by Nikki Duncan
“No one has receipts for everything.”
“I track every dollar I earn and spend. I will never be someone’s victim.”
“Sounds like you already have been.”
“I said you could search the house. That doesn’t give you access to my life history.” The closest she’d come to being anyone’s victim was Jenny, but Taryn had to admit she’d invited that on herself for the sake of the kids. And she didn’t regret a moment of it. Still, she said nothing else the rest of the drive. By the time she took the exit for her neighborhood she had formulated a plan for getting away from him.
The kids had hacked the FBI and airlines, and gotten involved in cases that could put them in danger. They were not small crimes. Any adult would be serving time for the same. Tyler smiled proudly that his kids pulled it all off, but when Taryn denied being a thief he looked at her with suspicion.
Love really did blind a person, because he clearly loved his kids. For her, well, they were civil at best. Until he accepted she wasn’t a crook they’d never make it to friends, let alone anything else. Animosity would get in the way of custody discussions.
The drive home was the longest one of her year, and she’d had some endless minutes when Sidney had been missing. At the house, she gave him the front door key and code to the security system, told him where the guest room was, encouraged him to help himself to anything in the place, and said she’d be back after the kids got out of school.
Maybe by the time she got back she’d be less pissed and could put on a happy face for the sake of the kids. She wouldn’t bet on it, but maybe.
Driving away, she called her mom, who she could always count on to calm her down.
“Hey, Taryn,” Mom greeted. “I thought you were picking Tyler up from the airport?”
“I just dropped him off at the house. You have time for a quick Starbucks before I pick the kids up?”
“I’ll meet you there.”
She loved that she never had to explain herself to her mom. She wouldn’t be pressed to talk if she didn’t want to. She could drop every guard and just be herself with no fear of recriminations or thoughts of secret agendas.
Was Tyler as upfront as he pretended to be or was everything he said part of a bigger game that ended in him winning custody of his kids and her behind bars so he never had to worry about her coming back? She was seething five minutes later when she stepped into Starbucks, but she had a plan in place. And her mom was just the one to help her with it.
“What’s got you upset?” Her mom asked as she pulled away from the greeting hug.
“Tyler and his team are investigating a string of art thefts. He thinks I’m pulling the jobs.”
“Is the man an idiot? Anyone who’s known you for five minutes knows you would never do that. If they’ve seen your house, they’d know you have no interest in real art.”
“Hey!” Taryn defended, aware Mom was joking. “I happen to like my house.”
“It suits you, but have you ever noticed there’s not a single painting in the place?” Her mom placed her drink order. “Except for the photos lining the hallway walls, it’s all modern metalwork on your walls.”
“Which is still art. I sure paid enough for it to be considered as such.”
Her mom only painted as a hobby these days, but for many years it had been how she made her living a good one. When she’d been showing, she’d commanded, and gotten, top dollar for every canvas she touched.
“I mean painted art.”
Taryn placed her order with the barista and then paid for both drinks.
“I have the painting you did for me.” It was the only non-abstract piece she’d ever painted and with Taryn’s two favorite colors, it was her most treasured belonging. “What more could I need than an original?”
“Flattery will win you this point. Exactly what is it he suspects you of stealing?”
“He hasn’t said. I was kind of hoping you could reach out to your contacts and find that out. Maybe if you give them my travel dates they can see if anything, and what, was stolen where and when.”
“That would be easy enough. I’m guessing you don’t want the Feds to know you’re looking into this?”
“Preferably. He’ll likely see it as me trying to find a place to sell something, and I get the feeling I’m going to need the ammunition of proof.”
Tyler waited until the back of Taryn’s car vanished from his view before he allowed himself a relaxing breath and went inside. He hadn’t intended to act like an ass, but his brain short-circuited the instant he slipped into the car. Her scent, exotic and evocative, had taunted him more vividly than his memory.
He didn’t want to think she was guilty of being a thief, or he did, but he didn’t want to want to because he wanted her to be innocent for the sake of the kids, yet the more he dug the more everything pointed to her.
“Karma is a bigger bitch than cold revenge,” he muttered, thinking about the times he’d laughed at his friends when they’d gotten tangled up over their now significant others. Not wanting Taryn to be a significant other was having no effect on his state of being tangled up.
He shook his head as he lifted his bag and went in search of the guest room. Taryn’s house was considerably larger than his and there was nothing basic about it.
The entryway fed directly into a large living room that was the center of the wide, C-shaped house. With a solid wall of windows looking into the backyard, if an elaborately landscaped pool overlooking the ocean could be considered a backyard, the room gave the place a homey yet majestic feel.
Bright teal walls were accented by a white couch with purple pillows that matched the purple-striped chairs facing it. White, Cape Cod style tables, knickknacks and seating were arranged in a way that invited people to enjoy the view and conversation.
Heading down the hall to his left, he passed a half bath and an office. There, the walls were the color of the hazelnut cream he put in his morning coffee and the towels, curtains and wall decor were purple and teal. The Cape Cod theme was echoed in the vanity.
