Summer's Indiscretion (10 page)

Kemp cursed under his breath, wishing he’d pressed the issue about putting in a system at Summer’s rental house. She’d questioned the necessity since she’d be moving out in a matter of weeks. They’d given in on the point, knowing they’d be checking in and watching over her anyway.

“I followed the guy home who was recording y’all at the club. Once he got settled for the night I went to grab a bite to eat before heading over to check on her house. I take it she’s with you.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Whoever did this trashed her house and used spray paint on her walls.”

“Damn. We’ll be right over.”

Chapter Ten

Summer looked around her living room in shock. Her pristine little home was a shambles. Her cheeks reddened as she read what had been spray-painted on her white walls.

“Whore.”

“Slut.”

“Fucking cunt.”

Whoever had done this had left her front door hanging wide open with the word
“Cocksucker”
painted on it.

“Why?” Her belongings were strewn everywhere, and she felt violated. She looked in the bathroom and saw her costly toiletries and cosmetics thrown and shattered in the porcelain bathtub. The waste made her want to cry.

Walking back to her bedroom, she headed straight for the closet. It was a small consolation that the safe was undamaged. Her sex toy collection, locked inside a file safe, was also untouched. Every item of clothing she owned was tossed about on the floor. Nothing appeared to have been stolen in the random chaos.

Tears overflowed her eyes when she picked up the frame that held a picture of her with her grandmother when she was a little girl.

“Grammy.”

It had been broken, lying face down on the floor, evidently stepped on. The picture inside was salvageable, but the ceramic frame had been a gift from her now-deceased grandmother. It was too much.

She broke down, and strong arms closed around her as she sobbed. Judging by his spicy scent, it was Ace who comforted her. He held her and rocked her gently as she let the emotions out.

In a comforting tone, he whispered, “At least you weren’t home, kitten. This could’ve turned out much worse. I’m so glad you came to the shop with us.”

Summer shuddered at the thought. Kemp came in and stood beside them. “The police should be here any minute. Duke just called it in. You okay, Summer?”

With a teary sniffle, Summer shrugged and nodded, unsure how she felt. Kemp reached for her, and she went into the haven of his arms. A few minutes later the police arrived. In addition, David Northup also showed up. She thought it was kind of him to come when it wasn’t absolutely necessary because the police officers had already taken her statement. She also hoped his arrival didn’t create more tension between the men. David was nice, but she wasn’t interested in him.

Ace and Kemp kept it friendly, which was a relief, and after the officers were finished with her, she set about picking her clothing up off of the bedroom floor.

That was where Kemp found her a few minutes later after he and Ace were finished conferring with the authorities. Kemp began lifting her clothing from the floor, shaking each item out before neatly laying it on the bed.

Ace joined them in the task and said, “Kitten? Why don’t we save this work for tomorrow? Come back with us to the shop.”

“I’m sorry, Ace. I can’t. I’ll never be able to rest knowing this is waiting for me here. I need to get it picked up now. My privacy has been violated and I can’t leave it like this.”

Nodding his understanding as he caressed her shoulder, Ace replied, “We understand. Do you by chance have any interior paint left over?”

Their willingness to help in such a concrete way touched her heart. “Yes, I saved a can from when I painted this past spring. It’s in the garage.”

“Good. You do your thing and we’ll take care of the spray paint. After we’re done we’ll help with the rest. I think Duke is tidying up your kitchen, sweeping up the broken glass and whatnot.”

She had yet to meet the mysterious Duke, and he was helping to pick up the pieces. The intruder had cleared out an entire cabinet of glassware and dishes onto the tile floor. She rubbed the heels of her hands on her forehead.

Sounding concerned, Ace stroked her knotted shoulders. “How are you doing?”

“I’ll feel much better after this is set to rights,” she replied, indicating the mess with a wave of her hand.

Ace stroked her cheek and said, “Would you consider staying with us from now until you’re ready to move?” She looked up at him in surprise, and he continued, “This could happen again, and it pains me to think of what might’ve occurred if you’d been here when this person broke in.”

It scared her to think of it, too. “Let me think about it?”

“Sure, kitten. We’ll take care of painting over the graffiti. Just think it over. We’d feel much better knowing you’re safe with us, rather than home alone.”

She knew what Margot would say. Her sister would tell her she was being naïve by trusting them so soon. Margot had told her in the past that some of the relationship difficulties she’d had were because she trusted too easily. Margot might be right, but Summer preferred supposed naïveté to cynicism.

As if on cue, Summer heard Margot’s voice. “Will you get the hell away from me! Where is my sister? Summer!”

Summer was curious over the cause of Margot’s irritation and called out, “Back here, sis.”

“What the hell happened in here?” Margot asked in shock as she made her way to the back of the house. She was stepping over a pile of lingerie in the hallway and lost her balance when her high heel caught on a G-string as she stood on it with the other foot. A man Summer had never seen before caught her as she started to topple backward. Summer’s embarrassment was complete when her poor G-string shot across the room and Ace caught it with a grin then stuck it in his pocket.

“I said to stay the
hell
away from me!” Margot growled at the unknown man as he steadied her and then put up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

In a deep, growly voice he said, “Fine, next time bust your grouchy ass on the floor. No sweat off of my back.”

His words were harsh, but his tone was slightly amused, and Summer squinted at him, wondering who he was. He was wearing blue jeans, a white button-down shirt, and beat-up cowboy boots. Margot glared at him and then blushed as he smiled nonchalantly at her and leaned against the door frame. His black hair was in need of a trim, and he had a day-old beard gracing his devilishly handsome face.

Ace smiled and went over to the man to shake his hand. “Hey, Jake. I see you made it. Already on the job?”

The darkly attractive man replied, “Yup. Looks like I’m just in time for all the excitement, too.”

