by Kaliana Cole
“You should invite her down for a visit when we get this problem sorted out.” He flicked the razor up under his chin before checking for bits he had missed.
Emma reached out and touched a little cluster of dark bristle near his upper lip. “Missed a bit.” She leaned back and pondered his suggestion. “I couldn’t do that now. What am I going to tell her about you lot?”
“There’s always the truth.” He grinned when her eyes met his in the mirror, eyebrows raised. He rinsed his face.
“And that is?”
He toweled dry and splashed on some aftershave. “There’s no bag limit in Liberty Springs.”
Emma laughed as he came to her, gathering her close and kissing her playfully. Heat sparked before too long. Ty lifted and she saw fire kindling in his eyes. “I gotta go.” He sounded more than a little regretful. “There are some bad-mannered horses and small men with big egos waiting for me at the track. You be good.”
* * * *
It wasn’t malice that made him turn the bright light on to find his clothes, just a touch of mischief that he hadn’t felt the bite of in quite a while. Ty smiled at the groans coming from the bed. Colby pulled a pillow over his head while Zach just scrunched up his face as he complained, “Do you have to?”
“Nope, just thought it would be entertaining. I’m heading off to work; I should be back around one. Can you two trade off at the store until I get home?”
They knew he meant that one of them should be with Em the whole time. “We were planning on that anyway. Where is she?”
“In the shower. She was moving a little stiffly this morning.” He leveled the two men in the bed a stare. “Try to control yourselves, okay?”
“Jesus, Ty, what do you think we are, some kind of animals?” Colby complained.
“No, but if she gives you two the look I just got in the bathroom, you will be hard-pressed to walk away.”
“And you weren’t?”
“I wasn’t hard-pressed, just hard.” He smiled ruefully as he stepped out the door.
* * * *
“Hey, Zach?” Colby’s voice was thoughtful.
“Mmm?”
“If she is in the other shower, where are her clothes?”
Zach grinned. “Right in here where we left them.”
The thought of her walking in wrapped in a towel, all pink and damp from the shower, held them spellbound. Two sets of eyes watched the doorway expectantly, blood thickening hopeful flesh.
Half an hour later, Colby spoke, “Hey, Zach?”
“Mmm.”
“I don’t think she’s coming.”
Zach laughed and swung out of bed, padding naked to the adjoining bathroom. Who said Colby wasn’t a Mensa candidate?
* * * *
Emma was bustling around the kitchen, determined to make breakfast for Zach and Colby. She had commandeered more clothes from the basket in the hall, but now they needed washing again. There was flour on every surface, eggshells on the bench, milk spilled on the floor.
The phone rang, but she couldn’t find a cloth to wipe her hands with. Shit.
She was looking around frantically when Zach answered the wall phone just inside the kitchen door.
“Hello…hi, Beth…no, she’s right here…cooking breakfast by the look of it...”
Emma heard the screech come from the phone as Zach held it defensively away from his ear. “No, Beth, that’s fine. We’ll do it… I promise you…I’ll ring you later…Yes, we will do it properly… Bye.”
Zach looked at the phone as he hung it up, a grin creasing his gorgeous face. “Well, that was interesting.” He turned to Emma, smiling as he wiped a smudge of flour off her cheek. “Ron is feeding up for you today, and I am quoting verbatim here, Em, ‘don’t let that woman anywhere near the kitchen. She’s worse at cooking than Colby is at cleaning.’” He looked around the disaster site that was the kitchen. “And I promised to clean up after you.”
He stepped up and kissed her while her hands were out of commission. A teasing dip and slide that had her leaning after him as he pulled back, going to check the pan on the stove. “Was this a pancake?” He peered at the smoking disk.
“Shit, I got distracted and forgot about that one. Can you put it in the bin with the rest of them?”
“I’ll put it on the sink. Dozer can play Frisbee with it if he won’t eat it.” He looked around for her batter. Eventually finding the jug, he buttered the now cooled pan and started cooking another one.
