No Fooling Around: Lennox Brothers Romantic Comedy Page 12
“Can we torture the information out of him?” She raised her eyebrows. “Please say yes.”
I wanted to smile at the earnestness in her voice. “We should abide by the Geneva Convention.”
“That’s not fair.” She pointed her fork at her plate. “Great eggs, by the way. Perfectly fluffy. Are you sure we can’t torture him a little?”
“We’re going to blackmail him, remember.”
“He threatened Ruff. He should count himself lucky if he can walk out of here after I’m done with him.” She stabbed her fork into her eggs, her green eyes flashing.
Maybe I was crazy to find her anger sexy, but it was all I could do to keep my hands wrapped around my knife and fork and my brain focused on scheming instead of how badly I wanted to kiss her.
“If everything goes well, you’ll be able to stop worrying about him.” I swallowed the last bite of my breakfast.
“I like your plan, in spite of not getting to exact painful revenge on Benedict. But all that really matters is getting Ruff back.”
“And making sure Benedict never bothers you again.”
She flashed me a grateful smile. “Thank you for helping me. You have a wonderfully devious mind.”
“I’ve had practice.”
“Really? Tell me about it. Distract me from worrying about Ruff.” She swallowed the last of her eggs and pushed her plate away.
“When we were kids in Mexico, Kade and I used to hustle money from tourists. We’d ask people to guess which cup a ball was in, and they’d always lose.”
“Will you show me?”
Putting our plates in the sink, I got five cups out of the cupboard and set them upside down on the kitchen island. Then I took two walnuts from the pantry. Hiding one in my palm, I put the other on the table.
“Pretend that’s a ball.” I put a stool on the other side of the island so I could sit opposite her.
“Okay.” She nodded. “It’s a ball.”
“The cups are all empty.” I lifted them two-at-a-time to show her the interiors of all the cups. As I put the last cup down, I slipped the hidden walnut inside it.
Then I picked up the other walnut and made a show of putting it under another of the cups. But I palmed it at the last moment, and slipped it into my pocket.
Though it had been almost fourteen years since I’d last executed the trick, my movements were quick. My muscles still remembered exactly what to do. And performing the actions triggered all my old memories, so I could almost feel the heat radiating off the sidewalk, hear the laughs and chatter of the tourists staggering past, and smell the stale beer wafting from the bars.
“Kade would talk all through the trick,” I said. “He had this patter he’d do, complimenting the target while he advised them to keep their gaze fixed to the cup with the ball in it. Or in this case, the walnut.”
While I spoke, I moved the cups quickly around, switching their places.
“You still know where the walnut is?” I asked Iola.
“That’s easy.” She tapped one of the cups.
I lifted the cup to show it was empty and her eyes widened. When I lifted another cup, she gaped at the decoy walnut.
“That’s amazing! How’d you learn to do that?”
Her expression was so full of wonder, I couldn’t help but smile. The delight she took from such a simple trick was touching. It made my own cynicism melt.
“Not long after we moved to Mexico, Mom started dating one of the chefs at the restaurant she worked in. He liked doing magic, and taught me the basics. Then I got hold of some books to expand my skills.”
“So you started doing the trick for money?”
I nodded. “Kade and I would sit at a makeshift table we’d tucked out of the way so most tourists would walk right on past, and I’d nudge Kade when the right target came by.”
“How could you tell they were the right target?” Her face was alight with interest as she leaned forward. I was so captivated by her expression, I found myself telling her more than I was usually comfortable with.
“I studied body language. Bachelorette parties were the best. The women were usually half drunk, determined to have fun, and happy to stop for a few minutes of entertainment on the way to the next bar. I’d tell Kade which one was the bride, and he’d go right over to draw her into our trick.”
“How would you know which was the bride?”
“I could always tell.”
“And Kade would convince her to come over to your table?”
I shrugged. “He was already a smooth talker.”
She smiled, her eyebrows lifting as she shot me a knowing look. “I bet he came out of the womb that way.”
“He’d tell the bride how pretty she was and act heartbroken because she was taken.”
“I can imagine. I’m sure he was almost as charming then as he is now.”
I pictured my brother the way he was back then, lanky and non-threatening. His hair flopped into his eyes so he had to keep tossing it back, and though he had faint traces of acne on his cheeks, the women still blushed when he pretended he’d fallen in love with them.
“He’d tell them they just had to put up five dollars,” I said. “And they could walk away with ten. He’d say they had to take advantage of it now, because after they were married their husbands wouldn’t let them have any fun.”
“You’d give them ten dollars if they guessed where the ball was, but they only lost five dollars if they were wrong?”
“Exactly.”
“Did you ever lose?”
I shook my head. “But a few times when we first started, I picked the wrong targets. If we chose people who resented losing, it got nasty. And occasionally we had boyfriends suddenly turn up and decide they didn’t like the way Kade was flirting with their women.”
She leaned in, her expression shocked. “It got violent?”
“I got better at picking targets.” I sidestepped her question. “Ones who didn’t mind paying a few dollars for Kade to make them laugh.”
