Wild Secret

was quieter, and dialed her number. I didn’t want to put my thoughts in writing, especially when speaking about a state attorney. No telling where a screengrab might turn up or who else might see it.
“Oh, a phone call,” Paris said with surprise. “I’m honored.”
“Are you recording this call?”
“No.”
“You should look into the non-prosecution and deferred-prosecution agreements being made,” I said. “See where the funds are going and how they are being used.”
“Are you alleging corruption?”
“I’m not alleging anything. I’m just suggesting that you do what you do best.”
“Careful, Deputy Wild. That almost sounds like a compliment.”
“I acknowledge talent when I see it.”
“You know I have other talents,” she said in a seductive voice.
“I’m aware.”
“Maybe we should grab a drink and discuss this further.”
“Can’t right now.”
“What could possibly be more enticing than a deep, intellectual conversation about public corruption?” she teased.
“I’m out with friends.”
“Ditch them.”
“Tempting.”
“Don’t you want to work out all those pent-up frustrations? You can go back to hating me in the morning.”
I chuckled.
“Shit, hang on.” She clicked to the other line, then clicked back a moment later. “Sorry. Gotta run. Major car crash.”
“Never let a tragedy go to waste,” I snarked.
“We’ll resume this discussion later,” she said before hanging up.
I stepped back inside and returned to our table. I was met with curious eyes.
"What was that about?" JD asked.
"I put a little bug in Paris’s ear about Stella Turner."
JD smirked. "Not a bad idea. That girl loves to look for trouble."
"Be careful, Tyson. You make a deal with the devil, you might get burned."
We had another drink, then called it an early night. Denise had an early shift. She drove us back to the marina and dropped me off first.
I said my goodbyes, and Denise took JD home.
The boats swayed in their slips as I strolled down the dock. I got a call from Sadie along the way. “Hey, what are you doing?"
"Just getting home."
"I may need you to return the favor."
"What favor?"
"I might need to borrow your bass player."
My brow knitted. "Why? What happened?"
"Faye is no longer in the band."
"What!?"
"We kicked her out."
"Why?"
"Because she hooked up with Katie's boyfriend."
My jaw dropped, and my eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"When did this happen?"
“Apparently when she and Crash were split."
"Does Crash know about this yet?"
"I don't know. I haven't told him. I'll leave that up to your discretion."
I cringed. I did not want to get in the middle of this drama. I took a deep breath, and my head fell into my hands as I thought about the scenario. "Are you sure they hooked up?"
"Hey, I wasn't there. I didn't see it. I guess Katie and her boyfriend got into a fight, and the truth came out. He admitted it to her. Then Katie confronted Faye. This all went down before we were supposed to go on stage. The two of them went at each other in the green room, and we had to pull them apart."
"What did you guys do about the show?"
"Lexi and I went on stage and played an acoustic set. Katie refused to play with Faye, and they both stormed off.”
"That sucks."
"You’re telling me.”
"What are you going to do?"
"Try to find a replacement ASAP. But as you know, that's no easy task.” She sighed. “You guys got lucky things didn't implode with Faye."
"They, kind of, did. And I'm not sure we’re clear of the fallout yet," I said.
I crossed the passerelle to the aft deck and pulled open the sliding door. Buddy bounced and barked, and I knelt down and petted him while I talked on the phone.
"I'm not trying to make this a regular thing, but are you up for a late-night visit?"
"I believe I can accommodate that request."
"Good, I need to work out some stress."
I chuckled. "You know where to find me."
I ended the call and headed up to my stateroom. I peeled out of the tux and put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. I grabbed Buddy's leash and took him out for a quick walk.
Sadie showed up as I was heading back toward the boat. She hopped out of her SUV and sauntered toward me, looking like the alternative rock goddess that she was—white cut-up T-shirt, black lacy bra, black miniskirt, fishnet stockings, Dr. Martens.
“Oh, my gawd!” she groaned. “What a night.”
She flung her arms around me and planted a juicy kiss on my lips. “Make it all better, Daddy.”
I was certainly going to try.

38
I woke up in the morning with the punk rock vixen naked beside me. Not a bad way to wake up. We spent the morning rolling around the sheets, working out every last bit of stress. We took a shower and worked out a little more amid the steamy water.
Afterward, we toweled off, got dressed, and made our way down to the galley, where I fixed breakfast. We sat at the settee, chowing down on ham and cheese omelettes.
"I saw the bass in your room. Crash says you're actually pretty good."
"I'm just noodling around for fun."
"You might be able to solve our bass player problem."
I gave her a suspicious glance. "How so?"
"Want to be the only dude in an all-girl band?"
I laughed. "I'm not on that level."
"You might surprise yourself."
"Crash is a much better player than I am. Ask him.”
"I don't know if he's gonna want to sit in with our band after everything that’s happened.”
I shrugged.
“The songs are pretty simple. I bet you could pick them up quickly. It would just be temporary until we found a permanent replacement."
"You can't really be serious?"
"I'm dead serious. Do you know how hard it is to find a talented, reliable bass player that’s not a drug addict?”
“Trust me, I know.”
"Plus, you’re kinda hot.” She smiled. “You’ll draw in more female fans and expand our base. I only have one rule. Not that I’m trying to place restrictions on you or anything, but I'm the only babe in the band you can bang. Deal?"
"I’ll think about it."
“You’ll think about whether you can refrain from screwing my bandmates? Or, you’ll think