“Yeah, we did,” Zoe answered, striding toward them.
Christ! He did not need her getting arrested.
Conrad looked her over. “Taking your girlfriend to another family cemetery, Sinclair? Is that your thing?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. Maybe he’d be the one getting dragged in. “She’s my wife. Watch your mouth.”
Conrad’s gaze flew to Zoe’s left hand and then to his. He parted his lips to speak, but Zoe cut him off.
“Have the owners of this property explicitly declared that they don’t want anyone traveling down this road? I don’t see any signage?”
The police officer schooled his features. “They put up a chain. That seems pretty explicit to me, Mrs. Sinclair.”
Zoe crossed her arms. “Do you know a lot about what goes on in your county? There must only be four or five total police officers in these parts.”
“There’s two of us.”
Zoe released a condescending huff. She was trying to rile him up. “Then that’s why you don’t seem to know what’s going on right under your nose.”
Conrad’s features hardened. “Who the hell are you, lady?”
She grinned. “Just a concerned citizen. I know you have a prison nearby.”
“It’s not a prison. It’s a private rehabilitation center for juvenile girls.”
“Is that what it is?”
“What business of that is yours?” he asked.
“Like I said, I’m a concerned citizen.”
Sam glanced between his wife and Conrad. He needed to step in. Whatever game Zoe was playing, she was walking close to the edge.
“It’s getting late, Z. We better hit the road.” He turned to Conrad. “Are we free to go?”
Conrad crossed his arms. “It doesn’t look like you’ve broken any laws, yet.”
He met Zoe’s gaze and saw that intelligent flicker dance in her gray-blue eyes. She was up to something. “Ready to go?”
“Yes, for now,” she added, tossing a glance at Conrad before getting into the truck.
He got in, and they headed toward the main road. Zoe grabbed her notebook and started writing.
He released a tight breath. “What was that with Conrad?”
The pen stopped moving. “I needed to feel him out and see if he knew anything about the detention facility.”
“What do you think?”
She set the pad of paper in her lap. “How well did you know him back when you were…?”
The muscles in his chest tightened. She wanted to know how well he knew Conrad when he was married to his sister.
He kept his gaze trained on the road. “Not well. Under the circumstances, he wasn’t too happy with me. If I remember right, he’d just become a police officer.”
“Did he give you a dirty cop vibe? His dad was a judge. That’s a lot of power for one family in a small town.”
The tightness in his chest intensified. “I still remember the look in his eyes when I told him Kara had run off after hearing I wanted a divorce. It wasn’t anger. It was raw fear. He tried to talk her down. I think he knew she was troubled like their mother.”
“Dead mother. Dead sister. Dead father. That kind of loss can do something to a person,” Zoe said.
“Do you think he knows what’s going on at the detention center?”
She leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes. “I’m not sure. But what I do know is that I need to figure out a way to get inside that detention facility—and it needs to happen soon.”
17
“We’re home, Z.”
Zoe opened her eyes. It was dark out, but she’d know the outline of Sam’s Langley Park bungalow anywhere. “I must have fallen asleep.”
“It’s hard work being a married woman and a supersleuth reporter,” he said, taking her hand. Then his expression grew serious. “I figured we’d live here. I mean, if that’s what you want. We could always stay at your place in Lawrence by the station.”
She met his glazed look with one of her own. “I hadn’t even gotten that far.”
He kissed her palm. “I don’t care where we live as long I have you next to me every night. I can’t go back to living apart from you.”
A tingle ran down her spine and settled between her thighs. “It’s so real now, isn’t it?”
He nodded, that easy smile back in place. “The whole Mr. Stein thing is really sinking in.”
“What will we go by?”
“I know you’ll probably call me a ginger fartknocker or a redheaded cock ladle every once in a while, but that’s okay because no matter what fantastically creative word pairings you come up with, the one thing I’ll always be is your husband.”
She met his grin with one of her own. “Redheaded cock ladle? That’s a good one, husband.” She yawned. “You know what else?”
