by KC Crowne
“But I talked to your friend Gerald. He said you’d be able to start soon.”
“Well, in normal circumstances that’d be the case. But I’ve got other clients eager for me to finish their projects.” He paused. “Tell you what – let me take your name and info and I’ll give you a call first thing if one of them cancels. How’s that?”
“I suppose that’ll have to do.”
I gave him my info and ended the call. But I wasn’t about to wait around for him. I went down the line, calling the next contracting company on the list. It was the same story, however – booked solid for the next two months at least. The next company was the same, and so was the one after that. With each call, I felt more and more hopeless. Finally, when I had called the last contractor in the area, receiving the same shitty news, I tossed my phone onto the desk in total frustration.
How the hell was it possible? How was every contracting company so busy? And for just enough time to make my life more difficult? Maybe it’s not a coincidence, I considered. What if the Walker family had pulled some strings in the area, maybe paying the companies to not take me on as a client?
It sounded crazy, but so did my whole situation. After all, me being out of commission meant that I’d be slowly bled dry and eventually forced to close.
I was pissed. And more than that, I was ready to get some damn answers.
Chapter 9
GERALD
I spent the rest of the drive back to the B&B thinking, trying to figure out my next step. When I spotted Crystal on the porch, a scowl on her face that was obviously made specially for me, what I was going to get into next was clear as day.
I parked my truck out front and killed the engine. I climbed out and walked towards her, ready for a tirade.
“You have a nice little drive?” she asked, rising from her seat and coming down the steps. She put her hands on her hips and glared hard at me.
I had to admit, I loved how fearless she was. For all she knew I was the enemy, but that didn’t stop her. She was ready to do whatever it might take.
“What’s the story now?” I asked, stopping a few feet in front of her.
“The story is you’re screwin’ me over again. And not in the fun way.”
I had to let myself grin a bit at that comment. “How the hell am I screwin’ you over? I told you, I—” I stopped myself. “Whatever’s on your mind, how about instead of havin’ it out in front we head into your office or somethin’. Might be a bad look for the owner to chew out her only paying customer on the front steps.”
“Only paying customer because of your doin’,” she hissed. “But fine. Come on.”
I held my tongue, really resisting the urge to challenge that little comment. The two of us made our way through the empty B&B and headed up the stairs.
“Come on into my office,” Crystal invited, though she sounded more like she wanted to kick me out. “We’ll hash this out there.”
“Whatever the lady likes.”
She responded with a narrow-eyed scowl over her shoulder, as if I’d said something sassy.
“Damn, no winnin’ with you, huh?” I asked with a grin.
“Ballsy of you to crack wise knowin’ you did what you did.” Before I had a chance to respond she opened the door and stepped into her office, me following close behind.
“Now,” I said, shutting the door. “You wanna tell me what all this attitude’s about?”
She sat down on the edge of her desk, folding her arms underneath her breasts. She hadn’t intended it but doing so drew the eye to her undoubtedly perfect tits. I imagined her naked, sitting on her desk with her legs spread, a sensual, inviting look on her face.
But there were more important things to worry about than that sort of business. I unfastened my eyes from her tits before she had a chance to notice and waited for her to speak.
“You’re really gonna act all innocent, huh?” she asked. “After what you pulled?”
“How about this – you wanna chew me out for somethin’ I may or may not’ve done, you can go right ahead. But at least tell me what the hell you’re so steamed about.”
She turned on her chair and spun around the open laptop on her desk. On the screen was what looked like the online white pages, the word “Local Contractors” up top.
“I decided to bite the bullet and call a contractor to get all this nonsense taken care of.”
“You serious? You’re not gonna fight it?”
She threw her hands up in irritation. “Fight it? How the hell am I gonna fight City Hall? Maybe it’s a load of bullshit, maybe it isn’t. But either way, my doors are closed until I get this thing squared away with downtown.” She sucked in a breath and continued. “Anyway, I decided to give your buddy Adam a call.”
“That right? When’s he gonna start?”
“He ain’t gonna start. He said he was booked up to next month.”
“Hmm. Well, I wasn’t lying when I said he was the best in the business. Other people know that too. But trust me, if you put in my name, he’d be all over it if he weren’t backed up.”
“Sure – backed up.”
“Now wha—”
“So,” she said, cutting me off. “I decided to go down the list, tryin’ to book another contractor. And guess what?”
“What?”
“Every. Single. One of them told me the same story, said they were just plain booked up for the next couple of months.”
“Alright, well, that’s how it goes sometimes. Lots of people need work done, and that kinda thing’s usually booked in advance. Not sure why you’re so keen to yell at me about it.”
“Look at you, actin’ like it’s just a streak of bad luck. You really think that it’s only a damn coincidence that every place would be booked up solid for almost the exact amount of time it’ll take to run me out of business?” she seethed, glaring at me. “Two months of bein’ closed and that’s it. And if I can’t get anyone to come do the work, then I might as well close up shop right now.”
“Again, tell me what I have to do with this.” I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it out of her mouth.
