And then he was. Abruptly. But not on the bed. Behind her. Kylie gasped as a set of arms came around her like bands of iron. She was motionless against his chest, his cheek beside hers, his lips so soft against her ear. He smelled like the outdoors. Pine and cedar and the fresh air that circulated around the lake. She inhaled deeply to keep herself from fainting dead away. She could not faint. Not right now.
“What are you doing here?” His breath whispered against her cheek and tickled her ear. It sent a riot of chills down her spine and made her clamp her thighs together to keep herself from melting into a warm puddle of woman right there on the floor.
He’d asked her a question. Right. She had to answer. Even if her hormones were going crazy and she could not actually string a whole sentence together. “Front door open.”
He didn’t let go of her. Kylie could feel every single muscle in his chest and belly against her back. Her white dress shirt was too thin not to feel that. The heat coming off of him was absolutely undeniable, like a furnace warming her body from the inside out. His hands lightened their hold on her arms. He wrapped her more gently in his embrace and sniffed her hair.
Wait. He was sniffing her hair?
“Rosemary and mint,” he murmured. “I like it. Wouldn’t have guessed it, but I like it.”
She managed to find her words after a moment or two. “My shampoo.”
But what did this have to do with the front door being open? Kylie couldn’t decide what to say about that. He was acting really strange. And that was when she realized he was naked. More or less. She wasn’t even entirely sure how she could tell that since she wasn’t facing him. But somehow, she knew.
“I’m so sorry for just barging in here,” Kylie said hoarsely. Her cheeks were heating up. She was going to blush like a red hot poker in a minute. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I just saw that you weren’t getting up to go to work like usual and I thought about how you live over here by yourself.” She was totally rambling now and there was no way to put a stop to it. “So, I came to check on you. To see if you needed anything. And the door was open. I was afraid. You know? Because of the intruder at Mrs. Wankenfurter’s house.”
“Right.” He actually chuckled. “Let’s go have a look at the front door. Shall we?”
He let go of her. The absence of him was so abrupt that she swayed for a moment and had to catch her balance. This was stupid. She was being stupid. She was acting like some idiot girl without a brain in her head.
And then she turned around and realized he wasn’t entirely naked. He was wearing a pair of skimpy bikini underwear. As he was walking away from her, she could see the stretchy cotton fabric of his red underwear cupped his ass like a lover’s hands. The sight was so mouthwateringly yummy that, for a moment, Kylie was pretty sure she was going to pass out. Not to mention, he was covered in muscle—everywhere. There was not a bit of skin that was not stretched taut over a slab of muscle. You could see every single group of them like some anatomy model. Even his butt. And his legs! No man had ever had legs that sexy.
Titus stopped suddenly and turned to stare at her. A lock of his somewhat shaggy dark hair fell across his forehead. His gray eyes gazed at her with no small amount of interest. “Are you coming?”
She nearly stammered that she probably could but knew that would be a completely inappropriate joke at the moment. Still, how was she supposed to function when this guy was so damned hot? “I’ll be right there. Sorry. I was, uh, looking to see if there was anything out of place.”
“Because you’ve been in my bedroom so many times before?” He raised an eyebrow at her and Kylie was reminded that the man ran a security firm and was probably very well-versed in what you were supposed to do in this situation.
She nodded and hastily followed behind him. She couldn’t stop staring at his ass. Kylie wondered if he could tell. Was his booty burning because she was treating him like total eye candy? How embarrassing. She could not believe she was acting like this. Was it a pheromone thing maybe? Could she somehow smell that he was a good provider or a good hunter or something primal like that?
“Let’s see,” he murmured in a voice so deliciously gravelly that it sounded like that of a man who had just rolled out of bed after making love to…
What was wrong with her? She had been around Titus Holbrook plenty of times before. Sure. He always gave her a physical thrill because he was so good-looking. But she had never acted like some kind of crazed teenager until now. It was like losing control of her entire mind! And maybe her body, too. There was a lot of body talk going on right now. Mostly because she was so ready to jump his bones without even being aware of it.
Titus, of course, was focused on his front door. “Looks like it didn’t get locked last night. That’s odd. But that would be on me. You said it was open?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t actually remember if she’d said that, but it had been. And it made it all the more reasonable for her to have come inside to check on him. If the door had been firmly closed and just unlocked, that would have made her a potential break and enter. “I uh, saw it was ajar and came to check on you.”
“You should have called someone else,” he told her with a careless look over his shoulder. “I don’t feel like you should be wandering around in here looking for me if you think there might be a possible intruder about. What if you got hurt?”
“I was more concerned for you.” Wow. He was concerned for her! That made her feel insanely flattered. Of course, why it would do that was a little beyond her ability to imagine. Or rather, to be honest with herself about.
“Well, I have to say that I don’t know why it was ajar and I don’t remember leaving it unlocked.” Titus seemed incredibly unconcerned.
He turned to face her. It was nearly impossible to keep her eyes on his face. Her gaze kept wanting to creep down the length of his body and toward his groin. She wanted to check him out. All of him. She wanted to… he smelled really good. That was probably what was doing this. The guy hadn’t showered and had probably just gotten out of bed.
