticipating and dreading what David might have to say. We were surprised when he walked in to see him flanked by two large men who appeared to be Federal agents. We had known he would be under close watch, but for him to be willing to talk to us directly in front of the officers seemed curious.

  David walked up to the table and said, “Mr. Hanson,” and then looking towards me, “Miss Winston, I’m glad you both could make it. I’d like you to meet my colleagues, Agents White and Williams.”

  We were confused. “Colleagues?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” David told us as he took out his wallet. He opened it and laid his FBI identification and badge on the table in front of them. There was a picture of him on the ID and it identified him as “Special Agent David Tyler.”

  “You’re an agent?” I asked, still unsure what was happening. Adam picked up the wallet and examined it more closely.

  David said, “May I?” When we both nodded, he sat down with us at the table. The two other men took a seat in the booth behind us. After the waitress brought David his coffee, he finally continued.

  “I’m sure this is confusing to you both. I will try to explain as best I can. I am a Special Agent with the FBI. I have been deep undercover for several years now. My job was originally to find out what was going on with a large influx of money coming both in and out of the President’s campaign fund.

  “I was placed as an intern. I was given a background as a Political Science major who was attending law school and had loyalty to the Republican Party. I met Vick and realized that as campaign manager, he was going to be a very important piece of the puzzle.”

  I couldn’t help it; my face must have involuntarily shown my disdain regarding the man’s scruples.

  David smiled at me and said, “I assure you, Ms. Hanson, I was not using sex to get what I needed from Vick. Vick and I worked closely together for a while. He agreed to help us before anything sexual ever took place between us. We fell in love. Vick was working with me, to expose what was going on with that campaign.

  “I admit, it is seriously frowned upon in my line of work to get romantically involved with an informant, and especially if that informant is of the same sex as you. I have been severely reprimanded for that, and I am sure I haven’t heard the last of it.” He paused and glanced over at his colleagues.

  “Anyways, Vick was already on the inside. It was where I needed to be, but didn’t have the time I needed to work my way all the way in.”

  “Wait,” Adam said, “Brigham had proof that Vick was stealing funds himself. I’ve seen the paper trail.”

  “That was part of the plan,” David said. “Vick needed to look dirty so he could attract the people who were really behind all of this. We set it up to look like he was a playboy and a philanderer. His fiancée Cindy McGuire was paid to play her part. Money was not the draw for her; she loved the drama. His mistress however, the stripper, she did it for the money.”

  “What about your relationship with Celia Brigham?” I asked. “You used that young girl?”

  “Yes, I did,” David said with what seemed to me to be little remorse. “After Vick began giving us information, we started figuring out that getting close to Brigham was going to be key for us to infiltrate this political circle. He was in very good standing with the President and all of his close advisors before the oil spill and all of the negative press. We needed to get close to the family so we could get close to him.

  “The plan was that we would stage Vick’s arrest, and Miles would push for me to become the President’s campaign manager. Instead, Vick ended up dead and Brigham had discovered our relationship by then. He pushed for Alex Fritz to be put in his place. What Brigham didn’t know, at least from what we’ve discovered, was that Fritz was already deeply involved in what was going on.”

  “Now wait,” Adam said. “Alex is and has been a very good friend of mine for some time now. There’s no way he’s involved in any dirty politics.”

  David took a long sip of his coffee and said, “I’m afraid he is, Mr. Hanson. Fritz is involved up to his eyeballs.”

  “Involved in what, exactly?” I asked. “You aren’t exactly telling us what this is all about. “

  I could tell Adam was getting angry. I put my hand on his thigh under the table in a calming
touch and waited for David to answer the question.

  “Let me back up a bit,” David said. “A few years back when Miles Brigham IV began putting his money in politics, he made a deal with some very powerful people to look the other way, so to speak, about the way he does business. They were willing to do so in exchange for a lot of cash.

  “They were willing to do it up until the time that hundreds of barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf and people all over this country wanted the billionaire oil mogul to pay for his sins. They wanted him prosecuted and if Miles Brigham IV were to fall, a lot of other people were going to go down with him. The EPA was investigating, the Feds were investigating, and as you both know, the reporters in this city have dug up every piece of dirt on him that they could find. That was when people started getting nervous.

  “These were people in high places with powerful positions and six figure monthly incomes. They didn’t want any of the dirt being dug up on Brigham to be connected to them in any way. They started trying to cut ties with him. We believe Vick’s murder was part of that. We have some ideas about who the biggest players were and who may be responsible.”

  Adam and I sat silently trying to absorb all of this information. There was one primary question on both of our minds and Adam asked it first,

  “Why are you telling us all of this?”

  “Well, we believe that your ex-wife’s murder was related, as well. Someone is also afraid of what you know. You’ve been working closely with Brigham and as you said yourself, Alex Fritz is a close friend of yours. We believe that whoever killed Marjorie was actually looking for you that night.”

  I didn’t want to think about what may have happened if Adam had gotten home before Marjorie that evening. I pushed that thought to the furthest reaches of my mind and said, “What about Jack Grant? On the phone, you said he was a part of this, too.”

  “Yes, Mr. Grant’s family also has significant monetary ties to the President’s campaign. Vick was the connection early on when the donations were still legitimate. At some point, the money started coming in at such massive rates that we began to get suspicious that the Grants were using these donations to launder dirty money. Interpol has already been investigating them.