Taste 2021 edition, p.25
Taste: 2021 Edition, page 25
I set it aside. “Just get me a T-bone, very rare. Baked potato with sour cream, and whatever vegetable you have.”
“Very good, sir.” He bowed and left.
Yeah. Fucking royalty.
“So, ladies, thank you for inviting me to join you.” I grabbed the bread basket that was next to me. Nothing I recognized, but I took one anyway. “Could you pass the butter, please?” I said to Lacey.
She handed me the tray. “It was Riley’s idea for you to join us.”
That’s what Lacey’s text had said, which was strange, since my sister and I were virtually strangers.
My sister’s cheeks turned pink. “Lacey mentioned that you texted her, and I thought it might be…nice. We could do some more catching up.”
“Sure, that’d be great.” I took a bite of my roll that appeared to have sunflower seeds and some kind of olive in it. Hmm. It was pretty good.
A few moments passed in silence.
“I figured since you invited me,” I said to Riley, “that you’d start.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” She cleared her throat. “How was your first day at the company?”
Something I didn’t want to talk about. But as long as I stayed at the helm, the company was a quarter hers, and she had a right to know.
“Not bad.” Not good, either.
“Reid showed you the ropes?”
“A few of them. It’ll take a lot longer than one day for me to get the hang of this.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Silence again.
Why had my sister invited me here again? I was truly flummoxed. She didn’t care how my day had gone. I could see it in her eyes. Again.
The server finally interrupted our silence, bringing our meals. Creamed spinach. The one vegetable I couldn’t stand. My own fault. I’d told him to bring me whatever vegetable they had. Silly me. I thought vegetables meant vegetables, not vegetables drowning in white glop.
For what this dinner was costing my sister—I assumed she was paying—I ought to eat every bite. But no creamed spinach was crossing my lips.
I had my standards.
I cut a piece of my meat. Looked perfectly cooked. Nice and red. “How’s yours?” I asked Lacey.
She swallowed, nodding. “Delicious.”
“Rare?”
She reddened. “Yes. It’s perfect.”
I couldn’t help smirking. I’d taught her how to enjoy a steak cooked to perfection. I’d like to teach her a lot more.
But that would wait.
I turned to my sister. This woman had once been the sweet little girl I’d tried with everything in me to protect from our deplorable father. I wanted more than anything for her to be happy. But she wasn’t. I could tell.
“How was your day?”
She swallowed her bite of fish. “Good. I didn’t have any bookings today, so I just did some reading.”
“What are you reading?” Not that I’d have a clue. I hadn’t read a book in a while, but I used to love reading. A long time ago, it had been an escape for me. Now—or rather, up until four days ago—my escape was big sky Montana and the outdoors.
“I’m trying to do the classics. I’m working on Moby Dick.”
“Sis, I remember that from high school.” We’d been forced to read it at that enslavement camp my father had sent me to. “It’s about the most boring thing ever written. If you want to do the classics, try Dickens. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but my favorite is Great Expectations. Or read Dracula or Frankenstein. Or anything by Robert Louis Stevenson.”
Lacey turned to me, staring. “You’ve read the classics?”
“You find that surprising?” I arched an eyebrow at her.
“Well…no. Of course not. And I agree with you about Moby Dick. Are you enjoying it, Riley?”
“Not in the slightest,” she said.
All three of us laughed at that, and for a minute, I saw the happy little girl my sister might have been.
Finally. Now I could relax a little.
20
Lacey
I had no doubt that Rock Wolfe was intelligent. I’d already surmised that during our first encounter. But well-read? That one surprised me.
Still, I wondered why Riley had invited him to join us. She’d obviously wanted to talk to me about something. Maybe she changed her mind and saw inviting Rock as an out.
I had no idea, but I was going to find out. I just had to wait for the right moment, and that wasn’t going to happen with Rock sitting at our table.
My chance came when Riley excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.
I stood. “I’ll go with you.”
When we were safely in the powder room, I said, “Riley, what did you invite me here for? Is it something you’re okay talking about in front of your brother?”
She looked away, her cheeks red. “I… I changed my mind. I really don’t want to talk to anyone about it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.” She went into a stall.
No need for me to stay. I did a quick makeup check and left. As the bathroom door closed behind me, a retching sound came from inside. Was Riley making herself vomit? Did models really do that? Poor thing. Something was bothering her, but I couldn’t force her to talk.
Rock had cleaned his plate, except for the spinach, when I returned to the table.
“She okay?” he asked.
Did he know something? I didn’t know for sure she was puking, or that she was making herself do it, and I didn’t want to spout off to Rock and cause him worry when I wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Why shouldn’t she be?” I said.
“I just didn’t know you and my sister were that close.”
“How would you know anything about her? Or about me?”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.”
He was right, of course. Riley and I hardly knew each other. Something was bothering her—something she’d been willing to share with a stranger, but she’d lost her nerve. That was why she’d insisted on inviting Rock to join us. He’d given her an out.
