Kiss of a Stranger (Lost Coast Harbor #1) (10 page)

“It’s what I plan to do. Not real estate. That’s too risky. But I want to work higher up in Hastings. It’s why I’m working toward a business degree, so I can get one of those jobs that requires a power suit and lots of traveling. You know, nice salary, benefits, 401k, that sort of thing.”

Gabe heard no passion in her voice. “You’re not describing a career. You’re talking about payment for services.”

If possible, his words made her even angrier. “Stop making this about me. Tell me what you were doing in Hastings’ office.”

“I didn’t steal anything.” It was technically true. Everything that had been in the office was still there.

Gabe debated whether he could use the truth to tell more lies. Maddie’s eyes were as turbulent as the sea from which they took their color, and still she waited. Waited to find out what kind of man he really was.

It didn’t matter if he lied or told the truth. He was going to disappoint her, and that thought bothered him more than it should. He never wanted to see that look of disgust again—as if he’d proven himself to be nothing more than she expected.

Gabe poured the hot chocolate powder into a mug and added boiling water, stirring until every clump of powdered mix disappeared.

The truth shall set you free, they said. That hadn’t been his experience. The truth had been roundly ignored by the criminal justice system until he had no choice but to take a plea deal.

But Maddie wasn’t an overworked defense attorney or a judge who’d seen too many guilty kids go through his court to even remember what an innocent one looked like.

Maybe, just maybe, she’d come to his apartment in the middle of the night because she wanted to believe there was more to him than just secrets and lies.

“Can I trust you?”

Her expression was incredulous. Yeah, he deserved that.

“Look, I’ll tell you what you want to know, but I need a promise from you. You can’t tell your boss.”

Her eyes popped open. “This is about Oliver?”

Jealousy really had no sense of timing. Just hearing that man’s name on Maddie’s lips, said with such concern, made him want to hit something really fucking hard. Instead, he clenched his hands around the mug and took a sip before remembering he’d made it for Maddie. He placed it on a side table, hoping she’d take the hint to sit down. “I know you like the guy.”

Her snort was incredulous. “Like? Oliver was there when no one else was. I owe him more than you can imagine. I don’t owe you anything.”

He winced at her words, even though he’d just thought the exact same thing. Add hypocrite to his list of crimes.

“Will you hear me out?” Gabe gestured at the seat. “I may not be the bad guy in this.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, staring him down.

Might as well dive in. “I’m looking for information about Hastings Shipping.”

She said nothing for a long time. Gabe could practically see the gears in her head turning while she studied him. At last, she sat down, though she only perched on the edge of the chair, ready to spring up the moment he said the wrong thing.

“Why?” Maddie’s voice remained cool and distant.

“Because Hastings Shipping was responsible for the guns. I had nothing to do with it. Whoever set me up needs to pay.” His voice remained steady. It was only afterwards, while he waited for Maddie’s response, that his heart started pounding and sweat beaded across his brow, though the room was cool.

“You’re wrong.”

He didn’t know which of them she was trying to convince.

There was a matching chair across from hers, but he didn’t claim it. Instead, Gabe knelt before her on his knees, his eyes lower than hers.

He kept talking. He relived every detail of that night. What he’d overheard Agent Glover saying. What he knew about the shipping routes. The way he’d been told to take a back road for no obvious reason. How Adam swore he wasn’t involved. For the first time in years, Gabe told the whole story, watching Maddie’s face the whole time. Desperate for any sign she believed him.

While he spoke, Maddie’s face didn’t change, and when he finished, she looked down, studying the cup of cocoa. It was clutched between her hands, though she still hadn’t taken a sip.

“It wasn’t Adam.” She spoke slowly, as if she could only make sense of the story one word at a time. “Your gut’s right about that. I’ve known him most of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever met a man more upright and honorable than Adam Rogers.”

Gabe didn’t want to push, but she paused so long he thought she was finished.

“Oliver is still the most likely suspect.” He kept his voice low. Stating a fact rather than accusing.

