To Protect His Own

by Talty, Jen

  “Hazzard of my hobby,” she said. “I’m always studying people and asking questions. Trying to figure them out. Sorry.”

  “Is that what you were doing earlier. Studying me?”

  “I was studying everyone.”

  “So you weren’t just looking at me.”

  She did her best to blush, letting her gaze drop to her lap. “No. Pretty much just you.”

  “Good to know. Want to go for a walk down to the water?” He pointed toward the long dock that extended off the restaurant into the lake.

  She tilted her head. “I’m not in the habit of going anywhere with strange men.”

  “Your profiling skills need work because I’m not strange,” he said with a grin, then turned and pointed to the other side of the deck. “The band is about to start and it gets pretty loud, even sitting out here. We can bring our drinks. I can even have the waitress bring us down another round.”

  She bit down on her thumb nail, looking between him and the docks. There was nothing to contemplate, but she didn’t want him to think she was so willing or easy, though she was willing to do whatever to took to save her brother, even if her brother didn’t deserve her loyalty.

  “I understand,” he said. “We can sit here and yell over the band.”

  “No, we can go walk down by the water.” She stood, tossing her purse over her shoulder, holding her drink in the other hand. “And since my hotel is just down the road and I walked, I just might have another.” She might need an entire bottle to make this happen.

  “After you.” He waved his hand out in front, then motioned to the waitress for another round.

  They walked quietly through the gate off the deck, down a windy pathway, before stepping onto the dock. A boat hummed in the distance as small waves gently crashed against the break wall. “It’s really beautiful here.” Once they reached the end of the pier, she kicked off her shoes and sat down, dangling her bare feet in the chilly water and took another gulp of wine. “It’s so different from any water I can see in New York City.”

  “Is that where you live?” He’d shed his shoes, and had just finished rolling up his jeans as he sat down next to her.

  She nodded. “I grew up in Brooklyn. Went to college at Columbia and still live right near campus.” Kicking her feet in the water, she glanced in his direction. The light from the moon hit his green eyes, making them look like gems. “Have you lived here you whole life?”

  “I’m actually from the Bronx. Lived there until about a year ago.”

  “Small world.”

  “Not in New York,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much I hated it there until I came here.”

  “Why’d you hate it?” She sipped her wine, enjoying the crisp cool dry flavor as it rolled across her lips a little too much, just like she enjoyed the company, though liking him, being attracted to him, might make this go easier.

  “Cliché, but I felt like a fish out of water in the city,” he said.

  “And you don’t feel that way here?”

  “You can breathe in this town and not have it taste like a combination of your neighbor’s three-day old Chinese take-out and the taxicabs exhaust.”

  “I don’t know where you were living, but I love the smell of hot dogs and fresh pretzels on a cool fall day near Central Park.”

  “Hey Josh,” a woman’s voice called as the dock vibrated. “I got your drinks.” The waitress approached, then squatted, setting the drinks on the dock.

  “Thanks, Viv.” He reached in to his pocket, pulling out his wallet. “What’s the damage?”

  “Fifteen.”

  He handed her a twenty. “Keep it. Thanks for bringing them down.”

  “I owed you one after what you did for me the other day.”

  He shook his head. “It was nothing.”

  “Always humble and modest, this one,” Viv said. “Tries to be the deep and brooding type, but really he’s just the nice boy next door. You’re in good hands with him,” Viv said. “I’ll check on you two in a bit.”

  “I think we’re good for the night,” Josh said.

  “Enjoy yourselves.” Viv winked, then turned and disappeared.

  “So, you’re a regular boy scout.” Delaney had picked up her fresh glass and sipped as eloquently and slowly as possible, the effects already making her a bit fuzzy, but helping her with her horrible flirting skills.

  “Just your average Joe Trooper.” He raised his bottle, tipping his head.

  From what she’d gathered about Josh Burdett, he was anything but average. “What did you do that earned such high praise and a wink from our waitress?”

