The Private Serials Box Set Read online

  “Why do you need a private investigator? We saw him, Lena. We already know he’s cheating.”

  “I know, Sam, trust me. I know. But I want more. I need to know how long it’s been going on, how deep it goes. I know it might seem masochistic, but I just need to know.” I shook my head a little and looked down at my hands in my lap. I couldn’t tell her about the prenup. I was so ashamed that it even existed and I didn’t need her pity. I looked up at her. She already had a sad look on her face, and I knew it was sadness for me, and that was more than enough pity. “There’s one other thing, though.” I took in another deep breath. “I went to pay him with a check and he refused, saying that if I used a check, Derrek would catch on. For the same reason, I can’t really withdraw the money from our bank account, so I was hoping–”

  “How much do you need?”

  “Two thousand,” I said, as I winced.

  “Done. I’ll go to the bank today.”

  I sagged in my chair with relief. “Oh, my gosh, Sam, thank you so much. I promise I will get you the money. It just might take a week or two.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Honestly, I’m glad to help.” She paused for a moment, then tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “I can’t believe you hired a private investigator. How did you even find one?”

  “Google,” I said with a laugh. “It wasn’t difficult at all.”

  “So, you just call them up and tell them what you need?”

  “Well, basically, except we met in person to discuss specifics.”

  “Oh.” Then her face scrunched up and she sat back further in her chair. “I can’t believe you met a P.I. without me.” She frowned and I laughed.

  “I didn’t think it was a group activity.”

  “It totally was. It’s like something out of an action movie. Your life just got so exciting and I want to be there to watch everything unfold.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “You know what I mean! I’m not glad your husband is a cheating bastard, but I am happy to watch him go down in flames.”

  I could understand her point of view. Even I was looking forward to watching Derrek’s other world crumble. “Well, the next time I have reason to call a private investigator, I’ll be sure I conference you in.”

  “So, what’s he going to do? How is he going to earn his two grand?”

  I bit my bottom lip, then opened my mouth to reply, but promptly shut it again when I realized I didn’t have an answer. “You know what? I’m not quite sure. I didn’t really ask him what his plans were.”

  “See, just one of the reasons you should have brought me with you. I would have asked all the pertinent questions.”

  “Okay,” I said with a small laugh. “I’m beginning to see the error of my ways.” We continued eating our lunch with our usual light conversation, only sometimes venturing to talk about Derrek and what we’d seen, or Preston and what we thought he might be up to. Our imaginations were more than likely a lot more interesting than the actual happenings. But when Sam focused on something, she really focused. She seemed to be convinced that Preston was more like a James Bond than the image of a normal cop deciding to branch out on his own, which was what I believed to be more likely. Although, Preston was devastatingly handsome, so I gave Sam that tick in the Bond column.

  We had just started clearing the table when the doorbell sounded throughout the house. I put down the dishes in my hand and walked toward the front door. When I opened it, I was immediately confused and stammered my greeting.

  “Preston…Mr. Reid…What are you…How did you…”

  “Good afternoon, Lena.” His voice was flat and all business.

  “How do you know where I live?”

  At that, he smiled. It was a sardonic smile, as if he were laughing at me, but it was still breathtaking. “I’m a private investigator, sweetheart. It’s my job to acquire information.”

  Why in the world did he keep calling me that? It was not only unprofessional, but also flustered me and left me mumbling like an idiot.

  “What…why…?”

  “I was hoping I could take a peek in your husband’s office. See if there’s anything in there that might aid my investigation.”

  “Right. Of course. Come in, please.” I stepped back, opening the door to let him in. He walked past me and I tried so very hard not to notice that he smelled divine. Clean, with a hint of spice, from an aftershave perhaps. It wasn’t overpowering, but just strong enough to penetrate my thoughts and make me want to smell that scent forever.

  He stopped just a few steps in, waiting for me to lead him back to Derrek’s office, and just then, Sam walked into the foyer.

  “Oh,” she said with surprise. Her eyes roamed all over Preston and I watched as she came to the same conclusion any straight woman with a pulse would – he was absolutely beautiful.

  He was still sporting his black leather jacket, but he was dressed a little more casually underneath it than he’d been the day before. He wore a dark blue Henley t-shirt, coupled with the same faded jeans, but instead of his leather shoes, he had on black Converse.

  “Who are you?” Sam asked, a little breathless, her eyes still taking in all of him.

  “Sam, this is Mr. Reid, the private investigator I hired.” Her eyes slowly made their way to mine, one eyebrow raised, a conspiratorial smile flashing across her mouth.

  “Well, now I see why you didn’t want me to come with you.”

  I glared at her, but tried my best to ignore her comment. “You can follow me, Mr. Re–”

  “Preston, please. Call me Preston.”

  “All right. This way, Preston. Derrek’s office is down the hall.” I made my way back to the office, trying not to think about the fact that Preston was behind me, in my house, and that we were essentially alone together. And I definitely tried not to think about the way he smelled.

