Hot and Handy: A Small Town Romantic Suspense (Shameless Southern Nights Book 3)

by J. H. Croix

  Beau sighed and nodded, clearly not intrigued by the prospect of being the one to talk to Tyson either. “Thanks. He may demand my balls as payment for the sin we’ve committed against him.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  He smirked. “Obstruction of Tyson. Other people get charged with obstruction of justice. In our case, justice can suck it. We’ve got bigger problems.”

  I laughed, but it made perfect sense. Tyson did see himself as justice. For the members of our family at least. None of us were surprised when we learned what his plans for his future were after he left high school.

  As the district attorney for Cypress Creek, he was respected and revered. Finding out we’d all been going around him was going to drive him crazy. “Like I said, good luck with that. Let me know if we need to throw a goodbye bash for your balls.”

  “Ha ha,” Beau replied dryly. He drained his coffee and stood up. “I’ve got to get going. I’ll give Tyson a call later and see when he can meet up.”

  “I’ll call Sonny and talk to him today.”

  Beau gave a thumbs-up and a wave, walking out of my office without another word. As soon as he was gone, I called Sonny. I told him what Sadie and Beau had told me, and he agreed to stop by my place that evening.

  Now I was only hoping I could persuade Sadie to come to dinner. She was my priority today. I really needed to see her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sadie

  When I woke up, my thoughts went immediately to Evan. It was Saturday morning, and I still hadn’t seen him this week. We had planned on meeting up at the diner last night, but Lori couldn’t babysit, so I couldn’t see him after my shift. During my shift, he was still at work.

  The week had been long and slow without him. I missed him. I was surprised by how much.

  Burrowing into my pillows, I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it felt like to wake up next to him. I swept my hand out to my side, longing to feel his strength and heat beside me.

  It wasn’t only the physical things I missed about him either. I was falling for him so damn hard, and all I could do was hope that eventually, he would catch me. We weren’t there yet, but I was feeling more confident than ever that we might have a chance at something real.

  Listening to his brothers teasing each other about the mistakes they’d made early on in their relationships was insightful, but I hoped it would be different with Evan and me. If there was an us long enough to even get to those kinds of things. I crossed my fingers and toes that there would be.

  A creak in the hallway outside my bedroom told me Emery was awake. It was my cue to get up. Lazily, I rolled over in bed with a sigh and convinced myself to get moving.

  “Good morning, Em,” I said when I pulled my door all the way open. I slept with it cracked open so she could get to me at night if she wanted to, but that wasn’t happening very much anymore. My little girl was growing up. “What do you want for breakfast?”

  Emery spun around to face me, wide-awake and looking adorable in pigtails she must’ve done herself. They were nowhere near the same place on either side of her head, but they looked cute with her favorite pink unicorn pajamas. “I had a dream about pancakes.”

  I swooped down on her, tickling her sides. “Did you? Are you going make them for us?”

  Laughter pealed out of her. The sound was like music to my ears after this stressful week. Although, it always was. All children should always be happy. They deserved nothing less from us. I loved the sound of Emery laughing more than any other in the world.

  Twisting out of my loose grip, she ran to the kitchen still giggling. “I will, Mom. But then you have to clean up.”

  I sighed dramatically. “I’d better make them then. Or I’ll spend the rest of my life cleaning flour off the floor.”

  Emery clapped her hands and pulled up her seat in the kitchen. She watched me as I got the ingredients together and helped me where she could. I gave her the batter to stir and told her to get syrup out for us. Her final task was keeping me company while I cooked. She always excelled at that task, and today was no exception.

  Mornings like these with Emery rejuvenated my tired soul. They reminded me why I worked so hard and gave me the courage to face it all again in the week ahead. The only thing missing for me that would’ve made the morning fully perfect was Evan.

  I was burning to have him here with us like this. As if he’d heard my silent wish, a text lit up my phone’s screen, and his name jumped out at me. A smile crept onto my lips, my heart skipping as I picked up my phone.

