by Olivia James
A sense of humor was high on Shaw's list of attributes she needed a man to have and Luke had delivered on that and then some. That he was sexy, and his voice low and grumbly didn't hurt either.
He was also one of the largest men Shaw had ever met in her life. As in really, really big. That had only been highlighted when he'd walked her to her car, towering over her at least a foot and maybe more, his wide shoulders almost blocking out the sun. When they'd hugged goodbye though, he'd been extra gentle as if he was well aware of his own strength.
The hug had been lovely though, warm and comforting. He'd smelled good too, a mixture of citrus and soap. Nice and clean without being overwhelming or heavy. Just...manly.
Okay, I'm a sucker for a nice-smelling guy.
It didn't hurt that he'd be the type to have her back in a dark alley. Not that she hung out in dark alleys, but he had an air about him that somehow said that he had it all under control and it was all going to be fine.
What kind of kisser would he be?
She'd found herself studying his lips at one point, wondering that very question. Far too early in the date to be thinking about it, but... She couldn't help herself. He was that attractive.
He'd definitely dated. They hadn't discussed their romantic histories yet but a man that good looking, sexy, and charming wasn't sitting home all by himself on Saturday nights watching television or playing video games. He was the kind of man that probably had women panting after him.
So why me?
If he'd wanted a girlfriend, he could go out and get one. Melissa said that he worked all the time, and Shaw could totally understand that. In theory, she wasn't ugly either and she'd had her share of male attention since hitting puberty, but she'd never considered herself a great beauty.
Did Luke Brewster find her as attractive as she found him?
Her phone ringing pulled her abruptly from her wandering thoughts. A quick check of the screen had her wincing in response.
Her mother. Julia Parker Stephenson, age fifty-five. She'd remarried about six months ago to a man she'd met in San Francisco while on vacation with a friend. Shaw hadn't been too sure about the relationship, but they seemed quite happy.
Do I really want to talk to her right now?
If I don't answer, she'll just call again and again until I do. Might as well get this over with.
She dried her hand and pressed the speaker button.
"Hello, Mother."
"Shaw, I've been worried sick about you."
That tone. Shaw knew it well. That plaintive tone that said that she'd done something terribly wrong and hurt her mother. Again.
"Why? I'm fine."
"How would I know that? I haven't heard from you in over a week. You could have been dead in a ditch somewhere and I wouldn't have known."
Sighing internally, Shaw rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that if the police found me in a ditch, you'd be the first one they called."
"It's been over a week."
A blessedly peaceful one, too. It was almost as if Shaw's mother made everyone around her tense and on edge.
"I've been working, Mom, and you've been out of town. What can I do for you?"
Cut to the chase of the call. Bottom line it.
"Can't I call just to talk to you? Why does it have to be about anything in particular?"
Because there was always a reason. Shaw's mother didn't chat.
"Of course, you can call me."
"I would hope so. I was in labor forty-eight hours with you."
And you'll never let me forget it.
"I didn't do it on purpose. Now how was your trip to Las Vegas? Did you and Oliver win any money? See any shows?"
They'd gone to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their first meeting.
"We didn't gamble all that much, at least I didn't. We played golf and saw the sights. You need to go see Hoover Dam. It's a feat of engineering."
"I'll put that on my list. What else did you do?"
"We ate at a few fancy restaurants, but I don't want to talk about that. It wasn't important. I want to talk about you. Did you hear from that publisher yet?"
It was strange that Julia didn't approve of Shaw's career but she sure as hell wanted to be involved in it. As deeply as possible.
"I did," Shaw replied reluctantly. This wasn't going to go over well. At all. "I signed the contract a few days ago."
She braced for the storm to come. Julia didn't like not being consulted about these things.
"What? You signed it already? What were you thinking, Shaw Catherine Parker? You can't just go around signing things. You need a lawyer to look over the contract."
So much for a relaxing hot bath.
"I did have an attorney look at it, Mom. We all agreed that it was a good offer."
"We? Who is we? I wasn't consulted."
Because I'm almost thirty years old. You don't control me anymore. You just think you should.
"Me, my agent, and the attorney. It's a good deal. You'll have to trust me on this."
Haha. Trust? That wasn't going to happen.
"You need to send me a copy of that contract immediately so I can look it over. I think you have three days to be able to get out of it."
"Mother, I don't want out of it."
Shaw tried to say it gently but she was losing patience. Her mother wasn't a lawyer or in publishing. She wouldn't know if it was a good or bad deal. She simply wanted to be in charge of it. She wanted to know all the details, especially when it came to her daughter’s money. Julia had all sorts of ideas as to how Shaw should spend her newfound income.
"Send it to me right away. My God, you really need to be more careful. People can take advantage of you if you're not on guard."
Shaw had been talking to her friends about setting more boundaries with her mother. She didn't do well at that and it was something that she'd vowed she was going to do in the next year. She wasn't a child anymore, and she wouldn't give in to her mother's emotional blackmail. The whining, the crying, and the histrionics that frankly Julia should have grown out of by five years old. She'd do whatever it took to get Shaw to behave in whatever way she thought was right. Shaw's feelings?
