Deadly Addition (Hardy Brothers Security Book 9) (15 page)

James groaned in pleasure as he exploded inside of her, lowering her body to the green felt of the pool table as he rested on top of her.

“Hey, are you two done fighting?” Grady opened the door, his eyes going wide when he saw the tableau in front of him. “Holy shit!”

“Get out,” James ordered.

“I guess you finally got to have sex on the pool table,” Grady said, grinning. “We’ve got some information when you two are … done.”

“Get out!”

“You two look … refreshed,” Finn said, looking Mandy and James over when they returned to the office.

“We are,” James said, sitting in one of the open chairs and pulling Mandy onto his lap as he shot his brother a lazy grin.

“Do I get to come to your house and have sex with Emma now?” Finn asked. “I mean, fair is fair.”

“Knock yourself out,” James said. “Just stay out of our bedroom, and out of the bedroom next to Mandy’s studio. We’ve already christened both of the guest rooms.”

Mandy’s blonde hair was tousled, but she didn’t appear to care. “I told him we shouldn’t do it up there.”

“Yeah, you put up quite the fight, baby,” James said, tickling her ribs.

“Hey, I thought we were going to do it on the desk,” Mandy said. “I had no idea that you were still waiting for Maverick.”

“Perfection can’t be rushed,” Maverick said, his eyes roaming up Mandy’s thighs as James rubbed her skin under the fabric.

James realized what he was doing. “Don’t stare at my wife’s legs.”

“I wasn’t, dude.”

James rolled his eyes.

“He’s been dying to do it on that pool table since he bought it,” Grady said. “I knew he would figure out a way to get what he wanted before he handed the apartment over.”

“I still don’t believe you didn’t do it with anyone else on that pool table,” Mandy said.

“He never brought anyone back to that apartment before you,” Finn said. “He’d spend the night – one night – at a woman’s house. It made it easier to one-night-stand her if she didn’t know where he lived.”

Mandy scowled.

“You’re the only woman who ever spent the night in that apartment,” Grady said. “And in that bed. You were special.”

“That reminds me, we’re going to have to replace that bed,” Finn said. “I can’t sleep on that mattress knowing all the filthy things you two did on it.”

“Whatever,” James said. “I’ll take the mattresses to the house.”

“Where are we going to put it?” Mandy asked.

“Well, I have an addition planned for down the road,” James replied. “I’ll find a place for it there. I’m not giving it up. That was our second bed, and we found a home for the first.”

Mandy narrowed her eyes. “What addition?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“You know I hate surprises,” she grumbled.

“You loved the one I just sprung on you upstairs,” James countered.

“That wasn’t much of a surprise,” Grady said. “She’s had that … sprung … on her quite a few times, if I’m not mistaken.”

James fixed him with a scorching look. “I think she likes it.”

“It’s my favorite surprise,” Mandy agreed, kissing his chin. “Well, other than the shark tour.”

“Yeah, I’m going to have to figure out something good to top that,” he said. “I don’t want to rest on my laurels.”

“Maybe the surprise you’re planning will do it?” Mandy suggested. “Why don’t you tell me, and then I can let you know if you’re going in the right direction?”

James reached under her skirt and squeezed her rear. “No.”

“Not that I don’t like the verbal foreplay for your next round – awesome, by the way – but I have a date tonight,” Maverick said. “We need to get to business.”

“What’s her name?” James asked.

“Sweetass113.”

“Is that hyphenated?”

“I’m playing
Halo
.”

“Oh, well, fun,” James said, raising his eyebrows dubiously. “So, what did you find?”

“Someone was trying to access your financial records,” Maverick said. “And they weren’t poking around blind.”

“Meaning?”

“They had a rip drive.”

“Like what you gave us for when we try to break into people’s computers?” James asked.

“It wasn’t as sophisticated,” Maverick said. “My stuff is top of the line. Dude, where is your hand?”

James quickly pulled his roaming hand from beneath Mandy’s skirt. “Did she get anything during her search?”

“I set up your firewalls,” Maverick said. “No one gets past my firewalls.”

“So, what did she look at?” James asked, shifting uncomfortably as Maverick licked his lips and stared at Mandy’s legs.

“After she failed to get into your financial information, she tried to access your payables.”

“Why?”

Maverick shrugged. “I’m not an investigator, dude. That’s your job.” He got to his feet. “If you need anything else, you know where to find me.”

James nodded.

Maverick paused at the door and glanced down at Mandy. “Are you sure you don’t want to trade up?”

“I’m sure,” Mandy said, pursing her lips to keep from laughing.

“I’ve got a real nice setup in the basement,” Maverick said, trying one more time. “I can promise absolute privacy.”

“Don’t make me beat your ass,” James warned.

“Whatever,” Maverick said. He strolled out the door, flashing a peace sign over his shoulder as he disappeared.

“Well, we know what she was after,” Grady said. “Now we need to know why.”

“How do we find that out?” Jake asked.

James focused on Finn. “We ask her.”

“THIS
place looks expensive,” Sheila said, looking over the menu with bright eyes. “They have three different kinds of steak.”

Finn was fighting the urge to strangle her. He knew Emma was desperate for familial contact – but a rattlesnake would be warmer than Sheila Archibald. “I’ve never eaten here before, but I’ve heard good things. Grady brought Sophie here a week ago, and they both loved it.”

“That’s the reporter, right?”

“Yes.”

“I like her,” Sheila said. “She’s much friendlier than the blonde one.”

“The blonde one is friendly, too,” Finn said, the need to stand up for his sister-in-law flaring. “She’s just protective.”

“What does she have to be protective about?”

“Family.”

“Well, Emma isn’t her family,” Sheila said.

“Yes, she is.”

