Devious Little Lies (7 page)

“They know that and I’m sure that question was not about questioning your orders. I think it’s caution. For many of them, what you’re asking is unprecedented. There’s never been a boss’ wife involved in his business, much less giving directions to his soldiers to take down
capos
he put in power and obviously trusted at one time.”

“It’s 2016. The days of the old
Cosa Nostra
are gone so they need to get their heads out of their asses and show some backbone. Be a lion, not a mouse.”

“I can’t disagree with you, Boss Lady. Some of them may have been surprised by what you asked, but I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised. You’ll be making new appointments before you know it.”

“And putting slugs in kneecaps and balls if I need to.”

Cesare blanched, but Rena wasn’t surprised. Any time you mentioned a man’s privates, they tended to get nervous. She smothered a laugh, but stopped when the doorbell rang again.

“Are you expecting company, Rena?”

“Not that I know of.”

Cesare made a move to answer the door, but Rena stopped him.

“I’ve got it. You clean up in here.”

She left the room. Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked down the hallway, past all the rooms and to the front foyer. The doorbell rang again and this time more insistent.

“I swear if this is some salesman dumb enough to show up here, he is going to get it.”

Opening the door, Rena stepped back in surprise.

“Mom!”

Tricia launched herself at Rena, who fought back tears of elation as her daughter hugged her tight.

“Baby, I’m so glad to see you.”

“I’m so happy to see you too, Mom. It’s been too long.”

They hugged each other tight until a person clearing their throat drew Rena’s attention. A man was standing outside her door holding a blue duffle bag and a leopard print suitcase that she’d bought for Tricia last year.

“Mom, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Shane Van Adams.”

Rena locked eyes with Shane over her daughter’s shoulder. A warm feeling crept into her belly and she fought the small hitch in her breathing. Eyes like his you couldn’t forget. Tricia’s new boyfriend was the guy Rena had shared hot chocolate with in the airport. Holy-fucking-shit.

Chapter Eleven

Rena was stunned.

Utterly stunned.

As she and Shane continued to stare at one another, she tried to find her voice. Tricia stepped out of the circle of her arms and stood beside her still holding her arm. As ecstatic as Rena was about her daughter’s surprise visit, she couldn’t help but feel conflicted about the young man Tricia had brought home. Though for all intents and purposes all they’d done was share cups of hot chocolate together, if someone had happened to eavesdrop or pay closer attention to them they would’ve seen something more…something Rena was afraid her daughter might see even now.

“Mom, say something. You’re awfully quiet.”

Rena tore her gaze away and looked at her daughter. Tricia was the spitting image of her father, a Vegas plastic surgeon that Rena had foolishly become involved with unaware that the bastard was married. To this day she still wished she could put a bullet through Reginald Horne’s head, and even though he’d never been a part of Tricia’s life, Rena didn’t want the blood of her daughter’s father staining her hands.

Warm brown eyes stared, waiting for her to speak. Rena absentmindedly played with her daughter’s long brown hair as she noted how beautiful Tricia looked. She had pecan tan skin and dimples in her cheeks just like Reggie.

“You get even more beautiful every time I see you.”

Tricia rolled her eyes and smiled. “Mom. You’re definitely embarrassing me.”

“Sorry. I admit I’m a little surprised. I didn’t even know you were seeing someone,” Rena said still trying to keep her eyes off Shane.

“Well now you know so shake his hand and invite us inside.”

Rena swallowed the lump in her throat and turned her attention back to Shane. He was looking back and forth between her and Tricia. She was sure that he was searching for the resemblance between them and finding none. Rena wasn’t the least bit surprised. People had always assumed Tricia was her adopted child. She could only hope Shane was not another fool who fell into that category.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Rosetti. Tricia’s told me so much about you.” He smiled, revealing perfect white teeth and extended his hand.

Rena swallowed back a small yelp as a shock passed between them as they touched. His large hand nearly engulfed hers, and she tried to ignore the strength yet softness of his hand.
Rena, what the hell is wrong with you? Get a grip.
Her inner voice was right. There was no reason for her to be acting like some young girl who just ran into her crush and had no idea how to act. She was a married woman and the handsome young man gazing at her was dating her daughter.

