Bought His Life

by Aleka Nakis Tia Fanning

  * * * *

  “Let them think it’s drug related,” Jack said. “It’ll make our mission easier.”

  “I guess,” Lawson agreed, walking beside Jack, the fedora perched on his head. “How was your beer?”

  “Not my typical party. Thanks for the intelligence on the crowd.” Jack glanced at a grinning Lawson, admitting that it had been a good setup for a laugh. “But the men were nice enough and a wealth of information on the locals.”

  “Captain, you made any decisions yet?”

  “I’m still assessing the situation. I don’t believe there’s any way for us to get back. The real question is whether we want to go back.”

  “Honestly, no. I’m good here. I have nobody in the past waiting for me. I was set to retire after this mission. At least here, I have that feisty woman who keeps giving me the finger to figure out.”

  Jack laughed as they walked. “I understand. But what about our interference influencing future events? Is our presence here proper? I have no one there, either. I only had an aunt who never married. She was in her sixties then, so she’s probably gone now.”

  “Would you like me to verify it for you?”

  “No. Sixty plus seventy just doesn’t compute right. Go play with that little firecracker of yours,” Jack teased.

  “With all due respect, I think we both have firecrackers, and I think yours is walking this way.”

  Jack had already seen Emily and had hastened his stride. “She is beautiful. I couldn’t ask for a better boss lady.” Raising his hand, he waved to the redhead. “Morning, Emily.”

  Em waved back as she approached. “Good morning, Jack.” Smiling, she glanced at the man with him. “I didn’t realize you knew anyone in the Keys.”

  “Lawson, this is my boss, Emily. Emily, this is a longtime friend and my current…roommate…Lawson.”

  “You were in yesterday with Kimber.”

  “Yes, ma’am. You serve a good cup of coffee.”

  “Thank you.” She wrinkled her nose, trying to remember who had accompanied him.

  “Well, pleased to meet you, Emily.” Lawson nodded courteously. “I need to get going. Have a good day.”

  “Bye, Lawson,” Jack and Emily said simultaneously.

  Lawson walked off, and Emily unlocked the door. “You’re early. Do you live nearby?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re bunking at the Flaming Flamingo.”

  A cold dread spread down her back. Jen always said she had no grip on the real world today. Jack at the Flaming Flamingo explained so much. No wonder he was a striking man.

  Hiding her disappointment behind a smile, she nodded and exhaled slowly. Darn, all the good ones were either married or gay.

  He held the door for her then followed her into the dark café.

  “Jack, where are you from?”

  “I was born in New York. Brooklyn to be exact. But my dad was a country boy at heart. He bought a farm, and we moved to Long Island before I started grammar school. Amongst other things, we grew potatoes. I spent the summers working in the kitchen of my mother’s restaurant. I can make any kind of potato dish your heart desires.”

  “Home fries that aren’t greasy, but will hook my customers?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Yum, maybe you’ll make a batch for me today.”

  “Your wish is my command,” Jack said and bowed at the waist.

  She laughed at the irony of the situation. A man who sparked a flame long dwindling to nothing, a man who could cook one of her favorite staples nonetheless and a man who lived with another man.

  “Shit! Just my luck!”

  “Excuse me?” Jack called, swinging around the counter and retrieving two aprons.

  Watching him reach behind his waist to tie his, she admired his T-shirt stretching across his muscled chest. “Nothing much. I was just thinking about something else. Do your parents still live on Long Island?”

  “No, they passed away before I went into the service.”

  “Oh, I see.” Emily could empathize. She had been right. He was ex-military, and like him, she, too, had lost her parents, quickly, one after the other while in high school.

  “My parents passed years ago. I lost my dad to cancer, and my mom to a bad heart. Rather, a broken heart. She missed Dad so much. I considered joining the military after school, but life threw me some curve balls.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, caressing her with his gaze.

