Framed

by C. P. Smith

  “That includes you, too . . . Kade,” she replied, but he could tell she was holding back a grin. “If I single you out, I can’t help Buck.”

  The words “or see you” tumbled through his head as he stared back at her. She couldn’t show attention or he’d never see her again. He realized then what he was doing and took a step back. He was acting as if he had a claim to her instead of the prisoner he was. He was a caged animal for Christ’s sake. A caged animal with fuckin’ rules that required permission to eat, sleep, and breathe. He’d been abandoned by his team and wasn’t getting out anytime soon; yet, even knowing that, knowing he was stuck in hell for seven more years and had no chance with her, he was still itching to reach out and run his hand across her cheek to test his theory that her skin was as soft as a kitten.

  “Let’s go, Kingston,” one of the guards shouted.

  Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Ian Drum with his arms crossed, waiting. He raised his hand to acknowledge he’d heard the guard then turned back to Harley. He caught her staring at his arm where a bandage wound around, covering his stitches.

  “What happened?” she asked with concern, her brows pulled together in distress as her face began to pale.

  “Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

  “Did someone hurt you on purpose? Do I need to talk to Hinkle for you?” she rushed out, her concern palpable.

  “It’s just a scratch, Harley. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it.”

  Harley narrowed her eyes at the ‘pretty little head’ comment, so he grinned. Better to piss her off than to have her hound him for details. Whoever had ordered the hit had long arms if they could bribe guards to look the other way. Arms that could easily snap her neck if she butted her nose in where it didn’t belong.

  Thankfully, before she could needle him for more information, Drum shouted again. He took a step back from Harley as her gaze shot to Drum’s and he saw disappointment flash across her face. Knowing she wanted to keep talking to him as much as he wanted to talk to her, Kade had to keep his grip tight on Buck’s lead to keep from reaching out and touching her.

  Be smart, Kade.

  “See you on Friday, Princess Buttercup,” he told her Yorkie.

  Harley started to speak as he turned but hesitated, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. Watching her pink tongue swipe her bottom lip caused Kade to grind his teeth. After more than two years without a woman, having the one he’d dreamt about within his reach, yet not being able to touch her, was just about all he could take. What he wanted to do was wrap his hand around her neck, then pull her in for a kiss that would curl both their toes. What he wanted to do, however, and what he could do came crashing back down around him when he saw Drum ready to escort him back to his cell.

  When he reached Drum with Buck in tow, he turned and took in Harley one last time before he left. She was watching him as well, dressed in ratty jean shorts, an OP tee, and tennis shoes. She wasn’t dressed to impress, she was dressed real, clean, innocent looking; and from where he stood, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

  “Don’t get any ideas, Kingston. You’re gonna be a guest with us for a while. A woman like that won’t wait around for a killer. She’s probably got some surfer dude waiting for her when she gets home.”

  Kade shot Drum a look that would have made most men cower. Drum only chuckled, unfazed by his scowl and not the least bit concerned that the man shooting daggers at him stood a good four inches taller, outweighed him by thirty pounds of raw muscle, and wanted to put his fist into his jaw. Two years ago, a man wouldn’t dare laugh at him; now, he was reduced to asking for permission to take a piss.

  With one last look at Harley, Kade exited the room and they made their way back to cellblock C. When they arrived five minutes later, Kade decided to take Buck outside to practice. He wound his way to the side yard where there was plenty of grass, out of the way of the other inmates. Buck sniffed his surroundings, then took a piss on one of the poles connecting the chain-link fencing. Buck and he had quickly formed a bond which had helped in his training. Kade could let him off-lead and Buck wouldn’t wander off out of fear of the other inmates and not wanting to let Kade out of his sight.

  While he bent at the waist unhooking Buck’s lead, movement towards the parking lot caught his eye. Renault was a minimum-security prison set up like military barracks with only chain link and razor wire keeping the prisoners in. Because of this, visitors could see the prisoner during their time in the yard. However, the guards generally didn’t allow the prisoners to converse with the public, so Kade never paid attention past his yard. Turning his head towards the parking lot, he saw Harley standing with her back to him watching as Buttercup walked around looking for a spot to relieve herself. Kade’s eyes scanned the length of her body, memorizing every curve as she stood silently in the yard, but he didn’t try to get her attention. Then, as if she could feel his eyes on her, she turned slowly and locked eyes with him. Her mouth pulled into a sexy grin and she waved. He forgot his earlier promise to steer clear of her as much as possible when she smiled and Kade silently willed her to bridge the distance between them. After only a moment’s hesitation, Harley picked up Buttercup and started towards Kade as if she could hear his thoughts.

  “You’re working off-lead?” she inquired when she made it to the fence.

  “Why’d you get divorced?” Kade asked, ignoring her question. He’d wanted to know the answer since he’d heard she was no longer married. The man must have been a fool to let her go.

  “Um.”

  “Did he cheat?”

  “No, we just—”

  “Hit you?” he growled.

  “No! God, no, we just married too young and realized later we were better off as friends than lovers.”

  “You still keep in touch?” Kade asked, needing to know where she stood with the man.

  “Why are you asking?”

