It hadn’t occurred to Liam that her stunts were anything but an attempt to test death to see if she’d keep up her winning streak. Yeah, they needed to talk about her extreme activities. Liam nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate your insight. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Great. Can I tell Jewell to expect you for lunch?”
“Sorry. Thanks, but I have some errands to run as well. I’ll grab lunch in town. Tell Jewell I said thanks.” He took a step toward his room, but Alex stopped him again.
“One more thing?”
Liam turned back to Alex.
“She would like to request an hour alone with Tru, preferably tonight before the exhibitionist/voyeur event.”
This was perfect. Tru would have some time with her friend while Liam and Jed debriefed each other on the case. “Yeah. Sure. No problem. It’ll give Jed and me a chance to finalize the details of our scene tonight.”
Ten minutes later, Jed was on his way to the rafting outfit. He called Brandy to update her on his search. “Hey, how is the investigation into your stalker going?”
Her exhale growled across the distance. “I have a picture from a security camera that doesn’t coincide with a place I’ve been. It’s not as grainy as some of the others. It’s being analyzed now, and if that sucker is in our database, he’ll be arrested as soon as we get a hit. If not, I’m going to track him down and tear off his testicles.”
Liam laughed, more from surprise than amusement. “I’m glad you got something.”
“Now for the more important question—do you have anything?”
He pictured her sitting at her desk, shooting aggravated looks at the computer as if that would make the system work faster. “Zarah Braithwaite is here with a man named Anton Schatz. They’re white water rafting with Jed and Tru right now. I searched their room, and now I’m heading to where their car is parked.”
“Is it a rental?”
Registered guests had to report their car’s license plate number, and so Liam had Schatz’s from when he’d hacked Zangari’s system. He’d run the plate, and it had come back as not a rental. “It’s registered to Angelo Braithwaite. Reasonable cause.”
“Let me call for a warrant just in case. I’ll call you back as soon as we have approval.”
“I’ll be there in an hour, so put a rush on it.”
“There’s no guaranteed half-hour-or-free delivery on this one.”
Liam wished he hadn’t called his boss because now he was stuck waiting on a fucking warrant. He stopped for lunch and ate it while sitting in the parking lot of the nearly deserted rafting company. A single young man occasionally showed himself in front of the window where people paid for their trip. Mostly he stayed hidden and probably asleep. Two hours went by, and Brandy didn’t call, so he called Jordan.
“Hey, mentor. How are things?”
Jordan’s voice sounded froggy, like he’d been asleep. “Shitty. We found one decent image of Lockmeyer’s stalker, and I have some kind of virus. How are things in Oregon?”
“Great. I spent the morning crawling around the suspect’s room and finding nothing but a broken nipple clamp.”
Jordan may have tried to make a sympathetic sound, but he hacked up half a lung instead. “Sorry. Amy will be in here any minute, and she’s going to make me get off the phone so she can feed me some chicken soup. I meant how are things going with Tru?”
“Good. Great.” He thought about the deep connection he felt to her and the way she looked at him when she submitted. “We had an amazing scene, and then the next morning, she had subdrop. Is it wrong that I kind of liked it?”
“What part did you like?” This time Jordan sneezed. Liam did not want to be the man’s phone. It was going to need some heavy duty disinfecting.
“That we could make her feel that way. That we’d affected her so much. And, if I’m being honest, I liked that she needed us to help her through it. She’s so independent most of the time. She knows her mind, and I like that about her. But I liked that she couldn’t do this alone.” He hadn’t loved seeing her so emotional, but he’d reveled in the surge of power that came from knowing he’d driven her to such a height that she needed him to cushion the fall. “Please tell me that this doesn’t make me an asshole.”
“It doesn’t. Actually the fact that you want to be there for her is a good thing. It’s your responsibility to make sure she has a safe place to fall apart. It builds trust and a bond, and you’ll find that she’ll surrender to you on a deeper level next time.” Jordan coughed some more, and Amy’s voice came through in the background. “Dare? I have to go. My little is going to nurse me back to health.”
As he waited for news of the fucking warrant, Liam thought about the things both Alex and Jordan had said to him about his relationship with Tru. He felt a deep-seated need to take care of her, to see to her emotional needs as well as have her in his life permanently. Was this love? He honestly didn’t know. The only person in his life that he could claim to love was his mother, the woman who had rescued him from loneliness and neglect and who had patiently navigated his maze of thorns and walls that had been constructed to protect a traumatized little boy.
He called his mother next. She picked up on the first ring. “Liam, I was just thinking about you.”
“Hi, Mom. How are you?”
“Excellent. I have a date tonight.”
He didn’t want to hear about his septuagenarian mother dating, but he swallowed his misgivings. “Yeah? Anyone I know?”
“You will. Sanjaya and I have become quite close. When you get home, I want you to come to dinner. He grills a mean salmon.” She laughed, the light sound making him a little homesick.
“It’s a plan. You sound happy. I’m glad.” Surprisingly, he wasn’t lying. While Joyce Adair had always been one of those bright people who were in a perpetually good mood, she’d been alone long enough. Her husband had died before she’d adopted Liam, so he only knew of him from photos and old videos.
