“I gotta get going. Cynthia had a long day and she has a four o’clock call in the morning.”
“You’re leaving May here by herself?”
Chris rose to his feet. “She has a whole staff here. I do it all the time.”
Evan frowned. “Maybe I’ll hang around and make sure she doesn’t have any problems.”
“Just don’t piss her off. She’ll come to me about it and bruddah, you’re my best friend, but I’m not protecting you from May.”
Evan sneered. “You’re afraid of a woman?”
“This just isn’t a woman. This is Maylea, head of the Aiona family. She can kick your ass with just a few sentences.” He opened the door and Evan followed him down the hall, the scents and sounds of Dupree’s now more prevalent.
“If people at Rough ’n Ready could see you now.” Evan snickered. “Done in by a woman.”
“Please. I have always had respect for strong women, starting with my mother.”
They stepped into the restaurant and Chris smiled. Evan followed his line of vision and saw Cynthia standing at the hostess stand talking to May. A sharp twist of envy clawed at Evan’s heart. He would never begrudge his best friend the happiness he’d found with his magnolia, but there were times like today when he would give just about anything to have a woman like her. Their new relationship had set off a wave of yearning that Evan was just not ready to deal with. He knew it was impossible, but it didn’t keep him from wanting it.
He shifted his attention to May, who was now talking to an older man. Dressed in a brand new tropical shirt along with the guidebook he carried, he screamed tourist. She pulled out two menus as she smiled at the man. She turned and said something over her shoulder. He couldn’t hear the words, but the sense of her voice, the soft lyrical incantation, was one he knew well. As he watched them walk to the table, he ground his teeth together as he watched the man—who was old enough to be her father—slip his gaze down her body. Dirty old bastard.
“Did you say something?” Chris asked.
Evan glanced at him and found his friend staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“No.” Evan inwardly winced at his curt tone, but he kept his features smooth.
Chris studied him for a second then said, “Hmm.”
Cynthia walked up to them. “You ready?”
“Sure, honey.” Evan smiled.
Chris shoved him aside and took Cynthia into his arms to give her a hard, smacking kiss. “Yeah, everything’s done. Evan’s going to play guard dog for me tonight.”
She glanced over at him, her blue gaze studying him. “On a Friday night?”
“Why does everyone keep bringing that up? So it’s Friday night.”
She laughed. “No problem. Just Evan Chambers is usually busy on Friday nights.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s been a long week.”
Her eyes danced but she said nothing else.
“If you have any problems call my cell.” Chris said. “I doubt that jackass will show up tonight since he called in sick, but just in case.”
Evan nodded, but his attention was already back to May, who had the damned audacity to still be talking to the tourist. Just what the hell was she doing? She smiled at the man and laughed at something he said.
“Something wrong?”
Evan whipped his head around to see one of the busboys staring at him with trepidation. The young man glanced down and it was then Evan realized he had fisted his hands. He forced himself to relax.
“No, nothing wrong.”
He decided he needed a drink and intercepted May on his way to the bar. “Don’t you think he is a little old for you?”
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“Grandpa.” He motioned with his head over to the man she had just seated. “Don’t you think he is a little old for you?”
She laughed. “I was just doing my job.”
“Since when did Dupree’s double as a brothel?”
For a moment, a look of confusion moved over her face before embarrassment and then anger took over. Her Caribbean blue eyes sparked with fury. “What the hell are you talking about? I was talking to him, which is part of my job.”
The last was said as if she were talking to an idiot. Which, he wasn’t too sure he wasn’t.
“Is that the way you talked to Jason?”
The color that had flushed her face in anger now drained. “What?”
He regretted his comment immediately. “I’m sorry, but Simon had a talk with Chris.”
She stomped her foot. “Boss and I are going to have a discussion tomorrow. Why did he tell you and not talk to me about it?”
“He had other things on his mind…wanted to avoid talking about them. And I guess the better question is why you didn’t tell him about it?”
“As you said, he has had a lot on his mind. Lots of calls from the family, so I didn’t want to bother him. And to answer your rude question, no, I did not speak to Jason like that.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
She nodded and turned to leave him, but he caught her hand. He felt the slight tremor in her fingers when he touched her.
“I told Chris I would stay tonight.”
She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Jason won’t give me any problems. He called in sick, so he will avoid the restaurant at least for tonight.”
“Doesn’t matter, I’m staying.”
She frowned. “Don’t you have something better to do?”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Because at the moment he couldn’t think of anywhere else he wanted to be. Her skin was soft beneath his fingers. He used every ounce of his control not to pull her hand to his mouth and taste her flesh. His entire body heated and his mind blanked for a second more before he gained his composure.
“I told Chris I’d babysit you, and I’ll do that until closing.”
With a huff, she pulled her fingers out of his hand and muttered, “Babysitting.”
He smiled as he headed to the bar and decided that at least he could do this one thing with a cool drink in his hand.