“Oh, am I supposed to put butter in there?”
Zach laughed and handed her a dish towel to wipe her hands. “Sit up here and watch. I’ll show you how to cook the best pancakes you have ever eaten.”
Em watched as he moved efficiently around the kitchen, cleaning up after her as he cooked one perfectly browned pancake after another.
“Hey, Zach, have you stolen my blue shirt again?” Colby came into the room, lips quirking when he saw Zach was not the culprit. “Morning, Em.” He took in her body pressing against his shirt in all the right places. “It looks better on you than it does on me. Don’t know if flour embellishments will take off, though.” He grinned at her when she stuck her tongue out at him. “That bit on your nose is downright cute, though.”
She wiped her nose and thumped Zach as he walked past. “You could have told me.”
“Nah, he’s right, it looked cute.” He feigned pain at her backhand to his hard stomach. “Set the table, Colb. Pancakes are on the way.”
Emma had never had so much fun at the breakfast table. Laughter abounded as Zach described Beth’s call. Colby offered to stay and clean up but Zach told him to go to work. Emma asked why.
“If you are ever feeling particularly brave, just poke your head in his room. Beth refuses to even open the door when she comes to clean. Cleanliness is not his strong point. He’s thirty-four years old and still has to be told to take a shower every day.” Zach exaggerated, loving eyes on Emma’s smile. “Come on, you made the mess, you can help clean it up.”
It was so easy to forget that there was a stalker outside when she was having that much fun. The morning sped by. Colby came home at lunch time and swapped with Zach. Colby was working on some invoices and Emma was immersed in Kenneth and Lillian’s torrid encounter when Ty came home, a rough bandage encircling his arm. The telltale brown stains brought Em to her feet. “Christ, Ty, what happened?”
“It’s not much more than a scratch. A horse reared away when I was clinching the nails, caught me up the inside of the arm. I just need to clean it.” He looked around. “Do either of you two know what the black things are Dozer is throwing around the back yard?” Colby laughed, and Em turned red, pointing him toward the bathroom.
She marched straight into the bathroom after him, hunting around in the cabinet for disinfectant. Emma took control, wincing when she removed the crude bandage. “A scratch, huh?”
The two jagged wounds were nearly six inches long and deep enough in places that they should have been stitched. “These will need butterfly clips at the very least.” She bent down in search of first aid supplies.
* * * *
Eyes on her ass, Ty decided she could do whatever she wanted. He could get used to her tender concern, not to mention her curvy little body. Having someone fuss over him was a novel experience. If it had been anyone else babying him he would have felt very uncomfortable, but with Em, he just sat back and let her have her way. Yep, he could definitely get used to this.
The wound might have got a splash of antiseptic and a Band-Aid if he had looked after it, but twenty minutes later Ty’s arm looked like a prop for The Mummy.
Colby sniggered when Emma led Ty out of the bathroom and sat him down, asking what he wanted for lunch, but he gave frantic cutoff signs behind her back when she asked if she could cook Ty anything. “Just a sandwich, thanks, Em. Doesn’t matter what’s on it, I eat anything in that fridge.”
Ty questioned Colby as soon as Em left the room. He was laughing softly when
she came back with the food. “Good thing all three of us can cook, huh?”
“All of you can?” Emma sounded surprised.
“Yep, Beth made sure we wouldn’t be a burden on any woman.” He grinned at his younger brother. “Colb just seemed to miss all the lessons on cleaning, and laundry, and personal hygiene…” He ducked as Colby launched a pillow at him. “Hey, wounded person here, have a little care.” He brandished his bandaged arm like a shield, smiling when Em made an exasperated noise and headed for the kitchen, laptop in tow.
Both men grinned. Life didn’t get much better than this.
