Awakening Veronica [Divine Creek Ranch 17] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  He was starting to dread that trip to California later in the week.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Veronica followed Grace and Grandma Kate into the gymnasium at the Divine Recreation Center on Tuesday evening.

  Thankfully, the gym was deserted except for the group of women participating in the class, which included her friend and Grandma Kate, as well as Rachel Wolf, who she’d recently discovered was none other than romance author, Jane O’Malley. That Grace was full of secrets. In addition, Dr. Emma Rivers was there, as well as Grace’s sister, Charity, who was a bit of a badass, and Lucy Owen.

  The girls had accompanied Veronica, Grace, and Kate earlier that afternoon on their shopping trip to Stigall’s Department Store, Cheaver’s Western Store, and Discretion Boutique in Morehead. The shopping trip had been fruitful, and a little expensive, but she’d needed a few items if she was going to be staying further into the holidays in Divine.

  She’d also managed to find a costume in sizes that she, Hank, and Travis would all be able to wear. Trying to explain to the girls why she needed pink tights and a tutu in a “big and tall” size had been interesting but she thought Emma might have caught on to what she was doing, because she’d started helping her searching for other parts of the costume and mentioned that she knew of a good online costume outlet that carried plus-sized and tall-sized costumes.

  The afternoon had been a rich people-watching experience for her, especially at Stigall’s where she’d had the pleasure of meeting two of the store owner’s daughters. Leah, the store manager, hurried to and fro, giving instructions, praising her workers and greeting her customers, while the other one had been…interesting.

  Her name badge plainly said “Presley Ann—sales clerk” on it, but when she’d approached Veronica, she’d introduced herself as “the owner’s daughter.” Veronica had asked her questions about the bras she was looking at, but Presley Ann’s answers had either been unclear or she didn’t know the answer at all.

  Being an observer of people, Veronica had lost interest in the bras and had asked Presley Ann a question or two about her job. She wished like hell she could’ve taken out her voice recorder or at least a pen and paper to record the young woman’s responses. It was the oddest thing. Though she was a grown woman, it was clear she hadn’t been working there—or anywhere—for very long. She spoke like a teenager and clearly felt that her job was temporary, until she found the right husband or her dad gave up and let her sister fire her.

  “Are you not interested in working in your family store?”

  Presley Ann rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hand at her surroundings. “Ohmygawd. It’s like so obvious, right? So, my dad is all, ‘Princess, you have to get a job and support yourself,’ and I’m all like, ‘No way am I accomplishing that on what you pay me, Dad,’ and he’s all like, ‘Young lady, you need to know how to take care of yourself,’ and I’m all like, ‘Let me off of work, Dad, so I can find a man to take care of me…’” She went on and on before asking Veronica, “So, do you have a job?”

  Veronica wondered if she had happened onto a movie shoot for a second. “Yes. I’m a published author. I write romance novels.” She took out a business card and handed it to her. Presley Ann looked at it and then seemed like she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

  “So…I’m like not much of a reader?” the young woman said, ending her statement as though it was a question. “I haven’t read anything since high school? No offense, but not even romance novels? Like, reading is just boring to me?”

  Stifling a giggle, and not taking any offense, Veronica nodded with understanding and said, “You know…I’ve heard that books are boring only to those who lack imagination.”

  Presley let out a gasp and raised her hands to heaven as though finally someone got her. “See? I knew you’d understand!”

  After she’d walked away in obviously expensive designer high heels complaining about how “like horrific” the pain in her feet was, Veronica had found a quiet corner to jot down a few notes before she forgot the nuances of the conversation.

  She was still writing at a feverish pace when the girls found her. They all nodded in understanding when she described Presley Ann to them.

  Rachel said, “She’s a trip.”

  Grace watched Presley Ann as she wandered around the store and finally zeroed in on another customer, and shook her head. “The sad thing is that she’s like that because her daddy has pampered her all these years. I can’t be around her without wanting to correct her grammar and speech. I kind of hope she finds a nice, understanding man to take care of her. Bless her heart.”

