Page 8 of Play With Me

Lola: Now you’ve got me intrigued. I’m guessing your mother would be the lioness

Brook: You got it. Long story. I’ll tell you about it when I see you. Stay safe

Lola: Stay safe

I loweredthe phone to the counter and peeked out the salon window. The single dusty road in Pace was deserted, as it would remain for the rest of the day. My new friend, Kate, who was also my client, would soon stop by for a promised morning coffee. Except she didn’t exactly know that she was my client. When I’d joined Cross Enterprises, a top-notch private investigations and personal security firm, five years ago, and received my first case to anonymously protect Kate Black, I never realized I’d be working on it for five years. I’d followed Kate home after work, watched her eat lunch from across the street, and scrutinized her every move until she fucked up by blowing up a van full of narcotics.

Now that she’d put a target on her back, my new job had taken me on an adventure to this beige-toned town, and we’d become friends — good friends, in fact. It was the first time I’d revealed myself to her in person, but my gut told me that I had to remain close. If I got as much as a whiff of Aaron Cortez’s return, I would need to move Kate to safety within minutes.

So, she thought I was a hairdresser, and that was okay for now. But when the case closed, I hoped we could remain friends.

I picked up the broom from the corner, wiped the new sweat off my face with a handkerchief, and then started clearing a path down the hardwood floor. The dust around here never gave up. The summer’s high temperatures weren’t giving up either. The thick, dry air formed heat waves out in the distance. Unfortunately, it seemed that the concept of air-conditioning hadn’t been heard of in this town of one hundred and seven.

I clicked the fan to its highest setting and went to open the side window. It would bring in more dust, but I chose dirt over heat. I was gulping down another glass of water when the front door chimed.

The shop didn’t open for another hour, and I wondered whether Kate had decided to come early. I set my water bottle down and turned around.

The heat I thought I’d managed to control returned with a force that slammed straight into my chest and traveled down my body, settling nicely between my legs.

There he was: Brook Madden, all six feet plus of him, stood at the threshold with a sly grin on his face. The man who’d managed to weasel himself into my life in a matter of few hours, who’d kept me entertained through text messages over the past three months, was here. Though we’d spent only one night together, it was a night I would never forget because Brook Madden had blown the meaning ofa giving manoff the charts.

“Brook? What are you doing here?”

“You’re a hairdresser?” he asked.

“No.”

Even though it appeared that I was, my primary job was in security, and he knew it.

“Did you follow me? Brook, you can’t be here. I’m on a job.”

“Lola, I’m just as shocked to see you here as you are to see me.”

I highly doubted that. “Okay, call me skeptical at this coincidence, but if you didn’t follow me, why are you here, then?”

“For a haircut. And for my brother.”

I felt my brain fire up with a charge that scanned every single tissue, and then it dawned on me. We’d had a new arrival at our parish, and he was due for a haircut as well, in less than a couple of hours. Father John had made his appointment last week. I hadn’t seen him yet, but there was only one Madden brother crazy enough to risk everything.

“Oh, hell! Cameron?”

“Yup. And the only answer I can give you is – don’t ask.”

“But Cameron’s a priest.”

“Yes, he is. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Is he here on a job?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the job?”

He closed the door. The lock clicked on the twist, drawing goosebumps over my arms. Brook had barely been back for two minutes and had already managed to stir havoc in my head. His confident walk toward me stirred something in my belly. He then took my hand and lifted it to his lips to kiss it. There weren’t many men in the world who could make my heart skip a beat, but they also weren’t Brook Madden. I squeezed the broom’s handle for support.

“You know I can’t tell you.” He stepped closer, bringing my whole front to rest against his. Heat rose from between us.

“And you know as well as I do that if we’re both in the same little town on a job, then we’re sharing the job. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

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