by Olivia Rigal
“That sucks.”
“Yes, it sure does,” she says. “Here’s your room. I’ll let you unpack and settle in. We have a big meeting in half an hour.”
I open my bag and unpack, but it doesn’t take long, since I don’t have much. I swore I would never walk around with a quilt-like coat or furry boots that looked like two dead dogs again, so I left all my cold-weather stuff in the locker room of the police station in Canada. I just need to buy T-shirts, and I’ll be a happy camper. When I’m done, I look for the kitchen, and I find Thomas and Catherine. We share a couple of sandwiches before the rest of the team arrives.
The team now consists of many other people from the panhandle and some federal agents. No one takes the time to bring me up to speed officially, but I get good grasp of the progress they’ve made when I realize they’re organizing simultaneous raids throughout three states for this coming Monday.
Captain Black, who is now letting the federal agencies fight over the direction of the operations, sits next to me. “Welcome back, David. You should be home by the July fourth weekend at the latest.”
I nod and look back at the chief of this three-ring circus. “Why not next week after the raids?”
“Because they want to prepare interviews with you to distribute to the press during the media frenzy.”
“As long as I get to speak to my family before my being alive hits the news, I’m your man,” I say, studying her face.
This last year has been hard on her. She’s still a handsome woman, but the lines around the corners of her eyes are deeper than last year.
“You okay?” I ask softly while the fed in charge runs through a slide show of who’s who in the Wizards organization.
“Yeah.” She nods. “I’ll be taking time off when all this madness is over though.”
“You sure deserve it.”
“You know, all this media frenzy may turn out to be a good thing,” she says.
“How so?” I don’t see the point of it—aside from the police department making a big show about how efficient we are in our fight against organized crime.
“Because no matter where Jeanne-Michelle has been hiding, she’ll know that you’re not dead and that she can come home.”
I look away to hide how her words impact me.
Misreading my body language, she says, “I’m sorry. I’m just an old meddling romantic fool. I thought you were in love with her. I should mind my own business. ”
I touch her arm. “Please don’t apologize for caring. Being attuned to people is what makes you a great cop, Captain. You’re right, I’m still pining away for her and for the boy too.”
When the meeting ends, I return to my room and stare at the postcard I’ve put on my nightstand. I decide to give Brian a heads up. I grab a pen and, from memory, address the card to him at the Iron Tornadoes club house.
"Sure feels like I'm still in Florida. It's hot, humid, crowded, and infested with mosquitoes. I expect you to take care of Lisa, and I plan to come back to haunt you soon to check out you’re doing it right. Take care, bro."
Just as I wonder how I’ll manage to send it if I’m stranded in this house, Catherine knocks on my door to ask if I need anything. She’s going grocery shopping for the house, so I ask her if I can tag along.
“You’re kidding! I’d love company and help carrying the stuff back to the car and all.”
As we drive away, I notice Thomas frowning by the door. Trouble in paradise?
“Serves him right,” she mutters, her eyes on the rearview mirror. “That gentleman’s always way too busy to bother with the logistics of the house. I hope he eats his heart out wondering if you’re gonna hit on me.”
I laugh. “Just ask me, and I’ll flirt away.”
“Be careful, I may take you up on that one of these days.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I park my ride in the barn where the Iron Tornadoes store their bikes. I’m surprised no one seems to have paid attention to my arrival. But then who other than someone affiliated with the MC would dare drive in unannounced and know to park there? As I walk around the main building, I realize security isn’t as lax as I thought. An older member is waiting for me.
“Hey, Brains, long time no see!” I say, holding out my hand.
“It’s good to see you vertical, man,” he says, shaking my hand and patting my back. “The new prospect came to get me when you rode up.”
Now I see the kid sitting next to a tree beside the cars that some guests have used to get here.
“It’s good to be back. Where’s Ice?” I ask, using Brian’s road name.
“Kinda busy right now.” Brains points toward the building. “I’m sure he’ll come down in a bit, but in the meantime, why don’t you go grab a bite?”
“I will, but I’m looking for my mother and my sister. I was told they were here.”
When I spoke with Captain Williams last night, he told me he and my mother had agreed to attend the Iron Tornadoes’ barbecue with Lisa, and that was where I’d find them if I got to Point Lookout in the afternoon. Lisa and Mom both know I’m coming. They just don’t know when.
I have spent hours on the phone with them and every single time my mother ended in tears. Lisa cried the first time and confessed she could not promise Brian was not going to beat the crap out of me for hiding I was still alive for such a long time.
“Well, your mom’s in the shade over there,” he says, pointing at a makeshift tent spread over some large tables.
When I reach the tent, I can’t believe my eyes. My entire family, minus Brian and Lisa, is there sitting at the same table. It’s a sight I never imagined I’d see. There’s my uncle Tony sitting next to Cracker. This blows my mind. They even seem to be having a cordial conversation. Across from them, with their back to me, Everest and Captain Williams, whom I’ll have to learn to address by his first name, since he’s my stepfather now. Next to them, my mother, my aunt Nancy, and Juliya, Everest and Brian’s sister, are chatting away.
