DutyBoundARe (7 page)

“Why’d you stop?”

His husky laugh washed over her, and she wanted to sprawl across his chest, feel the vibrations against her nipples.

“
Bebelle
, you’re so far gone right now you probably don’t realize how loudly you were. . .ah. . .moaning. Gator was starting to sing and I don’t think my neighbors would understand.”

“Oh.” Lisette’s cheeks flamed hotter than a summer day. She dropped her head against his shoulder and laughed.

He pulled her closer, cradling her against his chest and smoothed his hands down her back. She squirmed at the sensation of cool skin on her hot, abused flesh. It was delicious.

“How are you?” she asked, splaying her hand over his chest.

“I didn’t think I could do it, but after a little warm up, it’s like I never stopped.”

“Yeah.” She smiled, understanding what he meant.

She hadn’t felt like a victim at all. No, she’d been herself, all woman and sensual power, at least in her mind. It was the most affirming thing she’d done for herself, and it wouldn’t have happened without Mathieu. As much as she wanted him, the only way she could think of thanking him was to comply with his wishes to keep this relationship platonic.

chapter five

Damsels

Mathieu’s head swam, his gut churned and his skin was clammy.

Gator strained against the leash and a nervous pedestrian almost skittered into the road, glaring at him. Usually, Mathieu would make a comment about his vicious licking dog, but he didn’t have it in him to rebuff the person stupid enough to fear his teddy bear.

Part of him wanted to turn back now, rush to the apartment and cradle Lisette in his arms once more, clinging to the electric charge that had bound them together. The other half wanted to keep running away. He’d been seconds from ripping her panties off and crossing the line he’d set for them.

Mathieu didn’t want this. He had no use for another damsel in distress in his life, even if Lisette wasn’t quite stereotypical. The promise he’d made himself to never again walk that path ate at him.

“Gator, chill.”

Gator ignored the comment and began an odd, low volume woof he only did when excited. Which, judging by the wag of his hindquarters, was a lot.

They’d walked almost seven city blocks while Mathieu cleared his head. He hadn’t meant to come quite this far, but now that he had he couldn’t turn around. The buildings here were a little better tended, some of them new builds.

Ahead was a familiar block of condos. The only one that interested him was the condo on the very end with two Jeeps sitting in the drive. It was hit or miss if Odalia was home these days. Since the start of the year she’d been shacked up with the bounty hunter Mathieu occasionally butted heads with, but he liked the guy. He watched out for Odalia in a way Mathieu never could as a friend. Especially over the last month with all the rumors flying around about her.

Gator led him through the intersection and straight up to the front door of the condo. The interior door stood open, and another steel gray pit bull stood on the other side of the glass door. The two dogs barked and licked at the glass, eager to see each other.

Odalia stepped off the stairs at the back of the condo and strode toward the door. Judging by her sweatpants and t-shirt, it was an off day for her as well. She released the latch, grabbed her dog, Creature, and pushed the glass open.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Odalia asked with a smile.

“Good.
Ça viens
?”

Mathieu stepped over the threshold and the door swung shut behind him, pausing for a second to remove the leash not a moment too soon. The two pit bull brothers went bounding through the house, barreling one after the other through a dog door and outside into the back yard.

“How’s he doing?” Mathieu nodded to where the dogs had disappeared.

“Good. I’m glad you brought Gator over. Creature needs to move around more or he’s going to stiffen up. Vet said he’s pretty much healed, just keep an eye on him. Give me a hug.” Odalia wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tight.

Part of the drama swirling around his old patrol partner involved a home invasion that injured her and Creature. The dog had needed immediate surgery and, for a few days, they’d been worried about his recovery.

“Jacques here?”

“He’s in the shower.” Odalia watched him closely, but then she’d been doing that since Amanda stepped into his life. While most people had sided for or against her, Odalia had kept her opinions to herself, though he knew she had plenty to say on the matter. They’d just never discussed it.

Mathieu nodded.

“We were about to go out for lunch. Want to come?”

