Temptation, The Complete Serial Series 1-4 (The Temptation Serial Series) (8 page)

I held Brooklyn’s head all night as she repeatedly paid homage to the porcelain god. Poor thing. It could’ve been worse, though. That cop was gonna lock her up. I could see it in his eyes: part rage and part hella turned on. I doubted Brook would even remember the episode. Maybe I wouldn’t bother telling her.

I could be very persuasive. The hotel sucked and there was absolutely nothing to do in this town. Maybe with those arguments, I could get her to move along down the road to a new town. We’d probably already worn out our welcome here, anyway.

Brooklyn was stretched out in the center of the circular bed, one arm slung over her eyes, snoring lightly. So when my phone began vibrating across the plastic end table, I snatched it up and headed outside, easing the door closed behind me. It was Shane.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey,” he said in that sexy voice of his. “I miss you, Sin.”

“I miss you, too.” There was an awkward pause and I knew something was off. He did that when he was pumping himself up to tell me bad news. “Just tell me.”

He cleared his throat. “Think you can meet me in D.C.?”

“When?”

“I can get there tomorrow.”

I leaned back against the building’s cinder blocks, the cool seeping into my skin. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“Is she safe?”

Blowing out a sigh, I nodded, not that he could see me. “I think so.”

“You can fly or drive, but you need to meet me tomorrow. My flight lands at three thirty-four PM.”

“She’s in trouble, isn’t she?”

He paused again. “Big trouble, Sin. Riley found something and I think we need to visit your dad. We need help that only he can give us.”

My gasp filled the air. “That bad?” I couldn’t keep my voice from quivering.

“Yeah.”

“Then, yes. I’ll be there.”

The night manager, a woman who looked like she’d time-traveled from the seventies, stepped out into the bright morning sunshine and stretched her back. When she saw me outside, she stopped dead in her tracks and scowled. What the hell was her problem? I was about to go ask her when Shane said, “You still there?”

“Yeah. Just… processing.”

“Call your dad and have him make dinner reservations. I’ll meet you at four-thirty at the Lincoln Memorial.”

“Lincoln. Got it.”

“No, but your sexy ass is gonna get it.”

“Stop thinking about sex when my bestie’s in trouble!”

“Men think about sex all the time, babe. It’s a scientific fact. And I’m not a regular man. I’m an Alpha. Deal with that shit.”

I huffed, but wore a grin on my face.

“See you tomorrow, Shane.”

“Love you, Sin.”

“Love you.”

I hit the end call button and slid back into the room to think about what I was going to tell Brooklyn.

Peeking out from the crook of my elbow, I croaked, “What time is it?”

Morgan laughed and answered, “Noon.”

I groaned and sat up slowly, keeping my eyes closed for a few minutes. “Thirty is awful. I am definitely never drinking again. Ever.”

She laughed again, way too loudly. I was still considering a replacement bestie when she announced that I stunk, needed a shower, and that we could scout the area for a better place to stay once I dragged my butt out of this room.

I didn’t want to leave this room. The round bed was growing on me. The shag carpet? I could roll with it. I really could.

But Sin wasn’t having it. So I rolled my butt out of bed and took a much needed shower. I
was
stinky.
Bar stink is the worst.
Cigarettes and beer and who knew what else from last night still clung to my skin. We’d stuck to the bar so the thrusting men would leave us alone. At least there was that.

***

Lyra’s lunch rush was over, so with my hair pulled back in a messy knot and sunglasses still on my face, I slid onto the bench across the booth from Morgan. Rose told another waitress to take a break and walked perkily over to our table. “Well, looks like
someone
had fun last night!”

“Shhh!” I hissed like a vampire who’d stepped into the sunlight and burned her hind end off.

Rose just chuckled and sat down beside Sin. They were both on my list. Rose grinned cheekily and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “I heard you got into a bit of trouble last night when you groped Officer Stone!”

Whatever. Like I would really grope a police officer. That would be stupid with a capital
S
. I scoffed. “Who’d you hear that from?”

Sin froze up and opened her mouth to speak, but clamped it shut just as quickly. I tilted my head, silently telling her to say what she was gonna say.

Rose beat her to the punch. “Wanda, my sister, owns the place. She’s the bartender, too. Everyone is talking about it. She said he almost hauled you out of there in cuffs!”

I tried to sift through the blurry memories from last night. I didn’t remember a police officer at all. I didn’t even think any of the guys from the review were dressed like one either.

“Well I think they must be mistaken. I don’t remember anything like that. Do you, Morg?”

She swallowed thickly and nodded slowly.

Oh. No.

“Are you kidding me?” I whisper-yelled at her.

She shook her head no.

My fist hit the table with a loud bang that made my head ring. “Damn it!”

Rose bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Not that I blame you, honey. Colt Stone…whew. If I were twenty years younger or didn’t care about being a cougar, I’d go after him, too!” She fanned herself with the order booklet and then asked what we’d like to eat or drink.

I lost my appetite.

“Where you from, honey?” Rose asked.

“Vegas,” Sin chirped and then proceeded to tell her that she was a photographer and I was a burlesque dancer. You should’ve seen her eyes light up at that tidbit of information.

