Without turning around, she casually tossed out. “Yeah, okay. ’Night.”
God, that woman riled me up. She was just so…blasé. Judging me like she knew me. Who the hell did she think she was? She doesn’t know a damn thing about my relationship with Leila. I was not still in love with her. I couldn’t deny that I loved her, but that was different. She was the mother of my child. There would always be a part of my heart that loved her because she gave me the most precious gift in the world.
Looking around the bedroom, I shook off the irritation and left, glaring at the door on the other side of the hall where Emmery was staying and walked down two more doors to the master bedroom. Entering, I flipped on the lights, tossed my jacket over the back of the couch and went to the bathroom to have a quick shower before throwing on a pair of jeans and a black button-down shirt.
After I finished getting ready, I grabbed my phone and wallet from the jacket I discarded on the sofa by the fireplace. Checking my cell, I saw a text from Damon saying he would be an extra twenty minutes. Which meant I had about ten minutes before I needed to head out. I decided to go to the office and check my email. I didn’t turn on the office light because I hadn’t intended to stay more than a minute or two.
“Lois, I told you I could handle this. I’ll just keep my mouth shut and everything’ll be fine. I seriously doubt they’ll still dope the horse now that someone knows their intentions.” Emmery was on the phone and she didn’t realize she wasn’t alone on this floor. I couldn’t see her but I didn’t hear anyone else speaking. She started talking again. “Lo-Lo, just drop it. It’ll be fine. This will all be over by the time I get back. Besides, it’s not like I can just quit my job. We are coming into the busiest show time of the year. I have three horses entering the Atlanta Winter Classics, which is only three weeks away.” She was again quiet. “Fine, I promise I will think about it… Yeah, I love you too, biznacho… Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She was silent for a spell, then I heard her padding down the hall before she started talking again. “Hey, Jeff. Sorry I didn’t call you earlier. I was just getting settled in and spending a little time with my aunt. Then we went to dinner with Brody—huh? Oh, he’s my aunt’s…boss or friend. Well, I guess he’s actually the son of my aunt’s best friend, but she died years ago. Anyway, what’s up? How is Puissant?”
While I rudely listened into her conversation I couldn’t help but wonder who the hell this Jeff guy was. She didn’t mention a boyfriend, but then again I hadn’t asked. I made a mental note to pry into her social life. It was prudent given my business affiliations and holdings, or so I justified.
As her conversation continued, I came to realize that Puissant was a horse and Jeff seemed to be a friend. After determining she was only friends with this guy, I decided I didn’t need to listen further. I closed the laptop and stood up from the desk.
As I was walking out of the office back toward the kitchen and garage door I heard her softly say. “Yeah, I miss you too, but don’t read anything into it. I miss Jetta, and he threw me off last week. I’ll see you once I’m back in Connecticut.
“SHIT,” she screamed as I came around the corner into the open living room. She dropped the phone onto the oak floor. “Fuckin’ A, man. Don’t you make any noise when you walk? What are you, a damn vampire?” She snatched the phone off the floor. Even from ten feet away I could hear the person on the other end of the phone yelling her name.
“My bad. I was just checking emails,” I said with a smirk. “You might want to answer that,” I saw my perfect opening. “Before your boyfriend calls out the National Guard.”
“Jesus.” She shook her head irately before putting the white cell back to her now pink cheek. “Sorry, Jeff. Brody just scared the shit out of me… No, I’m fine. I just didn’t realize he was down here, that’s all.”
“’Night.” I tipped my head, grinning. I grabbed the keys to the Hennessey Venom from the long, narrow console and exited the house via the garage door. After I closed the heavy, wooden door, I clicked the button to open the middle garage bay. All the while, I could hear her talking to her boyfriend, telling him she would call him back later. I knew in that moment she would be coming through that door any second.
Right on cue.
