by Jana Mercy
Gray didn’t want her in his life. He’d established that in both his mind and verbally to Sophia. So why did it sting that she’d turned the tables? Because he thought her life at risk?
Her life had been at risk. Joey was right. He had acted stupidly. But knowing Joey, had Robbie made one false move she’d have shot. That shot could have snuffed out a woman like no other.
He didn’t want to pursue a relationship with her, she was just a means to an end for his case but that didn’t mean he wanted to see her hurt. Ever. Yet, he probably placed her in more danger by taking Joey’s gun.
Would he have trusted Joey to shoot Robbie had the man held anyone other than Sophia?
A means to an end. Hell, who was he kidding?
“Shit.”
“What’s with you tonight? And what was Josephina so riled about?” Conners stared at Gray.
“You best be glad she didn’t hear you call her that or you’d be the one she was riled at.” Bird slugged Conners’ shoulder in a play punch.
“If she hears about it, I’ll know who squealed, Birdie.”
“Speaking of what’s with someone, look at you two. Since when did you start wearing dresses?”
“Since you started taking off your clothes on stage. I about crapped in my drawers when Joey told me you were going to. Lost twenty bucks on a bet that you wouldn’t go through with it. Damn it.” Conners slapped his leg and laughed out loud. “It was worth every red cent to see you up there with all those women wagging their tongues and their wallets at your ugly mug.”
“Ugly mug? Have you looked in the mirror lately, dude? You make one sorry looking broad.” Gray smiled at his best friend. He felt as if he hadn’t seen him in years although in reality he’d seen him only a week ago. On the morning of the day his life changed forever. The day Sophia knocked his world off kilter. Both with her purse and her kiss.
“Yeah, well. You’re looking mighty cute there in your shorts. Just wait to see what all the guys at the bureau have to say when they see this.” Conners dug in his purse. Gray snickered. His purse. And pulled out a rolled-up copy of the Strip or Treat poster featuring his body. “Oh, Delicious, you are too sweet.”
“Man, quit it. You’re going to make me barf,” Bird warned as the back entrance door opened and a handful of people came out looking confused and curious.
Two female agents pushed out two strippers, a dazed appearing Barnes, and a blonde who cursed loud and long. Behind them, a man Gray had seen lounging against the bar during his performance pushed out two more handcuffed bimbos. He must be the private investigator Conners had mentioned.
Who the hell had hired a private investigator?
A curious stream of people followed.
“What’s going on?” Elvis demanded. His dark eyes flashed to where Robbie lay bleeding on the ground. Sophia had busted his nose up good. And with the handcuffs Joey had saddled him with, the guy was a bloody mess. “What have you done to Robbie? And why does Ken look as if he’s fallen off the ugly tree and managed to hit every branch on his way down?”
Gray flexed his sore fingers. “Long story. I’ll fill you in later.”
“No, you’ll fill me in now.” Elvis let out a heartfelt sigh. “What did Barnes do this time?”
“You’d have to ask Sophia.” All he knew was that the guy had made a move on Sophia again and he’d done what he should have the first time the guy cornered her in the supply closet.
“Is she okay?” Madame G looked pale and worried. “Where is she? I haven’t seen her since before your strip. You did fabulously, by the way. But about Sophia, did you two have a fight?”
He did not need this. “You’ll have to ask Sophia.”
“Oh dear. That means you have.” She winced. “Well, maybe you could tell me why there’s three women and two of my employees and an ex-employee being led out of my club wearing handcuffs?” Her gaze dropped to Robbie. “Three of my employees. This is not good for business.”
Lawrence and several other agents rounded the building, guns readied for action.
The time had come. He didn’t like it but it was his job.
“Uhm, ma’am,” Conners said, sending Gray an apologetic glance.
“I’ll do it.” Gray shook his head. This was something he had to do. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will…”
Madame G’s hand covered her mouth. The sudden movement caused her to lose her grip on her walking stick and she tilted. Elvis caught her arm and helped her regain her balance.
“You okay buttercup?” he asked tenderly as he handed Madame G’s cane back to her.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Good, Gray could get rid of scumbag the rocket and touch base with headquarters. Hopefully, these arrests would lead to many more and he could get on with his life.
His real life instead of his Heavenly Hunks undercover stint.
Not that he had much of a real life. Just work.
“Gray?”
He turned toward Sophia’s aunt, now sporting a pair of handcuffs. Guilt besieged him but the evidence against her was too overwhelming. And if she hadn’t done anything illegal, the law would free her.
“Promise me you haven’t broken her heart,” Madame G said, as Conners led her away.
Averting his gaze, he stared at a few bugs buzzing around a streetlight.
“No ma’am. I’d say she broke mine.”
“What about the niece?” Lawrence asked, as Madame G was escorted to a just arrived patrol car.
“I’ve already told you, she’s not involved in this.” He prayed that he spoke the truth. “And even if she had been, she should be provided amnesty for her role in cracking the case.”
Lawrence’s gaze narrowed. Did his boss know he was lying about Sophia’s assistance?
“I’ll expect a full report on that assistance, just in case.”
