Josh tapped his pen against his mouth. “Now that you’ve tried to stall, let’s get back to Katie Long.”
Well, damn. “No offense, Josh, but it’s not your business, nor is it ever going to be.”
“Agreed.” Josh nodded, then kept right on talking. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing there.”
That was the problem. Eric had no fucking idea what to do about Katie. “Yes.”
“She’s young.”
“I know.” When he’d looked up her records, their age difference stunned him. He saw her as older and more experienced than someone twenty-five.
“She has a record.” Josh slowed his words as if he was waiting to see whether Eric knew the information.
“She wasn’t convicted of anything.”
Josh’s eyebrows raised. “So, you checked.”
“Of course.” A drug offense that went nowhere. From what Eric could see, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She seemed to be one of those people who fell into trouble. Losing her parents so young and so unexpectedly probably explained that. All he cared about was where she planned to take her life now. “I know how I found out about Katie’s background. I looked it up. With you, I’m guessing it came up as part of your catering background check.”
“I would have looked into her anyway.”
“Because?”
“I recognized the name. It triggered a memory from a case. Kauai is not a big place. It was my job to watch over drug arrests and make sure the small stuff wasn’t really an indication of a bigger sales operation. Fact is, at one time Katie Long was on my radar.”
Eric didn’t want her past to matter. Repeated over and over that it didn’t. Still, he needed to know. “Did she sell drugs?”
“Not that I could tell. She didn’t strike me as a user, either.”
Eric let go of the breath he was holding. “That’s good news.”
“Politically speaking, she’s still trouble.”
Eric didn’t need that reminder. He’d struggled with the problem from the moment he’d walked into the catering kitchen. The kick of lust continued to nail him in the ass even now. “It’s not as if I’ve proposed.”
“Interesting word.” Between the knowing smile and constant head nod it wasn’t hard to see where Josh’s mind had wandered.
Eric held up a hand. “Don’t.”
Josh tried to look innocent and failed. “What?”
“That thing where you’re a married guy and think everyone else should be, too.”
“I’m just listening to you talk.” That pen started twirling again. “You know, as a concerned voter.”
“Right.”
“Which brings me to the second reason for my visit—Deana.”
The subject that would not die. “You don’t believe the rumors—”
Josh snorted. “Of course not, but I do know about the role you played in her nephew’s conviction.”
Eric hated it when people phrased it that way. Made it sound as if he took some satisfaction in locking away his ex-girlfriend’s nephew. Like he was the one who turned the key or something. “I wasn’t the attorney of record.”
“You made a compromise. I know because I’m the one who asked you to do it.”
“That came long after. Ryan had already been convicted. It was about closure and nothing else.”
“People are going to say it was a favor for Deana.”
In part, it was. She’d believed Ryan was innocent even though he was convicted. When Josh had found Ryan’s accomplice, the kid who’d buried the forensic evidence that allowed Ryan’s denial to linger, Eric had had two choices. He could dive back into the case and look for a second conviction even though he had evidence against the accomplice and probably not enough for a conviction, or he could give the accomplice immunity and end the grumbling doubts about Ryan’s guilt once and for all. For Deana, her mother, and the community, Eric went with the latter.
“I did it because it was the right thing to do.” To this day, despite the potential ramifications, Eric still believed that to be true.
Josh leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “You did it because I asked you to and because you’re one of the good guys. Some folks aren’t going to see it that way. They’ll believe you shirked your duty.”
“I can deal with them.”
“I just want you to know if you get heat on this, I’ve got your back.”
Two times in two days people had stepped up for him. Eric wasn’t sure what to do with that type of support. He appreciated it but it made him uncomfortable. “Thanks.”
Josh sat up again. The tension winding around him dissipated. “But you’re on your own with Katie.”
“It will work out.”
Josh gave a smile that was less than reassuring. “You poor bastard.”
“What?”
“You’re about to get your ass kicked in the female department and you don’t even know it.”
Eric realized the ass kicking was about to start when he saw Cara later that evening. Standing on her front porch with the trade winds pushing against his back, seeing the way her eyebrows formed a thin line of fury, he knew he was in deep shit. He’d offended not only Katie but the entire Long clan. That could not be a good thing.
Cara held onto the edge of the door. She didn’t open it the whole way or leave any room for him to squeeze by and get inside. “I don’t have anything here that you need, Eric Kimura.”
“Where’s Ashleigh?” Maybe the question would throw her off. Who could think of that adorable girl and still steam with fury?
“Asleep.”
Apparently Cara could do both things. Good to know. “I need to talk with Katie.”
“You forget to leave cash on the dresser?”
The words ripped into him. “Cara.”
“What were you thinking?”
He couldn’t win, so he didn’t try. “I obviously wasn’t.”
“I’ve never seen her like that.”
“I don’t—”
“She was hurt and angry.”
Guilt crashed over him. “She took it the wrong way. I swear I wasn’t sending a message or trying to hide her.”
