Ninja Soccer Moms (10 page)

I looked at my own beer bottle and thought of the margarita mix I'd stocked up on for Angel's Tempt-an-Angel lingerie party the next night. Sophie had already told Angel she was coming to the party. I shifted my gaze back to Grandpa. “You're a genius. I'll ply Sophie with margaritas and get some answers.”

Grandpa beamed at me. “Always good to get your audience in a cooperating state of mind before you trick them.”

I laughed, then went over and hugged Grandpa. “I love you, Grandpa. And not just because you are clever and devious. Now let's go look at the cards the boys made on the computer.”

 

 

The boys and I spent an hour and a half picking a card, then chatting and watching TV. They talked me into eating an ice cream sandwich. Once they went off to bed, I pulled out my Rolodex phone tree. The phone tree began life as my soccer mom tool, then segued into a rich source of information when I moonlighted as a private investigator.

I'd been toying with the idea of calling a few people and asking what they might know about Chad and Dara. But something held me back.

I wasn't sure what Dara Reed's secret was. What if she was hiding from an abusive husband, ex-husband, or boyfriend, and my snooping through my phone tree contacts somehow led the guy right to her?

I didn't know what questions to ask yet. Though protecting TJ and Joel was uppermost in my mind since the telephone message threat, I couldn't risk exposing Dara until I knew her story.

I set the phone tree back in the kitchen. I walked through the house and made sure all the doors and windows were locked. I double-checked to make sure the alarm system was on.

Then I looked in on the boys. TJ slept in the bottom bunk. He was on his side facing the door, his blanket tucked carefully around him. He looked so much like his handsome father that it made me pause. But TJ was more of a man at fourteen than Trent had ever been. He had the sensitivity to spot a quiet sadness in Dara Reed's son, Josh. And to worry that Chad had somehow used the boy. I smiled in the night, looking at TJ. He had a good heart to go with his father's good looks.

I shifted my gaze to Joel sprawled out on the top bunk, with his covers tangled around his legs. He looked more like me than his dad. He had inherited Trent's charm, along with his grandfather's craftiness. Watching Joel just beginning to cross over into manhood made my heart swell and ache at the same time. I felt nostalgia for the happy, chubby baby that lingered in my memory, and pride at the young man he was becoming.

Lord, I must be getting old.

I glanced at Ali on the floor, spread out on her side. She opened one eye to assure me that she was on the job looking out for my two sons, then closed it again. I pulled the door halfway shut so Ali could get out if she wanted to and continued down the hallway to my room. Grandpa's light was still on, so he was reading in bed.

Which is exactly what I planned to do. I had started a really hot romance novel yesterday morning when Janie came into my office. I couldn't wait to finish it and get started on the review. It was a fabulous book, funny and sensual at the same time. Once in my room, I shut the door almost all the way. I got undressed, washed the makeup off my face, put on my “Romance Rocks” T-shirt and socks, then climbed into bed. I opened the book and slipped away from murders, crying clients, blackmailing detectives, and annoying boyfriends.

I don't know how long I had been reading when the book was suddenly ripped from my hand.

Adrenaline and confusion slammed into me. I opened my mouth to scream while trying to figure out what was going on.

“Don't scream.” Gabe stood over me in his black T-shirt and jeans, holding my romance novel.

Finally, my terrified lungs relaxed and I demanded, “Give me that! They were just going to do it!”

Gabe's face changed. Male interest practically oozed from his eyes. He dropped his gaze to the page I was on. “Damn, that's not the reading I had to do in high school.” He looked at me.

I refused to be embarrassed. I loved romance novels. I loved the heroines, and right now, that was more than I could say for Gabe. “What are you doing here?”

He dropped his gaze to my breasts.

Uh-oh.
That romance novel had me so into the characters, I was practically a walking sex act waiting to happen. Definitely a five-star rating for sexual tension. To Gabe, I said, “It's late and I'm going to sleep. You obviously know your way out. And give me my book.”

He tossed the book across the room so that it landed on my desk.

