She clanked her spoon on the side of the mug. “I know where Sophie lives. Declan had her address around here somewhere.”
This time Callen cleared his throat before piping up, all while Leah sipped her drink as if a testosterone battle wasn’t waging around her. “I think what my temporarily addled brainy brother is trying to ask is how you know the details of Sophie’s rental agreement.”
That was one of many questions Beck had. “Yeah, start there.”
Leah’s nose wrinkled up as she made a face. “It’s not very flattering to me.”
“Now you have to tell us,” Callen said.
When she started a second round of spoon banging and sugar packet stacking, Beck reached out a hand and pinned hers to the table. “Really?”
“Fine.” Leah shrugged. “I did a little investigating on Sophie.”
Callen let out a groan as he shoved his chair back and headed for the cabinets to the right of the sink. He returned with a bag of pretzels and new bottle of water, as if he needed reinforcements to get through the discussion. “I’ll tell you what, Leah, you do love to check up on people.”
Beck knew exactly what Callen was talking about. A crowbar connected to an entire football team couldn’t wedge Declan and Leah apart now, but it hadn’t always been that way. Before the brothers landed in Sweetwater to handle their grandmother’s estate, Leah had marked them as obvious con artists. Never mind she hadn’t met any of them.
She’d spent a lifetime investigating them, obsessing about them, all thanks to a vendetta passed down from her father. Her biggest target was Callen, but none of them was spared from the information she collected and the battle she waged to regain ownership of Shadow Hill, the property her family lost after Charlie’s cons.
Her father lost his reputation, his money, his property and his wife when Charlie conned the town, or that was the theory. Declan and Leah discovered that her father had been Charlie’s original grifter partner and it nearly destroyed her. Even now, more than a month later, seeing her father, having him snub her in public and refuse to speak with her in private, had the power to reduce her to a pile of crushed and broken pieces.
Leah had come to Shadow Hill and apologized to all of them. They accepted it without question even before she professed her love for Declan. No one knew better than the sons of Charlie Hanover that the sins of the father shouldn’t pass to the children.
Still, at the mere suggestion of those dark days now, Leah nibbled on her bottom lip and squirmed in her chair. Just the latest sign of discomfort over her role in it all.
“I’ve been itching to look into Sophie’s past myself,” Cal said. “Only the fact of how much I hate that kind of underhanded shit stopped me. Well, that and Beck asking me not to.”
Beck could only shake his head. “Don’t start with your worries again. I got it handled.”
The clock on the wall counted off the seconds with a series of ticks. When the number hit double digits, Leah finally glanced up at Callen. “I’ve apologized for the search I ran on you back then, for all those years. For the private investigator I hired.”
He nodded. “I know. We’re good.”
Despite not wanting to hurt Leah, Beck wasn’t quite as ready to let the subject drop. Leah’s investigating tendencies should be over.
Anger welled inside him, ready to spill over, even as he remembered the internet search on Sophie sitting in his browser history. Ignoring the hypocrisy, he pushed on. “We’re not talking about Callen. We’re talking about Sophie. You investigated her even after I asked all of you to back off? One could argue you’re a bit rusty on the whole ‘learn my lesson’ concept.”
“Beck—”
Leah held up a hand as if to stop Callen’s defense. “This was weeks ago. Sophie was here all the time and her story about cleaning for your grandmother and feeling like she had to keep doing that, without pay, until the house was sold, sounded fishy.”
“Because it is,” Callen said.
Even Beck had to concede that point. “No argument here.”
“Then you understand. I didn’t really have a choice.” Color rushed into Leah’s cheeks as her hands flew around to mirror her animated comments. The ones that grew louder with each word she spoke. “And she mentioned Tom yesterday, so that took two seconds to ferret out. All I had to do was look at her address and double-check my memory of who lived there.”
Beck didn’t like that at all. “Sophie talked about this guy Tom in what context?”
“As her landlord.” Leah lifted her chin. “But understand this because I am very serious: I like Sophie and want to get to know her better. And I really like her with you.”
Beck didn’t like where this crazy train was headed. “Hey, wait a minute. I didn’t say—”
“But I will not apologize for caring about you guys and for not wanting someone else to take advantage of you. I don’t think that’s who Sophie is. I think she needs a friend and wants to feel safe here, and we should give that to her.”
Callen shrugged. “God knows we have the room.”
“If it turns out I’m wrong and Sophie is not who I think she is, and that she’s really here to hurt you guys, I will take care of her. I won’t need to call in the menfolk because there will be nowhere for her to hide from me.”
A crackle and snap followed the beat of silence after Leah’s words. A few seconds passed before Callen broke through the quiet. He twisted off the lid to his water bottle and tipped it in her direction in a silent salute. “You’re growing on me.”
Her balled fists unclenched. “Right back atcha, big guy.”
And like that, the tension pounding through the walls seeped out of the room. Whatever had been building and twisting and sucking the air right out of the kitchen downshifted to nothing.
Yeah, enough drama. “What did you find out on this search?” Beck asked.