“You know what’s goin’ on – you…” She waved her hands in the air. “Conspired or somethin’ to tell all the contractors not to take me on as a client.”
The idea was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but bust out into a deep belly laugh.
“Oh, this is funny to you?”
“Darlin’—”
“Don’t call me ‘darlin’!” she yelled, her anger causing her whole body to vibrate.
I held up a hand, hoping to calm her. “Crystal, I know you think I’ve got it out for you, that I’m not gonna rest until I’ve run your place out of business. And I’ve been tellin’ you time and time again that it ain’t like that. At this point you can go ahead and believe whatever you want.”
She hesitated, the anger on her face vanishing for a brief moment before reappearing, like she’d considered taking it down a notch but thought better of it. “Even if it ain’t you,” she continued. “And I ain’t convinced that’s the case. But even if it ain’t, then it’s gotta be someone in that little clan of yours.”
“Now, that’s not the truth either,” I defended. “Like I said, I don’t know what kinda backstabbin’, underhanded nonsense they got up to in New York, but at the very least I can say that my people aren’t like that. If anything, the Walkers love a good, fair competition – fair being the operative word.”
“Well, all’s fair in love and war, right? And what’s business but war?”
Now I was starting to get pissed. “I’m tellin’ you now, and I’m tellin’ you for good – we ain’t like that. Maybe you’re right that someone’s pullin’ some strings behind the scenes. But it ain’t the Walker clan.”
I actually had a pretty damn good idea that might’ve been the case. But for the time being, until I knew more, I wasn’t about to bring that up to her.
“Someone’s screwin’ with me,” she
accused. “Someone’s tryin’ to sink the business.”
“And you’re sure of that?”
“It’s my gut – and I trust my gut.”
“You could be wrong.”
“Not when it comes to matters like this. And look,” she turned and placed her finger on the screen, at the last contracting company on the list. “This one here, they didn’t even want to speak to me. I told them my name and the business and they wouldn’t even ask what I wanted.”
My eyes stayed on the screen, the name of the contracting company, Zed’s, sticking out like a sore thumb.
“What’s that look on your face?” she asked, frowning but calmer.
Zed’s. Took me a second, but I soon realized just where I’d seen that name before – on the list the mayor had given to me.
“Uh, I need to check somethin’ in my room. Gimme a sec, would ya?”
“Now wait a minute,” she said as I turned. “I ain’t done with you yet.”
But I didn’t stick around to argue with her. I hurried out of the office and took off for my room. Once inside, I stomped over to the desk drawer and pulled it open, laying eyes on the folder containing the documents Josh had sent me. I spread them over the desk, my eyes scanning the names. Right at the end of the alphabetical order was the name Zed’s.
“Fuckin’ hell,” I murmured out loud, putting my hands on my hips and shaking my head. “What the shit’s goin’ on?”
It wasn’t my most poetic language ever, but damned if it didn’t sum up how I felt. Something shitty was going down. Crystal was right to suspect it.
“What the shit?”
I turned around and there she was. I’d forgotten to close the damn door, and Crystal didn’t hesitate before coming into the room and craning her neck to try to get a glimpse of what was on the desk behind me.
Hurriedly, I replaced the documents and stuck the folder back into the desk drawer. But I wasn’t fast enough, and Crystal saw what I’d done.
“What you got over there, Gerald?” she asked. “What’s in that folder?”
I stepped forward, blocking her path. “It’s nothin’.”
“Bullshit it’s nothin’. Tell me what you got there.”
I was in a hell of a bind. Part of me felt like she deserved to know about my investigation, that there was a strong chance she was in the right by suspecting something going on. But the other part of me wanted to keep it as far away from her as possible. The more I looked into what was going on, the more it seemed like it was something more than just a grudge at City Hall. There was a damn good chance some dangerous people were involved, and one thing I’d learned in my line of work was that standing between dangerous people and their money was the fastest way to get into a hell of a lot of trouble.
I wanted to protect her, to keep her safe. And the best way to do that was to not let her know what I’d learned so far.
“It’s somethin’ in progress.” The look on her face let me know in no uncertain terms that the answer wasn’t good enough.
“Gerald, you’re stayin’ under my roof. I’m not about to let you keep some secret from me while you’re doin’ it. Now, tell me what those papers say.”
“I can’t. Not right now.”
Crystal’s eyes flashed with anger and she about near stomped her foot. And the worst part was, it turned me on. Not that I liked her worried, but I loved her boldness, how fearless she was when it came to doing what needed to be done. I loved that spirit something fierce.
“I swear, if you’ve got some kinda evidence that you and your family’s been workin’ behind the scenes to screw me over…let’s just say that you’d better come out with it now instead of tryin’ to hide it from me.”
“Listen – I need you to trust me.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, looking damn cute in the process. “Trust you? Why the hell would I do that? For all I know, you’re the reason I’m in this damn mess.”