Expecting the same, he opened the door to what turned out to be the guest room. Surprise hit him because the room felt more masculine with dark furniture and bedding. There was still purple, but it was so deep it almost didn’t feel purple. The bedside lamps had shades with teal and purple stripes and a large room armchair—white with a teal blanket tossed over its back—sat near the windows looking out on the ocean and pool.
Depositing his bag on the bed, Tyler continued his tour, certain he would find more clean lines, white furniture, teal and purple color schemes and organization. For all her flare, Taryn’s home—at least the last few rooms he’d seen—portrayed her as a streamlined thinker. And none of the ornate art that had been stolen would fit the decor.
Opening another door, he found what could only be Ryder’s room. With no teal or purple in sight, two of the three walls that weren’t windows were dark blue. The third wall was a painted mural of lines and squares that made up a computer motherboard. Dominating that wall were three thirty-six-inch screens and on the desk below them sat two computers and a PlayStation. Dark furniture matching the guest room was here too.
The bed was made, sloppily so, and discarded clothes covered the chair sitting near the window. There were no signs of an interest in sports and the only books in the room were from the school library and all were about computers. Two pictures were on his bookshelf. One of him and Taryn at the beach and one of him and Tyler at the pizza place they’d gone to during his last visit. As methodical and one-track minded as he was when it came to computers, the few messes showed that his son had some definite kid tendencies.
Smiling at the reflection of his son’s tech skills, surprised that they could be superior in some ways to his own, Tyler passed through the bathroom that connected Ryder’s room to Sidney’s.
Sidney’s room was more like he’d have expected from what he knew of his daughter. While she was no slouch in the technology
department, she left coding and hacking to Ryder and instead focused on more girly pursuits.
Cluttered and pink with a chaos of hair stuff and sprays on her white dresser, the room revealed her spirit. More accurately, the pictures lining the edges of her mirror—her and friends, her and Taryn, her and Ryder—showed her spirit. At the center of them all was the picture Taryn had taken of him and the kids when he’d first met Ryder.
Tears choked him at the assurance that his kids thought enough about him to have his picture in their rooms. That Taryn encouraged them to…he didn’t want to think of what that meant.
Feeling no compunction with snooping, he went into the last bedroom. Taryn’s. Again it had a wall of windows sharing the same view. This time, like in the living room, double doors could be opened onto the patio.
The now expected teal and purple color scheme was back, only with the dark furniture. It occurred to him that even though the colors were the same, each room had a different feel, and here instead of the metal artwork he’d come to expect, a giant painting dominated the wall over her bed. It was a silhouette painting of two faces facing each other while looking slightly toward the room in front of them. Looking closer, he realized the teal face was Taryn’s and the deep purple face was a man who had to be her father.
Where the living room was bright, open and welcoming, Taryn’s room was intensely personal and sexy seduction. Moving toward the double doors, he looked into the bathroom that was almost as large as his bedroom back home.
White cabinets and dark marble countertops were pristinely tidy. The towels were precisely folded and evenly hung on the racks. The place was elegant, but he still hadn’t seen anything over the top.
Heading back down the hall and through the living room, he checked out the other end of the house. The formal dining room, as he expected, matched the living room. The kitchen was a combination of white and dark cabinets and teal and purple dishes and bowls. Even the chairs on the kitchen table were covered with teal and purple fabric. It should be overdone, but somehow she had just the right amount of the colors to keep it tasteful. Pleasant even.
It was the kind of house he could expect to find in his mom’s portfolio.
In the last room, at the opposite end of Taryn’s home with a stunning view, he found the extravagance.
A large—and by large he meant giant—screen covered one wall. Blackout curtains in the deep purple from the guest room hung over the wall of windows. Theater-style recliners with built-in cup and snack holders faced the screen, with beanbag chairs in between. A wide, short cabinet lined the wall beneath the screen. Taking a closer look, he discovered several gaming consoles, a sound system that would rock the entire house and a wicked DVD collection that consisted primarily of action movies.
His mom had always said home was where the heart was. His heart was torn between his kids with the life they had in California and his job and family in Miami without all the extravagance they lived in with Taryn.
“Dad,” Sidney’s perky voice called from the main entry. “We’re home.”
“I bet he got that from your yell.”
Ryder’s dry response would’ve been unheard if Tyler hadn’t already moved back into the photo-lined hall.
“How was school?” he asked walking toward them.
“Finally over for the weekend.” Sidney rushed up and wrapped her arms around him like she had in the shelter. “Did you get your firewall fixed?”
“I think so, but maybe Ryder can test it for me later.” He eased away from Sidney to greet Ryder.
“If you want.” His son, not at all demonstrative like Sidney, stood back and jerked his head.
“You have fun with that,” Sidney said as she sauntered toward her room. “I’ll be in the pool.”
“I thought you liked the tech stuff, Sidney.”
“I’m over it now.” She beamed up at him. “Ryder’s the one who’d be happy to never go outside.”
She was over it because she’d found her dad and gotten her way. Tyler couldn’t say he was happy to see her give it up so fast, she had a lot of talent, but at least she couldn’t get in trouble if she wasn’t hacking.
