Deceiving Bella: Book Eleven In The Bodyguards Of L.A. County Series

by Beauman, Cate

“Then we can make anything work.”

  He hugged her, holding on tight. “Should we take our dinner to the beach? We can eat in the back of the truck and listen to the waves.” He leaned close to her ear. “Maybe we can make out a little.”

  She smiled. “Definitely.”

  “Let’s clean up and we’ll go eat by the water.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Music pumped through the stereo speakers while Bella chopped fresh vegetables for a huge salad. She smiled, glancing Reed’s way as he stood on the deck, keeping his eye on their filets cooking on the grill. For once, they were home on a weeknight, and she planned to enjoy every second of their time together. The fact that he’d spoiled her with a quart of her favorite triple chocolate chunk ice cream and a gorgeous bouquet of mixed flowers was an excellent bonus. She wiggled her hips to DNCE’s “Cake by the Ocean” beat and tossed red peppers and cucumbers into the bowl of greens.

  Reed opened the door, popping his head inside. “We’re probably five, maybe six minutes out.”

  She shimmied again. “Okay.”

  He walked in and yanked her around, pulling her against him as he gyrated his hips.

  She laughed, surprised by his agile rhythm. “I knew you could sing, but you dance too?”

  “I couldn’t tell you all my secrets right away, baby.” He spun her and settled his hands on her waist, bringing her back against him. “Every relationship should have a little mystery.”

  She laughed again, hooking her arms around his neck as she followed his lead. “Well, I like your moves.”

  “I’ve got all kinds of moves you haven’t seen yet.” He glanced toward their bedroom and winked as he flashed her a cocky smile.

  She grinned, relishing the rush of tingles in her belly, knowing that Reed could and would deliver on his sexy declaration. “As much as I would love to dance here all night—in the kitchen and upstairs—I think our dinner’s going to burn.”

  “Shit. I’ll be right back.” He hurried outside, closing the door behind him, and opened the grill.

  She chuckled, studying her gorgeous man saving their steaks, ogling his amazing ass. She’d developed quite a thing for jeans, T-shirts, and bare feet. Looking at Lucy, she smiled. “I love him,” she whispered. “He’s pretty much the perfect guy.”

  Lucy wagged her tail.

  “I know you agree. You were the one to barge through his front door. Did I ever thank you for that?”

  Lucy stared at her, moving her tail faster.

  “You’re the best.” She focused on the salad again, grabbing a carrot stick from the cutting board as Reed’s cell phone started ringing in the living room. “Your phone,” she hollered, but he didn’t move from his spot on the porch. She ran to his phone and glanced at the screen as she picked it up off the coffee table. Skylar G. “Hello?”

  The line stayed silent.

  Bella frowned and pressed her hand to her opposite ear. “Hello?”

  “Um, yes, is Reed there?”

  “Sure.” She hurried over to the stereo and turned it down. “Hold on. He’s outside.”

  “Thanks.”

  She walked back through the kitchen and opened the door.

  He turned. “What’s—”

  “Your phone was ringing,” she said as she handed it over.

  “Oh. Thanks.”

  She nodded, sending him a small smile as she went inside and closed the door. Heading back to the cutting board, she chopped the carrots, trying to focus on the vegetables instead of the mystery woman Reed was talking to. Skylar G. was clearly a friend; her name and number were programed into his phone. So why hadn’t Skylar responded when Bella answered?

  Her gaze slid Reed’s way as he chatted and paced back and forth. That had happened in Las Vegas too. On a couple of occasions, she’d picked up Linc’s phone and someone hung up. She frowned, shocked by where her thoughts were going. Reed was not Linc. Most men didn’t have girlfriends and fiancées stashed around the city. It wasn’t fair to put them in the same slot.

  She glanced his way again as he hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket, hating that even as she told herself she was being silly, she couldn’t entirely dismiss her doubts.

  Moments later, he walked in with the steaks. “Ready to eat?”

