Dev had seen Rosie less than twenty-four hours ago and he was still rattled by the sight of her, still caught off guard by . . . by everything about her. He was held immobile by it, absolutely enthralled. There was something wrong with that, he was sure.
A throat cleared, and with great effort, he pulled his gaze from her to where Lucian was sprawled in a chair. “What are you doing in here?” he asked.
Lucian’s smile was a warning of mischief. “I was keeping Rosie company while she waited for you. I told her it might take some time since you were working out, but obviously I underestimated how eager you’d be to join her.” His gaze drifted over Dev. “I was just telling her about the time you were suspended from boarding school for breaking curfew.”
Dev’s brows shot together. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s playing coy. Don’t let him fool you,” Lucian said, winking at Rosie. “Dev is a lot wilder than he lets on. He’s such a rebel.”
“Is he?” Rosie murmured, lips twitching like she was struggling not to laugh.
“I know what you’re talking about. However, I believe you’re not telling the whole story,” he remarked dryly. “I was caught breaking curfew because Gabe and Lucian decided they were going to sneak out by tying bedsheets together to climb out the window. I was there to stop the two from breaking their necks.”
“You’re always there to stop us from doing something foolish,” Lucian replied with sarcasm.
“Mostly and definitely not always.” Dev’s gaze shifted back to Rosie. “If you’d excuse us, Lucian?”
“Of course.” Lucian rose, turning to Rosie. “Have your team members contact me directly about the house.”
Rosie nodded. “Will do.”
Dev opened his mouth.
“Perfect. I will handle it from here,” Lucian continued smoothly. “Don’t forget my offer. I hope you will join us, Rosie.”
“Join you for what?” Dev demanded, his gaze swinging back to his brother.
Lucian just smiled at him and then brushed past him as he walked out of the sitting room, closing the door behind him. Turning back to Rosie, he asked, “Join him for what?”
“Wow,” she said, staring at him. “You do own something other than trousers. I’m shocked.”
He tilted his head to the side.
“Lucian invited me to dinner with him and his girlfriend at the end of the month,” she answered. “And with Gabe and Nikki. There’s some kind of party they are having.”
“He did?” The party that she spoke of was where Lucian planned to propose to Julia. Why he’d invite Rosie, a woman neither of them knew, meant he was surely up to something. “So, you would be the third wheel?”
Her lips curved up on one side. “Actually, I would be the fifth wheel if I’m the only other person attending, but I’m under the impression that it’s a party and not a dinner date, and I also assume that you would be there also.”
Dev would be. “Is that why you would go? Because you assume I would be at this party?”
A long moment passed and then she exhaled heavily as she pressed her hands to her knees. “I’m not planning on joining them. So, you don’t have to worry about me being there.”
Disappointment flickered through him, but he ignored it. “Why are you here, Rosie?”
She looked away from him, to the purse sitting next to her. “I found something I thought you should see. Actually, I’ve learned something, too, I thought you should know.” She glanced back at him and frowned. “Do you think you could find a shirt that’s not glued to your skin?”
He lifted a brow. “Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Yes.”
Dev stepped toward her. “You’ve seen . . . and felt far more than my chest.”
“I know.” She shifted on the couch and she stared at him in such a manner that made him wonder if she wished to touch him. His cock liked the idea of that. “You must . . . work out a lot.”
“I run daily. So, it’s not that it makes you uncomfortable,” he clarified. “It distracts you.”
Slowly, her gaze lifted to his. “If I said yes, would you find a different shirt?”
“No.”
A quick grin appeared and then disappeared as she shook her head. “Then I’ll have to make do.”
“Yes. You will.”
Rosie reached for her bag. “Whatever. I’ve seen enough nice bods in my life. Yours is nice, but not special.”
His brows flew up, but before he could get her to elaborate on that statement, she went on, “After you left last night, I remembered something. The other day when I was rage cleaning my closet—”
“That thing apparently only people with human emotions do that I’m unfamiliar with?”
“Yes. That thing. Anyway, when I was organizing my closet, I saw that there was something jacked up about the back wall, but I forgot about it until after you left.”
His curiosity was officially piqued. “What do you mean by ‘jacked’?”
“It was like the wall had come apart, but it hadn’t come apart. It must’ve been a hidden door or something,” she said. “I pulled it apart and there was something back there. Actually, there were three things back there.”
The sweat cooled on his skin. “What did you find, Rosie?”
She wet her lower lip and then picked up her purse. “I’m really hoping I’m making the right call by bringing this to you and I don’t end up like the last tenant of my apartment.”
“What do you mean about the last tenant?”
“You don’t know? I moved into my place about two years ago and you know who went missing around that time?” She clutched the top of her bag. “Andrea Joan. Your uncle’s intern.”
It felt like the floor moved under his feet. “Andrea Joan lived in your apartment?”
“Apparently. Not only that, she was Ross Haid’s girlfriend.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Something I just learned this morning.” Reaching inside the bag, she pulled out a maroon photo album and laid it on the coffee table. “This was back there. It’s just a bunch of pictures of a vacation. Ross is in them. Did you know that was his girlfriend?”
