by Jen Talty
“Why?”
“I was eighteen. He was thirty. Big age gap.”
“I’d say.” Josh arched a brow.
“Whatever.” She waved her hand. “My father begged me not to date him, and not just because of the age difference, but I’m sure that had a lot to do with it.”
“So, that was about ten years ago. When did your relationship start with him?”
“Not until after my parents’ car accident.” She dropped her chin to her knees, closing her eyes tight. The last person she wanted to think about, much less talk about, was Kirk. “There were some issues with my father’s will and some other problems with the restaurant. We didn’t know my father had a partner, nor did we know the restaurant had ever been in trouble. There were things with the books that didn’t seem to add up, but since I didn’t want to own a restaurant, I was happy to sell.”
“And your brother was good with this?”
“No. My father left his part to me with instructions to sell it, but not to my brother,” she said.
“I imagine that didn’t go over well with your brother.”
“He and my father hadn’t spoken in a couple of years. I was a little shocked, but my brother was downright pissed. In the end, Kirk offered me a decent amount of money to settle any issues outside of court. I split it with my brother. I was happy to be done with it, but Liam wanted more, and somehow, he managed to get Kirk to hire him.” She shivered. “Right after the settlement, Kirk showed up at my apartment with a dozen roses, full of kind words, and offered to take me to dinner. Since he paid me more than what my share was worth and offered my brother a good job with a big salary, I figured I owed the guy.”
“That’s the kind of man who collects on his debts. I wonder if he had something to do with Craypo sending you here to destroy me. I mean, a sex tape could have hurt you just as badly.”
“I’m… I…” She balled her fist as she drew her lips into a tight line. “Kirk Rossi is an asshole, and if he had anything to do with this, I’ll personally make sure the man can’t hurt another woman. Ever.”
Josh sat cross-legged in front of her. “What did he do to you?”
She trembled as she closed her eyes. “He’s not a nice man. He pretends to be a good person so he can get what he wants, but once he has it, he’s controlling and a jerk, and I’d rather not talk about him. One of the reasons I’m not close to my brother is because of Kirk.”
“Did Kirk hurt you?”
Now that was a loaded question, and on more than one level. “I don’t want to talk about it. The relationship ended badly, and my brother still works for him.”
“Did he hit you?”
“It was an ugly break-up.” She opened her eyes, knowing they were moist with tears. “It has no bearing on what you are telling me about my father. Do you have proof that my father was working for this Craypo guy?”
“I don’t, but you’re changing the subject.” He fiddled with his iPad before handing it to her. “I do have some information on your ex.” He pointed to the screen. “If the tablet locks, my passcode is 873587.” When he scooted to the end of the tent, she noticed the rain had nearly stopped. “I’ve got a tarp in the boat, so I’ll put something up over the picnic table and start a fire. Maybe make some coffee.”
The zipper screeched as he drew it down, leaving her alone. Her hands trembled as she stared at the iPad screen, her finger hovering over a file marked Kirk Rossi. She clicked it, and the first thing she saw were images of him with Gray Eyes. Scrolling through the pictures, she recognized the lawyer who’d told her to settle with Kirk over the restaurant, but what took her breath away was a picture of her father shaking Gray Eyes’ hand.
Josh sat on the picnic table under the tarp he’d strung up with the help of some tree branches. The rain had reduced to a slow drizzle, making it easier to start a decent fire. He palmed the tin mug, holding it up to his nose, smelling the bitter coffee that tasted more like tar. Gray clouds covered the sky, and frog floated across the lake. He fought a battle raging in his head regarding Delaney. She had an innocence to her, but she was also smart. Smart enough to figure out things weren’t kosher with her father and his restaurant.
The sound of a zipper ripping open drew his attention to the tent. Delaney slipped on her shoes before standing, wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt, a pair of shorts with a low waistband, and his baseball cap with her flowing blond ponytail tucked through the opening in the back. She had his iPad in one hand as she stomped toward him with a scowl.
“You knew I’d see a picture of my dad with Gray Eyes—”
“You mean Bobby Getz.”
“Don’t care what his name is,” she snapped. “You knew I’d see him with my father.”
Josh nodded. “It’s not proof of anything, but it should at least help you understand that I’m not making this shit up, and that your father was in over his head.”
She shoved the iPad at him. “You might want to know that the lawyer who counseled me on selling the restaurant was in those pictures as well.” Her eyes glowed with a fierce rage that scared him a little.
He took the tablet then set it on the table. “Who?”
“Steve Barbaro.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Anyone else you recognize?”
“A few people Kirk introduced me to. I can go through the images and tell you who I’ve met, if you want, but I doubt I could give you any information on them.” She sat beside him. “Is that coffee?”
He handed her the mug. “It tastes like shit.”
“Well, that goes with my mood.” She took the mug. Her fingers brushed against his skin, but he ignored the impulse to slip his fingers through hers.
“There is more coffee on the fire,” he said.
Minutes ticked by, neither one saying a thing to the other. He glanced at her a few times, but she stared straight ahead, eyes narrowed as she took a sip of coffee, choking.
