Page 32 of Owning Emma

Chapter 15

ROMAN

I spentmy day steeling glances at the tiny brunette standing feet away. Sprinkles. I almost laughed at the thought of them. I don’t even want to know what the hell came over me during those moments, but it was the most fun I’ve had in years.

Of course, that joy was popped the moment we got home that evening and a bedraggled Shaw ushered me into the office, some paperwork in hand. “I think I’ve narrowed it down to ten people.”

“Ten? Is that even narrowing it down?” I picked up my desk phone, dialing a number on a paper flyer we had in front of us.

“It’s significantly less than all the men. What are you doing?” He plopped down in the chair opposite of me and for a brief moment, especially after what he went through over the past twenty-four hours, I hated the distance between us. “I’m ordering pizza.”

“Pizza?”

“Yeah. The men have to eat, and I gave Emma the night off, she worked hard today. Thought maybe my mom wanted a break too. I’m still going to pay them both, don’t worry,” I explained.

“You’ve gone soft,” he said, with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe I have, but taking a break now and then never hurt anybody.”

He laughed at this. “Have you taken your advice?”

No. It had been quite a bit of time since I’d taken the day off and done nothing related to any of our business ventures. “How are you feeling?”

“Alive. Well rested. Confused as fuck as to how that all even happened, if I’m honest.” He leaned back in his chair and threw his head back before lolling it to the side. “That was a rough ride. None of you raped me, right?”

“I considered it, but your body was strung so tight there was no way to slide home.”

He groaned, “Maybe next time then.”

I made a sound of agreement in my throat, right as the phone picked up. I placed my order, paid for it all up front because no one was willing to deliver that amount of pizzas to the middle of nowhere without cash first, then hung up.

“These ten people, how sure are you on them?” I steeped my fingers as I leaned against the desk.

“As sure as you can when you think one person out of ten is guilty.” He laughed.

“So really, not much of a lead.”

“We were out to lunch with twenty men yesterday. We all met up, grabbed our food and hung out.”

I tapped my desk. “So why aren’t there twenty on the list?”

“Seven of them don’t have access to the area where the fire was started in the shop. An additional three were out of town on an errand for you during the times of the cat.” He rubbed his hands on his thighs. “I mean the list is still long, but it’s a start and hopefully it helps.”

I agreed, some suspects were better than no suspects. “And the money discrepancies? Any headway?”

He blew out a long breath. “I think I see a pattern, but I am still waiting on employee lists. Royal promised to pick up a copy on his way this weekend. Said he likes the bakery next door anyway so he will sneak in and grab it on a stop. I have a good chunk from some other locations, but there is still maybe three I’m missing. Contemplating sending Eric to collect them.”

“Do it. This week is booked up, but send him the beginning of next week. How long will it take to go through the information?” Being this close was like dangling an apple in front of a starving man. I wanted to touch it, reach for it and find out all the information I could, but all the pieces I needed were just out of reach.

“Three weeks. I can try to get it done in three weeks. It’s a lot of data.” He rubbed his eyes, still not looking a hundred percent, even though he claimed to be well rested.

I sighed because really, what else could I do? “Take your time. Better to be thorough than miss something important.”

“I’ll find what we are looking for, I promise you that.” Voicing a promise, I knew he would keep.

* * *

An hour and a half later,we were in the hall with pizza and men all around us. It had been a long while since we did a pizza night and I tried to remind myself to make this happen more often. I watched everyone from where I sat at the table drinking my beer, quietly accessing my surroundings.

---