Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  The sight of Caroline standing outside his front gate was no real surprise. Titus kept himself well hidden behind the door and watched through one of the sidelight windows to see what she would do about the locked gate. The behavior and inclinations of humans were always so fascinating. Sometimes, he wished he could get a peek into their brains to see what was really going on. But for now, just watching would suffice.

  Caroline leaned over the gate and tried the lock from the inside. When this didn’t yield results, she hopped over the thing with surprising agility. Of course, she was a tall, leggy thing with a willowy figure that suggested she might have played sports of some kind in her younger years. But her hard partying and clubbing had likely taken a toll on her fitness level. Still, she managed the gate and headed up the front walk toward the door with a definite purpose in her step.

  Purpose. Ha! Caroline looked as though dressed for a party of the naughty variety. Titus was going to have to do something about his front gate. If a woman in heels and a painfully short black dress could manage to get over it, then it was basically open. Next thing Titus knew, the pug would be climbing it.

  Titus waited with bated breath on the other side of the door as Caroline knocked. Her knock was discreet, as if she didn’t really want anyone to hear it or to answer. Titus pursed his lips and wondered what her game was and then he unlocked the door, very careful not to make a sound.

  Heading back toward the living room, Titus took a seat in the center of his comfy overstuffed couch and picked up a magazine to make it look like he’d been reading. As he’d expected, the sound of the front door opening reached him in the other room. Caroline was breaking into his house. Sort of. He’d totally let her, but she didn’t know that. Then the door clicked closed and Titus waited to see what would happen next. Perhaps this was where Caroline made a deal. If Titus was lucky, it would involve her somehow ratting out Hilary and giving Titus some kind of useable information. Otherwise, Titus was prepared to send Caroline packing.

  “Well now,” Caroline whispered in a sultry voice. “If you don’t look like you’re ready for some entertainment.”

  Entertainment? Titus didn’t say anything, but he did set his magazine back on the end table. Then he took a really good look at Caroline’s outfit. Her bare legs were freshly shaven, as he could smell the shaving cream and lotion she’d used afterwards. Her dress was tight in the bodice with a skirt that whispered against her thighs and barely reached a quarter of the way to her knees. It was only just long enough to cover her butt cheeks, which was good because she wasn’t wearing any panties. He could smell that too. She was aroused.

  That was confusing. What for? Why would Caroline come to his home aroused already? Had she been with someone else? Was this an honest attempt at seduction? And why were her boobs about to pop out of the dress in a way that made him want to cringe instead of look? This was all a bit different for Titus. He generally found Caroline attractive at least. Her personality and temperament were definite deterrents, but they had never stopped him from enjoying the fact that she looked good—until now.

  As Titus gazed at Caroline with her long, loose silvery blonde hair and her pale blue eyes, he found himself completely uninterested. And then he wondered if this was what happened to a wolf when he found his mate. All of a sudden, the rest of the female population held no interest for him. None at all.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about your visit to my house earlier this afternoon and about what you said,” Caroline told him in a slow, sexy voice like they’d had an illicit and somehow titillating conversation earlier. “The truth is I miss you, Titus Holbrook. I miss working for you.” She paused and the corner of her mouth tilted upwards. “I miss working under you.”

  “Caroline, I’m not offering you your job back.” Titus figured he should at least attempt to make that clear.

  “No?” She parted her lips and opened her eyes wide and then she stepped closer. So close that she managed to nudge her way between his knees. The hem of her wispy black skirt was brushing his bare thighs. She put her hands on her thighs and began pulling her skirt up bit by bit until he could almost see the carefully manicured landing strip of her pubic hair. “Are you sure you don’t want to see me every day? We both know my office skills aren’t great. But we also know that my other skills are absolutely yours to command.”

