Chapter Seven
Leah turned to look at Cain. She wanted to hate him, or be angry with him, maybe even a little bit pissed off, but instead she found herself aroused by the sight of him. This wasn’t a good thing, so she turned her attention back toward the computer screen.
“I thought you said I could use Lewis whenever I needed him?” she asked.
“You can. It doesn’t stop him from getting in touch with me for this information. Is Cameron a parent?” he asked.
Leah frowned. “No. Have you ever talked with Frank, your chef?”
“Yes, I talk with him all the time.”
“And what about the reason behind his being in prison?” she asked.
“I’m aware of it being a cop that wanted to make his life hell over a woman. So what?”
“So what?” Leah shook her head. “This woman left the cop. She left the state or even the country for Frank, so this cop would stop making his life misery.”
“That cop didn’t stop making Frank’s life misery,” Cain said, stepping further into the room. He closed the door to his office and came closer to her.
She couldn’t help but be lost in him as he started to remove his jacket. Underneath he wore one of his crisp suits. The kind that just screamed … man in control. Cain was always in control. Those hands were capable of so much more, and she was not going to sit there fantasizing about them. She was going to stay focused on her work.
“I did,” he said.
That shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was.
She was starting to see that Cain took care of his friends. They were his first priority, and that she could respect. She also admired it.
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter. I was talking to Frank today, you know, trying to distract him from the fact you’ve ruined his perfectly organized pots and pans. He told me how the two of you met and what caused him to be in prison.”
Cain nodded his head. “Yeah, Frank truly didn’t deserve to be locked up.” He blew out a breath. “A piece of shit cop that exploited his power. There was no stopping him.”
“And you didn’t think to ask Frank why?”
“Oh, I know why. Between men, it is always a woman, and they are always causing us some kind of trouble.”
She didn’t like the smirk on his face. “You’re saying those things to rile me up, but they’re not going to work. Anyway, did he tell you this woman was in love with Frank, and that to save him from the cop, she left the country?”
“I heard something.”
“And you never thought to find her, after what you did to the cop?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I talked to Frank about it, but he didn’t seem interested. The cop had taken several years of his life, and in all honesty, I don’t think he wanted the trouble of being with a woman.”
“That is so sad,” she said.
“Sad, but true,” Cain said. “I didn’t bother finding her. Let me guess, you want to find her?”
“Why not?”
“Because Frank is one hell of a good chef, and he is much better at being in the kitchen than me. Also, he didn’t want to find her.”
She rolled her eyes. “He didn’t want to find her then, but now it is different.”
“Nothing has changed.”
“You’re the one with all the power. Don’t even start by playing the dumb card. You and I both know you have a way of talking to the cops.” She wrinkled her nose. “And by talking, I mean either blackmailing or paying them off.”
“I don’t blackmail them all the time. Just when they don’t do as I tell them.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“I don’t want to hurt him. Frank said it was a long time ago. She could have moved on. Be dead. There are any number of explanations, and it could bring up some bad shit for him. She could have a family.”
“Which is why I was trying to do this in secret. If we find her, we can discover if she died, if she has moved on, and then we can tell Frank.” She turned toward Cain. “Please.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand why this is so important to you.”
“It’s Frank. He’s a good guy.”
“And he’s happy,” Cain said. “What if this woman makes him unhappy?”
“What if this woman completes him?”
Again, his frown deepened.
“I didn’t take you as a romantic,” he said. “You rarely watch romance movies.”
She sighed. “This is not some made-up content, that is all a load of bullshit. This is real life.” She shrugged. “I wanted to do something good for him, and I don’t know, I think if I left town for a guy to help protect him, I’d want to know he was at least living a good life. Come on, what do we have to lose?”
“A great chef?” he asked.
“Why does finding this woman mean we’ll lose him?”
“Men lose their heads over women.”
She folded her arms across her chest and offered him a glare. “All men?”