“Did you have a patter as well?”
“Kade did all the talking. I just did the magic.”
“You were silent and mysterious?”
“That was the act.”
Only it’d been more than just an act. Maybe my brothers hadn’t grasped how serious our situation was, but I’d been all too aware of the dangers. By picking the wrong target, I could have gotten us both killed. And if I didn’t find any target at all and brought home no money, Mason would suffer the consequences.
I couldn’t afford to let our targets see how much we had riding on the game, and I used the same skills at home to minimize the chance of accidentally triggering one of Mom’s mood swings. Sometimes all it had taken to set her off was a frown.
Hiding my emotions wasn’t just part of our trick, it was the way I’d survived.
“You’re really clever.” She tilted her head. “You know that?”
“Not clever enough.” The words slipped out before I could think better of them.
“What do you mean?”
I hesitated, because I’d wanted to take her mind off her current predicament, not drag the conversation into gloomier waters.
“We’d often go home with enough money for a meal,” I said reluctantly. “But there were also quiet days, when it rained, or we couldn’t convince any tourists to bet on the game.”
Those were the nights when Mason would have to slip out late at night to steal food or money, not that I could tell her that part of it. Mason had hated stealing, and wouldn’t thank me for telling anyone.
“It wasn’t your fault it rained.”
“But if I’d been smarter, I would have been able to come up with other ways to make money.”
Anything would have been better than lying awake at night waiting for Mason, terrified he’d get caught and never come home at all.
Iola started to say something else, but I wanted to change the subject. Some of my memories of that time were almost more
than I could bear.
“Have you had enough to eat?” I got up to clear away the cups and walnuts I’d used to demonstrate the trick. “Another coffee?”
She stood up too, catching me around the waist. “Hey.” She stepped into me, so I had to put my arms around her. Her face angled up to mine. “You don’t want to talk about it, and that’s okay. But I still think you’re the cleverest person I know. So there.”
Her eyes flashed, her expression defying me to contradict her.
But as it turned out, I didn’t need to.
My own actions proved the lie in her words.
Someone clever would find a way to tell her the truth about her brother, while making sure he could still protect her. Someone clever wouldn’t kiss her. Not with so much at stake. And especially not when she was sure to hate him once she learned the truth about what he’d done.
I wasn’t clever. I was the dumbest man in the world.
Her lips parted under mine, and she made a soft sound, pushing into me with her body. I felt like I’d downed five tequila shots in quick succession. My limbs loosened, and a wild, fierce passion burned through my body.
I had to resist this woman. But how could I?
Chapter Fourteen
Asher
My conscience had a loud and annoying voice.
All I wanted was to keep kissing Iola, but the voice in my head kept telling me to stop. Though I couldn’t erase the fact we’d already been intimate, my conscience reminded me I still had secrets to confess, and the more I kissed her, the harder it would be to come clean.
I wanted to strangle it.
Instead I reluctantly pulled back from the kiss. Gazing into Iola’s deliciously hazy eyes, I had no idea what excuse I could give for stopping, when any sane man would only draw back for the purpose of clothing removal.
Then I saw Nemesis pad into the room. My cat was carrying something in her mouth that looked like a lumpy, giraffe-themed vibrator. My brain cycled rapidly through all the things it could possibly be before landing on the answer.
“Isn’t that one of Ruff’s toys?”
Still looking dazed, Iola glanced over her shoulder. Then she spun around properly, her eyes widening. “Hey! Give that back.” She lunged toward Nemesis, who easily dodged.
My cat gave me a reproachful look, which made her look more ridiculous.
As Iola lunged again, Nemesis made a gravity-defying leap, landing on the top of the highest kitchen cabinet where she knew we wouldn’t be able to reach her. She sat with her tail curled around her and the toy in her mouth. Her yellow eyes stared unblinkingly down, as though daring either of us to try to take it back.
There was a sharp knock on the door.
Iola let out a surprised squeak, then clapped her hand over her heart.
“I’m jumpy,” she gasped. “For a moment I thought it was Benedict, and we’re not even at my house.”
“You should stay out of sight while I answer it,” I told her. “Just in case.”
She went into my bedroom, standing by the door so she could peek out. I went down the hallway and opened the door.
The woman standing on my doorstep had slightly shorter hair from the last time I’d seen her, eight months ago. The day she’d been arrested in Santino’s living room. She was fiddling nervously with her car keys, looking anxious.
“Hi Carlotta,” I said. “I’d heard you’d left LA and moved back to San Dante.” She’d been dating Mason when he’d had to go back undercover.
“I arrived a few weeks ago.” She pushed one hand through her hair, giving me a small smile like she was trying to act more nonchalant than she felt. “The way gossip spreads in this place, I should have figured you’d hear I was back.”
“Come in.” I stood back from the door to give Carlotta space to enter.
“No, that’s okay. I just want to ask about Mason. Do you know how I could get a message to him?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I have no way to contact him.”