Okay, we weren't going to do this the easy way. I threw back the covers, swung my legs out of bed, and stood up. My right hip balked at that. Boy, it was going to hurt tomorrow. I ignored the pain and turned to Gabe. “Okay, you broke into my house, bypassed my guard dog, and appeared in my bedroom at—” I glanced at the green dials of my bedside clock—“almost midnight. I'm impressed as hell. So what do you want?”

“Let's start with why Vance almost arrested you.”

I glared at him. “First tell me how you found the tracking device on your truck.” I'd been so sure we'd gotten away with it.

“My mom told me she saw Angel skulking around my truck.” He crossed his arms, waiting.

Gabe's mom was too smart, just like her son. I took a deep breath. “Your little stunt of moving the tracking device led me right to Chad's office. I thought you were in there. Turns out Vance was in there waiting for someone to break in. He had me handcuffed before I could talk him out of it.”

The ends of Gabe's mouth twitched. “It looks like you talked your way out of it eventually.”

“Once he blackmailed me into spying for him.” I had to swallow that down.

“Who are you supposed to spy on?”

“Rick Mesa and Sophie Muffley.” Why was I telling Gabe this? We weren't working together, so I didn't need to feed him information.

“What about Dara?”

I made a face. “No. Vance correctly surmised that you and I were not working together or communicating. I believe the tracking device on his car was the tip-off. He's really a good detective. Now if you are done playing twenty questions, will you leave?”

Gabe's intensity settled on me. “But I'm not done, sugar. Why are you favoring your right hip?”

Shit, they were both good detectives. “When Vance caught me, I hit the counter in Chad's little office kitchen. Now that you are fully informed, maybe you can lock the door on your way out.”

In the light from my nightstand, I saw his face tighten with a dark anger. “Let me see.”

I used my hand to wave him off. “My hip is the least of my problems.”

An eyebrow went up. “You want to do this the hard way?”

My temper snapped. “Where were you tonight? You were so big on teamwork until Dara the slut showed up in your life. Now you are secretive, and God only knows what your mother is doing here!”

Gabe stepped forward until he towered over me. “I asked you to work with me, Sam.”

“You demanded that I leap without a net! You wouldn't tell me anything! I saw Dara yesterday morning, Gabe. She looked mad enough to have killed Chad.” I'll never forget the way she looked at Chad and me when she walked into the office and saw Chad sprayed with whipped cream.

“She didn't.”

Anger throbbed in my head. “Then what is she hiding? What are you hiding? And why am I getting threats on my answering machine?”

Gabe's voice dropped to deadly. “What threats?”

I stared back at him. “I was looking for you tonight to tell you about it. It was just a message on my answering machine. I told Vance. All it said was ‘Stay out of Chad Tuggle's murder. He got what was coming to him. So will you if you get too nosy.' ”

“That's why you went into Chad's office? To tell me about the threat?”

I looked away. “It doesn't matter. I have it under control. I told Vance about it.” I would take care of the boys and myself. Tonight had been an abject lesson in why I shouldn't rely on a man.

“Babe—”

I cut him off. “You know what pisses me off the most? I'm starting to get the feeling that I am wrong about Dara Reed. That I misjudged her. But the whole town is keeping some secret and you”—I turned back and looked at him—“are keeping it from me, too.”

“Christ.” He raised his hand to drag it through his hair. “Sam, I'm caught here. I have to protect Dara. You have to understand that. Especially if you are working with Vance.” He dropped his hand and fixed his gaze on me. “But that doesn't change what's between us.”

We were both caught. Probably by more than either of us was admitting. “I can't do that! I can't separate out—”

“Yes, you can,” he reached out and took a hand full of my shirt, pulling me into him, into his hard body, and his mouth.

Oh yeah. I could.

“Mom!”

Startled, I pried my face from Gabe's and looked at TJ standing in my doorway. God. “What?” I tried to sound like it was no big deal that I was standing in my bedroom at midnight fusing tongues with Gabe. I'd sworn to myself that my sons would never see this.

