by Jenny Penn
“Yeah, but I wasn’t denying I was sleeping with Adam and Killian,” Rachel pointed out piously. “I mean really Heather, if you’re going to put up with them, you might as well be compensated for the effort...maybe not with cash, though.”
Rachel added on that qualification when Heather paused as she piled up all the billfolds back onto her tray to raise a brow at her friend, wondering if she realized just what she was saying. The unrepentant smile tugging at Rachel’s lips assured her she did.
“I’m not interested in being compensated,” Heather informed her as she pulled the cheesecake out of one of the refrigerated display cases. “I’m interested in sex. No-strings-attached sex.”
Rachel snorted at that and rolled her eyes. “You have a whole bakery full of men willing to give you just that and yet...”
“I have standards,” Heather informed Rachel with a touch of indignation.
“And the sheriff? He meets them?” Rachel asked in disbelief. “Because excuse me if I’m wrong, but did you call him a conceited jackass just a few hours ago?”
“Is there nothing you don’t hear?” Because it seemed like Rachel’s source was a little too accurate, making Heather wonder if she didn’t have a spy in her midst.
“I’m a journalist.” Rachel held her arms out in surrender even as she failed to apologize for being so nosy. “It’s just what I do. Besides, I know you, Heather, and you and Alex have been arch enemies for the past two decades. So you’ll have to forgive me, but I find it strange that you are suddenly engaged to the man.”
“I am not engaged, and I’m not arguing about this anymore.”
With that, Heather plopped a thick slice of cheesecake onto a plate and slid the plate onto her tray. Rachel watched her with the laughter still twinkling in her eyes as Heather returned the cake back to the freezer before heaving a heavy tray back up onto her shoulder and scurrying off.
Heather could run, but she wasn’t fast enough to escape Rachel’s parting shot once again.
“You’ll enjoy the club, and don’t bother trying to escape because the whole race is already rigged, rabbit.”
* * * *
“They’re all nuts, and there is only one thing to do—fight crazy with crazy.”
Konor watched the men gathered around the table nod at that sentiment. It had been expressed by Cole Jackson, who was well known for his wild ways. Truthfully, he didn’t have any right to cast that stone given his own reputation, but, hypocrisies aside, Konor had to agree with the underlying sentiment as coal continued to preach on from his position near the head of the long, makeshift table.
“See, the problem here is that the women think they have the upper hand. They think that because they like to be punished there really is no downside to misbehavior. Well, we need to prove them wrong. We need to make an impression. I’m sorry to say, but we need to make it hurt.”
Cole paused, allowing the other men to murmur their agreements as heads nodded all around the table. Alex’s didn’t. Neither did Konor’s, but at least he was listening to Cole. Konor didn’t think Alex was doing even that much.
The other man’s gaze remained locked on Heather, and it didn’t take a psychic to guess at what kind of thoughts were keeping him entertained. Not with that smile.
“So, we’re all agreed then? Alex will set me up with the boys down in Dothan and the paper will run the exposé the next day and that is when we strike...on all fronts.”
That rallying declaration had all the men swearing that the women were going down. Right or wrong. Innocent or not. The men were declaring war and ready to settle some debts.
That sentiment was greeted with nothing but agreement until everybody had spoken except for one man. Slowly everybody’s gaze came to rest on Alex, who continued to grin like a loon as he tracked Heather’s every movement.
“Sheriff?” Cole pressed but got no response, prompting Konor to kick his chair hard enough to jar Alex.
“Hey, man, pay attention.”
That snapped command had Alex’s smile dipping as his eyes shifted over toward Konor. They glinted with irritation that matched the slow motion as Alex turned in his seat until he faced the rest of the group. He sat there silently as the men shifted in their seats, uncomfortable beneath Alex’s considering gaze, and they should have been.
For the past few weeks, Alex had taken a lot of shit from a lot of the guys, and now they were asking for a favor. Nobody, not even Konor, knew how he’d break on this one.
“I know what you want,” Alex finally broke his silence. “And it’s doable, but not free.”
Whatever that meant, GD apparently was the only one who understood what Alex was talking about. Alex’s eyes landed on the big man and, for a tense moment, the two glared back at one another until finally GD folded with ill grace.
“Fine,” the big man snapped. “You can have the damn cube but I swear to God—”
“Good,” Alex cut him off, drawing a growl from GD and a grin from Cole.
“Then it’s settled?” Cole asked, the eagerness plain in his tone.
“Yep. I’ll have the Dothan PD call you tomorrow.” Alex’s head turned, along with his attention, as Heather moved past and his words faded away as that damn grin reappeared.
“Hey,” Konor leaned forward, pitching his voice low beneath the ruckus of the group breaking up. “I think we need to talk about whatever it is you are planning.”
That brought Alex’s gaze back to him as his grin softened into a reflection of true amusement. “No, we don’t.”
“But—”
* * * *
“Hey, Devin.” Alex nodded to the man who’d stepped up to glare down at him, and cut Konor off without a second’s hesitation. “How’s it going?”
“Not good,” Devin answered, clearly not interested in polite small talk. “Can you guess why that is?”
Alex surely could. “Nope.”