“Truthfully, she—” I stopped when I saw Riley returning out of the corner of my eye.
“Truthfully what?”
“She’s coming back,” I whispered.
He nodded. “Everything okay, Sis?” he said once she’d sat down.
Riley looked a little pale. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Good. Anyone up for dessert? I could go for a big slab of cheesecake myself.” Rock smiled.
God, he was so good-looking.
“Nothing for me,” Riley said, a little shakily.
He turned to me. “How about you? Or do I eat by myself?”
“I’ll have a cup of coffee.” I smiled. “And a bite of your cheesecake.”
He gestured to our server, who came over instantly.
“Yes, sir?”
“Do you have any cheesecake tonight?”
“Yes, sir. We have a wonderful New York Cheesecake with raspberry coulis.”
“Perfect. We’ll take two slices, and two cups of coffee.”
“Hey, I don’t want—”
Rock stopped me. “Just bring two. She wants to taste mine, and once she tastes it, she’s going to want her own.”
I couldn’t help smiling. He was probably right, though he had no way of knowing that. He must be used to women eating his dessert. Jealousy speared through me. Of course he was. A man like Rock Wolfe didn’t live a celibate life.
Pissed me off just thinking about all the women he’d most likely been with.
Calm down, Lacey.
Riley looked at her phone. “If you two don’t mind, I need to leave. I have an early shoot in the morning. I feel bad, since I invited you.” She nodded to me. Then she pulled out her wallet and a couple one-hundred-dollar bills.
“Put that away. We’ll just do it again sometime, and then it will be your turn. It’s okay.” Except that she was leaving me here with her gorgeous brother who’d try to lure me back into his bed.
And I’d probably go.
Still, I felt a concern for Riley as she mumbled her thanks and shoved the bills back into her purse. She was so young, and something had clearly been bothering her enough to want to talk to a stranger about it. A stranger who was also a lawyer.
She stood. “I’ll call you.”
“Of course.”
She smiled weakly and left the table.
I doubted she’d call me. She’d gotten up her courage only to lose it. She’d have a hard time scraping it together again.
Rock took about two seconds to pounce on me about his sister. “Why were you having dinner with Riley?”
“I’m not really sure. She said she wanted to talk to me about something, but I guess she changed her mind.”
He stared past me for a moment. I could almost see his mind working, wondering. But then he cleared his throat. “I guess it’s just you and me, then, and here comes our dessert.”
The cheesecake was rich and creamy, as I knew it would be. “Mmm,” I said. “I might as well just paste this onto my waistline.”
“Nothing at all wrong with your waistline.” He eyed me lasciviously.
“Stop it,” I said.
“Stop what?” he asked, wide-eyed.
“Looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
His feigned innocence was getting tedious.
“Like you’d rather eat me for dessert than this cheesecake.”
“Hadn’t thought of it. But it’s a damned good idea, now that you mention it.”
Already I could feel myself caving. But the way he’d walked out on me Friday evening had been obnoxious and rude. I wasn’t about to set myself up for that again.
So I said nothing. Just took a bite of cheesecake.
And he watched me. Watched me place the fork between my lips, watched me chew, watched me swallow, watched me pull my napkin up from my lap and pat my mouth.
I was beginning to feel like I was putting on a show for him.
I took another bite, and he assessed me in the same way, his eyes fiery.
Talk about feeling self-conscious.
“Aren’t you going to eat your dessert?” I asked.
“It’s a lot more fun watching you eat yours.” He licked his lips.
Oh. My. God.
Fine. I’d give him a show if he wanted a show. I sank my fork back down into the creamy cheesecake and then slowly brought it to my lips, never breaking eye contact with him. “It’s so good,” I said, doing my best to sound sultry. “Such a creamy texture on my tongue.” I slid the fork through my lips. “Mmm.”
“You’re killing me here.”
“You wanted to watch.”
“I’ll tell you what I want. I want to smear that cheesecake all over your naked body and lick it off.”
I swallowed the bite of dessert with a gulp.
Already I was throbbing between my legs. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
He gestured to our waiter. “I’m going to need a doggie bag for my dessert, garcon. I have other plans for it later.”
“Right away, sir.” The waiter took his dessert plate.
Rock turned to me, his gaze full of lust. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
21
Rock
“No.”
No? She said no?
“I’m not done with my cheesecake.”
“We’ll wrap yours up too. Take it with us. My hotel is only a few blocks away, baby. I can guarantee you a good time, as you know.”
She took another bite of cheesecake. Did any woman know how to eat as sexily as this one did? I wasn’t sure I’d ever gotten a major hard-on watching a woman eat cheesecake before.
She swallowed. “No,” she said again.
“Christ, you’re killing me here.” I squirmed. My dick was way too big for these jeans right now.
“Oh, well.” She took another bite—just to torment me, I was sure.
