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  Especially if there wasn’t something to worry about.

  But he had a sick pit in his gut telling him there was something to worry about and, until he knew what it was, to avoid tripping that trigger and in order to form a plan on how to deal with it before he approached her about it, he couldn’t broach it with Emme.

  “I’m goin’ to Denver, tomorrow or next day. I’m settin’ up eyes on his house,” Deck told Lee. “You got another marker, you let me send those feeds to your control room and your boys keep an eye on that house.”

  “No marker, men in that room 24/7, Deck. We can do that, not a problem. I just gotta know what you’re lookin’ for.”

  “I also want ears on his phone. Don’t give a fuck about anything he does, says or who he talks to, except Emme phonin’ him or goin’ for a visit.”

  “She’s visiting him?” Lee asked.

  “Don’t know. Got sour in my gut, though, so I just gotta go with it until I can work it out.”

  Lee Nightingale understood that sour in your gut.

  This was why he said, “Let us know when you’re in Denver. I’ll ask Vance to go out and help you with the feeds.”

  “Obliged.”

  “In the meantime, we’ll get into his phones.”

  “Thanks, Lee.”

  “Again, not a problem. Later, Deck.”

  “Later.”

  They disconnected but Deck didn’t turn on the ignition or throw his phone aside.

  He tapped it on the steering wheel and looked straight ahead, unseeing.

  It was coming to her, what that whackjob wrought when he took her, how she’d slipped behind that particular veil, breathing but not living, not connecting. Twenty-two years later, it was coming to her.

  But she seemed entirely calm and unaffected when she talked about the kidnapping, only concerned that what she was learning it did to her cost her time with him.

  She showed no fear whatsoever when it came to Harvey Feldman.

  Deck had taken two contracts where he’d tracked, and rescued, kidnapped kids.

  He’d also worked a situation with Chace that led to two kidnapped kids.

  They were not calm and unaffected in the slightest.

  That sour feeling in his gut, he pulled his thoughts out of that shit, tossed his cell aside, turned on his truck and guided it into traffic.

  He drove three blocks.

  Then he positioned.

  * * *

  Forty-five minutes later…

  Deck stood, ass and shoulders to his truck, feet out in front of him, ankles crossed, arms crossed, shades on, eyes to the door.

  The crew came out one by one.

  McFarland was the fourth one out.

  Deck had no interest in the rest but McFarland felt his gaze from twenty yards away and looked immediately to him.

  Deck didn’t move. Not his shades. Not a muscle.

  McFarland looked to the ground, jaw tight, pissed off and hustled to a black SUV that was idling outside the jail.

  He got in and took off.

  Deck watched him go.

  Only then did he get back in his truck and drive away.

  * * *

  Late that night…

  Deck’s eyes opened.

  Emme was sprawled half on him, dead weight, where he’d put her when he was done with her and where she’d stayed.

  The guest room was at the other end of the hall. Still, when he did her, he had to do it with his mouth on hers nearly the whole time, stifling her mews, moans, whimpers and, finally, cries.

  Not to mention using her mouth to smother his groans.

  The moonlight was coming in through her sheers, something he liked even though it was possible heat was escaping her windows, heat the curtains would trap. Still, the house was warmer and it was likely the boiler didn’t have to work as hard to make it that way.

  She still needed new windows.

  She was naked, something he asked for and got. Taking back that memory of McFarland leaving her that way, making that his.

  He was awake because he didn’t sleep much. Usually when this happened, he got up, worked out, went for a run in the dark, worked or read. The last couple of nights with Emme, he lay with her cuddled close and let his mind wander. This was not an issue, he’d done that plenty in his years of short sleeps. It was just better with Emme’s strawberry in his nostrils, her soft body tucked close.

  Now he lay with her but he was unsettled.

  This was because, even with the nonverbal warning Deck gave him by standing outside the jail, McFarland had gone right home to his truck then right to the lumberyard.

