Tri Me (Primrose, Minnesota, Book 4) (10 page)

“You’ve given us a helluva start.”

“I can stall Primrose PD approximately twenty-four hours without suspicion. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Dan.”

Ryker disconnected and Jackson unbuckled his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose. This case was frustrating as hell.

“Hmmm.” Jake clicked keys. “According to a background check, Lucas Sebastian owns Luxury Imports here in Primrose. He deals in high-end automobiles. No priors. He employs twenty five individuals and is currently being sued by one of them for sexual harassment.”

“Interesting.” Mace stretched out his legs and put his hands behind his head. “We should pay Mr. Sebastian a visit.”

Jackson lowered his hands and raised his head. “Agreed, as soon as we talk to Alex. If he’s involved in litigation, she may be connected somehow.”

“The whole group is over at Marnie’s.” Jake chuckled. “Bri told me they’re planning a baby shower for Liberty.”

“Alex told me the same thing.”

Ryker’s phone chimed again and he glanced at the screen. “They’re all present and accounted for. Storm’s parked outside the apartment.” He whistled low under his breath. “You guys are in so much trouble. I wouldn’t trade places with any of you even if someone paid me.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?’’ Jake frowned. “Are you scared of women?”

“No, I’m not scared. But don’t you realize that when one of them has a baby,
all of them
want a baby?”

“This from the expert on women,” Jackson drawled.

“Mark my words. After today, your women will look at both of you differently. I wouldn’t suggest you interrupt them when they’re focused on babies.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“I do.” Ryker folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not interrupting their hen party. She’s your woman. You go.”

“Fine. You coming, Rawlings?”

His friend’s momentary pause convinced him he would probably go alone. “You don’t really need back-up, do you?”

“No,” he mumbled. “I’ll go solo and meet you guys later.”

***

Her fingers tingled with anticipation as she sat at the computer and typed Marnie Carpenter’s name into the search engine. It had taken some work to figure out the identity of the women of Alex’s group but her perseverance had finally provided the answer.

Girls’ night out rendered the perfect opportunity. The group had been too wrapped up in marriage and babies to even notice her at a nearby table As soon as one of them had called the small blonde by name and then mentioned her classroom, it had been fairly simple to search public school sites until she’d found the answer. Thank God the woman had a unique name.

Dara, however, had been a cinch. Everyone in Primrose knew Dara Hamilton and although her address hadn’t been published, she’d simply followed her home from a book signing. And when an extremely tall, buff male welcomed her home with an almost pornographic kiss, it was almost common sense to believe Alex was not occupying a room in that house.

She’d save her energy for the others.

She smirked as she hit the enter key and the address flashed on the screen. Three seconds, not bad. She ran her hands across the top of the desk, diligently searching for a pen and a scrap paper. After several seconds of digging, she finally found a blank white card and a blue pen, minus the cap. She glanced back at the computer screen and then jotted down the address. Curious, she turned over the card. Alexandria Jennings, Attorney at Law. Anger boiled her blood; just like the woman, the card had no business occupying her personal space. Now even more determined to end this competition, she slid the card into her pocket and grabbed her keys. Destroying Alex’s house was only the beginning.

Time to stake out Marnie’s place to see if Alex stayed there. Then she would decide what to do about it.

***

Alex listened to the chatter of her friends, thankful to have the baby shower to distract her from the stress of the investigation. Bri had insisted they do something to make up for their lack of girl time.

She placed a chilled bottle of wine on the bar just as Marnie opened the door to their final guest.

“Sorry I’m late.” Dara breezed through the open door like her usual ball-of-energy self and gave Alex a hug. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine thanks, Dara.”

“She doesn’t dare not be.” Marnie smirked. “Jackson has become her personal shadow.”

“Really? I could’ve sworn the hottie slouched in the front seat of the truck parked in front was your tail.”

“Huh?” Alex narrowed her eyes. “What hottie?”

“I saw him too.” Bri shrugged. “I figured you knew.”

“I guess Reagan and I missed him.” Annie stepped near the living room window with Reagan hot on her heels.

Alex nudged Dara to one side and peered out Marnie’s door. Although his physique was somewhat shaded by the truck’s darkened interior, she could see enough muscle to conclude that the man behind the dark, Aviator sunglasses was most likely another member of Ryker’s team.

“I’ll be right back.”

Alex kept her gaze trained on the hired muscle until she stood at the driver’s window, knocking forcefully with four knuckles. Slowly, the window lowered until she had visual clarification of her earlier assumption. The man had biceps the size of rump roasts.

“Can I help you ma’am?”

His deep smooth voice filled the quiet afternoon, almost – just almost- tempting her to forget her interrogation.

“Knock it off. Get Detective Stewart on the phone.”

He gave her a long, slow smile that she interpreted as a stall tactic. “I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and mimicked his gesture. “Look, Mr……”

“Storm.”

“Mr. Storm—“

“Just Storm. No
mister.
”

“Okay
Storm,
unless you want me to be the one to tell Jackson I made you, I’ll give you a three second head start.”

“You drive a hard bargain, counselor.” He grabbed the cell phone resting beside him, dialed, lifted it to his ear, and then spoke after a couple of seconds. “The mission’s hit a snag, Stewart.”

She snapped her fingers then held out her hand, palm up. With a cocky smirk, he placed the phone there.

