Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (3 page)

Second, Harmony
McKinnon had been hurt.  He didn’t know how or how deeply the pain ran, but he
was sure that whatever had happened had left a scar.  Her self-confidence was
almost non-existent, and compliments that other women would have eaten with a
spoon made her uncomfortable.  Not only that, but she didn’t believe him.  That
knowledge pissed him off and made him want to find the fuckwad that had made
her feel less than perfect and put him in the ground.  No woman as kind and
beautiful as her should ever be made to feel as small and insignificant as he
figured she felt.

The third and
last conclusion he’d drawn was that lying to Harmony was going to suck.  He was
going to hurt her.  Maybe not physically, but he suspected what he was going to
do would most likely cause her a lot more pain.  Because he was going to earn
her trust.  And ultimately, he was going to destroy it.

There was no
choice.

In his world, the
end always justified the means.

~~***~~

Sliding off the
back of his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Jacob sighed heavily as he swung one
heavy leg over his hog.  This job – which he was overseeing on his own time –
was
always
intended to be a means to an end.  The key was that he had to
remember that. 

All the pieces were
finally in motion, damn it.

Another of his
fellow agents was overseeing the day-to-day operations regarding the systematic
destruction of the drug pipeline that Diego Fuentes’ cartel was currently
trying to build between Miami and Tennessee.  His former partner, Luis Vega, or
‘Dante de la Cruz’ as he was known to Diego, had even spent the last two years
infiltrating Fuentes’ operation, becoming an invaluable asset to the head
Mexican honcho while keeping his DEA colleagues well-informed of every move the
wannabe drug czar made.  All the parties were in place to finally destroy the
man that had ultimately been responsible for the death of Jacob’s sister twenty-two
years ago.

Jacob, however, had
been given his own set of orders -- keep his hands off this case.  His Unit
Chief had been real clear about that.  He had a tendency to obey the old man
that had mentored him during his first years at the agency after he’d been plucked
out of the Army and recruited as an undercover agent with the DEA.  But his
boss had also casually suggested that the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in
Tennessee seemed like a real nice area to check out for Jacob’s upcoming
retirement – what with all the hunting and fishing he could do.  He’d also
added that those six months of vacation days that Jacob had banked over the
length of his career could be highly useful now.

It had taken Jacob
all of thirty seconds to make his decision.

This was personal,
but he’d play by the agency’s rules as much as he could.  Hell, as long as
Diego’s operation was taken down and the man was brought to justice, Jacob
didn’t care who got the credit for doing it.  Technically and as far as the DEA
was concerned, he was just a guy on vacation - a man staring retirement in the
eye and scouting for the location where he’d eventually retire in a few months
and start his own business.  So what if he’d decided he liked the atmosphere
the little laidback town of Paradise offered?  It was mere coincidence that
this tiny country hamlet was the location that Luis had reported would be the
hub for distribution into Eastern Tennessee.  It seemed one of Fuentes’ other
lackeys, Tanner Suarez, had connections to this town and had indicated it would
be the perfect low-key location to dole out the coke and ice they smuggled in
from Florida.  The nearby interstates were an obvious goldmine to the always
forward-thinking drug scum.

And it just so
happened that Tanner’s ‘connection’ to the area came in the form of one finest
pieces of ass he’d ever encountered and one of the cutest kids that Jacob had
ever laid eyes on.  It was hard to believe that little Heaven McKinnon was the
offspring of a man as slimy as Tanner.  Thankfully, the little girl took after
her mother in the looks department, down to her dark blonde hair.  The only
indication that she was even Tanner’s kid was her slight olive complexion. 

Yeah, he definitely
wouldn’t complain about the scenery surrounding Paradise.  Heaven, Harmony, and
Harmony’s three sisters were lookers that he wouldn’t mind staring at for a
good long while. 

