A Little Harmless Rumor

by Melissa Schroeder

He sighed as he watched Del’s taillights disappear around the curve.

  When he turned around, he found Randy and Jaime studying him with identical expressions. “What?”

  Randy grinned. “It’s kind of cute seeing the way you act around her.”

  “Yeah. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you had the makings of a great father in you,” Jaime said.

  “Agreed,” Randy returned.

  He felt his cheeks heat. “Stop.”

  He walked past them and into the house. They followed him, shutting the door with a definite click. He heard the front door alarm being set. It was already getting late, and they had figured waiting until tomorrow night to go out would be best.

  “No, really. You seem to handle her well,” Jaime said.

  “You sound surprised.”

  She shrugged. “Not really, but…yeah I am. You are often impatient.”

  That was nothing short of the truth. He had always had a bad temper. But, Emma had changed him somehow. “I had a few months to learn how to deal with her. I knew she had issues, I just didn’t know how much she had been through. Plus, if you think Del looks bad, you should have seen me.”

  “She wasn’t that easy to deal with.”

  He made his way to the kitchen.

  “What was it like?” Randy asked.

  “What?”

  “With her, when you first found her…what was it like?”

  He thought back to that week. The rush to get them both to safety, then the discovery of who she was to him and it was a blow. The constant fear of her being hurt, of trying to figure out if Lassiter had sold them out…it had all taken a toll on him.

  “At first, I didn’t know who she was. There was something so oddly familiar about her. I didn’t know what it was, but her eyes…” he shook his head.

  “She has your eyes,” Jaime said.

  He nodded. “But I didn’t make that connection—not at first. Of course, being knocked unconscious might have something to do with it. Damn near felt like I had my brains scrambled.”

  “Your dad had green eyes?” Randy asked.

  “Yeah, I guess. I don’t remember him at all, but it is one thing we have in common.”

  “But other things must have happened,” Jaime said, filling the teakettle with water.

  “Yeah. She has issues.”

  “I noticed,” Jaime said.

  “She’s pretty smart, but her social skill set is in need of some work. She was even worse when we first met. It comes from being mainly homeschooled by her parents. She has off-the-chart IQ numbers, but she has issues with people. So, they decided to enroll her in a correspondence school. Her mother was apparently brilliant too. Dad worked all over Southeast Asia, and it made it easier for them to travel.”

  “What did your dad do?” Jaime asked.

  “Something with electronics. A lot of the patents are for things to do with computers. Most of it I don’t understand, even after Emma explained it to me.”

  “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around surviving something like the Tsunami,” Randy said.

  Sean nodded. “Yes, and that situation just made things worse. Trusting is not something she is good at.”

  “Color me surprised,” Jaime murmured, and Sean smiled.

  “Yeah, the first time I met her, she hit me with a two-by-four, handcuffed me, then interrogated me when I finally came to.”

  “Still, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her after the disaster,” Randy said.

  Of course he wouldn’t, because he had a good relationship with his family. “They were her whole world.”

  “Then she lost them in the Tsunami,” Jaime said with a shiver.

  “Yes. I don’t know how she did it, but she picked up and went on.”

  “And she really had no idea she was rich?” Randy asked.

  “No. None. Remember, she was only fifteen at the time. I’m sure my father thought he had plenty of time to talk to her. After they died, Thailand was a mess. Remember how long it took to get aid? I don’t even want to think about what she went through.”

  There was a beat of silence and then the kettle blew.

  “Anyone want any tea?”

  Both Randy and he declined, to which they were labeled as unappreciative Americans. They shared a look as she doctored her drink and sat down next to Randy at the kitchen bar.

  “So, you aren’t mad at your father?”

  He shrugged. “I was in the beginning, but that’s a waste. I could be pissed at him forever, but it doesn’t let me face him down and ask why. Also, when I got to know Emma, it really didn’t matter.”

  “Yeah, about that? What did you say to her?” Randy asked.

  “I reminded her that we would get our vengeance on Letov.”

  “That’s important to her?” Jaime asked.

  “Yeah. For Emma, being kidnapped was…well for people who don’t have some of her issues it would have been horrible. For her, she almost had a meltdown. When she has them, they are not pretty, and she gets embarrassed. She really wants us to make Letov cry. And she wants video of it.”

  Randy smiled. “That tells me she really is your sister.”

  “Do you know what will happen when you get this all resolved?” Jaime asked.

  Sean shook his head. “Not really. We haven’t talked about it. Our focus is getting through this; afterwards, we said we would talk it all out. I’m assuming that she won’t want to live on an island after her experience, but she never does quite what I expect her to.”

  Jaime chuckled. “I can appreciate that.”

  Sean felt his smile fade. “I’ll completely understand if you both want to stand down. This truly isn’t your fight.”

  Randy said nothing, but Jaime’s eyes narrowed. “Indeed?”

  Damn, another misstep, but he didn’t know exactly how to get his point across to them. So, he decided that honesty was the best way.