“You know it’s rude to eavesdrop, or didn’t your mother ever tell you that?” Her voice was laced with animosity but I couldn’t help but hear something else there. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“She did,” I confirmed as I continued walking to the middle bay. “She also told me it was rude to interrupt someone during a phone call unless it was important. My leaving wasn’t important nor was it time sensitive, therefore I chose to wait until you finished.” I turned my back to her and walked around the front of the sleek, gray sports car. “And for the record, I wasn’t listening to you. I was in my office checking emails.” Opening the door to the car, I climbed in, but before I shut the door I added, “’Night, sweetness. Don’t wait up.”
Chapter Six
~Emmery~
Seriously? What the hell was that man’s problem? First, he listened in on my phone calls then he called me freaking sweetness—clearly a dig—and told me not to wait up. WTF?
What the hell am I doing? Why do I care what he thinks of me? I’ve never cared what anyone thought of me.
No. He was not going to get me riled up. I knew that was what he wanted and I wasn’t giving it to him. To hell with him. No man was worth head games. I didn’t jump through hoops for any man. Even if he had a drool-worthy body, cobalt eyes and those dimples. There is just something about—NO. No dimples. He was arrogant and condescending.
Do not think about the dimples.
Or the abs.
WTF? Where did that even come from?
Grabbing my phone, I checked the time. It was almost quarter of ten. I wondered if Aunt Jane was done with her evening chores, as she called them. Deciding to walk over to her house, I slipped my feet into my boots and grabbed my jacket. I looked a hot mess. Boxer shorts, tank top, sports bra and sloppy bun thrown together with brown cowboy boots and a fleece jacket.
Slipping out the back door onto the veranda, I paused for a moment to bask in the moonlight. It was still surprisingly warm. The night was clear with millions of twinkling stars watching overhead. The glowing moon reflected its full shape along the lapping river, just down the hill from the house. It was truly magnificent out here.
Continuing my short hike down the hill, across the driveway, I stopped and knocked on my aunt’s front door. I wasn’t sure if I should knock and go in, or just wait. Manners won out, as they usually did, and I waited. It wasn’t long before Aunt Jane opened the door and smiled angelically.
“You don’t have to knock, sweetheart. Come in. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?” She offered as she walked back toward the kitchen.
“No, nothing hot.”
“Wine? I have a bottle of Riesling already open,” she told me as she opened the refrigerator.
“Wine would be good.” I walked toward her and mumbled under my breath, “Maybe then I can ask what the hell sweetness meant.”
“What was that dear? I didn’t hear you,” she asked with a raised brow.
“Oh, nothing. I was just saying how we both like sweet wines. Must be a family thing.” Trying to cover, I used the family card.
After pouring us each a glass of the white wine, Aunt Jane sat down on the soft beige couch and patted the cushion next to her. “Come. Sit. Let’s chat,” she said with a concerned look on her face.
“That sounds ominous.”
“No, it’s fine. I just want to caution you about Brody.” I started to interrupt but she raised an eyebrow at me, stopping me dead in my tracks. “I’m pretty perceptive when it come to that boy. I all but raised him. Then after his parents died, I took care of him for several months during his downward spiral. And then again a little over a year ago when Leila got pregnant and he walked out on her.”
“Emmery, you can’t sit there and honestly tell me you don’t see the way he looks at you?” She questioned me skeptically.
“Aunt Jane, it doesn’t matter how he looks at me. I’m here for a few more days, then I’m going back to New York.” I sighed loudly. “I’ll continue to travel with the barn for shows and he’ll probably forget my name. He’s the type of guy that you have fun with, but he’s not the type to settle down. I mean for cryin’ out loud,” I stood and started pacing her large open family room. “His ex was pregnant with his child and, apparently, he couldn’t even commit to her. He’s just flirting. And that’s fine by me. I’m not interested.” Stopping in my tracks, I realize how judgmental I sounded. “I’m certainly not in a position to comment. And I don’t want a relationship, or even a boyfriend.”
