Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

“Oh, hi Vic! I was to call you later to get an update. Any progress? Getting closer to our freak? And weren’t you and Nick to visit this Shawn guy?”

  Vic didn’t want to tell her that he and Jade had taken on a second case. She and Nick might think they weren’t taking this ex business seriously. “Nick and I are visiting the Shawn guy tomorrow, and you should know why, Lisa. He says today he’s extremely busy and as his morning was spent away from work the schedule is even tighter.”

  “You got that right. Nick is compiling a report for the CEO and will be working till late. He thinks I should stick with him till later, but I’m tired and want to relax this evening.”

  “We are at the Snack King, Jade and I. We just…”

  “Say no more. It’s ten to five. I’m joining you there. There’s something extremely relaxing about that place.”

  Nick, who had been down at the warehouse for the last one hour, came in.

  Lisa informed him she was leaving and gave him a quick kiss.

  Nick sighed. “I could be here till seven P.M.,” he said.

  “Seven is not bad, Nick,” she chided him. “I have a friend who works till ten P.M. when her schedule is tight. You’ll be home by half past seven. I’m joining Jade and Vic at the Snack King.”

  “Find out if there’s any progress made. If we weren’t busy office workers we’d find this practical joker ourselves. By the way, I got Kayla’s address from Detective Ray. I convinced him that she and I need to talk and resolve issues once and for all. Her place is not even listed in her name but a name of a friend of hers that I remember. I guess they share the place. Maybe she left it to Kayla…and you’d be surprised how close her place is to your place. She’s about three blocks away. I could give her a call when I leave at seven.”

  “Let me know how that goes,” Lisa smiled wickedly.

  “I won’t entertain drama,” Nick said, banging his palm on the desk.

  Lisa arrived at 5:22 P.M. and joined the brother and sister at their favorite table. Freddie immediately appeared. He liked Lisa.

  “Freddie, here is the gal you think has weird dates,” Vic said with a wink.

  “Freddie said that?” Lisa stared at him. “Hmmm…maybe he was thinking of Alex. Right Freddie? The police even questioned him when Alex turned up dead.”

  Freddie nodded. “But he wasn’t your date, was he? He just found you in here and imagined he was.”

  “That’s right, so do not ever include him among my dates.”

  “What about the times I’ve sat opposite you when you are dining alone here, Lisa?” Freddie asked brightly. “Can I consider such as some kind of date?”

  “Now, that’s the creepy behavior we are trying to get rid of, Freddie!” Vic said, shaking his finger at Freddie. “If you want to date Lisa, man up and look her in the eye and ask her out!”

  “Don’t even bother,” Lisa waved at him. “No romantic dates with anyone but my man. The guy I’ve been visiting this place with lately is my boyfriend and might be more than that in future. Just bring me a tuna melt sandwich and some fries. I’m on a break from low calories food.”

  “Ouch. Take heart, bro,” Vic told Freddie, who smiled. “The heartbreak is slight, for my love for her is even slighter.”

  “And the next day I come in here you will be trying to throw me a few lines,” Lisa rolled her eyes. “Every time I say I’m addicted to fruit salad you say ‘and I’m addicted to you’!”

  “Say what? What did you say?” Vic gaped at Lisa.

  “She said,” Jade explained, “every time she tells Freddie she’s addicted to fruit salad, he says ‘and he’s addicted to her.’ You are quick with the lines Freddie, ain’t you?”

  Freddie winked. “I waste no opportunities.” He walked away towards the counter.

  “Jade! Haven’t Lisa’s words rang a bell?” Vic demanded.

  Jade stared at Vic, then gaped. “Oh yes! Funny, huh? It’s as if Rich read her mind.”

  “Rich?” Lisa frowned. “I know a white guy named Rich, from Bel Air. He actually took me out for a snack here at the Snack King. Picked me up in a limo and brought me here, and took me back in the limo. I felt special, but there really were no sparks.” She leaned forward. “What do you know about Rich?”

  Vic and Jade exchanged a look of wonder. “Seriously?” Vic stared at Jade, his eyes wide. He was pulling out the small notebook from his pocket.

  “Oh my God!” Jade held the sides of her chin with her hands, her mouth open.