“That’s a relief. I was nervous about telling you. In the past, you haven’t exactly taken it well when I’ve gone on dates, so I mostly keep that side of my life from you. But now that you have a girlfriend, I felt like it was time.”
Shocked, Liam sputtered. “I thought you didn’t date because you didn’t want to after you lost Bill? I didn’t mean to keep you from being happy.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you didn’t.” She rushed to reassure him. “After Bill died, you came into my life, and I devoted myself to you because you needed me. And I needed you. But now you’re an adult, and you’re finally ready to spread your wings.”
Wait. She’d said that she knew Liam had a girlfriend. “What makes you think I have a girlfriend?”
She laughed. “Oh, sweetie. A mother just knows. Tell me about her.”
This is why he’d called. His mother knew his heart better than he did. “Her name is Tru Martin. She’s a writer for a blog called The Eclectic Traveler. I met her a few weeks ago in California while I was working a case.”
“It was fate.” Joyce’s grin came through the phone loud and clear. “I always told you that the universe has a plan for you.”
Liam had grown up hearing his mother say things like that, but now he was starting to believe it. He relaxed against his seat and told her everything he could about Tru. He talked about her passion for life, her adventurous spirit, her childhood battle with leukemia, that she was raised by her grandmother, her singular beauty, and the fact that she agreed with him about cryptids and some of his conspiracy theories. He left out the kinky parts and the fact that she was working with him undercover.
When he stopped talking, Joyce clicked her tongue. “You’re going to have to bring this young woman when you meet Sanjaya. I think the four of us will hit it off famously.”
“Mom? There’s more.”
“Is she pregnant?”
“No.” They’d been careful, using condoms each time. “It’s...There’s someone else.”
Joyce was
silent for ten shocked seconds before Liam realized she’d taken it the wrong way.
“I don’t mean that I have two girlfriends. I mean that...You remember Jed Kinsley? You’ve met him a few times.”
Her tone turned crisp. “Of course I remember your friends. I’m not senile. Yet.”
Liam scrambled to explain. He knew she was seconds away from lecturing him on how age was a state of mind. “He’s sort of dating her too. We both hit it off with her, and we’re both seeing her. Together.”
She was silent again, but not for long. “You’re both seeing her?”
“Yes.”
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“Like a ménage situation?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
He waited for her to let loose. Joyce Adair never kept her opinions to herself.
“Does he love her too?”
Liam stumbled. This is exactly why he’d called. “What makes you think I’m in love with her?”
“The way you talk about her, sweetie. You’ve never told me much about the women you’ve dated, and today you’ve talked about one woman nonstop for forty-five minutes, singing her praises until I was sure a chorus of angels was going to start with the backing vocals.”
Liam still wasn’t sure. “How do you know you’re in love? How did Bill know he was in love with you?”
She laughed. “How often do you think about her?”
If he were to be honest? “Pretty much all the time.”
“Just sexual thoughts?”
“MOM!”
“You’re thirty-four. I’m sure you’ve had sexual thoughts for the past twenty years, though for the longest time I wasn’t sure if you were having them about people or computers. If you haven’t had sexual thoughts about a woman, then you would be having them about men. It’s okay either way. Like if you also are in love with Jed. He’s a nice man, and I think he’s very handsome. I just want you to be happy.”
He wasn’t in love with Jed. It was strictly a friend thing. He sighed. “I think about being with her, just talking and hanging out. I’m trying to figure out how my job would work with hers. We both travel so much.”
“Have you talked with her about that? What does Jed think? He travels with you.”
Liam sighed. “It hasn’t come up. I don’t know if Jed is as serious as I am. I think he is. But then I don’t know what Tru thinks, either.”
“And you won’t unless you either ask her or develop the ability to read minds. The first option is more likely.” Joyce was quiet again, and he pictured her frowning all the way across the country. “Sweetie, talk to her. If she loves you half as much as you love her, then you’ll find a way to make it work. A woman in love will meet you halfway.”
He heard what she didn’t say—that if Tru didn’t have deep feelings for him, then she wouldn’t bother to help find a solution to their logistics problem.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you in a few days and let you know how it went.”
“Wait! Liam, are you on a case?”
“Yeah.”
“And Tru is there with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it seems you’re finding solutions already. I love you, and I’ll see you soon.”
He gave his love and plugged his phone into the charger. Brandy hadn’t called, and the first rafters were paddling toward the dock. It was too late to check the trunk now, and he had to get out of the parking lot before Schatz realized something was going on.
Chapter Eighteen
Liam arrived back at the inn, freshened up, and found a comfortable chair in the sitting room with a view of the front door. He perused a sport fishing magazine while he waited for Tru and Jed. The words on the pages didn’t register because his thoughts veered wildly from Tru to his investigation and back. Before long, Jewell approached. She knelt at his feet, her knees firmly together and her gaze respectfully lowered. He glanced around to see if perhaps Alex was standing behind him, but the only people there were a couple of guests discussing whether they wanted to have dinner at the inn or drive up the coast.