  He was met by Barry Holmes, and according to both Barry and Emmanuelle, Emme didn’t even see him.

  Barry suspended him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation of the charges filed against him. He’d be terminated officially when he went down, but the deed was done. He was gone.

  Barry also told him he would be officially terminated if he got anywhere near lumberyard property or anything associated with it, including vehicles, clients or employees.

  McFarland took this and went away.

  But it didn’t say good things he ignored Deck’s multiple warnings as well as Shaughnessy’s.

  It was partly about keeping his job.

  But Deck reckoned it was mostly about Emme.

  Knowing he wouldn’t sleep and his mind too cluttered to enjoy lying there with his girl, he carefully slid out from under her. She curled around a pillow as he angled out of bed.

  “Stay,” he murmured when Buford’s head came up.

  Emme had a king-size bed. He had a California king but Emme’s bed was far from small. Even so, looking at the bed, Deck and Emme had been taking a quarter of it. His hound had claimed the other three.

  Buford put his head back down on a groan. Deck reached out over Emme and ran a hand down his dog’s side. That got him a quieter groan.

  He went to his bag, yanked out a pair of pajama bottoms and a thermal, tugged them on then rooted around for his book. Nabbing it, he moved back through the room, a room he still found it hard to believe Emme refinished by herself.

  The floors had been sanded and restored, now gleaming. The same with the woodwork and mantel. Beamed wood ceilings, the wood cleaned and polished. Reskimmed walls, painted a soothing light green.

  The furniture in there was not modern or antique. It was welcoming and comfortable with a bent to feminine. Two overstuffed easy chairs angled in a corner with ottomans and a table close at hand with a silver-based lamp. Heavy glass-based lamps on the nightstands by the bed. Soft cream sheets with green stitching. Downy, green-colored comforter cover. Warm woods all around, but with carving and scrollwork that gave it femininity and personality. Thick woven large area rugs on the floors, delicate patterns in them reflecting the room’s colors.

  Nothing in your face. It was subtle. Attractive. Inviting. It wasn’t a room you slept in. It was a room you spent time in.

  All created and chosen by Emme.

  It was so remarkable she did this all on her own, it was almost humbling.

  He liked that.

  He also liked her room.

  Maybe when they were deeper in their relationship and she was used to him and his sleeping patterns, he’d leave her in bed, go to one of those chairs, turn on that lamp and read with her close.

  Maybe, if she could sleep through the light, he wouldn’t leave her at all, turn on the lamp by the bed and read with her curled into him.

  He’d have to explain his sleep and ask.

  He hoped she was up for the latter.

  But now was not that time.

  Instead, he headed to the family room to read but changed paths when he saw a light coming from the kitchen.

  He wasn’t surprised to see Barry sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee in front of him, robe on, slippers on his feet.

  And he was again reminded that even as smart as he was, he could be dumb.

  Barry
, not a young man, was still a handsome one. Dark hair now densely silvered with gray. Dark brown eyes. Fit body. Not brawn. Not lean either. Tall.

  His wife, as displayed in pictures in their house, had been stunning and given her eyes to both her daughters. When Deck met her, she could still turn heads.

  And all their kids were the same, save Emme way back when, who was, she just didn’t show it.

  Nor did Deck look for it.

  Seeing Barry up late, drinking coffee and appearing reflective, Deck knew why.

  Deck had not only shared that McFarland was an employee run amuck. He’d also carefully shared that he might have an unhealthy fixation on Emme. He had not, however, shared that Emme was seeing McFarland. Making that decision, which had turned out to be a mistake, was hers to share with her father and her boss.

  When he came in, Barry’s eyes came to him and Deck asked, “Can’t sleep?”

  “Father’s intuition,” was Barry’s reply.

  Deck nodded and joined him at the table.

  “Get you a cup?” Barry asked, tipping his head to his.

  “I’m good,” Deck declined.

  Barry nodded, put his eyes to his cup and lifted it to his lips.

