Triana looked at her mother in surprise. “It did?”
She knew how her parents had met, of course, but she didn’t know it had been love at first sight.
“It did,” her mom said. “I knew there was something special about him the moment I saw him. Neither of us felt the need to play games. Your father asked me to marry him a week after we met, and I said yes.”
Triana stood there so stunned she wouldn’t have been surprised if her mouth was hanging open. She’d thought her parents had dated for months, maybe even years, before deciding to get married—the way normal people did. The idea that her mother and father had fallen in love in a week was crazy hard to believe. But she had to admit it was also interesting. Her parents had been the most in-love couple she’d ever seen. If it was possible for that kind of love to happen in days, maybe this thing going on with Remy wasn’t so insane.
Chapter 9
Remy couldn’t understand why Triana needed to go back to her mother’s apartment above the shop to change before they headed out to the French Quarter to meet up with everyone else that night. As far as he was concerned, the form-fitting navy-blue dress she was wearing, with a slit that showed off plenty of thigh, was just fine with him. But she insisted it wasn’t sexy enough for Bourbon Street or the kind of dancing she had in mind.
Not that he really cared what they did. After the day he’d had, he simply wanted to spend some quality time with Triana. If that meant watching her change clothes for an hour, he was definitely okay with that. Actually, in terms of quality time, he couldn’t imagine anything better than watching her take her clothes off over and over again.
After spending another hour down at NOPD headquarters, he, Brooks, and Drew had headed back to the SWAT facility, hoping to get back to the training they had planned out for the day. It hadn’t worked out that way. Instead, they’d sat in the briefing room the entire afternoon talking to officers from the Public Integrity Bureau and filling out statements regarding when they had learned about the raids and with whom they had talked during the time period from that point until the actual raids had taken place.
If there was anything Remy hated more than lawyers, it was paperwork. And the PIB truly loved their paperwork.
It had been easy to put all that frustration and stress behind him the moment he’d picked Triana up for dinner, though. Being with her made all the crap he and the SWAT team had been dealing with the past two days fade into the background. He didn’t have a clue how she did it, and by and large, he didn’t care. If it meant being able to put thoughts of Aaron Lee and his damn crystal meth out of his head for a few hours, he was willing to accept it without a lot of analysis.
When they’d gone to a nearby diner to grab an early dinner, Remy quickly discovered it didn’t take a fancy restaurant to enjoy himself with Triana. He’d had a simple seafood po’boy sandwich and a bowl of soup but had enjoyed it as much as the expensive cut of meat he’d had last night. They’d sat in the booth and chatted about inconsequential stuff like how the Saints were looking this year and whether LSU was going to fire their football coach. He found it didn’t matter what he and Triana talked about. He simply loved hearing her velvety, soft voice.
They were half a block away from her mother’s shop when Remy heard the sound of strident, angry voices coming from that direction. He didn’t recognize the man, who was saying something about this being the last offer Gemma was going to get. But he definitely knew the woman. It was Gemma, telling the man to get the hell out of her shop.
Tightening his hold on Triana’s hand, he picked up his pace the last twenty feet or so, jerking open the front door. The second he stepped inside, his senses went on alert and he gently pushed Triana behind him.
There was a slick-looking man in a fancy suit standing in front of Gemma, berating her for being a stubborn old woman. The man’s attitude and clothing screamed lawyer, and Remy instinctively knew it was the same jackass Triana had mentioned to him that morning. But it wasn’t the lawyer or his condescending voice that had Remy’s fingertips and gums tingling. It was the three large brawler types the lawyer had with him. Remy recognized professional thugs when he saw them. They had noses that had been broken multiple times and scarred knuckles, not to mention wore cheap, loose-fitting sports jackets that allowed them to move easily as well as conceal a weapon.
All eyes turned toward him and Triana as the little bell above the door tinkled, announcing their presence.
“Mom?” Triana said hesitantly from behind him. “Is everything okay?”
Gemma turned, relief on her face. “Of course. Mr. Murphy—or rather the person he claims to be representing—seems to have taken a sudden interest in my little voodoo shop. He offered to buy the whole place, including all the merchandise inside it and the apartment above it, for a ridiculous amount of money.”
Remy was focused on the three toughs, who’d started to spread out and move toward him, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Triana’s startled expression. She was obviously stunned and more than a little confused.
“You’re selling your shop…your home?” she asked softly.
Gemma shook her head. “Good heavens, no. I was just telling Mr. Murphy, for the second time, that the shop isn’t for sale, when you came in. Unfortunately, he’s a little hard of hearing.”
Murphy glared at her. “Mrs. Bellamy, insult me all you want, but the offer my client is making is very fair. And as I’ve said more than once, it’s not an offer you’re in a position to refuse.”
It was impossible for Remy to miss the threat in the man’s words. He didn’t imagine Gemma had either. But Triana’s mother didn’t bat an eye. Instead, she folded her arms and looked at the lawyer like he was an errant two-year-old having a tantrum.
“Yet here I am, refusing your offer nevertheless.” She looked at Remy. “Could you please be a dear and escort Mr. Murphy and his friends out of my shop? This conversation is over.”
“My pleasure,” Remy said.
Two of the lawyer’s thugs immediately stepped forward to block his way while the third moved over to stand near his boss. Remy wasn’t in the mood to toy with these guys, not after they’d come in here and tried to intimidate Triana’s mother, but with Gemma and Triana standing there, it wasn’t like he could cut loose and go all werewolf on them. Unfortunately, he was going to have to restrain himself.
So, instead of tossing both men across the room like he wanted to, with two fingers, he poked the first guy in the sternum hard enough to crack the bone and make the man stumble back a few feet. A split second later, the man fell to the floor, gasping and fighting for air.
Remy spun around just as the second guy took a swing at his head. Remy brought up his hand, catching the thug’s fist in midair and stopping it a few inches from his face. Then he squeezed. Not as hard as he could but hard enough to end the fight quickly. The sound of the bones in the man’s hand cracking was probably loud enough for Triana to hear over by the door.
The guy wailed in pain, his knees giving out as he collapsed to the floor. Remy squeezed the man’s hand a little harder before he let go, just to make sure the asshole didn’t develop any silly ideas about getting back up.
Out of the corner of his eye, Remy saw a flash of movement and turned to see the third man coming his way, his hand behind his back like he was reaching for something. Remy didn’t know if it was a knife, a gun, or some other weapon, but he wasn’t going to let the man get it the rest of the way out.