“That’s worse than the outhouse,” she said, handing him back the mug. “I have to be the dumbest person on the planet. When I think back over my childhood, I can see things that should have been red flags with my father, but I ignored them.”
“You were a child.”
She let out a short laugh. “I always thought it was weird my father never wanted us at the restaurant. I wanted to have my sweet sixteen there, but he refused. When I showed up there for his birthday during my first semester in college, he got so angry, he practically shoved me out of the restaurant. I thought maybe he was ashamed of me, or there was something there he didn’t want me to see. I thought he was having an affair. I asked my mom why he didn’t want us at Esposito’s, and all she had to say was that it was never a good idea to mix business with family life.”
“It sounds like he was trying to protect you.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but what about Liam? He and my father had a horrible relationship near the end. Liam wanted to work for him so badly, but again, my father refused. I wonder how long Liam has known about the connection to Craypo, considering how close he and Kirk have been over the years. It’s always pissed me off that he liked Kirk so much, especially after what he did to me”
He stared at her, waiting for her to finish her statement, but she drew her lips into a tight line. Tension seeped from her skin, chilling the air. “What did he do to you?” He curled his fingers around her biceps “Tell me.”
“Does it really matter?”
He leapt off the table then started to pace. “Jesus Christ, of course it matters. I’ve met the jerk a few times, and what I’ve seen about the way he treats women. Just fucking tell me what he did.”
“Why do you care?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and snapped his head in her direction. “I can’t believe you’d ask such a question after everything we’ve been through in the last few days.”
“You don’t understand,” she yelled. “My entire life has been turned upside-down. Everything about who I thought my family was—who I thought I was�
�is, poof, gone.” She held her hand over her head and snapped her fingers. “I feel like a fool. My parents lied to me, and I brushed it under the rug. My brother has probably been a part of this mob, Mafia, whatever ring, for a few years, and most likely set me up to do the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done in my life. And let’s not forget my ex is a gangster, and I never knew it. Tell me, Josh, how would that make you feel?”
He opened his mouth three or four times, but nothing came out. Not a single noise or word, because he knew exactly how that felt. He rubbed one of the scars on his side.
“Cat got your tongue?” she asked with a smirk.
“Did Kirk hit you?” No way would he drop this.
“Yes. A couple of times. You happy?”
“That’s not fair.” Josh shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I take it that’s why you broke up.”
She closed her eyes briefly, letting out a long sigh.
“You took him back, didn’t you?”
“Sadly, that is a fact I can’t deny, and I can’t even justify it in my own mind. I might not be the most-worldly woman, but I let myself be pressured by what little family I had left and the desire to be loved.”
“Did he rape you?” Josh went between the desire to take her in his arms and the need to wrap his bare hands around Kirk’s neck.
“No,” she said. “After I took him back, things were worse than before, when it came to sex. Actually, we didn’t have it, because I developed a new problem.”
“What problem was that?” He balled his fists, picturing them landing on Kirk’s face for how he treated a beautiful woman…how he treated someone as special as Delaney.
She pulled the baseball cap down over her eyes and lowered her head. “I’d rather not say.”
“You couldn’t get aroused at all?”
She blinked a few times as she breathed deeply. “Something like that.”
“Either you could, or you couldn’t. Which is it?”
His constant prying should have been annoying, and she should have told him it was none of his business. But talking about it with the man who showed her what lovemaking could be like, it seemed rather appropriate to fill him in on her horrid past.
“He got angry. Called me a dried-up prune. Said he was going to take me anyway, and tried forcing himself on me. He slapped me a few times and pinned me down on the sofa, holding my arms over my head.”
Josh took long, slow breaths in and out of his nose, trying to keep his pulse from exploding. His finger twitched, and he visualized pointing a gun at Kirk’s face and pulling the trigger. “How’d you stop him?”
She let out a dry laugh. “I just laid there for a few moments. His hands were all over me, making my skin crawl, but I pretended I was into it until I could knee him right where it counts, told him I never wanted to see him again, and then I ran.” Her body shivered as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Did you report it?”
She held his gaze, raising her chin. “I just wanted him out of my life. The next day, my brother shows up and tells me how upset Kirk was over me breaking up with him. I told my brother what happened, but he didn’t believe me. Liam wanted me to go to Kirk and beg for his forgiveness, but there was no way in hell I’d ever go back. Not after that. It took a year of therapy before I could even go on a date—”
“You really weren’t faking with me?” He hadn’t meant to say it out loud.
“You might not believe this, but I doubt I could have slept with you unless I liked you and trusted you. I’m sorry about the video, and after those guys”—she held her cheek—“beat me up, I’m not sure I could have given it to them.”
“But you could have, before they attacked you?”
“I honestly don’t know. I believed Liam was in trouble, and while he might have been a shit brother, I had no reason not to believe he wasn’t being held hostage.”