  “Sure.” She met his gaze, then looked toward the cupboards as an ember of distrust tried to hold firm. Admonishing herself again, she moved to the shelf where she kept the plates and grabbed two.

  He came up behind her. “That was Skylar Grayson. She’s a longtime family friend. Our grandfathers worked together when I was a little boy. We keep in touch.”

  She turned to face him. “Okay.”

  “She’s also in law enforcement. We worked together a few times in New York.”

  “It’s fine, Reed.” Or she wanted it to be.

  He took the plates from her and set them on the table. “Then why are you looking at me like you’re trying to decide if my story’s bullshit?”

  She shrugged. “I guess it’s a kneejerk thing.”

  He settled his hands on her shoulders, sliding his palms along her arms. “I would never, ever cheat on you, Bella. That guy out in Vegas might be a dumbass, but I could never do something like that to you.”

  She nodded, overcome with guilt for letting herself travel down that road when Reed had never given her a reason to. “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head and cupped her cheeks. “I don’t want anyone but you.”

  “The feeling’s mutual.” She kissed him and wrapped him up in a hug. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be. No more apologizing.”

  She nodded. “Do you want to sit down and have some dinner?”

  “Heck, yeah. I’m starving. Let’s eat.”

  She stared at him as he put a plate on the table for each of them. Reed had brought her flowers and a delicious treat to help her celebrate her birthday, but being able to trust the man she loved completely was the ultimate gift.

  ~~~~

  Reed snuggled Bella on the couch while they watched another episode of The Office. They were well into season three, but tonight, he was having a hard time following the storyline. His mind was too focused on New York after Skylar’s latest phone call. Big things were happening. Big, frustrating things. This morning, the ground radar team had detected a body in the initial location Vinny pointed out. After hours of digging—first with a backhoe and then by hand—they’d unearthed several dozen buckets of mud and a partial mandible—a somewhat decent first day but not nearly good enough, especially when they’d come up empty at the groupings of trees Vinny guessed at.

  Bella laughed, bringing him back to the moment. He concentrated on the show again, catching the last couple of minutes before the credits rolled. “Dwight’s an idiot.”

  She chuckled and turned her head, looking up at him. “But he’s funny.”

  He wrapped his arms tighter around her as he stared into her beautiful eyes, realizing that he was letting the investigation take priority when this evening was supposed to be about Bella. There were things to do—calls to make, a text to send off to Vinny—but Bella turned twenty-six only once. “I’m pretty sure I would knock Michael out, and Dwight wouldn’t be far behind.”

  She grinned. “Do you want to watch another episode or do something else?”

  He opened his mouth to answer as Joey’s ringtone filled the room. Wincing, he grabbed his phone off the coffee table and silenced it. “I’m sorry. I can talk to him tomorrow.”

  “It’s fine.” She kissed him. “How about you see what your pal wants and I’ll go up and take my shower?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yup,” she said with a decisive nod.

  “I’ll be up in just a second.”

  “Okay.” She stood and made a grab for their ice cream bowls.

  “I’ll get those.”

  “Thanks.” She started upstairs.

  He waited until h
e heard her footsteps in the hallway, then answered. “Hey.”

  “I talked to Upshaw.”

  He frowned. He hadn’t expected their conversation to start like this. He’d assumed Joey was calling for an update on the dig. “Just now?”

  “Just now, buddy. I dumped him in a cab five minutes ago—took him out for my own version of a pub crawl and got him shit-faced over a few rounds.”

  He stood, bringing the dishes to the sink. “So?”

  “The Marshals had a security breach mid-February—Manhattan’s WITSEC branch. Someone hacked into the computers.”

  He rinsed the bowls and put them in the dishwasher. “Do they know who?”

  “Doesn’t sound like it.”

  “What information were they looking for? What did they get?”