  “What is going on?” Lisa stared from one to the other.

  “What a small world we live in,” Vic said dramatically.

  “Quit fooling and tell me what the hell is going on!” Lisa snapped impatiently.

  Vic showed her the notebook and the words. “When you said those words, I recalled that this guy, Rich, has them in his notebook. I’m addicted to fruit salad. And I’m addicted to you.”

  Lisa gave him a strange look. “I know I’ve experienced weird stuff over the last three days, but this is really confusing. How come you have the guy’s notebook?”

  “If I tell you that I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you, Lisa,” Vic said, but Jade gave him her under-the-eyelashes look and he went on, “Rich’s mother is our client, and Rich has been missing.”

  “I thought we were your first clients. Did you say missing?”

  “She hired us this afternoon. Yes, Rich has been missing for about ten days.”

  “Missing. He just vanished? That’s funny. Hmmm...I thought I invented those words, coz I really love fruit salad. He probably heard me saying that to Freddie, and Freddie must have made that automatic reply of his. OK, so I’ve dated Rich once, so what? I didn’t know he was missing, though.” She frowned.

  The friends chatted away, discussing the case and all the coincidences, until Lisa’s phone rang at quarter past seven, and she picked it up.

  “Hello honey.”

  “Hello. My name is Steve Owens,” a strange voice said.

  “Steve who? Where is Nick Banks, the owner of that phone?”

  “He asked me to call you. He’s badly hurt, and I’m taking him to Long Beach Memorial Hospital. He’s been bleeding profusely. Told me to call ‘Lisa’ with his phone and he can hardly speak. His windshield was smashed, and seems he was attacked, because he’s been stabbed! He said something about ‘knife’ before he passed out. We are leaving his car here, near the Sailors Club off East Ocean Boulevard. ”

  “Oh my God!” Lisa gasped. “I’m heading there now. Thank you.”

  She said breathlessly to Jade and Vic: “It’s Nick. He’s been stabbed. His windshield smashed. He was working a bit late, up to seven.”

  The Sailors Club was near the warehouse office. So Nick had been attacked after leaving the office? Probably.

  “We’ll come with you, Lisa.”

  Jade put her arm around Lisa, who was sobbing. “Come on girl, he’ll be fine. You gotta be strong.”

  “I have to be,” Lisa said, as they got up.

  Vic settled the bill and refused to allow Lisa to do so. “No damsel in my company will be charged, especially a damsel in distress. Let’s go see Nick.”

  As they left, Freddie said to Vic in a low voice: “If her white guy had a limo, why was he so interested in Jeeps?”

  “Not now, Freddie, not now.”

  They arrived at the hospital at 7:42 P.M., and were informed that Nick had been taken to the emergency section.

  “Nurse, will he be okay?” Lisa asked, wringing her hands.

  “She’s the girlfriend,” Vic explained.

  “I’m the fiancée,” Lisa said.

  “Sweetie, he’ll be fine,” the nurse said without any emotion. “But you can’t go in there. Why don’t you talk to this gentleman? He’s the one who came rushing in asking for a stretcher to be dispatched to the car. He should have waited for an ambulance to come to the location the patient was injured at.”

  “Lisa?” the man named Steve joined them. “Thank God you
are here. I have to leave in five minutes. I believe he’ll be fine. I used his car first aid kit and found some bandage. A chest stab, no weapon left behind, but I did stop the bleeding, even though he seems to have bled some. He should be fine. But I think you should report the matter to the police.”

  “Will he really be fine?” Lisa grabbed Steve’s hand desperately.

  “How can you be so sure he was stabbed?” Vic demanded.

  “Because those were his last words, tough guy!” Steve said with heat, but then covered his mouth in horror. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I don’t really mean his last words. I mean before he passed out, when I began to move him to my car.”

  Lisa hugged Steve. “You are an angel, Steve. I should refund you…”

  “The answer is No, I have done a good deed and you owe me nothing, and I really have to leave. Tell Nick I said hi. I might pass by in two days’ time. I don’t think he’ll be leaving this place in one day.”