“Come on, baby. We had a good time, didn’t we?”
“Who said we didn’t?”
“Then why don’t you want a repeat?”
She took one more bite of dessert and brought it to her lips achingly slowly. Once she swallowed, she said, “Because I don’t appreciate being told I’m manipulative. And I don’t appreciate being left alone in your hotel suite. So I’m done, Rock. It was fun, but I’m done.”
“Damn, Lacey.” My groin was on fire.
She fucking took another bite of that damned cheesecake, and then another.
One more, and she was done. Thank God. Then she took a sip of her coffee.
My cup sat, still full. Jacques—or whatever his name was—came back with my small box of cheesecake…and the check.
It would serve Lacey right if I left her with it. I didn’t have any money. Not yet, anyway.
But she subtly slid it in front of her, pulled her wallet out of her purse, and placed a credit card in the folder.
“I’ll get that,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But Riley invited me. You didn’t.”
“Riley invited me as well, but Riley’s not here. I don’t have any problem paying my own way.”
“What about paying my way?”
“I don’t have any problem with that either. This way I don’t owe you anything.”
Damn. That was a low blow. Would I seriously not be getting any tonight?
Then my phone buzzed.
Damn again.
“Yeah?” I said into it.
“Hey, Rock, it’s Reid. You need to come back to the office. The cops found something about Dad.”
It was after nine o’clock when I got back up to the office. Reid was there with the cops. Roy walked in about two minutes after I did.
“What’s going on? And how did you get here so quickly?” I asked Reid.
“I never left.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“This is a round-the-clock job, brother. I thought I made that clear.”
I had a feeling there were a lot of things that hadn’t been made clear to me yet. “Yeah? Why didn’t you bitch when I left, then?”
“I didn’t realize you had left. It may surprise you, Rock, but I have way more important things to do to keep this company running smoothly than keep tabs on my new CEO.”
“Your new CEO?”
He rolled his eyes. “The company’s new CEO. Look. We both know I should have your job. Dad fucked us all over. Not just you.”
“I get that. I do. But at least you weren’t ripped out of a life you loved and forced into one you hate.”
“Rock, the only way any of us are going to get through this is if you have a change of attitude. As long as you hate this, resent this, none of us will be happy. Get it?”
Oh, I got it, all right. “Fuck you, Reid.”
“And fuck you right back. Thanks for listening, by the way.”
“I heard every word you said.”
“Did you? Then put them to use. For all our sakes.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but two blues walked in before I could, followed by a plainclothesman.
The plainclothesman held out his hand. “I’m Detective Hank Morgan.”
Reid shook his hand. “Reid Wolfe. My brothers Rock and Roy.”
I shook his hand. Limp handshake. Great. Just who I wanted on this investigation. Not that I cared who offed my father, but I sure didn’t want whoever it was coming after the rest of us.
“Will your sister be joining us?” the detective asked.
“I wasn’t able to get hold of her,” Reid said.
“But I just saw her at dinner.” I rubbed my chin, worry for my sister churning through me. What was going on with her?
“All right. Let’s all have a seat.”
There weren’t enough chairs for the two blues. “Why don’t we go into a conference room?” I said.
“Good enough.” Reid led the way.
Once we were seated at the table, Reid spoke again. “What’s the news that couldn’t wait until morning?”
“We got one set of prints from the gun we found at the scene, and we figured you’d want to know who they belonged to.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, shaking my head. “Whoever offed Derek Wolfe left the gun there?”
“Yup.” Morgan pulled out his phone. “Most likely a plant.”
“Meaning?” Roy asked.
“Meaning this weapon isn’t registered anywhere or to anyone, which indicates the serial number has probably been tampered with. We’re pretty sure the fingerprints on the gun don’t belong to the shooter—”
“They were planted,” I finished for him.
“Seems to be the case,” Morgan said.
“Who do they belong to?” Reid asked.
The detective looked directly at me. “They belong to you. Rock Wolfe.”
I stood, hot anger taking me over. “That’s insane. I wasn’t even in the state when this happened.”
“Calm down,” Morgan said.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Reid said. “How do you know they’re Rock’s?”
“We ran them.”
“But how—”
I stopped him with a gesture. “I was arrested a couple years ago for brawling in a bar, okay? The charges were dropped, but not before they took my prints and a mug shot. But I’ll remind you again that I wasn’t in this damned state when my father was killed.”
“I know that, and it’s been corroborated,” Hank said. “But someone sure wants us to think you were there.”
“Probably my bastard of a father,” I said.
“Rock,” Roy said, “why would Dad put you in charge of his company and then have himself killed and try to frame you for his murder? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Did the asshole ever make sense in his life?” I roared.
“Not as a father, no,” Reid agreed. “But this is his business. If he left it in your hands, he sure as hell wouldn’t want you hauled off to prison. Then what? According to his will, none of us would get anything.”
