Bounty (Page 118)

“Girl, you hadn’t even reached the age you could vote, not even close, before you declared every guy I dated had to have your stamp of approval.”

This was true.

Shit.

“You’re my mom,” I returned.

Lame.

She caught the lame and ran with it.

“And you’re my daughter,” she snapped.

“When I did that, I’d learned my lessons from the nightmare of Luna,” I stated.

“Yeah, I learned my lessons from that too.”

Her point was well made.

Shit.

“Joss, I’m asking you, give us some time. Maybe come out for Christmas,” I suggested.

“Are you high?” she asked, her voice rising.

Maybe I was. High on Deke. I knew no way Joss was going to wait three months to meet Deke.

“Thanksgiving,” I bargained.

“Jus, stop.”

I stopped.

“Marco is heading my way and he doesn’t look happy. Since he has goons that are less Kenzie Elise bodyguards and more just plain goons, and they’re following him, I think it’s time to cut this chat short.”

Too late for that.

And I got an alternate kind of shiver thinking about Marco, Kenzie Elise’s manager. I’d never met him but Joss had a lot to say about him and most of it was creepy, but some of it was just plain scary.

“Okay, I’ll let you go,” I said.

“I’ll talk to Rod. We’ll see when we can pay you a visit.”

At that, I sighed and requested, “Can you at least give us a few weeks? Deke and me time, and by then, my house might be set up to have guests.”

“We’ll see.”

Joss was the coolest mom ever.

But still, like any mom, her “we’ll see” totally meant “no.”

I heard the door to the deck open and turned my head that way to see Deke coming out with a man I’d not yet met.

But he was clearly known by Deke, which meant he was a local, which meant his tall, dark hotness was off the charts.

And he was all those things, specifically tall. He was nearly as tall as Deke, though not as beefy.

“I gotta go too, Joss, I have company. We’ll talk later.”

“Right, baby, later. Your momma loves you.”

“And I love you too. ’Bye.”

“’Bye,” she repeated after me and rang off.

I said all this with my gaze going between Deke and this new tall drink of hotness at the same time taking my feet.

“Babe, this is Jacob Decker,” Deke said, getting close and claiming me with an arm around my shoulders, doing this then turning to face the man who was my private investigator. “Deck, this is Justice,” Deke finished up the introductions.

I shoved my phone in the back pocket of my jeans, stuck out an arm, eyed him up as best I could without looking like I was trying to imagine him naked (it didn’t take much to imagine, he’d be magnificent naked) and muttered under my breath, “Totally bottling the water out here.”

“Sorry?” Jacob Decker asked, taking my hand.

I gave him a smile. “Nothing. Just cool to meet you,” I said. “And cool to have the opportunity to thank you for all you did.”

He nodded, giving my hand a firm squeeze before letting it go.

“Cool to meet you too, Justice,” he replied.

“Jus, please,” I invited on a smile. “Feel free. All my friends call me Jus or Jussy.”

“Thanks, Jus,” he muttered, looking between Deke and me like something was amusing.

Deke allowed him to have his moment of entertainment but it was only a moment.

When he was done allowing this, he prompted, “You came with somethin’ to say, man.”

“Right,” Deck said, still muttering. He looked at me. “You got a minute?”

“I got a lot of them,” I said on another smile.

“I don’t,” Deke put in. “Not to be a dick but got rooms to paint so let’s hit this.”

I looked up at Deke and asked impatiently, “Can I at least offer the man a seat?”

Deke looked down at me and grinned. “You can do anything you want just as long as I can get back to my paint and soon.”

I fought an eye roll, lost and then threw out a hand to indicate the deck furniture. “Make yourself comfortable. I don’t have coffee made but I could offer you water, Coke or Fresca.”

“I’m good, Jus, thanks,” Decker told me, moving to the loveseat which was opposite the fire pit to the loveseat where I had been sitting.

He sat.

Deke adjusted us and he also sat, pulling me down with him so close to his side, if it was possible, my hip and thigh would have fused with his.

But after my conversation with Joss, and getting over the hit of another mountain man hot guy, it was dawning on me Jacob Decker was here and that might not be a good thing.

So I asked quietly, “Should I brace?”

He shook his head immediately. “No, Jus. It’s all…” He hesitated which took some of the meaning out of his finishing, “Good.”

I didn’t say anything, just held his gaze.

He took that as indication to keep going, thankfully, something he did.

“Okay, yesterday, a lot of shit went down with what happened at your friend’s place.”

I nodded.

Decker continued, “This bein’ the fact that they got in touch with Anton Rojas in Costa Rica. He expressed alarm and concern about what happened at his girlfriend Bianca’s apartment and shared that he and your friend would cut their vacation short so they can assist the police in any way. They’re returning tomorrow.”