“Was this really necessary?” she said into the phone. “I told you I’d stay here today. You almost made me swear, in fact.”

“It’s for your own protection, Alex.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Storm might not appreciate that title.”

“Okay, so I don’t need a tail either.”

“Tough. You have one so deal with it.”

She moved her gaze to Storm and grinned while she spoke. “Sounds like a challenge to me.”

“No, not a challenge – you’d enjoy that too much. Just a precaution.”

“Why didn’t you simply tell me?”

“You know exactly why. If I had let you in on the mission, you would’ve dragged Storm by the balls all over town.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Just being honest.”

“So what should I do with him now that I’ve found him?”

“Leave him the hell alone, go back inside and do whatever women do to plan a baby shower.”

“No more surprises.”

“Fine.”

“Are you any closer to discovering this woman’s identity?”

“Maybe. I’ll stop by later. In the meantime, apologize to Storm.”

“For what?”

“I’m sure you said something to annoy him.”

She gave him a few seconds of silence, just in case he wanted to amend his statement.

“That’s listable, huh?” he asked finally.

“Yes, right on the top.”

“You’re such a pester-head.”

“A what?”

“A pester-head.”

“I’m thinking that’s just another way of calling me annoying.”

“Nope. You stew on it for a while. We’ll talk about it later.”

“I can’t wait,” she drawled.

“I’ll just bet you can’t,” he mumbled. “Let me talk to Storm.”

She gave the other man a wink and handed back the phone before turning and heading back inside. As soon as she stepped into the room, all five of her friends left the window.

Marnie was the first to speak. “Well?”

“Dara’s absolutely right, I have a tail.”

Annie giggled. “A hot one.”

“Smoking.” Regan grinned. “I think it’s a prerequisite for Ryker’s team.”

Although she agreed with every single female observation, Alex frowned. “An
unnecessary
tail.”

“Oh come on, Alex,” Dara scolded. “If you’re going to be under surveillance, at least the
surveiler
is sweet on the eyes.”

“Is that even a word?”

Dara shrugged. “Creative license.”

“Not to mention he’s built like a mountain,” Bri added. “Besides, until we figure out who’s threatening you, it’s probably not a bad thing.”

“We’ll just all sit back and enjoy the view while we plan Liberty’s shower.” Marnie shrugged. “At least it will keep Jackson out of your hair.”

“That’s what you think,” Alex mumbled. “He’s stopping by later – most likely to read me the riot act.”

“You know, I’m a little concerned.” Marnie led the way to the dining room table and all of them took a seat. “The love bug seems to be biting.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Liberty, Bri, Dara, and now you, Alex.”

“Not me.”

“Sure about that?”

She crossed her middle and index fingers on both hands. “Yes.”

“Whatever.” Marnie rolled her eyes. “I’m stocking up on insect repellant.”

“You go right ahead.” Annie crossed her arms. “It just appears that any one of those men are inescapable once they turn their sights on a woman.”

“Inescapable?” Alex scoffed.

“I’m with Annie,” Dara agreed. “I’d have a major struggle on my hands.”

Bri giggled. “You have no intention of putting up a fight, Dara.”

Alex settled back against her chair, warmed by the gentle teasing exchanged between her friends. If they had anything to do with the so called love bug epidemic, she didn’t have a chance at immunity. Not that she wanted to.

She released a low, deep sigh. Things were heating quickly between her and Jackson and her half-hearted denials were burning in the inferno. As much as she claimed to have a tight grip on her independence, he had an uncanny knack for quietly pushing past her resolve. Just when she was convinced she had him pinned down for the count, he wrapped her in those big, incredibly strong arms and proceeded to prove her wrong with nothing more than the beat of his heart. Deep-rooted understanding, protection, and respect oozed from his pores. Dara wasn’t the only one with a struggle on her hands.

“Yoo-hoo, Alex!”

She raised her gaze to see Marnie waving her hand in front of her face. “Where were you?”

Alex cleared her throat and straightened in her chair, strategically buying time before she answered. “I’m here.”

Bri placed a hand on her forearm. “It won’t take Jackson and the guys long to sort out things.”

She resisted the urge to release a huge breath of relief at the fact that her friends assumed she’d been thinking about psycho-woman. Ironically, the threat of murder had actually pushed her thoughts away from panic and onto Jackson.

“It’s only a matter of time,” she agreed. “Jackson’s like a bulldog when he sinks his teeth into a case.”

“So are you.”

“Well, we need to find this woman pronto because I refuse to hide much longer.”

“Okay, ladies, let’s get this party started.” Marnie poured a glass of wine and then passed the bottle to Annie. “We need ideas.”

“I vote against playing games,” Reagan said as she accepted the wine bottle. “I went to a shower recently where we played the diaper game and it definitely was not for me.”

Annie nodded. “That’s the one where they put food in diapers and you’re supposed to guess what it is.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t pretty.”

“Okay so no games.” Marnie cocked her head to the side. “What about colors?”

Dara poured wine in her glass. “We can’t use blue or pink since they don’t know the sex yet.”

“Shane’s a fireman.” Alex tapped the side of the wine bottle with a fingernail. “What about red and white? Those are neutral colors.”

“Perfect!” Bri squealed.

By the time they got around to the menu, the second bottle had been passed around. Annie had a fit of giggles while she and Regan looked out the window.

“What’s so funny?” Alex asked.

“Looks like we have company.” Regan pulled Annie back toward the table.