by Jen Talty
“I have a hard time feeling sorry for her,” Reese said. “Brad, my PI, is talking with her last known employer, and has a lead on her last roommate, and some guy she swindled for a couple grand a few months ago.”
Patty let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I can handle everything else but the marriage thing. Actually, its not so much the marriage, but the kind of woman you married.”
“I—”
She pressed her finger against his lips. “You didn’t know. I get that. But until you’re divorced, it’s hard for us to move forward.”
“We’ll get there. I promise.” He kissed her nose. “I want so much to say things to you, but I don’t want them to be just words, at just any moment.”
“I feel the same,” she said. “Let’s just get some sleep. We both need it.”
He tucked his own hands under his head and closed his eyes, but sleep didn’t come. All he could think about was that he lay in bed with the woman he loved, and he was pretty sure she felt the same way.
He blinked a few more times, then noticed she was staring at him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
He smiled. “You want me.”
“You’re impossible.”
“But adorable.”
“Yes, you are,” she said. “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
“I’m really scared.”
“About what?” she asked.
He reached for her, and she let him wrap his arms around her and rested her head on his chest. “Honestly, everything. All the bad things going on. The baby. Mostly about how much I have hurt you.”
“I forgive you.”
“I do love you, Patty. Baby, or no baby. I love you, and I want to show you in a million different ways,” he said. “It might have taken a baby to open my heart, but I loved you long before I knew I loved you.”
“You can be very romantic and sweet,” she said. “I want to believe you. I want to tell you how I feel, but I know we wouldn’t be in this bed together had I not gotten pregnant. I think you can understand my trepidation.”
“Of course I understand it.” He also understood her words didn’t match her body’s reaction to him as he gently caressed her exposed skin. She inched closer, their legs intertwined as she ran her fingers through his chest hair, an intimate act that only lovers shared. “I wish I hadn’t walked away when you broke up with me. I was hurt and shocked, but what was I to say? You were as much a part of our so-called deal as I was.”
“You could have said you didn’t want to break up.”
“And would you have listened? Would you have wanted to give us a chance?”
“I don’t know. You never asked,” she said. “That’s key. You gave up.”
“Well then, so did you.”
“I guess I can’t argue that.”
He pressed his thumb under her chin and tilted her head, looking directly into her beautiful eyes. Eyes he wanted to get lost in forever. “I love you,” he said. “I know you think I’m being honorable and just doing it because of the baby. I admit, the baby made me realize how I really felt, but the truth is, if I had left here, I would have been even more lonely and lost than I was when I got here. Worse, because when I moved here, I didn’t know I was lonely, but leaving you... Well, there wouldn’t be much to live for after that.”
“I do believe,” she said. “I feel so cared for by you, but you have always been so distant, it’s hard to trust that this new emotional, loving Reese is going to last.”
“This is the real me,” he said, before ravishing her mouth, not giving her the chance to deny him anything. She could stop him. No doubt about that. He’d get out of that bed and walk away if that was what she really wanted.
Her body, however, screamed for him. Her tongue dove deep into his mouth, matching his passion as she pulled him closer. Her legs wrapped so tightly around him that if it weren’t love, she’d have strangled him. She stroked his arms, thighs, ass, every inch of him. She was desperate for him, and he for her. But he couldn’t allow himself to give all of himself unless she admitted how she really felt.
He pushed her a few inches away. “Say it.”
“No.”
“Say it,” he demanded. “I love you, and I know you feel the same way, but I need you to say it.”
She struggled with her clothing, doing her best to rip it off her body, as well as remove his boxers. It was impossible to resist. He stopped pushing her away, then suckled her breast, teasing her with his fingers. They stared at each other, their breathing labored, their bodies covered in sweat that glowed under the moonlight.
“Say it.”
“I don’t want to.” She placed his hand over her breast, pushing her nipple between his fingers.
He squeezed, then released. “I love you.” He rolled on top of her. “Tell me,” he demanded. “And mean it.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” she said. “I love you, okay? Now can we please just get to the good stuff?”
“Say it and mean it,” he said softly.
When she looked deep into his eyes, he didn’t really need the words. His heart raced with anticipation. He felt her love. His world would be complete.
“I love you,” she whispered.
His body shuddered as he let out a small groan, dipping his forehead to hers. “I love you back.” He entered her slowly. He locked gazes with her, and he wasn’t going to let her turn away or close her eyes. She would see with every stroke of his body, with every sensation he could give her that she was safe with him, and always and forever, he’d belong to her.
He was in love for the very first time in his life.
* * *
Patty perched herself on the new oversized recliner Nana bought for the living room, and watched the first of the sun’s rays appear across the bright blue waters of Lake George.
“Comfortable?” Nana’s voice rang out from behind Patty.
“Very much, thank you.”
“Did you sleep well?” Nana stood in front of the large picture window facing the water.
“I did.” Patty blushed. Being in Reese’s arms, feeling every part of his love without any reservation had helped lull her into a deep sleep where wild dreams of their life together gently glided across her mind. She could see it so clearly. It felt so right and so good, she had no desire to wake up.