  Rachel looked at Grace like she was crazy. “That gold digger? Don’t say that in front of Lydia Carlisle. She’d go ape. Presley Ann needs a wakeup call.”

  Lucy Owen growled as she looked at the front door of the store. “At least she’s preferable to someone who needs a gigantic stick removed from her self-righteous ass.” She glared across the store at a woman who looked familiar.

  “Who’s that?” Veronica asked Grace as Grandma Kate sidled up alongside them and craned her neck, trying to see who they were talking about.

  “That, honey, is Tabitha Lester,” Grace whispered as she inspected the same bras Veronica had been looking at earlier. “And you need to avoid her as much as possible.”

  “Oh,” Veronica replied with a cringe. “Hank mentioned her to me. Thanks for the heads-up. She was the one protesting Maizy’s wedding, wasn’t she?”

  Lucy nodded. “She is mean and gossipy. You don’t want her attention.”

  Veronica said, “Hank told me she’s already gotten wind of his relationship with me…and Travis. She makes us sound like depraved sex addicts.”

  Grace said, “That’s exactly what she believes.”

  Veronica said, “I couldn’t help but notice at the wedding that she seemed to direct most of her outburst at Maizy.”

  Rachel got big eyes and looked at Grace. “See? It’s not just me. I noticed that, too, Veronica. And not only with Maizy. She’s hateful to Lucy, Emma, Summer, and any of the other girls she knows.”

  Lucy looked confused. “You have a point. But then how come she’s always so mean to Beck? He’s one of the guys.”

  Rachel snickered. “Uh, I dunno? Maybe because he’s the man most likely to stick his foot in his mouth?”

  Lucy snorted and batted at Rachel good-naturedly. “No he isn’t. He’s my sweet honey pie.”

  Rachel gaped. “Then why were you calling him an obnoxious jackass this morning when I called you?”

  “It was a misunderstanding. He didn’t mean to take all the hot water before I had my shower. And he helped me warm up afterward,” Lucy added with a wink.

  Grace waggled a finger and said, “People better not be hating on my sweet Beck. He can’t help it if he’s such a guy, bless his heart. And he doesn’t deserve the hell he catches from Tabitha any more than the rest of us do. Poor baby.”

  Grandma Kate got a look at Tabitha finally and said, “I met her in Divine Drip when Seth and I took a ride on his Harley. She and I had a chat.”

  All the girls went silent and looked at Kate. Grandma Kate chuckled and said, “There’s not a lot I could say that would change her mind, so I shared my thoughts on her campaign to ‘Keep Divine Pure.’ She gives nice, God-fearing Christians a bad name.”

  They heard a giggle from behind them and Presley Ann’s petite sister, Leah, popped her head out from behind a rack and smiled at Grandma Kate. “So you’re the one she was ranting about on her blog the other day.”

  Rachel growled. “She’s blogging? Another one is up to that bullshit?”

  Leah nodded and smiled in commiseration. “Don’t worry. Her articles are so poorly written, and her rants are so repetitive, she doesn’t have much of a following. And if you look through her archives, she has as many negative comments about her blog as she does positive ones, or at least until she deletes them. She’s a very unhappy lady, I think.”

&
nbsp; Presley Ann’s sister seemed like a patient and understanding person and Veronica took an instant liking to her.

  Tabitha eventually caught sight of the group and gave them all dirty looks before imperiously asking for a dressing room.

  Presley Ann helped her and came out of the dressing rooms a moment later grimacing and mimicking one of Tabitha’s diatribes. “Meh-meh-meh-meh-meh.” Veronica had to stifle her giggle.

  The girls had been more than happy to avoid contact with Tabitha and wound up at Rudy’s for a late lunch before she’d headed back to Hank’s place with all of her purchases.