“What, sleepyhead?”
“It’s too bad we don’t have any pictures of our wedding ceremony.”
He chuckled. “Can you imagine, all the guys in only their underwear?”
“We do have the giant glass dildo. We can always show that to my parents.”
He pulled her in close. “It all seemed so romantic when we were at the farm.”
She kissed his cheek. “It was romantic, Sam. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose then opened his car door. “Wait here. We’re going to do this part by the book.”
He ran around the front of the truck and opened her door.
“What part?”
“This part,” he said, scooping her out of the vehicle and into his arms.
He carried her up the walkway and onto the darkened porch.
“I’m going to carry you over the threshold like a proper husband and then screw your brains out on the kitchen counter.”
She cupped his cheek. “I love you, my giant redheaded cock ladle.”
“Keep talking like that, and we might not make it to the kitchen.”
She shifted in his arms, dropping her purse onto the porch, and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I’m sure the neighbors wouldn’t mind a little show.”
He pressed her back into the door, and she tilted her head to meet his kiss. Their lips came together, and she sighed, the sweet pull of desire and relief and love manifesting itself with every lick, every brush of skin on skin.
He ran his tongue across the seam of her lips. “Let’s get inside. I have all sorts of ideas about what we can do with a can of whipped cream.”
“Tell me you’ve got chocolate syrup in there, too,” she breathed.
“I’ve got the biggest container they make.”
“Do you have ice cream?”
“Strawberry and chocolate,” he answered, taking her earlobe between his teeth.
She hummed her delight. “And Maraschino cherries?”
“What kind of freak do you think I am? An ice cream sundae without a cherry on top? Of course, I’ve got Maraschino cherries.”
She bit his lip. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go have the naughtiest ice cream party Langley Park’s ever seen.”
He pulled his keys from his pocket, inserted the house key into the lock, and turned the doorknob. He bent down and got her purse then closed the door behind them. She leaned in for another kiss when all the lights inside Sam’s bungalow flashed on, and smartphone cameras started clicking away, snapping pictures.
“SURPRISE!” came a chorus of voices.
Zoe blinked, trying to adjust to the burst of light and sound.
“Oh, shit!” Sam whispered.
“Why is Sam carrying Aunt Zoe?” came Kate’s curious voice.
Zoe met her husband’s gaze. “If I look over my shoulder, am I going to see all our friends and family?”
He nodded. “You’ve been so busy with work. We never celebrated your birthday. Everyone wanted to surprise you.”
“This is a surprise party? For me?”
His cheeks went beet red. “Yeah, I
lost track of the days with us going to the couples retreat.”
“Look at this, Monica!” came another burst of excited chatter from her niece. “It’s a rolling pin like the ones you have at the bakery, but this one is see-through!”
Zoe bit back a laugh. “Sam, did a you-know-what just roll out of my bag?”
He’d managed to turn another shade darker.
“You better set me down,” she whispered.
Sam complied, and she turned to find her niece holding the dildo while her closest friends and family stared, slack-jawed, all wearing ridiculous party hats.
Zoe gently took the glass cock from the little girl. “This is a very fancy rolling pin. I’ll tell you all about it when you’re older, Kate.”
“Over my dead body,” her brother Ben said, still frozen in place like the rest of the gang, except he’d regained the power of speech.
She surveyed the stunned group. In addition to her niece and her brother, her sister-in-law Jenna was there along with Em and Michael, Monica and Gabe, and Lindsey and Nick.
She met her brother’s mortified gaze. “Mom and dad?”
“Dad’s on call and had to go to the hospital, and mom and Mrs. G are watching the babies over at Em and Michael’s place,” he answered, still the only adult in the room capable of speech.
Zoe released a relieved breath. Thank god she didn’t have to explain a giant glass dildo to her parents tonight. She bent down and took her niece’s hand. “I bet your dad and Jenna wouldn’t mind if you went into Sam’s guest room and played some video games.”