  “Jealous?”

  She winked.

  He chuckled. “She had a flat tire on the Thruway. She doesn’t have road side assistance and couldn’t afford to pay someone to come out, so I did my job and changed her tire.”

  “Didn’t know tire changing was in the Trooper job description.”

  “Protect and serve. On my knees, getting my hands dirty, that was the serve part.”

  She burst out laughing, nearly spitting out the wine she’d managed to sip just as he spoke.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

  “Did your mind just go to the gutter?” He leaned in, his green eyes flickered.

  “I plead the fifth,” she said. “Tell me. Why did you leave the city to live here?”

  “I wanted a change of pace,” he said.

  “I bet you left behind a string of broken hearts.”

  He shook his head. “There was no one in the city for me. What about you? Why stay? Have a boyfriend back home?”

  “No,” she said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever leave. I’ve always been a city girl. I like the hustle and bustle of the streets. Here,” she paused, “I feel exposed.”

  “Because you’re not just one of millions wondering the city streets. A nameless face in a sea of people going about a busy life, never really slowing down to get to know themselves, much less anyone else.”

  She leaned back on her elbows, looking at the night sky. “I never thought of it that way, being nameless, but there are so many stories in those faces. Some you want to know. Some you don’t. I like to sit on a bench and just people watch. It inspires me somehow.”

  “Then why come here to write when you have all the inspiration you need in the city?”

  “Because I’ve never been out of the city.”

  “Never?” He sipped his beer before laying back on the dock. “No family to visit in other places?”

  “It’s just me and my brother now.” If she could manage to pull this off. If she didn’t, grey eyes said Liam would be dead in a few days.

  “That means you’ve never been on an airplane?”

  She laughed. “I can barely drive a car,” she said. “And almost turned around a dozen times on my here.”

  “Normally, city girls are supposed to be so worldly.”

  “I’ve thought about leaving the city, but it just never happened.”

  “I don’t know anyone from New York that either didn’t grow up somewhere else, or at least traveled off the Island.”

  “I took the ferry to New Jersey once. Nice view of the city. That’s when I decided if I wanted to be a writer. I need to see some of the world. See if it was how I imaged in my head.”

  “Well, you picked a beautiful place to start.” He tugged at her sleeve. “Lots of stars out tonight.” He patted the wooden dock with his hand. “It’s a great view from down here.”

  “Not sure I’ve ever had a man use that line on me before.” The instant heat she felt for him should be making this process easier, but all it did was confuse her and rattle her already frazzled nerves.

  “I didn’t intend it to be a line.” He rested one hand behind his head. “You won’t ever see a night sky like this in the city. It’s the kind of vision one writes about in books.”

  She laughed as she eased her way to her elbows, pressing
her back against the hard wood, and drawing her feet up from the water. “Now that was a line.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Wow. I’ve never seen so many stars,” she said. “It’s like a jar filled with fireflies that never goes out.”

  “What do you know about fireflies, city girl?” He’d rolled to his side, propping up on his elbow, sipping his beer. His eyes still illuminated from the glow of the moon. His plump full lips circling the neck of the glass bottle. She didn’t know what was more picturesque. Him or the night sky.

  “I’ve read about them in books.”

  They both laughed.

  “How long have you been in town?”

  “Got in yesterday.”

  “I can show you around, if you’d like.”

  Closing her eyes, she breathed slowly, taking in the fresh scent of warm spring water mixed with a faint musk smell of what she suspected was aftershave, but one she’d never smelled before. She wanted to turn her head, lace her fingers behind his neck, and kiss him, which was a crazy thought because she’d never acted impulsively in her life. Her older brother used to tell her all the time to lighten up and live a little.

  But look where that got him.

  “I’d like that.” She jerked her arm, feeling a slight tickle of something across her skin.

