Landon's Desire (Book Three of The Pulse Series 3) (29 page)

TWENTY

All occupants seated at
Passion’s
bar took notice of the tall sexy blond, as she pulled out a stool and draped her jacket over the back, before sitting and crossing her long shapely legs. She adjusted her skirt and set her tiny clutch purse on the bar, looking up to see Rex lean an elbow on the bar and grace her with his sparkling white smile.

“What can I get for you?”

“I’ll have a Cosmo with triple sec and a splash of cranberry, I like mine with a subtle blush, thanks.

“A lady who knows what she likes,” Rex flashed her that melt in your panties smile again, and reached for a cocktail shaker.

He added all the ingredients and ice into the shaker and then strained it into a chilled martini glass as she watched. He placed a
Passion
logoed coaster in front of her and set down the glass. She dipped her hand into her clutch and passed him a credit card from between her first two fingers and winked.

“Start a tab, doll,” she said, in a soft sultry tone, batting her eyelashes with a smile.

“Sure thing,” he read the name on the credit card. “Miss. Stryker, it is miss?”

She took a sip of her drink, licked her tongue across her lips and smiled. “Call me Ally.”

“I haven’t seen your face around here before, Ally, are you a new member?”

Shaking her head, she lifted a napkin from a small pile beside Rex’s arm and blotted her lips.

“Actually I’m here to see a friend, do you know Landon Kyle?”

Rex rolled his eyes. “You must be kidding.”

“He’s not working tonight?” she asked, a disappointed look on her face. “I can come back.”

“Let me give him a call, he’s working downstairs tonight.”

“Would you please, doll?” she reached forward and touched her hand to his cheek. “And do me a favor and don’t disappear, I want only
you
to serve me tonight.”

“Consider me at your service, Ally. I’ll go call Lando.”

Rex couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes followed him, the way she grinned when he picked up the phone and pressed the button, she was openly flirting with her eyes and he loved every minute of it. A beautiful woman, paying him attention on a lonely weeknight, was right up his alley.

“Hey Carl, there’s a woman up here looking for Lando, her names Ally Stryker.”

“I’ll tell him,” Carl said, waving Landon over from his post at the door.

“An Ally Stryker is asking for you upstairs,” he yelled over the music.

“Sorry, I don’t know anyone named Stryker,” Landon hollered back. “I’ll go up and see, be back in a few.”

“Don’t be long it’s too busy tonight for Tiny to handle on his own.”

Landon winked and blew him a kiss.

“Smart ass!” Carl yelled.

“I love you, too!”

Passion
was surprisingly quiet for a Thursday night considering it was most people’s pay day, this was the night love connections were made. Tonight most outer tables sat empty, the seats at the bar compacted to one side. Strange Landon thought, until he saw the woman at the bar drawing all the attention.

“Ally?” he asked, pulling her attention from Rex as he bent in close whispering something in her ear.

“Landon,” she called out. “Come sit with me, you boys will excuse us?”

Men scattered like flies, following her order like good little soldiers trapped by her charms. Landon pulled the stool next to her closer and sat.

“I didn’t recognize the name when Carl said it, how are you?”

Without asking, Rex placed a glass of ice and a can of soda in front of Landon and a fresh Cosmo in front of Ally.

“Rex, clear Ally’s tab, her drinks are on the house,” Landon instructed.

“Stryker is my maiden name,” she smiled. “I went back to it when all the mess with Mickey happened…are you still gay?”

“Still happily gay,” Landon smiled and held up his hand. “And engaged.”

“I’m so happy for you, is it the guy from the party that night?”

“Yeah.”

“He was cute.”

“So you’re well? How was the wedding?” Landon asked, pouring the soda over the ice and taking a drink.

“The wedding was cancelled, with all that went on,” Ally informed him like it was nothing out of the ordinary. “Eliana and Tyler eloped shortly after Mikey’s trial. She wanted to see her father’s trial through before they took off.”

Landon studied her face as she told him all the events of the past six months. Something had changed about her, the sad empty eyes he saw when they first met seemed brighter, they were now a rich chocolate brown. She sat taller, more confident and sure of herself. Bitterness in her voice seemed softer now and her smile showed in her entire face and eyes.

