Mercy: Second Chance Military Romance (78 page)

“You have the best job ever,” I said sincerely.

He stopped at his workbench and turned to smile at me.

“Thanks. I’m lucky. Here’s your sample.”

After picking up a glass jar with what appeared to be at least an ounce of marijuana. I smiled as I took it from him.
Life is good
.

“Thank you. If you can somehow get the plant to produce more THC, we’re both going to be rich.”

“I don’t care about money,” he said. “But my daughter…”

His voice trailed off.

He’s so stoned.

“Well, I need to go. Nice seeing you again. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

He nodded.

“I’m so glad Heidi introduced us.”

“Yeah…”

I waited a moment for him to say something else, but he didn’t continue. After waving, I turned and walked back to the SUV and got in the front passenger seat because I needed to talk with Keifer. After what had happened with Heidi in the hotel room, I had to know more about her.

“How’d it go, boss?” Keifer asked.

“Good,” I said, holding up the jar. “It’s potent stuff.”

“Hell yeah,” he said.

“We’ll try it when we get back to the house.”

He turned the key in the ignition.

“I need you to do me a favor,” I said as the SUV backed up.

“Sure thing. What do you need?”

“Remember that private investigator we fired a while back?”

“Yeah. What about him?”

“I need you to hire him again and look into Heidi.”

“What’s her last name?”

I frowned.

“You know, I’m not even sure yet. It never came up.”

As he pulled down the driveway, he laughed as if it was a good thing to not know her surname. I turned and glanced out the passenger side window at the mountains in the distance. They never ceased to amaze me – so timeless.

While the views as Keifer drove me to my house were spectacular, my mind wandered to Heidi and her so-very-tight pussy. Everything about her fascinated me. Both her body and mind made me want to be a better person, whatever the hell that meant.

She still hadn’t called me after our night of passion at the hotel. Most men thought they should call a woman first after such an encounter, but as a wealthy man, I tended to be more cautious and careful, especially with the way she had stormed out the next morning.

With the Cannabis Cup finals coming up and everything else on my plate, it wasn’t a good idea to get involved with anyone, let alone a woman I desired so damn much. Heidi would eventually call me. I knew it. And if she didn’t, I had enough on my plate.

SIXTEEN

Brent

The Truth Hurts

Back at the house, I sat in my den with my feet up on the desk, smoking a hand-rolled joint of the high-grade marijuana I’d gotten from Green Thumb. I wondered about his real name and about a million other things all at the same time. The weed affected me, a heavy smoker, on the first hit.

Smooth Jazz played from hidden speakers throughout the room. I stared out the window at the maze built out of carefully sculpted and maintained bushes in the backyard.
Why does life have to be so fucking confusing all the time? The more money I get, the more problems pop up
.

My thoughts went deeper, becoming darker. I put the joint down in a glass ashtray, propped up on the side. I’d not even smoked a third of it, and I couldn’t remember when I’d been so high. If the weed didn’t help me maintain dominance in the market, I had no hope at all.

“Hey, boss,” Keifer said, rushing into the room through the open door.

“What’s up?” I asked casually, glancing over at him.

“I’m not sure yet, but something is wrong. There’s a Heidi Jones working at the High Times, but they didn’t know anything about her supposed article.”

“Really?”

I put my feet down and sat up, interested.

“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not sure what it is yet, but I’d be careful around her.”

“Thanks, Keifer. Anything else?”

“No, boss.” He paused. “Well, I was interested in trying that new weed you’re working on.”

He nodded toward the joint. I smiled.

“Help yourself. I’ll see if I can’t get more of it for you, but none while you’re on the clock. This is some serious shit.”

“You think?”

“Oh, I know,” I said then laughed at the ludicrousness of the entire world.

“You okay, boss?”

“I’m more than okay, Keifer. Things are good. It’s all going to work out.”

He picked up the joint.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll get you more. In fact, I’m giving you the rest of the day off. Fire it up. I might be able to take another hit or two.”

“There you go,” he said.

A smile spread across his face as he sat down in a recliner across from my ornate wooden desk. I watched as he pulled out a lighter and lit up the joint, taking a huge hit.

“Careful,” I said. “I’m not joking around.”

He coughed and blew out a thick cloud of smoke.

“Oh shit, man,” he said. “I mean boss.”

I laughed. “You’re fine. We’ve known each other a long time.”

“We sure have,” he said, stretching out his arm with the joint in his hand.

“Go ahead. You need to catch up to me.”

As he took a more cautious hit, I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. Thoughts of Heidi filled my mind as he exhaled more gracefully, smoke filling the air.

“Nice, right?”

He smiled.

“I think we’re close to winning the Cannabis Cup for the next five years in a row.”

“With this shit, maybe ten.”

“That’s the plan.”

I sat up and reached for the joint. He took another hit then passed it to me. The powerful weed opened up my eyes when it came to Heidi. Something was different about her, but it was probably the fact I was quickly falling in love with her despite not spending much time with her.

After taking a hit, I passed the joint back to him.

“Damn,” he said. “I don’t think I can keep hitting it.”

“Are you a lightweight now?” I asked then laughed.

“It’s on now. We should have a party tonight.”

“You can invite some people over, but I have a lot of thinking to do.”