TJ's face was pale. “Mom! Ali's growling. There's someone on the front porch!”

O
hmigod! Someone was on the front porch! I could hear Ali's vicious growls peppered with an occasional bark now. I raced out of the bedroom.

Gabe caught me at the door to TJ and Joel's bedroom. “Stay here with the boys.” He reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. Then he disappeared around the corner.

“Mom?” Joel's huge sleepy eyes looked up at me. “What's going on? Why is Gabe here?”

I reached out and pulled Joel into my arms. “TJ and Ali heard someone on the front porch.” I didn't answer the part about Gabe being here.

When Gabe came back, he had a prisoner.

“Lionel!” I shouted.

“Mom, who is that?” Joel leaned into me.

“It's all right, Joel. He's a client.”

“Sam! Tell this buffoon to let go of me. I'm taking up watch over you.” Lionel rolled his gaze down to my bare legs. “You shouldn't have him here when you're dressed like that.”

“He was asleep in the chair on the porch,” Gabe said. “He doesn't have any weapons, just nose spray.”

Sometimes I wondered if all the crazies had some kind of homing device that made them zero in on Heart Mates and me. “Lionel.” I let go of TJ and Joel and walked over to him. He had several inches and many pounds on me, but I made up the difference with my fury. “Did you leave me a phone message today?”

He looked down. “No, ma'am. You were kind of cranky today, you know . . . Maybe it's your woman's thing or something, but I decided that I couldn't reason with you. So I thought I'd just come over and sit a spell on your porch to make sure you were safe. Hey, are these your sons?”

“Woman's thing?
Did you say I was cranky because of my
woman's thing?”
I looked back at Gabe. “Where's your gun?”

Gabe's whole face twitched. “Babe, you can't shoot him.”

“Are you sure? He's an intruder in my house.”
Woman's thing?
I was unreasonable? He's the lunatic who tried to attack Gabe.

Lionel said, “I kind of hate to point this out, Samantha, but you are acting irrational right now. Do you want me to get you some Midol?”

TJ and Joel both snickered.

That did it. “All right, boys, both of you back to bed. Ali, you stay with the boys. Lionel, go home.”

He widened his big brown teddy-bear eyes. “But what about your Midol?”

“Gabe, give me your gun!”

Lionel held up his hands. “Okay! I'm going!” He turned and hurried out the front door.

I turned to Gabe. “You too. Leave.”

He grinned at me. “Do you need Midol?”

First raging hormones, then raging adrenaline with no relief, had me tense enough to chew glass. “Get out, Gabe.”

“I don't think so, babe. I tend to agree with you that Lionel's not a real threat, but then again, I think you'd drive Gandhi himself to violence. I'm staying.”

I grit my teeth. Every time I got close to working it out in my head with Gabe, he changed. “I thought you were protecting Dara.”

“Mom's with her.”

Hard to argue with that. Gabe's mom scared
me.
“Can your mom really shoot that gun?”

“She's won awards.”

I didn't know what to say to that. Really, I didn't. I turned away from Gabe and went into the kitchen for Tylenol. Reaching up to the top of the cupboard, I yelped when I felt Gabe's hand on my waist. One hand pinned my stomach against the counter, the other lifted my shirt. “What are you doing?”

“Checking your hip.” His index finger slid into the waistband of my panties, tugging it down.

I shivered.

“Bruised.” He said, leaning into me. “I can kiss it better.”

TJ had walked in on us. I couldn't do this. I wanted TJ and Joel to know I was there for them, not out man-chasing somewhere. Not even Gabe-chasing. “Gabe, the boys—”

He pressed his body into me. “I'll sleep out on the couch.” He let go of the back of my panties, slid his hand around my hip and between my legs. “After.”

“Sammy,” Grandpa's voice broke through my lust haze. “What's all the noise?”

“Fuck,” Gabe snarled into my ear. “Want me to shoot
him?”

 

 

The phone woke me from a restless sleep. “Hello?”

“Sam? It's Roxy. Are you awake?”