“Sure thing.” He’d already lied, what were a few more? But what he’d like to know is why he was risking his career and reputation on a woman who he never planned to see again.
* * * * *
Where had the hot redhead gone, Nate wondered. One minute she’d been in her seat, the next she disappeared. He’d been sure she’d stick around ‘til the end of the show. That’s why he’d taken the time to change into his own clothes minus the tie and jacket.
Maybe Joey hadn’t wanted to party with the first runner-up. Hell, personally, he couldn’t believe he’d done that well. But he had a certificate signed by Madame G herself to prove it.
He should probably find Sophia. The club crowd had thinned and only a few stragglers remained. Mostly friends of the amateur strippers. Or women they’d hooked up with tonight. Of course, with all the excitement of the arrests, it was a wonder anyone was still here.
Speaking of which, he really did need to find Sophia and make sure she was okay.
“Hey you.” A feminine hand grasped the collar of his white shirt and forcibly yanked him toward her.
“Joey.” Excitement tingled. She hadn’t left. And no way did that hungry green gaze say anything other than “Your place or mine?”
“You can call me Josie.” She ran a finger over his jawbone, strength and sureness in her touch.
“Josie?”
“Okay, Josephina.” She pressed her body close. His heart skipped a beat at the feel of her lithe frame snug against him. “But not Joey. That’s not what I want to hear spilling from your lips when I ride you so hard you pass out.”
His cock hardened right then and there. With fire in her eyes, she grinned. The woman knew the effect her words had on him. Had spoken them to garner just that effect.
“So Josie, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” Nate smiled into her beautiful face and wondered what he’d done to get so lucky as to have her rock his world.
“Cut the crap. Let’s get a few things straight. I’m not a nice girl and you don’t need lame lines to pick me up. I’m right here and I’m picking you up.” Sh
e twisted his collar a bit tighter and tugged him to her. “Now, try again, plumber boy and get it right, because I’m not a patient woman and I’d as soon kick your ass as screw you at the moment.”
“Man. Plumber man,” he corrected, staring into her vivid green gaze.
Her lips curved, mere inches separating them from his.
“Prove it,” she taunted, blowing a warm caress of air in his direction.
Oh yeah. This was the luckiest day of Nathaniel Fleming, III’s life. And he hadn’t even believed in luck before this evening. Just the rewards for hard work.
Luck, reward, work, it didn’t really matter. Either way, he was claiming what was his for the taking. Joey. Josephina. Josie. He’d call her anything she liked.
His lips were almost touching hers when he realized they were standing in front of the supply closet door. If he was shedding a lifetime of inhibitions, he might as well do it right. He stepped back, laughing softly at her frustrated frown.
“You’re pressing your luck,” she warned.
Ah, that luck word again. Well, for today luck was on his side. “Trust me?”
“No but I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.” She regarded him suspiciously.
He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck, dropped a soft kiss on the velvety soft skin behind her earlobe. “Good thing, because I only have one condom in my wallet and one’s not going to be near enough.”
“Oh.” She gasped in surprise when he opened the closet door and pushed her inside.
His mouth covered hers before the door closed.
* * * * *
Sophia curled up on the settee in Heavenly Hunks’ grandiose ladies’ room. She hadn’t known where else she could go. The closet hadn’t been an option. She’d rounded the corner in time to catch a lip-locked Nate stumbling into the supply closet with Joey.
Nate and the redhead. Who’d have thought? But then that was just one more anomaly to this crazy day. Tomorrow she’d wake up and things would have returned to normal.
Normal? Who was she kidding? Her life would never be normal again.
Eliza Walker wasn’t her mother. Madame G was.
Now, she knew why she’d never been able to live up to Eliza’s expectations. How could she when every time the woman looked at her she was reminded that her husband had cheated with a stripper?
Ken had been responsible for the book discrepancies. Did her aunt know? No, not her aunt. Her mother.
Her mother.
Stinging tears erupted in her eyes.
How could Genevieve have given her baby to another woman to rear? Was she so unlovable?
Sobs racked her body.
No wonder she hadn’t been able to do anything right. She’d been a mistake from the beginning.
She cried and cried until her eyes didn’t have any more tears to shed, until her body ached from its tension.
But, oddly enough, she felt better. Stronger.
None of this mattered. Regardless of who her parents were, or who had reared her, or who she’d loved and lost, she, Sophia was still the same woman inside. And she deserved love and happiness.
She did.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged her body into a tight wad. Tonight she’d let the pain out and tomorrow she’d start over. Away from Nashville. Away from Atlanta. She’d discover who she was without all the trappings of family and lover. Who needed them anyway?
“Sophia?”
She blinked away her tears. “What are you doing in here?” she asked Gray’s bleary image.
“I need a statement. If you don’t want to give it to me, I’ll let Conners or Bird take it.”
She looked around the bathroom. “Here? Right now in the ladies’ room?”
“Might as well. Otherwise, you’ll have to go down to the police station too.” His face tightened. “Although, you may have to anyway. Your aunt’s been arrested.”
“But she’s innocent. Why would you let them arrest her?”
He inhaled deeply. “I’m the one who arrested Madame G.”
“No,” she gasped.
