by Mandy Harbin
His gaze traced her movements as she made her way to her bag and pulled out some lotion. The moment she opened it, his senses were assaulted with that beautiful rose scent she always smelled of.
“I, er, wanted to apologize again for what I said to you after the tire incident,” she said, not looking at him.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat. “It’s been a stressful day.”
“No excuse.” She glanced up at him.
“Then you’re forgiven.” Because he didn’t want to think about his screw up, nor did he want to talk about it. Since she’d stopped rummaging for clothes to bring it up, the fastest way to get her back on task was to agree.
Because he needed her fucking dressed before he did something stupid. Like rip that flimsy towel off and kiss her everywhere.
She sighed and stood fully. Blade turned to inspect the air conditioning unit, needing some kind of distraction. He heard her moving and was immediately grateful she apparently went back to getting dressed.
Until she stood beside him, still wet and covered in that sorry-excuse-for-a-towel.
“You need to get dressed,” he gritted out.
“I was such a bitch to you.”
He grabbed her arms. To keep her away? To pull her closer? He had no freaking idea. He held her still as his conflicting desires warred. “I’m not easily offended, babe.” Hell, he didn’t even know if that was true. His mouth was just rambling stuff as a distraction to his carnal instincts.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, and damn if he didn’t want to haul her against him and kiss her until the sadness in her eyes evaporated.
“It’s okay,” he murmured.
She rose up on her toes, and he had a second to understand what she was doing. He opened his mouth to say something to stop her, but it was too late. Her lips glanced his. He stifled a groan as she captured his lower lip between hers and fisted his hands to keep from tugging her towel off.
As quickly as the kiss started, it stopped. She cleared her throat as she lowered down to her regular height. She smiled tentatively and walked around him. He turned to watch her, and she, thankfully—or frustratingly—pulled out clothes and ducked into the bathroom. When she was out of sight, he let out the breath he’d been holding.
It was just a friendly kiss. Don’t think too much about it.
Yeah, right. His cock refused to hear reason.
When she came back out, she didn’t seem as affected by it as he was.
Anna pulled her suitcase off the bed closest to the door. “I’m taking this one since your safety is my responsibly, and I’m the one with the gun.” She winked.
He laughed, walking over to her. Rather than take his bag off the bed she was cleaning off and claiming, he picked up her bags and tossed them on the other bed. “Not happening, babe. I get door duty.”
Her hand flew to her chest in mock offense. “What, you don’t like having your body protected by a girl?”
“Darlin’, you can do anything to my body at anytime.” He leaned closer, her eyes dilating. Hmmm…she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she pretended to be. “But my ass is sleeping by the door.”
“You’re pushy,” she said without malice as she moved to the other bed.
“I’m sorry, babe, but your safety isn’t something I’ll ever relent on.”
Without another word, she crawled into bed.
Now, it was his turn for a cold shower. A very cold shower.
Anna Sue and Blade pulled up to a huge set of gates, the iron an intricate artwork possessing an image of an alligator spanning across both doors.
“Wow,” she breathed as the doors opened.
Blade didn’t say anything about her surprise of the beautiful lands. Lands that had been in his family for generations.
Family she was only minutes away from meeting. Butterflies were kickboxing each other in her stomach. Normally when she worked a case, she didn’t get nervous, but this wasn’t normal. At all.
When they’d gotten up this morning, Blade had seemed tense. She’d at first blamed it on her impromptu kiss last night. She still didn’t understand what had come over her. She’d felt so bad about blaming him for their predicament and wanted to do something to make it up to him. But kiss?
The fact that she’d spent part of her shower remembering the last time she was near him and in a shower hadn’t helped. That night, Blade had opened the door in all his naked glory with the intent of getting clean. He did, after getting extra dirty. That man had picked her up and fucked her against the wall as water sluiced off his magnificent body. That image last night had forced her out of her shower much faster than she’d planned. She hadn’t had enough time to get her emotions under control. Her skin had been too hot to get dressed, and coupled with her yearning for him was lingering shame of how she’d talked to him on the side of the road. So she’d ended up kissing him.
And immediately stopping.
It hadn’t been a good idea, but she didn’t regret it. Just that little taste of him was like one smoke for an addict. She wanted more, wanted to suck him in and never breathe him out. She had no other choice but to stop before it really got started.
But he’d seemed fine last night, if not a little stunned. He hadn’t lashed out or anything; in fact, he’d been playful. But when they’d gotten up this morning, tension radiated off him. This feeling seemed deeper, meaningful. She just wasn’t privy to that meaning, and he hadn’t opened up. Even seeing his SUV had been dropped off early that morning and the keys waiting for them at the front desk hadn’t eased his mood. He hadn’t said much on the ride over either. Well, other than to clarify their cover story.
And that was another matter entirely. She knew they’d have to come up with a reason for her being here with him, but she had a dozen options on the ready. Her favorite? She was his accountant—because she was one—here to help him evaluate the offer on the table from BAD. Because there was one. The best lies were the ones closest to the truth.
