by Tara Rose
She laughed and ran a hand through her damp hair. “That’s true. And I love that you’re helping me rationalize this right now.”
“Do you feel guilty telling me?”
“I don’t know. I’m so confused.”
He shifted his body so that he faced her, and placed one hand on her knee. It was very difficult right now to keep from pulling him on top of her and begging him to fuck her. “Okay let’s try this. Because I don’t want this to tear you up inside. How about if I guess the truth? That way, all you have to is nod or shake your head, and if anyone asks, I will swear on my Great Aunt Tillie’s grave that you never breathed a word.”
“Do you really have a Great Aunt Tillie?”
“Tilda was her actual name, but we called her Tillie.”
Felicity laughed again. “Maverick Orantes, I think I’m in love with you.”
“Oh, good. That means I won’t sound like a damn fool when I finally tell you that I’m in love with you, too.”
She playfully slapped his hand. “Stop that. Now start guessing.”
“Hey, sub, don’t hit me.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. Yes, Sir. Please start guessing, Sir.”
His grin sent a gush of wetness to her pussy. “He told us he was interested in shifters, and then he asked a lot of questions about Mason, Mancie, and Nevada Ruiz. Am I on the right track?”
She nodded.
“And it’s not exactly a secret that Mason’s great-great grandfather, I believe it was, saw the actual Sleepy Cat turn into a man. Right?”
She nodded again.
“And furthermore, Mason, Mancie, and Nevada are…well…odd. Mancie and Nevada disappear for months at a time, and when they return, their whereabouts are questionable.”
Felicity nodded, gently stroking his hand.
Maverick moaned softly. “If you do that, I won’t be able to say no to you.”
She didn’t stop, and his soft chuckle nearly made her come. “All right. I have enough willpower to get through the twenty questions game first. I think. Let’s see…Where was I? Oh yeah. So it sounds to me like Kane believes that Mason, Mancie, and Nevada, or maybe not all of them, are shapeshifters.”
She nodded.
“All three?”
“Yep.”
“But what does he expect to find? And why does he want to find out?”
“Just because. He’s a paranormal investigator, but Trace did something to his grandmother, or her house. I’m not sure exactly. He didn’t really tell me all the details. He found out that Trace was here, and that’s why he came. To out him. But he said he’s going to sit on the information he has right now and wait to see how this plays out.”
“And the shifter angle? How did he get on that one?”
“He became interested in Mason, Mancie, and Nevada as well, and he wants to find proof that they’re what he thinks they are. He doesn’t plan to do anything with it, if he finds it. At least, that’s the impression he left me with.”
Maverick’s gaze became troubled. “Does that sound creepy to you, Felicity?”
“A little. But he did tell me that he doesn’t mean them or anyone in this town harm.”
“I’m still not convinced. I think Tommy should know about this.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
She threw up her hands in a gesture of frustration. “Maverick, what are you going to tell him? That Kane is suggesting The Ruiz family are shapeshifters? I’d hardly call that a crime. And besides, Kane doesn’t want the cops to know what he has on Trace.”
“Why not?”
“He said it would embarrass his family if this information got out.”
“Then why did he come here to out him? That makes no sense. It can’t work both ways.”
Felicity sighed. Maverick was right. What had seemed crystal clear this morning as she’d walked in the bright sunshine with Kane now appeared as muddy as the creek that ran behind the strip mall on Shoshone Road. Had Kane fed her a line of bullshit, after all? “Well, I still say we have nothing concrete to tell Tommy.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t believe any of this is why Kane is really here.”
“Why do think he’s here then?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like this story. I don’t trust it.”
She hugged herself. “You’re creeping me out now.”
He pulled her close, and she snuggled next to him. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. At least let me tell Tommy what he said to you, and have him run his license plate or something. And his phone number. You have it, right?”
“Yes.”
“May I have it, too?”
“I suppose so. I guess it wouldn’t hurt for Tommy to do some digging, just in case.”
“You don’t think I should say anything to Tommy, do you?”
She sighed. “No, you should. No one really knows Kane, after all.” She straightened up again so that she could look Maverick in the eyes. “He wasn’t creepy today. We walked down Passion Flower Boulevard, and I showed him the schools, and we went into Clothing & More and Write Stuff bookstore, and it was just so normal. Like he was visiting and I was showing off my town.”
“And then he took you to lunch?”
“We went to Doli’s Diner. Apparently he was there yesterday morning for breakfast because Doli talked to him like he was an old friend.”
He gave her a thoughtful, tender look. “You think maybe we’ve misjudged him? Let me rephrase that. Have I misjudged him?”
“I don’t know, Maverick, and that’s the truth. I can’t get a handle on him. One minute he seems just fine and sort of lonely, and then the next it’s like he has a hidden agenda, and I’m wondering if I should be locking my windows at night, you know?”
“Did anything else happen today?”
His voice was quiet but the meaning of his question was obvious. She looked into his eyes, and had no intention of lying to him. Even if they hadn’t talked about him becoming her Dom, it wouldn’t be right to be anything less than totally straightforward about this subject. “He kissed me. And he’s coming here for dinner on Monday. I’m cooking and he’s bringing the wine.”
