deserved a beautiful, clever woman who could come through for him in his time of need, not a screw-up with more baggage than a lost property office.
He needed Emmy, not me.
CHAPTER 39
NICK STORMED THROUGH Emmy’s front door, pausing as an afterthought to slam it behind him.
“Don’t worry,” she called out. “I never liked that door much anyway. You want a beer?”
“Fuckin’ need a beer after the night I’ve had.”
Emmy found him in the kitchen, rummaging in the fridge. “I spoke to Lara and Dom. I gather there was a small hiccup with Lara’s ex?”
“Yeah, there was.” He pulled out a bottle and popped the top. “I’m gonna need a favour.”
“You mean you want me to do what you didn’t manage yourself?”
“Hey, I was in front of Lara and her friend. I’d already plastered the asshole over the hood of the car she was sitting in.”
“Nice. So why’d you stop?”
“Going back to finish the job would hardly have endeared me to her, would it? Not to mention the other two fuckers I had to take care of.”
“Calm down, I’m kidding. I’ll deal with it, Nicky.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “Thank you.”
“Only the son? The father seems like a cunt too.”
“We’ll have to watch the body count.”
Two dead Coopers in a short space of time might arouse suspicions, even from the dumb pricks in Baysville.
“I’m nothing if not professional about these things.”
Of course she was. She always had been. “Sorry. It’s just this one’s personal.”
“I promise I’ll sort it.”
No, Emmy wouldn’t let him down. She never let him down.
“And I’ll owe you one. What happened with the father, anyway? Con said he was stalling the investigation?”
“He was. Lara figured it out, actually. Cooper senior’s a golfing buddy of the mayor, so he had him call the police chief and tell him to hold things up. But nobody plays that game better than me.” Emmy grinned. “I pissed all over their bonfire.”
Nick dropped onto a stool at the breakfast bar. “Go on then, what did you do?”
“Got Senator Wilmslow to phone the police chief and ask him to explain why he was holding a gentleman who’d selflessly acted to protect two women from a man who’d already threatened one of them earlier in the evening, and why he was refusing to consider any of the evidence in front of him. The chief now has a meeting with the good senator next week, in which he will be reminded of the need to make the wheels of justice turn, well, a little more justly.”
“I didn’t realise you knew Senator Wilmslow. Isn’t he a new appointment?”
“I don’t, personally. But James knows him, and I know James, so I woke James up and asked him to make the introductions.”
She did what? “You called James in the middle of the night?”
“Yeah. He’s always been a light sleeper.”
“Shit. How many favours do I owe him?”
“Relax. I sorted that too. While James tracked down the senator, he passed me over to his wife. You’re expected at her fundraiser in six weeks’ time, and Lara too. Diana’s intrigued to meet the woman who’s finally stolen your heart, as is James.”
“Fuck. I keep telling you, I’m not with Lara. That’s not gonna happen.”
“It is.”
“No, it isn’t, especially since I managed to screw things up twice while we were away.”
“For fuck’s sake, Nicky. What did you do?”
Nick took a long pull on his beer then slammed the bottle onto the counter. “I need something stronger.”
“Scotch? Patrón? Grey Goose?”
“Scotch’ll do to start.”
Emmy fetched a bottle and poured Nick a generous measure, and he knocked half back before he spoke again. Talking about the debacle in Baysville was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Okay, so we were in the church after the wedding. Lara got stuck in her dress, and I was helping her out of it.”
“Smooth. So what went wrong?”
“Stop laughing. It wasn’t funny. I might have kissed her shoulders, but she turned around and I panicked.”
“Oh, but it’s hilarious. You don’t balk in a gunfight, but you freak when the woman you love looks at you.”
Love? He didn’t love Lara, did he? Even if he had accidentally told her that. Shit. This situation couldn’t get much messier, and even now, Nick couldn’t stop thinking of the way that ridiculous pink dress had slid down her body, exposing those sweet, firm… Enough!
“She looked so fuckin’ perfect. How can I bring her into our world? I’d spend every day worrying in case something happened to her.”
“She could get hit by a car