Emma was uncomfortable with the conversation. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Finn bit the inside of his cheek.

“Absolutely, what do you want to talk about?” Sheila asked, switching topics effortlessly. “How about your new apartment? Are you looking forward to decorating it?”

“Kind of,” Emma said. “I don’t want to buy anything that we can’t use later, though. Plus, it’s important to pick out furniture that doesn’t have a lot of sharp edges. We don’t want the baby to hurt himself.”

“Himself?” Finn asked.

Emma shrugged. “It feels weird to call a baby an it.”

Finn nodded.

“I just have a feeling,” Emma added.

Finn smiled. “Whatever it is … whether a he or a she … it’s going to be a happy baby.”

“Unless it has colic,” Sheila said.

Finn stilled. “Excuse me?”

“Well, Jeff had colic when he was a baby,” Sheila explained. “He just would not shut up. Finally, I had to drink a bottle of wine and shut the door just so I could get some sleep.”

Finn felt ill. “Well, we’re not going to do that.”

“You might not think so now,” Sheila countered. “Trust me, when that thing is screaming at the top of its lungs, you’ll feel differently.”

Emma’s face was drawn.

“I really don’t think so,” Finn said.

“Well, you won’t be the one up with it, will you?”

“We both will,” Finn said. “We’re a family. We do things together.”

“Men always say that,” Sheila said. “They never follow through. Emma’s father … .”

Finn slammed his hand down on the table. “I am not anything like that man.”

Sheila was taken aback. “I didn’t say you were.”

“I … I have to go to the bathroom,” Emma said, jumping to her feet.

Finn was worried. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just have to go to the bathroom.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Sheila asked.

“No,” Emma said. “I … I’ll be back in a few minutes. Just order me a pasta dish.”

“With shrimp?” Finn pressed.

Emma’s shoulders slumped. “Sure. Whatever.”

Once she was gone, Sheila fixed Finn with a hard look. “You shouldn’t upset her.”

“I’m not the one upsetting her,” Finn said. “In fact, before you showed up, she was hardly ever upset anymore.”

“She was upset when I arrived,” Sheila shot back. “She was scared to tell you that she was pregnant. Is that my fault, too?”

“Maybe,” Finn said. “I mean, you’re the one who served her up to a sexual predator on a platter. He’s the reason she’s so unsure of herself. You’re partially to blame for that.”

“I already told you, I didn’t know.”

“I don’t know who you’re trying to convince when you tell that lie, but it’s not working on me,” Finn said.

“You’re a horrible person,” Sheila hissed.

“Coming from you? I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“My daughter never did have any taste in men.”

“How would you even know?” Finn asked. “I’m assuming she didn’t date in high school, and you were gone before she graduated. So, how do you know what her taste in men is?”

“I … you’re trying to confuse me.”

“As far as you know, the only man who ever touched her before me was her father – and apparently you let him do that with your blessing.”

“You stop saying that,” Sheila spat. “That man terrorized me. He hit me twice.”

“And he raped your son and daughter hundreds of times.” Finn’s face was impassive as he watched her. He was done playing games.

“I didn’t know about that,” Sheila said. Finn could tell she was trying to work up some tears.

“Why did you come back here now?” Finn asked.

“I missed my daughter.”

“What about your son?”

“What about him?”

“You haven’t tried to see him,” Finn said.

“I have, too.”

“All visitors are logged at the Lenox facility,” Finn said. “All visitor requests are logged, too. I checked. You haven’t made a request, and you haven’t visited him. He hasn’t had a visitor since last month – when Emma went. She goes like clockwork, by the way.”

“You’re spying on me?”

Finn laid his cards on the table. “We ran a background check.”

“You little ingrate.”

“My brother owns a security business,” Finn said. “You had to know that was a possibility.”

“And what did your little check turn up?”

“Lots of things,” Finn said, being purposely evasive. “My favorite was your marriage to a loan shark in Vegas.”

“I … he’s not a loan shark,” Sheila said. “He’s a loan proprietor. That’s a legitimate thing. Look it up.”

“Nathan Davenport is a loan shark,” Finn replied, refusing to quibble over semantics. “Why aren’t you going by his last name here, by the way? You legally changed it when you got married.”

“I … I didn’t want to upset Emma.”

“You mean because your husband is a suspected murderer and is up on charges right now?”

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Sheila was beside herself. “Well, you’re not so smart. You don’t see how wrong you are for Emma. She needs a man who is willing to accept her, warts and all. You’re just trying to change her.”

Finn knew what she was doing, and he refused to be derailed. “Why did you try to access James’ computer the day of the barbecue?”

“I did no such thing?”

“No one else would,” Finn said.

“I was trying to check the weather,” Sheila said. “It was a barbecue. Rain would have ruined it.”

“Is that the same reason you tried to access the files at the office the day we showed you the apartment?”

“What? No!” Sheila’s calm was slipping. “I … was trying to find the menu for the restaurant. I told that evil blonde what I was doing. Did she rat on me?”

“She did,” Finn said. “Then we had our computer guy check things. Someone tried using a rip drive to access financial information. It was primitive, though, and that person failed. The only one with access was you.”

“You’re making things up.”

“No, I’m not.”

“What’s going on?” Emma asked, reappearing at the edge of the table. She looked nervous. “Are you guys still fighting?”

“Your boyfriend is making up heinous lies about me,” Sheila said, getting to her feet and throwing her napkin on the table.

Emma’s gazed bounced between her mother and Finn. “What lies?”

“He’s making up accusations to try to get you to turn against me.”

Emma focused on Finn. “Why would he do that?”

“He wants control of you, Emma,” Sheila said, wiping a tear from her eye. “He’s just like your father.”