Her voice sounded thick and tearful. “Roxy!” I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My clock glowed a green six-thirty A.M. “What happened yesterday? Why didn't you meet me at Duncan's Nursery?”

“I got held up. Uncle Duncan . . .” She started to cry.

“Roxy, what's the matter?”

She took a shuddering breath. “Sam, can you meet me this morning? I'll tell you everything then. I need someone I can trust.”

Her voice wavered, but she sounded like she had gotten control. “Is Duncan all right?”

A beat passed, then she said, “He just loves me so much. But he's okay. Duncan wants me to be happy, Sam. I told him I could trust you. Is nine this morning at Smash Coffee okay with you?”

I was confused, but that's pretty normal for six-thirty in the morning. “Yes, I'll be there, Roxy.” Hanging up the phone, I realized that maybe it wasn't such an odd conversation. Roxy was man-miserable, and Duncan might blame me for that since she was using my dating service. But Roxy trusted me to help her figure out what she really wanted. Okay, I'd meet with Roxy and find out what was bothering her, what happened on her date with Kevin (the financial advisor who drives a limo), and then talk about a new profile for her.

I stood and tried to stretch out the kinks from a restless night's sleep. I had tossed and turned, knowing that Gabe was sleeping on my couch. I was having trouble balancing my boyfriend and my sons.

Then there was the case. My working with Vance was a problem for Gabe, which meant he and Dara had something to hide from Vance. What?

I threw on a pair of sweatpants and headed down the hallway. I needed answers from Gabe.

The couch was empty, with a pillow and a neatly folded blanket at one end. “I just can't catch a break.”

“Hey, Sam.”

I turned around to see Grandpa sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper. “Morning, Grandpa.” I went into the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, and started the process of making lunches for the boys. “I see Gabe left.”

“Gone when I got up.”

I put together sandwiches and took out some frozen brownies. “He's doing that a lot lately. I forgot to give him Lionel's background check.”

Grandpa looked up. “Gabe said he was going to check into Lionel, Sam. He was concerned.”

I put the lunches on the end of the counter for the boys, then got out bowls and spoons for their breakfasts. “I thought you said he was gone when you got up.”

“I talked to him last night when he went out on the porch to cool off.”

Heat splashed over my face. “Uh, good. I mean, good that he's looking into Lionel.” Part of me was glad Gabe was overheated, but I was a mother first. “Gabe came by because—”

“Probably was a good thing he was here. Make that Lionel realize you got someone looking out for you.” He turned the page of the newspaper.

This was the hard thing about being a single parent. I didn't have the other half of the parental unit to discuss this stuff with. “Grandpa, I don't want TJ and Joel to get the wrong idea. Gabe slept on the couch last night.”

He closed the paper and looked up at me. “TJ and Joel like Gabe. They respect him. They almost busted a gut laughing when they realized that when you had put a tracker on his car, he switched it to a cop's car.”

I thought of the two of them rolling around on the floor playing with Ali. I had attributed their laughter to their silliness, not mine. I sighed and said, “I'm glad they enjoyed my folly.”

“Oh, they did, but they were also impressed. Not only because you managed to get the device on Gabe's truck, but also because Gabe treated you just like he would anyone else by moving it to Vance's car. He doesn't pull his punches with you. He doesn't treat you like a little woman who needs a man to hold her hand. What do you think you are teaching TJ and Joel about men and women?”

I sipped my coffee. “How to laugh at their mother.”

Grandpa grinned. “That. But look at it from their point of view. Gabe's an ex-cop, a PI and a cool guy, right? And he knew you could handle him switching the tracking device. He had faith in you, Sam. If Gabe Pulizzi has faith in their mom, then their mom must be pretty capable.”

“Yeah, but when TJ came running in my room last night—” I winced, remembering times I'd gone in my mother's room and she had a man there. She had been angry.

“Did you or Gabe get mad at TJ?”

“No, of course not! God, Grandpa, TJ was scared. There was a strange man on the porch. I would never be mad at him for that. Gabe all but shoved me into their room, told me to stay with the boys, and went outside to check it out.”