  Mind if I stop by? I’m not far away.

  Elation made my heart spin like a top in my chest. It seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking about us this morning. Knowing I wasn’t alone in spending the morning thinking about him brought another smile to my lips.

  Before I answered him, though, I remembered my vow to be careful with Emery about him and asked her. “How would you feel if Evan stopped by?”

  She stopped in her tracks where she was sitting on the floor trying to fold napkins around our forks, her face scrunched up in concentration. A wide smile broke free. “Yes. I want him to come. Please, can he come?”

  “Of course, sweetheart.” I smiled at her excitement. After our talk last weekend, I felt a lot more comfortable about the two spending time together. As long as Emery didn’t feel like he was intruding on our time together, I couldn’t think of a reason to say no to him about coming over. Not that I tried very hard to.

  We don’t mind at all. Hurry, though, or you’ll miss the pancakes.

  Minutes later, the doorbell rang. I was so excited to see him, I forgot I was still wearing my pajamas until I opened the door.

  His eyes raked down the length of my body, darkening. His gaze made me feel as if my cotton shirt and shorts combo was the sexiest, sheerest lingerie he’d ever seen. My blood heated, but I forced myself to ignore the desire spinning through my veins.

  Evan gave his head a shake and flashed me a smile as he held out a cup. “I got you a coffee from the place down the street.”

  I recognized the logo and let out a happy sigh as I took it from him. “I love their stuff. It’s so good.”

  “Phoenix has turned me onto the stronger blends. He recommended this place. So far, I gotta say I agree with both of you. It’s great.”

  He swept me into his arms when he stepped through the door, holding me close for a few extra beats. I held on tightly and rested my head against his chest. His heart beat strong and steady beneath my ear, and I smiled. This was more like it. I wanted to bottle this feeling so I could carry it around with me and feel it whenever I wanted, which would be all the time.

  Emery broke our moment of drinking each other in and being together when I felt her wrap her arms around our legs. Somehow, it made the moment all the more perfect. All three of us together like this.

  “Evan! You came. Mom’s making us pancakes,” she exclaimed excitedly, her voice muffled from being pushed between our legs.

  He released me to crouch down in front of her. As he lowered himself down, he pulled a homemade granola bar from the coffee place out of his pocket and handed it to Emery. “I heard we’re having pancakes. They’re going to be delicious, but I also got you this.”

  Her smile lit up her eyes as she breathed, “Thank you.”

  Emery took any gift very seriously. It was always a big deal to her because she knew things didn’t come free. When she was younger, she used to get angry sometimes about me being away from home so much. I had to explain to her that I had to work and why.

  She didn’t really understand it then. I wasn’t sure if she did now, but I was proud of her for showing gratitude. Carrying the granola bar like it was made of solid gold, she went back to the kitchen.

  “It’s good to see you,” I told Evan, taking the tips of his fingers in mine as we followed her. We were going to have to be cautious with how much affection we showed in front of Emery, but I couldn’t deny that one tiny connect
ion.

  “You too,” he said, quickly dropping a kiss on top of my head before we entered the kitchen where Emery was. When he saw the stack of pancakes, he smiled at Emery. “What do you say you and I dig into those while your mom goes to shower?”

  She nodded enthusiastically, thrusting her plate at him. I laughed, whispered a quick thank-you to him and went to get dressed. I raced through a shower, again choosing comfortable denim shorts and a loose, flowing white tank top that showed a hint of cleavage. I paired it with a long chain and white sandals.

  I brushed some mascara onto my lashes and even added a dash of lip gloss. As I returned to the kitchen, I heard Emery giggling at something Evan said.

  When I got back to the kitchen, Emery was done with breakfast. “Do you want to go play in your room now?”

  Before I got the last word out, Emery smiled and shot down the hallway. I knew she had been busy playing with her dolls earlier, and clearly, she was excited to get back to them. After I went to make sure she was set up to play, I rejoined Evan.