“No cramping? Headache? Anything at all from the accident?” Nana asked, her voice full of concern.
“I’m feeling good,” Patty assured her.
“Can I get you something?”
“Tea would be nice.”
“Let me cook you a good breakfast,” Nana said.
“Anything but bacon.” Patty followed her into the kitchen. Nana had been trying so hard after their first encounter, and they really seemed to get along. That was good.
Patty sat at the table, looking out the window toward the Heritage Inn. The tree cutters, hard at work now that the injunctions had been settled and the sale finalized. Reese, Doug, and Jim were at the Inn going over some of the plans. It should have been a happy time all around. She believed every word Reese had said last night, and his lovemaking was like nothing they had ever shared. They should be enjoying their future.
But an overwhelming sense of doom loomed over her, making every breath difficult. Reese was still married, and someone was doing their best to cause them bodily harm, or at the very least, scare the heck out of them. It was working.
Nana looked up, pouring coffee into a large thermos. “They will catch whoever did this.”
“I just hope it’s before someone gets really hurt.” Patty’s fear was crushing, and she didn’t like it one bit. She was used to being in control, but in the last year, her life had spun far off the track. She knew what the next step should be, but so many other factors blocked it that it made her head spin.
“Why don’t you take this to Reese and the construction guys. What are their names? They seem like nice men.”
“They are.” P
atty took the thermos and did as instructed. It surprised her how warm the air felt when she stepped outside, but it didn’t do anything to make her feel better, and the moment she hit the parking lot, away from the dense trees behind the house or the welcoming water of the lake, she felt exposed. In danger. Fearful. She quickened her pace across the pathway to the Inn.
“Ma’am,” yelled some guy with a chainsaw. “This tree is coming down. Please make sure you stay away from this area.” He pointed to a large patch of grass on the opposite side of the residency, down near the lake.
She nodded, then met Reese at the door to the Inn.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” she admitted. “Nana thought you might like a fresh pot.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I don’t want you to worry. We’ve got a good team, and we’re working with other law enforcement. We’re going to figure this out,” he said as if he could read her thoughts. That idea, under normal circumstances, should have warmed her to her core. The man she loved, taking care of something that threatened their very existence.
But it only reminded her of all the obstacles, even after he got full ownership of the hotel. “What if it’s not Holland?”
“It’s Holland,” he said.
“Excuse me,” Doug said. “I left my laptop in the truck. Back in a sec.”
“Go back to the residency,” Reese said. “I’ll be over in a few.”
Patty followed Doug out the door, but passed his truck as she headed for the residency, making sure she stayed clear of the where the tree was to come down on.
Something crackled in the background as the noise of the chainsaw stopped. Patty turned to witness a tree snapping in half. It crashed down on top of the black truck in the parking lot, leveling it to the ground.
The black truck that Doug Tanner had just gotten into.
* * *
Reese stared at the smashed truck, wondering how the hell Doug had escaped with nothing but a couple of scratches.
“You’re one lucky man,” Reese said.
“I heard the tree snap, looked up, and just hauled ass.”
“That tree was supposed to go in the other direction,” Patty said, standing next to Nana, who had raced out the moment Patty let out a blood-curdling scream. “At least, the tree guy said so.”
“Glad they were insured,” Doug said. “Damn, I just got that new car smell out of that truck.”
“Then we’ll buy you a used one,” Jim said. “The damage to the porch is minimal, so hoping that’s all that was done to the structure of the Inn. We’ll have to check the foundation.”
“I don’t mean to scare you two,” Reese said, “but I don’t think that was an accident.”
“Trees snap the wrong way all the time,” Jim said. “We’ve seen it before.”
“There have been too many strange things going on for me to believe this was a simple accident. My trailer, burned down. Patty’s house, infested with rats. Her tire, shot with a rifle. Now this? I’m not normally the conspiracy kind of guy, but this is just too much.” He nodded toward Stacey. “By the way she’s talking to those two workers and the local, she’s thinking the same thing.”
“Huh,” Jim said. “She actually looks like she knows what she’s doing.”
“She’s the best rookie I’ve ever worked with,” Reese said. “Since you’ve worked with this tree company before, tell me about those two over there.”
“I’ve never met them,” Jim said.
“Neither have I,” Doug added. “It’s a big company with a large turnover and lots of seasonal workers, so we don’t know everyone. Come to think of it, there was no warning before the tree came down,” Doug said. “Normally, no matter the direction, someone yells a warning, and if it’s going in the wrong direction, they’d say.”
“That’s true,” Jim said. “I’ve been near trees going the wrong way, and it’s quick, but people tend to make noise when it happens, especially if it looks like it’s landing on someone.”
“Anything else out the ordinary?” Reese asked. “I wasn’t paying attention.” Doug walked to the tree and examined it more closely. “The chainsaw marks are on both sides of the tree, which isn’t unusual, but heavier on the side toward the parking lot. It’s cut wrong.”
Reese assessed the situation. The locals were talking with the tree guys and Stacey, who gave him an odd look. No, it was one of those coded-message looks, and he understood she was sending him a message about how full of shit and absolutely scared the tree guys were. So, that’s how that works, he thought.
