He shakes his head. “Why else would I go through the trouble of having this conversation with an ex-special forces?”
“So you do know us.” I scrub my jaw. “Why does she want to buy a house out here in the middle of nowhere?” The moment my words are out, I know why. A safe house for her crew, and her crew is dangerous and deadly and I don’t want them near this town or preferably not even within a five-hundred-mile radius of this town. “Shit.”
The Suit sips his coffee. “I hope you understand I won’t tell her no. She’s due to call in an hour with a final offer. She’s offering at least two mil, and that’s twice the value of the property.”
“The money won’t do you any good where you’re going if you don’t hand me the key. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The Suit chuckles. “I don’t believe Ivana knows you were the initial buyer, so if you left on a good note with her, when I tell her you’re the buyer, maybe she’ll back off.”
My turn to chuckle. “She won’t back off.” I wouldn’t, and that badass Barbie is cut out of thick cloth.
The Suit leans in, flicking two fingers for me to meet him in the middle. This is interesting. I play along. “What?” I ask. This motherfucker smells really good.
“If you tell her you’re adopting a single mom and her kids, Ivana will back off.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, she’s got this hero complex that can be exploited.”
Okay, the Suit has fed me valuable intel. I don’t know why he did that, but I’ll take it, not caring much about his reasons. “Thanks. Why do you smell good?”
“Hunter for Men. Want a sample?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll leave you with seven. One for each of your men too.”
Wow. Nice Suit.
“Excuse me, boys.” Tammy breaks up our conspiracy moment, and we both sit up properly in the booth. “Breakfasts are here.”
Before I dig in, I signal my men that the crisis has been averted, and also we got free samples of smell-good stuff and Tammy kissed me and I might just move her into the house come next week.
9
It’s Saturday night, and I’m spending it with Tammy on the couch watching comedy on the TV while the girls play in their shared bedroom. I think about my still pending house and how they’d have their own bedrooms and Tammy and I would have the entire basement to ourselves.
I’d planned to make a playroom down there. Not for the girls. For us, two thirty-five-plus-year-olds with the sexual appetites of teenagers.
I can’t have that now, and it’s bugging the crap out of me, and my mood is at the same low as it was this morning before Tammy kissed me. She should kiss me some more and make me less moody. I squeeze her tit. “Kiss me,” I tell her.
She turns and pecks me on the lips, and I stick my tongue into her mouth and grab the back of her head. When I hear soft footsteps, I release Tammy just as Reagan walks by and heads for the door. “Grandma is coming over.”
Tammy stands. “This late?”
“Yeah.”
With a worried expression, Tammy wrings her hands, and I fix my erection so that when her mother walks in, she doesn’tnotice. Five minutes later, headlights hit the wall, and Tammy opens the front door.
I hear the car slam on the brakes, and then from the front door, a woman says, “Tammy, oh my God, you met a man and didn’t tell me. Frances had to call me…” She comes into the house, stops and stares at me.
I stand from the couch and approach the old lady with more smile lines than anyone I know. Her blue eyes, same color as mine, glide over my body, and I extend a hand. “Reed MacLoyd,” I say.
She shakes my hand, hers soft, warm, and fragile. “Nancy Simmons. Nice to meet you.” She steps inside and closes the door with her heel, and for a second, I think this is where little Reagan got her mojo. I sense a woman who’s gonna give me hell for not having proof I’m staying in town before I put a baby inside her daughter, but that’s neither here nor there because she won’t make those decisions. Tammy will.
“Well, I didn’t know Tammy had company, but now that I do…” She looks at Reagan. “Pack a suitcase and grab your sister. You’re coming with me.” She checks her watch. “Ten minutes. Move it.”
I chuckle. “You sound like my drill sergeant.”