  He was in the living room, but he’d made me some pancakes and had them ready for me when I sat down. “How was your week?”

  Between bites, I remembered I still hadn’t shown him what I found at the firm. I got my phone and ate while I told him about the meeting, showed him the photos I had taken, and played some snippets of conversation I’d caught later in the week.

  “This is impressive,” he said, taking my phone to study the pictures more closely. “Seriously, you did an awesome job. Sonny’s going to be singing your praises forever.”

  I flushed. “Just doing my part.”

  He leaned in close and kissed the tip of my nose. “More than, I would say.”

  “Should I send these to Sonny now? I wasn’t sure what to do with them.”

  Evan shook his head, dragging his palm across his cheek. “I don’t think we should send it to his phone. Because he’s a cop, I don’t want to put the information at risk of being flagged or checked by some security system. Someone might catch wind of it. Send them to me, and I’ll show them to Sonny.”

  I nodded. From the way those men were talking, they had connections everywhere. I did as he asked and then finished my breakfast. When I was done, I set my plate down and curled up against Evan’s side. “Do you have any plans for today?”

  “Funny you should ask.” He grinned down at me. “Before I left home earlier, I packed the fishing gear. We promised Emery we would go again and rain checked on her last weekend. I thought we could make it up to her if you guys are free.”

  My heart fluttered in my chest. He was so thoughtful about Emery. I wanted to spend the day with him, and I didn’t doubt Em would be thrilled to go fishing again. “We’d love to. I’ll go get Emery ready.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Evan

  The sound of a dog barking filtered into my subconscious. With a groan, I rolled over in bed, grabbed a pillow, and stuffed it over my head. I didn’t mind the neighborhood dogs at all, but I would’ve preferred waking up to Sadie’s voice than to that dog’s.

  Memories of fishing with Sadie and Emery played like a movie in my head. We’d had fun, and more importantly, Emery loved it. She was a great kid, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed spending time with her.

  She’d stayed glued to my side and asked me what felt like a million questions. Some were about fishing, swimming in the river, and nature in general, while others were about me and my brothers. She was fascinated about me being one of five siblings.

  When Jeremy had started dating Marie and bringing Austin around, I’d wondered how he dealt with bonding with a child like that. These days, I knew he couldn’t imagine life without him and was his father in every way beyond biology. With Emery in my life, I understood how it had unfolded for him.

  She was a part of Sadie. It was as simple and as complicated as that. I cared about Sadie and that meant caring about every part of her. Considering that Emery was the most important person in Sadie’s life, she was important to me.

  After we spent the day together, I’d wanted to stay over and wake up with Sadie this morning, but I respected her wish for me to leave early for Emery’s sake. She’d thought spending the entire day together and then the night as well might confuse Emery.

  Regardless of how much I’d wanted to stay, I reluctantly agreed that it might send the wrong message. When I left, I thought I would meet up with Sonny, and we could have dinner together while we talked about everything Sadie found.

  Sonny never came over, though. He’d gotten summoned out on a SWAT call and told me we’d have to talk today.

  Rolling onto my back, I tucked my hands under my head and tried to get back to sleep. It didn’t take me long to realize it wasn’t going to happen.

  Resigned to starting my Sunday at the crack of dawn, I heaved myself out of bed and decided to hit up my punching bag. I needed to burn off some of the excess frustration from the week, and working up a good sweat would do the trick.

  I could think of other ways I would’ve preferred to work up a good sweat, but I shoved them out of my mind. Sadie wasn’t here, and she wasn’t a booty call, so the punching bag would have to cut it.

  I worked out until my arms felt heavy and my mind was clear. When I was done, I grabbed a quick shower and was making coffee when Sonny texted.

  Coffee?

  My reply was as brief as his message. Okay.

  A couple of minutes later, my doorbell rang. My brother jogged on the spot on my porch when I opened up, headphones hanging over his shoulders and a heart rate monitor strapped to his arm.