“I’m glad to finally meet you, Shane Van Adams. Tricia’s never brought a guy home before.”

There was a double entendre with her words. It was nice to have a name to go with the face of a man who did so much to flatter her ego and make her feel like a vivacious young woman again. But her daughter had decided to bring him home to meet her and for that he’d better be up to par.

“Well then I really hope I impress.” He slowly let go of her hand.

“I’ll let you know.”

The words slipped out before she could stop them. The last thing she needed to do was to try and draw even more attention to the awkwardness of the situation.

“Mom, please stop putting him on the spot already.”

Rena’s gaze flicked to her daughter. “I’m your mother. It’s my job. Now why don’t the two of you come in?”

With a smile, she beckoned them to step inside the mansion. Tricia entered first while Shane followed carrying their bags as Rena held the door. As he passed Rena, he slowed his pace and stopped in front of her. Their eyes met and he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and released a breath. She shook her head. Right now words between them were dangerous, even more so than the looks her sweet daughter seemed unaware of.

Shane frowned at what she knew had to be the frostiness in her eyes. New boundaries had to be established. New boundaries that couldn’t be crossed no matter what. As Tricia walked ahead talking out loud about the changes in the house, Shane glanced at her and then he did something unexpected, innocent, yet provocatively inappropriate. He kissed her cheek and the softness of his lips against her skin forced her to close her eyes in an effort to steel her emotions.

When she opened her eyes, she was ready to eviscerate him. To take him aside and berate him for daring to come to her home and kiss her while her daughter was in the room. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. As he moved on behind Tricia, she reminded herself that a kiss on the cheek meant nothing. It was just a greeting to acknowledge a past history between them that could not under any circumstances be acknowledged. He cared for Tricia and he knew how lucky he was to have her.

He’d told her that at the airport, so for now she was choosing to believe that and not the searing look in his eyes every time he glanced at her. Shane was just confused. It wasn’t every day a man found out a woman he was attracted to and shared secrets with was his girlfriend’s mother. At least that was what she was going to keep telling herself. She had no other choice. The truth was better left buried in word and thought.

* * * * *

They sat in the living room as awkward silence filled the air. Cesare was gone, discretely sneaking out the back as not to be seen by Tricia and Shane. Though her daughter loved her, Tricia had no love for the lifestyle that Rena was married into. Cesare had been her bodyguard for ten years, and Tricia had never warmed up to him. Maybe it was because he was a reminder that Rena wasn’t just a normal mother. Normal mothers didn’t have bodyguards and they sure as hell weren’t married to mobsters serving fifteen years in prison.

Tricia’s frostiness towards Tony and Cesare had always pained her, but Tricia had a mind of her own. There was nothing Rena could do to make her care for the two men like they cared for her. So at least for today, she was grateful Cesare left the way he did to avoid a confrontation. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with Tricia. They saw each other so rarely as it was due to the rigid pacing of her nursing program that Rena wanted to savor any little time she had with her daughter. Only this time things were different because Rena was at a loss at how to handle this sudden development.

“So will you two be staying the night?”

“Yeah if you don’t have anything planned,” Tricia said.

“There’s nothing on my agenda. Not with my daughter in town and her new beau here.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said.

Ma’am.
So I’m a ma’am now?
It sounded weird rolling off his tongue. Calling her ma’am made her feel old and she wasn’t. Besides, you couldn’t classify someone as a ma’am when you were sitting across from them and looking as if you wanted to run away or jump their bones. But she could be wrong. She really wondered what he was thinking. She wondered what he was feeling. Was it the same tangle of emotions running through her now?

“You’re welcome,” she managed to say with a straight face before adding, “Shane, how did you and my daughter meet?”

A smile lit up his face as he turned toward Tricia grabbing for her hand before he looked back at Rena. “Believe it or not, we met at the grocery store when we were both reaching for the same trashy tabloid.”

