Return to Poughkeepsie (21 page)

“Do you have no clue how to skip a rock?” He reached down and got his own handful, then skipped one after another in a spectacular show of gravity defiance.

She tried, and her rock sank.

“It’s all in the wrist. Watch.” He showed her again, slowing down the movements.

After a few more fails, Ryan wrapped his arms around her and helped her throw the rock. She did one more on her own, and it hopped twice before sinking.

“So this is weird.” Ryan stood in front of her when she was out of rocks. “You did take me to your actual father’s place. And I do believe he got the crap kicked out of him, gangster style. And then you take off driving like your tailpipe is on fire, and now we’re skipping rocks. I think I’m going to need some explanations so I don’t drag your ass down to the station.”

Eve grabbed her head, trying to make sense of what to do. “Those men that hurt my father? I want to kill them. They should feel every bit of pain he felt.” She felt tears coming to her eyes.

“I’m sure that’s the way anyone would feel.”

Ryan didn’t see it coming. She disarmed him so thoroughly he was at the business end of his own gun before he could even reach for it. Her heel was on his throat. He stilled.

“What are you?” His sunglasses and hers were victims of the tussle, lying nearby.

“I’m angry.” She exhaled and turned his gun around, handing the butt to him.

He took it and stood, holstering his weapon. “I can tell.”

He was a good cop, she realized once again. The exact kind of man who did what he had to so regular citizens could stay safe from each other and themselves. She hoped she wouldn’t regret what she was going to do so much that she’d have to kill him.

“I’m here to stop people from stirring up trouble in Poughkeepsie. I’ve been in and out of that work for a while now. My family lives here. I should’ve been paying attention. But I was off licking my wounds in the city, and my father paid for that.” Eve looked into his dark eyes.

“That’s some dramatic shit right there. Why’d you throw your iPhone at my feet this morning?” Ryan leaned against the Audi, watching her carefully.

“I’m working for the woman who’s trying to claim this place. And she wants to buy you. I’m here to facilitate that. Which I’m sucking at.” Eve pulled her hair out of her face and held it in a ponytail.

“Well, my job is to get bought. Maybe we can work something out.” Ryan crossed his arms and looked her up and down.

She bent down to retrieve her sunglasses and tossed his to him. She used her glasses to hold her hair like a headband.

“But if you ever point a gun at me again, woman or no woman, I will kill you.” Ryan smiled.

Eve smiled back sweetly, until her phone sounded an incoming text. Then she nodded at Ryan and turned her back on him completely to look at her phone’s screen. “This might take a minute,” she said.

Ryan took the opportunity to step a few paces away and adjust. He could pretend he wasn’t hard as a rock, but his pants were not helping him a bit. He now knew she’d been a plant, but she’d twirled real life into the pretend version of herself. That sucked. Black and white was so much easier to see than gray. And damned if he could trust her. He didn’t know. He scanned the water and turned to scan the rocky horizon behind him. Nothing. Then he sensed Eve’s movement and found her appraising him coolly. Her phone had disappeared.

“So we’re clear, you screw me over and I’ll get your dad involved on every damn level,” he told her. He watched as her eyes sharpened to attention. She was a fucking tiger. Still hard.

“You have your leverage, what’s mine?” she asked. Her black hair was all over, making it hard to read her expression. He reached in her car and found a hair tie. He tossed it to her, and she twirled her unruly tresses into a ponytail.

“Well, if you really work for some kind of organized crime outfit, there’s that.” He hoped he was playing it cool, even as he listened for car tires and footsteps. This girl could have lured him here for her boss.

“Trust is hard to come by.” She looked at his fucking crotch, emphasizing the word
hard
.

“Eve, we were strangers this morning, and I think we’ll die strangers, but I need information, and you’re in a good place to get it. And I
can
help find who played piñata with your dad.”

For now that was all he was willing to share. The most important thing about this woman was the picture of her in her dad’s apartment. The cross, knife, and music clef had damn near sang to him from the picture of a blonde Eve standing next to a man with Beckett’s tattoo on his forearm.

“Okay. I won’t point your gun at you again,” she agreed. “Mary Ellen will want me to date you, so that can be the ruse for now—unless it’ll drive your ex up a tree.” She turned and looked at the river again.

“My ex can drive off a cliff, for all I care.” Ryan kept his hand near his holster. “So when do we meet next?”

“How about here in two days? Same time as right now.” Hugging herself, she suddenly looked slight.

“If we’re supposed to be dating, how about I treat you to a decent dinner? We don’t have to keep meeting down here by the river. It’s a little too Mark Twain for my style.”

Eve didn’t meet his eyes, but her smile curved on one side. “The gentleman reads. Ten points for Gryffindor.”

“Hey.” Ryan took a step toward her. “I wish you’d been a regular girl.”

