Covering Her Assets, page 1
Covering Her Assets
by
N.L. Wilson
(the writing team of Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty)
PUBLISHED BY:
Something Shiny Press
P.O. Box 30046, Fredericton, NB, E3B 0H8
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Norah Wilson and Heather Doherty, writing as N.L. Wilson
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and the publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the authors.
Edited by Jeni Chappelle
Proofread by Yolande Gagnon
Book Cover by The Killion Group Inc.
Chapter 1
Life’s funny.
Okay, not always in that ha ha, the-dirtbag-ex-boyfriend-fell-down-a-well funny. Yet while I’m thinking of it, ha ha, my dirtbag ex-boyfriend fell down a well. But that’s neither here nor there. What I’m saying is that life can be...weird funny.
Yeah, weird funny. Let’s go with that. And why not? That about sums up the last few months of my life.
Business has been great. No complaints there. Lots of down-and-dirty in Marport City to keep this private detective very happy. And yeah, a big chunk of my business was still who’s cheating on whom. Not to mention with whom. Also, where, when, how, and even for how long. And some of them were pretty long, in my learned experience...and I do research.
Oh, the snapshots I was getting of sneaking-around spouses. Some of them were downright giggle-worthy.
It wasn’t just cheating spouses that kept my camera clicking. Increasingly, other business was coming our way. Well, trickling in.
Yes siree, the Dodd-Foreman partnership was working out nicely. That’s right—no more apprentice work for Dylan. We were business equals on paper and in every other way. Though, I sometimes had a hard time wrapping my head around it. Admittedly, I did have a wee bit of trouble letting go with Dylan. But I was trying.
Since that crazy case of Death by Cuddle Club, we’d even picked up a couple of stalk-the-stalker cases. Gotta love referrals. Stalker cases are similar to pin the tail on the donkey, except I pin the incriminating pics on the asses who were supposed to be staying well away from their former lady loves. (Hello peace bond, anyone?) Intense cases, those ones.
We had a couple of nice missing person cases too. Nice because we found the missing persons—easily solved by yours truly. Fortunately, they were all thrilled to have been looked for, let alone found.
Then there was that whole thing with Tatum Banks. Rochelle so owed me on that one! And everyone saw this debt except Rochelle. She still wouldn’t pay up. Paying up being dishing the dirt on her new flame, Detective Richard Head. Was that so much to ask?
Okay so I knew who and with whom in this case. But what about the rest of it? How was the sex? You know the whole...where? when? how long? How long, as in how long they’d been seeing each other. Geez, get your mind out of the gutter! Only ’cause it’s getting crowded and I was here first. (First...perpetually...I get those two mixed up.)
Again, was that so much to ask? It’s just normal girl talk, right? But Rochelle wouldn’t even be goaded into it.
Just so we’re clear, Rochelle wasn’t the only one getting some action.
Let me rephrase that:
ROCHELLE WASN’T THE ONLY ONE GETTING SOME ACTION!
That’s right—I’m shouting. I actually have a love life! Like, with a real person and everything.
And not just any real person. With a hot one. One of those yummy manly men.
Since the Cuddle Club case—yes, I still have nightmares about that whole cuddle experience—Dylan Foreman and I have been a couple.
Actually, it had been exactly three months. Kind of cool.
My mother, Katt Dodd, was over-the-top thrilled. Mrs. Jane Presley? Well, she knew all along that we’d end up together. And me? I was happy. Cautiously happy. And yeah, scared to death, doing this relationship thing.
I know. Hard to believe, tough-as-nails Dix Dodd doing close. And yes, we were also doing it too—just ask Rochelle. Oh dear God, no, she wasn’t watching! See, I gave up the details. Lots and lots of details. Too many? Yeah, like there’s such a thing between BFFs.
Perhaps I wasn’t doing close-close, but I was getting closer to it.
The fact is, I have a boyfriend. Wow, that still blows my mind.
So why the lament that life is weird? Because, like with everything else in my world, this traditional relationship couldn’t be smooth going...
Or maybe I couldn’t let it be.
That sounds like me.
Dylan Foreman is twenty-nine. Go ahead, do the math. At pushing forty-one, I’m well within that half-your-age-plus nine range—it is nine, right? Dylan’s great. He’s one of the good guys.
Oh, but that down-the-well boyfriend scenario I referenced earlier? There’s a reason that brings a smile to my face. A bitter one.
Yup. I’ve had my own share of heartache. A big slice of it named Myles Gauthier.
Suffice it to say, I swore I’d never let my guard down or love that much again. After I kicked Myles to the curb, I swore I would never again let anyone get close. One of those nobody’s-that-rich-or-that-well-hung vows.
Well, Dylan’s not rich...