He glanced at his watch. It was much later than he realized. If he went out, what would Lisette do? Was he ready to see her again so soon? When he’d left she’d been happily wrapped up on the sofa, talking about needing to go check her email.

“Yeah, give me one second. I have an old college friend staying with me and I want to make sure they’re okay.” He avoided the feminine pronoun without realizing what he’d done until the words were out of his mouth. Was he hiding Lisette? She was lying low, but did that include his friends?

“Okay, I’m going to let Jacques know you’re here.” Odalia turned and made her way to the second floor, which comprised of her bedroom, closet and bathroom. The condo was cozy for one person; he didn’t know how the couple managed it, but then again, Jacques had his own place.

Mathieu dropped into an armchair and pulled out his phone to tap out a quick message to Lisette.

Mathieu:
Ran into a cop friend. You good if we have lunch? Want me to bring you something?

He wasn’t sure why he kept Odalia and Jacques apart from Lisette. Maybe he wanted to protect her. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to keep another potential mistake from his closest friend. Whatever the reason, he’d made his move.

The phone buzzed and Lisette’s name popped up with a reply.

Lisette:
Sounds good to me. I’ll get my own lunch. Need to check email. See you later.

He breathed a little easier. One less thing to worry about.

The stairs facing the back door creaked as what sounded like two pairs of feet descended. Odalia swung around the banister, now in jeans and a t-shirt, her long dark hair hanging lose. When in uniform, Odalia appeared nothing but the clean-cut cop, but out of uniform, you got the truth. Black and gray tattoos wrapped from shoulder to elbow on her left arm, part of it peeking out from her sleeve. A sacred heart was almost completely visible across her chest in a v-neck.

There were more tattoos, which were quite notable, especially since she’d graced the cover of a major tattoo magazine at the end of last year. It hadn’t included her face, or there would probably be hell to pay on the job front. Odalia’s side job as a model had never been something he approved of, too many opportunities to get tripped up by people who didn’t understand her work. But it was her life.

A large black man followed her, gaze trained on him.

Jacques Savoy was a backwater bounty hunter who’d moved to the city and separated himself from his less than law-abiding family. There were few secrets Mathieu hadn’t been able to uncover about the man, which was probably a big reason for the animosity between them. Mathieu didn’t have anything against him. Jacques just happened to be dating the woman he considered another sister, and until such a time as Odalia told Mathieu to back down, things weren’t likely to change.

The two men nodded at each other as the doggie door seemed to blow inward and two silver bullets came barreling inside.

“Creature, calm yourself,” Odalia barked.

The two dogs dropped their hindquarters and gave her their undivided attention. Mathieu shook his head. Something about Odalia screamed pack mother to them.

“Behave, Gator. You know better,” she continued as if either Creature or Gator might reply with anything except gratuitous licks and shaking of tails. “Good grief, you’d think they hadn’t seen each other in years.”

Jacques and Odalia dropped onto the couch, fishing shoes out from under the coffee table. They moved in synchronization, an act Mathieu didn’t think they were conscious of. He’d hung out with the couple a handful of times and knew what was happening here was true, honest regard for each other. Things had never been that way for Amanda and him. Why hadn’t he seen the signs?

“Let’s go to Buli’s.” Odalia rose and grabbed a leash from a peg by the door.

Creature, the completely silver of the two pit bulls, planted his hindquarters on the ground and sat stone still. Mathieu had never been able to get Gator to learn that trick, no matter how he tried.

“Gator, come here.”

Gator, with his tuxedo stripe down his chest and one white ear, was the sillier of the two dogs. He flopped on the ground, several feet from Mathieu.

“That’s not what I asked for.”

Jacques chuckled. “Need some lessons, Mouton?”

“Not from the likes of you. Gator. Here.” Mathieu slapped his calf and Gator begrudgingly got to his feet and padded over to lay his big head on Matheiu’s knee. He snapped the leash on the collar and gave the dog’s ears a scratch. “Was that so hard, knucklehead?”

“I’m hungry,” Odalia announced, shrugging into her coat.

“That’s why we’re going to go eat,” Jacques replied.