  Only when he put it down did his eyes go back to Deck and he noted, “I’m feeling I’m missing something in all this.”

  His father’s intuition was on the mark.

  “Emme was not pleased I didn’t give her the opportunity to share direct with you something like this was happening with one of your employees,” Deck told him. “If something’s missing, this morning I promised to let her share that or discuss it with her before it’s shared.”

  “So I’m missing something,” he surmised.

  “Askin’ you not to put me in this spot, Barry,” Deck replied softly. “Ask your daughter.”

  Barry nodded and looked to the dark window over the kitchen sink. He couldn’t see anything out that window, but Deck knew he wasn’t really looking.

  “Why are you up, son?” he asked the window.

  “Sleep four hours a night. Use the extra time to do shit I don’t have time to do during the day.” Barry looked back at him and Deck tapped the book he’d put on the table. “Thought I’d read awhile.”

  “Don’t have to keep me company if you don’t like,” Barry told him.

  “Don’t have to keep you company if you don’t want me to,” Deck replied, and Barry shook his head.

  “Liked you the minute I met you, Jacob. Liked you and liked how you were with my girl. Never quite understood why Elsbeth ended things with you. Maeve said she was plum stupid. I agreed. It appears things work out the way they’re meant to be, or at least that’s my hope. Bottom line, nice to spend time with you again seeing as I enjoyed having that opportunity occasionally back in the day.”

  “Sentiments returned, Barry.”

  “But if you break my daughter’s heart, I’ll break you.”

  Deck’s head jerked at this swift turn in their conversation.

  “Know how sharp you are,” Barry continued. “Don’t know what you do for a living but I suspect it’s interesting. But money goes a long way, I got a lot of that, and you hurt my girl, I’ll use everything I got to hurt you back.”

  “Barry, this isn’t—” Deck started to assure him.

  “She’s different,” Barry whispered, and Deck shut his mouth at the pain and worry stark in Barry’s eyes.

  Old pain and worry. Etched there. Hidden by strength of will. Exposed now for a purpose.

  “I know what happened to her,” Deck told him quietly, hoping to ease the burden and not make him say those words out loud.

  But he’d find with what Barry said next there was no way to ease this burden.

  “Man lives three days not knowing where his daughter is,” Barry replied. “Three days not knowing if she’s eating. Not knowing if someone’s touching her. Not knowing if she’s dead in a ditch. Torture, Jacob. Utter torture made worse by looking at my wife, my boys, my other little girl, knowing they have the same thoughts eating away their brains. We got her back, we went on but we never recovered. You don’t. You don’t forget that feeling. You wake up tasting it in your mouth and you go to bed and send your thanks to God you got through the day and she’s somewhere you know where she is, sleeping safe.”

  “I can’t imagine, Barry, and I don’t want to,” Deck said truthfully, holding his eyes.

  “No. You don’t. But what I’m saying is, not one thing is going to harm my baby girl. Not again. I like you, Jacob. I respect you. I got the feeling you’re a good man, and I’m rarely wrong about that. And she likes you too, a great deal, years ago, but now, it’s a whole lot more. So if you hurt her, I will break you.”

  “Again, I know what happened to her. You don’t know me well but I’ll tell you straight. I would not be at this table with you coming from where I just came from, knowing what I know Emme endured, knowing the woman your daughter is, how I feel about her, taking us where we are and leading us where I want us to be if I wasn’t very serious about being on that path.”

  Barry’s gaze didn’t waver from Deck’s for long moments before he nodded.

  “You’ll take no offense,” Barry stated, ending it.

  “Absolutely,” Deck agreed.

  He should have expected it just because Barry was the man he was. And that was a man who loved his daughter and took care of her no matter what her age. In other words, he argued about the bill that night and only backed down when he took a good look at Deck’s expression and the bulk of his frame. But when he backed down, he did it only slightly.