  “Don’t be. It worked out well. I have the best thing a woman could want because of those pitches.” Emily couldn’t look at him. It hurt too much to see the caring in his gaze. Turning away, she put on a pot of coffee, searching for something else to do.

  Jack whistled as if he had no care in the world, approaching her slowly. As if he’d done it thousands of times, he reached around her to stretch an apron across her middle, then tied it snug behind her back. She didn’t move.

  “Any brothers or sisters?”

  “An older brother,” she replied, and turned to look at him. Somehow, she managed to hold back the tears that filled her eyes and heart. “He was a DEA agent. Killed in a Miami drug raid years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.” He gathered her into his arms and guided her head to his shoulder. “Sweet Emily, my sweet, beautiful Emily. I’m so sorry,” he whispered, stroking her hair.

  Her chest rattled as she settled against him. She liked being there, in his arms, against his body. Jack sank against the crook of her neck and his breath heated her skin. If only he didn’t play for the other team, he’d be perfect.

  Emily sniffled and pulled out of the embrace. He cupped her face and kissed her gently on each of her tear-streaked cheeks.

  Wiping at the moisture pooled beneath her eyes, she smiled. “It’s weird how I cried for the first time in years with a man I just met.”

  “I’m glad to be here for you.”

  “Yeah,” she said, her chest rising and falling in a sporadic rhythm. “It’s something about your kind that makes us women comfortable. Thanks for listening.” She turned and reached for the coffeepot.

  Placing mugs on the counter, he stood straight and met her gaze. “What happened to your husband?”

  She stopped pouring the aromatic brew and laughed. But it wasn’t a sound of joy, more of disappointed sarcasm. “I’ve never been married. Jen’s dad was my high school sweetheart and my first lover. Unfortunately, he never recognized her as his child.”

  Jack shook his head. “He got you pregnant and didn’t go through with the wedding?”

  “He wanted me to get rid of the baby and act as if it never happened. Jerk.”

  Blood rushed to his head, and his temples pulsed with a vengeance. “Asshole is more like it. You’re better off without him.”

  “I know.” She brought the mug to her lips and took a sip. “My grandparents were very supportive and helped with Jen while I finished school. Then we moved here to be closer to my brother and give Jen a small town environment. The Keys weren’t as populated back then. Marathon has changed a lot in the past few years.”

  “I’m sure.” He nodded, wondering if she realized what a wilderness the place had been fifty years before she’d come there.

  “I met Betty, and she got me a job as a waitress. She rather adopted us. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her help.”

  “Betty seems great.”

  “She is, and I love her so much.” Emily’s face softened as she spoke about the other woman. Their loving relationship was evident. “I’m willing to bet she’ll come in before lunch to help us out. She never leaves me stranded.”

  I won’t either.

  “You’re lucky to have her,” was all he said, looking around the restaurant.

  Shifting her weight, Emily wrapped her delicate fingers around the mug. “Well, it’s you and me until Ricky comes in at ten. It should be just a few toasted bagels and coffee. You think you could handle the kitchen?”

  “Yes, I can handle the kitchen. When I
entered the service, I spent a year cooking for hundreds of men.”

  A smile crossed her face, and her eyes twinkled. “My brother was in the Army.”

  “I’m Navy. I would’ve liked to have met your brother.”

  “Yeah, despite your different lifestyles, I think you would have gotten along.”

  This was the second or third reference she’d made to men like him. What was so peculiar about him and his kind? Did it show that he was so unfamiliar with modern amenities others took for granted?

  He’d find a way to blend. He’d make her realize he was her kind.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kimber reached for Lawson, but he wasn’t there. Instead of finding a hot man beside her, she found a note. Squinting, she read the scribble.

  Stay here.

  I’ll be back shortly.

  Lawson

  She smiled. Perhaps he thought she had all day to lollygag in bed, but she had work to do.

  Rising from the comfort of the warm bed, she started collecting the clothes scattered across the room. Where the hell was her bra? And where the hell had he put her gun?

