Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(76)

“Time away from me? Not physically, of course, but do you want me to back off? Not touch you, not try to be close?”

Did she want him on the couch? She’d been willing to sleep with him when they had an expiration date. That hadn’t changed except she had a decision to make. It would be smarter to stay away from him—as far as she could and certainly emotionally.

“No. I’m a dumb girl. I miss you. I miss you holding me and kissing me. I want that for as long as I can, but I’m not promising anything else. I’ll probably go home when this case is over.”

“I’ll do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.” He turned to her, his hands cupping her face as he leaned over and kissed her. “Everything I can. I thought you would be miserable in a town like this, but you belong here. You need this weird place, and god knows we need you. Every town needs a queen.”

She didn’t know about that, but she melted in his arms. It was foolish, but she couldn’t stop herself.

“Uhm, you want sugar with your coffee?” Zep was behind them, holding a tray. “The cook’s already working if you want breakfast.” He set the tray down at a table in front of the bay windows. “I’ll bring out some beignets while you decide.”

“Who are you?” Remy asked, looking his brother up and down. “You look like my brother, but he’s usually dragging his ass home at this time of morning, not getting to work and looking like he actually had some sleep and a shower.”

Zep sighed. “I’m too old to not have a steady source of income and way too young to want a real job. So I’m hoping you’ll let me help out. I need cash to pay off my tickets. I think Armie’s serious about letting Roxie arrest me this time. Apparently you’re not allowed to park in front of other cars. Who knew that?”

“Everyone who took driver’s ed.” Remy pulled out her chair. “And yes, we can find something for you to do.”

“Awesome. I need five hundred,” Zep said.

Oh, that boy was beautiful, but it was time he learned how Lisa Daley ran a business. “Then you should get to work. Make sure you file all the proper tax papers. We don’t pay upfront.”

Remy grinned as he sat down across from her. “I’ll cut you a check on Friday for everything you do now through Thursday. Welcome to the real world, brother.”

His brother grumbled as he walked off.

“Tips are daily,” Lisa shouted. “And you get to keep what you make.”

Zep stopped and nodded. “Tips. I can make tips. All right then.”

Remy groaned. “Now he’ll expect me to leave him a twenty.”

“Well, he can be disappointed.” Her eyes kept straying to the bay.

“If I only have a little time, I’m not wasting any of it.” He tugged her hand until she was sitting on his lap. He looked down at her hand. “Please tell me you’re not going to carry that around like some trophy from battle.”

She’d forgotten she still had that piece of Josette in her hand. “What else would I do with it? I’m certainly not going to tickle you with it. I risked life and limb so she couldn’t touch you.”

He grinned, a decadent expression. “We can superglue it onto a nice-sized plug and I can introduce you to pony play.”

She threw it across the room. “Eww, you are deeply perverted.”

“That I am,” he replied, holding her close. “But I’m your pervert. Now, we’ve got some time before the rush is on. Let’s sit here and watch the bay.”

She cuddled up with her coffee and her man—for now.





Chapter Eleven


“Now, Josette says she’s going to sue, but I think that’s complete bunk because she doesn’t have the money to afford a lawyer and we all know her family’s reputation,” Seraphina was saying two days later as they sat together in the dining room of Guidry’s Pub House, established 1957.

Of course it was an odd bar, or maybe Lisa simply hadn’t been around many family-friendly bars. Sera had marched in, gone to one of the storage closets, and hauled out a playpen. She’d set it up in the middle of the bar and before long little Luc was playing with a friend, a girl who looked to be roughly his age and whose momma was enjoying a burger and fries with a friend nearby.

“She’s suing me? But I just got here. I can’t already have a lawsuit.” Was Mitch licensed in Louisiana? He was the only lawyer she knew. “And I sent her hair back along with a very nice note.”

Seraphina and Delphine had shown up around one in the afternoon, clearly needing to talk to someone, and that someone was Lisa. They’d pounced the minute she’d walked out of the kitchen. She was spending the day getting in touch with some of the main processes. Not that anyone who worked at Guidry’s understood what they did was a process. She’d spent the past few days meeting the five employees on the payroll. And dealing with the one who wasn’t. Zep was awfully good at flirting with the women. Not as great at actually fulfilling orders.

She woke up at the crack of dawn and Remy was already out of bed. She fell into bed after midnight and Remy was still hard at work. After that first night, she’d convinced him he didn’t have to stay on the couch. She would wake up and there would be a mug of coffee sitting on her nightstand and a warm pillow to her other side, but no Remy rocking her world.