  “No reason,” Kade answered with a grin. “So, how long have you been training dogs?”

  “Since 2005. I had planned to attend Veterinary School, but those plans fell through when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Working with IDTP was a way to fulfill part of my dream of caring for abused animals,” Harley answered. She paused for a moment, looking around the yard, then rushed out, “I recognized you that day at my dad’s shop.”

  A slow grin pulled across his mouth as he raised an arm to the chain link and curled his fingers around the hot metal.

  “I recognized you, too. Your eyes are hard to forget.”

  “My eyes?”

  “Warm. Like swimming in milk chocolate,” he explained. “Makes a man feel like he’s home.”

  Her breath hitched at his words. She covered her reaction quickly by looking down at her shoes, but he didn’t miss the blush that crept in.

  “I remember your smile,” she finally whispered in reply.

  “My smile?” he questioned and then smiled slowly for her benefit. He watched her eyes dilate and her breathing increase as she stared at his mouth.

  “Yeah,” she finally replied. “When you helped me off the ground that night at the game you smiled at me.” Harley raised her own hand to the chain-link, her hand resting next to his.

  “Do you know why I got in a fight?”

  “One of our players cheap shot you, right?”

  Kade shook his head slowly as he moved one finger over and gently caressed the top of her hand. Her eyes moved to what he was doing and swallowed hard.

  “Then why?” she whispered, not looking up from her hand.

  “Because I kept looking at you all night and your lineman saw it and taunted me.”

  “You fought about me?” she said, her voice soft. “What did he say?” she asked finally looking him straight in the eyes.

  “To keep my eyes off you because he intended to pop your cherry.”

  Her reaction was immediate and fun to watch. She sucked in a breath as if she was biting into a lemon and then tried to think back
to whom he’d fought.

  “Sammy,” she hissed. “Wait until I see him again.”

  “I take it he didn’t pop your cherry?”

  “Ah, no. My ex-husband did.”

  Kade closed his eyes briefly. Jesus, she was innocent. Clean, pure, worth fighting and dying for just like he’d thought.

  A whistle blew over his shoulder announcing it was lunchtime, breaking Kade from his thoughts.

  “Time to go,” Kade said as he kept staring at her gorgeous face.

  “Oh, right. Mealtime. I guess I’ll see you on Friday then,” she answered before looking at his bandaged arm and frowned. “Watch your back, okay?”

  Before she pulled her hand from the fence, Kade put all his fingers on top of hers and squeezed. “Always,” he answered before he leaned down, hooked Buck’s lead back on his collar, and rose smiling at Harley.

  “It was worth it,” he said as he backed up from the fence.

  “What was?” she asked.

  “Punching Sammy.”

  He kept backing up, watching as a sexy grin pulled across her mouth. Before he turned around to head inside, he called out, “Friday,” to Harley and then winked, feeling better than he had in two years.

  ***

  “Hey, Dad, where are you?”

  Moving through the dining room of my father’s single-story Florida home, which backed up the Blackwater River, I headed to the back patio expecting to find him with a beer in hand watching boaters pass by on the river. I came to an abrupt halt, though, when I heard him call out from his bedroom. Dad had taken the day off work to run errands, so I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him once I returned to work.

  “What’s up kiddo?” he called out as he came down the hallway.

  “Hey. I’m done with work and thought we could have an early dinner. I wanted to talk to you about Kade.”

  “How did it go today? Did the dogs give you problems?”

  “It went great; the dogs behaved, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m worried about Kade, Dad. His arm was bandaged and when I asked him about it, he blew it off. I think he’s in danger.”

  “Did he tell you he was in danger?”

  “No, but he used the time-honored, “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” so I knew it was serious. I’m beginning to think we should start looking instead of waiting on these so-called friends.”

  Dad whistled through his teeth, nodding in agreement. Dad had always used that particular phrase on me when something bad was happening. Such as “Don’t worry your pretty little head over it, your mother will be fine.”

  “Harley, we haven’t got a clue how to conduct an investigation. At best, we’d piss people off.”

  I followed on his heels as he headed towards the open kitchen that looked out over the river. I could see boats pass by through the large picture window, and became angry. Life was passing Kade by while he was stuck in prison. He could be out on a boat right now drinking a beer with his brother instead of rotting in a cell where he didn’t belong.

  Dad opened the fridge and pulled out two beers as I climbed up on the marble countertops like I had when I was a kid. After popping the top off my beer, he handed it to me then took a long pull from his own as I worked Kade’s problem over in my mind.

  “What if we put together a file of all the witnesses for his team? That way when they arrive, they don’t have to spend time researching. I could go to the courthouse and copy the public records of the case files, maybe go to St. Elmo’s Fire and see if the bartender from that night still works there.”

  “We could go. There’s no way I’m letting you snoop around in a murder investigation by yourself. Have you forgotten there were three men in the alley the night Sutton died? Whoever he pissed off, they’ll wanna let sleeping dogs lie and Kade to continue to take the fall. They wouldn’t hesitate to go after a pretty little thing like yourself.”

  “You know that’s twice in one day a handsome man has called me a pretty little thing,” I grinned. “If I wasn’t so offended by neither one of you thinking I can take care of myself, I might get a big head.”