Tricia leaned her head on his shoulder smiling. Rena’s heart ached a little inside. She remembered feeling that way about Tricia’s father and then Tony. She missed that feeling and for a moment she was jealous of what her daughter had found. But the moment quickly passed.

“I take it you’re both a fan of the foolishness that gets printed in those rags?”

Shane shrugged. “Sometimes you just need a laugh and boy do those things provide some. Alien babies. Bigfoot sightings. Secret affairs.”

Secret affairs. Hmm. Technically we’ve already had one of those. At least emotionally.
The intimate coffee. The secrets they’d shared. The longing looks and words spoken out loud about what might’ve been if neither of them were in a relationship. But there was no reason Tricia had to know any of that…unless Shane gave her a reason to tell her.

“How interesting. Bonded by the tabloids. What else do you two have in common? Tricia has always had her quirks.”

“Mom,” Tricia said with an eye roll.

“Well, tell the truth and shame the devil. You know the saying,” Rena teased.

Her smile faded when Shane frowned at her comment. His eyes darkened and she swallowed, wondering if he was going to spill the beans.

“I’ve never heard that saying before. I’ll file that one away.”

“Ugh. Please don’t. Mom has said them enough to me growing up. I don’t need to hear them from you too.”

“Wisdom needs to be passed down to future generations. Right, ma’am?” he asked. Then he winked.

“Yes, but please stop with the ma’am. I’m not old yet.”

“Vanity thy name is Rena,” Tricia chimed in.

“I’m not vain. I’m just not old enough to be a ma’am.”

“I can agree with that. When I saw you I thought there’s no way you could be Tricia’s mom. Sister maybe, but not mother.”

There was a sparkle in his eyes and Rena was once again reminded of the way flattery rolled off his tongue the first time they met. A warm feeling seeped into her skin and she tried her best to ignore it.

“You’re going to make her head as big as a balloon if you don’t stop, Shane,” Tricia said.

There was a smile on her face as she stood up and stretched so Rena knew her daughter was teasing. She and Tricia had come a long way in their relationship. Growing up there were times that her daughter had resented her. From Tricia’s classmates constantly talking about her “hot mom,” to guys she was interested in doing the same, to people who thought her “adoptive mother,” was prettier than her. Yes, they’d come so far from the days when Rena was sure that Tricia hated her guts and nothing was ever going to take them back to that place, including Tricia’s new boyfriend.

“Not hardly.”

“Good. Well you two get acquainted while I use the restroom and have a look at my old room.”

“Don’t be too long,” Shane said.

“Pssh. You’ll be fine. Maybe Mom won’t give you the third degree too hard.”

Rena smiled and said nothing as Tricia headed up the stairs. When she no longer heard her daughter’s footsteps, her smile disappeared.

“What the fuck are you doing with my daughter and I’d better like your answer.”

* * * * *

There was hell in her eyes.

Dark stormy circles stared him down scorching him to his inner being. Shane was trying to wrap his head around what he’d just walked into, but his brain was refusing to fire on all cylinders. Being in Rena’s presence again was more than enough to catch him off guard. He found himself tongue twisted, unsure of what to say.

It would be a lie of the highest accord to say that he hadn’t thought about her since they’d parted. He hadn’t been able to stop himself from wondering how things were going with her husband. If the sadness in her eyes had been replaced by something or someone else. Now, here she was looking at him as if he were the last person on Earth she wanted to see.

Not that he could blame her if she was internally freaking out. No doubt Rena had thought they’d never see each other again and now here he was sitting on her couch introduced as her daughter’s new boyfriend. And then there was the unspoken thing between them. He could feel it in the air even now. She was angry and wondering what kind of game he was playing at, but he suspected she was also angry at herself…for still feeling the pull between them.

Kissing her on the cheek was even more inappropriate than the way his eyes had appraised her when she’d opened the door. But some things you just couldn’t control and his attraction to Rena was one of them.
I’m in a major mess.
There was no denying that. Tricia was a great girl, warm and caring. But her mother was a raging inferno. What was a man to do when he was caught between warmth and fire? Right now Shane thought getting burned might just be worth it.