“Oh, wow! Daddy, Jenna, can I? Can I? Can I?”
“If the choice is between video games or playing with what just rolled out of your Aunt Zoe’s purse, then yes, Jellybean, you can go play video games. You can play all the video games.”
The little girl clapped her hands and took off toward the back of the house.
When the door to the back room closed, Em met her gaze with a playful smirk. “Can you tell us a little bit about that giant glass penis that just happened to roll out of your purse?”
Zoe matched her best friend’s expression. “Um, hello, you’re one to talk, Miss Pearl Necklace. And you two.” She pointed to Monica and Gabe. “Shall I call you guys, Mr. and Mrs. Naughty Strudel? And Nick and Lindsey, nobody needs that much nautical rope. We’re in Kansas, for Christ’s sake. And my dear brother and his lovely bride, I have a pretty good idea of why your pantry always looks like a tornado hit it.” She held up the glass cock. “Now, I’m not saying this is our thing. But if it was, you people should be the last to judge.”
“I didn’t hear anything after she said pearl necklace. I think my brother genes actually kicked in and temporarily turned off my ability to hear,” Ben said as Jenna rubbed his back.
Zoe took a breath. “Okay! Now that we’ve addressed the dildo, a little housekeeping. Number one, Sam and I are married, and number two, I’m his second wife.”
Em grinned like an idiot. “You two got married?”
“Legally?” Michael asked, going into lawyer mode.
Sam pulled the certificate out of her purse and handed it to him. “The real deal. I serenaded her and sang a cappella with a bunch of guys I barely knew in my underwear and then proposed. We got married right there on the spot.”
Gabe shared a look with Em and Michael. “You’re a terrible singer.”
Em bristled. “All those show tunes! It took years before I could play anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein.”
“I get it,” Nick added. “I only lived with Sam a few months. It was torture.”
“Hey,” Sam said, cutting in. “I’m not that bad.”
Michael crossed his arms. “Actually, you are.”
“It was a romantic gesture,” Sam said, gesturing broadly.
“You couldn’t just be her friend forever?” Ben asked.
Sam stepped forward and held her brother’s gaze. “I wished I could have talked to you and your parents first, Ben. It all happened so fast. But here’s the thing. I love Zoe. I fell in love with her when you went to Arizona with your parents, and you asked me to keep an eye on her all those years ago. Jesus, I probably loved her before that. I just didn’t let myself go there because she was your little sister. But I promise you—and I’ll tell this to your mom and dad, too—I will love and support and protect Zoe every day for the rest of my life. She owns my heart, man. She always did. It just took one hell of a crazy situation to get us to realize we belong together.”
Jenna smiled at her husband. “Can you imagine a better match for your sister?”
“A convent?”
Zoe sighed. “We’re half Jewish.”
“A half-time convent?”
“Come on, big brother. You of all people must know that I’ve loved Sam for basically my entire life.”
“It’s true,” Em said, sharing a look with Michael. “I think I saw it happen. You fell out of that tree. You know, the one close to the lake. Sam ran to you and carried you all the way home. I could tell—the way you were looking at him. He was your hero and your protector all in one.”
Michael wrapped his arm around Em. “I remember that day, too. We were what, eight, maybe nine years old.”
Monica leaned into Gabe. “That’s really sweet.”
“And then there was the snake incident,” Ben said with, flipping finally, a warm expression. He grinned. “Zoe saw a snake in the water at Lake Boley and climbed into Sam’s arms. It took the better part of an hour to get her to let go.”
“It was a snake that made me propose. A copperhead bit me in the ass,” Sam added.
Michael grimaced. “A copperhead snake bit your ass?”
“I sort of fell on it. I knew they were venomous. I’d heard of people dying from snake bites. I mean, I was in the middle of nowhere. I thought those might be my last few moments alive—basically naked with a bunch of dudes, and all I wanted was Zoe.” He took her hand. “I told myself if I survived, I didn’t want to spend another minute as just her friend. I wanted all of her. I wanted everything.”