“So you haven’t heard anything at all? Nothing in all this time?”
“Nothing,” I lied, thinking about my conversation with Tank and his plan to get Mason out. “I don’t know when he’s coming back.”
Her brow pinched. “Do you even know if he’s alive?”
It was safest for Mason if I gave nothing away, but Carlotta looked so worried, I stepped forward to put my hand on her shoulder. “He’s alive.”
She studied my face for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” But her eyes were still dark, and she was squeezing her car keys.
I wasn’t the only Lennox brother with secrets, and Mason clearly hadn’t let Carlotta in on any of his. As much as I wanted to make her feel better, I couldn’t betray my brother’s confidence.
With a heavy heart, I told Carlotta goodbye and watched her go. When I went back inside, Iola stepped out from the bedroom.
“Who was that?” she asked.
I went to the sink to wash the pan I’d used to cook the eggs. “My brother Mason had to go away, but before he left, he and Carlotta started something. She wanted to know when he was coming home, and I told her I didn’t know.”
Iola moved to the island and perched on a stool, her brow furrowing. “Why have the muscles around your eyes gone tight?”
“Have they?” I made an effort to relax my face.
“I think you know more than you’re letting on.” She put her elbows on the counter and rested her chin in one hand. The light from the big glass door that led to the deck was behind her, highlighting her hair and making her eyes luminous.
That Iola was able to read my face should have been disturbing. Only Kade and Mason could read me like that, and I had too many things to hide from Iola to be comfortable with her insight.
But weirdly enough, her perception didn’t just make me feel more vulnerable. It also loosened something inside me, as though it were almost a relief for her to be able to see the things I wanted to hide.
Which was contradictory, ridiculous, and made no sense at all.
But it might have been why I found myself saying, “I have a contact who gives me information. But I haven’t told anyone else. Not even the rest of my family.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
“Mason’s work is dangerous. If they knew more, they’d only worry more.”
“But if you have information, it’s not fair to keep it from them.”
“Isn’t it better to keep a secret if the truth would hurt them?” I put the washed pan on the drying rack, but kept my eyes on her face. If she agreed, I’d feel better about keeping secrets from her.
But she gave her head a decisive shake. “No matter how bad the truth is, they have a right to know.”
I let out my breath, disappointed. Though I didn’t agree, knowing how she felt made my own situation more difficult.
She stood up. “Anyway, I need to go to the community center to collect my paintings. The police will be done by now, and I’m sure Gloria needs the space cleaned up.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“But don’t you need to work?”
She was right. My project manager handled the day-to-day running of my team, but I still had a lot to do and couldn’t afford to neglect my business.
“I have something for you.” I went to fetch an envelope of cash. “It’s the deposit for my painting.”
She frowned at the money before dropping the envelope on the counter. “I can’t take any payment until the painting’s done, and only if you like it.”
“I’ll like it.”
“I appreciate you wanting to help, but I need to stand on my own two feet.” She gave me a small smile to soften her words. “Besides, I’ll be okay. Thanks to my brother giving me his house, I’m living rent free.”
My heart sank at the mention of the house.
I couldn’t keep letting her think it was hers. It wasn’t fair. Like she’d said, no matter how hard the truth was, she needed to hear it.
She frowned. “Uh-oh. The muscle below your eye just jumped. Should I be nervous?”
“It’s about your brother’s sentencing.”
“What about it?”
“They’re doing a criminal forfeiture hearing for Santino’s assets at the same time.” I kept my gaze steady on hers. “Your brother’s house was used during a crime. That makes it liable for forfeit.”
Her lips parted and her eyes widened, searching mine. “What does that mean?”
I spoke gently, trying to soften the blow. “It means they’re going to seize the house to sell it.”
The dismay on her face made my chest feel tight. She blinked rapidly, like she was having trouble accepting what I’d said. “But Santino gave it to me to look after. He transferred it into my name.”
“A lien was placed on it as soon as Santino was arrested. You should talk to a lawyer, but you’ll find the property transfer won’t hold up in court.”
She tugged her hand free of mine, shaking her head. “No, you’re wrong. They can’t take it.”
“Legally, I’m afraid they can.”
“And I’ll get kicked out?” She stalked to the door that led to the deck, raking both hands through her hair. “I promised my brother I’d take care of it.” She spun to face me. “How do you know this?”
“I have a friend who works for the Justice Department.” As much as I wanted to put my arms around her, my guilt kept me rigid. “I’m sorry, Iola. I know how much the house means to you.”
“If they take the house, I’ll have nowhere to live and my brother will have nowhere to come back to.” She swallowed. “What about his belongings? His clothes are there, and his photos. There are things from our childhood. I found a pair of our father’s cufflinks in his dresser.”
“I’ll help you pack up your brother’s personal items. Then you can come and stay with me.” I ignored the absurdity of offering to care for Santino’s things, when all this had come about because I’d wanted to take everything away from him.
Iola huffed out a breath, her shoulders sagging. “I can’t believe this is happening. But thank you for helping. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”