May sighed as she locked up the front of Dupree’s. She couldn’t believe how the time had gotten away from her. If her father hadn’t called to check on her she wouldn’t have realized that it was well past two in the morning.
As cool night air whipped through her hair, May started to regret telling Janice to take the deposit to the bank. It had been a good idea at the time, but May was having second thoughts. She wasn’t normally this late, but Chris had enough on his plate and the schedule for the next two weeks needed to be done. As she glanced around the deserted parking lot, she promised herself not to do this again. She knew she was pretty safe, but she couldn’t stop feeling as if someone was watching her.
Her beautiful little red convertible sat in a pool of light. She’d eaten yogurt for lunch for two months and had not allowed herself to buy any new shoes for longer to save up for the down payment. It had been worth it. She didn’t splurge often, so it had been a huge thing for her. It was a sign of all her hard work, of how far she had made it. She was no longer the little girl waiting tables, but Chris’s trusted manager. She had earned every penny to buy it and she was damned proud of it.
She rounded the hood of the car and gasped. Her heart was in her throat, her whole body freezing with fear. The door had been damaged, the mirror barely hanging on, and someone had taken a knife to the ruby red paint. Scratched into the paint, the word “bitch” was easy to see. She glanced around her, worried the person who’d done it was still there and still carrying the knife. May knew she had to get back into the restaurant and call the police.
She turned on her heel, her mind still whirling. Terror coursed through her blood and her heart galloped out of control. Visions of a knife-wielding maniac filled her head as she took a step and ran into a very hard male figure.
Chapter Two
Evan tightened his hold on May’s forearms to keep her
from running away. She thrashed about violently. The alarm he saw in her eyes and heard in her scream left him cold…almost frozen.
He shook her, trying to get her attention, to bring her back to reality. “May, it’s Evan.”
The pure terror he saw in her gaze pierced his heart. Holy hell, he didn’t mean to scare her. He’d just thought he would make sure she didn’t need him to follow her to the bank, which he knew was their custom at Dupree’s. But she’d seemed not to hear him walk up to her.
Her breath was coming out in small little gasps, but he saw the moment she realized it was him…knew he wouldn’t hurt her.
“I’m sorry,” Evan said.
He realized she was shaking, as if it were thirty degrees out and not a balmy seventy-five. He took her hand and pulled her against him. “I’m sorry.”
She shuddered. Every one of her luscious curves pressed against him. Without any hesitation, his cock twitched at the feel of her breasts touching his chest. It made him feel like scum, but he was only human. Needing some distance, he regretfully pulled her back from him and looked at her. Her face was still too pale, her eyes dilated in shock. She looked back over her shoulder at her car and he followed her line of vision. He saw the vicious word scrawled across the red paint and growled.
He shoved her behind him and scanned the area for the assailant. When he realized they were truly alone, he turned to face May again.
“What the hell is that?”
She shivered again. “Not sure. And I wouldn’t have freaked out if you hadn’t crept up on me.”
He shook his head at her diversionary tactic.
He wrapped a hand around each of her arms and gave her a little shake. “Tell me.”
Whatever he did must have snapped her out of her stupor and she frowned at him. “First, I think we need to go in Dupree’s and call the police.”
He wanted to argue, wanted to make sure that she told him just what was going on, but he knew she was right He walked beside her to the entrance and waited for her to unlock the door. The parking lot was deserted. Not even the sound of a mongoose or feral cat rummaging for food disturbed the night air. May locked the door behind her and headed for the office. Evan followed her back, but did not go in. Instead, he stayed within earshot by sitting in the booth closest to the office. He wanted to keep an eye on the door.
By the time she called the police to report it, called Chris and her father, he’d been waiting a good fifteen minutes. When she sat down opposite of him, he frowned. Dark circles smudged the delicate skin beneath her eyes. “You need more rest.”
She started at the harshness of his voice, and how could he blame her? He sounded like a father, not a friend. Besides, it had nothing to do with the situation.
“I can take care of myself. I was up late last night with my brother, Danny. He’s having some trouble in his entry-level algebra.”
“I didn’t know he started college already.”
She nodded. “He’s built for it, unlike Kai and me. He loves it.” She made a face indicating her dislike of school.
“Now you want to tell me what is going on?”
She shook her head. “I would tell you if I knew.”
“May.”
“I’m telling you the truth. I have no idea. I know not everyone likes me, and I’ve made a few enemies when I’ve had to fire people, but most people I fire because they are lazy. If they are too lazy to come to work, I doubt the ones I’ve fired would have the energy to do this.”
He mulled that over and silently agreed she might be right. “There has to be someone.”
One perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose. “Are you saying only someone who knows me would scratch bitch into the car door.”
“Well, why would someone who didn’t know you do it? It is pretty personal.”
She pursed her lips like he’d seen her do a thousand times before. It was a clear indication she was pissed. Too late he realized what he’d said.
“I don’t mean that you are a bitch, just that—”
“If I had met someone they would think I was a bitch?”