Em, Jenna, Lindsey, and Monica released a collective dreamy sigh.
Zoe looked to her friends. “I know, the sweetest, right? He ran up with this group of men in their underwear singing ‘On Bended Knee.’”
Gabe bit back a smile. “Really, bro? Boyz II Men?”
Zoe waved him off. “I was with a bunch of women learning about glass sex toys when they all came up. I was holding that see-through penis when Sam proposed.”
The women sighed again.
Ben shook his head. “I wish my hearing would go out again.”
“So instead of a bouquet, you held a giant glass penis?” Lindsey asked, doing her best to put the sweetest spin on something quite naughty.
“It’s just lovely. It’s almost like a piece of art,” Jenna added, nodding to Lindsey and, again, rubbing her husband’s back.
Michael frowned and went back into lawyer mode. “This is an interesting story, all glass dildos, naked serenades, and snake bites. But can we rewind the tape and talk about the second wife part?”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. “How did we not know you were married? When were you married?”
Zoe took Sam’s hand. “How about we sit down, everybody?”
The gang gathered in the bungalow’s cozy living room, and she sat down next to Sam near the fireplace. He tensed, but she squeezed his hand, and his nervous expression dialed back a bit.
They all sat in silence for a beat before Em spoke.
“Sam, you have always been like a big brother to me. Whatever it is you have to tell us, just know we all love you no matter what.”
“Em’s right, Sam,” Ben said. “You’ve been there for all of us. There’s no one sitting in this room whose life you haven’t touched.”
Sam nodded and then he started talking. He told them everything. He spoke about Kara. The condoms with the pinholes. The baby. The shotgun wedding. How she’d read his journal. How he’d wanted a
divorce. The bridge was a harder topic. The pain of that night still weighed on his soul. But as he spoke, she sensed a peacefulness pass over him. He was finally saying goodbye to Kara’s ghost. Like the first breath of a man released from bondage, the salvation of sharing his darkest secret made him lighter, freer. He’d masked his pain with humor, just as she had masked the pain of his rejection. For both of them, the iron chains were gone. The only metal shared between them now were the braided bands on their ring fingers.
Their friends listened. Quietly. Attentively. Respectfully.
That episode of Sam’s life had happened at the same time Em had been injured. Gabe had just left for New York. Monica to Paris. With all the changes, heartbreak, and excitement, everyone had just assumed Sam had gone to New Zealand for the fall term. That’s when they’d drifted. She’d gone to Iowa for school. Em to Australia. They’d all been scattered by the wind—life and pain and obligation pulling them apart.
Sam surveyed the group. “Now you all know everything.”
Michael leaned forward and rested his chin on his steepled fingers.
Em glanced at him and sighed. “Hold on to your hats, everyone. My husband’s still playing lawyer.”
Michael squeezed his wife’s knee, the hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I just want to get the facts straight.”
“Of course, you do,” the group replied.
“Hey, I represent every one of you. I pride myself on being thorough. And this question is for Zoe.”
“Ask away.”
“I thought you’d gone on a work trip? Getting bitten by snakes and playing with sex toys sounds like one hell of an assignment. Where’d you go?”
She shared a glance with Sam. “To explain that, this is the part where I come clean about a few things, too.” She turned to her brother. “I didn’t quit my job at Zipline Media in D.C. to be with you and Kate after Sara died. I was fired.”
Ben’s eyes went wide. “Fired?”
“I was chasing a story about alleged abuses going on at a privately owned girls’ juvenile detention facility in Virginia. I had a confidential source who’d just gotten out. It was deplorable what was happening to those girls. I wanted to stop it, but after I ran my first story, my source recanted. My editor was pissed. All my information had come from a seventeen-year-old girl with a record whose own mother said she was a pathological liar. The girl overdosed and died not long after that. The mother blamed me.”
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 125