Page 20 of Dark Memories
“Hello. I’m John Meyer. How can I help you?”
What a slimeball. Having the creep stare at her breasts made her skin crawl. Ignoring her longing to poke him in the eyes so he’d stop looking at her girls, she pasted on a smile.
As she walked closer, she let her hips sway with her steps. “Ah…” She blinked her eyes and tried to act embarrassed. “Well… I find I’m in need of some fast cash. It’s only temporary.” She waved her hand as if shooing away a pesky fly. “A nasty divorce and all that. You know how it is.”
“Indeed I do. Have a seat, Miss…”
“Delaine. Um, Delaine Harris.” She slid onto the metal chair and gave him a poor-little-me quivering smile. “I don’t need much. Just a bit to tide me over for a few days until the settlement I’m expecting is deposited in my bank account.” He must have bathed in his cologne. The smell was so strong that she could taste it in her throat.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place, Miss Harris. May I call you Delaine?”
“I’d like that.” She glanced around. One other desk was in the small space, and there were papers and folders on it, so she guessed someone else also worked here. “Do you work here alone?”
“No. The boss lady had some errands to run this morning. She’ll be in soon.”
He had his shirtsleeves rolled up, and there was no sign of a tattoo from his elbows down on either arm, which ruled him out as Larson’s man number one. John Myer was a good twenty to thirty pounds overweight, and that didn’t fit in with Larson’s description of either man. Didn’t mean that Meyer wasn’t involved, but she was moving him down on Zach’s list as a suspect.
“So, Delaine, you’re in need of a little cash? How much are you asking for?”
“Eight hundred or so sounds like a nice round number. That should hold me over for a few days.” She sighed. “After what my soon to-be ex put me through, I should kidnap his beloved poodle and hold it for ransom. He loves that thing more than he ever loved me.” She watched him for a reaction to her two keywords but only got a chuckle from him. “Do you know he even said we couldn’t have children because Princess would be jealous?”
“He named his dog Princess?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and that should have been my first clue. What do you think? Should I kidnap Princess? I mean, it would serve him right, wouldn’t it?”
“I imagine it would, but why don’t we just keep you out of trouble and loan you the money you need until you get your settlement? What kind of collateral do you have?”
“Collateral?” She blinked her eyes a few times. She was getting tired of playing the helpless dumb woman, and she had zero cop buzz happening that John Meyer was their man.
“The title of a car, jewelry, something like that.”
“No, I thought I told you he left me with nothing.”
“You didn’t mention that.” His gaze fell to her breasts again. “Perhaps we could work something out.”
Not even on a cold day in hell. “I don’t understand.”
“Meet me for a drink tonight, and I’m sure we can think of a solution to your problem.”
“Oh, do you really think so?”And what about the woman who waved goodbye to you this morning, douchebag?This was where, if her partner was with her, Gabe would be reminding her that she couldn’t shoot a man just because he was a slimeball.
“I do, Delaine.”
After making arrangements to meet him at a time and place she would never show up for, he walked her out, and she gritted her teeth to keep from punching him in the nose for putting his hand on her lower back… nope, now it was sliding down to her butt.
When they reached the door, he put his hand on her arm, near her elbow. “I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said as he slid his fingers down her arm.
“Me, too.” She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“I need a bath,” she told Zach after she got in his car. She wanted the stench of his cologne off her skin and a good scrubbing of her arm where he’d touched her.
* * *
After hearing about Delaney’s encounter with John, Zach wanted to go back to that little hole-in-the-wall store and teach the son of a bitch a lesson about ogling a woman’s breasts and touching her butt, particularly Delaney’s.
He’d never had a jealous streak when they’d been together, but he’d known without doubt that she loved him. That he was the only man she was interested in. Now he had no idea how she felt about him, but he was ready to kick ass over her. He wanted her back in his life, and he would make that happen as soon as he found Kali. Until then he’d just seethe because he didn’t have the right to play caveman on Delaney’s behalf.
She’d actually meant it when she’d said she needed a bath. It angered him that John had been so sleazy with her that she felt dirty. Had that been how the women felt who’d walked into his office one day, demanding he do something about John? At the time he’d been angry that John had sexually harassed them, but it hadn’t occurred to him that John could have made them feel dirty. He wished he could go back to that day and tell them that he understood because the woman he loved needed a bath.