“Oh, right. I’m the bad one for investigating.” Sophie glared at both of them before tugging on the end of the pretzel bag and dragging it toward her. “Funny how you all come running when you want the information I collect.”
Beck mentally grabbed for his last ties to his control. “Feel free to say ‘I told you so’ later but keep talking.”
She grabbed a handful of pretzels and twirled one around in her palm as she talked. “On the living stuff? Tom really is Sophie’s landlord. You didn’t notice he’s, like, twenty years older than she is?”
In his work, Beck had seen fifteen-year-old girls married to sixty-something perverts. Nothing shocked him, certainly not a few-decades age difference. “So?”
Callen’s narrowed gaze suggested the importance didn’t ring true for him either. “I’m guessing Leah thinks that means something.”
With a perfectly executed men-are-so-stupid eye roll, Leah munched on a pretzel. It took her forever to swallow, but when she did . . . “There’s no romance. Tom is a really good guy. I’ve known him for a long time. He moved out of Sweetwater for a few years, but now he’s back.”
Beck swore under his breath. “Convenient.”
“I’ve never heard a bad thing, not even from his ex-wife.”
Something about the addition of “ex” had a ball of anxiety colliding with Beck’s lungs. “Ex?”
Leah smiled. “I saw Tom and Sophie together a few weeks ago and watched them and—”
“Do I even want to know why?” Callen asked.
Leah pointed at both of them, moving her finger between Callen and Beck. “No, you don’t. But remember the time I’m describing, when I was following her, it came before I moved in here and around the time Declan and I agreed we were in a committed relationship.”
Callen’s water bottle stopped halfway to his mouth. “Does Declan call it that?”
“The committed thing?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “No, he prefers to use naughty words that would mak
e Beck blush.”
“I doubt that.” Beck thought about shooting Leah a scowl of his own. For whatever reason, despite the degrees and job traveling around the country, his family still saw him as the baby. Sheltered and naïve. Forget that he was a grown man.
The treatment totally pissed him off.
“My point is Tom treats Sophie like a family member.” Leah closed one eye as if weighing the possibility. “Hell, they could be related. I really didn’t find out much about Sophie and stopped before I did any real in-depth digging, because Declan asked me to, and Beck was really clear about watching her from a distance but giving her space to come to us, or whatever he argued. Besides, as Declan pointed out, I have better things to occupy my time now.”
“Like him.” Callen threw a pretzel in the air and caught it in his mouth. After a few bites, he turned to Beck again. “Feel better now that you know all that?”
Beck shrugged, tried to play it off like he really didn’t care. Not that he knew all that much new anyway. “None of it matters to me. I just wondered.”
He cut off the conversation because it seemed safer. In his fantasies Sophie was available and hot and all over him. If this Tom guy meant something to her the fantasy would fizzle and after a month of refining it, Beck wasn’t ready to let it go.
“Sure.” Callen drew the word out to ten syllables. “Stick with that because it’s so believable.”
Leah jumped in before Beck could tell Callen what he should stick. “Sophie or not, I was actually going to introduce you guys to Tom.”
“You want more men around here?” Callen asked.
He and Leah took turns digging a hand in the pretzel bag. The rustling filled the kitchen and echoed in Beck’s head. It was like sitting in a movie theater while the people behind him crinkled a bag for two hours. Annoying.
“He’s in construction and could help with build out. Everyone in the county uses him. He’s probably the best builder around,” Leah said. “That’s his business, what he does.”
He could have a statewide exclusive on nails and Beck’s answer would be the same. “No.”
Callen put a hand behind his ear. “Care to expound on that? Maybe give us ten or fifteen lawyer words to explain your dismissal of Leah’s idea.”
“We’re fine as we are.” Except for the money trouble, all the secrets, the townspeople who hated them and this thumping need for Sophie.
“We?” Callen’s mouth dropped open after he barked out the word. “I have yet to see you pick up a hammer.”
Beck considered that his best decision since coming to Sweetwater, possibly his only good one. Declan and Callen were work-with-their-hands types. They liked to argue and build. Beck preferred the planning, so he stuck to that.
And he didn’t get stuck spending hours outside in the rain. As far as he was concerned, that made him the smartest Hanover brother. “I’m administrative staff.”
“Well, when it comes to hiring personnel I’m overruling you.” Callen turned to Leah. “Give me this Tom guy’s number,” he said, holding out his palm as if expecting her to have it on her and handy.
Typical older-brother-always-in-charge move. Well, Beck had had enough surprises and talk for one evening. He got up, ignoring the screech as his chair rubbed against the floor.
Leah called after him. “Where are you going?”
“Bed.”
“It’s eight o’clock.” Callen’s voice suggested he wanted to add “dumb-ass” to the end but left it off.
Beck answered as if he heard it. “Shut up.”
Chapter Seven
Callen watched Beck disappear around the corner then heard the thudding of angry footsteps on the stairs. Callen knew he probably pushed too hard, but watching Beck flail around like a lovesick, suffocating fish over Sophie had gone from being amusing to pathetic. Callen didn’t fully trust Sophie but he recognized attraction when it zapped in front of him, and those two had it bad.