  I grinned. “You broke out the old running shoes again?”

  He rolled his eyes with a smirk. “What do you mean ‘I broke them out’? I never packed them up, dude. SWAT team member here. I’ve got to keep in shape. It’s literally part of my job description. We can’t all be lazy.”

  “Hey,” I protested as he brushed past me into the house. “I’m not lazing around. I spent hours with the punching bag this morning.”

  He patted my shoulder sympathetically and made a beeline for the kitchen. “So have I, Ev. So have I. The difference is, I didn’t stop there.”

  Shrugging, I flipped him off and laughed as I watched him fill a glass with water and chug it. He repeated the action three times before bringing a hand to his throat. “Dehydration crisis averted. Thank God. I was damn thirsty.”

  “You should’ve brought water with you on your run,” I commented, swinging around him to get back to making coffee.

  Sonny rolled his eyes again. “I did. Thanks, Mom. Stayed out longer than I thought I would. Finished the water a couple of miles ago.”

  Taking his coffee from me, he refilled the water glass again and followed me out to the back porch. It was a beautiful morning, blue skies without so much as a breeze. Clouds gathered on the horizon, though. We were in for some rain later, no doubt.

  Sonny stretched his legs out in front of him when we sat down, gulping down his water as he surveyed my backyard. The conversation meandered along mundane topics such as how I’d gotten a patch of grass going again after it mysteriously dried out. Then he turned in his seat to face me.

  “You said yesterday Sadie got some information from Ken’s offices you wanted to show me?” Sonny finally said after I’d left to snag my coffee once it was ready and returned to sit beside him.

  I nodded and pulled it up on my phone, handing the device over. “She took pictures of some overseas bank accounts. She also overheard the end of some meeting when the guys talked about some money and how they could get it back. No names mentioned, but she did manage to make some recordings of others snippets of conversation.”

  My brother whistled under his breath. “This is good work.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. If I had my way, Sadie wouldn’t have been involved in all of this, but she was committed, and there was no getting around the fact that the stuff she’d collected was solid.

  Sonny squinted at
the screen as his fingers zoomed photographs in and out. “Some of this is similar to stuff Niki’s tracked down before, but this is more concrete.”

  “Will it help?” I asked. I had a basic idea of investigation and evidence gathering, but not enough to know what Sonny could move on and what he couldn’t.

  He shrugged. “On its own, I don’t know. I’ll follow up on it, but I’m on the periphery of the investigation, remember?”

  I nodded. “On the side only, I remember.”

  Sonny and Niki had been through a hell of a time with this investigation not so long ago. When the dust started settling, he had promised her he would keep his role more low-key.

  So far, he was keeping his promise. He was still working the case, but he turned evidence over to the GBI and didn’t go charging off after every lead. “I must admit, I was wondering if you were going to be able to keep your promise. You were pretty stubborn about this investigation.”

  “I was,” he admitted, his eyes drifting across the lawn and coming to rest somewhere above the swimming pool. “It almost ruined my relationship. I’m not willing to lose Niki over it, though, so I’ll turn what Sadie found over to the state and let them run with it. If they need me, they’ll call.”

  “I’m impressed,” I told him. “Never thought I’d see the day you put a woman above this investigation.”

  “I almost didn’t,” he grumbled. “You were there. You saw how badly I fucked up.”

  “What matters is that you fixed it.”

  Lifting his mug to take a sip of his coffee, he nodded. “Yeah, I guess I did. Speaking of thinking we’d never see the day, I never thought I’d see you get serious and settle down.”

  “I’m not settled down,” I scoffed.

  Sonny chuckled, shaking his head. “Not yet, but you will be. You didn’t deny that you’re serious about her.”

  “I’m as surprised as anyone,” I mused. It was true. My brothers might’ve thought they’d never see the day, but I’d never even thought of the day. The day didn’t exist for me.