“Yes, all men. Let’s face it, I lost my head over you,” he said.
This surprised her. Leah stared at him for several moments before she turned back to look at the computer, but then she didn’t know why she was bothering. If Cain knew what she was doing, all that information was going to him.
“Maybe this will be a good thing,” Leah said.
“How?”
“It might make Frank happy, or happier.”
“Is this really that important to you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Cain stared at her for several moments. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but then he nodded and handed her his cell phone.
“Lewis already forwarded you her information?” Leah asked.
“I needed to know why you wanted it first.”
She didn’t even need to ask him why. Cain was trying to protect her from her own desires as well.
She took his cell phone from him and scanned through the document. “She’s here,” Leah said. “It looks like she was never married and literally moved back a year ago.”
“And she never came looking for Frank,” Cain said. “I think you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that she doesn’t care.”
Leah glared at him. “Or, she doesn’t have the means to track Frank down.”
“I love how important this is to you,” Cain said.
“And it is going to be important to you as well. Tomorrow, you’re coming with me,” she said.
“I know.”
Leah smiled at him.
Silence fell between them, and in that moment she couldn’t help but remember the way he kissed her. His kiss had been something else, and she wanted to feel his lips again.
This was a disaster.
“Uh, Frank left your food in the oven. Also, he has asked that if you ever get the sudden urge to cook for me, he’s going to list several of your favorite takeout places, and you just need to call them,” Leah said.
“You’ve eaten?”
“Yeah, I was hungry earlier.”
She handed him back his cell phone and then pulled away, leaving his office. She wanted to ask him so many other questions, but instead she stayed quiet and slowly made her way up the stairs to their bedroom.
Leah knew she could have spent all day putting her clothes and belongings back in her old room, but she didn’t. She rather liked staying with Cain. Waking up next to him hadn’t been the worst experience in the world.
She smiled to herself as she made her way to their room. There was just something about Cain she couldn’t deny was so attractive, and even though he’d acted that way when he took her virginity, it didn’t stop her from wanting him.
****
“This building is shitty,” Cain said the following day.
He saw Leah tense. “Has anyone told you, you’ve turned into a snob?”
He smiled. “Not to my face.”
She spun around on the steps, and he noticed she didn’t touch a single banister. He was pretty sure he saw a pile of human shit in the corner, so there was no way he was touching anything. It had been a long time since he’d smelled this, and it wasn’t pleasant.
“Fine, you’re a snob,” she said.
“Okay, touch the wall or the banister,” he said.
She glared at him. “I don’t need the help.”
“Now who is the snob?”
She faced the front and began to walk upstairs. Leah was not willing to be talked out of finding this woman.
Many years ago, after he took care of the cop, he asked Frank if he wanted to find this woman. Frank’s answer had been no. He wanted nothing to do with the woman. He was finally out and free, and all he wanted to do was live his life. Cain wasn’t about to do anything to upset him.
Prison hadn’t been easy for anyone. He knew it had been hard for Frank, who had to learn hard and fast to fight first. Frank was a big guy, but he was also not a violent man. Prison had to awaken that part of him. When he finally got him out, Frank asked him to never put him in that position, and he never would.
Frank was a rare guy. And he knew he was not going to tell him about Cameron, unless she was a rare girl. She was currently living on the third floor of this crumbling building. Cain didn’t know how there were still tenants, or even how the building was still standing in its current state. He was pretty sure contractors and health inspectors would have condemned the building by now.
They got to the third floor, and the stench was quite bad. He also saw a pile of used diapers at the end of the hallway. Not good.
Leah got to the third door along. She screwed up the piece of paper in her grip and shrugged. “Apparently, this is it.”
“Before you knock on that door, do you want to think twice about what you’re doing?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Look around you. What if this Cameron is bad news?”
“And what if she has fallen on hard times?”
“I did not take you for being the sentimental type,” he said.
