by Jenny Penn
By then, Heather was worn out. Physically, mentally, emotionally, she was done. All she wanted to do was go home, curled up in her bed and hide from the memories that wouldn’t leave her alone. The memories of softly spoken words and heated caresses, of tender kisses and long, slow strokes, memories of the feel of them, the taste of them, of the very scent of passion and musk that had clung to all of them haunted her, making her dreams pale in comparison.
She was doomed.
Heather knew it the moment she finished locking up the bakery only to turn around and find Alex leaning against a light post, a smile curling at the edges of his lips as his gaze raked down her length in gesture that could only be termed predatory. He was on the prowl and up to no good.
“I believe we have a date tonight.” Alex straightened up as he extended a hand toward her as he lifted the opposite brow. “So are you going to come peacefully? Or do I have to get the cuffs out?”
It probably should have taken Heather a moment to consider that offer. If she had, she might have remembered that she had meant to spit in his face when she saw him again, but seeing him changed everything. Whatever the cost, whatever she had to pay in tears, he was worth it.
They were worth it.
Heather corrected herself as she slid her hand into Alex’s and turned with him to where Konor’s truck sat idling at the corner with him behind the wheel. While her anger might have melted away beneath the searing tide of her lust, she escaped her worries that easily. They were lost beneath the heat and pleasure of the night and didn’t reappear the next morning when she woke up to the teasing strokes of callused fingertips and the warm comfort of gentle kisses.
Konor and Alex made slow, sweet love to her, making sure she came several times over before they took their final satisfaction. Afterward, Konor carried her off to the shower where he bathed her with a tender thoroughness that brought tears to her eyes.
Those tears threaten to trickle down her cheeks when they returned to the bedroom to find that Alex had procured a breakfast tray full of hot scratch biscuits along with eggs and bacon and the best damn coffee Heather had ever had. She was almost jealous, but then she figured they probably spent a lot of money on their coffee, making their profit margin, no doubt, slimmer than hers.
That knowledge fortified her, along with Konor’s presence as he drove her to work. He didn’t simply drop her off, though. Instead he parked and walked her into the bakery. He didn’t leave either, but headed straight back into the kitchen where he dismissed Howie for the day.
Howie disappeared before Heather even knew what was going on. There wasn’t time to get him back as the bakery filled up with its morning rush. Konor kept up, despite her fears he wouldn’t be able to, and by lunch time, he’d even added his own menu items…again, without permission.
Not that Heather could complain. The customers seemed to love his sandwiches and they sold out, completely depleting her supply of artisan bread and leaving her short for that evening. It was a mild inconvenience, though, compared to being able to go to sleep that night with the comfort of knowing that she maximized her profit that day.
Or she would have gone to sleep contented by that knowledge if Alex hadn’t appeared to whisk her back off to the club and the cube and another night of mind-blowing sex. Alex and Konor were insatiable, and imaginative. They were also gone the next morning when she woke up.
Alex and Konor weren’t the only ones who seemed to have vanished. That Friday, her bakery was like a ghost town, not that Heather wondered what was going on. She could read all about it in the paper and from the headlines, it was clear that Hailey’s plan had gone completely awry.
Alex and Konor’s plan, on the other hand, was progressing just as they intended it to no doubt. Heather was a smart girl. She figured it all out when she woke up again on Saturday to find Alex and Konor still in bed with her. They whisked her off to a grill-out that was full of fun and laughter and lasted well into the evening.
They were trying to prove a point. She could have a life with them or a life without them and they were drawing a sharp contrast between the two. They were offering her a choice, a choice that about broke Heather’s heart because she really didn’t have one. She was a mother. She had to put her son first.
Heather made that clear in no uncertain terms to both Alex and Konor, explaining that despite whatever emotions might exist they had to be put aside. On Monday, when Taylor returned, everything had to go back to the way it had been. Both men listened to her, wide-eyed and attentive, but that didn’t change anything.
Sunday dawned and they were still there in bed with her. They weren’t leaving either. Instead, they both escorted her to church before Alex headed off for his shift and Konor followed her into the bakery, informing her that he would start working on the dough he knew she’d have stayed late to prep for the following day.
It was a thoughtful gesture, one that allowed Heather to do something she didn’t always get a chance to do—relax and spend more time chatting up her customers…particularly her favorite ones, like her best friend Rachel who arrived with Kitty Anne in tow.
Heather hadn’t seen Rachel since the story about Cole going undercover to bust the prostitution ring down in Dothan had hit the papers. She’d assumed that when Killian said her best friend was “tied up right then” he’d meant that literally, but whatever he and Adam had done to her, they’d clearly failed to intimidate Rachel or curb her tendency to find trouble.
That was just where Rachel was headed. Heather could read it in the gleam in the other woman’s eyes and she could definitely read it in the smile curling at Kitty Anne’s lips. A blonde bombshell that would’ve played the lead in any film noir, Kitty Anne had the kind of looks that drew men’s attention but tended to intimidate them into keeping their distance.