He also couldn’t
deny that Mother Nature had done a damn good job in designing the Smoky
Mountains, which gave a stunning backdrop to the little town nestled in the
valley.  Main Street ran down the middle of an honest-to-goodness town square, 
and a real, working clock tower sat on top of the small courthouse, which also
housed the local Sheriff’s office and jail.  Around ten shops filled the
storefronts, from a florist to an attorney and all points in between.  Most
importantly, it was where the I Don’t Care Cafe was located, which was now his
favorite place.

If he was honest
about it, he liked the town and enjoyed its citizens.  Mostly, they were good,
decent folks trying to earn honest livings in tough times, all while managing
to keep their humanity in a time when most people were consumed with getting
ahead in life no matter who got hurt.  In Paradise, when someone was in
trouble, the entire town turned out in force to offer support.

He liked that.  A
lot.

After spending the
majority of his last ten years on the hardcore streets of Atlanta, Paradise was
a welcome respite.

Now, he just needed
to do what he could to keep the drug trade off this Main Street and the people
of this small corner of the world safe from harm.

And now that he was
certain that Harmony had no knowledge of anything to do with Diego and Tanner’s
plan to coat the Smoky Mountains in blow, that mission began by protecting the
McKinnon family.

Luckily, he’d been
building a great relationship with all four McKinnon women – but most
especially Harmony.  For weeks, he’d been slowly getting to know the shy young
mother, and every day he found something else he liked about her. 

He just hoped that
when all was said and done, he could convince Harmony that not everything about
their deepening relationship was a lie. 

Over the last
several weeks, he’d spent a lot of time sitting in his now-regular booth at the
cafe and talking with the younger woman as she’d worked.  Light conversations
had evolved into spirited debates on everything from politics to pop culture. 
He’d found that he liked what he saw and heard from her.  Harmony was a
genuinely hard worker that loved her daughter and wanted a better life for them
both.  She came from a loving family that supported her desire to be successful
in her new, fledgling wedding and party-planner business.  After organizing a
wedding for her sister, Faith, a month ago, word had gotten out in the small
town about Harmony’s talent for pulling together beautiful affairs on a tight
budget.  Before she’d realized what was happening, three couples had hired her
to plan their weddings and another two couples needed her to organize their
anniversary parties.  His Harmony was becoming a much in demand fixture in the
community and he was proud as hell of her.  A couple of classes away from
achieving her degree in event management, she was on her way.

Since her new
second career was beginning to demand a larger amount of her already non-existent
free time, he’d also began manipulating ‘accidental’ meetings outside the diner. 
It had been a little difficult finding ways to run into the young woman, but
thanks to the grocery store, the local church’s twice-weekly services (even
though it wasn’t Catholic; he didn’t care), and last week’s winter carnival,
he’d also had a chance to get to know Heaven, Harmony’s daughter.  His heart
softened as he thought of the precious little girl that Harmony’s body had
produced.  Smart as a whip and cuter than hell, that little girl had somehow
wrapped herself around his heart.

It was thanks to
Heaven that he had an actual date with Harmony scheduled for tonight.  When the
precocious four-year-old had decreed last night that her mommy needed a grown-up
time out so that she could spend the night making cookies with her Aunt Honor,
it had been
him
that she’d put in charge. 

~~***~~

“You takes her
out and feed her, ‘kay?” Heaven had ordered seriously as she’d munched her
plate of French fries across from him inside the restaurant.  “But she can’t
have any ice cream unless she eats all her veggies and one of ‘em has gotta be
green.  Dat’s da rule, Mistah Jake.”

~~***~~

Harmony had been so
stunned by her daughter’s decree that she’d accepted his invitation
automatically when he’d offered to take her off Heaven’s hands for the night.

Yeah, that kid had
earned herself a special place in his heart right beside the one that her
mother had filled.  He only hoped that when all was said and done, he could
keep them there.

If tonight’s date
went the way he hoped, he’d be one step closer to cementing himself in their
lives.

