by Lynsay Sands
“Hmmm.” Decker nodded. “We wanted to give him back the . . . er . . . support he gave to us when we each met our life mates.”
“Oh,” Holly murmured, but her attention was on Anders. He’d made a choking sound and turned away to hack violently into his hand as Decker had said that.
“Anyway, we’ll do our best to help keep Bricker in line. But, it would probably also be best if you avoided being alone with him as much as possible. You might very well be saving his life if you do.”
“Saving his life?” she asked with confusion.
“Oh, yes. You see we have a law against interfering with a married couple,” Anders explained solemnly. “If he’s even suspected of trying to seduce you away from your husband, he could be . . . punished.”
Holly’s eyes widened. She’d already heard what their idea of punishment was—execution Bricker had said. Good Lord! She wouldn’t want to see the poor man executed when he was just confused and desperate enough for a life mate that he was mistaking her for his.
“Yes,” she said solemnly. “I will be sure to avoid being alone with him.”
“Well, that’s grand then,” Decker said cheerily and then glanced up with a smile as the waitress stopped at their table. “And here is our meal.”
Holly smiled at the girl as well, but once she’d set their plates down and both men dug in, she glanced to the tacos they’d ordered for Justin and said uncertainly, “Where is Justin?”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Decker assured her. “He went for a walk,”
“A walk?” she asked blankly, and when neither man responded, added, “But his food will get cold.”
“We’ll have it packaged and take it out to him if he doesn’t return by the time we’re done eating,” Decker assured her.
“Or maybe split it ourselves,” Anders commented, eyeing the tacos. “They look pretty good and I’m hungry enough to eat my meal and his too.”
“Me too,” Decker said cheerfully and glanced at the plate. “We’ll split it.”
“Good idea,” Anders decided with a grin.
Holly just shook her head at the pair of them and turned her attention to her sandwich. Still, she did wonder where Bricker had gone off to. A walk? Why? She wondered, but in the next moment bit into her sandwich and forgot all about Justin Bricker.
“So, Holly,” Decker said a moment later. “Do you like flowers?”
“I used to,” she said, lowering the sandwich she’d been about to bite into again. “But after working at the cemetery for a couple weeks I’m kind of off flowers. They represent death to me now rather than happiness and cheer.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” Anders said sympathetically. “What about picnics?”
She burst out laughing and shook her head. “I grew up being dragged from one archaeological dig to another. Every meal was basically a picnic. Can’t stand them, or camping or anything that has to do with the great outdoors anymore.” She sighed. “One thing that lifestyle did was turn me into a definite city girl. Give me restaurants any day.”
“So, no camping for you, huh?” Decker asked with amusement as she started to raise her sandwich again.
Holly shook her head. “Definitely not.”
“Dogs or cats?” Anders asked.
“Neither. Allergic, but also I was mauled by a dog as a child. They terrify me now,” she said with a shudder.
“Favorite and least favorite foods?” Decker asked.
Holly paused, lowering her sandwich once more without taking a bite, and glanced from man to man. “Why all the questions?”
“Just trying to get to know you better,” Anders said mildly, and repeated, “So favorite and least favorite foods?”
Justin glanced toward the restaurant door, an irritated frown claiming his lips as he wondered for the umpteenth time what the hell was taking them so long. Surely they’d finished explaining about life mates to Holly by now? Someone should have come to get him . . . preferably Holly.
How long had it been since they’d got to the restaurant? He glanced at his watch to note the time, but he hadn’t bothered to check before this so couldn’t be sure how long he’d been waiting, and it could just seem like a long time because he was waiting. It always seemed to take forever for something to happen when you were waiting.
Sighing, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes briefly. If no one came to get him in the next fifteen minutes, he’d go take a look inside and see if they were still talking or whatnot. If they were, he could at least grab his meal and eat it out here. He was starving. Rubbing his aching stomach, he opened his eyes and glanced toward the restaurant, and then stilled when he saw Holly heading across the parking lot with Decker and Anders on either side.
“What—?” he began, sitting up abruptly and frowning as they reached the car. His words died though when Anders slid into the front passenger seat and tossed a white styrofoam take-out container into his lap.
“We brought your meal,” Anders announced.
Justin peered down at the container and lifted it with confusion. “It feels pretty light.”
“Yeah. Sorry, but talking is a hungry business and Decker and I kind of picked at your tacos.”
Picked at them? Justin thought with dismay at he opened it to see that not only had they eaten the tacos, they’d pretty much demolished the nachos that came as a side. All the container held was a couple of nachos and a smattering of salsa.
“We were going to order you something else to go, but then figured you wouldn’t want to wait, and we are going shopping now anyway, so you can pick up whatever you want there,” Decker put in.
“Thanks,” Justin said sarcastically and popped a nacho into his mouth. He wasn’t too upset though. Anders’s comment about talking being a hungry business had reassured him that they had talked to Holly, and he supposed he owed them for doing that favor. That thought in mind, he popped the second nacho into his mouth, closed the box and then turned to peer at Holly. Unfortunately, she was peering silently out her window, her face turned away from him. He wasn’t at all sure what that meant. Was she embarrassed and shy to be around him now that she knew she was his life mate?