  “Protecting Emma is part of who I am. I love her, although, it wasn’t easy to do in the beginning. But, it is my duty to keep her safe. We’re family, and the only ones we’ve got. She got pulled into this mess not by me but because she is related to me.”

  “And you think we’re just going to walk away, leave you here to fight this on your own?”

  The moment she said it, his temper ignited. “It’s what you’re good at.”

  She looked as if he had hit her. “How dare you say that to me?”

  “Listen, I get the whole, let’s let things go and forget about the past. But I didn’t know what to expect and you can’t expect me to trust either of you fully again. You both walked away from me, and you explode back into my life like all is to be forgotten. Well, it’s going to take a little time for me to get over that.”

  She opened her mouth, but Randy stepped in. “He’s right, Jaime. Neither of us treated you very fairly.”

  Jaime turned around to face Randy. “What?”

  “Fuck, Jaime, he asked you to marry him and me to move in with him. The moment he did, we both split. If I were in the same spot, I would be leery of both of us.”

  She sighed as Randy walked to stand in front of Sean. He cupped Sean’s face and looked him in the eye. “But know this. We are here to stay. We are not leaving; we will get you through this. If anything, you know that we have your back. We both want more…and I know you do as well. Just get used to the fact that we are here, and we are staying.”

  Randy didn’t wait for Sean to respond. Instead, Randy leaned forward to brush his mouth over Sean’s. He deepened the kiss and Sean felt it then. Everything Randy had said, everything that Sean felt, was right there for him, for all of them. Sean wrapped his arms around Randy and deepened the kiss. They pulled back and both of them looked at Jaime. She hesitated until Sean held his hand out to her. She came willingly and he pulled her close, kissing her.

  “Okay, you’re both here to stay,” he said, his heart warming. He hadn’t wanted them to go, but he had to give them that choi
ce.

  “So…” Randy said as he nibbled on Sean’s ear. “Whatever will we do with ourselves?”

  “I am sure we will come up with a few things things to occupy our time,” Sean said.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Del pulled onto Cat’s street and glanced over at his companion. Emma hadn’t said much since they’d left Sean’s house. She wasn’t always talkative, but she was definitely in shut down mode. That could only spell trouble.

  “You’ll like Cat.”

  She didn’t respond. If anything, she looked like she had shifted away from him. She was definitely shutting down.

  “She’s very good at her job.”

  “Why would that have anything to do with liking her?” she asked, her voice very matter of fact, but Del heard the tension beneath it. He was good at reading people. It was one of the things that made him good at his job and good at managing his team.

  “That’s not why you would like her. I was just trying to make conversation.”

  She turned and looked at him. “Why?”

  “Why would you like her?”

  She released one of her irritated sighs. “No, why would you try and make conversation with me?”

  “I thought it would put you at ease.”

  Emma shook her head. “It’s clear you don’t like me.”

  That surprised him and he didn’t try to hide it. “I didn’t say I didn’t like you.”

  She snorted and looked out the window again. “If you cuss as much at your friends like you did to me, I would hate to see what your enemies would deal with.”

  “First of all, I’m a guy. A lot of us cuss. I know Sean has a pretty bad vocabulary. Add in the fact that you hit me with a board and broke my nose, and I think I have every right to cuss.”

  “We all have the right to say what we want. It doesn’t mean you should though. There are limits to honesty. Or that’s what people tell me.”

  He caught on to that last bit like a starving man. Del had always been someone who dealt in information. If he could know everything he wanted to about a situation, he could figure out what to do about it. It had to be the only reason he was so intrigued by Emma Taylor.

  “So, people think you are too honest?”

  “It’s gotten me into trouble before. I don’t always understand little cues other people pick up on. I often say things that offend others, even if I don’t mean to.”

  Del digested that bit of information, then pulled to a stop in front of Cat’s house. “You sound rude, but you’re not trying to be.”

  She turned her head to study him. Even in the cab of his pickup, he could see her surprise.

  “Yes. When I try to explain, I make it worse.”

  Sighing, she glanced past him to Cat’s house. She looked so damned lost that he felt the need to fill in the moment.

  “Hey, it will all work out.”

  She looked at him. “You can’t know that. No one knows what will happen from one moment to the other. We can calculate every move we make, and it can all explode in your face. Letov is definitely acting erratically, and that works for us on certain levels. But we can’t be sure that he won’t just pop off. Life is like that, you know. Sometimes things are going along and everything is just fine. Then, all of the sudden it isn’t. Plans don’t always work.”

  He knew she was talking about more than the present situation. There was a tone in her voice he had not heard before. She was almost wooden in the way she talked, as if she expected the worst to happen. Just knowing a bit of her backstory made him realize that most of her life had probably taught her that. Losing her parents, and now everything she had dealt with recently, it made sense.

  Maybe it was because she looked so sad, or the fact that he had a couple younger sisters, he broke down. He couldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to do. He agreed with Sean though. She needed to be in a separate house than her brother. Which left him with only one alternative.

  “Would you feel more comfortable at my place?”

  She blinked, then focused on him again. “Your place? As in your house?”

  He nodded.

  “I could go to a hotel,” she said in a hopeful tone.

