Forever Yours, Sir (4 page)

She took one last look around, but she hadn’t sensed Sean in a while
. He didn’t seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was large and scary, so she wasn’t about to take chances.

Cady stepped into the
diner and glanced around. Didn’t take her long to spot Jacey. She moved over to the other woman, waving at her to remain seated. It had been just over two weeks since she’d last seen Jacey and she was looking so much better. Her cheeks had color and happiness filled her eyes.

“Don’t get up,” Cady said, eyeing her large stomach. “You need to keep off your feet.”

Jacey rolled her eyes. “You sound like Derrick. I’m not going to break.”

“I’m more concerned with you popping, how much longer have you got?” Cady eyed her stomach with suspicion.

“I’m only five months pregnant; I’m not even that big yet.”

Cady had no idea how big she was going to get, she didn’t know anything about kids.

They chatted for a while about Jacey’s trip to Rarotonga and her ex-husband’s suicide. Cady was just glad that Jacey wouldn’t have to go through the ordeal of a trial. Eventually, Jacey cleared her throat and leaned forward. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Yes?”

“Derrick needs an assistant. I was going to take on the job, but I’ve realized I don’t want to work once the baby arrives. So there’s not much point in my working for him when he could be training someone now.”

“Uh huh.” Cady didn’t quite see what any of this had to do with her.

“Well, I wondered if you wanted the job.”

“Me? You want me to work for Derrick?” Cady asked incredulously.

Jacey nodded enthusiastically. Cady felt ill.

“No way,” she said, feeling guilty at the flash of hurt on Jacey’s face.
“I can’t do it, Jacey. I wasn’t made to sit at a desk all day and you know it. I know next to nothing about computers and shit. I’d be complete crap and then Derrick would have to fire me. Then you’d stop talking to him. It would be a clusterfuck.”

Jacey grinned and shook her head. “I suppose it
isn’t really a good fit.”

“
Jacey, honestly, I don’t need you to help me. I’m fine.” This wasn’t the first time that Jacey had tried to help Cady find a job.

“
You’re fine,” Jacey said sceptically. “Somehow I don’t think so. Luckily, I have a Plan B.”

Oh shit, she didn’t like the sound of that.

“I want you to be my nanny.”

Cady gaped at her for a long moment. “Are you feeling all right? Have you seen your doctor lately?
”

Jacey rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. What is so crazy about asking you to be my nanny?”

“Uhh, maybe because I have no idea how to look after a child?”

“Neither do I.” Jacey rubbed her stomach lovingly. “But I’m going to take a crash course in parenthood.”

“All the more reason for you to hire someone with experience. Someone who actually knows how to do shit, you know, like change diapers and how to bathe a baby without drowning them. I mean, what if I dropped them?”

“You won’t drop them.”

“I might. I’ve never held a child. Uh-uh, no way, no how.”

Jacey cro
ssed her arms over her chest. “Well, you’d better learn fast cause I’m going to expect you to play a part in this baby’s life.”

“Yeah, well, can’t I just st
and there and make silly faces at him or her?”

Jacey just shook her head.

“Cady, I’ve been hunted by my ex and his brother, kidnapped, terrorized and nearly lost my life, but do you know what keeps me awake at night? What gives me nightmares?”

Crap, she didn’t
like where this was going.

Jacey leaned for
ward, her gaze earnest. “You. Most nights I have nightmares about you. I’m scared something is going to happen to you. It isn’t safe for you out here.”

“Jacey, you were only on the streets for a short while, you didn’t know how to take care of yourself like I do. I’m fine.”

Except there were times when she wished for her old life, her apartment, her friends. She pushed those thoughts back.

“I’m not going to stop worrying until you’re off the streets. If you won’t take either of those jobs at least move in with us. We have a guest house, you wouldn’t even need
to see us if you didn’t want to. You could come and go as you liked. Please, Cady.”

No way. She shook her head.

“Goddammit, stop being so stubborn and let me help you.”

“You don’t have to help me. I already have a job and a place to live.”

Jacey looked at her suspiciously. “You do? Where? How did you get this job?”

“
Hunter offered me one.”

“He
did?” Jacey’s eyes widened. “When? Does that mean you’re moving to Dallas to live?”

“
Well, I haven’t decided yet.” Although getting out of the city was looking like a better and better idea. How many times had she caught Sean watching her in the last week?

“Something’s wrong, what is it?” Jacey asked.

Cady smiled widely. “Nothing at all, why would you say that?”

“Okay, now I’m really worried. That smile is damn scary.” Jacey eyed her worriedly.

“Nothing is wrong, okay? I’ve just got a few things on my mind.”

Jacey sighed. “I wish you’d tell me what the problem is, but I know you won’t.” A sad look crossed the other woman’s face before it was replaced by a determined smile.

“I think you should take the job. You wouldn’t be happy in an office or as my nanny, I know that. I just can’t stand that I go to sleep in a nice house every night and you’re out on the streets. I worry about you, Cady.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know. Doesn’t stop me from worrying. You’re my friend. Consider taking the job, okay? If it doesn’t work out, we’ll try something else. But you can’t keep going the way you are.”

She didn’t see why not. Well, except for that little problem of Sean.

“I don’t know how you ended up on the streets or why and you don’t have to tell me. But I worry that one day I’m going to turn on the news and learn that something bad has happened to you.”

“Jeez, overdramatic much, Jacey?”

Jacey shrugged. “I know how scary things are, remember? And believe me, if we don’t get something sorted out, it won’t just be me on your case, Derrick will be having a chat with you and he won’t be nearly as nice as me.”

