He wrote me countless emails. I read them but never responded. Cabe thought the bad guys might be able to track me, or at least think they could track me through him. After going through so much the last thing I wanted was to put him in further danger. So I never wrote him back.
But I devoured each one. At first, they were thanking me for saving his life, then they became about his recovery and finally the last few were of the progress the police had made tackling the sex trafficking syndicate in the city.
The emails slowed down over the years and by year three had completely stopped. It was surprising he kept writing to me for so long without any response and I couldn’t blame him when they did finally come to an end. Although I did miss them, and I’m not going to lie, for the first few months after his last email, where he said it was going to be his last email, I hoped and prayed one more would be waiting in my inbox for me. But he was a man of his word and I never received another one.
He smelled really good, as in, really really good, and was a super handsome, really large man. A man who I noticed now had a little salt peppered throughout his dark hair. It made him even more dangerous looking. I also noticed he has somewhat pronounced cheekbones and a square jaw with a deep dimple in his chin.
Oh, boy was I in trouble.
He was taller than I’d thought he would be, with a thick wide chest that stretched his light grey button-up shirt as it tapered to his trim waist before disappearing into the waist of his dark grey slacks that were encasing his thick thighs. I already knew what other assets he had and that thought sent a flush through my body.
A big strong, healthy, alive man who was still holding me, but now was looking down at me with that same intense stare I saw earlier. Looking up at him, I realized he had the most amazing green eyes that were surrounded by thick black lashes.
Whoa! He was gorgeous!
Like, almost not real gorgeous. He was so freakishly handsome it was surreal.
I stopped crying abruptly staring up at him. I wasn’t a tear rolling down my cheek, with wet spiky eyelashes, kind of crier. I was a snotty nose, tears streaming, kind of crier with swollen eyes and nose, and splotchy sweaty skin my hair stuck to, kind of crier.
I couldn’t have him see me ugly cry at our very first meeting.
Well, his first time meeting me while he was conscious.
“I’ve waited six long years, Angel, time’s up,” he said huskily, in the deepest, sexiest voice I’d ever heard.
I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by that, but I knew he must be feeling some kind of way about me saving his life, so I’d give him whatever he needed to move on.
It would not be a problem, trust me. Did I already mention how good he smelled? Now, I knew he had a deep sexy raspy voice too, one that gave me chills. Yeah, this wasn’t a hardship for me.
I nodded my head affirmative and looked up into his beautiful eyes.
Suddenly Cabe was beside me pulling me out of his arms and engulfing me in another super-hot alpha guy hug. “You’ve been missed Syd; it’s time for you to come home,” and kissed my cheek. I nodded affirmatively to him as well, too choked up to speak.
Cabe released me and turned me to a stunning blonde who was waiting to pull me in for a hug.
“Jenna?” I asked surprised, as it hit me who she was.
“Welcome home my beautiful friend,” she whispered in my ear as we embraced and held on to each other.
“My God, you were always beautiful, but now you’re stunning! What’s been happening with you? Why didn’t I know you were discovering the fountain of glamorous youth? Where is it and can we have it moved to my house?” I said in a rush in her ear.
With a little laugh, she pulled back, holding onto my upper arms. “I’ll share it all with you, every last detail. We didn’t want you to worry and come rushing home before it was safe for you, so we’ve been very careful in what we told you. But we have so much to catch up on. Isabella is flying in tomorrow and we’ve made all the arrangements you asked us to in your emails, but we can go over all of that tonight. You and Agatha are staying with me. I have the room, the security, and we can figure out how to work your crazy cat lady thing against my crazy dog lady thing.”
I responded by hugging her tighter, too choked up to speak. It seemed like I was going to be crying a lot.
As I pretty made my way through the group giving and getting hugs, the Stockton Police Chief held me a little longer than some of the others and in his booming voice said, “Sure is good to have you home Lawyer.”
He was a giant barrel-chested, all American lawman with thinning strawberry blonde hair and a ruddy complexion. He worked hard for his city and hated that the city’s criminals often sought out smaller communities around the city to victimize.
He’d always been behind me, always on my side, went to every court hearing, and at any public appearance, he was there to make sure I was well protected. But he never called me by my name; he started calling me Lawyer and had been for the last six years. So I called him Chief; we both knew it was our own version of affection between two people who were uncomfortable expressing emotion.
“It sure is good to be home Chief,” I whispered back to him.
“Alright everyone, let’s get Syd’s bags and get her home and settled in,” Cabe said to the group when all the greetings were done and we were standing around visiting.
“She’s going with me,” Roman growled to the group, just as I felt a strong hand take my upper arm and gently pull me away from the crowd. “Can I have the cat carrier please?” Roman continued, speaking to the girls who had commandeered Agatha.
“Thank you, ladies,” he said in a deep gentle voice as they quietly handed Agatha over.
“Ummmm…” I started.
“Wait a minute. Who says she’s going with you?” Cabe started walking with us as Tall Dark and Handsome aka Roman Stognafsky, practically dragged me away. He was probably trying to get me away from the welcoming committee before anyone else could protest.
