by Jenny Penn
All he did was smile as he eased slowly backward. His smile mocked her even as his laughter warmed through her. Konor was having fun, and so was Heather.
“Like this, ma’am?”
Striking a dramatic pose with his wrists above his head, Konor waited expectantly for Heather’s reaction but she refused to entertain him with one, focusing instead on binding his wrists together. That was harder than she expected as the velvet rope refused to assist her by remaining tied. Instead knot after knot came undone until Heather was cursing.
“Do you need help?”
Heather could hear the laughter in Konor’s voice and was on the verge of telling him just where he could stick his chuckles when light flooded across the small beach that bordered the lake and a strange voice boomed out into this night.
“This is the Pittsview Sherriff’s Department. I am sorry to interrupt, but the two of you are trespassing on private property and I’m going to need to have a word with you both.”
Chapter 9
It could have been a perfect night. It certainly had been turning into an unbelievable one, but, of course, everything had gone to hell, and Konor knew just who to thank for that. So did Heather, and she was fuming. Neither he nor Bryant got in her way as she stormed off toward the truck.
“Geeeez…” Bryant rolled his eyes and shook his head as Heather disappeared back over the sandy dune. “I do not envy you having to get into the truck with that woman.”
“Thanks.” Konor shot Bryant a dirty look as he began to pack everything back up, but the deputy ignored him to admire the path of fallen pedals.
“Wow, that is a lot of flowers…Hey, wait a minute, aren’t these the ones from bakery?” Bryant sounded outraged enough to have Konor pausing to consider the other man for a moment.
“Why? You send Heather some flowers earlier today?”
“No.” Bryant shook his head in solemn denial. “I know better. A man doesn’t catch a woman by following the crowd. He needs to be the trendsetter, not that I figure I’d have much luck with Miss Lawson anyway.”
Konor rolled his eyes at that and went back to packing up the cooler he’d brought. Bryant ignored his look along with his silence as he continued to yammer on, more to himself than to Konor.
“Even if I did get lucky, the sheriff would make sure I paid in sweat, possibly tears, and probably blood. The first I don’t mind giving, but I kind of try to avoid spilling the last two, if you know what I mean.”
He didn’t have a clue, but Konor suspected that Bryant’s babbling had something to do with Alex’s payback for what Killian and Adam had done with Gwen. Now there was a woman who wasn’t worth the effort, but Alex’s pride was involved, and a man’s pride was worth just about anything.
That certainly explained why Bryant was standing there talking his ear off when Konor could have been stretched out naked and at Heather’s mercy. No doubt. This was payback for kicking the bastard, and now Konor had to decide just what his revenge would be. That is if he claimed any at all.
For as nice as revenge sounded, it also sounded time-consuming, as the situation would undoubtedly spin out of control. That’s normally how it went when he competed with Alex, and Konor had better things to do with his time. Better things like Heather, but if Alex ruined that chance…then it really would be war.
That’s just what it looked like it was going to be as Konor climbed up into his truck. Sitting there silently seething, Heather barely spared him a glance as he started up the truck. With her back straight and her hands clenched in her lap she looked ready to explode. He figured he’d better start talking before she did.
“Listen, Heather, I—”
“I want a redo.”
Konor blinked, not certain he’d heard that right and pretty sure that he misunderstood. “Pardon me, I think that was my optimistic ear. Did you say you wanted a redo?”
“Yes.” Heather turned to pin him with a pointed look, as if she actually expected an argument out of him. “And I’m getting more than an hour and bringing my own toys.”
“You just name the time and place, sweetness, and I’ll be there with bells on…in twenty-four days.”
“What? No.” Heather shook her head. “This is a onetime offer with an expiration date of seven days.”
“Yeah?” Konor cocked a brow at that, not believing her for a moment. “Well, I guess I have to test that theory out in eight days, huh?”