  He was a man like Deck. No one paid for his meal. No one paid for his girl.

  They split the bill.

  Barry kept talking.

  “As her father, I got to let her be free to live her life, make her decisions and make her mistakes. As her boss, the same. As both, I got to give her the freedom to share about her decisions or her mistakes if she feels she needs to do that. Emme’s her own girl, and I reckon you had an interesting conversation this morning but tonight you both made it clear there are no hard feelings. I appreciate the respect you’re giving her by making a promise and keeping it. But as just her father sitting at three thirty in the morning at her kitchen table with the man who’s making my baby girl his, I got to know how worried I need to be about what I don’t know.”

  “I’m not a father. I can’t answer that. But I reckon whatever I say is not going to make you worry any more or less than you already are. The only thing I can tell you is I’ve shared my concerns with the right people, including Emmanuelle, and she’s got a lot of eyes on her, including mine. That’s all I have to give now, Barry, and I hope you can accept that.”

  Barry sighed before he stated, “I’m getting the impression this is new for you two, so I hope in return you don’t mind me cramping your style because I’ll be taking more frequent trips to Gnaw Bone, Jacob. Not because I don’t trust you. But when it comes to Emme, it’s just what I got to do.”

  “Understandable.”

  “I’ll give you space but I’ll be around.”

  “We’ll work with that.”

  “And, you need me to, you two go on a date or something, I’ll watch your dog because he’s a cute, droopy bugger.”

  Deck smiled. “Might take you up on that.”

  Barry nodded. Then he patted a hand palm flat on the table before he got up and walked his cup to the sink.

  He turned around and declared, “Maeve tells me she has nightmares about this kitchen.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” Deck replied, still smiling.

  Barry smiled back. “I’m gonna hit it and try again to sleep. See you in the morning, son.”

  “Good night, Barry.”

  “Night, Jacob.”

  Barry walked out. Deck picked up his book, turned out the lights and went to the family room to settle in.

  He opened his book making the decision to speak with Emme, tell her what happened with her
dad and encourage her to lay it out so Barry had the information he needed to focus his attention and his worry.

  Then he put his eyes to his book and read.

  When the time was right, he stopped reading, switched out the lights, walked upstairs and slid back into bed with Emme, woke her gently then proceeded to do things to her where he had to use his mouth to stifle the noise.

  Chapter Eleven

  Give-and-Take

  Deck heard his garage door go up and he grinned at his stove.

  And he was grinning because he gave Emme a remote.

  He heard claws on the floor then he heard a door open.

  After that, he heard Emme’s voice, crying, “Hey, puppy!” and his grin turned into a smile.

  At hearing that, it was not lost on Deck that he could hear that same thing every night, Monday through Friday, heralding Emme was home. Her smile and eyes over dinner. Later, her body in his bed.

  This would absolutely not suck.

  On this thought, his smile got bigger.

  There were long moments where he suspected there was a rubdown and tail wags before he heard claws on floor, this time coming back, and he twisted to look over his shoulder. Therefore he saw Emme rounding the wall that led to the open-space great room that included dining room and kitchen.

  Her eyes came to him, they lit with warmth but she dumped her purse on the bar, slumped her shoulder so her overnight bag fell to the floor then she shrugged both shoulders to take off her jacket and throw it on a barstool.

  She then put her hands to the bar and announced, “My dad the father was not pleased his daughter chose a felon to date. My dad the boss was not pleased the manager of his lumberyard dated an employee. He chewed me out.”

  He’d told her about his conversation the night before with Barry and advised her to come clean. She told him she would.

  She obviously did.

  The look on her face told him she might have been chewed out but everything was okay.

  Plans that night were that Emme had her talk with Barry then Barry was giving them space, staying at her place while they spent the night at his. He wasn’t leaving until after the weekend. Maeve was coming up on Thursday. She was doing this likely because she was worried about her daughter. She was also doing it likely because she was curious about Deck being her daughter’s new man.