“Just reminding you two girls busy making eyes at each other.” Odalia pursed her lips and bobbed her head in an excessive display of attitude.

The trio plus two dogs left the condo and fell into a line, walking three abreast with Odalia in the middle. Creature and Gator struck out to the end of their leashes, tongues lolling out in almost identical canine grins.

“What are you up to today? Doing anything with your friend?” Odalia asked after they’d traversed the block in near silence, save for the street traffic.

“No plans,” he replied. Again he shied away from discussing Lisette’s presence.

“You should come to the dungeon tonight. There’s a potluck before. I heard there will be ribs.”

Mathieu loved a good BBQ rib, but the idea of mingling with people who would have all the good intentions in the world of catching up didn’t appeal. He wasn’t in a hurry to drag his mistakes out for the world to see.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” he drawled as they entered the patio at Buli’s.

There was a large table off to the corner of the sectioned off area where they normally sat. The spiked fence allowed for a handy place to loop the leashes and still give both dogs space to sprawl and sniff around without bothering other patrons. A heating lamp chased away the damp chill, making the overcast February day seem more pleasant.

A waitress approached them and took drink and meal orders.

“IA is taking another look at me,” Odalia said into the silence.

“What?” Mathieu sat forward in his chair. Following the incident on New Year’s, Internal Affairs had been all over Odalia’s life, but with no corroborating evidence to former Officer Douglas’ claims, they’d left her alone. That didn’t mean her life had gone back to normal.

“Yeah, I’m not sure why. They say it’s more about Chuck’s trial than me, but I don’t know. Something’s up.” She paused while their drinks plus two bowls of water for the dogs were delivered. “Anyway, it’s not just going away.”

Mathieu was pretty certain there were details of what went down that Odalia wasn’t telling him. He’d respect her decision, even as he wanted to protect her from the kind of scrutiny IA could bring to a person’s life. He’d had to sit under their magnifying glass a few times, all for officer-involved shootings where a suspect was hit, and it was nerve wracking. He couldn’t begin to imagine the hardships Odalia was going through.

“I told her if it got too messy, she could come work with me,” Jacques said, his Cajun accent flavoring each word.

Jacques worked with Bayou Hunters, a loose affiliation of bounty hunters who were highly skilled on their own or as a team. They were by far the most successful at bringing in bail jumpers. The last Mathieu knew though, it was an all male team. Odalia was tough. No doubt she could hold her own. But Mathieu didn’t want to see her leave the force. Not like this.

“Do you like that plan?” Mathieu flicked his fingers toward Jacques.

“No. I was planning on applying to SWAT in the spring. I heard they needed a new sniper and that would be perfect for me.” She leaned back in her chair and draped her hand over Creature’s shoulders as he sat next to his mistress.

“Then keep fighting it. Tell as much of the truth as you can. Be honest and sincere. They don’t want to lose good cops.”

“Yeah, it’s just frustrating. I didn’t do anything wrong.” She blew out a breath, frustration creasing her face.

Kink wasn’t wrong, but it was different enough that the misconceptions were hazardous to a career like theirs. There were too many psychopaths in the world who crossed the lines of consent into committing horrible and criminal acts. It was a fine line to walk, which made the gift of consent so precious.

It was the difference between Lisette’s moans when he smacked her with a flogger, and the screams he could all too easily imagine coming from those same lips as she was slapped around.

A fine line indeed.

Lisette stepped through the doors
of another random New Orleans café and held them for a cute older couple exiting, hand in hand, bundled up against the chilly, damp day. It was going to pour buckets later, but even that sounded wonderful. She loved the sound of rain on the windows, a hot cup of tea or coffee, maybe some soup.

Soup. That sounded good.

Her stomach growled, reminding her pancakes were a long time ago.

She waited for the hostess to find her a table near an outlet, taking the moment to peruse the menu. Or really, the soups section. Bisque stuck out to her, something with some good crawfish. She practically drooled.

The hostess led her to a back corner, near the restrooms, but the circular booth also backed up against a wall.