Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) (13 page)

“Yes there is,” she smiled. “I can go home.” And that’s exactly what she did, taking the journey out of Phoenix and back into Scottsdale.

Her case had been delayed for several hours before they even made it before the judge. There were three cases before them and even though she had to be at the courthouse by nine that morning, her case hadn’t actually been scheduled to go before the judge until almost eleven. One delayed case led to another and it was three o’clock before she even set foot in chambers. She needed to get back and tell Eve and Shane the good news, but she was also starving. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she drove past
Fidora’s Sweets
, which just happened to be one of the best bakeries off the Row. Deciding she needed more than just a delicious apple fritter she bypassed
Fidora’s
. She could eat something when she got home. A quick salad and sandwich and then she would rescue Eve from the duties of the store. She could handle the store for the remainder of the open hours and let her sister get some rest.

She was going to have to give Eve something for her help. She had saved her—big time, and she wanted to repay her for that. Eve had been eyeing a few of the summer dresses in her closet, maybe she would let her take the few she liked the most. They had a distinct habit of sharing clothes after Eve hit high school and wanted to look more business adult than “teeny bopper” high school. She never let her borrow anything that was too grown up, but a shirt here, or a vest there, never hurt.

Within seconds of entering the store she saw the chaos Eve had probably been dealing with all day. There were ten shoppers demanding attention so Alyssa tossed her bag behind the counter with her keys and she jumped right in. Her late lunch mixed with dinner could wait until things settled. She grabbed her spare set of casing keys from a drawer behind the counter and she started showing the requested pieces. Six sales later and the store had finally cleared out.

“Whew! Was it like that all day?” Alyssa tossed the spare keys back in the drawer.

“Off and on, but most of the people weren’t that pushy.” She shook her head. Alyssa understood, her day crowd was moderately milder tempered than the people who came in at night. She assumed maybe they were on their way home after a long day at work and they were just cranky as a rabid skunk. “Forget about it,” Eve waved her hand dismissingly. “How did it go today? It took you so long. Was it bad?”

She smiled. “We got delayed. My case didn’t get before the judge until three o’clock, and it wasn’t a wham bam thank you ma’am kind of hearing, but we won.” She laughed. “It’s over, at least legally. Mr. Dumas assures me it’s not over yet.” She hadn’t even heard Shane come out of the office. The man was too good at sneaking up on people. He alerted her to his presence with a firm, “he tries anything and it’ll be the last time he does it,” remark that was uttered with such conviction that she knew it wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.

“Are you okay?” He asked sincerely. She was okay. Her stomach was a complete mess because her nerves had been on edge since she received those papers, and that nervous tension had increased by a thousand when the day actually came.

Her stomach growled. Eve laughed. “You’re hungry obviously.”

“Starving,” she laughed. “I have not eaten since breakfast. I didn’t know it was going to be an all day thing or I would have taken some snacks or something.” Once she had arrived in the courthouse she stayed firmly planted on the bench outside the judge’s chambers. Her attorney had told her they should stay put because that door could open any second and if she wasn’t there then she would automatically forfeit her case. Actually, thinking about how long she stayed in one place reminded her of another problem, she really needed to use the bathroom.

“Go on up. Get some rest and I’ll close up.” Eve offered.

“I’ll just freshen up and come down to relieve you for the close,” she protested. There was no way she was going to leave Eve to work the entire time. She wanted her sister to have some time to herself while she was there too.

“No. You rest. I bought you a spa voucher too, so you can use it tomorrow.” Alyssa started to protest and Eve held up her hand, stopping any dissent within seconds. “I’m going to work the store. Since everything is settled I’m going to leave day after tomorrow.”

“So soon? Why?”

“I have to get my stuff ready to be shipped and I have a new job I have to start in two weeks.”

“London?”

“Hawaii,” she smiled. “I didn’t take the London job. You all wore me down,” she shook her head. Alyssa smiled and threw her arms around her sister. She was so happy that she wasn’t leaving the country. Hawaii was far, but somehow it just felt better knowing she would be there. Not much could go wrong in paradise, she initially thought until she realized she was dealing with Eve McGregor here and if anything was wrong, Eve was probably going to be the first person on board to uncover it.

“Are you sure you don’t want to move to Arizona?”

“Positive,” she chuckled before ushering Alyssa out of the store and back up to her place. “Go,” she had said, and so Alyssa went. She needed a bathroom, and she needed food, in that order. She would have time later to lecture her sister on being safe in paradise, and staying in touch once she got there.

Chapter Seven

“T
here’s a meteor shower tonight,” Shane said. “Would you like to come watch it with me?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “I mean, no.” She corrected herself. She was still his boss. She wouldn’t even be entertaining the idea if Eve hadn’t sprinkled her words of wisdom on her before she left for South Dakota. She was determined to get her things out of the cabin and packaged securely for shipping. There wasn’t much to be done, but she did need to put things in the sturdier crates that were being delivered to the ranch before she arrived. She said she was going to make another stop in Boston to see Thomas, and that Adam’s brother, Chase, had asked her to stop in and see them. His brother was gone, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still be a part of their family, at least that’s what he had said to her. Alyssa could tell Eve wasn’t really enthused about going. She had told her that she felt guilty every day, but even more so whenever she got an email from Chase. Trent, the oldest brother, seemed to hate her and she really couldn’t figure out why Chase tried to keep in touch.