“What is a woman supposed to assume when a man gives her a key but won’t take her out for dinner?”
Damn, nothing was private anymore. “That he wants to see her somewhere other than in a catering kitchen or at her sister’s house where a kid lives.”
“You have an answer for everything.” The smug tone suggested how Cara felt about that. Not good.
“Sometimes.”
Cara’s death grip on the edge of the door eased. “Guess that makes you a good lawyer.”
“This isn’t about that. If I’d had any idea she’d react that way…” Hell, he didn’t know what he would have done differently. He still didn’t quite comprehend the supposed sin of his action, but he was smart enough to know he had to deal with how Katie saw it.
“You picked at a sore spot.”
“How was I supposed to know that?” When Cara threw him a bug-eyed warning glance, he realized he had raised his voice to the waking-baby-danger level. “Sorry.”
She held up a hand and walked toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms. She must have been satisfied with whatever she heard or didn’t hear because she returned to him. By that time, he had stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
She looked him up and down. “Smooth move.”
“It didn’t look like I was going to get an invitation. You were saying?”
“Admittedly it’s been a while but last I heard that’s what dating is all about—getting to know each other. Discovering the little things.” Her hands went to her hips. “That is how you treat a woman, Eric. You let her know she matters to you.”
Message received. “I believe I’ve been scolded.”
The hard lines around her mouth eased. “If you recognize that, maybe there’s hope for you after all.”
�
�Any idea where Katie is so I can go grovel to her?”
“It’s tempting to make you suffer.”
“I have been.” Probably not enough to satisfy the Long women, but he was ready to be done.
Cara turned around, walked into the kitchen, and grabbed her phone. After a few keystrokes and seconds that stretched for what felt like an eternity, she had a text response. But she didn’t give it up easy. “Katie is going to be furious with both of us.”
Eric knew he would get the brunt of Katie’s anger. “I want to make this right.”
Cara looked skeptical. “Hunting her down might not be the way.”
It had worked for him before. He had to hope it would a second time. “I never meant to make her feel bad.”
“Either you’re really good at lying or I’m losing my edge, because I believe you.” Cara turned the phone around so he could read the screen. “It’s a diner over on the Honoapiilani Highway.”
He gave her forearm a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”
“Good luck. I think you’ll need it.”
He knew he would.
Chapter 12
Katie had called the meeting with Jimmy. The idea of turning on Eric appealed to her in a castrate-him-with-her-bare-hands sort of way, but she refrained. Simply, she wanted out. Someone else could track Eric.
After this meeting she was headed for the beach. Sitting there while waves crashed on the cool sand in front of her sounded like the perfect end to this rotten day. Maybe the sting of salt against her cheeks would wipe out the thoughts that kept spinning in her head.
She had to come clean with Eric and warn him that someone close to him had a secret agenda. Then she had to figure out why he mattered to her so much.
In a short amount of time, he’d wormed his way into every cell and she couldn’t shake him out. It wasn’t like he was her first. She’d been with other guys and even thought she’d found love once before.
But this was different. This wasn’t about promises or how he could deliver her from a life she didn’t want. It was about the stupid explosion of joy that went off in her stomach every time she saw him.
At nineteen she’d felt that rush of excitement at being the main focus of a man’s interest. Finding out Tod was hiding a wife and kid on another island while he spewed pretty lies about loving her had bruised her more than if he had kicked her until she doubled over. She remembered lying in bed and crying her eyes out over a guy who thought so little of her.
She had refused to get sucked in like that again. Then she met Eric. He hadn’t delivered a punishing blow like the one Tod had, but he almost didn’t have to. All the little things stacked up with Eric. Every word and touch went deeper. Thinking about him and how even the tiniest mistake could set her off made her feel vulnerable. She hated that.
Jimmy slid into the booth across from her and tapped his hands against the table as if he was playing a set of drums. “What’s up, pretty girl?”
She wasn’t in the mood for chitchat or fake flattery…or Jimmy. “You need to find someone else.”
“For?”
“Better yet, you need to stop.”
He slipped the menu out of the holder at the side of the table and turned it over in his hands. “They serve breakfast all day?”
“You could at least pretend to listen to me.”
“I don’t know what we’re talking about here.”
She put her hand over the plastic and flattened it against the table. “Eric Kimura.”
“You want to skip right to work?”
They didn’t have anything else. Never would. “This isn’t a date.”
Jimmy was the guy you grabbed for a movie. Any woman who picked up with him for something deeper would be disappointed because the guy didn’t do deep. Right now she didn’t even like him much because she associated him with the mess with Eric.
“That’s a shame,” Jimmy said.
“And our work is done.”
“Not even close.”
Time to move Eric out of target range. The only way to do that was to tell the truth, or at least a piece of it.
“I overheard a conversation between Eric and Deana, and it was benign.” She almost laughed when Jimmy frowned. “There was nothing there.”
“So they were together. Just as our client suspected. Good work.” Jimmy flipped his phone open and started texting.