She was a changed woman.

“I came to tell you Mikey passed away,” she told him, watching his mouth drop open. “He had a heart attack.”

Landon didn’t know what to say, sorry seemed inappropriate and
that’s great
seemed insensitive and rude. So he sat silent and waited for her to continue.

She laughed at his awkwardness and placed her hand over his. “I didn’t think the prick had a heart either,”

“When did this happen?” Landon asked.

“A few weeks ago, it was sudden. He had a massive heart attack in his sleep, it was some kind of a valve problem,” she said, and finished her drink. “So much for all the healthy eating and exercise…If you ask me, he got off too easy.”

Landon nodded his head.

“Eliana’s selling the house, she and Tyler are moving to England, he has family there,” she said, then grasped hold of his bicep. “I almost forgot the best part, Eliana’s expecting.”

“You’re going to be a grandmother?”

“Shh…” her eyes widened. “I’m not ready to announce it to the world. I’m far too young to be a granny.”

Landon laughed nudging her shoulder.

“Lando…Carl says
Muovi il culo,
whatever that means,” Rex said, as he passed Ally a new drink.

“It means I have to go,” Landon chuckled, standing and giving Ally a hug. “It was great seeing you again, Ally, don’t be a stranger.”

“I don’t plan to. As a matter of fact, I’m considering a membership, isn’t that right Rex? He should get a bonus for talking me into it,” she winked.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Landon eyed Rex as he smiled and nodded, the man was completely taken by Ally and why not, she was beautiful and available and so was he. Landon knew he was bi-sexual but wasn’t sure how Ally would react. He supposed he would find out in time. And as long as he was sniffing after Ally, he’d stay away from Carl. This was a very good thing.

“Then I’ll see you around.”

“Yes you will,” she placed her hand on Rex’s arm and squeezed.

Landon left, his presence not required anyway. He raced down the back steps and behind the bar where Carl was busy filling a server’s tray with cocktails.

“You’ll never guess what I was just told.”

“Well, if I’ll never guess, then spit it out,” Carl snipped, placing the last glass on the tray.

“Briggs is dead.”

Carl stood stiff, staring at Landon.

“Did the son-of-a-bitch get murdered or something?”

“He had a heart attack in his sleep.”

“He got off too easy,” Carl snarled.

“That’s the same thing Ally said.”

Carl tilted his head in question. “Is that who was looking for you?”

“Yeah, she wanted to let me know,” Landon smirked. “She and Rex were getting acquainted, cozying up to each other.”

Carl’s brow knit together. “Why didn’t detective Johnson call you?”

“I don’t know,” Landon shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t think it was important enough to tell me.”

“I guess.”

“By the way, I have to go over to Mik and Mason’s tomorrow before lunch, I shouldn’t imagine I’ll be long, I was hoping we could go out for dinner.”

“Are you taking me on a date, Baby?” Carl reached over, grasping the cheek of his ass.

“Yep, I’m taking my man out on the town. We can see a movie after if you’re in the mood.”

“It’s a date,” Carl kissed his chin and turned to serve customers.

Landon took his phone from his pocket, locating a quieter place to make a call and hit Johnson’s number. The answer was almost immediate. “Johnson.”

“This is Landon Kyle, I wanted to touch base.”

“Landon,” his tone was gruff. “Oh yeah, I suppose I should have called. I’ve been real busy, up to my ears in paperwork, killing a tree, you know? The thing is Briggs isn’t a problem anymore.”

“So I heard,” Landon said. “The ex-Mrs. Briggs came in and told me.”

“There is another problem though. I was going to contact you in the next few days, regarding the anniversary cards.”

Landon had to take a breath and leaned against the wall, his knees suddenly became weak and his stomach churned. The familiar constriction in his chest returned as the memories of that terrible night haunted his thoughts. It was bad enough that yearly he was sent a reminder; he didn’t need it to occur in between too.

“What about it?”

“A partial set of prints was pulled by one of our specialists, we have a name and I’m running it through the database. But it’s going to take time, Landon.”

“What’s the name?” Landon asked hesitantly.

