Page 40 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“What?” The only time they’d been in the same room together for more than forty minutes was on her wedding day. “When?”

“The day you married Kade’s brother.”

She shook her head, still finding this revelation difficult to swallow. Even after his confession that he’d never stopped thinking about her, she hadn’t realized how much she’d actually hurt him. “He barely knew me then. We spent forty minutes in an elevator.”

“For some guys, forty minutes is enough.”

The door leading down to the beach had opened, letting warm air swirl inside. A moment later, Smoke trotted into the kitchen.

“Enough for what?” Kade asked.

“Enough time to fill me in on what’s going on.” Jamie handed Kade a beer. “I’m pretty beat, so let’s get to it.”

Kade’s gaze darted from Jamie’s to hers, as if he knew they’d been on a totally different conversational track. He pulled out another stool. “How long you sticking around this time?”

Jamie shrugged. “Not sure. For now, I’m in a holding pattern.”

Kade narrowed his eyes on his friend. “What are you waiting for?”

“A phone call. As soon as my new phone gets here.” Jamie took a long slug of beer, then swallowed. “But I don’t expect to hear anything for at least a week.”

Laia suspected Kade wanted to shout bull, but the only indication he wasn’t buying into what Jamie had just related was the subtle tapping of his finger against the side of his beer. “What about the Port Authority?”

“I’ve been on loan to another agency for a while now. Until they call, I’m all yours.”

“Okay then,” was all Kade said. But from his darkening expression, she understood that whatever kind of work Jamie did, it was covert. And dangerous. “The Colon Cartel has been following Laia. They broke into her house when she wasn’t home and tossed it. Then they tracked her to my house. This time it’s not just about the missing ledger.”

“Ah, the missing ledger,” Jamie said. “You always figured Josh kept one.”

“Yeah, and now word on the street is that Josh also stole money from Fernando Colon. Two million dollars.”

Jamie’s brows shot to his hairline. “What’s the plan?”

“Manny Dominguez is working on it. I’m putting money on the street with some old informants. In the meantime, we’ll go back to her house and poke around.” He turned to her. “Is it okay if Jamie watches Rosa for us?”

Laia took a harder look across the island at this man who so obviously harbored dark, dangerous secrets, wishing she could read his mind. It was on the tip of her tongue to object and suggest they take her daughter with them, but that would be stupid.

The cartel didn’t know about this beach house, so Rosa was safer here. What’s more, whoever Jamie really was and whoever he worked for, she surmised that, like Kade, he had skills. Skills she suspected involved mortal combat. Judging by his heavily muscled physique and the deadly weapons he’d stored on top of that shelf she had no doubt he could protect Rosa from anything or anyone.

“Okay.” She nodded, still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her precious daughter with yet another total stranger. But if a supermodel could keep Rosa safe, this enigmatic man definitely could.

She yawned and covered her mouth. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed.”

As she left the kitchen, Laia felt both men watching her. Jamie obviously knew something about how she and Kade met. For that matter, Kade’s friend, Deck, also apparently knew something. She hadn’t missed his whiplash reaction when Kade had introduced them.

She climbed the stairs, opening Rosa’s door to find her daughter snoring lightly. After quietly closing the door, she went down the hall to her bedroom. Rather than go through her nightly ritual involving more toiletries than she could count, she slipped into her favorite green nightie and fell into bed.

Another yawn had her touching her fingers to her mouth. That kiss. Her body shivered just thinking about it. Somehow, she’d always known Kade would be a good kisser. And she could only imagine how skilled he’d be at lovemaking. He’d be the kind of man who would put her needs first because of how unselfish she now knew him to be.

Despite what Josh had told her.

She ought to have been angry about his deception but wasn’t. That hardly seemed fair. Because she was lying to Kade about something, too.

Chances were he also had secrets. Everyone did.

Including her. About Rosa.

The only difference was how many people would be hurt if hers was ever revealed. She’d been keeping it for six years but had a feeling it would come out soon.