Heather snorted at that but didn’t argue the point with him. Instead, she tilted her chin up into the air and smiled with a smug satisfaction that left Konor in no doubt of her thoughts. In eight days, she was planning on making him beg. Too bad for Heather, he had different plans. She’d figure that out soon enough.
He let her stew in her thoughts as they drove back to her house in a compatible silence. Pulling into her drive, Konor caught sight of her dad’s truck parked in the garage and realized the older man hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t plan on being out late. That was all right with him. With her dad about, Heather was sure to behave, which just made it all the more fun to antagonize her.
“You know, I’ve been thinking.” Konor pulled his truck to a stop near the pathway that led to the front door and left it idling as he turned to look at her. “The very fact that you’re still mad at Alex for trying to seduce you over a bet proves that you still got the hots for him.”
“What?” Heather jaw fell open as she gaped over at Konor like he’d just informed her he was actually a woman. “Are you nuts? I don’t feel anything for him but contempt.”
“Uh-huh.” Konor wasn’t buying that for a minute. There was no reason to, not with the guilty flush creeping across Heather’s cheeks. “So if this bet was such a betrayal that you’re still pissed over it—what? Twelve years later? No. Thirteen—thirteen years later, why ain’t you pissed at GD?”
“Why would I be pissed at him?” Heather retreated back in her seat with a snort that didn’t disguise her unease.
“Because he was your friend,” Konor pointed out, not about to let the issue go. He could smell the victory just out of reach.
“Yeah? My friend,” Heather repeated with a nod as she reached for the door handle. “I need to go in. Taylor’s probably waiting to tell me about his day.”
“Of course.” Shoving open his door, he hopped out and hustled around to assist Heather to the ground. He paused long enough to shut her door before starting to escort her up the path. “But then again a friend wouldn’t set you up to get hurt, would he?”
Heather stumbled slightly over that question, her gaze snapping up toward him with a look of disgust as she tensed beside Konor. When finally she did speak, her words were as strained as her tone.
“No, of course not.”
“So either you weren’t hurt or—”
“I wasn’t hurt,” Heather hastened to insist as pace picked up.
“Then why are you still mad at Alex?”
“Because he’s an ass,” Heather snapped, now all but running down the cracked pavement as she fled for the front door.
The prey was alert and fleeing, triggering every one of Konor’s primitive instincts. It took all his self-control to pace evenly behind her, a steady, stalking presence. He didn’t make a move, even when she fumbled with her keys, dropping them on the porch’s wooden floor.
“Here.” Konor swooped them up before Heather could and pressed past her to fit the key into the lock. He hesitated then, knowing he had her trapped. “And he’s not as big an ass as you’d like to believe, because you did hurt him.”
Stepping back as the door swung inward, Konor held back his smile as Heather just stood there staring up at him, dumbfounded. That’s how he left her, with the loud roar of a video game being played at full volume rushing out of the house and surrounding her in the chaos and mayhem of laser blasts and explosions.
“You’re wrong!” Heather finally hollered out after him.
“No I’m not,” Konor shouted back, not even bother
ing to pause as he reached for the truck door. “Until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? You got something else planned?”
Konor didn’t answer her, just swung himself up into the cab as she came rushing down the path after him.
“If you’re going to send those boys back to the bakery, at least don’t send flowers with them! I’m going to develop an allergy.”
Konor couldn’t help but laugh at that complaint as he slammed the door and popped the brake. Whether she meant to or not, Heather had brought a lightness to the past day, making him realize that something had been missing. She had him looking toward tomorrow and the day after that.
A warning whispered through him, an ominous prediction that Heather’s effect on him could turn into a dangerous addiction, but Konor didn’t care. He’d been feeling the itch for something more lately, finding himself oddly restless in his own skin.
He wanted to wake up to a woman sharing his bed in a house he owned with their kids out in the living room blaring cartoons on the TV. He wanted to cook big dinners for his family and teach his sons to play sports. He was going to spoil his daughters and harass their boyfriends.