“You know I can’t tell you that, not yet anyway,”

“Bullshit, I’m one of you. We stick together, tell me.”

“I don’t need you going off halfcocked doing your own investigating and stirring shit up. Let me handle it, okay?”

“I promise to keep my nose out of it, I may be able to shed some light on the case if I recognize the name, I could be of help.”

The line sat silent while Johnson was thinking, Landon combed his fingers into his hair and scratched his scalp in frustration.

“Come on Johnson, partial prints partial name?”

He could hear Johnson blow out an angry breath before he spoke. “St. James.”

In shock, Landon’s mouth dropped open. “Tristan St. James?”

“You know him then,” Johnson concluded without admission.

“We were…friends for a short time before I came to Boston,” Landon said, sharing their relationship with Johnson. “He saw one of the cards, and he touched it when he took it out of the garbage can. Are you sure?”

Baffled with how Tristan could be tangled in this, he promised Johnson he would make no attempts to interfere and hung up. There was nothing he could do at this hour anyway and went back to work.

***

Awake most of the night, Landon struggled with thoughts and images of Steve and questions of Tristen. Landon stood at the coffeemaker waiting for it to finish brewing the second pot. He rinsed his cup, pulled the pot away and held his cup under the stream of coffee and then traded them off once his cup was filled.

He struggled with whether to call Mik and cancel their meeting or keep it and then do some general nosing around for information about Tristen. The idea of missing out on a visit with Emma won out, she came first over everything.

He left a note on the counter, grabbed his phone and jacket and closed the door quietly behind him, so as not to wake Carl. At least one of them should sleep.

***

“How’s my Sweet Pea this morning?” Landon asked, lifting Emma from the bassinet in the living room.

“Lando, I was trying to get her to sleep,” Mikala barked.

“Tell mommy to loosen up when Uncle Landon comes to visit.”

He carefully kissed the tip of her nose and laughed at the way her mouth opened and her head wiggled side to side in search.

He sat in the rocking chair by the window and slowly rocked her, patting her tiny butt with his hand and smiled, not noticing Mikala and Mason entering the room.

“You’re spoiling her, it says to let her fall asleep naturally so she becomes independent,” Mikala scolded him.

“She’s only a few weeks old,” Landon spoke to Emma in a soothing voice directing his comments to Mikala. “Besides, Uncle Landon’s supposed to spoil his baby girl, isn’t that right?”

Landon took her tiny hand between his fingers and closely examined it, amazed by how perfect she was. All of her features were perfect, her eye lashes, her nose, ears, and lips, all so tiny and flawless. He was head over heels in love with this little girl.

His fear of babies was well left behind once she took hold of his heart. He turned to mush with each breath she took, each tiny sound she made and each time she looked at him with her beautiful green eyes, he literally melted.

“So what did you need to see me about?” he asked, curling Emma’s hair between his fingers, trying to create a swoop.

“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll come right out with it,” Mikala sat on the edge of her seat. “I’ve decided to sell
Passion & Pulse
.”

Landon looked over at her and waited.

“It’s too much for me now that I have Emma, I want to be able to devote my all to being a mother, I can’t do both. Besides, I don’t want her growing up in a night club, I want her to strive for more, she’s going to take a lesson from Eden and Chase and be something great.”

“Sell it to me,” Landon blurted.

A pin could have dropped and the sound would have been earsplitting as Mikala and Mason stared at him in astonishment.

“Seriously?” Mason asked. “What do you know about running a club, let alone two clubs and an escort service?”

“Be serious Lando, I want to sell it as soon as I can,” Mikala said. “You want a coffee?”

“Not for me thanks…I know enough about P&P, anyway I don’t want it for me,” Landon announced. “What better wedding gift could I give Carl?”

Mason turned to Mikala and smiled. “What do you think?”

“It makes perfect sense that you and Carl take over,” she said. “But it’s a pretty big mortgage to carry. The overhead each month is crazy. You better make an appointment at your bank and see if you even qualify.”

“Do you have a price in mind?”

“I have the papers right here,” Mikala walked over to the dining room table.

Landon gently placed Emma, who was sleeping soundly, into the bassinet and covered her with a soft pink blanket, then met Mikala at the table and sat.