The point being, despite my past crappy experiences with Myles—yes, experiences plural; I’m a slow learner sometimes—I was trying with Dylan. It was new for him too. Dating the former-boss-turned-business-partner. Sleeping with an older woman. An amazing older woman. And though he was always very guarded, very mum, on the subject, I knew Dylan had once had his heart broken too. But not as bad as mine, I’d bet.
Except he wouldn’t bet.
Which told me there was still a sting there.
Truly, there are no two people on the planet more competitive than me and Dylan. You’d think our romantic involvement would have lessened that. You’d be thinking wrong. It only intensified it.
Take our one month anniversary, for example. I hadn’t even realized we had been dating one whole month when the fourteenth of December rolled around. But Dylan, the romantic, brought me a heart-shaped cookie that morning, still warm from Perky Joe’s coffee shop around the corner. Dylan had obviously unwrapped the plastic and microwaved it there; nothing’s fresh from the oven at Perky Joe’s. Sweet? Yes, even I know cookies are sweet. Quite often chocolaty too.
It was a thoughtful gesture. Under normal circumstances, this would be kind of cute. But these weren’t normal circumstances—this was Dylan and me.
“Didn’t you remember our anniversary, Dix?” he’d asked. He’d had that smarmy smile on his face. That one-up smile.
I hadn’t, of course.
“Of course I remembered!” I said. “I...I have a little something for you right...where did I put it?” I started rummaging through the things on my desk to find something—anything—resembling a gift. But somehow a length of staples and ball of rubber bands just didn’t say oh baby, oh baby. I did have a rubber thimble with little nubby bumps all over it… Of course, that would be more for me than him. The things he could do with those nubby bumps...
Dylan had known I was bluffing about having a gift for him. He used that to his advantage.
Well played, Mr. Foreman...well played.
“It’s okay, Dix. Just because our relationship means so much to me doesn’t mean it has to be the same for you.” He kissed me on the forehead and went back to his office, where he snagged the mailbox key and headed out the door.
The prick! That meant war!
Before I even took a single bite of that cookie, I threw on my coat, grabbed my purse, and raced across the office to the door. Then—what was I thinking?—I dashed back to that cookie.
With a mouthful of chocolate chip, I zoomed over to the pharmacy not far from the office. It was a block away, right next to Stoner Stan’s, the adults-only toy, video, and smoke shop.
“Hi ya, Dix,” Stan called to me as I ran past. “How’s your mom? I haven’t seen her in ages.”
I didn’t have time to chat. Much. “Katt’s great, thanks Stan. Oh, and I’ll pick up my order on Wednesday! Say hi to Bambi and the kids. Talk soon!”
He waved me along. As I took off again, I almost ran down a little old lady. If she hadn’t jumped her pink- and blue-haired self out of the way, we’d have collided.
“Watch it, Dixie-Doodle.”
What? Was that a lucky guess? She did look vaguely familiar…
I practically threw the money across the counter at the clerk, pulled a pen from my purse, and scribbled a little something on the inside of the card.
I shoved the card into the envelope and then plowed through—er, passed by—that tough-looking pair of Salvation Army folk in front of Perky Joe’s.
I tossed the card onto Dylan’s desk and dove back in behind mine a full two seconds before he came back into the office.
“Happy...” Puff puff...need air now. “One month...” Stitch in side...killing me. “Anniversary!”
Dylan smiled as he picked up the card. Then he opened it and looked absolutely stricken. Pale as a sheet. Scared shitless.
“What?” I panted. “What’s wrong?”
Big, tall, strapping Dylan Foreman didn’t scare easily, but as he read the card again—out loud that time—he looked petrified. “Congratulations on your pregnancy?” He looked up at me. “Dix are you...are we…? I mean, I thought you’d put a little weight on, but—”
“No!” I protested. “You’ve got it all wrong… I retain water! It’s a hormone thing.”
“But...but you inscribed the card. ‘To Dylan, from Dix...may there be many more.’ Wait a minute…” His voice went comically high. His eyes shot to my stomach. “How many have you got in there?”
“It was a mistake, okay?”
“We sure as hell didn’t plan it.”
“Whoa! Dylan, take it easy,” I said. “There’s nothing in this oven. I must have picked up the wrong card.”
He started to get it, as evidenced by the color that was coming back into his cheeks.
“Wait a minute.” His eyes narrowed on me. “Don’t tell me you just ran to the pharmacy while I was getting the mail and grabbed the first card you came to that had a couple on it. Surely you’re not that competitive, Dix.”
I said nothing. He had, after all, told me not to tell him.
But that was the only time he’d managed to one-up me on an anniversary.
At the two month mark, I came into the office first thing in the morning to find him leaning on my desk, a dozen roses in hand. But I’d been ready. Well prepared and planning for days. That’s right: I gave him the rubber thimble after all. ʼCause the more I thought about nubby bumps…
That was a month ago.
