Chapter 7 #2
“Sometimes variety can be good. Or so I’ve heard.”
He chuckled, and she smiled at him.
Luca said, “You have a little bit of chocolate at the corner of your mouth.” He reached for it, moving slowly just in case she didn’t want him to touch her.
Kira didn’t move.
He wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb, not quite shifting the chocolate.
“Thank you for breakfast.”
He watched her mouth form the words.
“You’re welcome.” He eased a little closer. “When I saw your name on that email, I couldn’t believe it was really you.” Luca paused. “It was a really nice surprise to see you here in Renegade.”
She had to know that. At least to start with. The rest of it? He figured they had time.
“When that guy hit you with his gun and you fell, it looked really bad. I’m glad you’re okay now.” He made sure not to look at the scar, since she hadn’t wanted him to bring it up before.
“It took a lot of physical therapy. I was out for almost six months, healing and then dealing with headaches.” She gave him a soft smile. “But I’m okay now. How about you?”
“I’m great.” Considering his proximity to her and how things were going, maybe even better than expected.
She smiled wider and touched the outside of his arm, over the sleeve of his T-shirt. “I mean this.”
He lifted the edge of the material, and her fingers traced the scar on the outside of his arm. “It was one way to remember you.” He smiled softly. “Even if it wasn’t the one I’d have chosen.”
She opened her mouth, but his phone rang.
Total buzzkill.
What on earth was happening?
Kira let the phone ringing jog her out of whatever mental fog had just taken over her brain. The man came over with food and drinks, a simple breakfast, and in return, she’d gone all googly-eyed?
Luca dug out his phone and apologized. “Saxon Investigations.”
Kira left him to his phone call, giving him privacy and not acting like a nitwit who needed to be as close as possible to him every second of the day.
She took the gala invitation and went to her office so she could leave it on the desk. The idea that he might want to go with her to such an occasion had crossed her mind. But the same reservation that had her turning down coffee and the chat last night held her tongue.
She should ask him though. The gala would be far better with someone by her side, helping her navigate the crowd of people and the expectations of Destiny’s offer. She would be able to get an expert read on what she’d be getting into if she joined the board of the foundation.
Kira got one of the egg bites from the brown bag, not something she had ever had before. But it was tasty, and she might even be convinced to eat bacon after this.
“He did?” Luca’s low voice sounded surprised. She liked the way it resonated through the room. A tall man with presence and the ring of authority in his tone. And yet, talking with her in the kitchen a second ago, he’d been soft and gentle.
It was an intriguing mix that told her he could be a threat if he wanted to, but chose to use his strength only when necessary.
“Did you just say Ralph Rousseau?” Pause. “Okay, thanks.” A second later, he emerged from the kitchen. Sliding his phone back into his front pocket and shaking his head.
Kira glanced over. “Is everything okay?”
He rolled his shoulders. “More like confusing.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” She took her juice cup and motioned to the living room.
Why, she had no idea. After all, it was another invitation into a part of her life where she didn’t often allow other people. But then, he was already in her home. Not exactly invading her space, but definitely shifting the atmosphere in here with his strength and presence.
He stared at her for a second, then said, “I’d love to.” He followed her and sat on the other end of the couch.
And immediately groaned.
Kira chuckled. “I did the same thing in the store. The second I sat on this couch, I just melted. I bought it right away.”
She snuggled down into the comfy seat, bending her knees and planting her feet on the seat in front of her. Just a little bit of protection, or guardedness. But she was beginning to believe she might not need it with Luca Saxon.
He looked around the room, as if seeing things in a new light.
“Is something going on with Ralph Rousseau?”
He’d already told her the man was the subject of an investigation he was conducting. What more could there be?
“That was the old mayor, Alden Jenkins.”
“The one in jail?”
“Yes, he’s awaiting trial for all those charges. My teammate from the refugee camp operation? He’s Jenkins’s stepson. Before Christmas, Hammer was the one who figured out what Jenkins was up to. Jenkins then tried to kill Sierra and Huck, Hammer’s wife and son.” He shook his head. “Rowan Wallace.”
She nodded. “Mack told me who was who, that Jenkins tried to burn the house down around them to inherit Hammer’s land. And how you were there to save them.”
“After we rescued Ralph from his captors, he told us there’s a shadow syndicate operating in town and that they’re the ones who kidnapped him.
” Luca shifted in his seat, looking like he wanted to put his boots on her coffee table.
But he didn’t. “I’ve been trying to get Jenkins to tell me who they might be, but he told me he wouldn’t say anything unless Mack came to see him. ”
“You asked him to go see his father?”
Luca shook his head. “I didn’t want him to. I told him I wasn’t going to ask, no matter that was Jenkins’s stipulation. I guess he did, because Jenkins just called and told me that Ralph Rousseau is the head of the Shadow Syndicate in Renegade.”
“Destiny’s husband is some kind of criminal mastermind?”
“You probably aren’t interested in local conspiracy theories. Maybe you didn’t want to hear this. We don’t have to talk about it.”
She waved away his concern. “The syndicate isn’t the part I have a problem with. I actually totally believe there’s a group in Renegade who control everything.”
He blinked at her. “You do?”
She nodded. “When I first moved here, I was going to open my own private practice so I could run a business on my terms and build something that I was proud of.
But I never got that far. I started to apply for permits and had so many zoning issues it was insane.
When I finally got into a building, it needed renovation, because it was the only thing I could get accepted for.
“Then there were all these inspections and audits, way more than were reasonable. It seemed almost like it was coordinated. When I finally started to make progress, someone slapped me with this frivolous lawsuit about the name of my medical center.” She shook her head.