  Polishing off the rest of his beer, Dad belched before tossing it into the recycling bin. “We Dashes are known for our fast wit. However, you get your looks from your mother, God rest her soul, and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t thank God you look just like her. You keep her memory alive for me every time I look at you. So you’ll have to give your old man a pass for worrying about you. You’re all I have left of her.”

  “Is that why you never dated after she died? Because I’m a constant reminder of her?”

  Shaking his head no, my dad moved in front of me. I saw the sadness in his eyes that he usually kept hidden.

  “Daddy?”

  “Your mother was the love of my life. I don’t want or need to find a pale comparison. What little time I had with her was more than most people get in a lifetime of loving.”

  “But don’t you get lonely?”

  “Sure. But I have you to push away the gray clouds,” he said, running his hand across my hair. “Now, enough about me. Tell me how it went with Kade today.”

  That is a loaded question.

  “Well, he seems to have bonded with Buck since I was there two days ago.”

  “And?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, giving me the “dad” vibe like he did when I was in trouble.

  “And what?” I hedged, not about to tell him how my heart beats faster anytime I look at the man. “I’m there to teach the men how to train their dogs. It’s not like we were sitting around socializing.”

  “Right . . . Harley, when I told you last night that he came looking for you, you lit up like a kid in a candy store. Look, I’m sure as hell not gonna tell you how to run your life, but I will say it’s clear how you feel. But he’s an inmate and he’s angry about that. He could lash out at you or he could latch onto you like a life preserver. My advice to you is to use caution so neither one of you gets hurt, okay?”

  “I’m keeping my distance,” I lied. “He’s just another dog handler in my program, that’s all.”

  “Good to hear, good to hear. Ok, moving on. What do you say we head to St. Elmo’s Fire after we polish off a side of ribs at RibCrib? We could get started tonight on that file of yours.”

  Jumping off the counter, I kissed my father’s cheek.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “For being a great guy who is willing to help someone in need.”

  “You’re just now figuring out I’m a great guy?” he chuckled as we headed for the door.

  “No, but I figured it was about time I said so.”

  ***

  Two hours and a full rack of ribs later, we were sitting in St. Elmo’s Fire having a beer, making small talk with the bartender when Dad finally asked him how long he’d worked there.

  “My uncle owns Fire. I’ve been working here most of my adult life.”

  Taking a pull from his draft, my dad let that lie for a moment. I didn’t know the best way to approach the man about what happened that night, so I let my dad take the lead.

  “Seems I remember there was a murder behind the bar a few years back,” he finally asked.

  Leaning across the bar to replace Dad’s peanuts, Gary, the bartender, nodded as he switched out the empty bowl for a full one.

  “You know, it’s funny, we haven’t talked about that murder in a while and you’re the second person tonight to bring it up.”

  Hearing that, the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. I looked around the bar thinking that the killer had returned but didn’t see anyone who looked nefarious.

  “Oh, yeah?” my dad prompted while I had my head turned.

  “Yeah. Two huge guys; they asked to talk to my uncle. In fact, they’re still in the back room with him now.”

  As if on cue, the door to the back office opened and two of the biggest, baddest, Hawaiian shirt covered men I’d ever seen—next to Kade that is—c
ame marching out.

  “Oh, my God, they’re huge!” I whispered.

  “SEALs,” Dad replied with a grin.

  We both stood as they made their way around the bar. All I could think about as they made their way towards us was that Kade was stuck in prison while these bozos looked like they were on vacation in their flower-covered shirts. Incensed and outraged on Kade’s behalf, I marched towards them both before I could check myself and shouted, “You sure as heck took your sweet time getting back here. Where the eff have you been?”

  Four

  My first mistake was walking away from my father. Scratch that, my first mistake was losing my cool; my second mistake was not moving out of the big blond man’s personal space when he grinned at me with mischief in his eyes. He looked down at me, one brow cocked in surprise, and his mouth pulled into a grin that spelled trouble with a capital T and, R.O.U.B.L.E for good measure. His eyes roamed my body slowly while I scowled at him, my arms crossed for added punctuation. He wasn’t intimidated though, instead, he grabbed me around the waist, pulled me into his big body, and began to dance to Conway Twitty’s “Hello Darlin’” blaring from the jukebox. I tried to explain what I was angry about, but the big galoot swung me out, then back in again every time I opened my mouth. Before I could even so much as say, “Kade’s in danger,” he dipped me low and planted his lips. Right. On. Mine.

  “You wanna let my daughter up,” Dad laughed as I pushed at the blond man’s shoulders.

  Hearing my father’s request, the massive SEAL looked up at him and grinned, if you can believe it. He had to be closer to seven feet than six and had a flattop you could balance a level on it was so precise. When he released me, I took a step back towards my father then leveled the huge SEAL with a glare.

  “As I was saying . . . What took you so long to get here? Kade thinks you’ve written him off.”

  “What the fuck?” the other SEAL, who was a fine looking black man with a bald head and amber colored eyes, hissed before grabbing my arm and moving towards a corner. “Talk to me,” he ordered once my father and the other SEAL had followed.