  Titus growled. He wanted to push her away, but that would require touching her. She leaned over and put her hands on either side of his shoulders. Her breasts were in his face and he had no doubt what her intentions probably were. The woman was doing her level best to put him in a position where he would have to touch her. She thought he would fall prey to his lust as he had before, but that had been long ago and far away and it was certainly a moot point now.

  “Caroline, I don’t play that game and you know it.”

  “But I have what you want. I know what you need, Titus,” Caroline whimpered. She made sounds as though she were in the throes of passion. As if she were a porn star having her big finale scene for the camera. “I know you want me. I know you.”

  “Wait just a damned minute here!” Kylie’s shrill voice erupted through the living room with enough volume that it caused Caroline to jump back in shock. “You fucked her, Titus? You screwed your own receptionist? Who does that?”

  Titus was suddenly scrambling to get up off the couch. This was an unexpected and horrible incident. “No! It’s not what you think.”

  “Yes, it is,” Caroline said flatly. “When I first started working for him, we slept together. And it was amazing.” She cut a sideways look at Titus. “He told me all kinds of love stuff about how I was the only one and he wanted to be with me forever.” Caroline looked down her nose at Kylie. “But he got bored, honey. That’s what he does. This guy is a player.”

  Titus wanted to shove her out the front door. “And you’re out looking for your next meal ticket, Caroline. You thought I would be it. But I’m not. Get out of here and don’t come back. And the next time you decide to try a door to see if it’s unlocked, remember that it’s still trespassing when you’re not invited.”

  Caroline sneered at Kylie and turned on her heel. She flounced out of the room with her skirt swinging and her bare ass practically on display. Titus watched her go, but he already knew it was too little too late. He thought he’d been about to get some information on Hilary, but the whole thing had just blown up in his face.

  Kylie was staring at him. She was fully clothed again. Not a surprise considering the fact she had emerged from the bedroom. It was the expression on her face that truly gave him pause. She pointed at the bedroom door. “You locked me in? Why? Because you didn’t want me to come out and interrupt your little sexual fantasy?”

  “This is not my fantasy,” Titus sputtered. “Caroline is not my type. I never told her any of that crap. She’s lying. You’re the one I want!”

  “Maybe you do, but I can’t keep up with you, can I? So you’re just going to find a few other girls to have on the side? What is this, Titus? I saw her bare ass! I could see her—her—oh you know what I could see with her bent over like that and no panties!”

  He was absolutely in the wrong here, but not like she thought. “Kylie, that wasn’t what you thought it was. I was trying to get information out of her.”

  “What is wrong with you? She worked for you for pity’s sake!” Kylie made a disgusted noise and headed for the front door. “You’re such an ass! You know what? You go and play your field and screw girls until you finally can’t get another erection. I don’t care. I’m going home. And if you want to leave town, you go right ahead!”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kylie felt like a fool. She’d rarely been so angry before in her life. Except she wasn’t necessarily angry with Titus, she was cross with herself more than anyone else. She had been the one to make the mistake of trusting Titus to be better than every other guy. For a moment, when she had discovered he wasn’t even really human, Kylie had even wonde
red if this wasn’t somehow better. Titus wouldn’t have the same hang-ups as human guys yet he wouldn’t always be looking for the next best thing. He was different.

  Yeah, he was a dog.

  Ms. Wankenfurter’s words came back to Kylie. Was she ready for a guy who was part dog? The answer, apparently, was no. She was not ready to accept someone who needed so much sex that he wasn’t satisfied with one woman. Maybe it was biological for him. Maybe in the wild—if that was a thing—shifters had a harem of wives to cater to their insatiable lust.

  Kylie started to laugh as she marched up her front walk toward the door. What had it been? An hour? Two hours ago maybe that she had spotted Titus’s truck through her front windows? She had stumbled out of the house and bolted for his place like some kind of obsessed lunatic. Maybe that was the entire problem. She was obsessed. Maybe that was the biological element of this whole thing. Pheromones or endorphins or something. Maybe making love to a shifter like Titus gave you a dopamine high that was instantly addictive.