“Brody might come off like a rich playboy, but it is just an image he projects to ward people off. He’s not the same man that walked away from Leila.” She waved a hand in front of her face. “We are getting off subject. I just want you to know he’s not as well put together as his well-constructed armor would have you to believe,” she said softly.
“Okay, but again, I’m not going there. I am just here to visit you and find out more about you,” I said, returning to the sofa. I grabbed my wine. “How about we play a game? I’ll say two words, you pick one. Ready?”
“Sure,” she smiled.
“Beach or mountain?”
She smiled. “Easy, beach. Is it my turn? Do I get to ask too?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Italian or Spanish?” She sipped her wine.
“Food, Italian. Language, Spanish. Men, neither. My turn. TV or books?”
“Books. Mystery or Romance?” she asked.
“Mystery. Romance is too cheesy and sappy. Dresses or pants?” I specifically asked this one because I had only ever seen her in dresses or skirts. I wasn’t sure she even owned a pair of pants.
“Dresses, but only when the weather is nice,” she answered as she stood and walked back to the kitchen to get more wine.
We continued our little game until the second bottle of wine was kicked and she had the hiccups. When I grabbed my cell out of my back pocket, I couldn’t believe how late it was.
“Oh geez, it’s after midnight. I need to go to bed. Any chance Prince Charming would let me ride his horse?”
My aunt burst out laughing so hard she actually started to turn red. “Ride…his horse,” she slurred between her fit of giggles.
“What?” I was totally lost. Then shit got real.
My prim and proper aunt jumped off the couch, almost fell on top of the coffee table then thrust her hips. “Ride. His. Horse.”
“Oh my God, Aunt Jane.” My eyes widened in disbelief and I started cackling. “Stop it,” I said, swatting at her. “We need to get you into bed. You’re drunk.”
“Ha. I might be, but you’re the one that wants to ride his horsey,” she said, totally sloshed.
“Jeez Pete, that’s not what I meant, you crazy lady. I wanted to ride one of the horses in the barn,” I explained as I stood up. Once I was completely standing, the wine hit me like sledgehammer. “Holy shit. I’m drunk.”
Jane was already staggering her way down the hallway on the other side of the room. “You can couch on the sleep if ya wanna, honey. I’m goin’ to bed.” With that she disappeared into the door on the left side of the short hallway.
As I contemplated crashing on her couch, my phone beeped, signaling my battery life was just about to expire. “Well shit.”
Looking around the already spinning room, I walked over to the couch, plopped down and turned the table lamp off. Closing my eyes and passing out here would have been so easy, but there was no pillow or blanket and I was in no shape to go searching. Groaning, I picked myself up off the couch and carefully put one boot in front of the other and headed back up to the big house.
By the time I climbed the stairs up the back porch to the door into the kitchen, I was exhausted. All of the lights were off in the lower level of the house, which was odd because I remembered them being on when I left. As I pushed the door open, all of the lights came on, scaring the ever-living shit out of me. “What the fuck?”
My head whipped from one side to the other looking for the culprit and gave myself the worst case of room-spins ever. As the room tilted on its axis, I guessed the lights were on motion sensors.
“Ha-ha, there’s no one there, Em. It was magic,” I giggled to myself. Looking past the breakfast area I saw the living room sofa. It looked so big and plush. It was calling my name. Come sleep on me, Em. I’m so comfy. “You do have super-soft pillows.”
My decision was made. I found the light switch and turned the lights off, disabling the motion sensor. In my drunken stupor I hadn’t thought out the logistics of getting myself to that cozy couch in the dark. So I stood there for a minute and allowed my eyes to adjust.
While I waited, I decided to pull my boots off. Dropped them next to the barstool I was holding onto for support. Pulling my arms out of my jacket, I tossed it over the back of the barstool. Once I could make out shapes, I padded across the cold, hard floor to the living room where my feet were greeted by the velvety area rug in front of my bed for the night. “Ooh, there’s a blanket too.”