  “Upshaw has no idea. Apparently, it was on a need-to-know basis and Upshaw didn’t. He hadn’t heard anything about it until Walt mentioned it.”

  “Sounds like Walt was on the need-to-know list.”

  “Ding ding, buddy.”

  He leaned against the counter, using his shoulder to hold his phone as he crossed his arms. “What else?”

  “Walt’s house was broken into less than a week later. Perps messed up the house some—went through his home office, the bedrooms, et cetera. Didn’t steal anything, but they did try to access his personal computer.”

  Reed scrubbed at his jaw, not liking where this was going. “He was the target.”

  “Sounds like. Upshaw said Walt didn’t report the break-in.”

  “Interesting. What’s your gut saying—you think this was Caparelli-related? Do you think they got to him?”

  “Could be. Timing’s right. Alfeo’s getting out. They’re blowing witnesses’ brains out. Maybe they’re thinking they want Nicoli too. Upshaw said Walt was a mess after the break-in—real nervous, lost some weight, asked Upshaw to keep an eye on the family if anything ever happened to him. Then he drops dead. The guy was in great shape. His death was stress-related.”

  Reed made a sound in his throat as he remembered Vinny’s comments about Walter opening his mouth to the mafia and Matty telling his father about Dino looking into something concerning Nicoli Caparelli on the prison recordings. “Do you think Walt wanted Upshaw’s help tracking down Nicoli so he could hand him over to Alfeo?”

  “Could be. If they threatened his family, I’d say definitely.”

  “Do you think that’s what happened?”

  “I couldn’t tell ya.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What was your impression on Upshaw? Do you think he and Salada intend to turn Vinny over?”

  “I don’t think Upshaw has any clue that Walt was heading that way. Hell, neither do we. We’re guessing here—on all of this. We know there was a breach. We know Walt had a break-in. We know he asked Upshaw to help him track down Nicoli to make sure Nicoli was safe a couple minutes before he keeled over. Those are the facts we can be one hundred percent certain of.”

  Reed nodded. “Bella has to be in the clear, though. Matty didn’t mess with her in Brooklyn.”

  “Seems about right to me. Upshaw didn’t say anything about Walt mentioning that Nicoli has a daughter. I didn’t want to touch that one too much—give anyone any reason to believe he does.”

  He closed his eyes with the rush of relief. Bella was safe—or, at this point, they had fairly good reason to believe she was.

  “I’ll keep my ears open, though. Upshaw’s a lightweight, so you let me know if we need anything else.”

  “I will.”

  “How’d the dig go?”

  “Not great. They hit the water table at four feet—filled the whole damn hole. They brought in some pumps but it’s fucking mud the rest of the way down. Skylar said evidence response is having a hell of a time. It’s like quicksand. So far, they have half a mandible and muck up to their kneecaps.”

  “How the fuck’s that even possible? I thought Vinny said they were in bags.”

  “Not this guy. Whoever he is, he’s definitely not in a bag—or at least not all of him. Who knows what they’ll find when they get back to it tomorrow.”

  “And the locations by the trees?”

  “They’re no good. There’s nothing there. The dogs didn’t alert and ground radar didn’t pick up anything.”

  “Shit.”

  Reed rubbed at the back of his neck as the weight of their problems settled on his shoulders. “We need more. Even if they find the rest of the skull, it doesn’t mean it’ll do us any good. It sure as hell isn’t likely they’ll find a bullet if there was one left behind at all. And for all we know, this was one of Dino or Nicoli’s hits.” He shook his head. “I need to talk to Vinny—make something happen.”

  “Bring him to New York.”

  He laughed scoffingly. “Give me a break, Joe.”

  “What?”

  “He can’t handle it. He’s skin and bones and light-headed most of the time. How the hell would he walk through all of that brush and mud to find what we’re looking for?”

  “We’d figure something out.”

  He shook his head again. “Not gonna happen. We’ll have to take another look at the map. I’ll have him go through each murder with me—step by step. See if that sparks something.” The shower shut off upstairs. “I need to go. It’s Bella’s birthday.”

  “Keep me in the loop.”

  “I will. We’ve gotta come up with something.”

