Page 27 of A Billionaire Dom

Linsey

When Kaseyand I first moved to Houston, it’d been the end of winter, and we were coming from Denver, so the warmer weather had been nice. Once the heat had hit, however, it had gotten old fast. Now that we were heading toward autumn, I was looking forward to it finally getting cool. Well,cooler. At least it wasn’t too bad at night.

I turned automatically when I reached the corner and could see the light from the front window of the shop. It was late, closing in on midnight, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t busy. It was a Saturday night. Moving people along was one of the reasons Kasey had wanted me to come in to help her close. She didn’t want any stragglers, and I wasn’t one to play nice when people were standing around with their thumbs up their asses.

My mind wasn’t really on the work ahead, though. It felt like it’d been through the blender. Part of it was how much sex with Davin had thrown me. Not because people had watched us. It’d been a little strange, but not in a bad way. The intensity of the connection between us was…unsettling, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to deal with if it wasn’t for the rest.

To try to decompress a bit before going to K’s Phoenix, I’d gotten on my computer and started digging into the cold case I’d chosen as my new project. I kept telling myself that I hadn’t chosen Heidi Titan because of the Holden name in the file. It was harder to convince myself of that now.

The short time I’d spent on my computer had revealed that there was indeed a connection between the Jude Holden mentioned in the police report and Davin. Jude was, apparently, Davin’s grandfather and the founder of Holden Enterprises. A three-generation family business.

The worst part of it was that it didn’t actually change anything. I still thought about Davin, and I still wanted him. I’d had him twice, and it’d done nothing but take the edge off my hunger for him.

He did things to me that I couldn’t explain. Things I shouldn’t want, but I did. And it wasn’t the sex stuff. I didn’t hide the things I was into, and I wasn’t ashamed of wanting to try new things. No, the things I was thinking about weren’t so easy to describe or label because I wasn’t entirely certain what they were myself.

“Hey, Linsey,” Kasey called out from behind the counter. “Good timing. Mary Jo just left.”

I forced a smile and moved to take the new girl’s place. She gave me a strange look, but I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about it yet. We’d have a conversation later, when it was just the two of us. I liked the other workers here, but I didn’t want them in my personal business.

The schedule was already up on the store’s computer, and as Kasey took her customer back to her room, I looked at the next name on the list. A beefy man with a beard down to the top of his beer gut grinned at me.

“Name?”

“Franky Boomer.” He turned so I could see the meaty slab of his upper arm. “I’m getting Martin’s name right here.” He slapped the bare spot.

“Who’s Martin?” I asked, forcing myself to be friendly and conversational. “Your kid?”

“Damn straight. My pug.”

I smiled, this one natural. “I’m partial to Springer Spaniels.”

“Those are nice ones too,” Franky said.

“You’re with Boyd.” I gestured toward where Boyd was standing in the doorway. “Go ahead over.”

The last couple hours flew by, and before I knew it, Kasey was showing the final customer out and closing the door behind him. Tiarra and Boyd had both finished cleaning up ten minutes ago and had already left, which meant it was just Kasey and me to take care of what was left.

She didn’t waste any time. “Now that it’s just us, are you going to tell me what’s going on in that busy head of yours?”

I sighed and didn’t even try to deny it. “Remember how I went with Sherry to that club earlier tonight?”

When Kasey nodded, I went on with my story, skimming over the details of my encounter with Davin at Euphoria, but giving her enough to understand why the second half of my night had gone south the moment I’d found the connection between Jude and Davin.

When I was finally done, Kasey had a serious expression on her face. She leaned against the counter. “Have you found anything to suggest that Jude Holden had something to do with Heidi Titan’s disappearance?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t made it that far.”

“And when that woman disappeared, how old was Davin?”

“Three, I think.”

She straightened. “Then I think you’re borrowing trouble. None of us are our parents. Or our grandparents. If Davin’s grandfather is involved in your case, it’s not Davin’s fault. Separate the two.”

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered. “You’re not the one who has to figure out how to investigate the grandfather of a guy you’re fucking.”

“Does that mean you’re seeing him again?”

I frowned. “No. I mean, I don’t know. We didn’t exactly talk about it. Not that either of us are looking for…” I let the sentence trail off because I honestly didn’t know how to finish it.

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