“Huh?” he muttered. “Oh, ah, you look beautiful.”
“Well, you asked me about playing the harp for you naked. I can’t do that tonight. I plan to give you a show, though.”
His brow arched. “You do? But we got Noah.”
“He’s seen part of this show before,” she laughed.
Maverick frowned and looked at his son. She walked over to the stool next to her harp. He sat upright with perfect posture. Maverick shifted to sit up against the pillows. “What are you going to play?”
“Alicia Keys. ‘If I ain't got you,’ is the song. Ever heard it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t sound familiar,” he said.
“Get your phone. Look up the lyrics. It’s important you know the meaning when I play. Okay?”
“Can I record you?” he teased.
She shrugged. “I don’t mind, but don’t put me on TikTok.”
His brows arched in surprise. He scrambled to get his phone. He started the recording immediately. He didn’t need to look up the lyrics. He rather capture the moment. She looked like a goddess sitting at the harp.
“Ready?” she asked. He had to chuckle to himself. She was the sexiest nerd he’d ever met. He held his breath for the demonstration. He had no idea what an Alicia Keyes song would sound like on a harp. And then he did. The tickle of piano keys that was a very well-known signature of the famous songbird, came to life through the harp's plucking of strings. Yet, it was different. It was smoother than jazz, smoother than any instrument he’d ever heard play—a melody in its purest form. Delilah transported him to a time and space where the most profound expression of a new love would be experienced without words. Noah lifted his head and looked up at him. He picked him up and put him on his chest. The toddler was growing fast, but Maverick’s chest suited him just fine. He and his son watched her play for them, at his mother.
“I guess you’ve seen this performance before?” he whispered. When it was done, she stood and gave them a bow. He clapped lightly for he trying to not wake Noah, who had again drifted to sleep. The harp had worked its magic on him as well. He looked down at his boy and smiled. He’d never loved a kid so much. When he looked up to answer her, he paused. Delilah lowered the thin shoulder straps to her negligee and letting the gown drop to the floor. She stood before him naked. “Lay him down and meet me in the closet,” she mouthed the words to him. “I’ll wait.”
Maverick nodded, only pausing to watch her sashay away. He put Noah down, and his son's head popped up. He had to hold him again. They went back and forth with this for ten minutes before Noah slept well enough to let him escape. He went into the closet and found her waiting for him.
“I went on Amazon and ordered some sex toys. And lubricants,” she told him.
“You did what?” Maverick closed the closet door.
Delilah smiled. “You can use them on me when they arrive.”
“Oh, I got excited. Thought we had them now,” Maverick said.
She grinned. “Soon.”
“Come here,” he said. She went into his arms, and he did as he always did at night. He made love to her and cared for all of her needs before he put her to bed for the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
BETRAYED - A WEEK LATER
Maverick and Apollo waited in the game room playing a hand at pool while the women were interviewed in the television room down the hall from them. The press had requested pictures of the ladies seated together, holding a picture of their friend Goodiva. Maverick had been the photographer. He’d also set up the cameras and the computer for the Zoom chat with the reporter. They were living in different times. The quarantine had forced the entire world behind closed doors and televideo. An interview now was best done over the internet and through email. He knew Delilah was influential. He never conceived how far her influence reached until she told him the interview he suggested would be with the ultra-conservative Washington Post, for whom she had written several columns for in the past.
Every detail of the interview had been well planned. Delilah made sure to have her father take her mother for a drive and out of the way. For many reasons, Delilah sensed Delores could not be trusted or told about the interview. Henry didn’t question his daughters request, but he was curious. Any mention of Delilah’s past or present problems often led Delores to the Montgomery defense. He’d witnessed a few fights between them since he arrived. He found that odd too. It wasn’t just that he moved in and was now her daughter's lover and an active parent. For Delores, it was about how Mother Abigail felt about him moving into her former home and sleeping in her dead son’s bed. How it would be perceived? Delilah feared that her mother would think the interview was related to the same drama no matter what she told her. Henry took his wife back home to collect her things since the quarantine was extended through May. It was Maverick’s job to watch over Noah. And he considered it the better arrangement of the deal. His son jumped around his toys celebrating his freedom to choose between so many different trucks without his grandmother hovering. When Maverick was a kid, he loved Tonka. Of course, he went a bit overboard in ordering as many dump trucks and garbage trucks from Amazon that he could. Confinement made him less cautious with his spending. Considering he had a small pension from the NYPD and his business was closed, he should have been more frugal. He had tapped into his reserves, money he had set aside with his wife before she died. He needed a job.
“So, you planning on making Colorado your new home?” Apollo asked. Apollo was Queen’s partner on the force. He looked to be of Native American or Hispanic ethnicity. Apollo hit the ball and sunk three of Maverick's balls in the left side pocket.
“Looks like it. I’ll need a job,” he said.
“Ever think about police work again?” Apollo asked.
Maverick didn’t respond. He took his shot, trying to keep his focus.
“Queen told me about your time on the NYPD. We could always use another man on the team.”
“Why? Crime can’t be that bad in this small town,” Maverick chuckled.
“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Apollo asked.
“Heard what?” Maverick asked.
“We’re on the FBI registry. We have our homegrown serial killer. He travels out of the Cove and brings his prey back into it. We’ve had three more bodies of young children found in the past year.” Apollo said.
Maverick frowned. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Apollo shook his head. “Queen’s obsessed with the case. It goes cold and hot like the weather, and we can’t catch the fucker. We know everyone in this town almost and nothing.”
“How is that possible?” Maverick asked.
“Not sure, but something has to give and soon. It’s fucking with us all,” Apollo mumbled. The men share a moment of silence as it sunk in deeper what a killer in the town could mean, and then Maverick took his shot. He missed.
“Damn!”
“Damn!” Noah said and clapped his hands.
Maverick shook his head no to his son.
“Damn. Damn. Damn!”
“I think he likes the word,” Apollo chuckled.