No, she could well believe that. Derrick Ashdown was extremely rich and used to getting his way. Cady knew he wouldn’t like the fact that
Jacey was worrying about her.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t already tried to interfere.”

“Oh believe me, he’s wanted to.”

Great, that’s all she needed.

“Look, I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise, all right?”

Jacey sighed but nodded. “
And think about moving into our guest house, it’s not being used and you could stay as long as you liked.”

Cady forced herself to smile and reached across to squeeze Jacey’s hand. She wasn’t really given to affection, but she could see the real worry in Jacey
’s eyes.

“I’m okay. I promise.”

***

Two hours later, Cady looked down at the gravestone in front of her.
She crouched and reaching out, ran her finger over the letters.

Rusty Rivera. 1979-2013.

She’d always teased him that with his name he should have been a porn star or at least a country singer. At least that way he’d probably still be alive.

He’d just laugh at her and sing some song in that
God awful voice of his.

Had it only been ten months since he’d died? It felt like forever and yet at the same time, like it had been yesterday. He’d been killed in the line of duty. Her partner.
Her friend. Her fault.

They’d
both worked for the Baton Rouge Police Department, but after Rusty’s death his family had brought his body back here to Austin. She’d followed, unable to let him go.

“What do I do, Rus?” she whispered. “I need to get out of town for a while. If I stick around I’m worried he’s going to get lucky and hurt me, or someone else. But if I take that job, I’d have to work as part of a team. I don’t think I can do that again. Not after I got you killed.”

“Funny, I thought it was those druggies who fired the bullet that killed my brother.”

Cady stood, whirling around to face the female standing behind her.

“Lucia.” She nodded her head at Rusty’s older sister. How the hell had she not heard her approach? What if she’d been Sean? Cady had to get her shit together.

“Cady, I wondered if I would ever catch you here. I always seem to arrive after you’ve
come and gone.”

“How did you know I’d been visiting?” she asked.

Lucia nodded at the headstone. “You always clean off the dust and dirt. Rusty’s is the cleanest headstone in this graveyard.”

“Oh. He was always so messy. I was constantly cleaning
up after him. Guess it’s habit.”

“I know what you mean,” Lucia said with a smile. “Rusty was ten years younger than me, the son my parents never thought they would have. They doted on him. He got used to my mother picking up after him.”

Lucia narrowed her gaze, staring at Cady. “You blame yourself for his death. Is that why you never come and visit us?”

Cady swallowed heavily and wiped her sweating hands against her jeans. She’d grown up in foster homes, she di
dn’t have any family of her own so Rusty had often brought her home to his family for the holidays when they didn’t have to work. Cady had been reluctant at first, not wanting to intrude, but the Riveras were a force to be reckoned with. They’d practically adopted her.

“It was my fault. He wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for me.”

Lucia placed a hand on her hip. “Wasn’t it his job to go after the bad guys, to back his partner up?”

“We s
hould have waited for back-up. We shouldn’t have gone in by ourselves.” But she’d raced in and Rusty had been the one to pay. Bullets had flown, hitting Rusty in the chest, his blood gushing in a thick, crimson river.

Cady swallowed back her bile.

“Wasn’t it a domestic disturbance call out? You had no idea it was a meth house,” Lucia said.

“Yeah, but Rusty had a bad feeling. He called in for back-up. I heard a woman scream and I couldn’t hold back. I went rushing in when I shouldn’t have. He followed me.”

“You forced him to follow you inside?”

“Of course not.”

“So my brother was just willing to stand on the sidewalk and listen to a woman scream in pain?”

“What? No, he was right behind me.”

“Close enough to tackle you to the ground if he’d wanted to keep you from going inside? You’re tough, Cady, but he outweighed you by a good sixty pounds. My brother never did anything he didn’t want to. There was no way he would have stood by while a woman was being hurt and you and I both know it. Tell me, then, why are you continuing to blame yourself?”

Cady knew there was truth to her words. But she wasn’t quite ready to let go of the guilt.

“I guess it’s easier this way,” she whispered. “I don’t have to let anyone get close.”

Lucia took a step forward and placed her hand over Cady’s arm. She was a beautiful woman, the lines on her face only adding to her appeal.

“Rusty wouldn’t want you to beat yourself up like this, Cady. He loved you. You and I both know that if he was here right now he’d be kicking your ass for the hell you’re putting yourself through. My brother died doing what he thought was right. The last thing he would want was for you to give up your life as some sort of penance. Move on, you know that’s what he’d want.”

Cady shuddered. Yeah, Rusty would kick her butt for the way she was acting.
He’d hate the thought of her on the streets again. He’d known what her childhood was like, he’d have understood that she was shutting herself off to protect herself, didn’t mean he would have put up with it.

“I expect to see you at our place for Sunday
dinner,” Lucia said firmly.

“Actually, I can’t.” The other woman’s face grew thunderous and Cady continued quickly before that famous Rivera temper could be unleashed. “I’ve been offered a job. In Dallas. I’m not sure when I need to leave.”

Or if the job offer was still open.

“Well, all right, then. But I expect you to come
by for dinner if you’re still here. Promise me.”

“You’re as stubborn as your brother,” Cady said with a smile. “I promise.”

***

Hunter leaned back against the bar and stared
around the Twisted Thorn. He just wasn’t feeling it tonight.

“So are you going to do any playing tonight or are you just going to stand around like a morose bastard and growl at
anyone who dares come your way?”