“Are you on that Heidi chick to call you again?”

“No,” I lied. “Business stuff.”

“That’s why you’re the boss, boss.”

He stood up, still holding what little was left of the joint.

“Here, that roach isn’t enough,” I said, opening a drawer and pulling out the jar of weed we’d picked up earlier in the day. “Here you go.”

I took out a few choice buds and handed them to him.

“Thanks, boss.”

“Christmas is coming early this year.”

“Damn straight. You sure you don’t want to party? We’re going to set one off.”

“No, you go ahead,” I said. “You have fun.”

With a smile on his face, he made his way out of the room. I turned back to the window and stared outside. What good is all the money in the world if you can’t share it with anyone? The answer to my question frightened me.

I sighed then picked up the jar to lock it away in my desk drawer. As I put it in, I saw the business card the DEA agents had given me the other day. After grabbing it, I peered at the name.

“Ron Glass,” I said out loud.

Sounds like an asshole.

I tossed the card back into the drawer with the weed and shut it. While Keifer and the others prepared to party downstairs, I got to work on some spreadsheets projecting revenue for the next five years. Nobody knew what would happen in the future, but if the federal government legalized marijuana, I had to be ready to expand my business before other big players stepped into the market.

Thoughts of Heidi lingered in the back of my mind as I worked. They would not go away.

SEVENTEEN

Heidi

What a Jerk!

Four days! He had his penis inside me, and I hadn’t heard from him in four entire days. Why did the hottest and most successful men always turn out to be jerks? As I sat at my desk at the local DEA offices, the question plagued me, making it hard to work.

Keller hadn’t taken me off the Brent Stone case, insisting I’d find something dirty if I kept digging. Part of me thought he was paying a favor back to someone by taking the king of marijuana in Colorado down so someone else could step up. Did that make me paranoid – or smart?

I caught Ron Glass walking up out of the corner of my eye and sighed, not in the mood for his bullshit. He stopped to the left of my desk, resting his arm on the partition divider.

“Hey, sweetie. How’s it going?”

“I’m not your sweetie, okay? You need to cut that out and keep it professional.”

“Calm down, dear. Is that okay?”

“No,” I said, standing up. “I’m serious. You’re always saying this stuff. It’s offensive. Cut it out.”

He held up his hands.

“I give up. You win.”

“It’s not a damn game, Ron. I’m being serious.”

“I know you are,” he said. “Have you found anything on that Brent Stone guy yet? That’s the reason I stopped by.”

“No, and I don’t think I’m going to find anything. The man is innocent as far as I can tell. I’m not sure why Keller keeps insisting I’ll find something.”

“I’d quit digging if I were you.”

“Yeah,” I said absent-mindedly. “I guess.”

“Well, I’ll get out of your beautiful hair…Wait, is that okay, or no?”

I shook my head slowly and gave him the look. Like a five-year-old, he scurried away. As I sat back down, my thoughts returned to Brent Stone, an even bigger jerk. Why hadn’t he called me after four days? Did he think I wasn’t worth calling back? Had he already moved onto someone else?

The most important question hit me – why do I even care? Our fling had been fueled by alcohol and weed at the hotel. No matter how many times I told myself that, it didn’t sit well with me. Unable to get any work done, I decided to drop by his mansion and see what was up.

* * *

After parking in his circular drive at the front of the massive house, I got out of my car without caring if it was in the way or not. Would he have the decency to answer the door and talk to me? I wondered why I hadn’t called as I approached the front door.

Before I had a chance to knock on the expensive wood, it swung open. I saw Brent, handsome as ever, standing with a faraway look in his eyes. He tilted his head and grinned as he admired me. Seriously? My anger flared up as we stared each other down.

Without a sound, I stepped forward. He did the same. A moment later, I wrapped my arms around him, holding tight as our lips met in a passionate kiss. The words would come later, I hoped as my hands cupped his tight ass, pressing his body closer to mine.

He pulled back and took my hand. I followed as he ascended a grand staircase to the second level of the three-story mansion. None of the fancy paintings on the walls or anything else mattered as my heart beat faster the closer we got to our destination.

We reached a door, which he opened with his free hand. I glimpsed a bedroom bigger than the homes of most people. He pulled me in and shut the door behind us. Our eyes met. Another kiss. His lips pressed against mine, parting them as his tongue slid in.

I moaned, unable to stay angry with a man who made me so wet in such a short period of time. His hands squeezed my ass, pulling me closer to him. I felt the bulge in his pants. Impatiently, I grabbed him through the thin material of his designer slacks.

It’s so big. And fits so well…

He grabbed one breast, massaging it with his massive hand. At the same time, his kisses moved to my neck then lower. I sighed as he unbuttoned my blouse, kissing each piece of exposed flesh. As he took off my top, I ran my fingers through his hair.

If this is wrong, why does it feel so right?

With the pleasure pulsing through my entire body, I did not need to come up with any justifications for sleeping with him again. It was the worst thing I could do for my career – especially if he turned out to be guilty – but I did not care. Not in that moment.

After he removed my blouse and bra, his mouth moved over my left nipple, getting it harder as he sucked gently. He did not neglect my other breast, teasing the nipple with the tip of his tongue. All the anger I’d brought with me had disappeared.