Page 21 of Fool Me Once

That shouldn’t have beensexy, but it was.

She was starting to seethat Cain took care of his friends. They were his first priority, and that shecould respect. She also admired it.

“Anyway, that doesn’tmatter. I was talking to Frank today, you know, trying to distract him from thefact you’ve ruined his perfectly organized pots and pans. He told me how thetwo of you met and what caused him to be in prison.”

Cain nodded his head.“Yeah, Frank truly didn’t deserve to be locked up.” He blew out a breath. “Apiece of shit cop that exploited his power. There was no stopping him.”

“And you didn’t think toask Frank why?”

“Oh, I know why. Betweenmen, it is always a woman, and they are always causing us some kind oftrouble.”

She didn’t like the smirkon his face. “You’re saying those things to rile me up, but they’re not goingto work. Anyway, did he tell you this woman was in love with Frank, and that tosave him from the cop, she left the country?”

“I heard something.”

“And you never thought tofind her, after what you did to the cop?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I talked toFrank about it, but he didn’t seem interested. The cop had taken several yearsof his life, and in all honesty, I don’t think he wanted the trouble of beingwith a woman.”

“That is so sad,” shesaid.

“Sad, but true,” Cainsaid. “I didn’t bother finding her. Let me guess, you want to find her?”

“Why not?”

“Because Frank is one hellof a good chef, and he is much better at being in the kitchen than me. Also, hedidn’t want to find her.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hedidn’t want to find her then, but now it is different.”

“Nothing has changed.”

“You’re the one with allthe power. Don’t even start by playing the dumb card. You and I both know youhave a way of talking to the cops.” She wrinkled her nose. “And by talking, Imean either blackmailing or paying them off.”

“I don’t blackmail themall the time. Just when they don’t do as I tell them.”

She laughed. She couldn’thelp it.

“I don’t want to hurt him.Frank said it was a long time ago. She could have moved on. Be dead. There areany number of explanations, and it could bring up some bad shit for him. Shecould have a family.”

“Which is why I was tryingto do this in secret. If we find her, we can discover if she died, if she hasmoved on, and then we can tell Frank.” She turned toward Cain. “Please.”

He frowned. “I don’tunderstand why this is so important to you.”

“It’s Frank. He’s a goodguy.”

“And he’s happy,” Cainsaid. “What if this woman makes him unhappy?”

“What if this womancompletes him?”

Again, his frown deepened.

“I didn’t take you as aromantic,” he said. “You rarely watch romance movies.”

She sighed. “This is notsome made-up content, that is all a load of bullshit. This is real life.” Sheshrugged. “I wanted to do something good for him, and I don’t know, I think ifI left town for a guy to help protect him, I’d want to know he was at leastliving a good life. Come on, what do we have to lose?”

“A great chef?” he asked.

“Why does finding thiswoman mean we’ll lose him?”

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