Dev picked up the album and opened it. “I knew.”
“Of course,” Rosie murmured. “Did you know the only reason he searched me out in the first place was because I moved into that apartment and he knew I was friends with Nikki?”
His gaze flew to hers as his back tightened. “I suspected he befriended you because of your relationship with Nikki, but I didn’t know she’d lived there. That wasn’t the address that was on file for her.”
“Ross confirmed it was her place,” she said. “I met with him this morning, because I saw the photo album and I didn’t know who she was at first.”
Dev tensed as he closed the photo album. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. He asked if that album was the only thing I found and I told him yes, but that’s not the truth. I did find two other things.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a slender jewelry box. “It’s a diamond bracelet. Kind of weird someone would hide that with a photo album, right?”
“Right.” He took the box and opened it. His jaw clenched as he stared at the bracelet.
“But that’s not the strangest thing. There was also an iPad in there.” She pulled it out, and Dev damn near fell over. “It’s dead, but I figure it just needs charging and . . . a man with your talents and money can probably find someone to unlock it.” Leaning over, she placed it on the coffee table. “I have no idea she lived there or that any of this stuff was there. And I have no idea what is on that iPad, because there has to be something, right? Because why would you hide that?”
Hell.
Dev placed the box on the table as he stared at the iPad. God only knew what was on that device, but Rosie was right. He had the means to find out. Part of him could already hazard a guess. Whatever was on that tablet was probably why Andrea disappeared.
“That’s not all,” Rosie said, glan
cing at the closed door. “It’s what Ross also said, and maybe you already know this—”
“He thinks we have something to do with Andrea’s disappearance? He’s made that abundantly clear in the past.”
Rosie placed her bag back on the couch. “That’s not all he thinks.”
“I can only imagine,” he replied dryly.
“He told me that . . . that he thinks you murdered your father.”
A muscle thrummed along his jaw as he thought back to the photograph he’d received at the Red Stallion. “Did he say why he believed this?”
“Not really.”
“And what do you think, Rosie?”
“Honestly? I don’t know what I think. I mean, I think Andrea might’ve been having an affair with your uncle. Why else would she hide a bracelet? And the way Ross talked, it sounded like she was having an affair, but maybe . . . maybe whatever was going on with Andrea has to do with your father,” she said. “Ross said that Andrea was acting paranoid and she also met with Lawrence a week before she disappeared. Maybe she did know something and she told him—told him what she knew and . . .”
“He was murdered for it?” he supplied.
She dragged her hands over her thighs and then rose. “Maybe? Look, I have no idea what is going on here, but you came to my apartment because you found out that your father owned it. And then I find out the place was rented by this woman who was tied to your uncle and then went missing. Something is going on here. I don’t know what, but it’s freaky.” She started to pace in front of the couch. “I just thought you needed to know.”
Dev wasn’t sure how to process this—that she’d brought these items to him. “And you didn’t think Ross needed to know?”
“Ross is a liar,” Rosie shot back. “Not that I don’t get his need to find out what happened to his girlfriend, but he’s never been honest with me. He’s a liar.”
Moving without thought, Dev stepped in front of Rosie. She drew up short and tipped her head back. As close as they were, he could see the flecks of green in her eyes. Her lashes lowered and he knew she was staring at his sweat-defined chest. She stepped back, and it took everything in him to resist the urge to follow her.
Rosie drew in a visibly deep breath. “Have you gotten in contact with the property manager?”
“Left a message first thing this morning.”
“Good. Can you let me know . . . ?” Her nose scrunched in a rather adorable way. “Wait. I don’t think I want to know if you find out anything.”
A twisting motion swept from his stomach to his chest. If this was some elaborate plan put in place by Ross, then wouldn’t she want to know?
Holy shit.
Dev felt close to faint as he stood there. Could it be possible that she hadn’t been lying this entire time? That the little voice that whispered that over and over could be telling the truth?
“Anyway, that’s why I came here and I hope . . . I hope I made the right choice.” She turned from him and picked up her purse, sliding the strap up her arm. “I don’t know what is going on with your family. Seems like a lot of . . . just a lot, and I pray that it doesn’t end up affecting Nikki any more than it has—”
“It won’t.” His gaze dipped to that one bare shoulder. “That I can promise you.”
She stilled as those eyes latched on to his again. “I . . . I believe you.”
It felt like his entire body jerked, but it was just his heart. Shock rippled through him. “Why would you trust me?” he asked, genuinely confounded. “If what Ross suspects is true and Andrea went missing because she found something implicating Stefan, then why would you come to me? The same thing could happen to you.”
“That’s a good question, especially considering how much you don’t trust me, but what I do know is that Ross has lied to me since the beginning,” she said, holding his gaze. “And as far as I know, you haven’t lied to me. That’s why.”
Dev looked away, and then for the first time in a very, very long time, he wanted to tell the truth. That he was nothing more than a liar, worse than what she could ever think Ross had lied about.