  She saw her carryall on the dresser. “You’re a sweetheart, Lawson,” she muttered happily, and dropped the clothes in a pile on an armchair. She flipped open the manila file and pulled her cell phone from the tote.

  Turning on the TV, she watched the news as she reviewed her investigation notes. She still had to go to the Marathon Sheriff’s station and get the college kids’ report, and she needed to search the beach where the suspects had reportedly swam to shore. Perhaps she would find a clue that would get her closer to solving this case.

  Going into the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Later, she’d stop at Em’s for a shower and change. Perhaps she’d get her suitcase and bring it here. She wondered if Lawson would like it if she spent the rest of her work-slash-vacation with him at the Flamingo. Then again, she didn’t want to seem too clingy.

  “In local news, law enforcement officials are searching for information pertaining to a violent shootout that occurred early yesterday evening outside the infamous Bearded Cockle bar.”

  Shit. Jackson was going to kill her.

  She rushed into the room for the details. Thankfully, the police didn’t have much to go on. No bodies, no blood, not even a license plate or any paperwork identifying the owner of the Hummer. Relief rushed over her. Lawson hadn’t killed anyone. She laughed when the reporter stated that the patrons at the bar didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

  Once dressed, she tore the room apart looking for her gun. No luck. She checked her carryall, but there was no weapon, and no car keys, either. Lawson must have taken them when he left. Why, she didn’t know.

  Did he think she’d fuck him, shoot him and leave?

  Her holster felt empty without her weapon. “Damn it, Lawson. You don’t take a woman’s gun,” she said to the ceiling.

  A tinge of panic spiked her adrenaline. Lawson knew how to handle a gun very well—too well. She wished she’d taken the time to ask him what he did for a living.

  Kimber shook her head. Lawson seemed more like the law-enforcement type than the criminal type. She’d slept with hardened criminals while undercover, and they weren’t the sort to make tender love; they wouldn’t have ever taken the time to touch and caress her body and see to her pleasure first the way Lawson had last night. And they definitely wouldn’t have drawn her into their arms and lulled her to sleep. Last night was the first time she’d slept the night through, and the first time she’d slept without nightmares.

  She smiled. Perhaps when she saw Lawson again, she’d put her handcuffs on him good and tight and teach him a lesson about taking things that didn’t belong to him. And, of course, she’d have to perform a strip search and investigate every angle of his body just to be sure he wasn’t hiding any illegal substances. Maybe he’d try to bribe her. And maybe she’d let him go, but only if the price was right. Her panties dampened at the picture in her mind.

  Work first, play later, she scolded herself for indulging in thoughts of the sexy man.

  Grabbing her carryall, she headed for the back of the hotel, running the logistics through her brain. She could get her spare firearm from Em’s, but her Mustang had still better be there. She’d kick his ass if he’d taken her car.

  Thankfully, her vehicle was still tucked in the tiny alcove behind the motel. She felt around the passenger side-wheel well, exhaling a sigh of relief when she found the small magnetic box that held her spare key.

  She headed to Em’s for some much-needed coffee to get her rolling.

  * * * *

  Kimber strolled into Emy’s Place and poured herself a cup of coffee. Jack watched her stir in three packets of sugar while she waited for Emily to join her.

  “Did Jen finish the history paper that was due today?” Kimber asked, raising the paper cup to her mouth.

  “Not only did she finish, she had it printed out and in one of those plastic report binders when Pops dropped her off. She’s psyched,” Emily said, clasping her hands and drawing them to her chest. “The only problem is that she wants me to take her to some museum in Broward for more research.”

  “Jen wants to go to a museum?”

  “Yup. The Naval Air Station in Fort Lauderdale.” Emily refreshed her coffee and leaned on the counter across from Kimber. “She wants to research a flight that went missing over the Bermuda Triangle. She even ordered a show on television and talked about some controversial disappearance before the bus arrived this morning.”

