As Fate Would Have It (11 page)

Chapter 25

Brie sat down in the squishy black leather chair. Scooting up to the computer desk, she automatically slipped her hand over the mouse and gave it a shake. She leaned over to hit the power button on the monitor, only to have a picture slowly take shape on the screen. Obviously, Rye had borrowed her computer before he moved his large frame onto her couch, effectively taking it over. Absently, she wondered if he got as many penis enhancement spam e-mails as she did.
Snort.
If she didn't keep up with her e-mails, the spam would overflow. Did he just delete them or possibly scan over them? For some reason, she couldn't believe he needed such a thing.

Grumbling to herself about the liberties he took in her home without asking, she absently positioned her fingers on the keyboard. "Ewwwwww."

Pulling a few fingers back, she flipped her palm up, trying to see the cause of the sticky sensation. A couple spots of clear residue remained on her fingertips, just enough to be annoying. Her brow furrowed as she took her index finger and pushed a couple of letters. Sure enough, they depressed okay, but rebounded in slow motion. She swore she could hear the slurp of whatever substance resided there.

It was the motion that pulled her attention away. The monitor flickered to life, displaying the image the last user had viewed.

A sultry blonde with boobs as big as Dolly Parton's commanded the screen, her black garters and stockings served as her entire outfit. A wide-shouldered, dark brown haired man sat on the bed, his back to the headboard, naked as the day he was born. The blonde kneeled over his extended legs, her mouth wrapped around his arousal. Her back arched as she leaned into the man. The picture had been taken from the side, leaving nothing to the imagination. Well, nothing except how much of the man's erection resided in her mouth, that is. His hands clasped in her hair, seemingly to pull her closer. She braced herself on the bed with one hand while the other dipped lower between his legs. The man's face screwed up in obvious delight at her skills.

Brie blinked, unable to believe what she saw. Rye surfed for porn
?
On
her
computer? She turned her head this way and that, her eyes fixated on the woman's lips compressed around the man's flesh. How did she do that exactly? Surely all porn stars would be fairly well endowed, yet the red lips almost reached the man's pubic hair. Where did all those inches disappear to inside her mouth?

The ringing of the phone distracted her from her curious thoughts. Hearing Rye's voice answer in recognition, she refocused on the keyboard. Her finger pressed the "H" button, feeling the tenacious syrupy stuff give slowly before holding the key down completely. Pushing it again, she realized without cleaning, that particular key wouldn't be useful any time soon.

Then it hit her.
Porn. Rye.
Jerking her hands back, she stared at the keyboard in disgust.
Oh, no. He better not.
She would… do something. Not sure what at this moment, but surely it would involve meat cleavers and certain parts of his body.

Pushing away from the desk, she bounded to her feet, marching determinedly into the living room. Rye spoke into the phone, grinning evilly. His feet rested on the foot rest, a can of beer clutched in the other hand.

Not caring who he spoke with, she quickly released her anger. "I can't believe you! You use my computer, without my permission no less. Then you look at porn sites and… and…" She gestured to his crotch area. "Masturbate… all over my keyboard!" She stumbled over the word.

Rye choked, coughed, staring at her with a look of disbelief. "
What
? I did no such thing! I… what?" His gaze dropped as he concentrated on the phone once more. "No, Mom. I can't believe you asked me that!" He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Brie stomped, hands on hips. "If you didn't, then explain this to me, oh Great Detective. Why was my computer on an explicit porn site, full of pictures, and my keyboard is
sticky
?"

Standing, Rye sat the beer on the table. "Look, Mom, I've gotta go. No! I did no such thing! What is it with you women and my personal sex life? Yes. Just… oh, never mind. Bye." He clicked the off button, turning his attention to Brie.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. "Let me get this straight. You think I surfed the web for porn today and jacked off, covering your keyboard with…" He paused, not completing his thought.

Not that Brie had any difficulty understanding. "Yes! Why else is my keyboard sticky? I certainly didn't find the porn site. And, I didn't make the keyboard sticky." She felt the color rising in her cheeks. "That's just disgusting! You owe me a new keyboard, mister, because I am certainly not cleaning your… body fluids… from this one!"

He turned and tossed the portable phone on the couch, his grin slowly growing. Once his eyes met hers, he burst out in a chuckle, quickly stifled. Brie tilted her head in warning. Her eyelids narrowed.

Full blown laughter erupted. Rye shook his head at her. "You are a squirrel. Cute, but definitely a nut carrying squirrel." Still grinning widely, he ambled past her toward the computer room.

Frustrated, she followed. "Am not." She bit her tongue at the childish retort.

"Oh, yeah. You definitely are." He turned left, headed over to the desk, before plopping into the chair. Staring at the image, he pointed. "Does she look familiar to you?"

"
What
? How would I know? I don't watch porn!"

He flashed a mischievous smile in her direction, almost daring her otherwise.

Her heart picked up speed, as did her respirations. Surely her body didn't react from just his expression? On second thought, she would go with that. Otherwise, she was admitting that she enjoyed the explicit picture before her.

