by T. M. Cromer
“I thought you liked the size of my… shoe.”
“Dear God, do these stupid lines actually work on women?”
“They worked on you well enough.”
“I thought I was going to die in a plane crash. Here, your cheesy pickup lines need work.” She slammed the cheese puff bag against his chest. The bag bursting open was unexpected, but the horrified expression on his orange-powdered face was priceless.
Unable to help herself, she raised her phone and snapped a picture. The thundercloud forming on his features required a second shot.
“Give me the damn phone,” he growled.
“Nope!” she laughed and tucked it into her bra.
“Shonda, you are—”
The cashier cut him off. “Next.”
“Gotta run. Don’t worry, those cheesy puffs you love so much are on me. Well, they’re on you, but I’ll pay for them.”
She congratulated herself all the way to her car. She’d finished loading her groceries in the back seat and was reaching to start the engine when her door was jerked open and Mason yanked her out.
“Stop man-handling me! I don’t like it.”
“We need to talk.”
“The hell we do.”
As he dragged her toward the side of the building, an explosion rocked the air and slammed her into his back, taking them both to the ground. He instinctively rolled on top of her and wrapped his arms around her head in a protective maneuver.
They lay there for a few minutes until the initial shock wore off. Shonda shoved at his chest until he slowly stood. His motions indicated discomfort.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I nailed my knee on the pavement when we fell. Your car on the other hand…”
“My car?” She whirled to face the burning vehicle. Sure enough, her beautiful white Maxima was a fireball. “What the hell? Do you think it was a faulty wire or something? Why would it just blow up like that?”
“It wouldn’t,” he stated grimly.
Chapter Twelve
“The fire marshal called. It was definitely an incendiary device of some kind.”
“A bomb, Mason. You can call it a bomb,” Shonda said, her voice shaking.
Mason wanted to hold her. To offer comfort and assure her he’d protect her. But he couldn’t. Besides the hands-off vibe she was putting out, he realized there was no guarantee he could keep her safe. It was dumb luck he’d pulled her out of that vehicle when he did. Had he not been so pissed off, he’d probably have let her drive away, and she’d be in the morgue right now.
The thought chilled him to his core.
There were so many unanswered questions. Was it a scare tactic like the break-ins down in St. Thomas? Or was the person responsible out to kill her this time around? Had she unknowingly seen something she shouldn’t have and now had some unscrupulous individual after her? Where did her doppelgänger fit into all of this? The questions plaguing him the most were: Was he wrong about her? Was she playing him? If so, to what end?
“I’m worried for your safety, love.”
“I don’t even know who’s doing this. For that reason, it’s impossible to put safeguards in place. I think Stonebrooke’s little police force is stretched to the limit looking for the person terrorizing Erica and Zack.” She shot him an anxious look. “Crap! Can you call your brother and make sure Erica doesn’t watch the local news? She doesn’t need to worry about me right now. Not with all they have going on.”
The pleading in her eyes bothered him. He hated secrets of any kind. However, as much as he rolled it around in his mind, he couldn’t see where keeping Erica in the dark about this situation was a bad idea. Mason whipped out his phone and shot a text to Zack.
“You might want to give your parents a heads up,” he suggested.
“You’re right. Papa will have a meltdown. I’ll give Nico a call.”
“Nico? Why not your father?”
She remained silent.
“Shonda, why don’t you want to speak to your father?”
A careless shrug was her answer. He knew her well enough to know it was an act.
“Is he still upset with you from the night we had dinner there?”
“Can you please drop it? I can’t see where it’s any of your business anyway.”
“It damn well is if I caused the rift between you and your dad,” he argued.
“You didn’t. I did when I told him who I chose to have an affair with was none of his concern. He wasn’t all that worried about being a parent during my formative years, and starting now is too little, too late.”
The hurt in her words was disguised well by her cavalier attitude. Except for the tremulous quality in the underlying tone of her voice, he might have believed she meant what she said.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
She snorted, seemingly genuinely amused. Annoyance flickered to life. “Why is that funny?”
“Seriously, dude?”
“Seriously.”
“Fine. You want the truth, I’m more than happy to lay it out for you,” she snapped.
He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like her form of honesty.
“You only want one thing from me. Every time I see you, you’re either insulting me or trying to get in my pants. You don’t give two shits about me, or my problems. Stop acting like you do.”
Mason was correct in assuming he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. He didn’t. Her words, stated so coldly and emotionlessly, made him uncomfortable. Made his stomach knot up and sweat break out on his lower back. Her feeling the way she did was understandable. Although, he did care, only more as a friend and not in a relationship kind of way.
“Why can’t we remain friends? Why does there have to be hostility between us?” he asked gently, crossing to where she sat on her counter.
Her breathing kicked up a notch when he separated her legs to move in closer. The counter put them near eye level. He could see her eyes dilate with want. Suddenly, all he could think about was making love to her. Confirm she was alive and well by kissing and caressing every inch of her body.