Then there was the part where Beck wanted, maybe needed, to fix the estate situation. He stared at the same damn claim documents day after day. He made calls and argued people to death. He put his body between law enforcement and the rest of the family.
But he couldn’t solve Charlie’s mess, and Callen didn’t know how to make his very smart but very idealistic brother understand that simple fact.
“Hmmm.” Leah drummed her fingers against the table. “He’s been saying ‘shut up’ a lot lately.”
“We probably deserve it most of the time, but he’s into Sophie to the point of being stupid,” Callen said.
Leah picked up the cue. “Was Declan that messed up over me?”
“Sort of.” As far as Callen could tell, his brothers wallowed in different forms of woman-related stupidity. “Declan didn’t hide how much he wanted you. He was just a disaster at keeping you.”
“Poor baby.” Leah smiled as said it. “He tried so hard.”
“You finally took pity on him, and we are all grateful.”
“Happy to help.”
“Beck, on the other hand, is in denial.” Since more than a month had passed and Callen still hadn’t gotten a true feel for Sophie, he could understand Beck’s confusion. “Maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
“You definitely don’t trust Sophie.”
“I know what you just said, but do you? Really?” Part of Callen wanted to kick Sophie out before Beck got any more attached. Hell, before any of them did. Even with the snooping and excuses, there was something charming about her. And she sure was easy on the eyes.
Leah tapped her finger on the side of her mug as she hesitated between each word. “I’ve watched her. It’s like she thinks there’s something hidden here and she needs to find it. With all of us walking in and out and checking on her, she’s not getting the job done all that quickly, and her guilt seems to be mounting as the days go by.”
Callen picked up on the same change. The Sophie he met originally stayed quiet and slipped from room to room. The more time around the house and Beck, the more she’d opened up, even joked and smiled . . . except for those times when the burdens of the world showed in her frown. “But what does she really want?”
“That’s just it. She’s looking through your grandmother’s stuff, which makes me think this goes back to when Sophie worked for her. For whatever reason, she doesn’t trust us enough to tell us, but I think she’s close to telling Beck.”
Cal knew the real answer. “She’s close to sleeping with him.”
“And I’m betting she’s someone who will want the truth out there before they take that step.” Leah sighed. “Trust me, I understand that part. Declan knew about my anger over Charlie but the enormity of my vendetta was much harder to disclose and I messed up the timing.”
A pretty big understatement, but Callen understood her need to move on. “It worked out.”
“Bottom line is I’m not picking up a danger or revenge vibe from Sophie.”
“Me either, which is the only reason I’ve agreed to let Beck handle this his way, but the chance of his brain abdicating to his d—” Callen cleared his throat. “Let’s just say he may not be thinking straight.”
“I don’t believe whatever is driving Sophie will hurt Beck. I think she’s really attracted to him and it’s throwing her common sense off.”
No way was Callen taking women’s intuition or whatever Leah relied on as gospel. “I wish I could be sure about that.”
“The sparks between them are pretty intense, even though they appear a tad clueless about what the rest of us can see without strain.”
Callen would have used other words and probably pointed out their idiocy, but he decided to go with Leah’s G-rated version instead. “Yeah, I know.”
“Look, I don’t want him hurt either. I don’t want any of you hurt.” Leah reached across the table and put her hand over Callen’s.
The warmth of her palm seeped into his skin. The touching. She did it automatically. It was one of the many things he liked about her. The openness and acceptance. Once she’d decided Declan was hers, she adopted the entire family. She coddled and pushed them around. For Callen it was like having a sister for the first time.
Not that it had been a smooth ride. They had a bumpy start, Callen’s suspicions of her being more finely tuned than Declan’s, but they worked through it. In many ways, she knew more about Callen than his brothers did. For years he’d separated himself from Declan and Beck, convinced they needed a better influence. Behind the scenes he’d watched, ready to step in and help.
But Leah, with her investigating and the stacks of files she and her father collected on the Hanover family over the years—she knew a part of Callen’s life he didn’t want told. And a month ago she’d handed him a sealed file that contained paperwork about that life. Information that he knew from the pleading in her eyes held a secret. Without words, she told him not to open it because it contained a death blow of sorts.
To this day, he hadn’t done more than move the envelope around. It remained closed and he had no immediate plans to change that. Not when he’d finally found Declan and Beck again. Not when the good times had finally started to make inroads into all the bad.
Callen couldn’t lose them a second time.
Declan needed a house and security and a place to call his own, so Cal was prepared to deliver Shadow Hill for him and spend every cent in the bank account to do it. If Beck needed Sophie, Cal would figure out how to stay out of the way and let that happen, no matter how much he itched to shake the truth out of her now.
He squeezed Leah’s hand. “I don’t doubt you or your concern for this family.”
A soft smile played on Leah’s lips. “You did at first, with good reason. All I’m suggesting is we give Sophie more time. I think she’s worth the effort and Beck doesn’t seem to have a defense against her.”
“Poor bastard.”
A Simple Twist of Fate Page 6