“The agency has too much evidence not to take her downtown for questioning.”
Sophia leaped up from the settee. “But she was being blackmailed. That’s what Ken was telling me when you knocked him out. He was blackmailing her and embezzling from the club in a way that makes it appear she was committing tax fraud but she wasn’t. Ken set her up because he wants Heavenly Hunks.”
“You can prove this?” Gray asked.
“Yes. Now that I’ve put the pieces together I can trace the funds to him based on the account entries. My aunt,” she bit back the bile in her throat but didn’t correct her error, “is innocent of anything other than loving a man who found himself in financial trouble.”
“Elvis?”
Sophia nodded.
Gray looked unsure, then shrugged. “Come on. I’ll take you to the station.”
She hesitated. “As your prisoner?”
“You’re not involved in any of this, are you? Not the drugs or the account problems?”
“Only by means of trying to find a way to prove my aunt’s innocence.”
“Then, why ask if I’m going to arrest you? Oh and for the record, you’ve been working with me to solve this case.”
“But I haven’t—”
He shot her a silencing look as the bathroom door opened.
“There you two are.” Conners walked in. “Lawrence wants her brought in for questioning.”
Sophia nodded, avoided looking at Gray and stepped next to Conners. “Let’s go. I want to get this over with just as quickly as I can.”
Then she’d leave Nashville and search for whatever it was she was looking for. Up North.
Or anywhere Gray wasn’t.
Chapter Nineteen
“Miss Walker, line three is for you. It’s Mr. Fleming,” the voice over Sophia’s intercom sounded.
Sophia picked up the financial portfolio from her desk and continued to peruse its contents as she lifted the phone receiver. “Hello, Nate. How’s life?”
“Fabulous. I climbed Everest last week. It was amazing. But enough about me. What about you? How’s life in the big city?”
“Big.” She dropped the folder to the desk and walked the short distance to the window overlooking downtown Manhattan. Her office might be the tiniest one with a window but it did have a window. That counted for something. Although, she hadn’t decided exactly what.
“The job? You’re still enjoying that?”
“Yes. Thank you for helping make my transfer to New York so easy. I do realize it would have taken me weeks, possibly months, to find such a great apartment. And Mr. Carlton told me how you recommended me so highly. I’m sure that played a role in my being transferred immediately.”
“Hey, you got the transfer on your own. All I did was mention how talented you were to a person willing to prey upon your skills.”
“Well, it’s been a mutually satisfying experience.” For the most part. She enjoyed the work but after three months, she’d realized she wasn’t going to find herself in New York. Or in any other city. Or job. Why had it taken her three months to figure that out?
She’d found herself in Nashville. And walked away.
But then, he’d let her go.
“I talked to your mother this morning.”
“Which one?” she asked, grateful for the distraction.
“Eliza,” Nate clarified. “She told me she visited you last week.”
She could hear the questions in his voice and decided to answer. No doubt her mother, Eliza, already had.
“Yes, she flew into the city for a few days of shopping.”
“She stayed at your apartment?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Sophia shrugged despite the fact Nate couldn’t see her. “It was kinda nice.”
“Good.” His smugness was tangible even over the phone lines. “That’s what she said too.”
>
“Oh?”
“Yep. Said she enjoyed the trip more than she had anything in years. I guess you two have made peace, then?”
“Peace?” Sophia laughed at the odd term for her and Eliza’s new relationship. “I suppose that definition of our relationship works as well as any. I love her. One bit of biological knowledge can’t erase a lifetime of love. Even if it was a strange kind of love, Eliza has always loved me, just as she’s always resented me. At least, she did. It seems she resented and regretted the lies more than anything else.”
“It couldn’t have been easy knowing she couldn’t have children. Nor that you were the product of her husband’s infidelity.”
She sighed. Nate always had been the voice of reason.
“No, I imagine it wasn’t. And I was always dreaming of bolder, bigger things and I think that scared her. She worried my mother’s genes might be coming through and she worked that much harder to transform me into a lady.”
“You are a lady, Sophia. In every sense of the word. Don’t ever doubt it. Speaking of your other mother, how is Madame G?”
“Almost completely recovered from her stroke and the Strip or Treat ordeal. I spoke with her yesterday. Elvis is going to Gamblers Anonymous and the club is thriving again now that Ken, Hooper and Elvis’ problems aren’t sucking the life out of it.”
They’d talked a long time before Sophia had left. It had been hard. But she had forgiven and sort of understood why Ginny Johnson had given up her newborn daughter to the couple who could raise her and give her all the things a down-on-her-luck stripper couldn’t. Especially when in the process she gained the means to secure her future as Genevieve Walker.
Too bad Genevieve let guilt eat at her and not allow her to find true happiness. Even now Sophia was pretty sure Genevieve held her past mistakes against herself. She’d moved on. Genevieve should too. Marrying Elvis once he got finished with rehab would make a good start.
Maybe given time Genevieve would see that.
“She’s lucky to have you,” Nate said. “I’m glad you forgave her.”
Sophia heard the question in his voice and wondered if he’d ever forgive his own mother. Probably not. And maybe the woman didn’t deserve forgiveness. Who knew?