He dipped his head, a mere inch away, giving her plenty of time to pull back or indicate she didn’t want his attentions. She swayed toward him. It was all the sign he needed. Swooping in, he captured her mouth in a fierce, hungry kiss. God, he couldn’t believe he’d gone three and a half days without tasting her.
She whimpered in her need and wrapped her long, lean legs around his waist. Her hands were everywhere at once, like his own. As he was pulling her sweater over her head, a knock sounded at her front door.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled. He drew back slightly to get an idea of what she wanted to do. “Stop and answer the door, or ignore whoever it is?”
The pounding on the door came harder, more insistent.
“Bella!” Luigi shouted. “Bella, it’s Papa.”
They exchanged wary looks.
“Looks like I need to answer.”
“Think he has a gun?”
Her snort of laughter sounded through the layers of the sweater she was putting back on. Before she could finish pulling it down over her luscious ladies, he grabbed her hands.
“I just need one last glimpse.” He sighed regretfully and released her to step back.
“You’re such a sweet talker.”
“I’m going to stay here behind the island for a bit.” The lighthearted giggle brought on Mason’s grin. He helped her down and dropped a light, lingering kiss on her lips. “Let me know if I can help to smooth anything over. A twitch of your eye, a flip of the bird behind your back, anything.”
“Thank you, but the way you smooth things over leaves a lot to be desired.”
“I’m hurt.”
She snorted and answered the door.
Luigi De Vitis was a force of nature. The very air around him crackled and bent to his will.
“Sit down, Bella. I have bad n
ews.”
“What’s going on?”
“Your mother’s house burned down earlier today.”
“What?” Her hand flew to her mouth and tears filled her eyes. Mason found himself sitting beside her, clasping her dainty hand in his. “Is Eva… is she… ?”
“She’s fine. Eva was in Malta, but is flying back home in a few days. Since the house is still in my name, I told her I would take care of the necessary paperwork.”
“So you’re here to tell me about Eva. You didn’t hear about my car?”
Luigi, who hadn’t heard the news, demanded the details.
Mason was sure the poor man had aged ten years in the last half hour.
“Mr. De Vitis, may I ask you a delicate question, sir?”
“Yes.”
“When we were in St. Thomas, I saw a woman who looked exactly like your daughter. Did you and your wife have another child? Perhaps one born before or after Shonda? One you might’ve put up for adoption?”
“No! I would never agree to put my baby up for adoption.”
Mason could tell the older man was offended by his question.
“I told you I was an only child. Why would you ask such a thing?” The anger vibrating in Shonda’s voice made it obvious her father wasn’t the only one outraged by his suggestion. “They’ve always had money and could’ve taken care of another kid. What reason would they have for giving up a child?”
He ignored her interruption in favor of the confusion on Luigi’s face. “Did you remember something, sir?”
“Only that technically, Shonda should have been a twin. One of our baby girls was stillborn,” Luigi said, remembered grief coating his words.
“Papa, I never knew that.”
“It was partially the reason your mother and I broke up. I had been in Italy visiting my family at the time. Eva wasn’t due for another two months, but she went into labor early. By the time I could catch a flight home, you were already tucked into your crib, your sister was gone, and your mother blamed me for everything.”
Tears trickled down his leathery cheeks, and Shonda wrapped her arms around him to offer comfort as best she could.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories.” Compassion flowed through Mason. He could only imagine what a loss like that must feel like.
“It’s all right, son. They’re always there, just below the surface. When you’re an old man, it doesn’t take much to set you off down that sentimental road.”
“So to clarify, Eva was never pregnant before or after?”
“No. Not with my child. If she and Nolan…” He stopped as if he couldn’t bear to think of Eva with another man.
“No.” Shonda took up where Luigi couldn’t. “When she married Nolan, I was seven. I would’ve remembered something like that.”
Mason directed the next question back to her father. “Which side of the family has the twins? Yours or hers?”
“Eva’s.”
“What are you thinking, Mason?” Shonda asked.
He looked between them, hesitant to make his suspicions known. If he was wrong in what he suspected was happening here, it could cause undue pain. If he was correct, well, that opened up a whole other can of worms.
“Mason.”
He met her worried gaze. “I’m thinking we need to look at the details of each of your life insurance policies, especially Eva’s.”
“You think someone wants to kill my mother?” Her voice rose three octaves in her disbelief.
“Take a step back and look at this, love,” he said gently. “Your mother’s house burned down today. While we don’t know for sure, I would lay odds it will be ruled arson. Also, someone put a bomb in your car. Why would anyone want to hurt you both? My guess is revenge or financial payout, or both.”
Shonda shared a horrified look with her father.
“But why? Eva made good money once upon a time, but she’s blown through most of it with her lifestyle. There’s not much left.”
“To an outsider, it might not be so obvious. She still maintains an elaborate lifestyle by anyone else’s standard, doesn’t she?”