Ace nodded and said, “I’ll say. Summer, this is Jake Redman. He’s a friend of ours from San Angelo. He’ll be helping us for a while.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Jake,” Summer said as she cast a glance at Margot. It wasn’t like her to be inhospitable to someone new in the area, but she now stood to the side, her arms crossed, looking out of sorts.

Ace said mildly, “I see you and Margot have become acquainted.”

Margot scoffed and muttered, “Yeah. You could say that.”

Margot’s tone promised there was a story there, which Summer planned to get out of her as soon as possible. Margot was normally very levelheaded, but she obviously had her panties in a twist about her new bodyguard. The men excused themselves and set about hunting down the supplies and leftover paint she kept in the garage.

Margot and Summer began sorting through and hanging all the clothing back in the closet and putting her other things back in their drawers. Her sister was unusually quiet.

To distract herself from the task at hand, Summer gave in to her curiosity. “Spill it, sis.”

“Did Ace and Kemp tell you that they are tailing us?” Margot asked in a clipped tone.

Summer decided to ignore her sister’s pissy attitude in favor of getting to the bottom of how she’d come to be in her present mood. “He told me tonight, but I knew they would be watching out for us off and on. Why?”

“Well, I didn’t know they were going to dedicate someone to following me around,
snooping
on me.”

“Uh-oh. What happened?”

“I couldn’t sleep tonight. I was worried about the shop and thinking about you with
two
guys
, and I couldn’t get my mind to stop churning.” Her sister continued rattling on about everything else that was keeping her awake. At times Margot seemed to think that the world would stop turning if she wasn’t there to worry about it and sometimes took on more of a burden than she needed to at the store and in her personal life.

“What does your crazy life have to do with Jake Redman?” Summer asked, trying to get her back on track.

“He’s a Peeping Tom!”

Summer had to stifle her shocked laughter. “A what?
Come on!
”

Margot lowered her voice and said, “Well, what would you call it if someone was peeking in on you while you took a bath? Hmm?”

“Oh, boy. So what happened?”

“I was in the tub reading and trying to relax. I happened to look up and there is this strange man peeking in my window!”

“What did you do?”

“What the hell do you think I did? I screamed my head off.”

“Did he really see you naked?”

“Of course he saw me naked! I was in the tub. No bubbles, just me and my e-reader, and…”

Summer noted the red flush stealing over Margot’s cheeks. There was more to tell in this story. “And?”

Margot shook out a knit top furiously and whispered, “And one of the toys from my collection.”

Summer took the silk top from Margot before she shredded it. “A vibe? You weren’t using it at the time, I hope?”

Margot groaned and covered her face with her hands and said in a muffled voice, “Yes.”

“Oh, holy crap! He saw you?”

“Doing the deed. Yes. And the window was open, so he could hear as well.” Margot removed her hands and looked like she wanted to cry. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“How did you figure out he was with Ace and Kemp? Did you call the police?”

“I got out of the tub, ready to run for my phone, when he called out and told me Ace and Kemp had sent him. That’s how I found out I now have a bodyguard.” Summer patted her sister’s shoulder consolingly. “And he’s…He’s—

“A big, handsome, totally hot bodyguard?”

“Who saw me
masturbating
.” Summer was afraid Margot would burst into real tears. She appeared to be that embarrassed by the memory. “Now I can hardly even look at him without my face feeling like it’s on fire.”

That explained why she’d sounded so pissed off earlier. He had her at a disadvantage, and she was very uncomfortable with that. Margot was a woman who liked to be in control.

“Did he say anything about it yet? I assume he brought you over here.”

Margot rolled her eyes and said, “He insisted. He got the call about this mess while he was trying to explain his presence.”

“His presence at the window you mean?”

“Yes. He said he’d just gotten into town and was checking out my house, making sure all windows were locked and things like that. He noticed the light on in the bathroom and the window open, so he came closer to check it out. There was a nice breeze tonight, and I just wanted a little fresh air. He claims he heard noises and well…We know what
that
was. Oh, God! I’m so embarrassed.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t get off to a good start with him.” Summer pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh. “But at least you got off.”

She ducked when Margot humphed and threw a sweater at her, but then Margot had to stifle laughter of her own.

“So how’s it going with your
knights
in shining armor?”

Summer chuckled. “Well, up until the phone call this evening, my
night
was shaping up just fine.”

“But there’s not much you can do right now. Right?”

With a nod of her head and a naughty grin, Summer replied, “Oh yeah. But I can still get up to plenty of mischief.”

Margot giggled and fanned herself with her hand. “They are really hot, both of them. Ace is very sociable, but Kemp seems much more serious. A loner. For a while I wasn’t even sure if he liked me or not.”

He must show more to her than to others, because she loved the warmth in his eyes and the hint of a smile on his face whenever he looked at her.

“Oh? But you changed your mind?”

“Yeah. I think he’s just one of those guys that doesn’t talk much unless he has something important to stay. I saw the way he looked at you earlier, and that told me a lot more about him. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they weren’t both falling head over heels in love with you.”

Summer laughed and said, “Oh please. We’ve known each other a week.”

“Yeah, but
what a week!
”

They heard voices in the living room and shushed each other.

The men had been out in the garage for quite a while, and Summer wondered if they had been getting the other half of that story. After the cleanup in the bedroom was complete, Summer and Margot checked in with the men and found that the offensive graffiti had already been covered over and the living room and study set to back in order.

“Where is Duke?” Summer asked when she glanced in the kitchen and saw the broom and dustpan standing neatly in the corner, all evidence of the break-in gone. The broken glass and china were gone from the trashcan as well.

Kemp came up behind her and kissed the top of her head as he replied, “He left to go get some rest.”