That was just the beginning of his plans. Konor wanted all the things he hadn’t had when he was growing up—acceptance, loyalty, a place to belong, and a woman who wanted him. Alex wanted the same. He was just too stubborn to admit it. Of course, he couldn’t blame his buddy for being skittish. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Heather had hurt Alex, though from what Konor remembered of Hugh, she’d probably been led down the path of temptation.
Not that it mattered anymore. At least, it shouldn’t, but Konor feared that it did very much to Alex. That was a problem they were going to have to work out because Konor was tired to watching his friend suffer. First, though, he had to find the bastard, and Konor knew just where to look.
Turning his truck toward the edge of town, he headed for the club set back into the hills. Most people passing by would probably think it was a golf club with all the acres of lush green fields that surrounded the actual club. Truthfully, there were a few fairways designed into the club’s intricate outdoor gardens, but that wasn’t the main draw.
Neither was the swimming pool or the billiards room or even the Michelin-starred chef they’d recently hired to complement the expanded dining room that just been completed. In fact, there were very few things a man couldn’t do at the club. From basketball teams to the annual Pussy Hunt that had men chasing women down like cavemen, the Cattleman’s Club provided non-stop entertainment and could fulfill just about any desire a man had except for bowling.
Konor frowned as that thought passed through his head. He liked to bowl. Maybe at the next meeting he’d bring it up. That, and allowing girlfriend and wives to be issued honorary member status, because he’d kind of like to chase Heather down and claim her like some kind of barbarian.
He’d bet Alex would more than like that idea, too. That is, if the he got his head out of his ass. Konor considered that it might take an actual surgery to accomplish that goal when he finally found Alex hunched over a whiskey in the Gentlemen’s Den.
Decorated to resemble some old British man’s club with high backed chairs upholstered in leather and dark wood paneling, the den was dimly lit and heavily air-conditioned to offset the fires that flamed 365 days a year in hearths nearly three feet wide. Waiters decked out in formal black suits hovered in the shadows, available to fulfill any request.
Motioning to the one hovering near to where Alex had slunk down into his seat, Konor ordered up a whiskey for himself with a mere nod at Alex’s glass. He flashed two fingers at the man, letting him know that Alex would need a new drink as well, before settling down into the seat next to Alex’s.
Without a word to his friend, Konor lifted his feet up onto the ottoman placed between to the two chairs and gazed around the room. The den was quiet tonight, with only a few men lingering about the place. Konor didn’t recognize any of them, so they were probably from out of town and staying in one of the club’s luxury suites or perhaps one of the fantasy suites, which wasn’t a cheap stay at all.
That was thankfully something Konor never had to pay for. All Cattlemen had a right to a certain amount of time in the fantasy suites. A man had to either earn more time by participating in club activities or by buying them. As a local, and a high-ranking one, Konor had more time than he cared to cash in, thought that might change in twenty-four days, especially if he could figure out a way to get Heather a day pass.
He’d have to talk to the Davis brothers directly about that idea because Konor didn’t figure GD would appreciate Konor’s plans to introduce Heather to the club. Hell, the big man might actually hit him once he found out, but it would be worth the pain.
“So,” Alex finally broke the silence as he lifted his scowl in Konor’s direction. “You going to apologize?”
“For what?” Konor shot Alex a frown.
“I don’t know?”Alex snapped. “Maybe for kicking me?”
“No.” Konor snorted dismissively, turning his attention back to the room. “You going to apologize for sending Bryant down to the lake?”
“No,” Alex retorted sullenly. “You going to apologize for breaking our pact and taking Heather out on a date—no, excuse me, a make out session?”
“Hell, no. In fact, I’m going to antagonize you by telling you that I had her naked and on her knees with my hand buried her hot little cunt.” Konor made a show of lifting his fingers and sucking them dry before shooting a smirk at Alex’s furious glare. “Mm-mm. Let me tell you that is one delicious pussy!”