Devin’s scowled at that easy response, not looking the slightest bit amused. He managed, though, to keep his fist clenched by his side, which impressed Alex. After all, the youngest Davis brother wasn’t known for having even temper. Neither was he known for beating around the bush.
“Well then, let me explain it to you. My brothers and I are afraid that you might be a little distracted—”
“Distracted?” Alex blinked in mock surprise. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about you being dragged around this damn bakery on your ass,” Devin snapped. “I’m talking about Heather Lawson and your obsession with her.”
“I’m not obsessed. I’m engaged,” Alex corrected him with a smile.
“I’ll believe that when I see your ring on her finger,” Devin shot back. “Not that it much matters. Chase, Slade, and I all agree— you need to fuck this out of your system, so that you can get back to your job and finding who set Patton on fire.”
“Somebody set Patton on fire?” Konor frowned, looking between the two of them but Devin didn’t appreciate the joke.
“Ha. Ha.” Devin rolled his eyes before narrowing his gaze back on Alex. “You asked GD to reserve a cube out at the club for one night. Well, you got a week.”
“A week?” Alex perked up at the sound of that. As far as bribes went this was a pretty good one.
“One week,” Devin repeated. “Nobody will say anything. Nobody will get in your way. It’s all comped, but when you get back—you better come up with the name of the arsonist.”
With that, Devin turned and stormed away. Alex watched him go, already considering what to do with the deal that Devin had just offered them. He had so many ideas. They were also entertaining. A week didn’t even seem like enough time.
“Wow,” Konor finally muttered with a shake of his head as he glanced over at Alex. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, I’m thinking I’m going to start with a spanking, and then see where the mood takes me.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Konor responde
d dryly, but Alex could see the sparkle in his best friend’s eyes and knew that Konor was enjoying that thought, too. The glimmer faded quickly, though, as he glanced back toward where Devin had disappeared through the front door. “You’re going to have to tell them the truth at some point. Your plan on waiting it out and seeing if maybe they just lose interest is clearly not working.”
That’s because it had never been a good plan, more like a desperate one.
“Ah, well.” Alex shrugged the matter off to the sigh. “I guess I got a week before I have to figure it all out.”
That comment drew a scowl from Konor, who straightened back up with an indignant air that assured Alex a lecture was coming. “I don’t think—”
“You got two choices,” Alex informed him, cutting Konor off without even bothering to hear what he had to say. “Back me, or not.”
* * * *
Konor growled over that ultimatum, feeling cornered. It went unsaid that Alex had backed him at the obstacle course, even as they both knew Alex had intentionally provoked Heather earlier. While Hugh might be a threat, they both knew he wasn’t a pressing one.
Not yet.
Alex, on the other hand, had but one goal— figuring out a way to get Heather into his bed on a permanent, nightly basis. In the end, Konor couldn’t argue with that sentiment. That didn’t mean he gave in graciously.
“Fine. What do you want me to do?”
Konor sighed, knowing he’d lost control of the situation and deciding to look on the positive side. At least, Alex wasn’t denying his interest in Heather anymore. Just the opposite.
“Sit on her.” Alex stated without hesitation. “Make sure she doesn’t escape while I get everything ready.”
“There is something about that statement that worries me,” Konor muttered as Alex popped up, ready to rush off to handle whatever details Konor was sure he was better off not knowing.
He wanted to be able to deny as much as he could if everything blew up in their faces. Apparently Alex had a similar concerned that Konor might be intent on covering his own ass. He paused to give Konor a hard stare along with one more instruction.
“And don’t be ruining my surprise by ratting me out to her.”
“Couldn’t if I wanted to.” Because he didn’t have a clue as to what the hell Alex intended.
Not that he couldn’t guess that his plans included sex, bondage, and toys, though, not necessarily in that order. Of course, Alex might be planning something a little crazier. The gleam that grew in his eyes as he turned to watch the spectacle that Cole was making of Hailey warned Konor that Alex actually had been listening to the other man preach.
Poor Heather, Konor feared she had no clue what she started when she began kicking Alex with that damn rag.
It was too late now, though. War had been declared, and Konor suspected that neither Alex nor Heather knew what they were fighting for, much less about. They just enjoyed fighting. It didn’t even matter to them that there was no point to half of their arguments, just like this one.
Alex thought he was so clever for having tricked Heather into giving him a reason to claim what he wanted, but the damn woman had been more than willing to give it up anyway. Heather, on the other hand, was all up in arms because Alex had helped pay her way while seeming completely oblivious to what that meant.
They were both just being stubborn and difficult. Konor could only hope that after a lot of sex, they wore each other down enough to realize life was better when people made love, not war.
Making love.
That thought echoed through his head, as it sank in to him that that was exactly what they were going to do. Konor had never made love to a woman before. He’d used them, almost savagely, for his pleasure and theirs, but Heather was different.
The things he wanted to do to her, the hunger she inspired in him, Konor had never experienced such searing primitive need before. That was the real reason he gone along with Alex’s unexplained plan, because he knew without question that his friend had every intention of indulging the very same appetites.
