Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Cain nodded his head. “Yeah, Frank truly didn’t deserve to be locked up.” He blew out a breath. “A piece of shit cop that exploited his power. There was no stopping him.”
“And you didn’t think to ask Frank why?”
“Oh, I know why. Between men, it is always a woman, and they are always causing us some kind of trouble.”
She didn’t like the smirk on his face. “You’re saying those things to rile me up, but they’re not going to work. Anyway, did he tell you this woman was in love with Frank, and that to save him from the cop, she left the country?”
“I heard something.”
“And you never thought to find her, after what you did to the cop?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I talked to Frank about it, but he didn’t seem interested. The cop had taken several years of his life, and in all honesty, I don’t think he wanted the trouble of being with a woman.”
“That is so sad,” she said.
“Sad, but true,” Cain said. “I didn’t bother finding her. Let me guess, you want to find her?”
“Why not?”
“Because Frank is one hell of a good chef, and he is much better at being in the kitchen than me. Also, he didn’t want to find her.”
She rolled her eyes. “He didn’t want to find her then, but now it is different.”
“Nothing has changed.”
“You’re the one with all the power. Don’t even start by playing the dumb card. You and I both know you have a way of talking to the cops.” She wrinkled her nose. “And by talking, I mean either blackmailing or paying them off.”
“I don’t blackmail them all the time. Just when they don’t do as I tell them.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“I don’t want to hurt him. Frank said it was a long time ago. She could have moved on. Be dead. There are any number of explanations, and it could bring up some bad shit for him. She could have a family.”
“Which is why I was trying to do this in secret. If we find her, we can discover if she died, if she has moved on, and then we can tell Frank.” She turned toward Cain. “Please.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand why this is so important to you.”
“It’s Frank. He’s a good guy.”
“And he’s happy,” Cain said. “What if this woman makes him unhappy?”
“What if this woman completes him?”
Again, his frown deepened.
“I didn’t take you as a romantic,” he said. “You rarely watch romance movies.”
She sighed. “This is not some made-up content, that is all a load of bullshit. This is real life.” She shrugged. “I wanted to do something good for him, and I don’t know, I think if I left town for a guy to help protect him, I’d want to know he was at least living a good life. Come on, what do we have to lose?”
“A great chef?” he asked.
“Why does finding this woman mean we’ll lose him?”
“Men lose their heads over women.”
She folded her arms across her chest and offered him a glare. “All men?”
“Yes, all men. Let’s face it, I lost my head over you,” he said.
This surprised her. Leah stared at him for several moments before she turned back to look at the computer, but then she didn’t know why she was bothering. If Cain knew what she was doing, all that information was going to him.
“Maybe this will be a good thing,” Leah said.
“How?”
“It might make Frank happy, or happier.”
“Is this really that important to you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Cain stared at her for several moments. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but then he nodded and handed her his cell phone.
“Lewis already forwarded you her information?” Leah asked.
“I needed to know why you wanted it first.”
She didn’t even need to ask him why. Cain was trying to protect her from her own desires as well.
She took his cell phone from him and scanned through the document. “She’s here,” Leah said. “It looks like she was never married and literally moved back a year ago.”
“And she never came looking for Frank,” Cain said. “I think you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that she doesn’t care.”
Leah glared at him. “Or, she doesn’t have the means to track Frank down.”
“I love how important this is to you,” Cain said.
“And it is going to be important to you as well. Tomorrow, you’re coming with me,” she said.
“I know.”
Leah smiled at him.
Silence fell between them, and in that moment she couldn’t help but remember the way he kissed her. His kiss had been something else, and she wanted to feel his lips again.
This was a disaster.
“Uh, Frank left your food in the oven. Also, he has asked that if you ever get the sudden urge to cook for me, he’s going to list several of your favorite takeout places, and you just need to call them,” Leah said.