Page 8 of Mine to Protect

“I wouldn’t call my relationships meaningless. And I think the girls I date would take offense.”

“Oh, please. You do that thing called friends with benefits. There is no emotional commitment. Meanwhile, that girl over there on the bench has your heart in a tight squeeze.”

“No, she doesn’t,” he lied. “When I met her, I was upset over Krista getting married.” That had hurt. A lot. He’d poured his heart and soul into his relationship with Krista. He’d even been willing to give up his private investigating business since she’d thought he needed something a little more secure. Not to mention, she’d wanted to move back to Savannah where her family lived.

He liked Georgia.

Or so he’d tried to tell himself.

And of all the places in that state, Savannah wasn’t the worst. So, he’d agreed. Only Krista had decided that Rhett wasn’t the man for her and ended the relationship. Three months later, she moved in with someone else.

“For the record, I like Shelby. She’s a nice girl. But I’m not a forever kind of man.”

“I’m sure she’s great, but I know you’re full of shit with that kind of talk,” his mother said with a slight all-knowing scrunch of her nose. “What I want to know right now is did she ever lie to you? That you know of.”

“Not sure I’d call it a lie, but I didn’t know she had a brother. We were kind of busy doing things that didn’t include chatting.”

“Too much information, son.” His mom waved her hand. “What was she doing in Key West?”

“I didn’t know this then, but apparently her brother was in rehab up in Miami. She dropped him off, drove south, and was waiting for his release.”

“What did she tell you then was her reason for being there?”

“An extended vacation,” he admitted.

“For three weeks?” His mom cocked her head and gave him a questioning glare as if he should have wondered why a woman would have that much time off work—and why she’d choose to spend it all in one place.

In hindsight, heshouldhave questioned it. “At the time, I was preoccupied. I was working through my personal shit with Krista and keeping tabs on someone for Emmett. I know I should have thought about that detail, but it’s not something we need to be concerned about.”

“That we know of,” his mother said. “What did you tell her?”

“She knew I was there working on something for Emmett.”

His mother arched a brow. “You brought her into your work?”

“It wasn’t a dangerous case,” Rhett said.

His mom gave him a disapproving head shake. “I have no reason to ask her to stay in the immediate area. The only criminal connection I have is that counterfeit bill. But that doesn’t have anything to do with her, and while it’s clear the place was ransacked, there is no proof. They could have been messy vacationers. But something smells godawful about this.”

“I agree. Which is why I’m going to ask her to stick around, and why I plan on taking the case.”

“Good, because I honestly don’t have the resources to make this a priority. Not when I’ve got boatloads of drugs coming in from the Keys again in the form of old-fashioned square groupers.”

Rhett chuckled. “Mom. No one uses that term for marijuana being tossed from an airplane and having it wash up on shore anymore.”

“I just did,” his mom said with a bright smile. “Now, go make sure she stays in town.”

“I’ve got this. And I’ll keep you in the loop.”

His mother squeezed his shoulder. “Just don’t cross a bunch of lines. And for God’s sake, since you’ve already given her your heart, make sure she’s not a criminal.”

CHAPTERTWO

The older Rhett got, the more his restless soul began to settle, even though he tried to fight it. Purchasing a house on the river was one step to becoming the adult his age indicated. When he signed on the dotted line two months ago, he’d thought his blood pressure would go through the roof. He’d been having heartburn for weeks, but moving in had been a kind of high he’d never had the pleasure of experiencing before. It wasn’t the typical adrenaline rush that came on hard and left just as fast.

This was more of a slow-burn buildup that stuck with him for hours. Days, even.

One morning while making a cup of coffee, it’d hit him that he’d come home.

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