Nate laid a hand on the papers, casually, as though he were just resting his hand there, and his voice when he spoke was breezy and cool. “What do you know about investment properties?”
She tilted her head and smiled. “My father’s a real estate developer. So I sort of grew up around that kind of thing.” She put her fingertips on the corner of the papers and tugged, raising her eyebrows when he held fast. “Nate? Is there any reason why I shouldn’t look?”
He held her gaze for a moment, his eyes fierce and shuttered, before lifting his hand from the papers.
“Thanks,” she said sweetly, and scooped up the pages. The first thing that jumped out at her was the name Max Carelli, and her head shot up to stare at Nate. He didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms over his chest and watched her. With a feeling of growing dread, she returned her gaze to the page and started to read.
She read every word of the five-page report, and when she was finished, she gently laid the pages face down on the table.
“Jonah,” she said quietly, her voice barely carrying beyond their little corner of the patio, “could you excuse Nate and me? I think we have a few things to talk about.”
“Ah…sure,” he said, pushing to his feet. He shot Nate a sympathetic look before disappearing back into the dining room.
“Lily…” Nate began, and her hand shot up to stop him.
“Wait. I just want to know one thing.” She looked him dead in the eye. “Did you hire Jonah to gather all this information?”
She saw him hesitate, just for the briefest of moments, before he nodded. “When did you hire him?”
“A week and a half ago,” he admitted.
Unable to speak, her temper on simmer and fast approaching rolling boil, Lily turned away. Immediately Nate’s hand shot out to grasp her upper arm.
“Don’t turn away from me,” he said when she looked back, incredulous. “Stay and fight, yell if you have to, but don’t walk away.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” she assured him. “We’re so in a fight, and you’ve never seen the kind of yelling I’ve got right now for you. But I refuse to do it at my place of business where everyone and their sister can hear us. I’m going to sign out for lunch, and I will meet you at your house in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll wait and drive you,” he told her, and she let out a bark of laughter.
“No. I’m driving myself there, like a grown woman capable of looking after herself and making her own decisions. Besides, I don’t want to sit that close to you right now.” She turned and walked away, dismissing him as easily as she would a waiter. “Fifteen minutes,” she said without turning back, and stalked back into the dining room.
She held on to her temper through sheer force of will as she gathered her purse and informed Jason that she was taking an hour for lunch. She was out the door and striding across the parking lot toward her car when she saw the man leaning up against the trunk.
She stopped. “Jonah, it’s not a great time.”
He straightened from his slouch against the car, hands out to the sides. “Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Well, let’s see. The man I’m sleeping with has been going around behind my back, hiring a private detective to dig into my business, and then lying to me about it. For the record, that makes me pretty far from okay.”
“If it makes you feel any better, he only did it because he’s worried about you.”
“It doesn’t,” she told him, and moved past him to open the driver’s door. She tossed her purse on the passenger seat and was sliding behind the wheel when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked up to find Jonah watching her with serious eyes.
“Look,” he said, “it turns out Max has some financial skeletons in his closet, and he may well be a credible threat to your safety. Try to remember that when you’re skinning Nate.”
“I’ll remember that. But he’s going to have to remember that I’m a grown woman, and I can handle my own life. And since I’d already decided on my own to have who I thought was a reputable private investigator look into things for me, it’s information I would have found out for myself.”
She looked pointedly at his hand on her arm until he released her and stepped back. She slammed the door and started the car, doing her level best not to peel out of the parking lot like a joy-riding kid.
Even driving at a sedate and deliberate pace, it only took ten minutes to get home. She pulled into the drive and parked at the main house by the kitchen door. She threw the transmission into park and switched off the engine then simply sat for a moment and tried to get her temper under control.
Her fingers drummed on the steering wheel as she concentrated on breathing. He’d lied to her. No, more than lied—he’d gone behind her back and over her head, taking over, assuming she couldn’t handle herself, couldn’t be counted on to make smart choices and logical decisions, and she was so mad, so unbelievably pissed off, the breathing wasn’t working—
Her mental tirade was interrupted when her car door was suddenly pulled open. Nate stared at her, his mouth set and his face grim. “Are you going to sit out here all afternoon, or are we going to talk about this?”
Okay, so calming down wasn’t going to be in the cards. She released her seat belt with a snap and heaved herself out of the car. “You wanna talk?” She stalked into the kitchen with him hot on her heels. “Fine, let’s talk. Why don’t you start by telling me what the hell you thought you were doing by going behind my back to hire a private investigator?”
He kicked the door shut and planted himself in front of it like a sentinel. “Protecting you.”
“What the hell makes you think I need you to protect me?”
“You didn’t even want an alarm system,” he told her, and she threw up her hands.
“So what?” she fairly yelled. “So fucking what? There are plenty of people who go through life without fucking motion detectors in their houses, and most of them manage not to be murdered in their beds.”