Josh paced in a small circle. The need to pull her into his arms and hold her tight was so strong, he wasn’t sure he could keep control around her. He didn’t hold her naïvetés against her when it came to her father, or even her brother. Love did powerful things to a person. So did loyalty, even if it was misplaced.
He respected her for how she handled Kirk. The resolve in her voice when she talked about her ordeal seemed more than genuine. “I believe you didn’t know about your father or your brother’s involvement, or Kirk’s connection to any of it. I know you felt like you had no other choice but to do what Craypo and Getz asked of you.” He closed the gap between them, tilting her chin so he could see her eyes. “Not only am I going to nail Craypo, but I’m going to make sure Kirk spends a long time in prison.”
“And how do you propose we go about doing that?”
“We? There is no ‘we’ when it comes how this is all going to go down.”
“That asshole fucked with my life, and then used me to fuck with yours.” She poked Josh in the chest. “If you think I’m sitting back and doing nothing, you are sorely mistaken,” she said as her face turned red.
He hadn’t predicted this side of her. It took a lot of energy to keep from cracking a smile. Not to mention, he was slightly turned-on by the intensity of her tenacity, though the thought was entirely inappropriate. “You need to let me and the other law enforcement officers handle the situation.”
“Right, because you’ve handled it so well, thus far.” She spun on her heels then headed for the tent.
“No, you don’t.” He grabbed her arm.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” She twisted, yanking her arm free.
“Look.” He held his hands to the sides. “My fellow officers and I put our lives on the line. It’s what we do. But it’s not what you do, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you, which is also my job.”
“I—”
He pressed his fingers against her lips. “I promise that whatever plan my buddies and I come up with, I will keep you informed of every detail.”
“I appreciate that. But understand, my entire life, I’ve ignored the things that bothered me because I wanted to believe in sunshine and roses, and maybe if I hadn’t, my par—”
He took her by the shoulders. “You are not responsible for your parents’ death. None of this is your fault. There is only one man to blame, and that’s Craypo, and I’m going to take him, and everyone in his organization, down.”
She smiled, laughter belting from her mouth.
“I don’t see what’s so funny.”
“Oh, it’s not funny. It’s freaking ridiculous. It’s worse than a bad made-for-TV movie.”
“Like the ones on that girly channel?”
She nodded.
“My mother loved those movies. Her favorites were always the ones where the woman had been played by some guy, and she had to…” He paused to remove the ball cap from Delaney’s head. “I’ve always been a sucker for a damsel in distress, and those movies are probably why.”
“I might be in a little bit of distress, but I’m no damsel. Not anymore.”
“Yeah, but I’m still a sucker.” He wrapped his arms around her thin waist. “Let’s go inside the tent,” he whispered in a deep, throaty growl. He traced his thumb over her lip, across her cheek, then cupped the back her neck, drawing her against his firm chest. “You really are the most beautiful woman I have ever had the privilege to look at.”
She opened her mouth, but she never got the chance to speak as he melded their lips together. Her mouth welcomed his tongue in a fury. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman.
Beeeep. Beep. Beep. Beeeep.
He jumped, turning his head toward the noise. “We’ve got company.” Josh pointed to a boat slowing down as it approached the island.
“Who is that?”
“That’s Stacey’s boat, and it looks like Jake Prichard is with her.”
“Is that good?”
“I don’t know.” Josh pressed his hand against the small of her back, guiding her toward the picnic table.
“Wait here.” He glanced toward the sky, as if the dark gray would tell his lips to stop seeking out hers.
By the time he made it to the dock, Jake had already jumped out of the boat and secured it.
“I don’t think you being in a lip-lock with her is a good idea,” Stacey said as she took his hand then stepped on to the dock, carrying a large bag that smelled like bacon.
“Save the lecture,” Josh said.
“Not a lecture.” Stacey always had an opinion and wasn’t afraid to voice it, and her opinion was generally right on the money. “Until this is over, I’d squelch whatever attraction you have for her because it will cloud your judgment.”
“This, coming from the woman who believed Delaney’s story from the beginning.”
“Believing her and trusting her are two different things. Everything she’s told us checks out, but I’d think twice before going to—”
“Josh is a big boy and capable of making his own mistakes…I mean, decisions,” Jake said.
“Both of you, back off.” Josh headed back up the short, muddy trail.
There was a long, awkward silence around the picnic table as Stacey pulled out a couple of trays with homemade French toast, eggs, sausage, and bacon, along with two mugs of fresh coffee.
Delaney went right for the mugs. “Now, this is coffee.”
“I take it Josh made the coffee this morning.” Jake had perched himself on the far side of the table. “He can’t even boil water.”
“He made me a good cup the other day,” Delaney said.
Josh groaned while Jake and Stacey laughed.
“He gets it from the restaurant below him,” Stacey said.
Delaney tilted her head. “But it was in a regular mug, and you… It was there when I… There was more in the coffee machine.”
“I went downstairs with my coffee thing, and they filled it. As I do every morning.” Josh shrugged, turning his attention to Stacey. “Thanks for bringing breakfast. I was dreading having to cook.”