Healing Hearts 6: To Love Again Read online

  He leaned back against his chair and stared at her. “You don’t think you’re complicated, but you are.” She chuckled and then exhaled, reached for her glass, and played with the rim. He sat forward, and she felt his arm around her chair and then his fingers stroke her shoulder. She looked at him.

  “I want to get to know you. You’re different. You’re incredibly beautiful, you’re smart, tough, and my brothers feel this attraction, too.” She gulped. He saw her reaction.

  “Is that something that makes you hold back? Knowing that three men like us want you?” He stroked her shoulder and eased closer. She stared into his dark blue eyes.

  “I don’t know the three of you. I’ve never considered that type of relationship. I don’t even date, Miller.” She looked away. She felt like she was being immature. He was older, had more experience, and could see her behavior as immature. She didn’t want that. He confused her.

  “You’re complicated, too. This entire situation is,” she said in frustration, and then she heard him chuckle. She looked at him, surprised by his reaction.

  “And you are more than perfect. You’re more than we could ever expect. Ever, and I’m not screwing this up. So this is what we’re going to do.”

  * * * *

  As Miller spoke to Emma, he had to resist kissing her. He couldn’t believe how much he wanted to. How good it felt to have that one kiss and now crave more. He’d almost screwed up entirely by trying to act unaffected and treating her like he did other women. It was obvious that she wasn’t like the women he fooled around with. Played with to get what he needed. Somehow Emma’s honesty, and the way she called him out on his demands and control, made him see how stupid he was being. This was different, and he felt a mix of emotions. Excitement for the pursuit, for the hunt to make Emma his, and fear of how strongly he felt, how complicated this was going to be and how his life, his wants and desires, could change because of her. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. About her having control here, as well. He didn’t let any woman, any person, control or influence decisions he made or actions he took. She confused him, but holy shit was she gorgeous. She smelled so good, looked feminine and soft, like she needed protection, yet she spoke with confidence in challenge to him.

  “So, Sunday afternoon, we meet at a neutral location and do something fun.”

  “Something fun? Like what?” she asked him.

  He thought about it a moment. “The weather is supposed to be perfect. How about we go out on my boat, you, Eagan, Houston, and I. We have lunch out there, enjoy a swim, and then head back to Gordon’s for drinks and dinner.”

  “Sounds amazing, but I may be too tired to handle all that. I actually almost cancelled this evening.”

  “Why?” he asked and stroked her back. She held his gaze. They were super close, completely focused on one another.

  “I guess it’s the lack of sleep.”

  “Sweetie, you’re not sleeping because of the incident?”

  She nodded. “I know it will get better with time, and the doctor at the hospital gave me some pills to take, but I don’t like feeling comatose, like passing out and losing several hours and not even feeling a thing. I mean what if there was a fire in the building, or if someone tried to break in, or there was an emergency and someone was pounding on my door and I couldn’t hear because I’m drugged up? Ya know? I don’t like it, so I’m not taking them.”

  “That’s understandable. What about a lighter dosage?”

  “No.” She shook her head and looked away. “I need to take care of myself, to handle things myself, and I can’t do that if my brain is fogged. So, I get some hours here and there, and then it’s time for work. This week was so hard. I honestly hadn’t expected it to be this hard.”

  He continued to caress her back. “What can I do to help?”

  She smiled at him. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do, Miller, but I appreciate the care. I think with time it will get better.”

  “Well, let’s plan for the day like I suggested, but it isn’t written in stone. If you get overtired or your head starts hurting, then we slow things down and take you home.”

  “Are you certain Eagan and Houston want to do this, too? Want to spend their Sunday with me?”

  “Are you kidding me? We want to get to know you, and this will be great. You’ll see.” He could hear her cell phone ringing.

  “Excuse me a moment. Let me just see who it is.”

  She looked at her phone, and he saw her eyes widen, and then she gulped. “I need to take this. I missed text messages.” She got up, answering the phone. “Martin, hi, I’m sorry I missed your texts and calls. I’m at dinner, and it’s noisy in here.” She walked toward the hallway.

  Miller remembered a guy by the name of Martin calling her and texting while she was recovering after the abduction. Who was he? What was his relationship with Emma? Was the guy a threat to him and his brothers? A deep, jealous feeling hit his gut, and he watched her expression where she stood go from worry to then a smile and then sadness. What the hell was going on? She ended the call and took a deep breath and then exhaled. As she walked back over, he leaned back into the chair, his one arm over her chair, and she smiled.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “Who is Martin?” he asked her, and she nibbled her bottom lip. Fuck, there was something there. A threat indeed. He squinted.

  “A friend from New York.”

  “The one who sent you flowers at the office?”

  “How did you know…oh, Bailey. She saw them. Yes, he sent them on Monday, my first day back to reality.” She took a sip of her club soda.

  “That was nice of him.”

  “Yes, it was, and he worries about me. So when I didn’t respond to his texts and missed the first call, he was worried.”

  “Understandable, considering your recent situation. You’ve known him long?” he asked and watched her. He was good at reading people and identifying lies or hesitation.”