A humorless laugh accompanied her turning around again. “You and me both.”

16

Two Lines

T
HE
T
WO
L
INES
A
PPEARED
. Pink and pink.
Pink and pink.
Kyle’s hand shook. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Pregnant. For the love of everything holy, she was knocked up! She jumped and shouted and cried and screamed. She’d promised to wait to test until Cole came home. But she couldn’t friggin’ wait.

“Hairy moat of desire! I’ve got a bun in the oven! Motherfucker!” She clamped her hand over her evil mouth, then switched to cover her stomach. “Sorry, baby!”

And then she realized those were the first words she’d spoken to her child. She sat down slowly, folding her legs crisscross, and lifted her shirt.

Her stomach looked the same. She gently touched the skin, still marred with bruises from the fertility shots.
It worked. My God, it worked
.

She hadn’t heard him coming home, and when Cole’s hand covered hers, she gasped. Her tears were unchecked as she met his serious eyes.

“Really?” he whispered.

She held up the positive pregnancy test and nodded, freeing more of her tears to flow.

“May I pray?” Cole copied her sitting position.

“Of course.” Kyle touched his face while he spoke.

“Lord, you’ve blessed this womb with our love. In it, guarded by a mother’s protection, our child will come to us. We ask that you bless this baby and see fit to give us our very own angel.”

They said “Amen” together, and their Saturday evening was spent on the floor—dinner forgotten, housework left undone. They were finally allowed to hope, allowed to predict. The baby would have his eyes, of course. And Kyle’s fire because there was no dodging that bullet. And she’d have to clean up her mouth; that went without saying. Their baby would be loved. Epically, unfailingly. That went without saying as well.

As promised, on Sunday evening Eve met Ryan for their first official/fake/undercover date. They’d already argued. When they’d made plans the day before, he insisted on picking her up. She’d said it was ridiculous for him to drive to Mahopac. No one wanted to date a girl living in a hotel, which, sadly, was her at the moment. But she’d also refused to wait for him at her father’s place. In the end he’d picked her up at the mall. It felt very high school.

Now, as she rode with him in the truck, she found him in a ridiculously good mood. Trying to snap him back to business, as they pulled up at the restaurant, she told him to get ready because they needed to show some affection in public.

“Should I take off my pants?” He pretended to unbutton his jeans.

“Not that fast, Trigger.” After they got out of the car, she grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. “Is this okay?”

“My body is ready.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

After the hostess took their name, Eve pulled him into the corner of the restaurant’s foyer to wait for their table. She touched his chin and leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his lips. She pulled back immediately and swallowed, because cop man was a good kisser. His lips were soft, and he bit one after she pulled away.

“That did
not
suck.” He squeezed her hand and reached around her waist to pull her closer. “If you were really mine? Well…never mind.”

She hugged him and whispered in his ear. “Careful. I’m fatal.” He needed to remember that warning.

He whispered back, holding her hair so she couldn’t squirm away. “Jesus. It’s like you said that directly to my balls.”

She laughed so hard at his unexpected reply. He smiled down at her and ran his hand through his hair.

“I wish I knew if that was a real laugh or not.” He tilted his head.

Just then she had a flash: standing in a restaurant, hugging a handsome man, a good man. This could have been her future, her now. She grimaced and looked away. The hostess called their names, and Eve deliberately turned her back on Ryan as she followed her through the restaurant.

At their table, Ryan pulled out her chair and Eve sat, rolling her eyes. He waited until they’d ordered their drinks before commenting.

“Rolling your eyes? What, a man can’t treat his date like a lady?” He snapped his napkin open and set it on his lap.

“It just seems out of date. A little sexist.” Eve opened her menu.

“So that’s how it is for you? No problem. I’ll dude-bro you until you bust out with some fluffy chest hair.” He pointed at her chest.

“Anything important you need to share?” Accepting her drink from the waitress, Eve tried to not see his crestfallen face. Reality was clearly not a welcome guest at the table.

“After some digging I found a guy who’s on parole who had some extensive surgery on his hand. His favorite genre of shit seems to be harassment and racketeering. Son of a bitch was in an altercation in jail too, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before we can pick him up for something again.”

“Does he hang out with anyone in particular?” A lead on the men who hurt her father would be personally, as well as professionally, useful.

“He’s running with a few different crowds.” Ryan seemed reluctant to say more. Perhaps he could sense her penchant for vigilante justice. “I’ll keep an eye out for him.” He smiled encouragingly. “Also, I was approached yesterday and offered payment in exchange for delivering information. I wanted to slap some cuffs on that slimy bastard.” Ryan licked his lips as the bread basket arrived.

“Describe the contact.”

As soon as he got to the part about “kind of fishy eyes,” Eve knew Shark was the messenger. They spent the rest of the meal speculating and plotting. Damned if they weren’t starting to make a great team.