“You’re a pig.”
“Oink. Oink.”
They fell back into a tense and strained silence as the waiter returned with two whiskeys. With grim efficiency that matched their mood, the server deposited two linen napkins along with crystal cups full of amber liquid on their shared side table before whisking away Alex’s empty one. Still, Konor waited until he’d had a calming sip of the alcohol, enjoying the burn and ensuing warmth that it filled him with, before he returned to taunting his longtime friend.
“And you’re really not one to speak about piggish behavior, or do you think making a bet about whether or not you could trick her into bed qualifies as honorable behavior?”
Alex’s lips thinned as his gaze narrowed, but he didn’t deny Konor’s charge. Neither did he try to defend his actions. In fact, all Alex had to say for himself could be summarized in one word.
“Oink. Oink.”
“You’re such an ass, you know that?” Konor dropped the cheery act to face Alex head on.
“I wasn’t the one who cheated on her,” Alex shot back. “Or don’t you think I’m allowed to be upset about that?”
“I’m sure it was done in a rash moment when I doubt Heather considered the two of you together.” At least Konor hoped so, otherwise it was going to be nearly impossible to convince Alex to forgive her.
“I take it GD told you the details,” Alex grumbled bitterly, proving Konor’s suspicions right as he sank deeper into his seat. “And did he tell you to remind me that Hugh had also plied her with an enormous amount of alcohol? Because that’s normally the second point he likes to harp on.”
“GD and I didn’t discuss the matter.” But they would be in the near future, because clearly the big man knew all the details that Konor needed to hear. “Heather and I did.”
Alex snorted at that and shot Konor a cross look. “And I assume she explained how everything was all my fault.”
“She said you made a bet…which kind of puts me in a bad spot,” Konor conceded.
“Yeah, I bet.” Alex’s frown eased into a smirk as he glanced toward the ornate mirror that took up almost all of the far wall. “I can’t wait until she finds out what kind of prize you turned her into.”
Konor followed Alex’s glance, taking in the aged silver frame that bordered a mirror that appeared old and speckled. but in reality was a monitor that reflected the heig
ht of modern technology. Large enough to contain over twenty individual screens, it served as the clubs main bulletin board. Right then, there was only one business listed on the main screen.
The Cattleman’s Summer Challenge.
Even from across the room, Konor could see that the active participants had increased, dramatically. So had the betting.
“Seventy-three,” Alex stated as if Konor couldn’t read the number clearly enough. “You and GD threw her to the wolves.”
“Oh, please. The junior squad is—”
“Only about forty men,” Alex cut in, leaning forward in his seat to snarl at Konor over the arm. “The rest are full-fledged members, and a lot are from out of town. Do you know what that means?”
Konor did, and he didn’t want to think about. So he ignored Alex’s question to propose his own. “Why do the out-of-towners care? They almost never participate in these kinds of challenges.”
Mostly because they were never around to. Out-of-towners tended to sign up for short-period challenges that tended to last a day or a weekend. Some even spanned a week. That was just why Konor hadn’t factored them into his plans. Apparently, he’d made a miscalculation.
“They’re in it for the Buckles,” Alex explained sourly, referencing the club’s form of internal currency. “Cole bet Jimmy five hundred Buckles that nobody could seduce Heather, and I don’t know, but it snowballed from there.”
“Huh.”
“Huh?” Alex repeated with outraged disgust. “Is that’s all you got to say?”
“Pretty much.” Konor nodded.
“Please.” Alex shook his head. “You’re not fooling me. You’re boned, man. Once Heather finds out about the Challenge…about who set her up to become the prize of the summer…you’ll be sent to the same dog house I live in.”
“Yeah? Well, then I’ll crawl back out,” Konor retorted, pausing to accept the drink the server returned with before piously pointing out the difference between them. “Unlike you, I don’t intend to wallow.”