  But all of that was just an excuse. Kylie reached for her front door handle, still giving herself mental hell for being so stupid. She hadn’t paid a bit of attention to the deep shadows around her porch area. The light wasn’t on, but she could see a light in her front hall just as she’d left it.

  “Kylie?”

  The sound of a voice so surprised her that Kylie banged her shoulder against the front door trying to go inside without actually turning the knob. Swinging to her right, she stared into the shadows. The voice was male and familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

  Then something moved in the inky pools surrounding her two little padded chairs and Kylie realized it was a man. Joe Turner. Great. Her turncoat boss from the winery had landed on her doorstep. For what? Surely, he didn’t want her help?

  “Kylie, can we talk?” It was like Joe didn’t even get that he was in a place where he really wasn’t welcome. “I know it’s been rough this last week, but I need help and I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “You didn’t know where else to go?” Kylie was sure her mouth was hanging wide open and incredulity was on full display. The nerve of this guy! “So, you came here? I don’t get it, Joe. You fired me.”

  “No. I didn’t,” he hastily argued. He was shifting impatiently from foot to foot like a little kid who had to pee. “I didn’t fire you. I put you on suspension. And I did it for your own good. You have to hear me out. I’m in trouble.”

  Kylie huffed out a huge sigh. “Fine. Come inside though. And if you try anything I’m going to beat you over the head. Is that clear? I’m totally done with all of this bullshit. I’m done with you pushing me around and Hilary concocting a bunch of lies and the entire town of Branson being so afraid of that horrible woman that none of us will say anything to stop her!”

  Kylie was pushing her way into her house as she gave her little speak. Joe was right behind her. He seemed in a hurry to get into the house and out of sight. Kylie could not help but wonder what sort of trouble Joe had gotten himself into. But maybe she was about to find out why he had been so willing to let Hilary push him around. Kylie had suspected Hilary had some dirt on Joe. The guy wasn’t particularly exciting, but everyone had dirt. Right?

  “Come in.” Kylie locked her front door behind her. She even double checked the deadbolt and the knob to make sure the locks were fully engaged. She was not leaving anything to chance. After all, she already knew Caroline Fry was at large in this neighborhood.

  Joe didn’t really look like a guy in deep distress. He wandered into her living room and peered at some of the photographs and art on the walls. He checked out her tiny wood stove. And then he moseyed into her kitchen where he actually reached for a bottle of wine that was still sitting on the counter where it had landed after the disastrous food fight party.

  “Can I pour us a glass?” He looked up at Kylie questioningly. “I could really use it.”

  Kylie wasn’t sure what to make of this. “Suit yourself. Glasses are right above you.”

  Joe expertly opened the wine with the corkscrew on the counter and let it breathe while he pulled out a couple of wineglasses. Soon he was pouring the red liquid into the glasses and handing one to Kylie as though he had paid her a social call. There was no hint of the urgency that had made it seem like he was going to push his way through her front door whether she liked it or not.

  “Joe,” Kylie said as she took the glass he offered and set it on the kitchen counter behind her. She did not offer him a seat in the living room. She just rested her hip against the counter and stared at him for a moment. “Can you get on with it? Because I’m really tired. It’s been a rough couple of days.”

  “Right.” He drank half his glass in one pull and poured himself more. “I know this seems odd. I’ve really struggled with how to tell you what I need to say. But the truth is,” he started as he gazed at her for a long moment, “I’m in love with you.”

  For the span of maybe one or two breaths, Kylie was pretty sure she’d actually fallen asleep after coming home from Titus’s house. She was probably on her living room couch snoring away while having this preposterous dream. Then she sipped some wine and the bittersweet flavor exploded on her tongue and made her realize this horror show was for real.

  “Kylie, please?”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She gazed at him and tried really hard to hang onto her temper. “I said bullshit! You are not in love with me. Who put you up to this? Did Hilary put you up to this? What does she have on you, Joe? That’s what I thought you were here tonight to say to me. You were supposed to tell me why Hilary is pulling your strings. But no. You have to go and do something even dumber.”