  “Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, his voice deep and throaty, sending messages to her body that she didn’t know what to do with. No man ever made her this nervous before. Perhaps it was because her only reason for being with him, was to destroy him. His finger tilted her chin and when she opened her eyes, her breath hitched. “You’re very beautiful.”

  “I bet you say that to all the women you bring down here.”

  “You’re the first.” His palm grazed her cheek. “I’ve got tomorrow off. Can I take you to lunch?”

  She nodded, holding her breath. If he leaned just a little closer, she’d be grabbing him, and pulling his hard, lean body on top of hers and tangling their tongues in a hot dance. He stared at her for a long moment. His thumb fanned across her cheek.

  He licked his lips. “I want to kiss you.”

  “I’m thinking all the fresh air may have gone to my head because I’m thinking I want you to kiss me.” She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Both her hands resting on her stomach that flipped and flopped as if she were about to be kissed for the first time.

  When he leaned in, she closed her eyes, waiting for his moist lips to brush against hers…but they didn’t. Instead he kissed her cheek. “We’ve both had too much wine and beer,” he whispered. “Let me walk you home.”

  “You are the boy next door.”

  He smiled, helping her to her feet, intertwining their fingers.

  “You don’t have to walk with me,” she whispered.

  “I want to. Besides, when we get there I can kiss your other cheek.”

  “I wouldn’t be opposed to you kissing my lips either.”

  “Good to know.”

  They walked in silence until they reached the parking lot of her hotel. “I’m in the main building.”

  “You didn’t get a cabin?”

  “Couldn’t afford it, even if there had been one available,” she admitted. “But the rooms here are fabulous. And the owners are incredibly friendly.”

  “Reese and Patty.” He guided her up the stairs to the porch as she pulled out her keys to open the main door.

  “I thought I recognized one of the owners at your table. Was that Reese?”

  “That was him. He and his wife are good friends of mine.”

  She held up the key she’d finally found in the bottom of her purse. “Thanks for walking me back.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll pick you up here at eleven for lunch?”

  “Sure.”

  “Pack a change of clothes and a bathing suit.”

  “For lunch?”

  He didn’t answer, instead he cupped her face, lowering his mouth to hers, but once again, his lips landed on her cheek. “See you tomorrow.”

  Leaning against the door, she watched him as he took the steps down the porch and headed back the way they had come.

  “You’re not driving, are you?” she yelled.

  “Nope. I rent the apartment over the Boardwalk.”

  “Walk home safe then.”

  He turned. “You never told me your last name.”

  “Mervis. Delaney Mervis.”

  “That’s a nice Irish Jewish name.”

  She laughed. “Good night.” Quickly, she unlocked the door and once inside, she tapped her phone, looking at the texts. All from the many with the grey eyes.

  The clock is ticking. Report in.

  I’m waiting. If I don’t hear from you tonight, your brother will pay.

  Shaking her head to try to clear the cobwebs, her hands fumbled with the phone.

  Found Burdett and made contact. Meeting again tomorrow.

  She stared at the phone. The little caption bubble danced while grey eyes typed his response.

  Why didn’t you seduce him? The sooner I get that tape, the sooner this is over for you.

  She wanted to ask him how on earth a sex tape was going to ruin Josh. As a woman, it would affect her more, but she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to know any more about grey’s eyes plans. All she wanted was to make sure her brother wasn’t murdered.

  * * *

  Josh had never stopped looking over his shoulder, knowing that Alexander Craypo would deliver on his threats, even if he recanted them, stating he was a changed man during a press conference the day of his release from jail.

  Men like Craypo didn’t change. Not when everything they held dear blew up right in front of their eyes.

  The secure fire proof lock box in the closet of Josh’s apartment hadn’t been opened in over six months, something he’d been quite happy about. Pulling it out only felt like he was taking a step back into the past. Even simply looking at it brought the crushing chest pain the five bullets that ripped through his body created. He steadied his hand as he lifted the key and inserted the metal object into the matching hole. Rubbing his fingers across his chest, fingering each scar through his thin T-Shirt, he turned the key, clicking open the box.