“And here’s Lazarus,” says Cracker, who’s the first one to see me.
My mother doesn’t react. She’s listening intently to something Juliya is saying.
It’s only when Cracker puts his hand on her shoulder and asks, “How does it feel to see your son come back from the dead?” that my mother looks up and sees me.
By the time I reach her, Mom and Betty are crying their eyes out. Juliya’s fighting tears, batting her eyelashes like crazy. I hug my mother. She’s crying so hard she can’t even speak.
I try to soothe her by saying, “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m so sorry, but I’m okay. Please don’t cry.”
Juliya’s the first one to get over the shock of seeing me. She stands up, arms akimbo, and growls, “You bastard, how could you do this to us? When I saw you on the news last week, my first thought was that if you weren’t really dead, I was going to kill you myself for putting us through this!”
I laugh and open an arm to pull her into our hug.
“There’s another thing I’m raging mad at you for,” she says.
“What’s that?”
“Never bringing Lisa here when you came and spent time with us. I love your sister,” she says, punching my shoulder not-so-lightly.
“Right, like he wanted his sister to hang out with the likes of us,” says Cracker, who clearly understands why I kept Lisa away. “For all the good it did. She’s gonna be one of the Iron Tornadoes’ old ladies anyway!”
I don’t have a chance to comment before a prospect comes running up to the table.
He says “This black chick and her kid just drove in and asked for David Mayfield. Brains told me to ask you if you wanted to see them before I let them in.”
I let go of my Juliya. “Black chick?”
“Yep, dark as night. I don’t think they make them any darker.”
I laugh. Today is a great day. A fabulous day. That has to be Mimi and Toussaint. How did they find me here? I have no clue, but I don’t care. I foll
ow the prospect to the parking lot, where Brains is having a friendly discussion with them. Mimi has her arms crossed in a defensive stance while Toussaint anxiously looks at the people around them.
The boy has grown so much! When he recognizes me, he runs to me before Brains has time to react. We hug, and when I let him go, I look at Mimi. She’s no longer standing next to Brains, who must have decided they’re no threat to any of us.
Well, maybe he should have thought better. The second Mimi gets within arm’s reach, she slaps my face. Ouch, the woman is strong!
“Mimi, please,” Toussaint pleads.
A voice full of authority says, “Don’t get in the middle of this one, kid.”
Toussaint pulls away. When Cracker uses his bossy tone, few people resist his commands. I look around and see a crowd behind us. It seems many of the Iron Tornadoes noticed Cracker and my family following me toward the parking lot, and they decided it would be fun to tag along.
“You—” Mimi seems unable to find her words. “You—”
I hear Toussaint say to someone, “She’s been like this ever since we saw him on the news.” Someone hushes him, but he continues. “I don’t get it, why is she mad? I thought she would be happy he’s not dead.”
There’re a few chuckles in the audience.
I smile, and since no one else seems willing to answer him, I do. “I think she’s mad at the both of us. At me for making her believe I was dead, and at herself for vanishing without giving me a chance to reach her.”
Mimi nods and takes a tentative step in my direction.
I grab her waist. “You’re not going to hit me again, are you?”
She shakes her head and smiles, lifting her hand to caress the cheek she just slapped.
“Don’t tell me you’re not gonna spank her?” Cracker says.
I’d forgotten that was his answer for most woman-related issues. His motto is “There’s nothing a good spanking can’t cure.”
“No, sir,” I say, looking into Mimi’s eyes and brushing her tears away. “I’m gonna marry her, adopt Toussaint, and we’re going to give him as many siblings as she wants.”
“Aren’t you supposed to ask her first?” my sister asks.
Trust her to take a woman’s side, even against her own brother. I turn my head to look at her. She and Brian have just joined our circle of spectators. He’s standing behind her, holding her tightly. Her hair is all messed up, and she’s glowing. I can guess what they were busy with when I arrived.
“I will, sweetheart, but not in front of this crowd!”
My answer gets booed joyously by said crowd.
“Well, kiss her, you idiot,” Lisa says.
“That I will.” And I do. I kiss her for the longest time, trying to make up for a year of unsatisfied need.
I devour her, and she holds my back almost as fiercely as if she’s afraid I’ll vanish. We’re still going at it when the catcalls die and people start to walk away. The show is over.
I hear my mother say to Toussaint, “Young man, it seems I’m your grandmother now. So what do you say we get to know each other over a burger?”
“That sounds good, ma’am.”
“No ma’am with me,” my mother scolds sweetly as they walk away. “My name is Betty, but I’m not sure I want you to call me by my first name. I don’t think that’s appropriate…”
The rest of their conversation is lost in the background noise.
When Mimi and I let go of each other, we’re alone in the parking lot. Well, almost alone. The prospect on guard duty is back under his tree, pointedly looking in the other direction.