“But if you can be just a little safer, isn’t it worth it?”
“No. No, it’s not worth it, because I feel like I’m sleeping in fucking Alcatraz or something. I’m locked up like Fort Knox, and I can’t even open the windows and let the fresh air in because the windows are all alarmed.”
She drew a shaky breath. “And that’s not even the point. You went behind my back and hired a private investigator.”
“Would you have agreed to it if I’d told you about it?”
Lily felt as though her head might explode. “No!”
“And that’s why I didn’t tell you about it. Because I knew you’d throw a fit—”
“Whoa!” Her hands flew up as if to ward off an attack. “A fit?”
“A fit,” he confirmed, his voice so calm and smug she just wanted to snatch him bald. “You’re being irrational and emotional because you know I’m right.”
Lily could actually feel her blood starting to boil in her veins, she was so pissed. “First of all, you’re not right. You’re so many kinds of wrong I can’t even count them. This is my business. My business, my problem, and you just decided to take over like some patriarchal dickhead without even consulting me.”
“I tried to talk to you about this, but you kept dismissing it. I had to go behind your back.”
“You couldn’t have trusted me?”
“Oh, like you trusted me?” he shot back. “When did you decide to hire Jonah?”
“What difference does that make?”
“You didn’t tell me about it,” he said.
“No, I didn’t, and do you know why? Because I was afraid of this.”
“What?”
“This!” She flapped her arms. “This crazy, overreacting thing that you do, going around behind my back, finding private investigators and arranging things—wait.” She narrowed her eyes. “How did you find Jonah?”
She felt her stomach drop when his eyes, which had been so focused and intent on hers, shifted
to a point over her shoulder. “Detective Graham recommended him.”
“When did he do that?”
“The day after the break-in.”
She nodded slowly as the pieces started to tumble into place. “And what a coincidence that the detective you hired just happened to be staying in my hotel. But he was already working for you when he checked in.”
It was a rhetorical question, but he answered it anyway. “Yes.”
“And I’m guessing he never really had a termite problem.”
“No.”
Lily drew in a breath. “So he was there to what, keep an eye on me?”
“To make sure you were safe, yes.”
“Could you possibly be more insulting?”
His gaze, which had been focused on the wall over her head, shot back to hers. “Insulting?”
“Yes. What makes you think I can’t handle this myself? Really, it’s a serious question. What exactly is it about me that makes you think I can’t handle this?” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot, staring at him with blazing eyes. “I’m really dying to know.”
“What’s wrong with me wanting to help you?” he asked.
“Nothing. Not a thing,” she said. “But helping me implies that you’re providing assistance with something I’m doing, not taking over my entire life.”
“I did not take over your entire life,” he protested.
“You tried,” she argued. “You want to drive me to and from work, you ordered me an alarm system that I neither wanted nor needed—I know, you’re the fucking landlord, and that’s the only reason I agreed to the damn thing—and, hello? You hired a private investigator behind my back!”
She huffed out a breath. “Which, by the way, was a great idea. Really. I even thought of it myself.”
“Almost a week ago,” he shot back.
“So?”
“So when were you going to tell me?”
“What, that I’d asked Jonah to check out Max for me?”
“Yeah. When were you going to tell me that you were worried about Max? Because you’d have to be, to hire someone to investigate him.”
“First, I didn’t hire him. I asked him for his opinion, and he offered to look into it as a favor. He wouldn’t take any money, which now makes perfect sense, because he was already getting paid to look into it. And second, there was nothing to tell yet!”
“You don’t think this is something I need to know?”
“It’s my business!” she shouted.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” he said slowly. “Your business, and you don’t see any reason to talk to me about it.”
She blinked. “That’s not it.”
“Then why wouldn’t you share this with me?” He straightened from his position against the counter, his eyes intent on hers. “You’re worried about it, concerned enough to take action, but you don’t mention it. Why?”
“I…there was nothing to tell,” she managed. “It’s just a suspicion, nothing solid.”
“I’m not a jury,” he said. “You don’t have to prove something to me beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” she said. “God knows you’re worried enough already.”
“Part of the reason I’m so worried about you is because you seemed to be taking all of this so lightly,” he countered. “Maybe if you talked to me about what’s going on with you, I wouldn’t have to go behind your back to find out what’s happening.”
Lily’s eyes all but bugged out of her head. “So this is my fault?”
Nate’s eyes got so narrow they all but disappeared. “Partly, yes. You don’t talk to me, Lily.”
“I talk to you all the time,” she protested, but he cut her off with a slash of his hand.
“You don’t. Not about anything important. I don’t know how you’re feeling, what’s going on in your life unless I ask you, and even then you’re so guarded, it’s like pulling teeth.”
“That is not true.”
“It is true,” he insisted, eyes blazing green fire. “What did you expect me to do, Lily, just stand idly by while the woman I’m in love with was in danger?”