  A tall, slim doctor with an aquiline face and brown hair appeared. “I’m told you are here to see the patient I was attending, Nick Banks, right? I’m afraid we may have to report to the police. We do so for all knife wounds and gun wounds and any case of intentional bodily harm. It sure looks like a stab wound and I’m informed that the patient himself admitted it was. He’s been sedated now and may not be conscious for twelve hours, after which he shouldn’t be bothered to speak for maybe twelve hours more, but he should be fine.”

  “Thank you doctor. Does this mean that you need some details about the patient?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes I do. But I won’t keep you after that.”

  ***

  Lisa, Jade and Vic waited after Vic had rang the bell to Kayla’s place. They had left the hospital at nine P.M. after learning that Nick had been attended but would remain in the ward for at least a week. He was fine, but he couldn’t speak for now. Maybe the following day. The wound wasn’t so dangerous, but two inches to the right and he might have been stabbed in the heart. Lisa shuddered when she heard that.

  They had decided to confront Kayla even before Lisa collected Nick’s car from where it was, on the road near the warehouse office.

  Now the door was thrown open and Lisa saw Kayla for the first time.

  “Who’s there, Kayla?” a voice called from inside the house.

  “Strangers!” Kayla yelled back. “Who are you?”

  “You don’t know me?” Lisa seemed surprised. “But you have been calling me!”

  “Lisa,” Kayla sneered. “Hmmm, yeah, it’s you, I see now. So the cops warn me that you could have a restraining order taken out against me or file charges, but you can come up to my door and get away with it?”

  Vic was getting impatient. If Kayla had anything to do with Nick’s stabbing she had better come clean right now. The stabber had been aiming to kill, judging by how close to the heart the wound was.

  “Listen to me,” Vic growled, pushing Kayla back into the lit room.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing, forcing your way into my house!” Kayla screamed. “Didn’t you go running to the cops just because I called you on phone?” She yelled at Lisa. “Shouldn’t I run to the cops too now that you are house-breaking? Tell me, who needs the restraining order between you and I, bitch?”

  “Kayla, who are these guys? This is the Lisa?” said another girl of Kayla’s age, which Vic guessed to be twenty-eight or so. “You are the bitch that stole my gal’s man, aren’t you?”

  “Hey, hey, hey, back off Lisa,” Vic pushed the other girl back. “Her man, Nick, has been attacked and stabbed. Would you happen to know anything about it? The cops might think you might.”

  “Stabbed?” Kayla and her friend seemed stunned.

  Kayla then placed her hands on her hips. “You think I would stab Nick? I still love him!”

  “The cops might think you did,” Vic shrugged. “First, you were pestering Lisa and made what sounded like a threat. Then you tailed Nick’s car that night when he was leaving Lisa’s house…”

  “Are you crazy? Why would I do that?”

  “I’ve just thought of something,” Lisa slapped her forehead. “She might have written that cardboard note, Vic! Telling Nick to back off Lisa would work in her favor! Of course!”

  Vic patted Lisa’s shoulder. “You are a genius. That message threw me off-track for a while. I thought it must have been sent by Lisa’s ex asking Nick to stay away from Lisa, but now I realize that it was probably Kayla trying to get Nick away from Lisa.”

  “Boy, I’ll knock you into the middle of next week if you dare make such allegations again!” Kayla screamed in Vic’s face, folding her fists. “Why would I be sending messages to Nick?”

  “Why would you be calling his girlfriend?”

  “I’m his fiancée now,” Lisa said. “I just said yes to his proposal while he was unconscious. I’ve been thinking about whether I’m ready or not.”

  “So Nick better get his butt off that hospital bed and give my gal a big-ass ring ASAP!” Jade said jubilantly.

  “Congratulations,” Vic said. “Forgive me for being less excited, Lisa, my focus is on solving the mystery.”

  Vic’s phone rang just then, and he whispered to Jade: “It’s Gina.”

  “Hello.”

  “Vic, any news?”

  “Not yet, Gina, but we are getting somewhere,” he frowned. Were they really getting somewhere with the Rich case or was he merely trying to assure a worried mother? Just because he had discovered that coincidentally Lisa had gone on a date, a rather casual date, with Rich it didn’t really help things. Then Vic froze. “Wait, Gina, I’ll call you back. There could be another lead!” He hung up.

  “Another lead?” Jade was excited. “What lead?”