She tried to make out the number but couldn’t. She settled for knocking her fist against the table to distract him. “You’re not listening to me.”
“You followed our boy and got the goods. Hey, I’m happy with what you’ve accomplished.”
“What I heard proves our client has nothing to worry about.” She strained, lifting up off her seat so she could get close enough to grab the cell.
“Your job isn’t to make a call on how important the conversation is. You’re there to follow, gather information, and report back on it.” Jimmy shifted position, hiding the screen. “My client can decide what he wants to do with the shit we provide. That’s why he’s paying us.”
“I’m telling you this is over.”
“You’re not looking at the big picture.” He spun the glass syrup container around, letting it thud against the table and giving her a tremendous headache.
“Which is?”
“Money. This client has it and is willing to spend it.”
The great big ball of danger was rolling right at Eric, and she didn’t know how to stop it. “There is nothing left to investigate.”
“Not true.” Jimmy dumped his phone on the seat next to him and grabbed an envelope out of his shirt pocket. “I need you to check on this.”
She stared at the paper. “Is this about Eric?”
“Do you have another job?”
“I work for a caterer.”
“That’s a family obligation and you’ll get sick of the boring dishwashing stuff soon enough. I know you.” He hitched his chin in the direction of the envelope. “Open it.”
Even as her brain screamed not to, she obeyed. She saw another calendar page. “So?”
“Eric is stepping out of the office Tuesday. There’s no explanation on the line except for the ‘personal’ note.”
She hated that she wanted to know where Eric planned to go. “The man is allowed to take an afternoon off.”
“For what is the question.” Jimmy started the drumming again.
She had to admit, the note confused her. Eric broke away for a few hours here and there to see her, but then he headed back to the office. At least that’s what he said. But an entire afternoon? That seemed out of character.
“Who the hell is this?” It was as if they’d conjured him up. Eric Kimura, with his gray business suit and expensive watch, walked into the diner and stood right behind Jimmy.
The place served some of the best greasy burgers on the island, smoky with a side of rice, but Katie guessed he wasn’t there for dinner. This wasn’t a coincidence.
“What are you doing here?” She crumpled the page in her hand, hoping he couldn’t see the writing.
The move didn’t slip by Eric. He stared at her fist for a good ten seconds before looking up again. “I came to find you.”
“You two know each other?” Jimmy sounded positively gleeful at the thought.
“Yeah, you could say that. So I’ll ask again.” Eric rested his palm on the table right next to the empty envelope and leaned in front of Jimmy. “Who the hell are you?”
For a guy who sat behind a desk all day, Eric sure could sound intimidating. Last thing she needed was the good prosecutor tackling Jimmy and rolling across the dirty floor. No question that would make the evening news. No one would be talking about Deana then.
“Eric—” She stopped when she saw the effect of Eric’s deadly calm voice on Jimmy.
Some of the wind rushed out of the guy. Didn’t look so happy-go-lucky now. His smile went from smug to faltering. “I’m an old friend.”
Eric nodded. “What kind o
f friend?”
The show of masculine jealousy pleased Katie more than she wanted to admit, but it scared her, too. Her insides rocked back and forth between happy to see him and terrified Jimmy would say the wrong thing and send Eric into an angry tailspin. And Jimmy had a lot of information he could spill.
“Knock it off.” She tugged on Eric’s sleeve as she issued the warning.
Instead of backing down, he slipped in next to her and gave Jimmy a stare down that promised pain. “Well?”
“He’s an old friend and never anything more.”
“Good.” Eric kept his gaze focused on the younger man. “You have a name?”
“Jimmy Blau.” He nodded his greeting.
Eric ignored it. “Eric Kimura.”
“I’ve seen you on the news.”
“I get that a lot.”
Katie tucked the wad of paper under her thigh, careful not to make any crinkling noises. She rested her other hand on Eric’s arm and felt the jolt of tension running through him. “I’ve known Jimmy for years.”
For the first time, Eric spared her a glance. It was quick, but it happened. “And you decided you had to see him today.”
His accusing tone sent her temper spiking. She’d come here to end the madness, not to find more. The chest puffing and threatening could stop now. She got the point. He was ticked off at seeing her with another man.
Good. Now he knew what that sort of betrayal felt like.
“I’m not sure what you’re implying, but I don’t appreciate it,” she said.
When Jimmy leaned back, taking it all in, Eric stopped whatever he was going to say to her and looked at Jimmy instead. “I think you’re done here.”
That fast, Jimmy’s shoulders slumped as his hands fell to the booth beside him. “You may be right.”
“Happy we understand each other.”
Jimmy treated her to one last smile before he slid to his feet. “We’ll talk later, Katie.”
“Wouldn’t count on that,” Eric mumbled under his breath as he picked up the menu.
Disbelief and frustration turned to anger. She tried to get out a sentence but the words backed up in her mouth and she sputtered. After a deep breath, she tried again. “What was with that display of testosterone gone wild?”
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