And then the truth came out. Sin recounted how I got plastered, mistook the police officer for one of the male strippers, groped said police officer, and then how she talked him out of arresting me… after I vomited all over his shoes and pants.

Kill me now.

And despite not having placed an order for a burger and fries, Rose brought one anyway. I was glad she did. The food from Lyra’s was like manna from heaven, the eraser of all awful hangovers. After eating a bit of the grease, I felt so much better.

When Rose brought our bill, Morgan asked her, “Do you know of any apartments or houses that might be for rent—preferably on a monthly lease?”

Rose smiled sweetly and tucked an errant strand of graying hair behind her ear, along with her pen. “I happen to know of one place. There’s a set of condos that are being renovated. Only three of them are finished, and two are already occupied. The third is sittin’ empty and people aren’t excited to move in because of all the construction noise. I’m sure any rent would be better than none, but you’ll have to ask the owner or the manager.” She prattled on, giving Sin directions that would get a local lost, and then gave strict instructions to talk to Willy, but not to let him give us any lip, whatever that meant.

Sin had driven the entire trip and at that point I wanted nothing more than to get behind the wheel of a car, hit the gas, and feel the engine purr to life. So unbeknownst to her, I raced her in an unadvertised race and won, sliding into the driver’s seat before she could scream any more at me.

“Be my navigator!” I pleaded. “I wasn’t even listening to the directions.”
Sucka.
Reluctantly, she flopped into the passenger seat and buckled up, handing the keys to me and then clutching the Oh, Shit! bar. I just smiled, threw it in reverse and then peeled out of the parking lot like Mario Andretti on crack.

The two lane highway was empty, and with the windows down and the radio up, Morg finally relaxed and started singing along to Ke$ha. She was my go-to for feel good music. The sun was shining, I didn’t feel like I was going to die anymore, (though my abs were sore from the puke workout they got last night) and things were looking up.

I smiled and looked into the rear view mirror, where all that momentary happiness fell away. Blue and red lights were flashing from the roof of a white cop car behind me. “Ugh, hold on.” I pulled to the shoulder and dug my license out of my wallet while Morg found the registration for the rental in the dash.

The crunching of dry grass beneath boots said my warden was closing in. Taking a deep breath, I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked up at . . .wow. He was just yummy. Dark stubble on his chin that I bet matched what was under his dark blue cop hat. What were those hats called? Meh. I didn’t care. The square chin, thin top lip and bottom lip so plump it had a crease in the middle were enough eye candy for me.

Placing both hands on the roof, he leaned down with a smirk on his face.
He must be a douche, and very conceited. Sigh.

“Long time no see,” he said with a chuckle. “How are you feeling today?”

I glanced at Sin, who was covering her mouth but openly laughing now.
No. Nonononono. NO! Not him. Please say I didn’t puke on him.
I looked to Sin, who nodded so slightly I almost missed it.

Shit on toast. I couldn’t get a freakin’ break to save my soul.

Straightening my spine, I gripped the steering wheel as though it was his neck I was wringing and answered with a growl. “I’m perfectly fine, as you can see. Now, can we go, please?”

He chuckled. “That depends on where you’re goin’, Darlin’.”

“Does that southern drawl drop panties for you everywhere you go?”

He smirked, pretending to ponder the answer to my question. “Most of the time, yes.”

“Well, it doesn’t do a thing for me, so unless you’re writing me a ticket for something, we need to go. We have a meeting.”

Officer Vain stiffened. “Meeting with whom? For what?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, but we have a meeting with Willy about renting a condo at his complex.”

He ducked his head into the car, like… into the cab, and smiled while I tried to crab-crawl backward into Sin’s lap. She shoved me forward. Traitor bestie.

With a wry smile, he affirmed, “His condo complex, huh?”

“Yes. Now can we go?”

He ducked back out of the car and I released a pent-up breath. Tapping the roof, he drawled, “Y’all take it slow around here. Whole town’s a speed trap.”

Then his feet crunch-crunched back to his cruiser.

I wasted no time leaving him in the dust.

I needed to see Willy. STAT.

***

Willy was an old man with floppy wrinkled skin so tan it looked like he was covered in leather. We found him at the condo complex, dipping a test tube into what looked like a brand new swimming pool. The complex itself was a set of eight. I’d have called them townhouses because each condo had an upstairs, downstairs, and even a small back porch, but each was its own building; separate from the rest, providing enough privacy but still allowing for a sense of community. The eight white-sided, miniature houses were arranged in a circle and shared a beautifully landscaped common area with a pool in the center.

“Well, well. What have we here?” Willy said, rising to his feet. He had on jean shorts and nothing else, not even shoes. His head was bald on top, but with a long, gray biker-ish braid in the back that hung down to the edge of his jean shorts. It had obviously been a very long time since Willy saw a barber.

“Hey,” I said with a wave. “Rose from Lyra’s sent us to see you. She said you had a condo available for rent on a monthly lease?”

He ticked his head back. “Rose sent you, huh?”

“Yeah. She said you… it’s no problem. Maybe she was mistaken.”

Morgan and I turned to go when he stopped us. “I think it’s okay. I didn’t know she was sending you is all. I can rent it to you by the month. The owner might throw a fit, but I’m the property manager.” He hiked his jeans up on one side with the belt loop and stood a little taller, straightening his bowed back.