Page 9 of Someone to Call My Own

“That’s two questions,” I replied jokingly.

“You’re right. I apologize.”

“Don’t apologize, Josh. I was only teasing you.” I blew out a long breath then said, “I’ve worked in both situations, but the majority have been the latter scenario you described.” I had hoped my answer would ease his concern a little, but it was obvious by his tense posture that he was still worried about my appearance in Blissville. I hated that I’d upset him so much, but leaving town wasn’t an option until I figured out why River sent me here.

“Well,” Josh said, ready to end the conversation and move on with his day, “you know where I live if you feel like having company.”

“Will there be an Easter egg hunt?”

“No,” Josh answered with a laugh. “Deal breaker?”

“Nah,” I replied good-naturedly. “I’ll see you around. Perhaps on Sunday.”

“See you, Emory.”

Josh and I continued on our original paths, which took us in opposite directions. We must have had similar strides because we reached our driveways at the same time. I had returned Josh’s wave before I headed inside. I went straight upstairs to shower off the sweat and tried to come up with something to do with my time while I waited for cosmic answers to appear, but my mind kept straying to the conversation I had with Memphis. My mother said hello, and she missed me. Did I dare hope that was the case? Did I even care?

I shut the water off a little more forcefully than it required and was glad I didn’t snap the faucet with my hand. I gritted my teeth in frustration as I dried off and got dressed. I knew it was a mistake to call my mother, but I would drive myself crazy if I didn’t.

I was surprised when she answered the phone on the second ring instead of letting it go to voicemail. Then I heard the voice on the other end and knew why. “Hello,” Tamara, my mother’s longtime personal assistant said. “It’s good to hear your voice. Let me get Audrey on the line for you.” Instead of muting the phone, Tamara covered it with her hand when she informed my mother that I was calling her. Unfortunately, she must’ve forgotten that the speaker was at the bottom of the phone. I heard my mother’s voice loud and clear.

“He always calls at the worst possible times.” I imagined she was dramatically rolling her eyes like she was prone to do. “Tamara, please tell him that I’ll call him later.” There wasn’t an ounce of excitement or affection in her voice.Missed me?No, something else was going on. Too bad for her that I wasn’t giving her a chance to tell me. I hung up before Tamara came back on the phone.

My mother’s behavior wasn’t anything new; she’d acted that way my entire life. She never wanted anything to do with me, preferring to let nannies oversee my day-to-day activities. Audrey McIntire-Whelan was perfectly happy with a quick goodnight at bedtime, if I got that, until she saw that I had developed a close relationship with a nanny. My mother didn’t want me, but she wanted all of my affection aimed at her at the moments she chose to enter my life. When that didn’t happen immediately, the nanny was fired and a new one took over. My mom would insert herself into my life, giving me hope that she finally wanted to spend time with me and that I was worthy of her love until she either got bored or figured she had solidified her position in my life. The pattern repeated itself through several nannies until I was wise enough to catch on to the game.

River was the one person my mother couldn’t run off, and I had refused to allow her to ruin the beautiful love I’d found with him. I don’t know why I’d held false hope that my mother had changed her ways after all this time. I shook my head in disgust. I had thought that moving to Blissville would bring meaningful changes to my life, but I learned that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

Afew days later, I learned that my suspicion about Detective Wyatt was correct. He was like a bulldog with a bone in his mouth and wasn’t going to give up until he solved my brother’s case. I wasn’t involved in Nate’s death and didn’t fear anything the detective had to say to me, but I was still surprised when he contacted me directly rather than go through my attorney like I’d instructed him.

It was ironic that a shower was also involved the second time Detective Wyatt reached out to me. Except, the shower was in my dreams, and he had joined me. My ringing cell phone woke me before I got to the good parts. I was irritated about missing out on that delectable fantasy of running soapy hands all over that body and pissed at myself for not silencing my phone.

I debated whether I should listen to the message or just call Rick to let him know the detective was harassing me. A surprising thought tickled the back of my brain. The sexy detective didn’t have to be my enemy. In fact, we both had the same goal, so why not find out what he wanted?

I played back the voicemail message without further hesitation. “Mr. Silver, this is Detective Wyatt with the Greater Cincinnati Task Force.” I wasn’t aware that the task force had a name, but that wasn’t what struck me. It was the deep timbre of the detective’s voice, and it momentarily distracted me from the reason for his call. “It’s very important that I speak to you about your brother’s case.” The detective rattled off his cell phone number and asked me to call him at my earliest convenience.

His firm, urgent tone caused my heart to flare with hope. Could there be a crack in the case?There would never be a more convenient time like the present to find justice for my brother. The only inconvenient thing was the semi-erection the detective gave me. I’d learned long ago to ignore those types of urges.

“You rang, Detective,” I said into the phone once he answered. I sounded equal parts sleepy and horny.

“I’m sorry that I woke you, Mr. Silver. There’s been a development in your brother’s case, and I need your help.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, suddenly feeling alert. “Um, give me an hour to wake up and get my crap together. Where do you want to meet me?”

“You name the place and time, and we’ll meet you,” he said.

“We?”

“Yes, you met my partner,” Detective Wyatt reminded me. His partner was a wisecracker at my office but said very little at the precinct so I’d temporarily forgotten about him.

“Oh.” I sounded disappointed. Perhaps I was confusing reality with my dreams, or maybe I wanted to push the sexy man to see how far he’d go. “I was hoping you were coming alone.” I wouldn’t classify my tone as seductive, but I was positive it got my point across.

“Not going to happen,” Detective Wyatt said firmly. “Dorchester and I will meet you. When and where?” he asked me.

I let out a dissatisfied sigh and said, “Four o’clock in my office. I’ll even wear clothes this time.”

“We’ll be there.”

I tried to go back to sleep, but it didn’t happen.Why didn’t Detective Wyatt call Rick? Should I call Rick and ask him to be present? Was the detective as good in bed as the vibes he emitted?Yeah, sex is never far from a guy’s mind.My thoughts spun in a hundred different directions and made me feel like someone had scrambled my brains. That thought reminded me of the way Nate loved ketchup on his scrambled eggs and my grossed-out response that it looked like brains.