“I had dreams about that for days!”
He felt a really inappropriate jolt of satisfaction at hearing that. “Well, I’m glad to hear you were dreaming about me.”
“Who said I thought it was you?”
His smile disappeared. But Kylie started laughing again. She swatted him and reached up to kiss his cheek. Titus sometimes wondered if she had any idea how much she affected him. The thought she could have erotic dreams about anyone else would have sent him plunging over the edge of sanity.
“Don’t worry. I can’t imagine being in a jacuzzi with anyone but you. I have a confession to make too.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I’ve totally had a crush on you since you first moved in five years ago or so. I saw you that first week and thought that some male movie star had moved in. Then I spent who knows how long contriving ways to see you or to meet you. I thought the neighborhood watch was a golden opportunity.”
Titus was floored. “Really?”
“Yeah. Then you started acting really weird and I wasn’t sure I wanted to tap that crazy.” She made a silly face and then smiled up at him. “Titus, you did act really weird.”
“Yeah? Well there was this one time when I was peeking into your backyard while sitting in a tree dressed as the big bad wolf and I was pretty sure I had just outed myself to you right then.”
“Oh!” Her face went blank for a minute. “I had friends over. We were all a bit tipsy that night. I thought I heard Ms. Wankenfurter’s prowler. I expected to find raccoons and there was a person out there. I’m sure of it!”
“Yes. That was Hilary,” Titus told her.
Kylie seemed to absorb that and discard it. Titus spun her in the opposite direction and suddenly, her expression grew serious. “Titus, Caroline is here.”
“What?” Titus stopped dancing so abruptly that he heard Ash grumbling as he had to do an awkward kind of spin in order to go around them on the dance floor. “Where?”
“By the catering tables. She looks like she’s heading for the gift tree.”
The happy couple had decided not to do the whole gift registry thing. They’d both been on their own for several years although they’d never been married before. So, Mindy had set up a gift tree for people to pin cards to a large fake silver and gold tree. At the moment, Caroline was indeed standing there beside what was probably a good amount of cash and checks stashed in pretty wedding cards just ripe for the plucking.
“No way,” Titus grunted. “Not on my watch.”
He left Kylie behind him as he strode toward Caroline. She was just lifting her hand to the tree when Titus reached out and grabbed it. To his surprise, a card fell to the ground. He glared at her. Around them, there were other people—locals—glaring at her too. Caroline was dressed in one of her designer outfits, but the smug smirk was missing from her face. She looked pale and thin and more than a little desperate enough to steal someone else’s wedding presents.
“Titus, stop it!” Caroline hissed. “I’m just putting a card on the tree for Duke. That’s all.”
Titus hated to admit it, but he was floored. He pressed his lips into a tight line and crossed his arms over his chest. “A card. One you already took the cash out of?”
“No. Stop it.” Caroline looked mortified. “That’s not even fair. I’m not going to steal someone’s wedding presents. That would be pathetic.”
“Caroline,” Titus said flatly, “you are pathetic and you know it. Why are you here?”
“Because I worked with Duke for a good number of years and as stupid as it seems, I wish him happiness. That’s it. I just wanted to put a card here.” Caroline actually looked embarrassed. “It’s one that I made. I didn’t—uh—cards are kind of pricey. You know?”
Titus felt himself wanting to soften towards her. Was this what being in love did? It made you feel sorry for people who really didn’t deserve it? “Then put your card on the tree. I’m not stopping you.”
Caroline picked it up and carefully pinned it in place. After that task was done, she looked a little uncomfortable. “I, uh, I saw you managed to save Kylie from Hilary’s ridiculous hostage plan.”
It occurred to Titus that Caroline might have come to him with that information on her own. “Did Hilary send you?”
“No. I know that’s what you thought, but Hilary didn’t believe you needed to be told. She was convinced you knew and you were trying to find a way to save your own skin at the cost of Kylie’s life.” Caroline shook her head in disgust. “I knew that wasn’t how you did things. And yeah, I tried to get some money out of it, but I came to tell you because I didn’t want anyone to die. It’s not like I’m a monster.”
Titus didn’t agree or disagree. He just stared down at her. “How is your father?”
“Enjoying another month’s vacation,” Caroline said dully. “This time he’s in Peru. I don’t get it. What is there to do in Peru?”
Titus didn’t enlighten her. He knew that wasn’t really her question. “Caroline, the man wants you and your mother to grow up and help. That’s it. Can you blame him?”
“Yes!” Caroline said petulantly. “I wasn’t supposed to have to work. I was supposed to find a man to take care of me.”