“So you both took TJ seriously. TJ felt like he did the right thing.”

“He did do the right thing.”

“There you go. TJ knows he can come get you any time he needs you.” He got up, coming over to me. “The truth is the boys accept Gabe. He treats them, and you, with respect. Honey, no one is asking you to stop being a woman.”

I met his gaze. “Thanks, Grandpa. Me and the boys are lucky to have you.”

He grinned, then moved past me to get some more coffee. “I made a backup of the SCOLE disk for you. I want to take a closer look at that and see if there's something we missed.”

I nodded. “That will help. When do you think you'll get more on Dara?”

“Today or tomorrow at the latest.” That was the last thing we said as the boys and Ali blew into the kitchen. Breakfast, lost shoes, parent signatures, and general before-school chaos took over the rest of the early morning.

 

 

I was inching my way through the heavy fog in the general direction of the sheriff's station, and running late. The SCOLE disk was in my purse, but it was already ten minutes to nine. I didn't want to be late for my meeting with Roxy at Smash Coffee.

Frankly, I didn't trust her to wait for me. She was too weepy and on edge.

I was on Lakeshore and came to the fork in the road. If I veered right, that would take me along the edge of the lake and to the sheriff's station.

The left fork put me on Graham Street. Then I could turn left on Main Street, hop on the 15 Freeway, and be at Smash Coffee by nine.

I had a second to decide. I took the left fork and headed for Smash Coffee. I'd run the disk back to Vance at the sheriff's station after I saw Roxy.

From the 15 Freeway, I took the Railroad Canyon off-ramp and turned left. Then a right on Grape Street. Smash Coffee was located in the Wal-Mart shopping center. I parked the T-bird and got out into the cold fog.

I felt my hair spring out of gel mold and into a frizzy twist. So much for my grooming this morning. I gave up and went inside.

The aroma of fresh ground coffee mixed with the yeasty smell of baked goods pulled me into the shop. The right side of the store had a counter built over scads of glass containers filled with coffee beans. A bakery case rose up at the end of the counter, displaying muffins and cookies.

“Sam!” Dominic Danger rushed around the counter and came toward me. “You have got to see Anastasia. She's a beast, but of course I adore her.” He engulfed me in a bear hug. Releasing me, he kept hold of my hands. “Anastasia is at the groomer's today, though. She's having her nails done.”

I blinked up at the onslaught and laughed. “You are spoiling that cat.” I had acquired a kitten a while back sort of by default while investigating the death of a friend of mine and Dom's. It had turned out that Dom's business partner was the killer. Once all the drama was over, Dom surprised me by taking the kitten. I looked Dom over. Spiky blond hair, hazel eyes, flawless skin, and tight leather pants paired with a sheer black shirt that fell beautifully around his golden pecs. Dominic was an actor in the small community theater. Speculation on Dom's sexual preference was a favorite topic of gossip. I think Dom purposely dressed to keep people guessing and interested.

“And how are you, Sam?” Still holding my hands, he spread my arms to look at me. “Interesting. Suede skirt with . . . Is that a Nordstrom's T-shirt? It's divine. I would have sworn suspenders were over, but they work on you, luv. With those boots, it's a sexy jockey look.”

Smiling, I managed to get my hands back. “You look fabulous, as always.”

“Of course,” Dom waved his manicured hand and headed around the counter. “What can I get you this morning?”

“Actually, I'm meeting Roxy here, Roxanne Gabor. Do you know her?”

Dom started grinding some coffee beans. Over the noise he said, “Roxy? Sure I know her. She has the loveliest collection of silk scarves. Not many women can really pull that off, you know.” The coffee grinder stopped. “Try my Mocha Bounce, it's fabulous. It will get your blood running.”

“How many calories does it have?” I asked while following Dom's movements as he put the grounds in a space-age-looking machine and added water.

From behind me a voice said, “That skirt does look a little tight, Shaw. I'd go with black coffee if I were you.”

I spun around. “Vance! What are you doing here? Are you calling me fat?” His mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes, but his face looked relaxed.