  Pulling her back to the present, Hank and his deputy, Wyatt, greeted the group and began their instruction. Veronica did her best to pay attention but found herself continually distracted by the way Hank’s heather-gray sweats fit his hips and the way his black Divine County Sheriff’s Department T-shirt stretched across his chest and biceps. The two men gave them demonstrations in self-defense using the red floor mats and then asked them to line up to practice the moves and learn the steps to defending themselves.

  At one point, they paired up into teams, one playing the aggressor and one playing the defender, to practice the steps but not to actually tussling, before switching places. The group happened to be an odd number of women and Veronica wound up with Wyatt as her partner.

  He’d put his arms around her from behind, demonstrating a typical aggression tactic. He was a big, strong man, and although it gave her sweaty palms, she was listening to his instruction and asking a question as Hank strode over to them. “I’ll take over with her, Wyatt.”

  Wyatt frowned and didn’t seem inclined to release her. “That’s okay, Hank, I think I’ve got it under control. I was explaining how she can easily break out of—”

  Hank bristled and said, “I’m going to ask once more, nicely, Wyatt. Let my woman go.”

  Wyatt’s released her instantly. “Sorry, Hank. I didn’t know. Wow, I didn’t realize you were dating. Wait. Is this—” He pointed at her and grinned, “I heard you and Travis—”

  By this point, they’d drawn the attention of the rest of the class. Grace and Grandma Kate looked amused, Charity and Rachel were gigglesnorting their asses off, and several other women they didn’t know were all watching with great interest. Wyatt clued into that next and whispered, “Shit, boss. Sorry. My big mouth.”

  “What do I keep telling ya, Wyatt?”

  “Discretion, sir. Sorry, ma’am.” He backed away and tried to distract the class by explaining another maneuver to them.

  Veronica turned to Hank and whispered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause a scene.”

  Hank smiled at her and shook his head. “You didn’t. The big lummox did, and I suppose I sort of helped by going all caveman on him.” When Wyatt called for volunteers, Hank said, “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll demonstrate for the class.”

  Veronica didn’t like being the center of attention but this was a fairly friendly group and it’d always been Veronica’s tendency to learn best by doing.

  After a few minutes as his combat partner, she felt like she’d learned something. Plus, she got to get close to a sweaty, sexy man she was extremely interested in so it was all good.

  At one point, he got her into a hold and challenged her to get out of it. None of the others were around, he had his arms around her, and she put up a mock struggle as she looked up at him behind her and whispered, “This is kind of turning me on. Just so you know.”

  Hank released her and said, “I think you’ve had enough instruction for one night.”

  Looking innocent, she smiled up at him. “What? You don’t want to tussle with me anymore?”

  Hank bent close and with a chuckle, replied, “If you keep talking like that I’m going to have to explain the tent pole in my sweat pants. You just earned yourself a spanking tonight when we get home.”

  She grinned and laughed. “Yes, sir, Hank. Any way you want it, sir.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hank walked into his house the following Tuesday night, and the first thing he heard was the sound of Veronica weeping. He found her curled up in his desk chair, her headphones on, crying her eyes out in front of her computer. Worry filled him as he took off his hat and rushed over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

  Jumping as though she’d been electrocuted, she let out a terrified scream guaranteed to wake the dead. The desk chair rolled suddenly and she lost her balance and would’ve toppled out of it if he hadn’t caught her. She looked up at him with wild eyes and her bawling immediately turned to laughter as she reached for him.

  “I’m sorry, Nika,” he said, chuckling, hoping his heart settled back to a normal rhythm soon.

  She laughed again as she blotted her eyes and said, “No, I’m sorry. I become oblivious when I put my headphones on. Look!”

  She pointed at the computer screen and then put her arms up in the air like a referee calling a touchdown.

  He looked at the two words typed there. “‘The End.’ Hey! Congratulations, Nika. You had me worried. I thought we were going to have to go kick someone’s ass when I heard you crying as I walked in.”