“I’m doin’ an investigation.” I paused to choose my next words carefully. Like I said, lying wasn’t my thing. And as much as I didn’t like to lie to strangers, I sure as hell didn’t like to lie to people close to me. But I couldn’t just come out with the truth. If I were to tell her what I’d learned, that might light a fire under her ass, get her to run down to City Hall and get herself into some serious trouble. Hell, City Hall if I was lucky. The last thing I wanted was for her to get mixed up in a drug cartel.
“Gerald, quit screwin’ around and tell me.”
“I can’t tell you much,” I warned her. “But I can say this – I promise, and I mean promise, that my family ain’t behind what’s goin’ on with you. What’s in this desk is top secret.”
She huffed out a breath. “Top secret. What, you workin’ for the CIA now? You some kinda government spook?”
I almost wanted to laugh but remembered there was a time when that accusation wouldn’t have been too far from the truth.
“No, I ain’t in the CIA. But I’m on your side. Me and my family. Like I said, I’m investigating somethin’, and I don’t want you gettin’ involved before I know more than I do right now. So, I need you to trust me, to take a leap of faith. Can you do that for me?”
I said nothing, and neither did Crystal. All I could do was wait for her answer.
Chapter 10
Crystal
I felt torn in two. I didn’t want to believe him, but at the same time I did want to believe him. I hadn’t the slightest idea what to do. And for a woman like me, not knowing what to do didn’t sit right in the slightest. Then there was the fact that Gerald stood close, looming over me with his nearly six-and-a-half feet of solid muscle. Even his scent, musky and earthy, was enough to knock me off guard.
I cleared my throat and said something, anything, to break the silence. “You’re tellin’ me you’ve got a drawer full of documents about my business and I can’t see any of ‘em?”
Gerald glanced away apprehensively, obviously choosing his words carefully. “It’s not about your business. I mean, they are, in a matter of speaking.”
“Well, if they’re about my business, then they’re my business. Open that drawer and show me what you got.”
“No.” His voice was stern, and there was something about Gerald saying no in that deep, commanding tone that cut me straight to the core. Just a no, without any further explanation.
“Keepin’ secrets while I’m lettin’ you stay here,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “I’ve got a good mind to shove that cash back in your pocket and kick your ass out into the cold.”
I meant it, but at the same time I hoped he didn’t call me on it. Things were tight, and the far above rate amount of money he’d paid for the off the books room would come in handy.
Another thoughtful, almost pained, expression formed on his face. But Gerald didn’t go right into speaking. Instead, he reached down and took my hands in his. His touch was warm and rough, and despite the context of the conversation, it sent a thrill through my body. My knees felt a little wobbly, my stomach tense with excitement.
And that’s to say nothing of what was going on between my legs.
I wanted to pull my hands back, to upbraid Gerald for being so bold as to touch me. But I didn’t. He gazed down at me with an expression of deep, unabashed sincerity. The man wasn’t exactly a jokester, but he always seemed to have a wry, sardonic sense of humor when dealing with me.
At that moment he was totally sincere. “Crystal, all I can say is you’re gonna have to trust me. I’m not hiding anything from you to keep you in the dark – it’s for your own safety.”
Safety. He let the silence hang after that word, letting it hang in the air as if he wanted to make sure I understood the importance of it.
“But I can tell you this – I swear I’m going to protect you and your business. Whatever’s happening here, I will get to the bottom of it. But I can’t, and I mean can’t, have you meddlin’ around in something where you might be out of your depth. It’s too damn dangerou
s.” He was so sincere, but him talking to me like that sent another rush of anger through me.
“Oh, and you think you’re the one who gets to tell me when I am and am not out of my depth?” I glanced over his shoulder again – well, tried to glance over his tall stature— but Gerald didn’t let me. “This is my business and I’ve got a right to know what’s goin’ on with it. Now, tell me what you got in that drawer or I’m gonna—”
“Aw, hell.” Gerald shook his head as if he’d just accepted something he didn’t want to, cutting me off in the process.
I didn’t get out another word. Gerald lunged forward, grabbing me by my hips and pulling my body close to his. His eyes flashed one more time, and then he kissed me.
At first, I was sure what was happening wasn’t actually happening. No way Gerald Walker himself had forced a kiss on me like that. But did he taste good. For the briefest moment, I allowed myself to fall into the kiss, letting my arms drop to the side as he pressed his lips against mine, his rough stubble grazing and tickling my cheek.
Then I came to my senses, putting my palms on his stout chest and pushing him back hard. Of course, he was so big that I only caused him to move back a few inches. And when he realized what I’d done, he only grinned. Cocky son-of-a-gun. He knew exactly what he’d done.
Without thinking, I pulled my hand back and brought hard against his face. A sharp crack sounded out through the bedroom, and Gerald turned his head a few inches, following the blow. My hand sang with pain, and as he turned his head back around, it was clear as day I’d hurt myself worse than I’d hurt him.
“What the hell was that? You think you can really just…kiss me like that? What kind of man are you?”
A bold one. But I didn’t say that out loud, as true as it might’ve been. My hand still stung, and the slight trace of red on his face from the impact faded by the second.