He’d said it was his family, so his choice.
She hadn’t argued. Partly because she’d been too tongue-tied to voice her objection.
“It’s so pretty out here,” she said, glancing around to look out all the windows.
He finally smiled for the first time this morning. “Yeah. It’s peaceful. For the most part.” Then the smile was gone and something dark briefly clouded his eyes. He blinked as if to push away whatever bad thoughts encroached on his mind.
“What? Except all the alligators?” she said, joking.
He snorted and glanced at her. “Yeah, the gators screw up the serenity.”
“But they make you money.”
“That they do.” He winked at her, and she was relieved his mood seemed to be lightening, if only a little.
They pulled into a huge circle drive of an enormous plantation- style house. Seriously, the columns were huge and went all the way around the house. “Holy shit,” she breathed.
“Yeah, my great-great-great grandfather built it. Nice, huh?”
“It’s insane.”
He pulled to a stop by the massive front porch and got out. Anna was still a little stunned and she didn’t get out right away. When Blade opened the car door for her, she startled. “Oh, sorry.”
He smiled and offered his hand to help her get out. She took it automatically, but quickly released it when she exited. She opened her mouth to thank him when the front door of the house whooshed opened and someone squealed.
“Blade! My baby!”
A tiny woman with dark blonde hair came running down the stairs and flew into his arms.
“Momma,” he said softly, hugging her tightly. When he pulled away, his smile glowed as he stared down at her. “How are you?”
She waved him away. “Fine, fine.” Then she glanced at Anna and smiled. “Are you going to introduce me?” She’d asked him, but her gaze stayed locked on Anna.
Blade stepped back so that he stood next to her
and put a hand on her lower back, the move possessive and definitive. Even though she knew what was coming, those butterflies were back with a vengeance. Maybe if he hadn’t just told her this morning just how he was going to explain Anna to his family, she wouldn’t be as nervous.
Because she was seriously freaking out on the inside. She needed more time to come to terms with the cover story.
“Momma, this is Anna Sue. My fiancée.”
Yep, definitely needed more time. Like, maybe a year or two.
“What?”
Now, Anna was a trained FBI agent. She could deflect an attack and take down an assailant with no warning. Seriously, she’d made grown men twice her size cry in agony in under three seconds flat when they’d tried to surprise her, but when this tiny woman lunged and wrapped Anna in her arms, she’d been shocked frozen.
“Momma, let her go,” Blade said with a chuckle. The woman held onto her tighter.
“No way.”
“C’mon, Mom, you gotta—are you crying?” he asked incredulously.
“No.”
Yes, she was. Tears dripped onto Anna’s bare shoulder. Anna stared at Blade over the woman’s head and begged him with her gaze to do something.
His shrug told her he couldn’t do anything about it.
Anna’s returning glare told him there’d be payback.
Finally, he tugged on his mom until she released him.
“Oh, lordy, where are my manners? I’m Bernadette Young.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Young.”
“None of that, dear. Call me Mom.”
Anna Sue blanched.
“Mother,” Blade said softly. “Don’t scare her off before I get a ring on her finger.”
Her mom glanced down at her left hand. And Anna wanted to groan. When Blade told her this was going to be their cover story, she’d asked why a girlfriend wouldn’t be enough. He’d told her that his family was very private, and he’d never brought a girl home before. For it to work, things had to seem serious between them. He couldn’t very well introduce her as his wife, because he’d said his mother would kill him for getting married without her. Fiancée, it was. And she was now in Hell disguised as the state of Louisiana.
Mrs. Young grabbed Anna’s hand and glared at her son. “Braxton Beauregard Young, where is her engagement ring?”
He exhaled slowly. “I was going to talk to you about that,” he said softly to his mom. Yet another part of the cover story that convinced Anna that Blade might be the devil incarnate.
Mrs. Young squealed again and wrapped Blade in another hug. “Yes, of course!” she said, knowing without further explanation that Blade was asking to use his grandmother’s engagement ring. He’d spent half the morning explaining this to Anna, but his mom understood right away.
Yep, the man wanted his pretend fiancée to wear a family heirloom to seal the fake deal. No doubt about it. This was Hell, and Blade was the devil.
“Well, c’mon,” Mrs. Young said excitedly, practically dragging Anna into the house, her beloved son all but forgotten, but Blade trailed right behind them anyway.
Anna stifled a gasp as they walked into the grand foyer.
“This house has been in our family for generations.”
“Brax told me.”
She smiled at the mention of Blade’s name. “I haven’t heard anyone call him that since he was a teen. That boy was the best at taking down a gator with only a knife. His uncles started calling him that, and it eventually stuck.”
“Oh, I usually call him Blade, too,” she said, stumbling over her words. Was it wrong to call him Brax? When she’d done it the night they’d slept together, it was as if she’d reached right into his chest and touched his heart. She’d loved that reaction. She hadn’t planned on calling him Brax again, but it had slipped and he still seemed to love hearing it from her. Did it hold more meaning for him? Should she refrain from calling him that and just stick to the name everyone used now?