  “Out of the question and you know it,“ he returned in a stern voice.

  She frowned.

  “Listen, I have a guest room you can use, and it’s closer to headquarters where I plan on stashing you tomorrow night. After tomorrow night, you can go stay wherever you want.”

  And just like that, her tension seemed to drain from her. “You don’t mind if I am up? I tend to drive people crazy when I work through the night.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll have no problem ignoring you.”

  She offered him a shy smile, and he felt as if had won the lottery. “I would really like that. I don’t do well with new people.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” he said. “Let me go tell Cat you’re staying with me.”

  She nodded and he slid out of his truck to make his way up to Cat’s door. His lieutenant opened it before he could knock. Average in height and small boned, Cat often surprised people with her strength. That along with her amazing sniper skills, black belt in karate, and intelligence made her one of the best team members he had ever worked with.

  She’d pulled all her hair up into a braid, and she had no makeup on. She was also in her PJs.

  “Where’s my house guest, boss?” she asked.

  “In the truck,” he said, stepping up on her front stoop.

  She blinked and looked at him, then she snorted.

  “What?”

  “Uh, who beat the hell out of you?”

  It was then that he realized he had just fully stepped into the light. Damn, as soon as he told her, it would be texted out to the members of the team. He was never going to fucking live this down. Hell, he would be lucky if they kept it within the confides of the team. Knowing Adam, everyone in his family would get the info too.

  “Never mind. I just wanted to tell you Emma is going to stay with me.”

  “I can handle her.”

  He chuckled. “Not sure anyone can really handle Emma.”

  Her mouth curved. “So that’s the way of it?”

  The moment he got the meaning of her comment, he wanted to kick himself in the ass. He did not need his team speculating on why he wanted Emma at his house. No, wait. He didn’t want her at his house. It was just that he knew she was tense about dealing with a new person after everything she had been through.

  “No. Emma has issues with new people and places. She’s just more comfortable with me.”

  The look Cat gave him told Del that she didn’t believe him. That made her a good detective, but it wouldn’t make his life any easier. There was one thing about Cat though. She was smart enough not to say anything about it.

  “Tomorrow night I’m going to be at headquarters…something on the side, and Emma will be there. If you can spare some time on a Saturday night, I would really appreciate it. Adam is working too, but I know we’ll need backup.”

  She nodded. “You got it, boss.”

  “Thanks. I’ll text you the info.”

  He turned and walked back to the truck. Without looking, he knew Cat was already texting the rest of the team about his injury. Sure enough, his phone beeped signaling a text. He glanced at the message from second in command Adam Lee.

  So, I understand there’s a woman who can kick your ass and you’re taking her home. -Adam

  Cat was going to be pulling graveyard shift for the next three months. The woman could never seem to keep her mouth shut. He could trust her with work, but personal things…well; his whole fucking team was bad. They were worse than all the gossiping biddies at his grandmother’s retirement home. The next week was going to suck.

  He opened the door and hopped into the truck. Del was about to say something to Emma when he realized she had fallen asleep. In the weak streetlight, he could see the smudges beneath her eyes. She had spent more th
an one night burning the midnight oil; that was for sure. Knowing what little he did about her personality, Del had a feeling that her preoccupation with helping Sean had kept her up. There was a good chance that no matter whenever she was obsessing over something, she would have lots of sleepless nights. The fact that he wanted to know more about her was slightly disturbing. Prickly, obsessed women were not his thing. Ever. Still, she intrigued him enough to know that after this was done—and if she stuck around—he would definitely try to get to know her better.

  With a sigh, he started up his truck and headed to his condo in Hawaii Kai. It was going to be one damn long day tomorrow.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The first thing Sean felt the next morning were hands moving over his body. He had barely opened his eyes to see the first twinkle of sunlight, and he was thrown into morass of lust. Fingers skimmed, palms pressed, tongues and mouths tasted and licked. With a groan, he closed his eyes and arched up off the bed. They continued their assault, teasing him. He opened his eyes and found Randy and Jaime roaming over his body. They were both naked, just as he was. None of them really saw the reason to wear clothes to bed.

  Jaime had his cock in her hand, sliding up and down before she took his erection in her mouth. Randy made his way up to Sean’s mouth.

  “Morning, babe.”

  “Morning,” he said. Randy kissed him, sucking Sean’s tongue into his mouth. Over and over, he tugged on Sean’s tongue; mimicking the blowjob Jaime was giving him. They continued like that, slow and easy, both of them fucking him with their mouths. Sean shivered as Jaime grazed the very tip of his cock with her teeth. She gave the crown of his penis one last swirling lick before she kissed her way up his body. By the time she reached his mouth, Randy moved away, giving her access to Sean’s mouth. As she took over, Randy kissed his way down to Sean’s cock.

  As a Dom, Sean wasn’t accustomed to being taken over. He planned the seduction, took charge, and handled everything. He had never been surprised like this by anyone. He couldn’t seem to grasp onto a thought at the moment. In this one moment, they gave him something he had never experienced. He could just lay back and feel.