He peered at her curiously. Nobody had ever knelt for him before. “What are you doing?”
“You look upset. Would you like to talk about it?”
If Tru had done something like this, it would have barreled through the last of his doubt about his feelings for her. This woman was not his submissive, and while her gesture appealed to his Dominant nature, her reasoning eluded him. He’d be pissed if Tru knelt for another man. Jed was the only exception. “I think you’d better get up before Alex sees you.”
“Alex knows exactly where I am and what I’m doing. I would never do something like this without his blessing. He agrees that you look upset. Do you miss Tru?” She lifted her gaze, blinking at him with empathy and innocence in the depths of her blue eyes.
“Yes, but she should be back soon. I was waiting for them.” He tossed the magazine onto a table. “Why don’t you pull up a chair? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with a sub who isn’t mine kneeling like that.”
“You’re Tru’s Sir, and I am her friend. If Alex was upset, and I wasn’t around, I would want her to comfort him, and I know she’d want me to take care of you. Please tell me how I can help you.”
He didn’t get the sense that she was hitting on him or offering anything more than friendship, and that mitigated a lot of his discomfort. “I don’t know. I’m new to the lifestyle. And polyamory. I’m not upset as much as I’m anxious for them to get back. It’s been a while since I’ve had time alone with Tru.” The last time he’d spent time alone with her had been when he’d shown her the stars. It seemed longer than just two weeks ago.
“Do you have a schedule to ensure that you both get time with her?” Jewell nestled her head against the side of his knee, offering comfort.
Liam rested his hand on her head, softly stroking her hair. It was blonde and downy, the exact opposite of Tru’s dark brown, thick tresses. “No, but I know Jed expects me to take her tonight. The public sex thing is my kink, not his.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, it seems like you guys don’t talk enough. Relationships are work, and yours is even more complex. Tru is reasonable most of the time.”
He laughed, but before he could agree, the bell on the front door tinkled, calling his attention there. Zarah Braithwaite came through first. Her usually perfect hair and makeup were ruined, and her clothes were damp. Anton Schatz followed close behind, his face set in a hard expression that managed to appear cynical and dangerous but not angry.
Tru came next, her face bright with laughter and darker from the sun. She turned to look over her shoulder, and Jed followed her inside, also laughing.
Jed saw Liam first. He inclined his head to indicate the direction Tru should look. She did, and she stopped short when she noticed Jewell on her knees with her head on his knee and Liam’s hand stroking her hair.
Tru’s momentary frown vanished, and she nodded to Jewell. “It looks like you had a productive day.”
Jewell got up and threw her arms around Tru. “We were talking. He missed you.”
Tru hugged her back, and she didn’t look angry or upset. Liam got to his feet and waited for his turn at a hug.
“I’ll see you at six.” Jewell placed a chaste kiss on Tru’s cheek and glided away.
Jed motioned toward the hall leading to their room. “Let’s take this into the bedroom. I could use a shower.”
He led the way. Tru slipped her hand into Liam’s, and they followed Jed. He pulled her closer and kissed her cheek. “Are you upset about Jewell? I didn’t ask her to do that.”
“I know.” Tru paused at the door to their room that Jed had opened. “Jewell is one of those big-hearted people who likes to take care of others. She was showing that she respects you. It’s a big deal, Liam. It means she and Alex like you.”
They went into the room, and Liam locked the door. “I passed inspection?”
&nb
sp; “Looks like. Did you hang out with them today?” She peeled out of her shirt and shorts.
“No. I worked.”
Jed selected fresh clothes and headed to the bathroom. “Wait until I shower, and then we can debrief.”
“Tru is going to go visit Jewell in ten minutes. We can talk then.”
Standing before him in a teal sports bra and matching cotton underwear, Tru pouted. “You don’t have to wait for me to leave to talk about the case. It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone anything.”
In response, Jed closed the bathroom door. Liam faced Tru. “You know that parts of the case are confidential, so no pouting. Tell me about your day.”
She stopped pouting and went to the sink where she attacked her hair with a brush. “It was fun. We rafted for about six hours, had barbecue chicken for lunch, and the family in the front of the raft couldn’t follow directions. We entered a rapids sideways instead of backward, and a bunch of people got flipped out of the raft. Jed had to get out, get Zarah Braithwaite—poor thing was terrified—and carry her back to the raft. Her own Dom wouldn’t help her. Asshole.”
Liam leaned against the wall and watched her tie back her hair and wash her face.
“He’s one of those jerks who has no feelings for his submissive. Alex was right to want to refuse to let him stay. He has good instincts about people. I don’t know why women stay with Doms—or anyone—who don’t treat them with basic respect and kindness.”
“Some people lack the self-esteem and self-respect it takes to leave abusive or unhealthy relationships. Maybe they’re just sexually compatible?” He didn’t believe that. You didn’t go on a vacation with someone unless you want to spend quality time with that person.
Tru patted a towel on her face and snorted. “They don’t belong here. This morning I talked Alex into letting them stay for the time being, but if he doesn’t like their behavior tonight, he’ll send them packing.”
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