Falling into the cushions, I pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch and covered my bare legs. I fluffed the pillow a little before my head hit it and that was all she wrote.
Chapter Seven
~Brody~
The idea of having Drew drive me home was more appealing than driving home drunk. While there was a time that wouldn’t have bothered me, I now had a daughter to think about. I couldn’t be careless with my life, as it was not just mine anymore. She was my life. I refused to do anything to jeopardize watching her grow up.
When Damon texted me on the way and suggested I pick up Drew, I thought it was crazy. If Drew wanted to come out, he could just meet us. But Damon and Drew had already spoken and I was designated as his ride. Now, I was thankful that I picked up my best friend and daughter’s uncle. I was pleased to be in business with him. He had a great head on his shoulders and an intuitive mind for security and personal protection. He also had multiple contacts within the local police precincts.
The night had been like any other when the three of us had gone out for drinks. Damon and I drank way too much beer and Drew, ever dutiful, paced himself and was the DD. We offered to drop Damon off along the way, but he said he was calling a friend for a ride home. Knowing that guy, it was probably some friend other than the friend that caused him to show up twenty minutes late. Damon had several—well, we called them companions. Not as bad as our friend Sean, but Damon still got around.
As Drew turned the Venom onto the paved driveway, my mind turned to the raven-haired goddess currently asleep in my house. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her all night. She was an enigma. While at times she was predictable, others, she threw me a wicked curve ball. When I thought she would be sweet and cordial, she was sarcastic and aloof. I couldn’t help but want to make her want me.
She was a challenge that I wasn’t sure I wanted or was even ready for. I knew that beneath the good manners and restraint there was an explosive woman just waiting to be ignited.
“What’s got you so wrapped up tonight, man?” Drew asked as he parked the car in front of the garage.
“Nothing. Just a lot on my mind. Just leave ’er here for the night. I’ll put ’er away tomorrow. I just want to crash.”
“Sounds good. I’m pretty exhausted myself. The Alvarez case has been a fuckin’ pain in my ass. Literally. I’m ready to kill the bitch myself. No wonder her husband needs a bodyguard. I imagine everyone she speaks down to wants to gut her,” he said, pushing the button to kill the engine.
Smiling, I opened t
he door and climbed out. “Yeah, Kai said you sent Blake out with her last week and he called to ask how much we were getting paid for that job. He said no matter what it was, it wasn’t enough.”
“We may have to refer her out, man. No one wants to deal with her.”
“Make sure to bring that up on Monday,” I told him as we entered the front door. “You can take the room Lei always stays in. Jane’s niece is visiting and is in the second guest room. I’m gonna grab a water and some Advil before I head up.”
“Cool. Night, bro,” Drew said as he slapped my hand and gave me a half hug, half shoulder bump.
As I passed the garage door on the left, I dropped the key fob for the Hennessey on the console and continued toward the kitchen. When I get to the point where my lights should’ve turned on they didn’t. While I found it strange, I kept going. My mouth was dry and I needed a drink.
After I grabbed a bottle of water, I made my way across the living room to the couch. I hadn’t had a chance to catch the scores from the football game tonight. Just before I got to the couch, I kicked the edge of the coffee table.
“Son of bitch,” I cussed, hopping on one foot. Why the hell was this table so far out? Damn the motion sensors. Jane must have turned them off again. I grabbed around on the table and found the remote. Falling backward on to the sofa, I landed on something.
“Ahhhhhh,” a woman shrieked as she scrambled backward, pulling the blanket up around her chest as the television lit the room.
Emmery.
“Holy fuck,” I yelled, jumping up. She scared me as much as I apparently scared her. “What are you doing?”
“Uh, what the hell does it look like I’m doing? Yoga? I was sleepin’, you ass. What the hell are you doing? Why’d you sit on me?” She released her grasp on the chenille blanket, revealing a tiny shirt that showed half her stomach. She rubbed her hands over her face and repositioned herself on the sofa.
His Redemption Page 4