Which brought up a question. “Were you already up when I came inside?” Kylie wanted to know. “If you were up, why didn’t you answer the door when I knocked?”
“I heard you come inside the house. I’m not sure I heard you knock.” He looked thoughtful. “I—ah—I just heard you. Then I got up and hid in that little walkthrough hallway between the bathroom and the bedroom where the closets are. I wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to stick a knife in me or something.”
“Oh. Sorry!” If Kylie had been embarrassed before, she was really embarrassed now. “I’m so sorry. I had a weird night. I slept in my chair and I think I must have been having dreams about intruders or something. I just felt this unbelievable urge to make sure they didn’t hit your house the same way they did Mrs. Wankenfurter.”
“I appreciate that.” He gave a little nod. It was like he had no clue he wasn’t wearing clothes.
“I’ll uh…” She felt the urge to flee. “I should let you get dressed and start your day.”
Now he looked down at himself. “I’m dressed.” He actually put a thumb in the elastic waistband of his underwear and tugged it out to let it snap back. The move bared part of his hip that she should never see and Kylie had to swallow to keep herself from whimpering. “See? Underwear firmly in place.”
“Right. You realize you can’t call that clothing. Right?” Kylie was nearly choking on her words. “Titus, that is…”
“Like a bathing suit. Covers just as much,” he argued. Then he winked at her. He winked! “Why? Are you enjoying the show? Because I can kind of tell you are.”
She stiffened. He was teasing her. That had to be it. Was he going to strip naked and then… she didn’t know what. “I should go,” Kylie murmured. “I really have to get out of here. Now. I’m so late for work. I’ll—uh—see you later.”
“Of course.” He winked again and she thought her panties might drop right there even though she w
as now pretty sure he was just messing with her.
Kylie fled Titus’s house and swore to herself she was never going back there. Ever. Well, except that he’d invited her to be his plus one at a wedding or something for one of his coworkers. But that was different. A fully-clothed event to attend with him as her companion. Talk about a nice night to remember. She couldn’t wait for that one. As long as it all stayed very safe.
Chapter Three
Kylie Overton’s expression of admiration for Titus’s body was still very much on his mind when Titus opened the front door of his office and strode inside at nearly eleven o’clock that morning. What he should have been thinking about was why in the hell his front door had been ajar at nine in the morning. But what he was thinking about was the look of heat and longing in Kylie’s eyes when she drank in the sight of him. What guy didn’t like to know the woman he was attracted to was equally attracted? Maybe even more so.
“Hey, there you are.” Mindy Hall—now Mindy Forbes—looked up from her desk when Titus walked into the office. She was already handing him a stack of small pink message notes. “These are your messages for the morning. But I’ve got to go. You’re a little later than usual, Titus. Did you sleep all right?”
Titus sat down in the comfy chair behind his desk and looked Mindy over from head to toe. She really wasn’t much to look at and yet there were times when Titus was so fiercely jealous of his friend and employee Ash’s good fortune in finding Mindy, that Titus almost did something stupid.
“I slept all right,” Titus assured Mindy, because she was actually concerned. “I just had a really strange visit from my neighbor Kylie and I’m still puzzling it out in my head.”
“Kylie,” Mindy said thoughtfully. She was already gathering up her things to head to her other job managing the mirror maze in Branson on the Route 76 strip. “You mean the one who lives right across the street and showed up the other day to let you know about the old lady neighbor winding up in the hospital?”
“Yes. That’s the one,” Titus confirmed. Leave it to Mindy. She was sharp as a tack. “She came over to check on me because I was late getting off to work and she was afraid I was at home sick or hurt with nobody to look after me.”
Mindy looked intrigued. “That was really sweet of her. And yet, I can see why it would provoke some thought. How odd.”
“No. The odd part was that my door was evidently unlocked and ajar. I know I didn’t leave it like that.” Titus thought back to the previous night and knew he hadn’t left it.
“If I were you,” Mindy said quickly on her way out the door, “I would have new locks installed. You never know. Caroline might have actually had a copy of your key made. I would not put it past her. You all might think the girl is nothing but a bimbo, but I can assure you she is not.”
“Thanks, Mindy!” Titus called after her. “I’ll do that!”
It was an astute observation from a woman who had a mind like a steel trap. Mindy was right. Titus was already pretty sure Caroline and Hilary had been trespassing in the neighborhood last night. He just needed to figure out a way to either catch them at it, or to make them go away for good.
Duke Dunbar pushed his way into the office looking very sleepy. The members of Titus’s team generally straggled in whenever they could. Sometimes they went to work cases before they even came into the office. Hours were negligible and Mindy fielded phone calls from the company cell phone even while she was at her other job. Usually it was just returning calls or passing along messages. But it was more efficient than Caroline had ever been.
“Your messages are on your desk thanks to Mindy,” Titus informed Duke as he slumped into his chair. “Looks like you had a long night.”
“You remember that guy who swears there’s a kid vandalizing his garden at night?” Duke said around another yawn. “You sent me because I’m a farm bred guy and this garden stuff is supposed to be right up my alley.”