That thought brought a smile to Konor’s lips as his gaze locked on the tempting sight of Heather bent over a table as she wiped it down. Her arms swished back and forth with enough speed to make her breasts bounce and her ass sway, leaving him hard and aching as Konor envisioned how good she’d look jiggling like that naked—naked and grinding up against him like she had the other night when he and Alex had cornered her in the kitchen.
That ass had been plush and soft, her cheeks a vice that had sucked the long length of his erection into the heaven he couldn’t wait to plunder, and if she didn’t stop shaking that ass in his face, that fantasy would be made into reality in the next few seconds.
Witnesses be damned.
Chapter 28
Heather felt the warm stroke of a hungry graze and stilled as her senses prickled with an electrifying combination of fear and anticipation. There were only two men alive that could make her enjoy the feeling of being hunted, and Alex had already left.
Konor hadn’t. Her gaze shifted as she glanced back to find him lingering at the table all the other cattlemen had abandoned. He sat there, his gaze locked on her ass. His eyes were darkened with the same feral intent as the smile curling at his lips, and he was beginning to grow the same grin that had been plastered across Alex’s face.
Apparently, the crazy was spreading.
In fact, Heather thought it just might be contagious because she couldn’t deny the urge to wiggle her ass and taunt him. That wouldn’t be wise, given the look in his eyes. That heated gaze burned through her clothes to sear across her skin and left her feeling as good as naked.
There was a wicked idea. She could strip down, right here in front of everybody, and put on a show like some high-priced stripper. Heather couldn’t help but smile as that thought blossomed into a fantasy of her giving him a lap dance of a lifetime. Maybe later, if he was a good boy, she’d indulge that urge.
After all, Rachel had been right. Heather did deserve to be compensated for putting up with all of Alex’s and Konor’s attitude. She deserved multiple orgasms, and she didn’t have any doubt they could give them to her.
Given the darkness of Konor’s expression and the tension gripping him as he sat there, shifting in his seat and stalking after her with his gaze, he looked more than ready to give her just that, right there and then, which made her all the more crazy for taunting him, but Heather had already determined that Alex’s insanity was infectious.
After all, the man was clearly uncomfortable. How could he not be with the impressively-sized boner straining behind his zipper? He was hard and hurting. Teasing him now would be cruel and, no doubt, lead to uncontrollable results, which was just why she did it.
Unable to resist pushing him, Heather went about her nightly chores of cleaning up the bakery and putting on her best show. Wiggling, shaking, and working to make every move as suggestive and seductive as she could, she didn’t stop until the bakery was spotless and the last customer gone, leaving only Konor sitting there all alone in the darkness as she finally clicked out the lights.
Pulling her purse strap high up onto her shoulder, Heather strutted right up to him and finally broke the silence that had reigned between them all night long.
“Well?” Heather lifted a brow before offering him a guarantee that she wasn’t certain was absolutely true. “I’m ready.”
Konor seemed to see through her false bravo to the uncertainty lingering in her stomach. It knotted with an anxious tension that only heightened the sense of expectation that had her blood pumping hot and thick through her veins. She wanted him. Wanted this. And who wouldn’t?
The man was a walking advertisement for sex. He’d have made Venus weak in the knees with that damn lazy smile of his. The world of pleasures lay hidden behind that smooth, sensual twist of his lips, lips that had a woman aching to feel their firm, velvety caress as he licked down the same path as that brilliant gaze as it slid over
her body.
Heather quivered and trembled, her skin warming under the phantom caress of his gaze. She could feel herself melting as the want growing inside her sharpened painfully. The sudden urge to spread her legs across his and settle down on Konor’s lap and take him for a ride right then and there surged through her.
She just very well might have given into it if he hadn’t finally broken his silence.
“You sure about that, sweetness?” The subtle threat tinting Konor’s slow drawl was backed by the flex and ripple of his muscles as he rose slowly to his feet tower over her. “Because, you know, an apology would go a long way here.”
He didn’t mean that and she didn’t believe him. There was no going back. Heather was beginning to believe that even if she could, it wouldn’t change what was about to happen. It was destiny. It had been fated since the first moment she’d laid eyes on Alex.
He’d been a scrawny kid with freckles and hair cut so short that his ears stuck out like Dumbo. She’d thought he was a twerp back then and he intimidated her in ways that she’d been too young to understand, but now she did. It had been love at first sight.
And Konor?
He was just the sweet dream on top, a dream that would dare to run away with her heart if she let him...as if she could stop him. Heather had already failed that test and now it was too late, yet again. There was no point in resisting. So, with a smile, she held out her hand.
“I don’t have anything left to apologize for, stud, but if you and yours want to argue about the matter, I’m all it ears.”
Konor grunted at that as he wrapped her fingers in the warm strength of his own. “All right then, have it your way.”
Konor led her over to the front doors and stood to the side while she armed the security system and through the bolts on the two main locks. Heather kept her movements measured and controlled despite the quick, little breaths she had to take to keep up with the rapid race of her heart.
It pounded hard in her chest, making her feel anxious and itchy as she turned back toward Konor. She tried, though, to disguise those telltale signs of nerves, trying to appear as calm and collected as he did, though Heather suspected Konor was far from as relaxed as he looked.