“You were a part of their family,” Alyssa had told her.

“Yeah, and I destroyed it,” she had said. “I got Adam killed. He died because of me, and I know that, and I think Trent knows that too. I don’t know why Chase doesn’t hate me just the same as his brother. He would have every right to.”

Alyssa had tried to reason with her and help her understand that it wasn’t her fault, but she, like the rest of the family, knew Sabian had been behind Adam’s not so accidental work accident and she blamed herself. It wasn’t her fault; they had all tried to show her that and Alyssa hoped, and prayed, that one day she would believe it.

Eve’s heartache hadn’t stopped her from trying to encourage her big sister to take a chance on love again. “He’s a good guy and you’re a fabulous woman. He’d be lucky to have you.” She had said before she hugged her goodbye. Alyssa had used that hug as an opportunity to do two things; one, say bye with love until she would be able to hold her sister in her arms again. And two, put the money Eve had snuck back into her cash register back in her baby sister’s open purse. The moment she knew Shane was buying the white gold and sapphire bracelet on Eve’s behalf she had insisted her sister take the money back. Eve had refused, of course, so Alyssa not so gracefully shoved it into her sister’s bra. Shane had laughed hysterically at the crazy sibling struggle in front of him. Alyssa had come out the victor before a customer walked in.

She knew Eve had snuck the money back inside the cash register that morning and she also knew that she wasn’t going to take it. This was her sister and she wasn’t going to charge her or anybody else in her family for anything. She hadn’t even charged Thomas for Thena’s wedding necklace gift. Family was family and in her book that meant her brothers and sisters didn’t buy anything from her. If they abused that belief of hers she would probably go bankrupt, but it seemed to bother them to take something for free from her just as much as it bothered her to have them pay for anything so she knew she would never have to worry about them trying to take advantage of her.

In that hug, Eve had whispered in her ear. “Life is too short. Don’t let the opportunity pass you buy. He’s a good a man.” And with one final wave to the man in topic she had left for her next destination. Clearly, she had left behind confusion because even though Alyssa wanted to say yes to this man she knew she should say no.

“Funny. The way you looked at me when you saw me without my shirt that day I assumed maybe you wanted to.”

She had looked longer than she should have. She had desired when she shouldn’t have. “I’m your boss. It wouldn’t be appropriate if I went out with you.” No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t.

He shrugged. “I could quit, and then you won’t be my boss and we can go out.”

“No! I like…that is I…you’re a valued employee.”

He laughed. “Go out with me tonight, Alyssa. The sky is going to be clear. We can lay out in the cab of my truck on my property and watch the show.”

She knew she should say no, but the thought of being with him, in his arms, watching the majestic show…she couldn’t pass that up. “Okay,” she said. “It doesn’t start until two in the morning so I can drive out—”

“I’ll take you out to my place after work. We can have dinner. We can watch the show and I’ll bring you back here after that—unless you want to stay over.”

Oh she did want to stay over; she definitely wanted that, but she had to open the shop in the morning and she would need sleep. The meteor shower show would be on a Tuesday night but would only really hit its peak in the early hours of Wednesday morning and there was no way she could close during the week, or any other time for that matter, simply because she stayed up to watch the event. “Sounds like a plan,” she said. She could play it by ear and see how things went. If they connected and she didn’t want to leave then she would stay the rest of the morning until time to go to work. If this attraction, this…lustful thinking, fizzled out before the end of the night then she would know where they stood. She mentally shook her head at herself. This wasn’t lust. Sure, she had thought about the man sexually—desired his body, craved it nearly, but there was something more. She liked this man. He was smart, loyal, mysterious and protective yet not overly dominant. The mysterious part intrigued her and she wanted to know more about him. What made Shane Maxwell who he was? Why did he decide to be career military? And why was it
 
that anytime he was near her, her heart beat just a little faster and those butterflies she thought only happened in adolescent crushes seemed to be fluttering around in her stomach incessantly?

This date was a risk because if he decided by the end of the night that he didn’t want her in his life as anything other than a boss for the short time he planned to work for her, she wasn’t sure she would feel the same way. She was risking her heart again and that scared her. She needed to change the subject. She needed to get her mind off her fears and on to something else.

“There was another robbery on the Row last night,” she said. Sure, that was a brilliant transition from talking about a peaceful date night to talking about the guy inflicting fear on all the shop owners. “Petrof, from the bistro, came down to tell me about it. Not that I could have missed the police activity.”

“I know about the robbery,” he nodded. “Your police friend questioned me at six o’clock this morning.”

“What? Why?”

He shrugged. “The man has his sights set on you, Alyssa. If you don’t see that you’re either blind or in denial. I opt for denial.”