* * * *
Immersed in her story, she didn’t hear the knock at the front door, but thankfully, Colby did and let Andy Calhoun in. The tall officer fit right in with the six-foot-plus men already inhabiting the house. Emma should have felt intimidated by all the towering bodies and flying testosterone, but she felt protected and amused, and just a tiny bit vertically challenged.
She shut the laptop and greeted the newcomer. “Good afternoon, Deputy.”
“Emma, please call me Andy.”
Emma nodded. “Are you here with good news or bad news?”
“A bit of both I am afraid.” He glanced up at Ty. “Zach should probably be here. I don’t want to have to go through this twice.”
“I’ll call him.” Ty went for the phone.
Andy laid his big brown eyes on Emma. She noticed his surprise when she didn’t flinch at his scarring. She could understand why people would do so, but his big, soulful brown eyes won her over. She met his gaze easily.
He smiled at her open regard. “While we’re waiting for Zach I can apprise you of our progress with your premises. Our tech unit has gone over your security system, and we now know that the suspect has gained full access to your house and grounds. He managed to achieve administrator status with the system and used it to create a master override remote to control each component. He could operate each sensor, gate, and light from a distance. He could also access the cameras on the gate and in front of the house.
“We found a spot on the hill opposite your gate that has seen a lot of traffic lately. It is only accessible off the power company maintenance track that runs along the lines. Not somewhere he could stumble across by accident.
“Beth has the new security people over there now, installing a whole new system. I have checked them out and she has hired the best. You can be confident no one will be able to infiltrate the new system. It should be fully operational by the end of the week.
Emma shuddered at the level of access the stalker had gained to her life. “So he has been here for a while then?”
“At least three months.” Andy’s expression was cold. “Protecting you would have been a lot easier if you had informed me of the danger to you when you moved here, Ms. Duncan.”
“I moved here to get away from the constant pressure this stalker was placing on my life, Andy. And that included the protection that was smothering me twenty-four-seven.” She willed him to understand her need for space. Their eyes were locked in a silent battle of wills when Zach let himself in.
“What’d I miss?” He took in the policeman and Emma’s locked gazes. “Won’t work, Andy. Em can’t be intimidated. Nice try, though.” He kissed Emma’s temple, breaking the silent battle, and took a seat between his brothers. Emma wouldn’t be backed down by anyone. She had faced off with a deranged, would-be rapist. One scar-faced deputy with puppy dog eyes wasn’t going to cut it.
“We are all here now, Andy. What have you got for us?” Ty put his arm along the back of Emma’s chair, the gesture both protective and possessive.
“There have been no sightings of anyone new in town, no suspicious behavior, nothing. Either this guy is a ghost or he has submerged himself in the population so well that he is flying under the radar. Either we flush him out, or Emma gets to spend her time under constant threat.”
“Not an option.” The cold certainty of Colby’s voice sent tingles down Em’s spine. She hadn’t realized he could be just as serious as the other two.
“What do you mean by ‘flush him out’?” Zach was just as serious, and more than a little suspicious.
“This guy has expressed an unhealthy interest in certain proclivities. The profiler believes it is because of similar abuse as a child. If we can get him to think this is happening to Emma, and give him an opportunity, he will go out of his way to watch. From the transcripts it doesn’t appear to matter who does this, only that Emma experiences it.” His face was a little red by the time he finished speaking.
The three brothers shared a glance. Everyone knew exactly what Andy was talking all around.
“It wouldn’t work here. It would have to be somewhere where he could get an opportunity to see.” Zach’s voice was thoughtful.
“The springs?” Colby suggested.
“No, too open, we need somewhere that there is only one way in and one way out. Somewhere that he would know he would be able to see every sordid detail.” Ty sat back, his face pensive as he thought his way around the problem.
Emma blinked. Hard. Indignity rising fast.
This was her ass they were talking about. She hadn’t missed the point of all Andy’s careful wording any more than the brothers had. “Excuse me? Hello, this is Emma. You know, the woman whose ass you’re putting on the line here, in more ways than one?” If they missed the biting sarcasm, the matching tone should have warned them. Only Andy had the good grace to flush.