Without stopping, he replied, “I do. I’ve left her alone all these years just like you asked me to. ”
My head swung to Cabe, who pointedly ignored me and stayed laser locked onto Roman.
“Stog, she doesn’t even know you.”
“Whose fault is that? If I’d done things my way, I’d have been able to visit her and she’d been back here two years ago. She would’ve had plenty of time to get to know me. I left her alone against my own instincts and followed your lead instead. But she isn’t under your protection anymore. Your job is done and now she’s undermine. The two of us have a lot of catching up to do. You got a problem with that?”
The crowd was catching up with us at this point which made Tall Dark and Handsome walk and drug me, faster towards the baggage claim. “Let’s get your bags and get out of here.”
“Wait, I think I should stay with Jenna. I mean Cabe is right I don’t even know you, really.” I was having to hustle just to keep up with his pace and tugged us to a stop.
Keeping a firm hold of my arm he turned to me and said, “You read every email I sent you – I know because I embedded each one with an alert that notified me when you opened them. You chose for whatever reason not to respond, and that was your prerogative. But I’m telling you right now Angel, I’ve waited for you for six long torturous years and no one is stopping me from spending time with you. I thought I’d be able to ease us into this but with the reception you just got, the way you look, and the way Cabe and a couple of the officers are looking at you, I am not feeling generous with my time. If we decide we can’t stand each other after a couple of days, fine. We can revisit this situation, but you’re going to give me a few days before you dive back into your life.” He tried tugging me back into motion, but Cabe had arrived and stood in our way placing a hand on Roman’s chest, keeping him from moving. “You’re not taking Sydney anywhere she doesn’t want to go. ”
Roman looked down at Cabe’s hand on his chest and said, “Thing
s aren’t going to go well for you Brown if you don’t take your hand off of me. Right. Now.” Those last two words were emphasized by Roman leaning into Cabe’s hand. Hard.
Now Cabe is a large man himself and all commando-like, but I have to tell you, right then, it didn’t look like he should go up against Tall Dark and Handsome.
The tension and testosterone around us ratcheted up a zillion percent, and I started to panic. I could not have these two fighting over me at the airport and in front of my welcome committee. I had a lot to process and a lot to do now that I was back, but I knew all of this started with Roman and needed to get some closure with him. For both of us.
“Roman…” I started.
Tall Dark and Handsome turned his beautiful, intensely emotional eyes to mine. His gaze held emotion that spoke directly to my soul, so raw it made my arms tingle.
He leaned towards me and said, “I’ve seen you in my dreams. You’re wearing all white, covered in my blood and you’re praying to God to save my life. Over and over you pray for my life. I have spent more nights with you in my head than any other woman alive. Please give me this.”
My entire body tingled in response to the raw emotion Roman was exposing to me.
“Well,” I don’t think I’d ever had a man express such a desire to spend time with me. I’m not going to lie, it felt nice, and he did smell good, “you’d better like cats.” It was all I had.
Chapter 6
Who’s The Boss
T he ride home with Roman was uncomfortable, at best. He was emitting mad waves of emotion and I was too tired from the long flight and the time change to deal with it. It had been quite a while since I’d been back on Pacific Standard time. So I ignored him and settled in making myself comfortable.
That is after I was horrified because once we finally retrieved my baggage and made it out to the parking area, I found myself unable to lift my leg wide enough to climb up into his ginormous truck. I was wearing one of my favorite pencil skirts. It was a deep wine color with tiny brass buttons up the front. I’d paired it with a cream camisole and a pair of wine wedge slip-on that matched the skirt. I tried lifting myself, but I wasn’t tall enough to grab the handle on the roof.
This was great. Just great.
Finally, Roman, who had left me to climb in so he could toss my suitcases into the bed of his ridiculously large truck, realized I was struggling. He came up behind me, placed both of his large hands on my hips and popped me off my feet and into the cab of the truck like I weighed nothing more than a sack of flour.
When I felt his hands on my hips, I flushed.
When he leaned in across my now seated body to grab the seat belt and pull it across my lap, I got a solid whiff of his sexy as heck scent and broke out into a sweat.
When he heard me breathe him in, he straightened, smiled big, winked and closed the door.
My body tingled and my palms started to itch.
Oh, Lord Almighty! This was going to be a long drive back to Harmony Grove.
The interior of his cab was very roomy and extremely comfortable in a soft grey leather that fit his big black truck perfectly. It was one of those newer, fancy trucks that looked like it could pull all sorts of things and do a lot of work but was too nice to actually use in that manner. I guess the truck fell under the “men and their toys” category.
I was still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I was going with this man, to his home, who had been such a big part of my life, and had made such a big impact on my life.
I said I would. So I was going with him, but it felt super weird.
Luckily, before Roman could drag me out of the airport, I was able to briefly connect with each one of my tribe members. These ladies meant so much to me, and were, for all intents and purposes the only family I’d ever had. I’d not seen them for so long and I missed them desperately.
