Tangled Fury by Kristen Middleton, Book Cover By Design, K. L. Middleton Page B

replied, walking away. “I’ll let everyone know. Have a good night, ladies.”

Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    Sera
     
    I was kept busy the following day, with more new clients. So busy, in fact, that I had to cancel lunch with Thane.
    “Well, that’s great, right? I mean, we were going to discuss how to find new clients and here, you’re already racing to fit them into your schedule,” he said, when I told him. He was sitting in his office, wearing a Bluetooth headset. His hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, again, and he wore a white company polo shirt.
    “It’s wonderful,” I replied. “Most of them were just random customers calling in. I even have some appointments scheduled for tomorrow.”
    “Good for you. Maybe we can do lunch next week, and discuss how things are going? By then you should have a pretty good feel of the place.”
    “Sounds great,” I replied, feeling a little disheartened that we couldn’t keep our lunch date. Not only had I not packed anything to eat from home, but I’d been almost looking forward to getting to know him better. In a purely platonic way, of course. I was admittedly attracted to him, but men weren’t on my agenda. Especially my new boss. My life was finally running smoothly and I wasn’t about to do anything that would throw me off course. Besides, just because I was attracted to Thane, didn’t mean he was attracted to me.
     
    ***
     
     
    Thane
     
     
    Sera left my office, and I felt a jab of disappointment, knowing that we wouldn’t be having lunch together. I knew that it was wrong, but part of me wanted her all to myself for a couple of hours. She was an intriguing woman. One who’d been through hell-and-back with her daughter, and thankfully, left unbroken. At least from what I could tell from the short time I’d known her. She’d stayed strong for Emma, even after her own mother had been murdered in cold blood. As far as I was concerned, she was an admirable human being and stronger than any man I’d ever fought in the ring.
    My cell phone rang , kicking me out of my thoughts. “Hello?”
    “Thane?”
    I grinned. “Speak of the Devil. I was just thinking about you, Sam. How’ve you been?”
    “Fine. Listen, how’s Sera doing? Is she there right now?”
    I sat back in my chair. “Yeah. She just started yesterday. I’ve been meaning to call you. She’s doing great. What’s up?”
    “ Sounds like Ray, her crazy-fuck of a husband, has made another visit here. April noticed him outside of the diner, yesterday. He’s obviously looking for Sera and Emma. Obviously still thinks they’re both still in town.”
    “Did you call the police?”
    “No. I will if I see the bastard, though. Or maybe I’ll just take care of the problem myself. I’d love to get my hands on that guy.”
    “ I don’t blame you for wanting to that, but, he sounds like one crazy son-of-a-bitch; you need to stay clear away from him, Sam. Let the cops handle this guy.”
    He grunted. “They didn’t handle him at all last time.”
    “No, but it’s too dangerous to try and bring him in yourself. Too many things can go wrong. Does he know about you and Sera’s mom?”
    He was silent for a few seconds. “I don’t think so. Not the last time he was here, or he’d have shown up at my doorstep. He might have started digging and found out, I reckon. It wouldn’t have been too difficult.”
    I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Then you’d better watch your back. Did you talk to your brother, Fred?”
    “I left both Fred and Sera a message. I’m just waiting for one of them to call me back. Oh… what do you know? This might be one of them right now - someone’s beeping in.”
    “Okay, I’ll let you go.”
    “I can’t imagine that Ray would know where Sera is, but… you might want to keep a close eye out for anything unusual.”
    I sighed. “I’m not sure what to watch for, since almost everything I’ve encountered in California is … unusual,