"Would you get off the porn idea?" He fiddled with the mouse, running the curser over the woman's face. "Who does she remind you of?" A couple of mouse clicks later and a close up of the face appeared.

Leaning in, Brie looked at the eyes, the obviously reconstructed nose, those Botox injected, ruby red lips. The idea came to her like a light bulb turning on. "Bunny?"

"Bingo!" He grinned at her.

She tapped her bottom lip with her finger, shifting weight from one leg to the other. "I don't get it. So, she's a porn star. To be honest, that's not really a surprise." She thought of the glimpses she had of the other woman. Bunny always looked perfect, nails freshly polished from a professional manicure, hair in precise place, makeup to accentuate her high cheekbones. Marilyn Monroe came to mind in comparison to Bunny at her best.

Rye tiled his head in question. "Think about it. If she's a porn star, she's gotta be making a chunk of money, right?"

She shrugged. "Guess so. But, I still don't understand."

"Then why is she living here, in this neighborhood? No offense, but this place is a quaint and homey area, not glamorous, and not wealthy. No movie productions within five hundred miles." His eyes watched her face, gauging her thoughts.

"She wants to be invisible?" A woman like Bunny may stand out in the neighborhood, but she's not likely to draw major attention as if she lived the high life. And, if she kept to herself, like she had been doing, she wasn't more than just gossip material for the other inhabitants.

"Yep. The question is why does she want to fly under the radar?" He swiveled in the chair, clicking the mouse to save the picture and print it out. The printer hummed behind him.

"Maybe she wants to start a new life? Maybe her live-in man doesn't know about her career choice?" Brie's mind spun with reasons why a woman would hide such a part of her life. It made sense.

Rye glanced up, giving a short nod. "True. But what about her supposed boyfriend? Don't you find it strange that they appear wealthy, yet no one seems to do much work? And, they don't venture out much except to the car and back."

"Now that you mention it. But…" A thought raced through her mind. "No. It's just odd. They don't belong in this neck of the woods. That's all there is to it." Shaking her head, she pondered some more.

Grinning, Rye stood, reaching out. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his body. Caught off guard, her hands flew to his chest, seeking support. Brie reflexively looked up, feeling his hard chest beneath her trapped hands. That sexy grin of his had returned.

"Now you are thinking, baby." Searching her eyes for a few more seconds, he slowly lowered his lips, leaving a chaste kiss on her forehead. Pulling back, he smiled, obviously pleased at what he saw.

Pushing against him, Brie found herself quickly released. Unsure what just happened, her gaze returned to the keyboard, reminding her. "What about the keyboard?"

His eyes flickered to the desk again before returning to her face. "7-Up."

"Oh."

Chapter 26

"Perfect!" Rye snapped his cell phone shut, a bright smile plastered across his face.

"What is it?" Brie looked up from her comfy spot, curled up on the couch. They had just finished lunch, the dishwasher hummed, and laundry clinked as it spun in the dryer.

"We've got a pick-up to make."

Marking her page, she looked up at him, still not certain why he acted like a puppy who just found a new toy. "I don't understand."

He marched over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up. "We got the court order to bug Gomez's phone and house."

She blinked, processing that information. "So you're going to pick up this bug and install it when they are gone?"

He shook his head, nudging her toward the door. "I can't place it through breaking and entering. Information obtained from illegal means isn't admissible in court."

Stepping out the kitchen door and into the garage, Brie automatically wandered to the passenger side. "Then how? I can't just see them opening the door to you for that purpose." She slid in while Rye did the same, clicked on his seatbelt, and hit the garage door opener.

"You said you never met her, not even introduced yourself when she moved in, right?" He watched her nod before continuing, "Then that's our way in."

"What is?" His words sounded like Swahili to her basic English.

Pulling the car out of the garage, he sent it into motion down the street. "It's about time you welcomed her to the neighborhood with one of those baskets."

* * * *

A few minutes later, they arrived at the local gift shop. Gary stood beside his gray sedan, leaning against the car door with hands across his chest. He eased his weight back on his feet as they parked beside him, a grin covering his face as he watched Brie climb out of the car.

"Got it?" He gave a thumbs-up to Rye, then let his eyes rake over her. "Looking as good as ever, although not nearly up to par with that bustier."

She snorted and shook her head. "I still don't understand what's going on."

Gary's eyes twinkled as he stepped away to pull a woven basket from his backseat, striding over to hand it to Rye. "It's in the weave. Tested already." A plastic bag followed. "Everything you need. Just have to plug it in and hit start."

Rye peeked inside the bag, then returned his attention to Gary. "Thanks, buddy. I owe you."

"You can pay me back by letting me take this one out."

Brie blinked while Rye frowned and muttered under his breath. Gary obviously didn't take offense as he chuckled and climbed back into his car.

* * * *

"You got it?"

She nodded. "I think so."

"Try to make her think there is a good reason you are doing this now. Girl talk. Something you need to ask her. Anything to get her to invite you in."

Brie pondered just what that topic might be. Nothing came to mind no matter how hard she tried.