Emma found herself the subject of three steely gazes. “Not happening. If, and only if, I ever decide to let you anywhere near my ass, it will be when and where I choose. Not in front of a group of strangers waiting for the possibility of this twisted unit to show up.” The red on her cheeks had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything to do with rage. High-handedness she would not tolerate.
Slate gray eyes flew to hers. She could see the heat kindle at her defiance, but she wouldn’t blink. “There is no fucking way we would let another man see what is now ours, Emma, let alone take you like that where anyone could see. We only need to make him think we are going to, to lay bait and see what bites.” Ty’s gaze bored into hers. “So stop worrying about your lovely little ass and help us protect it.”
Her chin flew up at his reprimand, but she kept her mouth shut. She felt guilty for having doubted them, for ever thinking they would subject her to such humiliation.
* * * *
Andy suppressed a grin. The Whelans had their hands full with this one. “If you are all agreeable, I was going to suggest the canyon cabin.” The cabin was one of four co-owned by the Keenans and the Marshalls, leased out for illicit weekends and fully outfitted for deviant pleasure. It was famous for the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the hidden valley.
Eyebrows raised as the brothers considered the possibilities. “That would work. There is enough traffic in the vicinity to make him think he could slip in, but only one way through the canyon mouth to anywhere he would be able to see from. The police wouldn’t even have to be in view of the cabin itself. It is the approach they would have to monitor.” Zach approved. Ty and Colby concurred.
Andy breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought the men would have objected to his plan. Men like them became notoriously possessive once they finally found their woman. That all of them had found the same woman just meant that it was multiplied threefold.
“I will work with the special team to set it up. We’ll go for this weekend, which should give you enough time to lay the bait. Go to the Kat and book the cabin. I’ll see Cal and give him a heads-up. He’ll make sure word gets about that you’re taking Emma there. You probably should go to Aiden’s and make some public purchases, get chins wagging and all that. I will leave it to you lot to do whatever you feel is appropriate to bait the trap.”
No way in hell was he going to be liable for spreading gossip about their woman. If they were the ones that did it, they took the responsibility. “Call me if you think o
f anything else between now and then. I’ll come by and brief you on Friday if we don’t make any progress between now and then.” He bid them good afternoon and left.
* * * *
Silence prevailed when Andy left, everyone lost in their own thoughts until Emma spoke. “Who’s Aiden?”
Colby’s eyes sparkled. “Aiden owns Needful Things.”
“I’ve never been in there. There is never anything on display in the window.” Emma frowned
Zach and Colby laughed, but Ty knew better. He coughed and ducked his head.
“What?”
“Aiden’s is an adult toy shop, Em. A window display wouldn’t go down very well,” Ty ended up telling her before her temper asserted itself.
“Oh.” Em blushed a little at her naïveté. “Why would going there help in baiting the trap?”
Ty saw that his brothers were smirking away like schoolgirls. The juvenile little shits were leaving it up to him to educate Emma. “Do you know what a butt plug is, Em?”
“I am not totally ignorant, Ty.” She was a little indignant.
“Glad to hear it,” he replied dryly. “If one of us were to go in there and purchase a few, and let people see what we bought, especially the right person, it would be assumed that we were preparing you for anal sex, Em.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t forget the lube. Better get a bulk pack.” Colby was oblivious of Emma’s discomfort.
“And a tickler or two. They’re more versatile than plugs.” Zach put in his two cents worth.
Emma stood, picking up her computer. “I’ve got work to do. Let me know when you have decided on how to totally embarrass me.” She made for the lounge room, backbone rigid.
“For fuck’s sake, can’t you two grow up a bit?” Ty got up and followed her, but the door shutting in his face was a pretty clear indication that Emma wanted some space, lots of it, right now.