“Why me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I haven’t quite figured that out yet.” He had, but he needed to do some digging before he revealed his thoughts on the matter.
“I can get you the financials and life insurance for Eva. There is a policy on Shonda as well,” Luigi said.
“Papa, Eva… she…”
“It’s okay, child. You can tell me. I’m well past being hurt by her insults.”
“She said you had multiple affairs during your marriage to her. Did you father any other children?”
Luigi’s face darkened in anger. So much for being past being hurt.
Mason guessed where she was heading with her line of questioning. “You think maybe a bastardized child is seeking revenge against you and your mother because they missed out on the whole perfect family gig?”
One sharp nod confirmed his statement. It paralleled his line of thought.
“She was wrong. You and your mother were my whole world, Bella,” Luigi said just above a whisper, voice gruff with strong emotion. “You’ve never believed me when I’d told you in the past. But you need to believe me now. I love you.”
To allow them their much-needed privacy, Mason walked out on Shonda’s balcony. Witnessing the love Luigi felt for his daughter made his chest tight. He’d been five when his own father flew the coop. No see you later. No goodbye. James Sharp had left his oldest son in the backyard, baseball mitt in hand, waiting on his dad to come out and toss the ball, while he snuck out the front.
As usual, when he recalled his deadbeat dad, he got angry. Who did that to a kid? What kind of man encouraged his small child to wait outside while he packed and took off for parts unknown? That rotten sonofabitch. If he ever showed his face again, Mason was liable to take his head off.
The sound of the front door opening and closing brought him back to the present. Luigi must have left.
“Mason?” Shonda’s soft voice came to him.
He glanced up from staring blindly at the woods behind her house. “What?” he snapped.
A confused frown descended. “What’s the matter? Why are you suddenly upset?”
How could he tell her that in witnessing the exchange between her and her father, he was missing something he never had? Since revealing his deepest thoughts and emotions was nearly an impossibility for him, he didn’t.
“Not a damn thing other than the fact there’s someone trying to kill you. And while I have a million and one things to do, I’m stuck here.”
Wow! That hadn’t come out the way he intended. Shonda’s shock made him feel lower than pond scum, and rightfully so.
“Ah, love. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” He tried to backtrack, but she was having none of it.
Her expressionless eyes stared at the trees beyond him. “I’d like you to go.”
“You’re cracked if you think I’m leaving you here alone.” He pointed a finger in her direction to emphasize the point.
“I won’t be alone. I’ll call Samuel to come stay.”
Black rage filled him. “Who the hell is Samuel?”
“Mason, I’ve offered up a solution to the problem. You are free to hightail it back to your little bachelor pad and continue on with a clean conscience. I don’t need you.”
She was giving him what he wanted. Why the hell did the idea of leaving her with another man make him ill?
“You damn well do need me,” he ranted, unsure why he was fighting to stay when moments before he’d wanted nothing more than to escape. “The one thing we do know is, in this whole fucking mess, I’m the only one not trying to kill you.”
“Wrong.”
He stared, not comprehending how his statement was in any way wrong.
“You know one other person who isn’t trying to kill me. Your brother, Dane.”
His stomach turned over. Now he
knew where she was going.
“You can see if he’ll babysit me, while you go do your million and one things.”
He was pretty sure she sneered. The curled lip, the disgusted expression, the snarl in her words. Yep, she was sneering.
“Whatever. I’m the one trying to help here. I didn’t sign up for you to bust my balls.”
“That’s how you see it? As me busting your balls? Not as you insulting me? I’m so glad we cleared that up. Call your brother, or I can get the number from Erica. Either way, I want you gone.”
As he watched her practically run from the porch in her eagerness to get away from him, he panicked and charged after her. “Get back here! We aren’t finished!”
“Oh, I’d say we damn well are,” she hollered over her shoulder, stomping to where she’d tossed her purse earlier. “You have exactly one minute to get the hell out of my apartment before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”
A blood vessel was ready to burst in his head. Or at the very least that’s what it felt like, the throbbing was so great. “You’re crazy, you know that?” He grabbed his coat and headed for the door. “I’ll be outside until you come to your senses.”
“Bundle up, it’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter Thirteen
Shonda set her alarm, locked her door, and headed downstairs to where a cab waited to take her to Zack’s place. A quick check of the parking lot showed Mason’s Lexus still parked in the same location from when he’d brought her home yesterday.
Holding up her index finger for the driver as an indication she’d be a minute longer, she walked over to his car and peered through the window. No Mason.
“Looking for me?”
A scream tore from her throat.
“Asshole!”
“I’ll—”
“Don’t you even think about saying you’ll let me sniff you. Not if you want to live,” she warned.
“I forgot you’re not much of a morning person.”
Mason settled back against the side of his car and sipped a steaming beverage from a to-go cup. Since she hadn’t had much by way of caffeine that morning, she reached for his. Of course, being the contrary bastard that he was, he held it up and away.