Maverick didn’t say anything, but a muscle twitched under his left eye.
“He also told me that he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to get to know me better. But then I asked him what would happen when he found what he was looking for. I asked if he’d leave town.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He said those were good questions, but that he had no answers. He said that instead of feeding me a line of bullshit, could he instead ask for one thing, and one thing only.”
“What did he ask for, Felicity?”
“He asked if he and I could simply enjoy each other’s company while he was here, without empty promises or pretense.”
Maverick nodded. “Sounds like he’s looking for a temporary fuck buddy.”
“I thought perhaps that was it as well.” She hadn’t, but as soon as Maverick said it, the implication was so obvious that Felicity wanted to kick herself for not realizing it earlier. She had way more common sense than that. What the hell was wrong with her?
“Did he say anything to make you think otherwise?”
She shook her head.
“So now what? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go hiking with you on Thursday like we planned, and then have dinner with you, like we also planned.”
The corners of his mouth turned up, but the light was gone from his eyes. “And on Monday?”
“I don’t know, and that’s the truth. Maverick, you talked about being my Dom, and you told me what that means. I’m very confused right now, but not about you. I have strong feelings for you. I have so much fun with you, and when we played and made love…it was incredible. I’m not going to do anything to screw this up between us. So you say the word and I will call Kane and tell him that we’re not having dinner or anything else on Monday.
That we’re not doing anything together again.”
“I can’t do that to you.” His words said that, but his eyes were filled with an emotion that she couldn’t quite decipher. “It wouldn’t be fair. You have to make that decision on your own, Felicity. If you decide to have sex with him, then I’m not going to be upset with you for that. That also has to be your decision. And I’m not saying this because I don’t feel the same way toward you. I do. I’m saying it because I want you to decide to be my sub without any regrets. Without wondering what if, and without wishing you’d taken a chance on another guy instead.”
She recalled everything he’d told her last night about Tia, and thought she understood why he was placing this decision in her hands. It showed what a true gentleman he was, and it showed his great strength of character. So why then did she still feel so guilty about it?
“And one more thing,” he said quietly. “Just know this, okay? No matter what happens with him, I’m only a phone call or a text away. I care about what happens to you, and if you need me, I’m here.”
Felicity snuggled into his embrace again. “Thank you, Maverick. For having so much trust in me and for treating me so respectfully. I want to do the same toward you.”
“You are doing that, sweetheart. You’re being up front and open about what you and Kane have said to each other, and about the plans you’ve made. I can’t ask for anything more than that from you.”
“I still can’t believe you’re real.”
He gave her a tight hug and she sighed. She could stay here, like this, with him for the rest of her life, and be perfectly content in doing so. “You keep saying that. I’m real. I promise you that. Maybe what isn’t real is the way you’ve been treated in the past? But that’s over now. I won’t let you get hurt again. You can bank on that, Felicity.”
Chapter Fifteen
Felicity and Eve sat in Panera Bread on Tuesday morning, and for the third time in an hour, Eve shoved her two-carat diamond ring in Felicity’s face and squealed, “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
“Yes, it’s fucking huge, and it sparkles.”
Eve laughed, and her big dark eyes danced with light. “I sound ridiculous don’t I?”
“Just a little.”
“I’ve never had anything so pretty.”
“I get that.” Felicity took a bite of her roasted turkey sandwich. “But you’re happy to be marrying him, right? It’s not just the giant rock.”
“I am so happy.” Eve leaned forward. “I really am, Felicity. Phil is so…so amazing. He’s so good in bed. And it’s not just the sex. It’s everything about him that I love.”
Felicity glanced around, but Eve seemed totally oblivious to the fact that there were other customers in the place. It was almost noon, after all.
“You know what he said the other night when we were trying out the new flogger he ordered online?”
Felicity smiled as she recalled the flogger that Maverick had used on her the other night. “What?”
This time, Eve glanced around as well, but she still spoke loudly enough so that anyone who was really trying to listen would hear her. Felicity loved all her friends, but there were days when she was certain that Eve was either a closet exhibitionist or simply unaware of how loud her voice was at times. “He said he’d love to watch another guy fuck me. Isn’t that hot?”
Felicity had to take a sip of her smoothie or she was going to choke for sure. She couldn’t help but remember Maverick saying pretty much the same thing. What was with the men in this town lately? Was it something in the water?
“Well? Isn’t it?”
“Very. So who’s the lucky second guy?”
Eve’s laughter rang out, and she tossed her dark curly hair aside. It was forever falling in her face. “No clue. I’ll let you know.”
“Please do that.”
“Shit. Look at the time.” Eve shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and wiped her mouth on a napkin, smearing it with dark red lipstick. “I have to get back early today. We have so many surgeries this afternoon.” Eve worked as a vet tech at the Passion Peak Animal Clinic on Shoshone Road. “I’ll call you later.”