  “That’s not fair!” He sucked down the entire glass in one long pull and slammed it down so hard on her counter that they both heard the stem crack. “I love you. I came here tonight to tell you and you say something like that to me?”

  Kylie groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’re like a really bad actor in a shitty movie, Joe! You don’t mean that. And you’re married for pity’s sake! What would Angela think of all of this?”

  “Angie knows,” he said suddenly. “She knows how I feel. We’re going to—ah—we’re getting divorced.”

  The air in Kylie’s lungs seemed to freeze for a second. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think straight either. How was she supposed to know whether or not any of this was true? Yet, if Joe really was getting a divorce, it very likely had nothing to do with Kylie being the other woman. It was more likely because of something Joe had done to ruin Angela’s posh lifestyle. Angie was the one related to the Dashwoods. They owned the Oak Barrel Hill Winery. It was one of the most popular and lucrative wineries in the area and included several farms worth of grapes and an entire processing division. The family business was a big deal. Joe had married into that, but he could get nudged back out if he was screwing up.

  “Joe, I’m really sorry to hear about you and Angie,” Kylie told him, trying to sound genuine and not as irritated as she actually felt. “But I’m really not interested in you in that way. And you fired me, suspended me, same thing. You knew I wasn’t behind any of this. You knew Hilary was just making trouble. Why on earth would I turn around and want to accept your declaration of love after you treated me like crap?”

  “Because I only did that to make sure nobody knew how much I love you.” He sounded desperate.

  Kylie pursed her lips and sighed. “I’m going to hear that as basically, Hilary told you she needed you to get some kind of information from me or she’s going to what? Tell your wife that you’ve been… you’re supposed to fill in the blank here, Joe.”

  “Gambling,” he said suddenly. It was as though the word had just flopped out of his mouth before he could stop it. But once it was out, he looked relieved. He put both hands on the countertop, braced his weight, and leaned over as though he were about to pass out. “I have a gambling problem. I can’t help myself. I dri
ve up to Joplin, to the state line.”

  “Ah, the Indian casinos over the border in Oklahoma?”

  “Yes!” He was gasping as though he were having a heart attack. “I’m so close to a big winning streak. I know it. I just need a few more chances at the tables. Hilary told me if I helped her push you out of your job, she would front me a couple of thousand dollars.”

  Kylie sighed. “You’re aware she doesn’t actually have any money, right?”

  “What?” He looked up now with a bleary-eyed expression of confusion.

  Kylie remembered back to the library and the conversation between Hilary and Caroline. “Hilary has been making monetary promises to a lot of people, Joe. She’s promising funds that are supposed to come from a court case that she hasn’t filed yet. It’s a wrongful death suit. She thinks she’s going to get Titus Holbrook to pay her restitution for murdering her sister.”

  “Titus Holbrook murdered Hilary Allenwood’s sister?” Joe looked absolutely floored.

  It was interesting that Hilary hadn’t told Joe that part. She’d just found a weakness that she could exploit and she’d gone with it. Nice. “No,” Kylie said flatly. “Titus is a lot of things, but he’s not a murderer. And Hilary’s not going to get one red cent from the deal. So, you’re probably not going to see a penny either. Don’t worry. She had Caroline Fry hanging onto the same story. For what it’s worth, I think you should go seek treatment for the gambling addiction, Joe.”

  He looked petulant all of a sudden. He reached for the wine bottle and poured himself a glass while supporting the cracked stem of his wineglass with his other hand. There was something pathetic and desperate about the act. “I don’t need treatment. I need the next big win.”

  “Right. Because that’s going to happen,” Kylie muttered. “And how come you’re the one running the show up there and I’m on suspension? You’re a bigger risk than I am from an employer’s perspective. How much money have you stolen from work?”