“Nana,” Reese said, “why don’t you and Patty go back to the house?”
“It’s called the residency,” Patty corrected him.
“Fine,” Reese said. “The residency.”
“You go,” Nana said. “I’ll be right along.” Nana leaned closer to Reese and whispered in his ear. “Patty walked across that driveway seconds before the tree fell. She and Doug came out, then the tree came down.”
“I know,” he said, struggling to think logically and not let his personal attachment to Patty affect his ability to do his job.
Nana scurried off to catch up with a very shaken Patty, while Reese made his way to Stacey and the local cops.
“Doug,” Stacey yelled. “We need you to go to the sheriff’s office and make an official statement. I’ll drive you. Dad, you need to go, too.”
“What?” one of the tree guys said. “It was an accident.”
“We understand,” Stacey said. “We need you to go as well. All standard procedure. Nothing to worry about, and best for the insurance.”
Reese was impressed by the way she worked the tree guys.
“Does it have to be done now?” the other tree guy asked.
“Best if it’s done now,” Stacey said. “Get it out of the way.” Stacey nodded to Reese, and he knew she would follow the crew to the local office and get statements and whatever else she could, because she didn’t believe this was an accident any more than he did.
It was nice to be able to be in on the super-secret glances and actually understand them.
Reese made his way back to the residency. He entered though the back door into the kitchen, making sure to take his muddy shoes off. Patty and Nana were at the table. Patty didn’t even look up, just sat there pushing her food around on the plate.
“I don’t get it,” Patty said.
“Get what?” Reese sat next to her, taking the plate Nana pushed in front of him. He was going to be in for one hell of a long day.
Before Patty could answer, a fancy, loaded SUV pulled down the private driveway. Not the parking lot, but the residency’s private access road. Reese clenched his fists as he saw Keith Holland and two of his cronies get out of the vehicle. “Why don’t you two go to the other room?” He stood, opening the back door, not paying any attention to Nana standing right behind him. “I think it best if you leave,” he called to Holland.
“Now, now. Let’s be civil.” Holland held his hands up. “I’m here to talk. Work things out.”
“I’m not backing out of this deal.”
“Well, hello there, Elizabeth. Long time no see.”
Reese looked from Nana to Holland. The idea that their paths had crossed before made his stomach turn.
“He’s the other guy who tried to buy this property?” Nana asked. “You didn’t tell me it was Holland Development. Keith Holland.”
“You know him?” Reese looked from an angry Nana, something he didn’t see often, back to a very amused Holland, something that terrified him.
Holland smiled wide. “Boy, you look a lot like your mother, you know that?”
“How do you know anything about my mother?”
“Elizabeth didn’t tell you? Tsk, tsk.”
Reese glanced over his shoulder. Nana was as white as a ghost. “Tell me what?”
“Maybe after she tells her story, with whatever spin she chooses to put on it, you might change your mind about backing out of this d
eal.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“We’ll see,” Holland said. “I want this for my family. My true family. The one that has stuck by me. Not bribed me or tossed me away like garbage. You get that, don’t you, son?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Reese said.
“Sure, you do.” Holland laughed as he eased back toward his SUV. “Your mother abandoned you like you meant nothing. Wonder what your father did? Why he did it? Ask your Nana about that.”
Reese watched Holland and his crew drive away.
“Nana?” Reese closed the door and stared his grandmother down. “What the hell is he talking about? What does he know of my mother and my father? Is he talking about Allen, or my biological father?”
“I think we all need to sit down,” Nana said.
Reese didn’t like the sound of that.
Chapter Fourteen
“HOW DO YOU KNOW HOLLAND?” Reese yelled as he rattled the floorboards, pacing in front of the kitchen table. “Better yet, how does he know my mother? Or anything about my father?”
“Patty, would you excuse us?” Nana asked.
“No,” Reese said. “I’ve excluded her from the truth for far too long. She stays.” He turned to Patty. “I want no more secrets between us. Please stay.”
Patty nodded and continued to stir her tea. She didn’t look happy, but at least she didn’t run off.
Progress.
“I’m waiting.” Reese wasn’t in any mood to try to piece this shit-storm together. Nana was holding out on precious information that could protect Patty and his baby. He was going to get that information if it damn near killed him.
“Sit down Reese,” Nana said. “I hate it when you pace like that.”
“I think I’m fine standing,” Reese said. “No amount of deflecting is going to get you out of this one. So, let’s start with how you know Holland.”
Nana sat across from Patty, stirring her coffee, while Reese paced a path by the back door. He’d always known there were things Nana didn’t share. Things about his mother, all in the name of protecting him. He thought he’d uncovered most of them, like his mother selling herself for drugs. Like the idea that his father was just some young, irresponsible kid. Hell, his mother had only been seventeen when he was born. He accepted the lies by omission, because dealing with his mother had been a living hell, anyway, and he didn’t need to know more about her crazy life. She’d done enough damage. He was sad she died. But he wasn’t sad she’d left him to be raised by his grandparents.