  “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  She worked the oddest hours of anyone he knew. The time at which most people started to peter out, she was just revving up for the creative part of her day. She fit other activities in around it but if anyone came around his house in the middle of the night, they’d be greeted by the sound of her fingers clicking away on her keyboard.

  “I have other news for you,” she murmured as she turned to him and nuzzled his lips.

  “What’s that?”

  “In light of what happened last week, I made an announcement on my blog, and contacted all of the websites and blogs where I had live chats and talks planned and cancelled them, with the exception of one that is coming up late tomorrow night. I felt like that was not enough notice to give them so I plan to do that one but then that is it for a while. I explained in the article what happened last week and told everyone that I would still be on the other forms of social media but I wouldn’t be doing any more live online events for a while. All of the organizers understood after seeing the article and made other arrangements. I think I need to take a little personal time off anyway before I get my plans underway for next year.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, Nika.”

  “Any word from Duke?”

  “He’s working on several leads and multiple projects and will be letting me know as soon as he has details. I’ll call him and let him know about your chat tomorrow night so he can be there, too. Maybe he can draw this BookAddictedWhore person out a little.”

  Duke had found multiple threats on her computer that had gone unattended and had fixed several issues for her and set up all the backups and protections that she’d needed all along.

  “He has a hypothesis that BookAddictedWhore may be a man. That username has a pretty misogynistic tone,” Hank said.

  Veronica said, “I’ve wondered at times, too. In the past I told myself it didn’t matter if I interacted with women or men but yeah…could be a man, which could explain the aggression. Some men really hate romance novels.”

  Hank stroked her shoulder as he squatted down in front of her, noticing that her bare skin was cool to his touch. “I got something I think you might like.” He held up the fancy boutique bag in his hand.

  The weather had grown a colder and several times he’d caught her shivering in her chair without even being aware of it. They kept the heat turned up for her, but his ranch house was still chilly at times for someone walking around in the nude. He’d told her she could put on his robe, but she’d shook her head and told him that she liked writing in the nude. Said it freed her imagination somehow. It also freed his hands to roam when she took breaks to be with him and Travis. Their original purpose behind having her work in the nude had been fulfilled, as she now seemed much more comfortable with her body. It also seemed to have brought out
a little of the sass in her, plus, it was just damned nice to be greeted by her, cuddly and naked, at the end of a long day.

  Veronica smiled and said, “Hank, you didn’t have to do that.”

  “I think you’re going to like this. Open it.”

  He placed the bag from Discretion on the table and turned it so she could see the label and smiled at the way she squealed when she saw the name.

  She dumped the contents onto the desk and her eyes got big and shiny as she unwrapped the scented tissue paper, revealing the gown. She lifted the bundle and unfolded it so she could run a fingertip over the fine stitches in the pattern of the crocheted gown.

  “This cost a fortune. How did you know?” She looked up at him and her big brown eyes were misty. She leaned forward and kissed him.

  “Grace added it to your wish list after she noticed your reaction when you saw it on your shopping trip.”

  She stood from the chair and went right into his arms. A warm, sweet bundle of woman. “Thank you. I love it.”

  “This way, you’re still a little nekkid, since you say you like that now. But it’ll give you a little warmth since it’s made of cotton. I want to see it on you.”

  Dancing a happy little jig, she unfolded it and carefully slid her hands through the sleeves and her head through the deep V-neck opening and tied the laces under the bust into a bow. Hank thought she looked like a goddess in it. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thank you, Hank. I love it.” Her warm gaze mesmerized him as she stroked his cheek. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

  “You’re welcome, Nika,” he murmured before he kissed her lips, a gentle merging with his mouth. He loved heading home, knowing she’d be there when he arrived. He loved walking into the house with all the lights blazing, music on, and the fireplace crackling merrily. He loved coming home to her. She was the one he’d been waiting for. He was sure of that now.