  She looked down. “For about six years.” She locked gazes with him. “He’s very protective of me.”

  His gut clenched. “Why is that?”

  She took a deep breath and exhaled. “We’ve been friends for a long time. Some things went down in New York, and he was there for me. Even though I moved to Mercy, he still keeps in touch. He’s a good friend.”

  “Nothing more?” he asked, holding her gaze, and she shook her head, but he was still concerned.

  The waitress appeared, bringing along their dinners. He would make sure that she agreed to Sunday, and then he and his brothers would find out more about her and hopefully make better progress.

  * * * *

  “Why are you calling me?” Martin asked, walking out of the precinct and onto the street with his cell phone against his ear.

  He glanced around him and then exhaled.

  “I can call you whenever the fuck I want. We need you to do something.”

  “No, I’m done.”

  Bosen chuckled. “The fuck you are. You don’t tell Dixen when you’re done serving his needs. He tells you.”

  “Internal Affairs is all over this shit.”

  “Exactly, and the information we feed you, you feed them, and they look the other way on a wild goose chase. Now enough of this shit. Meet me in thirty minutes by the spot.”

  “Thirty? No can do. An hour probably with this traffic.”

  “Forty, move now and you’ll be there in time.”

  Bosen hung up on him, and Martin growled and ended the call. He glanced up and down the block. A few cops were in patrol cars getting ready for their details, and he spotted a van up the street a little. One he didn’t recognize, but his gut warned him it could be I.A. or feds. He walked back inside and would head out the side door to the unmarked car. He needed a reason to be heading downtown.

  As he figured shit out, he wondered what the fuck Bosen and Dixen wanted now. Hadn’t he done enough? He’d said he was done with the big shit, especially after Westin wa
s killed. He felt sick, and his gut clenched. He would always live with that guilt, but his goal was to be with Emma, and he could manipulate her and remind her that they were so close and that Westin would be happy knowing that Martin would take care of her, protect her, and love her.

  He would go see what Dixen wanted and then start to plan the botched raid, how he would get shot and could retire and head to South Carolina to be with Emma. He needed to be careful. As he drove, he thought about the plan and the best way to complete it without getting busted. He also had a lot of money stashed, and he would need to send it down south sooner rather than later.

  He got into the unmarked car and headed out, being sure he wasn’t followed. Forty minutes later and a plan in progress, he pulled into the garage bay of the large warehouse, and some guy, one of Dixen’s thugs, pulled down the door. He got out, and Dixen, Bosen, and two other men he didn’t know were there.

  Dixen and Bosen gave him nods.

  “You were careful?” Bosen asked.

  “What the fuck do you think? This is risky, coming here and fucking talking to you. What the hell is going on?” he asked and eyed the two other guys by the side. He didn’t recognize them, and the one big guy was staring at Martin like he was memorizing his face. Martin looked away and tried to keep his back toward him.

  “Watch the fucking tone, Martin. I own your ass. Now I’ve been cooperative and pretty fucking reasonable.”

  “Really? I do recall you taking out my partner and best friend because you didn’t trust me.”

  “And I was fucking right. He showed up, and he didn’t turn the other way. He fucking came at us as if trying to be the hero. Heroes end up dead in this business. Now shut the fuck up. This is what we need for you to do.”

  Martin stood there practically shaking inside, but he listened to their plan of pulling off a murder. He was shocked and didn’t want anything to do with this.

  “I’m not in. It’s too dangerous, and I want to be done within the month, and I mean done, retired, out of here.”

  “Well, you are doing it, and it’s simple. You need to come up with some good shit to throw off these investigators. We need to move our stuff out of the warehouse, and this investigation they have going on is starting to point in our direction. We pull this off and two other things and we’re all retiring and getting the fuck out of here. But, hey, you won’t be alone. Costano is going to assist you.”

  Martin shook his head and squinted as his anger immediately surfaced.

  “Costano? Are you out of your mind? That dick doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing. He nearly botched that job in Long Island on you, and I had to pull some strings to fix his fuck-up. No. No fucking way.”

  “He’s in. He’ll contact you later.”

  “What the fuck, Dixen. You know what, I’m done after this.”

  “No, you’re done when I say, and that will be one or two more things before we all get out of New York. Now, Costano will meet you. He’ll get you into the location beforehand so you can plan accordingly. Don’t fuck this up,” Dixen warned.

  “Whatever.” Martin walked back to his car. One of the guys opened the garage bay, and Martin pulled out and took off out of the place as quickly as he could. Fucking Costano was a shitty patrol cop who worked little anti crimes. He was taking bribes within his first year on the job. Martin couldn’t take a chance this dick would drop his name or roll over for I.A. or the feds. He had his own plan to make, and Costano wasn’t coming out of this job alive.

  Chapter 4

  “Are you sure that you’re okay? You seem out of it, and Emma will be here any minute,” Houston said to Eagan.