So there we were, three months down the line. To the day. February fourteenth. I’d circled it in red on the calendar so I’d remember. Too anxious to sit, I stood leaning against my desk in the bright and early morning, sipping my coffee, and I knew I had that I’m-so-smart smile on my face. I know ’cause I kept checking it in the mirror. I watched the clock. And I watched the door.
I knew Dylan would soon arrive. But I had no idea who else would be charging/sashaying through our office door that day.
Did I mention how weird my life is?
It was just about to get weirder.
“Happy three months!” Dylan was calling the words out even as he opened the door. I mean, his hand was literally still gripping the door knob. Only one size thirteen foot was over the office threshold. No, I hadn’t heard him approaching—I’ll give him that. He’d sneaked up to the door as quietly as he could and surprised me with his entrance.
Romantic on his part?
Not a chance. He wanted to catch me giftless yet again. With no chance of saving face by running out for a card. And he knew I’d not been to Staples in weeks, so I couldn’t even offer up a shapely pencil nub from my desktop. He wanted to catch me with that crap-I-forgot look on my face.
Told you it meant war.
In your face, Foreman!
He only got a very smug smile from me as I set my coffee down and picked up the wrapped gift from my desk. That’s correct: wrapped. Ribbons and a bow.
His eyes lit up. “Well, good morning.”
He locked the door behind him and strode into the office purposefully. No one would be barging in on us. There was a decisiveness to that flip of the deadbolt, not to mention the way Dylan shrugged out of his winter coat.
He crossed toward me at a leisurely, confident pace. He nodded a quick hello to Blow-up Betty sprawled out on the sofa. Then those chocolate brown eyes were back on me, raking their way down my body.
I went from zero to horny with every step he took. And when he arrived at the perfection known as me, he gave me one of those toe-curling kisses.
I pulled away, teasingly, and thrust my gift between us. Oh, there’d be time for the other kind of thrusting later, but I couldn’t resist. I could not wait to give him his gift. The sexy little I-won-this-round gift.
“Can’t it wait?” He bit my earlobe gently and whispered, “I’ll open it later.”
Lord, it was hard to hang onto any semblance of rational thought with his breath warm in my ear, but somehow I managed.
“Come on, Dylan. Humor me.”
“Okay, a newspaper guy walks into a bar and shouts, ‘Bartender, I’m looking for your nine-inch pianist.’”
I smacked him. “Stop.”
“You heard that one?”
“Heard it? I’m the one who told it to you.” I slammed the gift into his chest. “Open it, Foreman.”
He unwrapped the package quickly.
“Er, socks? Again with the socks?”
I waggled my eyebrows.
“This makes 36 pairs you’ve given me since November.”
Best girlfriend ever. That’s what he had to be thinking.
I’d gotten him some awesome dress socks for Christmas. Imported ones, no less. Because hey, socks are just that sexy. Right up there with nubby rubber thimbles.
Dylan looked bewildered as he gazed down at the gift. He scratched his head.
Ha! I loved it when he pretended like that. Just another little game we play. That he wasn’t just as turned on as I was right about then, looking at those six pairs of socks, so neatly folded, so perfectly lined up in the cellophane-wrapped box. Maybe we could take them out of the box and Dylan could try them on for me. One by one by...one.
"Yeah.” I gave him my most provocative smile, inadvertently whistling through my teeth (because my provocative smile is a tight one). “Brown ones. Stretchy, ribbed, brown socks.”
I wanted to jump his bones—one in particular—right then and there. “Do you like them?”
“I love them.” He set them back down on the desk and pulled me in close for a full body hug.
“I win,” I murmured against his neck. “Best gift ever.”
He nuzzled back, laying a hand on my left breast while pulling my hips closer to his. “Is that right?”
“Why, Mr. Foreman,” I whispered into his ear. “Is that a hoagie in your pocket, or are you glad to see me?”
Please say hoagie; please say hoagie. We can pick up where we left off later.
Yes, I’d skipped breakfast again.
He chuckled. “No, it’s not a hoagie in my pocket, but I am very glad to see you.”
To prove it even more eloquently, he pressed himself against me all the closer. Through the rough material of his jeans, I could feel his growing desire.
Actually, I felt it in a couple places.
What the heck? He’d had only one penis the last time I checked. And I’m a private detective after all; I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have missed a second one!
I backed up and looked down at Dylan’s crotch.
He did that little adjusty thing guys do with their jeans when they’ve got a semi, pulling the material away from the rising action. Then he reached into the right pocket of his jeans.
“Happy three months anniversary, Dix.”
And dammit, there was that one-up smile again as I accepted the card. Immediately, he reached for his back pocket and pulled out another envelope. A suspiciously bright red one.