“Come on, love, let me introduce you to our family,” I say, taking Mimi’s hand.
She smiles, and I’m already thinking about logistics. I’m sure my mother or my sister could be talked into keeping Toussaint while I run away with Mimi for the night.
The beginning
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Books by Olivia
As They Please
1 - As He Bids
Applying for a summer internship at an upscale auction house just because she has a mad crush on one of the bosses, may be Career Fail 101 for Hannah Cohen.
Certainly, she is heading that way when she spends her first week focusing more on the way Bruce Nelson's mouth shapes his words than their actual meaning.
2 - As She Begs
After Hannah’s second week under the close supervision of Bruce Nelson takes an unexpected twist, her first reaction is to run.
And when Bruce vanishes instead of demanding an explanation, Hannah learns the hard way that in his world she will only get as good As She Begs.
Books by Olivia
Iron Tornadoes MC Romance
COLD
- Stone Cold
Lisa Mayfield returns home from law school to a dead brother and a former lover she no longer recognizes.
Brian Hatcher, her brother’s best friend, dropped out of the police academy.
Instead of working with Lisa’s brother to bring down organized crime, he became a full-patched member of the Iron Tornadoes, an outlaw motorcycle club, the very one that may have caused her brother’s fall.
Searching for answers to how her David died, Lisa can’t ignore the attraction she still feels for Brian.
The chemistry is undeniable but is there anything left of the boy she once loved or has he turned into a stone cold biker?
- Cold Burn
Brian Hatcher wants it all - control of the motorcycle club his father runs, the murderer of his best friend David six feet under, and, more than anything, David’s sister Lisa.
He wants Lisa on the back of his bike, in his home, in his bed, and under the spell of his cold burn.
But, with Lisa unsure of the role the Iron Tornadoes played in her brother’s death and her long-held goal of becoming a criminal prosecutor, what Brian wants may be nothing like what Brian gets.
- Cold Fusion
When he graduates from the Police Academy, David Mayfield is no rookie. His past experience as an MP allows him to jump right into an undercover mission.
Hired at the Bush Fire, a strip club owned by the white supremacist group David's task force is investigating, he is to gather information.
But fascinated by Jeanne-Michelle, a curvaceous Haitian dancer, he soon realizes that the real challenge of his mission may turn out to be abiding by the single rule of the strip club: “No messing around with the talent.”
HOT
(Coming soon)
Books by Olivia
Learning Curves
1 - French Cooking 101
2 - Advanced French Kissing
3 - Detention
4 - Graduation
Learning Curves Bundle 3 & 4
Learning Curves Bundle 1 to 4
Alison Blackman Dunham wrote such a lovely review, I can't do better:
The voluptuous “Ariane,” owner of a cooking school in France, has has organized an intensive weekend workshop that brings together a like-able cast of characters including an author, a newlywed couple, a cute actor, and a middle aged woman and her younger brother. A sexy relationship begins between Ariane and Peter, the “student” with whom she shared an attraction from book one. But Peter goes home to America, promising to return. Meanwhile, Ariane, continues her life (under the gentle bit watchful eye of her elderly. wealthy landlady, Madame Caroline).
Pet
er does come back to Paris, but Ariane finds that sometimes the reality is not as delicious as the fantasy. What is so lovely about the Learning Curves series as I see it, is that Ariane might live in Paris, but she’s “every woman, everywhere” in many ways. She is on a journey of discovery and we, the readers, get to follow it. In most women’s lives, the path of love, romance, career, friends, and so forth isn’t always a perfectly smooth path. Every decision Ariane has to make, every obstacle thrown in her way, every choice, will change her life. And isn’t that what makes life and romance, so exciting?
Olivia Rigal makes the dialogue and the plot lines realistic and fun to follow, and the romance elements are just steamy enough to keep your interest without the author resorting to graphic sex. Masterfully done. I can’t wait for book four (and neither will you). These books are all short (and the downloads are inexpensive). I wouldn’t be surprised if the author eventually puts them all into one larger novel....
Books by Olivia
Lyv's Family
- Ripped
Lyv wants a life far removed from her dysfunctional family and the diner they own, especially now that Ten, her best friend and lifeline to normality, is spending a semester in Europe. What she gets is an absent rock-star baby daddy and one helluva choice to make - unless it's ripped from her first.
- Jaded
For a 22-year-old girl genius, few things are a challenge. Just don't introduce Jade Cooper to a bowl of ice cream or ask her to have a normal conversation, especially if you're a guy. Assisting her childhood friend on a research project in Southeast Asia, Jade doesn't expect her generous curves or men to be a problem.
But even the best-laid plans of the exceptionally smart can go awry. Enter Oliver Wild, a charming stone expert who thinks normal is overrated and curves - not to mention Jade's world - are meant to be rocked.
Eve Trilogy
Naughty CHRISTMAS EVE - Eve is a curvaceous American living in Paris. She falls under the spell of a fellow lawyer on her way to Florida and finds out how hot a Christmas Eve can get in Miami ...