The Private Serials Box Set (6 page)

   “The retainer’s two thousand,” he finally said, coldly. I swallowed then blinked.

   “That’s fine.” I reached into my purse and pulled out my checkbook.

   “You can’t write a check. Your husband would figure you out in a heartbeat. Can you get a hold of cash?”

   I hadn’t even thought about that. I racked my brain for ways to come up with two thousand dollars without Derrek getting suspicious. I’d have to ask Samantha.

   “I can have cash for you in the next couple of days. Is that all right?”

   “That’s fine.” Suddenly, he picked up my phone and started touching the screen.

   “What are you doing?”

   “I called you from my work number. Odds are you won’t be able to reach me there, so don’t even bother. I’ll give you my private cell number and you call me when you’ve got the money. Until then, I’ll start working on this.” He handed my phone back to me. “But if you find something out, anything you think might be useful, don’t hesitate to call me.”

   “Okay,” I said softly. “So, that’s it? You just go on your merry way and I sit around while you prove my husband is a cheating bastard?”

   “Was there something else you wanted from me?” His face was stoic as he said those words and his eyes bore into me, asking a question heavy with so much meaning. I tried to swallow but found my mouth and throat dry, goose bumps rising on my arms.

   “No,” I whispered, some part of me knowing I was telling possibly the biggest lie of all. A quiet moment passed where our eyes held each other’s. Then, so quickly, it was over. He stood and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, tossing two twenty dollar bills on the table, then folded his wallet and put it away again.

   “I’ll be in touch.” Those were his last words before he turned and walked right out the door. I let out a loud breath and collapsed against the back of my chair, not realizing I’d been upright and tense. I brought a shaky hand to my forehead and brushed my hair back, smoothing away nothing because I knew my hair was perfect. My hands were just looking for something to do besides the very thing they wanted to do, which was slide down my thighs and give attention to the ache that was still pulsing in my core.

   I hoped, if only for my sanity, that Preston Reid was as good at his job as he was good looking. The less time I spent around him, the better. He was bad news, but I was beginning to suspect that my body liked bad.

Chapter Six

   The next day, after my body had calmed down, I called Sam and asked her over for lunch. Once she arrived, she wasted no time expressing her anger toward me.

   “I told you to call me, Lena.”

   “And I did. You’re here, aren’t you?” I didn’t bother looking at her as I spoke; I was busy building us sandwiches. I knew she’d be over her tiff in a few minutes anyway.  She just needed a few to harp on me and all would be well again.

   “Two days later! I texted you a million times. I even came by earlier today but you didn’t answer the door.”

   “I was out.”

   “Yeah, I figured,” she said snidely.

   I turned and handed her a plate with a BLT and some macaroni salad. “Let’s go sit on the deck.” I motioned with my head toward the sliding door that would lead us outside to a wrought iron table and chairs. Once seated, Sam dove right back in.

   “So, what’s happened since you discovered your husband is the biggest asshole on the planet?” She finished her sentence and took a big bite of her sandwich, her eyes locked on mine.

   I laughed because I loved how much she hated Derrek, and because of how ready she was to simply kick his ass.

   “I’ve got a plan in place. Actually, that’s one of the things I need to talk to you about.” I paused and tried to work up the nerve to ask my best friend for a loan. A loan she would know I didn’t need, so it had to come with an explanation. “Yesterday, I hired a private investigator to look into Derrek and his other life.”

   “Why do you need a private investigator? We
saw
him, Lena. We already know he’s cheating.”

   “I know, Sam, trust me. I know. But I want more. I need to know how long it’s been going on, how deep it goes. I know it might seem masochistic, but I just need to know.” I shook my head a little and looked down at my hands in my lap. I couldn’t tell her about the prenup. I was so ashamed that it even existed and I didn’t need her pity. I looked up at her. She already had a sad look on her face, and I knew it was sadness for me, and that was more than enough pity. “There’s one other thing, though.” I took in another deep breath. “I went to pay him with a check and he refused, saying that if I used a check, Derrek would catch on. For the same reason, I can’t really withdraw the money from our bank account, so I was hoping–”

   “How much do you need?”