He shook his head while she gaped at him. “I’m sorry if you feel like I overstepped my bounds,” he ground out, “but you don’t tell me anything, and I was going to do what I had to do to keep you safe. And if that offends your sensibilities, then that’s just too damn bad.”
“I can’t believe you’re trying to put this on me,” she managed. “You hired a private investigator to keep an eye on me and this is my fault?”
He shook his head, his hands jammed in his pockets as though he was afraid he’d stranger her if they weren’t. “I did what I felt I had to do,” he told her, “and I’d do it again.”
Lily’s mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before she stammered, “Well, if that’s the way you feel about it, I don’t think we have anything more to talk about right now.”
Nate reached out and opened the door. “Maybe we don’t.”
Nonplussed, she simply stared at him for a moment then straightened her shoulders and walked to the door. On the threshold, she stopped to look at him, swallowing hard when she saw the hard look in his eyes. “I’m going back to work,” she managed.
“Fine,” he said. “I have a dinner meeting with my agent.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to object, to remind him they’d had plans to watch old movies and order Thai food together, but she bit it back. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”
He nodded, and with nothing more to say, she stepped out the door.
It closed behind her with a sharp click, and she felt the breath rush out of her lungs in a painful whoosh. “What the hell just happened?”
Chapter Eighteen
“I still don’t know what happened,” she muttered into the phone. She tucked the takeout cartons into the fridge and shut the door with her hip. “One minute I was full of all this righteous rage, the next I was standing on the damn doorstep after he booted me out.”
Charles’ chuckle sounded in her ear. “I wish I’d been there to see that.”
“Charles, you’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am, darling, but you have to admit, the guy’s got style.”
“You don’t think he’s right, do you?” she asked, and slumped into a chair.
“Of course not,” he soothed. “He shouldn’t have gone behind your back and hired a private detective.”
“Thank you.”
“But you are guarded and uncommunicative sometimes.”
“I am not!”
“Sorry, sweetie, but you are.” His voice softened. “Look, it’s not as though you’re doing it on purpose. We know that. It’s just…well, it takes a long time to get to know you.”
“What do you mean?” She frowned and picked at the label on her beer bottle. “We’ve been best friends since college.”
“Yeah, but we met freshman year and didn’t get to be close until almost three years later. You’re not the most open person in the world.”
“So what? I’m a terrible person because I’m a little private?”
“No, not a terrible person. But you have to admit, it’s sort of hard to have a relationship with someone who won’t talk to you.”
“I talk to him,” she muttered. “And anyway, I wasn’t the only one not talking. He didn’t talk to me either.”
“True.”
“And he lied.”
“So did you, by omission.”
“Shut up.”
Charles laughed. “So, you had your first big fight. It had to happen sometime, and you’ll make nicey nice and work it out, and then you can have your first make-up sex, and it’ll be fine.”
“I guess.” Lily sighed and got up to pace. “There’s still this thing with Max hanging over us though, and I don’t think we’ll be okay until it’s gone.”
“Well, what did the PI say?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I re
ad the report, but it didn’t make a lot of sense. Lots of numbers and financial mumbo jumbo.” She frowned. “But there was a sort of recap at the end, and it said something about suspicion of money laundering.”
“Oooh, they think Max is laundering money?”
“Looks like it.”
“For what? Where? Who?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t get that part.” She got up to toss her beer bottle in the recycle bin. “But I guess that’s what they think he was looking for when he broke in here.”
The loudest, wettest gasp she’d ever heard sounded in her ear. “They think there’s money in your apartment?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, freak. They think there’s something about the money laundering, like paperwork or account information or something.”
“Well, that’s disappointing.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Even if it was money, it wouldn’t be here. If Bridget had it, most likely it’s in the storage unit. And Bridget would have told us if she had a bunch of Max’s money.”
“True that. Too bad we never found anything there,” he mused.
“Yeah. Wait.”
“Wait what?” Charles asked, then, “Oh no.”
“Just for a little while,” she cajoled. “We know what we’re looking for now!”
“We have no idea what we’re looking for,” he countered. “Correction, no idea what you’re looking for. I’m not doing anything tonight except giving myself a micro-dermabrasion facial and watching Project Runway.”
“A micro-dermabrasion facial?”
“I have fine lines,” he said defensively.
“I have a psychotic ex-fiancé after me!”
“He’s not after you,” Charles scoffed. “He’s after something he thinks Bridget has, and if you just stay home tonight and apologize to your boyfriend tomorrow, then everything will be fine.“
“I’m not apologizing, he was more wrong than I was.”
“You’re such a moron. If you don’t make up, you can’t have make-up sex.”
“That’s a good point,” she muttered. “But hey, if I go to the storage unit and find whatever it is Max is looking for, I can tell Nate about it and then he’ll know I trust him.”
One Hit Wonderful Page 20