  I entered the office and stood in front of the desk as I watched him do his P.I. thing. He looked around the room and I had no idea what it was he thought he’d find, but he was intent. He walked to stand behind Derrek’s desk and opened up the first drawer on the right side, then frowned. Next, he bent a little lower, opened the drawer beneath it, and then frowned again.

  “The drawers are empty,” he said with confusion.

  “Oh. Yes. I might have thrown some things away,” I said, trying not to sound as embarrassed as I was.

  “You might have thrown some things away?” His voice had a smile to it, but he was busy opening and closing empty drawers.

  “The night we followed Derrek and saw him with his other family, I came home and needed to relieve some stress.”

  “So you threw away some papers?” His question came with a chuckle.

  His words made my spine straighten. He was laughing at me.

  “First, I threw them all over the room, then I threw them in the garbage.”

  He was trying to keep the smirk from his face, I could tell. “So you came home, emptied his drawers in a fit of rage, scattering his documents all over the room, and then you cleaned up your mess?”

  He was definitely laughing at me.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “What are you getting at?” I sneered.

  He came from behind the desk and walked toward me. For just a moment, his eyes were on mine, but then they moved to the wall behind me where Derrek had his diplomas displayed. He passed me, but left no room between us, his arm brushing my shoulder, but then I felt him turn sharply so he was just behind me, pressed up against me slightly. I stiffened when I felt his front graze my back. I lost the ability to breathe when I felt his breath against my ear as he spoke.

  “I’m just saying,” he practically growled. “There are better, more gratifying ways to release your aggression.” I felt him move away, but the absence of him made no difference to the storm that was now brewing inside my traitorous body. I was stunned silent, my heartbeat pulsing through me, pumping blood to areas suddenly awakened by his breath on my skin. For the second tim
e in just as many days, I found myself pressing my thighs together, trying to stave off the physical reaction I was having to Preston. My breath shuddered out of me, not quietly, and I winced, thinking he had heard and could tell I was affected by him. Although, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I was aroused; my entire body seemed to be quivering.

  I tried to be angry at him, tried to be appalled that he, the supposed professional in our arrangement, would be hitting on me, a married woman. But even though the notion was there, the intention to find his actions repulsive, I couldn’t move past my acute arousal.

  “I think,” I managed to say, although I sounded completely unsure of my words and not at all as forceful as I imagined I would in my mind, “I think you need to leave.”

  “Why’s that?” His voice was still behind me, but I turned to see him inspecting the certificates on the wall.

  “What if Derrek returns? How will I explain a strange man in his office? In his home?”

  He turned back around, but didn’t look at me. He moved again, heading to the big chair behind the desk and sat down, powering on the computer. “You obviously have no faith in me and my ability to do my job. Why in the world did you even hire me?”

  “Your company was just the first one I came to,” I answered honestly. He nodded but didn’t speak immediately. He pressed some buttons on the computer then spoke again.

  “You hired me to investigate your husband and his extracurricular activities. He is currently in Bend. Whether he’s there for business or pleasure, I’m not sure.”

  “Then shouldn’t you be there trying to investigate that?”

  His eyes snapped to me and his voice was smooth but dark. “Would you like to pay me six hundred dollars, each way, to follow your philandering husband on a ski weekend?” He paused and watched me. I tried not to give away that no, I did not want to pay him twelve hundred dollars to drive to Bend, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  Instead, I turned and left the room, throwing over my shoulder, “Let me know if you need anything else.” I continued back into the kitchen, where I found Sam leaning her hip against the counter, one hand to her mouth, unconsciously biting her nails.

  “Holy shit, Lena,” she said loudly when I walked in. “You did not tell me your private investigator is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen in person.”

  “Keep your voice down!” I whispered to her. The very last thing I needed was Preston Reid hearing us talk about how attractive he was. “And he is not the most attractive person you’ve ever seen,” I countered.

  She scoffed at me. “He abso-fucking-lutely is the hottest man I have ever encountered.”

  “You had your eyes on him for all of ten seconds,” I said as I moved past her, trying to busy myself with cleaning the kitchen, needing a distraction.

  “I only needed three,” she replied. “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What are you going to do about the man in your husband’s office who exudes sexual prowess?”

  “Sam, you’re being ridiculous. I’ve hired him to investigate my cheating husband, that’s all.”

  “So you’re not even going to try to see him naked?”

  “What? No! I’m married.”

  “You’re married to a man who has another woman on the side with whom he has two children.” This was information I already had, but hearing someone else say the words so callously hurt.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m going to jump the first attractive man I come across.”

  “So you think he’s attractive?” Sam asked, her voice more amused than it should have been.

  “Excuse me, Lena?”

  Both Sam and I twisted when we heard Preston’s voice shoot through the room, and saw him standing in the entryway, the smirk on his face alluding to the fact he’d heard our conversation.

  Shit.

  “What can I help you with?” I asked.

  “I need to look in your bedroom.”

  “My bedroom? What for?”

  “You really don’t understand how this whole investigative thing works, do you? I just need to look around, see if there’s anything that piques my interest.”

  “You think he left clues to his affair in our bedroom?”

  He shrugged in response.

  I sneered at him again, but then moved to lead him to my bedroom.