It was more likely that she was anxious about the whole thing now, he decided as his gaze landed on her finger and the ring there. She would have to end her marriage, or at least tell her husband it was over before she would say or do anything with him, he realized. She was just that kind of woman. At least he suspected she was. The truth was, he didn’t know much about Holly except that she was his life mate. Perhaps he should find out more about her while they had the chance. Once she explained things to her husband and was free to be with him, they would no doubt be spending all their free time in bed, and talking would be the last thing on their minds.
“So,” he said brightly, turning a bit in his seat to smile at her. “What made you want to work at a cemetery?”
Holly turned to peer at him with surprise, and then smiled wryly. “Money. Although I don’t really work at the cemetery. At least, not as a permanent position. I actually work for a temp agency and they placed me there for the cemetery’s tax season.”
“Oh. Right,” he murmured and thought that was good to know. Not that there was anything wrong with working at a cemetery but . . . Well, okay, he would be a little worried about anyone who picked it as their first choice in job options. Of course, nowadays, people took jobs where they could get them and he understood that.
“So . . .” He hesitated, unsure what to ask next. Did he dare ask how long she’d been married? That seemed an insensitive question to ask a woman you were stealing away from her husband.
“Here we are,” Decker announced, turning into the grocery store parking lot.
Justin let his breath out on a slow sigh and let go of the debate on what to ask next. He could think about it while they shopped and ask more q
uestions later, he decided.
“Bricker.”
Justin closed his door and glanced to Anders in question as the man urged Holly around the SUV with a hand on her arm. Rather than walk her up to him though, he led her toward Decker as they reached the front of the vehicle and said, “You two go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”
“What’s up?” Bricker asked when the man then turned to him, blocking him from following.
“We learned a bit about Holly in the restaurant,” Anders announced.
“Like what?” Justin asked curiously.
“Well, first off, she doesn’t like questions,” he said with wry amusement. “I suspect it’s because of her upbringing, but she’s a very private person.”
Justin merely nodded at this news and supposed it was good that he hadn’t asked too much then.
“Also, she loves fish, flowers, wine, puppies, kitties, picnics, documentaries, nature shows and anything to do with nature,” Anders added, and then slapped him on the shoulder. “We thought that information might help you out in the wooing department.”
“Yeah. Thanks,” Justin said with a grin. “Thanks a lot.”
“Just helping out a fellow Enforcer,” Anders said with a shrug, and then turned to follow Holly and Decker. Justin hurried after him.
Eight
Holly surveyed the three carts the men were pushing. Each had insisted on grabbing one on the way in. She’d had no idea why at the time, but was beginning to understand. Dear Lord, they were in the last section, produce, and each cart was stacked to overflowing. It was like they were feeding an army instead of three men and two women. They must have half the store in those carts between them, Holly thought. She followed the men, slowing as she realized that they were heading for the checkout after doing nothing more than picking up a bag of potatoes each from produce. No lettuce, no broccoli, nothing at all healthy.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but a while ago they invented these things called fruits and vegetables,” she said conversationally. When the men all stopped walking and turned to stare at her blankly, she added, “I gather some guy named God came up with them at the beginning of time. You might like to give them a try.”
“Oh,” Justin said finally when the other two remained silent, their gazes shifting over the groceries in their carts. “Well . . . er . . . we’re kind of meat and potato type guys. Potatoes are vegetables,” he added brightly and gestured to his cart as if to show that he’d collected all the vegetables they needed.
“So are broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce,” Holly pointed with amusement.
This time Justin and the other two men exchanged grimaces and glances, before Justin spoke for all three of them again, saying, “Yeah, not so much. I mean sure they are vegetables, but they aren’t real vegetables if you know what I mean.”
“You mean they aren’t manly type vegetables?” she asked, one eyebrow arching and her expression stern.
“Exactly,” he said seeming relieved that she understood. “Potatoes and jalapenos are manly type vegetables. Lettuce and that stuff . . . well . . . they’re more rabbit food . . . don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think,” she assured him and then added, “My James loves all the vegetables and fruits . . . and he seems pretty manly to me.”
For some reason Justin scowled at that and then muttered, “I bet he eats quiche too, huh?”
“Sure,” Holly answered as she snatched up a shopping basket from the end of the nearest checkout.
“Of course he does,” Justin said.
Noting the almost snide tone to his voice, she turned to peer at him curiously. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Not a thing,” Anders assured her, turning his cart to head back toward the vegetables. “There’s no need for the basket. There is still room in my cart.”
“Yeah, not much though, huh?” Holly said, eyeing his cart dubiously. If she fit more than a tomato onto that stack she’d be surprised. “I think I’ll just hold on to the basket.”
“As you wish,” Anders said mildly, following when she headed back through produce.
“You do realize, Justin, that Holly didn’t understand your reference to real men not eating quiche,” Decker said as he watched Justin turn his cart around. “She’s too young to get it . . . or perhaps it is fairer to say that the reference, like yourself, is too old.”