"Oh, just in case she asks, we better get our stories straight. I told Bunny that I am between jobs, you are a family friend and have agreed to let me stay with you until I find another job." He turned the car off and stepped out of the vehicle, waiting for Brie to do the same and catch up. "Best to keep it as close to the truth as possible. Less chance for mistakes that way."

She shot him a puzzled look, then blurted out, "When did you go see her? And why?"

He gestured her into the kitchen, holding the door open so she could carry the gift basket with her. "Ummm. The day you almost drowned in the bathtub."

She sat the item down, then spun to stare up at him. "You didn't say why."

He shrugged, busily digging his instruments out of the plastic bag and setting them up on the coffee table. "Spying."

"Uh huh." Brie rolled her eyes. "Tell me again why you can't take it over?"

He snorted. "When was the last time you saw a damn sexy man carrying a wicker basket full of fruit to a meet and greet?"

He had a point.

A few minutes later, he gave the okay, stating the bug worked well, picking up voices and recording them. Large earphones covered his ears as his attention centered on a small laptop. "We're good to go."

Brie nodded, grabbed the basket, and paused at the front door to sigh. She didn't have a clue what to ask Bunny. Perhaps divine inspiration would strike as she walked across the street. Just not in the form of her becoming roadkill.

No sooner had she shut the front door, than she noticed Mr Gomez driving away. Her shoulders sank in relief as her heart slowly regained its normal pace. Bunny, she could deal with. Gomez, she wasn't so sure.

A moment later, she leaned hard on the doorbell and waited impatiently for her neighbor to answer. The basket full of fruit and coffee pulled heavily on her arms.

"Can I help you?" Bunny asked from the open door.

Brie's mouth opened as she stood almost eye to eye with that massive cleavage
. Talk about divine inspiration.

"Hi. I'm Brie, from just across the street." She turned to gesture back toward where she came. "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to do a proper welcome to the neighborhood. You see, I work long hours. I'm beat when I get home and on my days off, I try to catch up with everything else." Her words tumbled out nervously as the other woman remained mute. Her gaze dropped to her tennis shoes and she shyly continued, "Well, you see. I need to ask you some advice. I'm sure you can help me, you see. If I can just come in for a minute?"

She held out the basket and gave a pleading expression as if she were desperate to speak to the other woman.

Bunny took the offering, hesitantly looked her up and down then appeared to make a decision. "Okay. Just for a minute." Opening the door wider, she gestured Brie inside.

"Thanks! I greatly appreciate this." Brie dashed in, waited to be directed.

Bunny headed straight for the kitchen, placing the basket on the center of the counter, pulling at the plastic and pawing through the contents. "Thank you for this. It looks delicious."

"You're welcome… err… I'm sorry. I don't even know your name."

"Tabby." She found a bag of coffee, pulled it out, and dug through cupboards for supplies. "Now what did you want to ask?"

Brie took a breath. "I couldn't help but see how Rye… well, all men for that matter, stand at attention when you are around. They can't keep their eyes off you. And, forgive me, but with your petite frame, I think you have breast implants, right?" Pulling out a chair at the dining room table, she sat gingerly.

Tabby nodded, scooping coffee into a filter, and placing it in the coffeemaker. One painted fingernail punched a button.

"Well, you see, I really want Rye to look at me like he does you. I started to think that if I got breast implants he might start to take notice." She shot the other woman a pitiful look that begged help.

"Honey, you get a boob job and all of those men will notice." She took the seat next to Brie and sat facing her.

"I just want Rye to pay attention to me." A dramatic pause followed, allowing Tabby time to pick up on the innuendo. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the procedure." At Tabby's nod, she began. "Does it hurt? How do you pick the size? How long does the pain last?"

For the first time Tabby grinned, relaxed, and warmed to her subject. She flicked her long blonde locks to her back as she began to explain. "These are my second set. Started with D, decided to go bigger. Believe me, the pain is worth it."

Brie nodded, absorbing this information. "You don't regret it?"

Tabby chuckled. "No way in hell. These have paid for themselves ten times over."

Perking up, Brie tossed out one more. "Can you recommend a good doctor to do it?"

"Sure." Tabby pulled a nearby tab of paper over, grabbed a pen, and jotted down a name and the city.

"Thanks. This is perfect." Brie smiled at Tabby.

The kitchen door opened, with Gomez entering and talking loudly on his phone in Spanish. His gaze landed on Brie and he paused. Words spewed from his mouth in a language she didn't begin to understand.

Tabby stood, but waved dismissively, apparently understanding him. "She's here asking advice on a boob job."

Brie's face heated as she glanced from Gomez back to Tabby.

He shook his head and mumbled, "She needs it."

Brie gasped but didn't say anything. Gomez pinned her with his beady gaze once more before continuing his ramblings into the phone. Long strides carried him across the room and back to the bedroom. A click sounded as the door shut.

Standing, Brie headed toward the front door. "Thank you again for the advice." She whispered loud enough for Tabby to understand.

The other woman smiled. "Take my advice. Get it done. You won't regret it."

Brie gave her an appreciative grin and paused at the front door.

"Oh, thanks for the basket." Tabby opened the door for her.

"You are more than welcome." With a small wave, Brie headed out the door and across the street to freedom.

He owed her big time.