I thought about my beautiful Francesca, and her mini-me look alike, early teen daughters, Francesca and the girls who took a break from sitting vigil over Frank’s hospice care to come and meet me said so much about our friendship and exactly why I needed to be here.
With them.
For them.
I needed to be there to help them the way they have always helped me. This is what family did for each other - and nothing, not years, not miles, not even an ocean between us would stop me from being here for them.
After a brief discussion with Francesca, while the men were fighting over my bags, I learned that she and the girls would also be at Raquel and Antonio’s funeral, but we wouldn’t be seeing much of them other than that for a while. Every single waking moment they wanted to spend with Frank, who was in the final stages of a rare bone cancer that had begun attacking his body four years ago. They didn’t know when the last moment would be his last moment. Francesca also said the type of cancer he had was extremely painful. The cancer wasn’t just taking his life, but was also tearing up the girls watching him suffer in agonizing pain.
My beautiful friend Jenna, who had made such a gorgeous transformation and was the epitome of taking a bad situation and making it not just good, but by the looks of her great . I couldn’t wait to get more time with her and hear all about what had been going on.
I looked over at the large man sitting next to me and squinted at him. He was keeping me from visiting with Jenna.
“What?” he asked, looking at me. I squinted at him again and looked back at the road without saying anything.
Anyway, then there was my beloved Terra and her always watching, always knowing eyes, she was such a beautiful quiet strength for our tribe.
I couldn’t wait to hear all of the adventures that Stella and Jules, and everyone, had been up to. Even though Raquel had kept me updated on some of the women’s goings-on, it’s nothing like wrapping your arms around your girls after you have a big win or even more importantly a big loss; when you really need them the most. Especially at a time like this when we’ve lost one of our own.
Then there was Becca, God love her and her freaking cowboy boots. Let me tell you, if she’d showed up in anything other than those amazing worn dirty boots, I would’ve thought the world had come to an end.
This.
This is what I came home for, these women.
These amazing, beautiful women who hold me up. We hold each other up. I glanced out the window at the vineyards as we buzzed by them.
Except now, instead of holding each other up, we were going to be burying one of our own.
One of our own sisters.
One of the founding sisters of our tribe; the one who’d always been there for every single one of us, the one that held us together. She made us who we are and now we’d lost her. The truly regrettable part is that I wasn’t here the last few years to be a part of her life, not in a way that I would’ve liked.
So many of these thoughts and emotions came crashing in on me, and suddenly I was exhausted.
“You’re awfully quiet, but I can hear you thinking,” said Roman interrupting my internal dialogue.
“I’m tired from the flight and time change,” I said and then decided to go on. “Also, I didn’t like the way you tossed my bags into the back of your truck.”
I didn’t really have an issue with the bags and wasn’t quite sure why I made that comment but for some reason, being with Roman made me feel a little mean.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, in his sexy damn voice that left goosebumps every time he spoke. Jerk.
“No. Kind of. I don’t know. I’m tired. Can we just be quiet?” I was tired and this was the best game plan. I was sure at this point I was going to say something that I would regret sometime in the near future.
I could feel Roman look over at me, but I wasn’t brave enough to meet his stare, and thankfully, he didn’t say anything else.
The next day Raquel and Antonio‘s niece Isabella would be flying in and we would all meet her at the airport, so I’d relayed this information to Roman by turning back to
him and saying, “You know Isabella is flying in tomorrow and I’ll need to be there? You can still take me to Jenna’s house if you like and save yourself a trip.” My point was if I stayed with the women, we could all come back here together and pick her up.
But he wasn’t hearing any of it. What he didn’t know and what I was not ready to share with him or any of the other ladies…yet…was that I had other business here besides the funeral and Raquel and Antonio‘s estate.
“I thought you wanted to be quiet?” He said, and looked over at me. I didn’t say anything back, so he sighed and said, “I’ve already worked it out with Cabe. I’ll have you there in time.”
“It’s just a lot to take in, coming home right now. First with Raquel and Antonio and now with you. I mean, you have to admit this is a little weird and uncomfortable. I don’t really know you”
“That’s why it’s best for you to stay with me. You’re going to get to know me. I’m going to get to know you. You might as well get used to it; you’re not shaking me off. I don’t care how hard you try.”
Whatever.
“You’re awfully bossy. What if I don’t like a bossy man? What if I like a man who is normal and relaxed? I am a strong independent woman, a woman who can make her own decisions and not be bossed around by some big strong hunky man.”
Roman looked over at me, his beautiful green eyes sparkling, he smiled a really good smile and said, “You think I’m hunky.”
He was hunky. He was hunky with a sexy deep voice that was making me crazy, but that was beside the point; if he thought he was going to put me off. He’d have to try harder than that.
“Well of course I do. You have to know you’re hunky. I’m sure there are lots of women around town who tell you every day, just how hunky you are.” I actually didn’t like that thought very much and crossed my arms over my chest.
Lawyer & Liar Page 5