They blew each other a kiss, like they always did, and then Felicity watched Eve walk away. She looked really happy, and that’s what mattered in the long run. But why did she feel so blue right now? Maverick was a perfect gentleman, and Kane hadn’t acted like a total jerk and tried to get her into bed right away, like she’d half-expected him to. She should be deliriously happy. What was lurking under the surface, trying to steal her joy?
As she walked home from lunch, her phone rang. It was Maverick, and he asked if there was any way she had time to talk to him before her shift. He sounded really upset, and her pulse raced. Had something happened to him or one of his family members? “I have almost four hours before I have to be there. I don’t start until five today. Are you okay?”
“I am, but Dalton isn’t. Where are you?”
“About two hundred yards from my house.”
“I’m on my way.”
Felicity sat on her front porch and waited for Maverick. She’d barely had time to finish her smoothie from lunch when his truck pulled up. He bounded up the steps and her heart gave a small lurch at the look in his face. “What happened?”
He took a seat in the wicker rocker next to hers and leaned back for a second, his eyes closed. When he opened them again, they were filled with sadness and confusion. “I don’t even know where to begin. Have you heard about the YouTube video that Brett Warner posted of pictures or video or something that he took while he and Angela were still together?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Summer told me. Is that what this is about?”
“Not exactly. Angela found out about it on Saturday, right before the parade started. Carma found it online and she, Blaine, and Mateo came downtown to tell Angela before she heard about it from someone else. Then last night, Angela didn’t stay with Nash or Ian. Dalton didn’t have all the details, but apparently she felt like she didn’t have a right to be with them after the video was out there, or needed time to think about everything. But then she came to Nash’s house early this morning to tell him and Ian that she’s pregnant.”
“What? Oh my God…Is it Brett’s baby?”
Maverick shook his head. “No, no. It’s either Nash’s or Ian’s baby. But when she came to Nash’s house to tell them, it was in the middle of the night. She saw flashlights up the hill from Sunflower Trail, and thought it was Nash or Ian by the abandoned mine shaft on the property. She tried to call their cell phones, but they didn’t answer, so she called to the men, still thinking it was Nash and Ian up there. By the time she realized there were ladders next to the wall around Nash’s property, the men were coming down the slope toward the road, so she called the cops.”
“Holy shit.”
Maverick ran his hands through his hair. “It gets worse.”
“Oh, Maverick…is Angela okay?”
“What? Oh, yeah. She’s fine. That’s not what I meant. Tommy and some of his men got there in time to keep Angela from getting hurt, but they were only able to get two of the three men who’d been trying to break into the mine shaft on Nash’s property.”
“Why were they trying to do that?”
“Trace Coleman and his notions about buried treasure in town. The two men they arrested are on his film crew.”
“His film crew? He sent his film crew to do his dirty work?”
“Tommy isn’t sure. The two men have refused to say that it was Trace who put them up to this.”
“Well, who else would do that?”
“The third man.” Felicity shivered at the tone of Maverick’s voice.
“Who was the third man?” She almost didn’t want to know.
Maverick looked like someone had just told him that his favorite dog was hit by a car and killed. “My uncle Leland.”
“Excuse me?” She had to have misheard him.
“Dalton has had reason for ye
ars now to suspect that his father is wrapped up in this mess with Trace Coleman. And once Nash found those documents in his basement, Dalton’s suspicions increased. One of the things Nash found was proof that Uncle Leland knew Trace Coleman and Jason Monroe, who is on Van’s crew, are third cousins. But the story goes back further than that.”
“Do you want something to drink? This sounds like it’s going to take a while to tell.”
“I would love that. Thanks.”
Felicity ran inside and got Maverick a beer out of the fridge, and after a moment’s hesitation, got herself one, too. She handed it to him and he flashed her a look of gratitude. “Okay. You know Carma’s family was Mafia, right?”
Felicity nodded.
“Her great-uncle Battista, Dalton’s grandfather Bryce—Leland’s father, Jeb Monroe—Jason’s grandfather, and Colton Stonecraft—Nash’s grandfather, were involved in shady business deals in the twenties and thirties. Maybe longer. I don’t know for sure. But at some point, Battista and Colton were accused by Jeb and Bryce of not giving them their fair share of some stolen money or jewelry that they were splitting up. This is what Trace and Leland are still looking for. The part of the split that Battista, Colton and others allegedly hid throughout the town.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Dalton has listened to his father tell these stories all his life, but he was never quite sure if they were true. Then a while ago, he walked in on a video chat conversation between his father and Jack Monroe, Jason’s father. His father had old maps spread out on his desk, and when Dalton walked in, he shoved them under a pile of papers and pretended to be chatting to Jack about football.”
“And I take it your uncle never chats about football?”
Maverick snorted. “Hardly. And especially not while working, in his office, and on a video chat to boot. Then, while Tommy was digging into Trace’s background, he found a marriage certificate showing that Jeb Monroe’s sister married Trace’s grandfather. They were divorced eventually, but not before Jason’s father, Bill, was born. Bill was living in Phoenix, and found his distant relatives by accident one day. When he realized that his son, Trace, and Trace’s third cousin, Jason Monroe, shared a birthday, he brought Trace here to Passion Peak one summer to meet that branch of the family.”