  Eagan carried the cooler onto the large boat. He placed it down by the seats so they could grab some drinks. Miller wanted to take the yacht, and the crew, but Houston had talked him out of it. That could be overkill and scare a woman like Emma. Houston needed to apologize for lying to her about owning Gordon’s, but he was being cautious. After the conversation she had with Miller at dinner, it validated his gut instincts on Emma that she wasn’t like any other woman. She definitely wasn’t like Maggie. He hated even thinking about Maggie, and that had been two years ago.

  “Fine,” Eagan mumbled.

  Houston exhaled. If Eagan was in one of his moods, it could scare Emma off. Just as Houston stepped down onto the dock to grab the last bag, he spotted Miller walking with Emma. Miller was pointing toward him, and Emma looked beautiful. She was wearing a light green dress that was fitted and hit above her knees. He could see the flip-flops, as well as the backpack she carried, along with a towel.

  He smiled wide the closer they got.

  “Good morning,” he called to her, and she gave a wave and a smile.

  “That boat is huge.”

  He reached out to take her hand and help her step aboard. He immediately wrapped his one arm around her waist as she grabbed onto his forearms.

  “I missed you,” he said to her, and she smiled.

  “That’s sweet.”

  “How are you feeling?” He slowly released her so she could look around.

  “Pretty good. How is everything with you?”

  “Busy but good. How about we show you around so you feel comfortable and know where everything is?”

  “Sure, I would love to look around. It’s such a beautiful boat. I have to be honest, I’m a bit nervous.”

  “Nervous? Why? We know what we’re doing,” Eagan chimed in, sounding abrupt as he came up from the cabin below.

  Emma’s eyes widened. “I just meant I don’t get to go out on boats. I actually was on one once a year after I moved to Mercy.”

  “Well, you’ll be safe with us. We go out as often as we can,” Houston told her and guided her past Eagan.

  She looked at Eagan, and he eyed her over in her outfit. Her dress came up kind of high, covering her abundant breasts, making Houston think that she was modest and not a show-off. Most women with bodies like hers would be flaunting those assets, but not Emma. The dress wasn’t too tight, yet it hugged her ass, her trim waist, and large breasts perfectly. He saw the green strap and knew it had to be her bathing suit.

  “Eagan.” She said hello as they passed one another.

  “Good to see you, Emma,” he whispered and watched her head below with Houston.

  She looked over her shoulder as Houston took her hand, and Houston saw that Eagan followed.

  “This is so nice. I wasn’t expecting so much room down here. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a small kitchen? Wow, this is awesome.” She slid her palm along the granite countertop.

  Houston towered over her, and he couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms when she turned around to face him. She stepped back, her rear hitting the counter, and he placed his hands on either side of that counter, caging her in. She stared up at him, and he held her gaze. “There’s something I need to get off my chest.”

  She swallowed. “Yes, Houston?” she whispered.

  “I didn’t mean to lie to you about owning Gordon’s. I didn’t know you really, and well, I don’t trust easily.”

  He licked his lower lip and stared at her mouth. She had ripe, full lips, and her green eyes were gorgeous, like emeralds but brighter.

  “I guess we’re even sort of. I mean I didn’t correct the doctor about having a boyfriend.”

  “No, you sure didn’t,” Eagan said with his arms crossed in front of his chest. She looked at him and then back at Houston.

  “I was very intimidated by you guys.” He heard her breath hitch.

  Then he moved his hand from the counter to her hip. “And now?” he asked, staring at her lips.

  “Still pretty damn intimidated,” she admitted, and Houston couldn’t resist.

  He stepped closer, wrapped his arm around her waist, and used his other hand to cup under her hair at the back of her head. Her lips parted, her head way back in order to lock gazes with him because he was that much taller. “Only one way to resolve that and make you feel co
mfortable with us.” He pressed his lips gently to hers. She closed her eyes, and he did the same. He took his time. Kissed her gingerly as Eagan watched and then moved closer. Houston pulled her away from the counter. He felt her tighten up, and he released her lips and saw Egan behind her, pressing his lips to her neck.

  “Oh God, we should slow down.” She leaned back against Eagan and tilted her head, giving him better access to her neck.

  “Slow is overrated,” Miller added, standing by the stairs.

  She went to move, and Eagan turned her around and kissed her on the mouth. She ran her hands up his chest, and then Houston watched Eagan lift her by her ass to be snug against his front. She moaned, and when Eagan had gotten his fill, he gently released her lips and held her close.

  “You pack one hell of a punch for such a little thing,” he said, using his palm to stroke her ass and then up her back.

  “I’d say you pack one hell of a punch, as well,” she replied softly.

  “Just wait,” Miller said with promise in his tone, and she blushed and stepped from Eagan’s hold. She fixed her dress.

  “We haven’t even left the dock yet. I’m not sure about this. Maybe I didn’t get across my need to go slow.”

  Houston took her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “We hear you loud and clear. Let’s enjoy the day, and you, enjoy relaxing to hopefully take away any stresses you have. It will be fun. Come on up, and Eagan and I will explain the plan while you help us to prepare to leave the dock.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” she said as he led her up the stairs along with Eagan and Miller.

  “We’ll teach you,” he said, and she smiled. He glanced at Eagan, who definitely didn’t look as grumpy as before. Houston had a feeling today was going to go exceptionally well after all.