Maddie grimaced and pushed her mug at him. He took a sip, though it was now lukewarm. God, he’d missed chocolate.

“I understand why you’d think that.” Her tone was measured. “He’s in charge of trucking and shipping. Adam’s just a contractor. But this is
Oliver
. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but he’s the reason I’m still here. Without him, the bank would have foreclosed on my house and I’d be working some minimum-wage job. When I begged him for a job, he gave me one, with a high enough salary to also pay for night school the last three years. He’s the reason I have any shot at the kind of career I want. He gave you a second chance, and he didn’t even know you.”

“Except he did know me, remember? Maybe he wanted to keep an eye on me. Hell, maybe he wants to screw me over again, get me thrown back inside so I can’t mess things up for him.”

To say she looked skeptical was a gross understatement. “I can’t believe that. And the fed only said it was Hastings, right? There are plenty of those around. Jared’s a lazy bastard, and everyone knows it. He wouldn’t think twice about taking shortcuts to a quick payout. Probably not Clare, because she was a senior in high school. If it was just someone involved with Hastings, it could even be Oliver’s mother. She visits the offices sometimes. But you’ve already figured this out, haven’t you? You wouldn’t break into Peter Hastings’ office if you didn’t suspect him.”

Gabe settled back on his elbows and stretched out his legs. She swallowed as he shifted position and his abs flexed. However mad she might be, she still responded to him.

It was possible he hadn’t screwed things up completely.

“Yeah, I’m checking out all options. This was the only chance I’d get at the father, so I took it. I didn’t find anything.”

He remembered the documents, full of numbers that made no sense. He’d planned to give the photos to Adam, because a small business owner might understand them, but there was a better choice. The woman who kept Hastings Shipping’s books for years, who now had access to all of Hastings Enterprises’ files. The woman working toward a business degree. Gabe didn’t remember deciding to trust Maddie, but the decision felt as natural as breathing.

“I don’t
think
I found anything,” he amended. “There were some files in the desk. Bank statements, some notes about transactions, that sort of thing. I photographed as much as I could, but I don’t know if any of it will help us.” At her questioning eyebrow, he hurried to correct himself. “Help me, I meant. I didn’t understand any of the documents.”

Maddie slumped back in the chair. “It had to be Hastings. The company I’ve been committed to for three years. My ticket out of nowhere jobs. That’s who you want me to betray.”

Gabe didn’t reply. He didn’t think she was talking to him.

Her thumb and index finger tapped together over and over. “If I do this for you, and you’re right…I’m screwed. This is the sort of thing that takes down companies. I’ll be back working retail by President’s Day. If you’re wrong, and they catch me, I’ll still be out of a job.” She watched him carefully, making sure he understood what he asked.

He did, and the knowledge that his freedom could come at the cost of her happiness made his chest grow tight.

She sighed. “But if you say they’re running guns, I can’t ignore that. Fuck you, Gabriel Reyes. Seriously, fuck you for putting me in an impossible situation.”

The words stung, but there was nothing he could say to make it better.

Maddie leaned forward, eyes tired. “Send the documents to me. I’ll see if I can make sense of them. I have a good head for numbers, and I probably know more about Hastings Shipping than anyone but Oliver. If there’s anything weird, I’ll probably find it. But while I do that, you leave Oliver alone.”

Gabe handed her his phone. She punched her number into it, then added her email. He stared at the screen when she handed it back. It was the only number in his contacts list. There was still a small connection between them, even if was only an electronic one.

Gabe set the phone on the floor. “One condition. If you want me to sit around twiddling my thumbs instead of looking into the man who screwed me, then you’ll have to do that work for me. Look into Oliver’s past, especially six years ago. You have access to that information.”

In an instant, her entire demeanor changed. Weary acceptance was replaced by barely coiled rage. She sprung out of the chair.

“Is that what all this was about? The dance. The kiss. The…rest of it. You were just cozying up to me to get information on Oliver.”

Gabe opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Maddie’s lip curled, the movement turning her expression savage.

“Email me those files. I’ll get the information you want, because I’m proving you wrong. But I have a condition of my own. When I’m done, you leave Lost Coast and never look back. No one wants you here.”