“It was crazy. Clearly there was someone in local government who didn’t want me to open my practice here.
But I thought it was just me. If there are criminals in town trying to control people or force people out, I totally believe it.
After I turned down a position I didn’t want, the ER was the only job I could get, and that was only because Destiny vouched for me with the hospital. ”
“She did?”
Kira nodded. “She was one of the first people I met here in Renegade outside of the hospital. First at the country club, where we played tennis. Then she invited me to a charity gala. They’re do-gooder types, so it doesn’t really make sense if it’s her husband who’s behind it.”
“Unless she has no idea.” Luca shrugged, an easiness to his movements. Maybe trying not to betray to Kira exactly how intense the situation was.
But she’d experienced it firsthand.
Kira shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe Destiny is busy with the foundation and she doesn’t really know what his business is.
You talked to them both. Do you really think he’s some kind of criminal mastermind?
He seems like one of those down-home types—even if Destiny lives like they have crazy amounts of money. ”
“Definitely worth looking into.” He frowned.
“Not that I’d take anything Jenkins says at face value.
He’s probably just giving me the runaround just for the sake of it.
It does seem like there’s a whole lot of misdirection going on.
Maybe the only way Jenkins thinks he’ll stay alive is by pointing a finger at Ralph.
Meanwhile, Ralph is playing dumb until someone can prove he isn’t innocent.
I might not even put it past him to be faking the attempts on his life to make it look like the syndicate has it out for him. ”
“That would be frustrating, not knowing who is telling the truth and who is lying.” She glanced at the windows and her sheer floor-to-ceiling drapes. Her mother would have loved those curtains. “Why can’t people just say what they mean?”
“As in, be up front?”
“I don’t like when people say one thing to your face, then behind your back they’re telling a completely different story.”
“Sounds like you’ve been burned.”
She looked at him, expecting to see her insecurity reflected on his face. Like he thought she’d been too naive to avoid it. “I just like honesty.”
“Honesty is good.” Luca rested his arm along the back of the couch. “I like to dig for the truth and solve the puzzle of what’s really going on.”
“I do that sometimes when I’m diagnosing a patient.
But it should be straightforward. It shouldn’t be a challenge to work out what’s wrong with someone and how to treat them.
” She shook her head. “Maybe I’ve just seen too many people who suffer from the same thing.
Like a kind of shared trauma, or an outbreak. ”
“The kind of thing you walked away from. Working in the refugee camp.”
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but the truth is that it was slowly killing me.
” Why was she telling him this? She hadn’t even admitted that to herself, despite the fact Jordan had tried to explain it more than once.
“Trying to navigate people’s expectations and do a job I didn’t plan for, when all I ever wanted was to be a doctor. ”
“You got in over your head.” He shifted in his seat, reaching over and squeezing the top of her foot. “But you got out.”
“I didn’t do it on my own. I have a friend, and she made me choose life.” Kira rolled her eyes, smiling to herself. “That’s what she said. She told me I couldn’t keep going the way I was, that I had to choose life.”
“Sounds like a good friend.”
Kira nodded. “She is.”
And why did he look relieved by that?
Oh, because her friend was female?
She didn’t know what to think about any of this. Talk about being in over her head. She got the feeling this relationship was a whole lot different than burning out at work while trying to juggle everything—plus orders from clandestine agencies.
If she built a friendship with Luca, eventually she would have to tell him what she’d done.
How her actions had led to the deaths of so many.
And what was he going to think about that?
Surely he would walk away from her and never look back.
A guy like him, a hero, wouldn’t want anything to do with someone like her.
“Too bad we can’t erase what we’ve done.” She’d certainly tried though. “Walking away from it doesn’t change what happened.”
“I’ve rebuilt my life from nothing enough times to know that who you are always stays with you,” he said. “But why would that be a bad thing? Your whole life is about helping people get well.”
“It has to be. I’ve got a lot to make up for.”
He stared at her, a slight frown drawing his brows together.
“But that’s another conversation.” One she didn’t want to have right now, in this quiet moment.
“That implies you’re interested in doing this again. Or maybe we meet somewhere else, like a neutral location.”
“Is that an operator’s way of asking a girl out?
” The question slipped from her lips before she realized what she was saying.
She didn’t even know if she wanted to date him.
She’d been thinking only in terms of friends and how who he was just seemed to fit her.
He would understand the things she told him far better than anyone else.
“If I did, would you say yes?”
She stared at him, allowing a small smile to tug on her lips. “If you’re willing to take the chance, I guess we’ll inevitably find out.”
Luca’s smile widened. “That sounded like a challenge to me.” And it didn’t look like he considered that to be a bad thing.
Oh boy, she might have just walked herself into being his latest mission. She needed to pivot this conversation fast. “Thanks again for breakfast.”
“Off to work?”
“Not tonight.” She shook her head.
“Plans?”
“The doctor gave me the impression that the patient will be arriving tonight, unexpectedly. So I suspect we’ll be called in to the hospital anyway.” She shrugged. “Keeping my schedule loose.”
Which made her sound like an interesting person, when in fact, having him come over was the most interesting thing that had happened to her in months. And he seemed to want to continue hanging out with her. She needed at least a week to figure out how to deal with that.
She stood. “I should get ready for the day—or night.”
“Thanks for letting me in.”
“Thanks again for breakfast.”
They reached the front door, and he turned to her. Very slowly, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You’re welcome.”
He closed the door behind him and was gone. Leaving her standing in her entryway, trying to figure out why it felt different in here now.
As if something was missing.