“Uh huh. Vaguely.” Titus did not discriminate. Big case. Small case. They were all potential clients and money. “And did you find the vandal?”
“Sure did,” Duke said with a laugh. “Deer. About half a dozen whitetails just wandering around all night long stomping his stuff and eating the leaves off his plants.”
“Damn.”
Duke was now laughing. “I told him he needed to build a fence or maybe start feeding them cracked corn on another part of his property. I don’t think he was really all that happy about my discovery. He was really hoping for some young person to box on the ears.”
Titus grunted. He wasn’t sorry to hear it was wildlife. Those were the best cases. When people had to get used to the fact that rural living meant exactly that. Not an overpopulated spot where there were no wild animals left with whom to cohabitate. Having deer and other animals around meant Titus was less likely to get noticed. Except lately, when he was considering it was really time to move along.
Duke rested back in his chair. “I just got done talking to Olivia about the ceremony. We’re going to have it at the Moonrise Theater.”
“That’s a lot of damned guests,” Titus quipped. Then he made a face. “This month?”
“Next month,” Duke corrected. “October first. I’ve asked Younger to be my best man. But I wanted to make sure you’ll be there. The only reason Olivia and I met was because of you. I love this place. I love working for you, Titus. It’s like being part of one big family.”
Where in the hell was this coming from? Titus wanted to sink low in his chair and sort of hide there. But he couldn’t. That would have been unforgivably rude. “Well, thank you for the compliment, Duke.”
What was Titus supposed to say next? Oh, about that, I’ve decided to move on. You guys can have this place and run it if you want to, but I’m out. Yeah. That would probably go over really well. Not that they couldn’t run this place without him. Maybe the answer wasn’t to get rid of this place. Maybe it was for him to move on and leave it behind. It could be turning a profit to help fund his new start. That might work.
“Titus, what’s on your mind?” Duke asked after a moment or two had passed. “You’re acting weird.”
Titus felt weird. He rubbed the right side of his jaw and told himself there was really nothing to be discussed with Duke Dunbar of all people. “I know you’re sure with Olivia. I really know that. Personally, I thought the two of you were a great couple before you were on board with it.”
“Yeah, we know.” Duke grinned and relaxed back in his chair. He laced his fingers behind his head and sighed. “I love her so much that the idea of somehow losing her makes me crazy. I get super worried about it. Like I’m going to wake up one morning and it will have all been just a dream. That’s how much I love her.”
“And Ash is lucky that way with Mindy too,” Titus murmured. “She’s a great girl. I’ve never met anyone like her before.”
Duke was now frowning. “Mindy is Ash’s wife, Titus. Is there something you need to tell me?”
“No. Don’t be daft,” Titus said quickly. “I’m just thinking about the difference in women and men and how we fit together. You wouldn’t have wanted to be with someone like Caroline. Right?”
“Oh, hell to the no!” Duke groused. “That woman is a disaster.”
“She’s a disaster who was prowling my neighborhood with Hilary Allenwood last night.” Titus wasn’t entirely sure why he had suddenly decided to divulge this information to Duke. “What’s wrong with a woman that she can be such a princess, the apple of her father’s eye and spoiled to boot, and just one day wake up and decide she’s going to try to prowl around at night breaking and entering?”
Duke sputtered. He obviously didn’t know what to say. The entire office knew about the prowlers in Titus’s neighborhood. They just didn’t realize Titus was the reason people were prowling. Hilary wanted proof of some kind that Titus was a wolf shifter. A werewolf, in her eyes. And she was willing to do just about anything to get that proof.
“Yeah,” Titus agreed.
“It kind of blows your mind, right?”
“It does,” Duke muttered. Then he shook his head. “Why you? I know that Hilary has been after all of us for months, saying you’re hiding things and that we don’t know you and who knows what else in some bizarre effort to try to get us to talk to her. But what does she think you are? A criminal or something?”
“I’m not sure,” Titus murmured. This was a lie. He was always lying. That’s just how his life worked. But now, he wanted something else. “I was thinking though. I might just move away and be done with this place. Hilary Allenwood is prepared to take down how many businesses and people in this town in some misguided attempt to make me into her next big story. What if I just left and saved her the trouble altogether?”
Duke actually came up out of his chair. “What? Are you out of your mind?”
His words were so loud that evidently the next employee to walk inside, Younger Adair, had heard them. Younger strode in and glared at them both. “Who is out of his mind?”
Duke did not waste a second. “The boss wants to flee town instead of sticking around to get rid of his Hilary Allenwood problem.”
“You can’t do that!” Younger said indignantly. “Besides, how does that help with anything. The woman will just follow you somewhere else. You’ve got no idea how much she has invested in this story. What if she would be willing to follow you all way to Maine just to get her story?”
Now that was a horrible thought, but not one that seemed believable in Titus’s opinion. He shook his head. “I wouldn’t close the business. If that’s what you’re worried about. I’d just leave it here running with you guys at the helm and check in every once in a while.”
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 97