~~***~~

“Stone!” a deep,
male voice shouted from the gravel parking lot behind him.  Pausing in his long
strides, Jacob winced.  He’d wondered how long he’d had before this
confrontation occurred.  He’d actually thought he’d have another good week, but
it seemed the sand had finally drained from his hourglass.

Or, in other words,
time was fuckin’ up.

Turning on the heel
of his black-buckled motorcycle boot, Jacob pasted what he hoped looked like a
benign smile across his lips.  He probably looked more serial killer than
social butterfly, but he was trying, dammit!  He nodded toward the man walking
toward him.  “Sheriff. What can I do for you?”

Jacob watched as
the other man’s gaze sized him up.  He couldn’t blame the lawman’s barely
concealed distrust.  If he was the sheriff and a guy that looked the way he did
wandered into his town out of the blue and set up camp, he’d get suspicious,
too.  At 6’4”, Jacob towered above most men.  The Sheriff almost matched him in
height, but that was where the similarities ended.  Jacob possessed a lean,
hard muscled stature, while the sheriff was a shade wider with thickly muscled
arms.  Jacob, with wild and unruly long black hair that he kept tied with a
piece of leather at the nape of his neck most of the time and a fully-sleeved
arm of colorful tattoos, understood that most people thought he was one half
thug, one half redneck, and one hundred percent scary.  The sheriff, on the
other hand, maintained a trimmed, almost-military haircut and projected a good
natured, good-ol’ boy personality that instinctively drew people to him.

The two men were as
different as night and day, but Jacob still liked the other man and usually
enjoyed his company.  They’d shared a few drinks over the last couple of weeks,
usually in the early evenings.  He’d been at the bar watching Harmony work and
chatting with her when time allowed, and Zeke had often stopped by on his way
home from work to follow Honor home after she’d put in her day at the café. 
He’d witnessed more than one skirmish between the two since the youngest
McKinnon sister had informed the sheriff on several occasions that she was
perfectly capable of seeing herself home.  It never seemed to faze the lawman
or alter the course he set in the slightest.  Given the fact that those
McKinnon girls had proven more than once that they were a handful, Jacob could
definitely respect the other man’s fortitude.

Yeah, he enjoyed
the mostly-quiet Sheriff’s company just fine, but he’d never felt quite
comfortable when people saw them sitting together at the bar or his booth at
the back of the cafe.  He wasn’t sure it was because of all the false pretenses
behind his presence in Paradise or because Zeke made him wish that he’d gone a
different route in law enforcement.  The only thing he knew for sure was that
he wasn’t used to self-doubt plaguing him.  Either way, it wasn’t Zeke’s fault
that Jacob felt like a whore attending a cotillion when he stood beside the
other man.

Offering a mental
sigh, Jacob resigned himself to the fact that he was simply an actor that would
do anything he needed to do in order to perform his role convincingly.  To fit
in with the seedy underbelly of drug scum that he’d dealt with during his long
career, he couldn’t exactly be seen wandering around the streets in three-piece
suits.  Besides, his standard uniform of boots, black jeans, tight black tee,
and leather jacket worked for him.  It was comfortable.

He tried to relax
his stance as the Sheriff approached, purposefully loosening his shoulders. 
Ezekiel Monroe was a keen observer of human nature, and appearing aggressive or
defensive wouldn’t exactly aid Jake’s cause right now.  He knew he’d never look
harmless, but he hoped he could at least achieve relaxed.

“You got a minute
for a little chat?” the Sheriff asked as he came closer.

“Sure.  Can I buy
you a beer?” Jacob jerked his head toward the door that led into the bar
portion of the I Don’t Care Café.

“Actually, for this
conversation, I’d rather remain outside if you don’t mind.  Plus, I still
consider myself on duty,” Zeke replied, his tone revealing nothing as he
glanced at the watch on his wrist.  Jerking his head toward the duo of picnic
tables at the corner of the building where the staff often sat for smoke breaks,
the sheriff smiled thinly.  “Mind if we sit though?  It’s been a long day.”