“It’s okay, babe.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re the only one who’ll get away with it.”
“Awww, that’s so precious,” his mother said, sporting another huge grin. At this rate, she’d have premature smile lines all over her face. The lady squealed again and walked even faster up, up, and up the stairs, down a long hall, around a corner and another hall to a closed door. When Mrs. Young tugged her in, this time Anna suppressed her gasp at how beautiful the bedroom was.
Mrs. Young stepped up to a picture on a wall and pulled it out. A safe was hidden behind it. Anna swallowed, trying to get salvia back into her dry throat. Once the safe was opened, Mrs. Young grabbed a ring box and locked the safe. When she pulled it out of the box, Anna only caught a glimpse of it, but from what she could see, the thing was huge.
Blade’s mom clasped his hand and dropped the ring in his palm before curling his fingers around it. “I’m so proud of you,” she said softly. “I never thought you’d allow yourself to find true happiness.”
Anna was going to be sick.
Blade smiled warmly at his mom and then turned to Anna. He lifted her left hand.
Anna’s breath stopped.
It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.
And the love shining in his eyes was definitely not real. If she said it enough times, maybe she’d believe it.
“Anna,” he breathed.
“I thought you said her name was Anna Sue?”
“Mom,” Blade muttered through the corner of his mouth, fighting a smile as his gaze stayed locked on Anna. He took a deep breath and started again. “Anna, from the moment you came into my life, you turned my world upside down, shattering everything I thought I knew about love. I hadn’t known my soul was lost until it found its mate in you. Will you marry me?”
Stunned.
Where was the air in this room? Her lungs burned for it.
“You already said yes, babe. No take backs,” he said with a smirk when she didn’t immediately respond.
She blinked a few times. Those were not tears. Please don’t let them be tears. “Yes,” she whispered.
He smiled like she’d made him the happiest man on the planet with that one simple word. She felt him slip the ring on her finger, but she couldn’t take her eyes off his face. Once it was in place, he cupped her cheeks and brushed his lips over hers. She sucked in air, and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. The crazy nerves swimming through her system immediately transformed into molten lava. He kissed her like he couldn’t get close enough, with everything he had.
He slowly pulled away, and she groaned in frustration. He chuckled a little and tucked her hair behind her ear while her eyelids stayed shut. When she opened them, the spell would be broken, and she wanted to believe it for a few more seconds.
“That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen,” his mom cooed.
Anna’s eyes flew open. They weren’t alone, and he’d just kissed her like a man starved right in front of his mother. Her face heated. Blade pulled her into his chest and hugged her. “Mom, we still have to check into our hotel. Do you want to meet us for lunch before we come back?”
“You will do no such thing.”
“Didn’t realize you were that opposed to eating.”
“Son, you will stay here.”
“No,” he said sharply.
Anna extracted herself from his embrace, but Blade left an arm around her shoulders.
“We’re going to be in town a lot. I told you, I gotta meet with other family while I’m here. There are some things going down that we all need to discuss, but it’s more convenient to stay out there than drive back and forth to meet everyone.”
“I already called a family meeting for this afternoon, so I will not have that staying in town business. I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“It’s been four months,” he said. The eye-roll was implied.
“It’s been seventeen weeks and three days, and I wouldn’t have cared even if you were here last
week. This is your home. You always stay here.” She turned to leave, but said over her shoulder, “I’ll have Maurice change the sheets. Go get your bags.”
Blade groaned as she left, but from the relaxed stance of his shoulders, Anna knew he wasn’t going to push the issue with his mom. “C’mon. Let’s get our stuff.”
“This wasn’t part of the plan,” she muttered. It was bad enough they had to lie to his family about the business stuff and apparently lie about being engaged, but now they had to stay on the property and not get a break from the ruse?
“Sorry.” Although he didn’t sound the least bit upset about this change, too. They walked back out to the SUV. She grabbed her laptop case, and Blade secured everything else as he’d done when they’d walked to the motel yesterday. Without a word, she trekked behind him back up the stairs and around the same halls as before. “This is the family wing of the house.”
“Isn’t the whole house the family wing?”
He chuckled. “No. The first two floors are guest suites. Gator season doesn’t last long, and those rooms are booked years in advance. We also get hunters during deer season, which usually book a year in advance. The rest of the year, it operates as a bed and breakfast, except during summer when it’s closed to the public.”
“Why close if it’s so successful?” Her business degree was kicking in. Being closed for months every year was leaving income on the table.
“For extended family to vacation here and to schedule repairs and maintenance without interrupting guests. Plus, it’s right before gator season, so it’s the perfect time to spruce everything up to get ready for the new operating year.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
He opened a door down the hall from the room they were in earlier. This one was smaller and more masculine. Not as outlandishly done, but still elegant. He dropped their bags by the closet as she lowered her laptop bag on the desk. Her left hand felt noticeably heavier than her right, but she still hadn’t had the courage to peek at the ring.
“So, one bed,” she said, stating the obvious.