  “I’m going to head to the bank real quick to get you that money, Lena,” I heard Sam call out as I walked down the hall.

  “All right,” I called back. I turned back to Preston. “She’s going to loan me the retainer, so if you’re still here when she gets back, you can have your money.”

  “She seems like a good friend.”

  “She is,” I said, facing forward again.

  “Does she know? About the prenup, I mean?” he asked gently.

  “Preston, like I said yesterday, you’re the only person I’ve ever told about that.” I sighed and stopped outside my bedroom door, motioning with my hand. I didn’t want to spend time in my and my husband’s bedroom with another man. It didn’t seem right – it felt cheap and wrong. But it also felt exciting and, for that, I decided not to go in. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything,” I said quietly, and then left him to do his private investigating.

  In the kitchen, I continued to clean what was left from our lunch and then, for the second day in a row, decided to indulge in a drink. Not feeling like putting in too much effort, I simply grabbed some orange juice from the refrigerator and poured some in a glass, then added a generous portion of vodka. I sat down on one of the barstools that lined the long side of the island and listened for sounds of Preston rummaging through my marriage.

  I couldn’t imagine what he thought he would find in our bedroom that I might not have seen, might not have caught on to. He wouldn’t find any evidence of a loving relationship; that was for sure. There would be no sexy underwear in the hamper, no rumpled sheets on the bed. No, I imagined from his perspective he would see a very sterile room and pity my husband for having such a frigid wife.

  I was halfway through my drink when I heard him come back into the kitchen.

  “I think I’m about through here. Sorry for the intrusion.”

  I got the feeling he was referring to more than just interrupting lunch.

  “It’s no problem. Find what you were looking for?”

  “Not sure yet,” he said, seriously, his eyes locked on to mine. I simply couldn’t handle his eyes on me, not when they were full of words that I felt he wanted to say but held back. No, it was time to say goodbye to Preston Reid.

  “Sam isn’t back yet, but I’ll be sure to get you the money soon. I could drop it by the office later today if that’s more convenient for you.”

  “No, don’t take it to the office. I’ll be in contact. I’m not worried about the money.”

  “All right,” I said. “Let me walk you to the door.” I stood and made my way past him, leading him back into the foyer. I reached for the door handle but stopped when I heard his voice again.

  “Was staying with him this long, suffering through what seems like a loveless marriage, really worth the money you’re fighting for now?”

  I stared at him, trying not to let my face give away the array of emotions his question sent spinning around in my head.

  “I didn’t realize, until just recently, I was in a loveless marriage.” I looked him straight in the eye, my face expressionless, steeled to look void of anything. Without removing my eyes from him, I turned the doorknob and opened the door. He obviously took my silence as the only farewell he would be getting and he walked through.

  I tried not to notice that even though he had plenty of room, he passed so close to me that I felt his shoulder brush me again. I also tried to ignore what his scent did to me, as well as the jolt that zipped through me when my body touched his.

  Chapter Seven

  The next night, I laid in bed and listened for D
errek to return. Preston hadn’t said whether Derrek had gone to Bend alone. I wasn’t even sure he knew, but I had spent over a day imagining the happy couple enjoying a short weekend getaway. Perhaps he’d taken his youngest to her first skiing lesson, watching her wobble and fall in the soft snow, her nose turning pink from the cold.

  I had always told Derrek I wanted children, and he’d always gone to great lengths to convince me that we had time. He wanted to focus on his job and he needed me to help him with that aspect of our life. I wasn’t, by any means, past my prime, and still had a few good baby-making years left in me. But knowing he’d started a family with someone else, that he’d taken my ability to start a family hostage, left my heart pumping in an empty chest. I was angry, but more so, I was hurt.

  I’d always imagined having a few babies. I’d daydreamed about holding the warm bundles in my arms, snuggling them, kissing them, but now I was left with nothing. Well, nothing besides a cheating husband who planned to keep me around for a reason only God could understand. That wasn’t true either – he kept me around so he didn’t lose his precious money.

  My eyes widened as a new thought occurred to me. Did the other woman know about me? I wanted to believe that she didn’t, that she couldn’t. I hoped she was just as blind to his transgressions as I had been. I didn’t want to think one woman could do that to another. At this point, the sisterhood was the only thing in which I had any faith left.

  I heard the door open and I stopped breathing, as the sound of my breaths was interfering with my ability to hear the faint sounds of him entering the house. I listened as he closed the door and then I heard some rustling, which I figured was him setting his things down. When I heard his footsteps head down the hall toward his office, I let out my breath quietly. My lungs were burning and my heart was pounding. I took in a few gulping breaths to try to let my lungs relax, and then, before I knew what I was doing and could stop myself, I pulled the covers back and walked down the stairs toward Derrek.

  When I made it to the doorway, I stalled, still unwillingly captivated by how handsome he was. He was standing behind his desk, pulling the tie loose from around his neck. He was wearing gray suit pants with a shiny black belt, a white button up shirt that looked wrinkled, as if he’d been wearing it for a while, and the tie he was pulling from his neck was black as well.