Not all that important.
Sitting up in the tub, Shaw took a deep, fortifying breath. "Mother, the decision has been made. I signed the contract. It's a done deal."
There. Straight and to the point. No equivocation. Julia didn't get to meddle in her life anymore, pulling her strings.
Holy shit, I just shut down my mother.
Shaw's stomach twisted into a tight knot as she waited for her mother to explode. She'd probably see the fireworks in the sky from across town.
"I see," Julia said, slowly and deliberately. Shaw could practically see her mother seething through the phone. "I didn't realize that my opinion didn't count for anything anymore. I'm only your mother, the person who loves you and gave birth to you. Those agents and attorneys won't put you first like I will, but I can see that you've made up your mind."
There were a few sniffles to indicate that Julia was now crying. Shaw had made her mother cry. Oliver wasn't going to be happy, either. He hated it when his wife cried.
Shaw was literally shaking in the now cooling bathwater. This was when she normally folded like a cheap tent and gave in to whatever her mother wanted.
Not this time. I have to remind myself that she isn't going to add any value looking over that contract. She's not a lawyer.
"Mother, can we talk about something else? We aren't getting anywhere on this topic. "
No justifying. Defending. Arguing. Just deflect. Redirect the conversation.
"Is there anything else you've done that I should know about? Perhaps you got married while I was away? Had a few children?"
Ah, sarcasm. The tears hadn't worked so Julia had found another arrow in her quiver.
"No, still single."
She didn't mention her date with Luke Brewster. Her mother always found fault with anyone she
dated.
"If you called me every now and then I wouldn't be wondering what is going on in your life."
"I'll call more, Mom."
The tent was slowing folding.
"Of course, you will. You're such a good daughter. Call me tomorrow morning. Oliver and I are going to watch television now."
"Have a nice night."
Shaw disconnected the call.
What would I tell myself if I asked me for advice?
Don't be a pushover.
When it came to Julia Stephenson, that was easier said than done.
After his meeting with Shaw, Luke stopped back at the office to check in with his co-worker and buddy Ryan who was working a cold case that had come in the week before. Ryan was head down over his laptop when Luke sat down at the desk next door.
"So? How was she?"
Leave it to Ryan to get right to the point. He was definitely a man of few words, and when he did speak he tried to make it count.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Snickering, Ryan lifted his head and swung around in his chair so he was facing Luke.
"Don't be an asshole. You went to meet a woman. We all know it. Just tell me how it went."
"What makes you think you know?"
It was a stupid game. There weren't many secrets in this office, and Luke's friends were investigators, after all.
"I heard you on the phone with your sister. And before you tell me not to listen in, you were sitting right there at your desk and I was sitting right here. I couldn't help but overhear. Shit, your voice carries. Shelly at the reception desk probably heard you."
His voice did carry. He'd had to learn to be loud to be heard in a family with a lot of kids.
"It went fine."
Luke was going to tell Ryan all the details, but he was going to make his friend work a little for it first.
"Fine? What a candy-ass word. My teeth cleaning the other day went fine. Get a thesaurus and find a better adjective."
"It was good."
Luke couldn't keep the smile from his face. This was fun. Playing with Ryan and getting him pissed off was entertaining as hell.
"I can see you trying not to laugh, you rat bastard. If you're smiling it must have been better than good or fine, for fuck's sake, so spill it. You might be bigger than me, but I can still beat the shit out of you."
Luke had three inches and about forty pounds on Ryan - who was no snowflake himself - but they were probably evenly matched when it came down to it. According to their boss Logan Wright, Ryan was an expert in hand to hand combat, plus he didn't mind playing dirty. He could be meaner than a snake if you were on the wrong side of him.
"You need to learn to chill out. Just relax, Beck. You're far too tense."
Ryan didn't reply at all, simply staring Luke down until they couldn't keep a straight face and ended up laughing.
"Seriously, I had a nice time. She's everything that Melissa promised. Beautiful, funny, intelligent. We're going to go out again."
"But?"
Luke chuckled and shook his head. "No buts. We had a great time. The date flew by. We had a lot to talk about, especially as we have the same degree in psychology."
Ryan frowned. "You're not exactly jumping for joy that you've found a woman that might be able to put up with you."
"I am, it's just..."
"Ah, here we go. What's up?"
"Her job is social media. She gives relationship advice. Not just couples, but family, friends, co-workers. That sort of stuff."
"Sounds interesting."
"I'm planning to watch some of her videos. But she has a few rather...passionate fans that are bothering her."
Ryan's brows shot up. "The plot thickens. Do go on."
Luke shrugged. "That's all I know so far. She's kept all the correspondence in a folder so I asked her to send it to me so I can look through it. Her agent has been telling her not to engage which I agree with. They've also told her that eventually he'll find someone else to bother if she doesn't give him the attention he craves. I sort of agree with that as well, although so far, he hasn't disappeared. She's blocked him numerous times apparently and he keeps coming back with a new persona."
