Mr. Rousseau, sir, she was supposed to go to public relations. When she didnt show, I knew I had to stop her before she found a way to get to you.
Rick chuckled. He pulled Josie around and hoisted her up by her armpits.
Too late for that, Im afraid.
Josie gazed up at him. He anointed her with a smile. She wanted to smile in return, but she was so nauseous from the adrenaline crash she decided not to risk it.
CHAPTER 5
I really dont mean to hound you about this. Teeny took a slurp of herbal tea from his delicate china cup and sighed. But Rick, I gotta ask you, man. Seriously… /what the fuck/?
Rick laughed. He stretched his legs out over the porch railing, leaned back in the old rocker, and folded his hands on his lap. Twilight had begun its slide over Samhain Ranch, pushing the sun west beyond the vineyards, throwing gold light down onto the grapes and red streaks up into the sky. This was his favorite time of day. This was his favorite spot on earth. And he was counting on a weekend of Sonoma Valley solitude and silence to help him come up with an answer to Teenys question.
Point taken, he said.
Shes cute. Okay, fine, not my gender of choice, but I can appreciate cuteness when it shows up, despite the mark-of-Zorro eyebrow wax. Teeny held his teacup in midair. But Ill be honest with you, man. Im baffled.
There hasnt been a woman in your life for almost seven years! Ive watched you make an art form of turning women down! I mean, Gwen Anders is /still/ trying to get in your chinos! After all these years!
Wax? She told me she had allergies.
Teeny chuckled. Hell, no. That was a wax job gone terribly wrong, no doubt about it.
Why are we discussing Gwen Anders? Rick closed his eyes for a moment and searched for patience. The woman runs my foundation. Shes smart and conscientious. I dont want anything more to do with her, not now, not ever, as you are well aware.
Yes. I am. Which brings us right back to my original questionwhy /Josephine Sheehan/? Are you sure about this?
Rick gave his head a quick shake, closing his eyes to concentrate on his breath. In, out, searching deep for some kind of reasonable response.
This wasnt a question for his mind, that much he was sure of. It was a question for his heart, and Rick and his heart hadnt been on speaking terms for a very long time, even before the accident. He opened his eyes and looked at Teeny. Nothings happened with Josie Sheehan.
Yet. Teenys frown deepened. When his dark brow crumpled it made the old football scars look all the more menacing. Lets keep it real, Rick. I saw the way you looked at each other. /Damn./ Teeny set his cup down into its fancy saucer, which was perched on a white wicker table. The eighty-year old Spode china had come with the place, along with the wicker table and the rockers they sat on and everything else the eye could see. When Rick purchased Samhain Ranch from a real estate investor a year ago, he bought a piece of Sonoma Valley historythree thousand acres of vineyard with its own manager, sixteen rooms full of antiques, vast gardens, a state-of-the-art horse stable, and a live-in family that had been running the Victorian-era ranch house and keeping the grounds for four generations. His Pacific Heights house was fine for when he was in the city. But in the last year, Rick had come to see the ranch as home.
What Im asking is, are you chucking the plan? Teeny turned toward Rick and braced his elbows on his knees. Because if you are, well need to expand the background searchmove further into her family and her friends and her job. All the old boyfriends, too, and thats a healthy list. Well have to go deeper into her financials, as well. I want to be absolutely sure theres no connection to our man. You know Bennett Cummings is a sly muthafucka.
Rick blew out a puff of air. /Right. The plan/. It was nearly seven years ago that he made a pledge to himself, and hed stuck to it. Since the morning he woke up in agony and heard the news about what hed done to Margot Cummings, he hadnt let a woman anywhere near him. No dating.
No flirting. No nothing. What was the point? Hed done enough damage to the female species to last several lifetimes.
His last hurrah was the accident. Hed smoked a joint, snorted some coke, and thrown back a few Sam Adamses, just in time to take his motorcycle for a spin in the dark and the rain. Hed convinced Margot to come along.
He hadnt seen her since college, but, as he knew well, she was good-looking and a good lay. Back then, those were his only requirements.
He took the turn too fast, skidding into a guardrail. He died on the operating tablesoared over his own twisted body and looked down upon the scene in awe. Then he woke up. Alive. On fire with pain. Bennett Cummings was at his bedside, telling Rick what hed done to Margot.
Cummings leaned close to Ricks face and whispered, /Some day, you will pay for my daughters life with your own./ After seven years in a coma, Margot died. Rick had traveled to Rhode Island for her funeral two weeks ago. It was the right thing to do.
Bennett Cummings approached him at the service. Its time to collect, was all he said. Then he walked away.
Teeny cleared his throat. Rick looked up, noting the concern on his friends face. He knew Teeny had a legitimate pointwhy now? Why Josephine Sheehan? What in the hell was he doing?
There was no way he could tell Teeny the truththe way the energy had crackled through him the instant he saw Josie, how his heart sat up at attention when he first heard her laugh. Teeny was sensitive, but every guy had his limits.
I like her, Rick answered matter-of-factly. It feels different somehow with Josie, very strong, but good. Almost wholesome. I know that might sound ridiculous, but its the truth.
Teeny blinked, his lips parting.
I dont want to play her, Teen, I just want to get to know her.
Teeny seemed to recover from the shock. So youre chucking the plan?
Yeah.
Teeny nodded. With some difficulty, he pushed himself to his feet. He let out a deep groan and shifted his weight gingerly.
The media had once proclaimed it was a miracle that Syracuse University cornerback Timothy Worrell was up and walking six months after his injury. Rick knew better. Hed been there to see Teeny fight for every minuscule success, every bend of his knee, every raise of his shoulder.
They never gave up on each other in the eighteen months they spent in rehab. They saved each others lives.
Im hitting the barn. You coming?
Rick had converted half of the cavernous old barn into a state-of-the-art fitness facility, complete with a steam room and Jacuzzi. In addition to being his personal assistant, security chief, and best friend, Timothy Worrell was his official ass-kicker. Rick wasnt up and walking because of a miracle, either. Like Teeny, his body was a testament to grueling rehab, orthopedic surgical skill, and cutting-edge plastics and metals. And all of it required daily upkeep. Be there soon.
Teeny took a few steps across the wooden porch floor, then turned, laughing. His deep guffaw silenced the crickets, and his huge white smile lit up the twilight. /Wholesome?/ Damn, Rick. I cant believe you just said that. If it had been anybody else Id say they were full of shit. Teeny winked before he limped off.
Maybe he was right, Rick thought. He could be fooling himself. But why?
There was no reason. Hed been perfectly comfortable tucked away in his private world before Josie and her dog strolled into the store and zapped him. The way all that energy sizzled between them was bizarre, but not unwelcome. What was the word for that kind of reaction? Rick wondered. Smitten? All he knew was that after years of saying no to a string of beautiful, accomplished, and persistent womenof which Gwen Anders was the epitomehed said yes to a cute, funny, and awkwardly honest obituary writer who hadnt exactly been lucky in love herself.