“I’m not being sentimental. People go through rough patches, and I want to see for myself. Where is the harm?” She raised her fist and knocked on the door.
She stared at him and Cain simply watched her. There was so much more to Leah than met the eye. He knew she was going to come and find this woman, even if he did forbid it. She was a law unto herself. This was one of the many reasons he needed to keep an eye on her.
She knocked again, and they waited. Cain was about to tell her not to bother when they heard a feminine call from the other side.
The door opened, and a brunette stood on the other side. She was curvy and had a smile on her lips.
“Can I help you?” Cameron asked.
“Are you Cameron Pierce?” Cain asked.
“That depends on who is asking.”
He watched her tense up.
“You don’t know us, but we have a mutual friend,” Cain said, taking the lead.
Cameron looked from him to Leah, then back again.
“I’ve not long been back to the city, so I don’t know you. I don’t know who we might have in common as a friend, but please leave.”
“Frank!” Leah spoke his name loudly.
Cameron had been about to slam the door, but the name Frank made her stop.
“Frank? That is who we have in common?” Cameron asked.
Cain had hoped to keep that information a little longer so he could get the measure of the woman.
Glancing past her shoulder, he saw that her apartment was in fact perfectly clean. He also saw there were several air-conditioning scents hung around the door and throughout the apartment.
“You were worried it was the cop, weren’t you?” Leah asked.
Cameron sighed. “I … I had my doubts.”
“What brings you back?” Cameron asked. “You left to save Frank, and now you’re back. Why?”
Cameron shrugged. “When I left, I was broke and didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have any belongings other than a backpack. Anyway, I worked from day to day, until I was finally able to save up enough money to rent a place, and then from there, I was able to buy a place. A little café. It was a small tourist town, and it was so sweet and beautiful. Like everything else, big business saw the dollar signs, came, and put me out of business. I had to sell everything, and then I moved back here.”
Cain looked at her, and he knew from the information Lewis had sent him, it was all true.
“Do you know Frank?” Cameron asked.
“Yes, we do.”
“He’s not in prison still, is he? I tried to do everything to get him out, but no one would listen to me.” She sighed. “It was useless.”
“It’s not useless now,” he said. “I got Frank out. Your cop friend met a tragic accident.”
He saw the hope in Cameron’s eyes finally light up. “He did?”
“Yes. He died several years ago.” There was no point in getting to the nitty-gritty details. She didn’t need to know how he died or why.
Cain would do it all over again. Frank was a good guy.
“Would you like to come inside?” Cameron asked.
“Yes,” Cain said, before Leah could potentially invite the woman back to his place. He still wanted to make sure this woman was good enough for Frank. Her apartment was small, but it would seem she had the best one in the place.
“Could you not find a better apartment building?” Cain asked.
“Damn it, Cain, don’t be rude,” Leah said.
Cameron laughed. “No, no, it is fine, and perfectly valid. There were other apartments I could have picked, but that would mean I wouldn’t be able to buy my shop.”
She moved toward the small table in the sitting room.
Cain saw there were several pictures of a building that looked like a café. He recognized the building. There were also several legal-looking documents as well.
“I didn’t lose everything. I knew when the right time to sell was. I had enough money to buy a place and take care of the internal revamp. It did mean that I had to take a shitty apartment, but I’ve never been afraid of a challenge.” Cameron smiled at the two of them.
“Is your café open?” Leah asked.
“Not yet. I’m having the grand opening Friday.” She looked so nervous. “Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about Frank. Is he okay? Did he have a family? A wife?”
He saw it was hard for her to ask that.
“Frank’s single,” Leah said.
“And he’s a chef,” Cain said.
Cameron smiled. “Yes, of course he would be. He always loved to cook and experiment. It was how we met. Our love of food.” She sighed.
Leah looked at him, and Cain nodded. He saw the sparkle in the woman’s eyes. There was no way that was going to change.
Cameron was still in love with Frank, and he had a feeling Frank was probably still in love with Cameron.