"Persistent bastard, isn't he?"
"He is which makes me wonder if he's one of the majority that will eventually fade away on their own or one of the few that have to be persuaded."
"Did she send you the messages?"
Luke opened the lid on his laptop. "I had her email them to me. I haven't looked at them yet."
"Fire it up and I'll grab us a couple of sodas."
Ryan went into the kitchen while Luke opened up the email which had the folder attached. The messages only took a moment to load, in chronological order. Luke opened the oldest one first just as Ryan sat down, placing two cans on the desk.
They didn't speak for several minutes, silently reading the messages and then opening the next one. It was only when they were finished that anyone spoke up.
"He's escalating."
Ryan had hit the nail on the head. It was exactly what Luke had been thinking. The messages had at first started out fairly innocuous, telling Shaw how much they liked her channel, how pretty she was, how smart and intuitive, and how much she'd helped them.
That first message Shaw had replied to, which wasn't a surprise. It sounded normal and she'd already told him that she tried to answer all the messages she received - positive or negative - as long as they weren't abusive. She'd thanked the viewer and told them how much she appreciated them watching and subscribing.
Then it was off to the races.
The person took that as the opening and barraged Shaw with message after message, sometimes a dozen in one day, each one getting more bizarre and personal. Shaw must have caught on and she didn't respond back, but the man - or woman - wouldn't take no for an answer and simply created a new profile. The most recent messages had an angry and bitter tone regarding Shaw ignoring them. The last few were especially ominous, promising that she was going to regret her actions if she didn't reply.
"He is escalating," Luke agreed. "He's also getting angrier. I don't like the tone of the more recent messages."
"He might go away on his own," Ryan said in a hopeful tone. "It could happen."
Luke pointed to the screen. "If this were your sister, what would you say to her?"
Shaw was his sister's friend and that made her like family as far as he was concerned. It didn't matter whether he was dating her or not.
Ryan's lips twisted. "That she needed to watch this guy closely."
"That's what I think too. She's not going to be happy to hear that. I was hoping to be able to tell her that I looked over the messages and it was all no big deal."
"It still could be a nothing burger. We're not perfect when we make a call like this. Tighten up her cyber security and if you make it difficult enough for him, he might go away."
The question was...would Shaw let him help her? As much as he wanted to see her again, he wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
5
"So how was your date with my brother? Tell me everything."
Melissa had stopped in after work for a glass of wine, which quickly turned into ordering a pizza for the two of them. They'd asked Taylor to join them, but she already had plans with her new guy.
"Everything?" Shaw laughed. "Are you sure? What if I slept with your brother and we had wild sex on my kitchen island? Do you still want to hear about it?"
They were sitting at Shaw's kitchen island, which had Melissa giving the offending butcher block top a nasty glare.
"You didn't, did you? Because I didn't think you were the type to jump into bed with someone. Not that there's anything wrong with that, because it would be fine, but I just sort of thought you were the slow and cautious type."
"I didn't, but you didn't know that when you asked for all the details."
"Maybe I don't need all the details."
Shaw shru
gged. "There's nothing down and dirty to tell, I must admit. We had coffee and shared a piece of lemon cake."
"My brother loves sweets. I bet he ate most of it."
He hadn't, so that was a point in his favor. He might have wanted to, but he didn't expect to get everything he wanted.
"It was about half and half. That's a nice little coffee shop. So we talked quite a bit about his job and my job. It was good." She gave Melissa a nudge with her elbow. "We're going out again."
Her friend did a fist pump in the air, making Shaw laugh harder.
"I knew it. I knew you two would hit it off. He's a pretty cool guy, isn't he? I mean...he's my favorite brother."
"He's your only brother."
"Even if I had a dozen, Luke would be my favorite. I know we're supposed to argue and fight, but we don't. I think he's genuinely a great guy, and he deserves to be with a nice woman."
"Thank you for the compliment. I agree that your brother is a nice man. We got along very well."
A smile played around Melissa's lips. "Admit it. You didn't expect to like him."
Sighing, Shaw had to fess up to her friend. "I didn't but was pleasantly surprised. Although, I must say that you might have warned me about how massive he is. He made the booth we sat in look like teeny-tiny doll furniture. He's huge."
Melissa nodded in agreement. "Six-four and over two-fifty. His arm is bigger around than my thigh. I guess I didn't think to mention it because it's old hat to me. Our dad is a pretty big guy too, and so is our uncle. Luckily, I took after my mother so I'm a more average height at five-five. All my sisters are except for Cassie. She's five-ten and looks like a model. Not that I'm bitter."
"It's good that you're not bitter. That would be bad."
"It would, but I'm not like that. I can let shit like that go."
"You're practically the Dalai Lama."
"I know, right?" Melissa reached for another slice of pizza. "Did you two talk about your number one fan?"
"We did."
Brows raised, Melissa wasn't going to let it go. "You did? What did he say?"
"He agreed with me that the vast majority of trolls like this go away if they don't get attention. That's another thing...you didn't mention that he and I have the exact same degree. He's a psychology nerd just like me."