“Computers don’t tell lies about me,” Ryder mumbled.
“It’s not a lie that you’re weird,” Sidney turned and popped a hand on her hip. “You always want to rewrite stuff. And you pick on the games the rest of us like.”
Tyler considered breaking into the conversation, but he’d learned from the Skype calls that Ryder shut down more quickly if he responded too quickly to Sidney. The trouble was that she would run right over her brother for attention, and he would let her.
“I was the same way,” Tyler said. “As soon as I discovered computers I didn’t care about much else.” Until puberty and girls. “Hey, where’s Taryn?”
“Outside, talking to Davio.” Sidney rolled her eyes like she was disgusted. “He wants to date her.”
“I see.” And as irrational as it was, because he had no right to care about Taryn’s personal life, he didn’t like the idea of anyone named Davio wanting to date her. “Why don’t you go get a snack? Sidney, don’t get in the pool without someone out there.”
“Taryn lets me.”
He doubted that was the complete truth. “I’m not Taryn.” He headed to the door without waiting for their agreement.
His hand was on the front door knob when Ryder stunned him with, “Do you like Taryn?”
Hoping he erased the surprise from his face. Tyler turned and faced his son. “She’s very likeable.”
“Are you going to marry her?”
He laughed. He didn’t mean to do it, but the idea was funny. The disappointment on Ryder’s face wasn’t and it had him speaking with a serious tone. He needed Ryder to understand, but didn’t think he was ready to hear all the reasons why. “Not likely.”
“So you’re just going to take us away when school gets out?”
He couldn’t lie, but he didn’t have an easy answer either. “It’s complicated, and we’ve been talking about our options. But Taryn and I aren’t in love.”
“It’s not that complicated.” Ryder said nothing else. He simply turned and walked sullenly to his room and closed the door.
“I told him you wouldn’t keep us from seeing Taryn if we go with you,” Sidney said from where she still stood in the hall. “He doesn’t believe me.”
“I’ll talk to him. For now, I need to talk to Taryn.”
As brush-offs went, not that he wanted to brush his kids off, it was a weak one. He wanted to put Ryder’s mind at ease, but he and Taryn had talked about the kids moving. She’d sworn she would work with him to find a way to avoid a court battle. Yet, when he’d looked into Ryder’s eyes he’d wanted to make whatever promise was necessary to bring a smile to his son’s eyes.
For half a beat he’d been desperate enough to quit his job, or put in for a transfer, but leaving the unit, Miami and his family would rip his heart to shreds. On the flip side, his wants were no longer as important as his kids’ needs.
Damn. Being a responsible adult seriously sucked.
Chapter Six
“We can’t pull this off without you, T.”
Taryn fought the urge to press her fingers against her eyes. Hard. The morning had started with the kids, and if she was honest herself, looking forward to Tyler’s visit. The later in the day it got, the longer the hours took to pass and the more she craved a Groundhog Day. One big do-over of the day where her primary objective would be to change the way the conversation with Tyler had gone.
Her life wasn’t a movie, though. Do-overs weren’t granted, so she’d just have to deal with the moment in front of her.
“Now isn’t a good time, Davio.” Hell, it was a horrible time, but she couldn’t tell him that without telling him about everything else that was going on. She thought of her crew as friends, but not close enough that she’d told them about Tyler being the kids’ dad or about the investigation into her.
�
��It’s just a quick job in San Francisco.” Davio pulled her hands into his and employed the full power of his European charm. “Please, T.”
“We just did a show, Davio. Why is this one so important?”
“It’s a private gig. A pre-wedding event of sorts for a Wall Street bigwig. Some of the world’s fifty most influential people will be there.”
“Name three.” Not that she expected to recognize any of the names.
“Warren Buffet, Bono, Jeff Bezos, Angelina Jolie. This could be the event that takes your name global.”
She’d once thought it would be nice to be an international name. Having it linked to a few of the people he was naming would be a definite coup.
“Wynton Marsalis will be performing. You know you love his stuff.”
“That’s not playing fair.” As much as she enjoyed a good rock song, she had a serious love for the way Wynton Marsalis did jazz.
“We’ll only be a few hours away.”
“When would we need to leave?”
Davio grinned the way he always did when he knew he’d gotten what he wanted. She’d seen the smile a lot in the last two years, because she’d adored the older man from the instant he’d charmed his way onto her stage.
“The plane can be loaded with our gear within the hour. We should leave within a couple hours at most so we can get there, unload, do a run-through with the lighting, etc.”
She cocked her head and felt her right brow rise. It was a job that took several hours, not less than one. “You were so confident I’d say yes that you already have everything ready to go?”
“Are you kidding?” He kissed her knuckles, still not releasing her hands. “Even you can’t resist the chance to witness, and be part of, this level of royalty.”
She could easily refuse it if she didn’t trust Tyler with the kids. But she did. And they might all benefit from some time without her there to run interference. The better the kids got to know Tyler the easier it would be for them to decide what they wanted to do at the end of school, and she wanted it to be their decision, not hers or Tyler’s.