  “Inquiring minds want to know,” Kimber said, a proud expression on her pretty face.

  “I’d much rather she inquire about something else. I don’t want to encourage her interest in the military or anything law enforcement.”

  “Oh, come on, Em. Nothing wrong with it. It’s honorable.”

  “It got Scott killed.” Emily’s shoulders squared, but she immediately dropped them and reached for Kimber’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. And I know you miss him terribly, but I can’t help it. He was taken from us too soon. He should be here.”

  “I know he should.” Kimber brushed a fingertip over the corner of her eye. “But that doesn’t mean I would change a single minute of his life. I was so lucky to have him as long as I did. I know that now.”

  “True,” Emily agreed. “When I was a kid, I was in awe of how the two of you were joined at the hip and always so happy. When you got married, I wanted the same kind of relationship. I just never found someone to understand me like that. You know, someone who knows what I want even before I do.”

  “Yeah, Scott had a way of knowing. He was special.”

  Even though he wanted to know more about Emily’s past, Jack felt that he’d intruded on the women’s private conversation. He walked away from the window and stepped to the three-compartment sink to wash the breakfast skillets.

  Just as Emily had predicted, Betty walked in chipper and ready for work at eleven. Jack had handled the morning customers and prepped all the sides on the specials board for Ricky.

  Things were going unbelievably well. Too bad she thought of him as prim and proper, because that wasn’t what he had in mind when it came to Emily. Not that he’d take advantage of her, but he got the feeling they had more than mere physical compatibility in common. Or at least they would have if she stopped thinking of him with a halo atop his head. Still, he understood her thoughts before she voiced them, and for a reason he couldn’t understand, he just wanted to take care of the woman. He wanted her to lean on him.

  Emily smiled from the counter, and he could tell she was thinking ‘too bad, this isn’t going anywhere’. He’d seen that expression on women’s faces before, but this was the first time he cared.

  Hey, beautiful, he thought. I know what you want before you know yourself. Jack walked over to her, placing a bus pan under the counter.

  “I think we handled breakfast well,” she said. �
��We make a good team.”

  “I agree.” He leaned down in front of her and looked into those dazzling eyes. “Can I take you to dinner after we close tonight?”

  Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Law…Lawson,” she stammered. “What would Lawson say?”

  Jack shrugged. “He has his own things to do today. I think he may be in Key West.”

  “No way am I sharing a man with a man. Nope. I may have a progressive mind, but it doesn’t reach that far.”

  Jack didn’t understand what she meant. “Honey, Lawson has nothing to do with this. Just you and me, alone, with a good plate of dinner that someone else will prepare. I just want to spend some time together and get to know you.”

  “Sorry. I have a policy of not dating employees,” she said, twisting her hands in her lap. “It makes things messy.”

  “I’ll have to find a way to change your policy, ma’am.” He grinned and ran his finger down her nose before returning to the kitchen.

  Looking through the pass-thru window, he heard Emily speaking to Betty. “Damn. Why does he have to be gay? Oops, bi?”

  Betty leaned over her shoulder and lowered her voice. “You can’t think that?”

  “No, I know that.”

  “That’s too bad, sweetie.” Wrapping her arm across Emily’s shoulders, the older woman tsked her disappointment. “He’s the first man to put that sparkle in your eyes in years.”

  And I plan to keep it there. Jack made a note to let her know in no uncertain terms about his interest in women. More specifically, his interest in her.

  * * * *

  After her conversation with Em, Kimber felt the need to find Lawson, if only to talk to him about last night. Truth be told, this was the first time she—Kimberleigh the grieving widow—had slept with a man she actually wanted to sleep with simply for the pleasure of it. Kimber the Agent had used her body to put a bad guy in jail with no problem, because after Scott had died, sex didn’t mean anything to her. It was a tool—something to further her goals. But now, she felt…different.

  Though she didn’t know Lawson well, the night meant something to her. She didn’t know what it meant, or why she felt that way.