Chapter 29
Dev didn’t make it far before he ran into Lucian. His brother took one look at what Dev held in his hands and frowned.
“Do I even want to know why you’re carrying a photo album, a bracelet, and an iPad?” he asked.
“No. You don’t.”
“Kind of looks like you’re up to some MacGyver shit right there.” Lucian fell into step beside him. Several moments of surprising silence passed. “I like her.”
Dev stopped and looked at Lucian.
“I’m talking about Rosie, just in case you’re wondering.”
“You spoke to her for how long and you know you like her?”
“I spoke to her long enough to know she’s nothing like Sabrina.”
“That doesn’t say much, you know that, right?”
Lucian laughed. “It doesn’t and does.”
He eyed his brother and then asked, “What do you think of her?”
“Are you asking me that as a serious question?”
“Yes.”
Lucian blinked once and then twice. “You never ask for my opinion nor do you ever care what I think—”
“I care about what you think,” Dev interrupted, and waited until his brother looked up at him. He hated the look of surprise he saw in his brother’s eyes. “I do.”
“That’s not . . . what you usually say to me.”
That was the truth and Dev wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I mean what I just said.”
“And I . . . I believe you.” Lucian looked like a feather could knock him on his ass. “Nikki has nothing but good things to say about her. She’s quick-witted and funny as hell. Beautiful, too.”
Dev took a breath, but it didn’t go very far. “She is . . . very beautiful, but she—”
“She introduced Nikki to Ross. So what? What else has she done?”
He couldn’t really answer that. God, he couldn’t. Everything else was suspicious, but these weren’t things she had done.
“You can trust me.”
He hadn’t trusted her, but she had trusted him—trusted him enough to bring him the evidence that in Ross’s hands could bring the entire family down, even though his brothers didn’t know what had been happening.
“I’ve done crazier and less trustworthy things in my life, as you know.”
The corner of Dev’s lips twitched. “God, don’t I ever.”
“I like her,” he repeated. “Most of all, I like the way you are with her.”
“What?” Dev frowned. “You haven’t—”
“You forget that I did see you with her at the Masquerade. I saw you step in front of her to block her from me. I saw you goad me away from the door so she could come out,” Lucian said, grinning when Dev’s eyes narrowed. “And I just saw you walk into a room that she was in without stopping to shower and put appropriate clothes on. You, Devlin de Vincent, who is always the definition of put together, was decidedly . . . unkempt.”
“Unkempt?”
“Sweaty. Half-naked. That’s unkempt. I’ve never seen you like that. Not even when we were boys,” Lucian pointed out. “And I’ve never seen you like that with a woman. Ever. So yes, I like her and I like how you are with her.”
And with that, Lucian clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Don’t let what Sabrina did or what Lawrence did screw up any more than they already have. Now, I have a woman to go annoy the ever-loving crap out of. She likes it when I do that, though.”
Dev watched Lucian go, once again reminded that his youngest brother was far more observant than anyone, including he himself, gave him credit for.
Rosie was in the kitchen of the bakery the next morning, placing the sheets of pralines on the counters to cool, currently doing everything in her ability to not think about what she’d found in her closet, what Ross had said, or how Devlin had responded to it.
She wasn’t thin
king about any of that.
Instead, she was focused on what she was going to do from here. Restlessness had invaded her senses again, and that usually ended with her enrolling in college yet again, but seriously, she already owed enough in financial aid that she’d be paying for that crap well into retirement.
So no more college for her. Duh.
Which meant she either needed to put one of those degrees to use in some way or . . . or maybe it was time to move. Tossing the oven mitts aside, she glanced up toward the front of the bakery. She hated the idea of leaving her family, but Bella was going to inherit this bakery, as it should be. She’d put the time and effort into it, and besides, Rosie wouldn’t go far. Maybe—
Her entire body locked up.
Who was she kidding? She didn’t want to leave New Orleans. This bizarre, crazy, cultured city was her home—her only home. But this restlessness? It was an itch that came every so many years. She hadn’t felt this way before Ian, but she’d been young then and—
Her sister appeared in the doorway, and her black Pradine’s shirt didn’t have a single fleck of flour on it. Whatever magical ability her mother had that made her resistant to flour had passed on to Bella.
Rosie was covered in it.
She probably even accidentally snorted some of it.
“Hey,” she said.
“You busy?” Bella asked.
“Nope. They just need to cool.” Rosie stepped back from the counter. “You need help up front?”
“Not exactly.” A smile appeared. “You have a visitor. Perfect timing, too, since Mom and Dad are coming in later today and aren’t here right now.”
She lifted her brows. “Why would . . . ?” She trailed off as someone joined Bella in the doorway of the kitchen. Her breath caught as she watched Devlin step around her sister. “All righty. I understand why you would say that.”
Bella smirked and then pinned a look on her that said, yet again, that Rosie had a lot of explaining to do.
Moonlight Scandals Page 29