Maddie spun on her heel and left, slamming the door so hard it shook.

No, he’d been right the first time. He’d screwed this up in every possible way.

Chapter Ten

W
orking in town meant she didn’t need to see Gabe. A small mercy. Maddie was in no mood to deal with the conflicting feelings that arose every time she thought about him, let alone stood near him.

It would be so much easier if she only felt angry and betrayed. She didn’t want to forgive him. But if there was any truth to his claims, she could almost understand why he’d acted the way he did.

Then there was the way memories of his oh-so-talented lips and fingers popped up at random moments, and she pretty much ran through the entire emotional spectrum every thirty minutes.

To cope, she threw herself into work. Before she became Oliver’s executive assistant, she only needed to worry about the shipping arm of the company. Now, she needed to understand how the whole thing worked. Shipping, fishing, trucking, the property rentals. Hastings Enterprises had their fingers in just about every pie in Lost Coast Harbor. Nothing came into or left the town except through one of their trucks or vessels. Their control was staggering, and that was before she factored in the other small towns along the coast. It was why she’d wanted to work for them.

It was also, she had to acknowledge, the perfect setup for running guns.

She still couldn’t believe Oliver was involved. Every day, he walked into the office with a huge smile, the same kind-hearted man she’d always known. No one that nice could be a criminal. And not just gambling or some victimless crime, but something as horrible as sending more illegal guns into the world? Being indirectly responsible for countless murders? Oliver didn’t even jaywalk. None of this made sense.

Despite her doubts—or maybe because of them—she kept her promise. She’d show Gabe he had no idea what he was talking about, then she’d laugh in his face. And then she’d run away before she attacked him in a frenzy of lust.

It drove her crazy, that even at this distance she felt her lack of control. It had to be that whole bad boy thing. The tattoos and scars, the tormented soul. It was catnip. She fell for it with Charlie, and she succumbed to Gabe’s charms within a week of meeting him.

It was a good theory, but it didn’t explain why she’d stopped caring for Charlie the day she learned of his betrayal while she couldn’t stop thinking about Gabe.

All she could do was figure out who set him up, so he’d leave town and things would go back to normal. And if she felt a twinge of pain at that thought…well, it was just her stupid libido. It would fall in line soon enough.

And if, before that happened, her libido made an appointment for a bikini wax at a local salon and bought some new lacy underwear, that was just its way of saying she was ready to date
someone
again.

Oliver spent a lot of his time out of the office, giving her many opportunities to look into the business. Hastings Enterprises might be a multi-million dollar company, but they were also a family business. The office was in a handful of rooms above the Hastings-owned market in the town square. Most of the work was done off-site, handled by lawyers and middle managers. Sharon was the only other regular employee who worked in the office, and the secretary always took lunch at the same time, crossing the square to the diner, where she ate a turkey burger and read a mystery novel for an hour.

Maddie used that hour to search through the files, and when Sharon left every afternoon at five o’clock on the nose, Maddie stayed late, poring over documents until her eyes grew bleary. On Wednesday, Adam Rogers dropped by with his records from six years ago, and Maddie studied those, as well.

The pages Gabe had photographed were an odd mix. Most were nothing but bank statements, and everything added up. There weren’t any huge deposits from Mexican drug lords, at least. If anything, the outgoing costs were the unusual ones, small amounts to companies with so many subsidiaries it would take a day to untangle even one of them. The rest of the documents seemed to be nothing but gibberish.

Other than that anomaly, there was nothing incriminating in any of the files. Everything matched up. Every penny was accounted for, and every shipment was legitimate.

She sat back on her heels, fighting the urge to run to Gabe and wave the evidence in his face. She’d examined every file in the Hastings office, and the only weird documents had come from Peter’s desk. Gabe would have to believe Oliver was innocent.

Except she knew he wouldn’t. He was too determined to find the real culprit, and he’d look at her evidence and point out one key detail. The files in the office only went back two years, and Gabe had been arrested over six years ago.