“I’m not old,” Justin squawked, shocked at the very suggestion. He was the baby of the Enforcers. The young hip one to their grumpy old codgers. He was not old.
“You may not be old in comparison to us, but you’re ancient in comparison to mortals. Old enough to be her great-great grandfather, in fact,” Decker said with obvious enjoyment. “There is a definite generation gap between you two, sonny boy.”
Justin fell into step with Decker as he headed after Holly and Anders, but his mind was now racing as he absorbed the man’s suggestion. Old? Him? He was the young hip one, the one who knew the ways of the world and the women in it. He wasn’t old. Was he? Certainly there was no way he was old enough to be her great-great grandfather, he assured himself and then frowned. Well, okay he was over a hundred while she was maybe twenty-five. So maybe he was a good eighty years older, but . . .
“Damn, I’m an old man compared to her,” he muttered with dismay.
“A dirty old man too,” Decker informed him, and when Justin glanced to him with surprise, pointed out, “You can’t look at her without imagining her naked and in some sexual position or other.” He shook his head. “It’s a good thing she can’t read your thoughts or she’d be slapping that smiling face of yours.”
Justin merely shook his head, feeling dazed. “I’m an old man.”
“Yes, you are,” Decker said cheerfully, then glanced at him sideways and said, “Ah, don’t worry about it, Bricker. We all get there eventually. Well, unless we die,” he added dryly and then shrugged. “Better to be old than dead, huh?”
“But I’ve always been the young one.” Justin heard the whine in his voice, but too late to stop it.
“Yeah, well them’s the breaks my friend. Get over it,” Decker said with a distinct lack of sympathy.
“What did you do? Buy out the store?” Gia asked as she held the door open between the garage and kitchen and watched them cart in the first load of groceries.
“Don’t look at me,” Holly said on a laugh as she stepped inside and set her bags down. “Most of this is down to the guys. Each of them filled a whole cart to overflowing on their own. It was almost embarrassing when we went to the checkout.”
Gia shook her head and glanced from Anders to Decker. “You won’t even be here to eat any of it.”
“We were thinking of Dante and Tomasso,” Anders said with a shrug as he turned to head back out.
“Ah.” Gia nodded her head, and then arched an eyebrow at Justin. “And what’s your excuse?”
“I was thinking of your cousins too,” Justin assured her. “Those two could put away an entire cow at one sitting . . . each. I’m lucky to get anything at all to eat when they’re around. It seemed a good idea to pack in the food. That way Holly and I might at least get a sandwich or something here or there.”
“Si.” Gia grinned and then confided to Holly, “My cousins are big boys who like their food.”
“We can get the rest, Holly,” Justin said, stopping her when she started back out to the garage. “Why don’t you start unpacking while we lug the bags in?”
Nodding, Holly turned to move back to the bags she’d set down and began to pull out and sort items. Gia immediately moved to help her. Neither of them knew the kitchen layout though, so it was slow going.
“You will like my cousins Tomasso and Dante,” Gia announced suddenly as they worked.
“Why is that?” Straightening from sticking half a dozen frozen pizzas in the fre
ezer, Holly turned in time to see Justin scowling as he dumped a bunch of grocery bags on the counter.
Gia waited until he’d stomped out, then grinned and said, “I mostly said that to annoy Bricker. He is sometimes acting too big for his bitches.”
Holly blinked once and then gave her head a shake. “I think you mean he is growing too big for his britches.”
“Britches?” Gia stopped with a box of pasta in hand and eyed her uncertainly. “What is britches?”
“They’re pants or slacks,” Holly explained.
“Why would he grow too big for his pants? We are immortal. We never gain weight,” she pointed out with a frown.
“No, well, it’s just a saying. When someone gets conceited or puts on airs, they say they are getting too big for their britches.”
“Not bitches?” Gia asked with surprise.
“No,” Holly said gently, biting her lip to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to make the woman feel bad.
“Oh.” Gia shrugged. “Okay then, yes, that is what I meant. These britches.” She pursed her lips. “It makes more sense than bitches anyway.”
“Yes,” Holly murmured as she moved back to the bags.
“But you really will like my cousins,” Gia announced. “They are both big, beautiful bad boys.”
“Bad boys? And you think I’ll like them?” Holly asked with confusion.
“They are not really bad boys,” Gia assured her. “They just look like bad boys with their long hair and leather. Inside though, they are dolce.”
“Dolce?”
“Sweet,” Anders announced, carrying in more bags. “Dolce means ‘sweet.’ ”
“Si, and Dante and Tomasso look big and pauroso—scary, but inside they are as sweet as gelato.”
“Sure they are, big as bears and sweet as ice cream,” Decker said with a smile as he entered now as well. “Speaking of which, I just got the call, they will be landing in an hour. Anders and I won’t be able to help put this stuff away after all. We have to head to the airport if we want a ride home.” He grimaced and added apologetically, “Otherwise we’ll be waiting for at least a couple hours for the plane to come back for us.”