   “Two thousand,” I said, as I winced.

   “Done. I’ll go to the bank today.”

   I sagged in my chair with relief. “Oh, my gosh, Sam, thank you so much. I promise I will get you the money. It just might take a week or two.”

   “Don’t worry about it. Honestly, I’m glad to help.” She paused for a moment, then tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “I can’t believe you hired a private investigator. How did you even find one?”

   “Google,” I said with a laugh. “It wasn’t difficult at all.”

   “So, you just call them up and tell them what you need?”

   “Well, basically, except we met in person to discuss specifics.”

   “Oh.” Then her face scrunched up and she sat back further in her chair. “I can’t believe you met a P.I. without me.” She frowned and I laughed.

   “I didn’t think it was a group activity.”

   “It totally was. It’s like something out of an action movie. Your life just got so exciting and I want to be there to watch everything unfold.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “You know what I mean! I’m not glad your husband is a cheating bastard, but I am happy to watch him go down in flames.”

   I could understand her point of view.  Even I was looking forward to watching Derrek’s other world crumble. “Well, the next time I have reason to call a private investigator, I’ll be sure I conference you in.”

   “So, what’s he going to do? How is he going to earn his two grand?”

   I bit my bottom lip, then opened my mouth to reply, but promptly shut it again when I realized I didn’t have an answer. “You know what? I’m not quite sure. I didn’t really ask him what his plans were.”

   “See, just one of the reasons you should have brought me with you. I would have asked all the pertinent questions.”

   “Okay,” I said with a small laugh. “I’m beginning to see the error of my ways.” We continued eating our lunch with our usual light conversation, only sometimes venturing to talk about Derrek and what we’d seen, or Preston and what we thought he might be up to. Our imaginations were more than likely a lot more interesting than the actual happenings. But when Sam focused on something, she really focused. She seemed to be convinced that Preston was more like a James Bond than the image of a normal cop deciding to branch out on his own, which was what I believed to be more likely. Although, Preston was devastatingly handsome, so I gave Sam that tick in the Bond column.

   We had just started clearing the table when the doorbell sounded throughout the house. I put down the dishes in my hand and walked toward the front door. When I opened it, I was immediately confused and stammered my greeting.

   “Preston…Mr. Reid…What are you…How did you…”

   “Good afternoon, Lena.” His voice was flat and all business.

   “How do you know where I live?”

   At that, he smiled. It was a sardonic smile, as if he were laughing at me, but it was still breathtaking. “I’m a private investigator, sweetheart. It’s my job to acquire information.”

   Why in the world did he keep calling me that? It was not only unprofessional, but also flustered me and left me mumbling like an idiot.

   “What…why…?”

   “I was hoping I could take a peek in your husband’s office. See if there’s anything in there that might aid my investigation.”

   “Right. Of course. Come in, please.” I stepped back, opening the door to let him in. He walked past me and I tried so very hard not to notice that he smelled divine. Clean, with a hint of spice, from an aftershave perhaps. It wasn’t overpowering, but just strong enough to penetrate my thoughts and make me want to smell that scent forever.

   He stopped just a few steps in, waiting for me to lead him back to Derrek’s office, and just then, Sam walked into the foyer.

   “Oh,” she said with surprise. Her eyes roamed all over Preston and I watched as she came to the same conclusion any straight woman with a pulse would – he was absolutely beautiful.

   He was still sporting his black leather jacket, but he was dressed a little more casually underneath it than he’d been the day before. He wore a dark blue Henley t-shirt, coupled with the same faded jeans, but instead of his leather shoes, he had on black Converse.

   “Who are you?” Sam asked, a little breathless, her eyes still taking in all of him.

   “Sam, this is Mr. Reid, the private investigator I hired.” Her eyes slowly made their way to mine, one eyebrow raised, a conspiratorial smile flashing across her mouth.

   “Well, now I see why you didn’t want me to come with you.”