“No.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “That isn’t what I meant at all.”
She laughed, the lyrical sound bringing his head up.
“I was just fucking with you. I know my reputation, but I doubt it had something to do with this.”
He nodded. “Do you think Jason could have done this?”
“No.”
“You just don’t want to admit it might be someone you know.”
“First, I thought of Jason right off the bat.” The surprise he felt must have shown on his face because she nodded. “Yeah, imagine that, I thought about it. When I called Chris he mentioned it. But jackass Jason actually thinks he has a chance with me. He definitely wouldn’t do this. Secondly, how would you feel if someone hated you so much they’d do that to your car?”
Evan couldn’t answer because he had known people like that. Hell, he had been one of those people. Before he pulled himself out of the gutter, he would have slit someone’s throat the moment they looked at him the wrong way. “No. I can understand that. But you will have to think about it.”
She nodded. “I’m sure the police will make me evaluate everyone I fired in the last few years, but I doubt it will make much difference.”
He opened his mouth to tell her he would stick around to help. Dealing with the police wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, even when you were the victim. But the next moment, Chris came charging into the restaurant with Cynthia hard on his heels.
“May, are you all right?”
She stood up as her boss and his fiancé approached the table. “I’m fine. I told you that on the phone.”
The last was said muffled against Chris’s chest as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a hug. Evan knew it was just a brotherly hug, nothing sexual to it, but he could not stop the flash of anger that sparked through his veins at the image. He knew he had no right to even think of her as his, but the events of the evening had brought out his protective feelings.
Chris pulled May back and looked at her, then handed her off to Cynthia. He gave Evan an assessing look. “What were you doing here?”
Uneasy with the speculation in Chris’s eyes, Evan shifted his weight in the chair.
“I told you I was going to hang around and wait. I would have left but I noticed May didn’t come out with Janice and her husband.”
Chris whipped around, faced May and crossed his arms over his chest. “You aren’t supposed to be here with all the money alone.”
“For your information, I wasn’t. I sent it with Janice and Freddy. I figured it was a waste to have them follow me. I stayed behind to work the schedule since I’m off tomorrow.”
“Don’t do it again.”
Cynthia stepped between Chris and May. “What Chris means is that he knows you can take care of yourself, and yes, the money was not here. But that doesn’t mean anyone else would know.”
Evan watched as the May worked out the implications and nodded. “I’m sorry, Chris.”
“Don’t worry about it. Police should be here any minute.”
May frowned. “Over something this small?”
Chris nodded. “I called Janice and she got her husband to call in.”
With a weary sigh, she nodded. “I need to have a little caffeine.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cynthia offered, glancing at Evan then at Chris as she walked by. He watched Cynthia slip her arm through May’s as they walked side by side down the hall.
Once they were alone, Chris scrubbed his hand over his face. “Jesus, that took ten years off my life.”
Evan nodded. “I scared the hell out of her.”
Chris settled in a chair and motioned for Evan to sit. “Tell me.”
Evan went through the evening, leaving out their confrontation over the tourist. Chris sat back and let out a relieved sigh. “I’m glad you were here. The guy was gone, but who knows. He could have been lu
rking around.”
That thought brought a chill to Evan’s blood. “I looked around, and I waited out here while she called you. I didn’t see a soul.”
Chris nodded. “While I appreciate you were here, you want to explain just why the hell you were this late?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
May nodded. “I think everyone is blowing this out of proportion.”
Cynthia frowned. “What did your father say?”
May rolled her eyes. “Nothing. When he knew that Evan was with me, he was okay with it.”
“I would think he would want to come down here.”
May shrugged and tried to squash down the little bit of her that agreed with Cynthia’s comment. It somehow made her feel guilty. “He knows I can handle it.”
“And just what was Evan doing here?”
“I thought he was gone. I said goodbye to him at closing.” She frowned at Cynthia. “I’m sorry to get you out of bed. Chris shouldn’t have dragged you down here.”
Cynthia’s face flushed. “We weren’t exactly asleep.”
May chuckled. “Then I’m really sorry.”
Cynthia turned a brighter shade of red. “No, we were just…well, you know.”
“No. I don’t know.”
The look of embarrassment on Cynthia’s face had May laughing harder. Cynthia had a penchant for playing the Domme in the bedroom, so her blush tickled May.
“Never mind. I’ll try not to be jealous.”
Cynthia’s eyes widened and she stepped closer to May. “You were attracted to Chris?”
May closed her eyes. “Oh, ick. That is almost like asking me if I had the hots for my brother. I need some bleach for my eyes to scrub that image from my memory.” She opened her eyes and saw Cynthia’s exasperated look. “No. Having a date…just the possibility of sex is better than I’ve had lately.”
Cynthia nodded, knowing May’s struggle with dating men. “It’ll happen.”
May shrugged. “Lately, between helping Danny with homework and my crazy schedule at work, I haven’t had the time for a date, let alone get laid.”
A Little Harmless Obsession Page 2