Across the room, Harvey Lightman and his blonde bimbo of the week were having a heated discussion. It didn’t look as though this one was going to last very long. “Well, you can always go try your luck with Harvey. But if I were you, I’d try to learn from my mother’s mistakes. Men will take care of a woman for a certain amount of reciprocity. But if you think you’re going to lay about all day drunk off your ass and Internet shopping, you might want to think again.”
Caroline tilted her head to one side and looked thoughtful. “Do you think anyone would mind if I grabbed some food from the buffet? I haven’t eaten in days. Mom spent all the food money Daddy gave her on booze.”
“Go for it,” Titus told her flippantly. “And be careful.”
Caroline gave a dismissive wave of her hand. Titus regarded her a bit like a cockroach. She was a survivor. It wasn’t always pretty. But she’d always find a way. And if Harvey got reeled into that mess, Caroline would have someone to keep her ass out of the police lockup as an accessory to some of Hilary’s various dealings around the city.
“What was that all about?” Younger questioned from behind Titus. “Did you actually just tell Caroline to go try to mooch off of Harvey Lightman?”
“He likes blondes. She’s smarter than his usual blonde, but that might actually keep him interested,” Titus speculated. “And it keeps her sticky fingers away from the gift tree.”
“Good strategy,” Ellie said admiringly. “The boss is always thinking ahead, guys.”
They all seemed to get a chuckle out of that. Titus, Ellie, Ash, and Younger seemed to be focused on Duke and Olivia in the middle of the dance floor. The newly married couple seemed happier than ever and Titus wondered if things could get better, or if a day like this only meant it went downhill from here. Maybe it didn’t matter. Life was what you made of it anyway. Win, lose, or draw.
“So, back to work tomorrow then?” Ellie wanted to know. “Jeffrey Tutt says his father is running a huge story in the Register tomorrow to apologize to the rest of the city for Hilary’s stories and to thank Rock Wolf Investigations for our help.”
“I’m glad John Tutt is still alive and well,” Titus mused. “There were times I wasn’t entirely sure.”
Ash scratched his jaw. “That should drum up instant business and Mindy says there are already a long list of people in town who are looking to add security systems now that the they’re aware we have some real crime in the area.”
Younger snorted. “Those should be easy enough. Most of it is simple breaking and entering. But it would probably help if people would start locking their doors.”
“Good,” Ellie decided. “Then it will be super easy to give those consultations. Take our fifty dollar fee and move along. We’ll have dozens of happy custo
mers every single day.”
Ash shook his head and sighed. “Always thinking ahead, our Ellie.”
“Uh, boss?” Younger cleared his throat. “You’ve stopped talking about leaving the state, right? I mean, you and Kylie aren’t moving back to Montana or something. Are you?”
“Not right now. Why?” Titus wasn’t even sure he wanted to know.
Younger glanced at Ash and got a dirty look in return. “Because Duke and I have been thinking a lot about how it isn’t really fair if you get Ash to run the office. Just because he’s organized and stuff. It’s kind of cheating because he’s married to Mindy and she could make any guy look organized and competent.”
“So, you’re saying you want me to leave Mindy in charge?” Titus was really just teasing them at this point to see how wound up he could get them. “Like I should change it to Mindy Wolf Security Solutions?”
Ash took exception to this. “It’s Mindy Forbes thank you very much.”
“You know what I just thought of?” Younger looked absolutely mystified. “All those years we kept wondering what the whole Rock Wolf thing was about. Right? And Caroline, whew! She was absolutely incapable of remembering that it wasn’t Wolf Rock and that Wolf Rock wasn’t a place out west. Remember?”
Ellie snorted and shook her head. “And now, Caroline will never know even though the rest of us now officially get it. Is that what you’re thinking about, Younger?”
“Yeah!” Younger looked so excited by this notion that Titus couldn’t help but start laughing.
“That’s right, Younger. Rock Wolf Investigations. Because I happen to really like wolves. It’s just my thing,” Titus joked.
Ellie made a face at Titus and elbowed him in the gut. “Maybe you should start calling it Heart Wolf Matchmaking Services. You hire employees and match them up with customers that they’re sure to fall in love with.”
“Yeah, I’m not into matchmaking,” Titus told Ellie. “I don’t know what that was all about.”
Ellie groaned and slapped her palm against her forehead. “It’s like when you work in an office and all the women get pregnant. They say it’s something in the water!”
“Ellie, I’m pretty sure that’s not where babies come from,” Younger managed to say with a deadpan expression.
They all burst into laughter and even Duke and Olivia turned to see what the commotion was about. Titus caught Kylie’s eye and saw her smile and knew that whatever was in the water, he was in the perfect place with the perfect woman and the rest of life could kiss his ass. No matter what happened, Titus was where he belonged. ###
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 119