   I glared at her, but tried my best to ignore her comment. “You can follow me, Mr. Re–”

   “Preston, please. Call me Preston.”

   “All right. This way, Preston. Derrek’s office is down the hall.” I made my way back to the office, trying not to think about the fact that Preston was behind me, in my house, and that we were essentially alone together. And I definitely tried not to think about the way he smelled.

   I entered the office and stood in front of the desk as I watched him do his P.I. thing. He looked around the room and I had no idea what it was he thought he’d find, but he was intent. He walked to stand behind Derrek’s desk and opened up the first drawer on the right side, then frowned. Next, he bent a little lower, opened the drawer beneath it, and then frowned again.

   “The drawers are empty,” he said with confusion.

   “Oh. Yes. I might have thrown some things away,” I said, trying not to sound as embarrassed as I was.

   “You
might
have thrown some things away?” His voice had a smile to it, but he was busy opening and closing empty drawers.

   “The night we followed Derrek and saw him with his other family, I came home and needed to relieve some stress.”

   “So you threw away some papers?”  His question came with a chuckle.

   His words made my spine straighten. He was laughing at me.

   “First, I threw them all over the room,
then
I threw them in the garbage.”

   He was trying to keep the smirk from his face, I could tell. “So you came home, emptied his drawers in a fit of rage, scattering his documents all over the room, and then you cleaned up your mess?”

   He was definitely laughing at me.

   I narrowed my eyes at him.

   “What are you getting at?” I sneered.

   He came from behind the desk and walked toward me. For just a moment, his eyes were on mine, but then they moved to the wall behind me where Derrek had his diplomas displayed. He passed me, but left no room between us, his arm brushing my shoulder, but then I felt him turn sharply so he was just behind me, pressed up against me slightly. I stiffened when I felt his front graze my back. I lost the ability to breathe when I felt his breath against my ear as he spoke.

   “I’m just saying,” he practically growled. “There are better, more gratifying ways to release your aggression.” I felt him move away, but the absence of him made no difference to the storm that was now brewing inside my traitorous body. I was stunned silent, my heartbeat pulsing through me, pumping blood to areas suddenly awakened by his breath on my skin. For the second time in just as many days, I found myself pressing my thighs together, trying to stave off the physical reaction I was having to Preston. My breath shuddered out of me, not quietly, and I winced, thinking he had heard and could tell I was affected by him. Although, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I was aroused; my entire body seemed to be quivering.

   I tried to be angry at him, tried to be appalled that he, the supposed professional in our arrangement, would be hitting on me, a married woman. But even though the notion was there, the intention to find his actions repulsive, I couldn’t move past my acute arousal.

   “I think,” I managed to say, although I sounded completely unsure of my words and not at all as forceful as I imagined I would in my mind, “I think you need to leave.”

   “Why’s that?” His voice was still behind me, but I turned to see him inspecting the certificates on the wall.

   “What if Derrek returns? How will I explain a strange man in his office? In his home?”

   He turned back around, but didn’t look at me. He moved again, heading to the big chair behind the desk and sat down, powering on the computer. “You obviously have no faith in me and my ability to do my job. Why in the world did you even hire me?”

   “Your company was just the first one I came to,” I answered honestly. He nodded but didn’t speak immediately. He pressed some buttons on the computer then spoke again.

   “You hired me to investigate your husband and his extracurricular activities. He is currently in Bend. Whether he’s there for business or pleasure, I’m not sure.”

   “Then shouldn’t you be there trying to
investigate
that?”

   His eyes snapped to me and his voice was smooth but dark. “Would you like to pay me six hundred dollars, each way, to follow your philandering husband on a ski weekend?” He paused and watched me. I tried not to give away that no, I did not want to pay him twelve hundred dollars to drive to Bend, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

   Instead, I turned and left the room, throwing over my shoulder, “Let me know if you need anything else.” I continued back into the kitchen, where I found Sam leaning her hip against the counter, one hand to her mouth, unconsciously biting her nails.