  “We will, boss. We always do.”

  He nodded. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Tell Bella I said happy birthday.”

  “Sure thing.”

  He glanced toward the ceiling, listening to Bella walking around as he located Vinny’s number in his contact information.

  We need to talk. I’m coming up tomorrow.

  He wasn’t sure how in the hell he was going to make that happen, but he was going to have to. He shoved his phone away and checked the locks, then went upstairs. From the sounds of Joe’s conversation with Upshaw, they could cautiously put Vinny’s concerns about Bella aside. Tomorrow was for Bella’s father and the investigation. Right now was for the birthday girl.

  Bella stepped out of the bathroom with her long hair dripping and a towel wrapped around her as he walked into the room. “How’s Joey?”

  “Good.” He closed the distance between them and hooked his arms around her waist. “He told me to tell you happy birthday.”

  She smiled. “Aw, isn’t he sweet?”

  He shrugged, twisting her glossy, wet locks around his fingers. “He’s okay.”

  She grinned. “I like you better.”

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded. “You’re my very favorite person.”

  Nodding, he raised his brow. “Your very favorite person?”

  “Mmm. Very favorite.” She played with the button on his jeans.

  “What do you say we lose the towel?” He yanked on the hem and sent it to the floor, trailing his gaze over her sensational body. “God, I love looking at you.”

  She took his hands and pressed them to her breasts. “I love it when you touch me.”

  He used his thumbs to tease her nipples into points and went after her chin with gentle nibbles. “What’s the birthday girl looking for tonight?”

  She pulled his shirt up and off. “What have you got?”

  He slid his palms down the sides of her waist. “Anything you want.”

  She unzipped his jeans and tugged his pants, crouching to help him step out the rest of his clothes. “You said something about moves I haven’t seen before.” Her breath heated his erection as she spoke.

  “I did.”

  She touched him, sliding her palm against him.

  He steamed out a breath as cool fingers wrapped around him.

  “Feel good?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How about this?” She put him in her mouth.

  He groaned, gripping her hair. “Bella.”

  She pleasured him with her
clever lips and tongue until his toes curled and his stomach muscles trembled.

  “Bella. You’re about to end this right here.”

  She eased away, still working him with her hand. “That’s not such a bad thing.”

  “It is when I haven’t had my turn.” He helped her to her feet. “Come here.” He sat on the edge of the pretty armless chair tucked in the corner of the room and brought her down on his lap so she straddled his legs and they both faced the mirror on Bella’s half-closed closet door. Palming her breasts, he watched her snag her bottom lip with her teeth as she closed her eyes. “Let’s do this for a little bit,” he said.

  “Okay.”

  “It’s different.” He kissed her neck.

  “Yes.”

  “We’re both going to watch as you take me in.” He lifted her up and sank her down on him, sucking in a sharp breath as she gasped. “How’s that?”

  “Very good.”

  “Your cheeks are pink.”

  “You make me hot.”

  He went back to her breasts, then trailed his hand between her thighs, playing with her.

  She closed her eyes and let her head fall back on his chest.

  “Watch, Bella. Watch what I’m doing to you.”

  She opened her eyes as he moved his fingers in circles and her hips rocked slowly.

  “Does it feel good?”

  “Yes.”

  He nipped her shoulder and increased the pressure of his fingers against her.

  She moaned and jerked. “I’m going to—”

  “I know.” He stroked her the way he knew she liked best and sent her flying.

  Her eyes went wide, holding his gaze in the glass as she called out.

  “How about one more?”

  “I want to face you. I want to see you.”

  “You can see me now.” He continued his teasing, waiting, waiting, and sent her over again.

  “Reed. Reed.”

  Damn, he loved that, listening to her pant out his name. “How do you want to finish?”

  “Kissing you.”

  “Turn around.”

  She stood and turned, capturing his mouth as she sat down and took him in deep. “Like this. Just like this, but my feet are barely touching the floor.”