  Pictures, articles and…his metal taunted him.

  He traced his fingers across the emerald upside down five pointed star, given by the President of the United States for extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty.

  Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor

  Shaking the President’s hand been a humbling experience, but Josh didn’t deserve the honor. He’d failed his uncover assignment and while he may have saved lives, two innocent children are dead and he was partly responsible.

  The worst part had been that Craypo only got a slap on the hand and a very short sentence. All of Josh’s hard work. The months of gathering evidence of Craypo’s arms operation was for nothing the moment Josh blew his cover to save a building full of innocent people.

  A picture of Nicki Craypo and her boys, Tyler and Ray, lay under the metal. His fingers traced the faces of both boys, four and two, water welling in Josh’s eyes. Nicki had put five bullets in his chest. She’d made two mistakes that day. The first one had been shooting him before he’d had the chance to tell her there was a bomb strategically placed in his car that she used as her getaway vehicle that subsequently killed her and her two small boys.

  The second had been missing his heart or any other important internal organ that would have killed him that day, giving him enough time to call 9-1-1…but not in time to save her boys.

  What Nicki had done right had been taking most of the evidence he’d gathered on her husband. The evidence she’d helped him collect and had promised to help bring her husband down and she and her boys would ride off into the sunset…with Josh. Instead, she turned on him and even that backfired.

  He picked up the article regarding Craypo’s arrest for colluding and subsequent plea deal that landed him in
jail for almost a year, which had ended a month ago. Josh was surprised it took Craypo this long to find him…if what he suspected about his new hot female friend was true. Sure, many people from downstate came here for vacation, but not one of them ever hit on him while reading a book in a bar.

  His old superior officer had informed him of Craypo’s release and subsequent reports on his whereabouts. Offers of new transfers, even out of state, continued to come in from his past boss. While he appreciated the sediment, he liked his current post and he wasn’t about to run scared just because a scumbag like Craypo had been released. Josh was ready.

  The doorbell rang. He quickly put the contents away and shoved the box back in the closet, before making his way to the front door.

  “Thanks for coming.” He pushed back the door to his apartment above the Boardwalk, letting the music filter in momentarily until the door closed.

  “The sedan you asked me to check on is parked at the Heritage Inn.” Luke Cameron made himself at home by taking the three steps from the small foyer into the kitchen and pulling out a beer from the fridge before settling down on the stool. “I’m always amazed by how quiet it is up here when it so damn loud down there.” Luke was the closest thing Josh had to a best friend, even though he was a good ten years older. But they were both single, unlike the majority of the Troopers he worked with at the station, who were married with babies. Lots of babies.

  “Sound proofing,” Josh said. “Otherwise no way in hell could I live here.” He chugged his water, still feeling the effects of drinking more alcohol than he should have less than an hour ago. “I need to hire you to look into someone.”

  “You have the resources to do that. You don’t need me.”

  “It would be better if you did it.”

  “All right,” Luke said. “Who?”

  “Delaney Mervis.” Josh recalled the two times he’d seen Delaney before spotting her at the Boardwalk. The first time had been at the bank. She’d been sitting in her car and the only reason he noticed her was because she was gorgeous and not in a typical way. She wasn’t the kind of pretty that men gawked at. Her beauty was subtle with her long blonde hair and big eyes with thick natural lashes that when she blinked, the anticipation for the blueness of her eyes to grace your vision was so intense and erotic it could bring a man to his knees. It had surprised him that she’d pulled out into traffic three cars behind him, but that didn’t seem suspicious at the time until he saw her four hours later from his bedroom window while she sat across the street on a bench…reading. As soon as he entered the Boardwalk, she was five paces behind him, asking to sit outside and even asking the hostess if she could sit at a different table then they had originally shown her, putting directly in his line of vision. Even then, he didn’t think too much of it until she mentioned where she lived.