  “Detective Derrick, huh?” Kayla spoke sarcastically. “Why don’t you join LAPD or the FBI?”

  “Vic is a detective…they are private detectives,” Lisa told her, indicating Vic and Jade. Kayla and her friend fell against the couch, laughing.

  “You been watching too many movies, that’s all I’m saying,” Kayla said.

  Jade frowned. “Are we that unimpressive?”

  “They are just doing what they do best,” Lisa assured her. “Bitching.”

  But Vic was still pacing, lost in meditation.

  “Snap out of it, Vic! Don’t be so dramatic!” Jade grabbed his hand.

  “I’m an idiot,” Vic said, shaking his head.

  “I already knew that,” Kayla said.

  “Let’s go,” he said to Lisa and Jade. But he said to Kayla: “You could be in serious trouble. You are hiding something.”

  “Prove it! And don’t you dare say I stabbed Nick, unless you are the most stupid detective there ever was!”

  “It’s not that. But you are hiding something.”

  “Goodbye, psychic!” She banged the door shut as they walked out.

  “What did Nick ever see in her?” Lisa demanded.

  “What’s bugging you, bro?” Jade looked concerned.

  “Something Freddie said. Apparently Rich was very interested in Jeeps…but I didn’t give it any thought. At that time we were rushing to the hospital. We need to go see Freddie ASAP. If he’s left for home I need to get his number from the Snack King.”

  “That reminds me…I need to collect Nick’s car. Drop me on the way,” Lisa said. “And that means Jade will have to drive my car.”

  “No problem,” Jade said.

  So Lisa parked near Nick’s car. “Hmmm…why not just leave it at the warehouse parking since it’s so near? Then we can all go see Freddie. I’ll pass by the hospital as early as six in the morning, and I need to report Nick’s case to the directors. They have no idea the branch manager is lying unconscious in hospital.”

  Lisa gasped as she realized that there was blood on the car seat. Steve had handed the car keys over to her. She placed a dry cloth on the seat. The almost dry spots would not come off, and this car would need some cleaning. There was the scent of
Nick’s cologne in the car, which she liked. “You’ll be fine, baby,” she said, stifling a sob. The corner of the windshield was smashed into a hole and a spider’s web of cracks. Still, it was a lucky thing the attacker didn’t use a gun.

  Once Lisa had parked the car and spoken to the men still in the warehouse on night-shift, who were shocked that all this had happened only two hundred yards away and they had not known about it, she got into her car but let Jade drive it, following Vic as he drove his Jeep. Well, at least his Patriot was dark green and could not be mistaken for Navy blue.

  Freddie had left work at eight P.M., they learned as soon as they arrived. A waitress everybody called Bambi gave them his number.

  “Is he doing his own private home delivery these days?” she asked.

  “I wish he was,” Lisa said. “I’m starving, and it’s half past ten P.M. and I could sleep hungry.”

  “Why sleep hungry when you can have a meal here?” Bambi protested. “Gimme the order and sit your ass down! This may be the Snack King, but we serve more than snacks here, you know that. Fries, chicken…”

  “Say no more; we surrender to your words,” Vic said weakly and sat down.

  While Bambi went off with the orders, Vic dialed Freddie’s number.

  “Hi Freddie. We came back to check on you at your working place and found you gone, dude.”

  “You mean now? At half past ten?” Freddie sounded surprised, and well he might.

  “Remember when I was leaving? You said Rich the limo guy was interested in Jeeps. It seems that info could be important, as Rich happens to have left home and he’s officially missing. Any information is important.”

  “Sorry to hear that. Why would a guy with so much money run away? Did he take the limo and the money with him?”

  “Freddie, never mind what he took with him. Just tell me exactly what he said about Jeeps.”

  “Hmmm…lemme see. It was some time after Lisa and him had a date at the Snack King, and he was alone this time. His limo was outside…you always notice it, anyway…gives us a parking nightmare and takes up too much space. All he did was say he was seeing a dark-blue Jeep Renegade all over the place. ‘You’d think the guy is stalking me.’ That’s all. But I guess he was seeing different Jeeps. Happened to me once. I was very interested in Ford mustangs, and kept noticing every Ford Mustang I came across, so that the whole city seemed to be full of them.”