That was probably a good thing given Kitty’s reputation. It was more colorful than even Patton’s, which was saying something. Then again, Patton had never been arrested for prostitution. Kitty Anne had, though Heather knew for a fact that the blonde wasn’t actually a hooker. Apparently, not everybody was so easily convinced.
That became clear about two seconds after Heather greeted them and asked Kitty Anne how it was going. Never one to bother with polite niceties, Kitty answered with a blunt honesty that matched the grimness in her tone.
“Terrible. I got fired.”
“Really?” Heather blinked, uncertain of what to say to that. So, she left it with that one lame question, not that she needed to come up with any more. Kitty Anne was all too eager to complain, unloading her woes in an unsolicited monologue that had Heather feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second.
“Yes. Apparently, prostitution is not an appropriate hobby for a county employee to engage in. Something to do with morals or ethics, I can’t remember.” Kitty Anne waved away the point as if it didn’t matter, and to her, it clearly didn’t. “Whatever. It was a boring job anyway, and it’s not like I want to work for a bunch of assholes who presume you’re guilty before being proven innocent. You know what I mean?”
“Uh, yeah.” Heather hesitated, unsure of what to say to any of that.
Of course, she never knew what to say to Kitty Anne. The woman was outlandish, outrageous, and, all too commonly, outright offensive, but then again, that was true of most brutally honest people. Honesty really was an overrated trait, which was just why Heather plastered on a smile and lied through her teeth.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find another job quickly, and hopefully one you enjoy more.”
“Oh, I am sure I will, too,” Kitty agreed with a confidence that was borderline obnoxious. So was the look she shot Rachel along with a smile that gave Heather chills. “In fact, Rachel was just telling me she thought there might be a position for an English tutor out at Camp D. Have you heard of the place?”
Heather felt her blood run cold at the thought of Kitty Anne being exposed to so many young, impressionable boys. The very idea horrified her. That so
ur sentiment must have shown on her face because Rachel quickly answered for her.
“Heather sends her son, Taylor, there for their afterschool program and, if I’m not mistaken, he’s going to attend the summer camp when he gets back from visiting his grandma in Florida, isn’t that right, Heather?”
“That’s the plan,” Heather agreed, drawing out the word slowly as she studied the look the two women exchanged.
Something was up. Whatever it was, Rachel didn’t want her knowing about it. That much was clear, not that Heather couldn’t take a general guess at what the two women were planning. She had a feeling that whatever was going on it had something to do with one man.
“So, Kitty Anne, has Rachel warned you about Nick Dickles?”
“Who?” Kitty batted her eyelashes up at Heather in a gesture that probably worked miracles of making any man forget his very name, much less whatever he’d been thinking. Heather wasn’t a man, though, and could see right through the gesture.
“Nick Dickles,” Heather repeated, unable to keep the smile curling at her lips from taking on a wicked hint as she continued on. “He owns and runs Camp D and, like you, he was once arrested for prostitution, only he was guilty and he was running a ring, not satisfying the johns.”
“Really?” Kitty Anne smirked, not appearing the least bit insulted by Heather’s comment. “And here all Rachel told me was that he was hotter than the sun.”
“And quicker than quicksand,” Heather tacked on as she caught sight of GD shouldering his way through the front door.
She wasn’t the only one who took notice of his entrance. Kitty Anne did, too. Stiffening up ever so slightly, the blonde couldn’t seem to control the scowl that flashed across her features before the frown faded beneath an aloof expression that nevertheless felt forced. Heather was left thinking the same thing she thought only moments before.
Something was up.
She stood a better chance of finding out what from GD than she did Kitty Anne, or, at least, she assumed she would when she excused herself and headed over to greet him. GD wasn’t in a cooperative mood, though. He had his own questions and he barked them at her with the impatience that had Heather snapping back her answers.
It didn’t take him long to annoy her into walking away and she had a perfectly good excuse for ditching GD and his bad attitude. Alex had shown up. He must have come in the back way, which could only mean he was not officially on a break and didn’t want anybody to know that he was goofing off.
He’d been goofing off a lot lately, at least on the days that he showed up at all. Heather was glad it was one of those days, or at least she was until she stopped back by Rachel’s table to get Kitty Anne and her order before heading back to the kitchen to greet Alex properly.
* * * *
Konor enjoyed whistling even though he only knew two tunes. He contentedly played them over and over again as he kneaded his way through one pile of dough after another. It was a good day. It had been a great week. After a couple thousand more, it would be an amazing lifetime.
Of course, that was only if they could convince Heather that she could trust them and trust that a relationship with someone would work out. Konor had reason to feel optimistic about their chances. He was almost completely certain that she was already in love with them. Now they just had to convince her that a relationship would work.
She wouldn’t buy that argument until she saw it, experienced it, right along with her son. They’d have to wait for Taylor to get back before they could prove that they would make a perfect family. In the meantime, he’d allowed Alex to try his own asinine idea.
He thought that somehow he could manage to force Heather to own up to her emotions by simply ignoring her every other day. Konor hadn’t actually understood the logic behind the idea. Whenever he asked, he got another lecture about turning screws, which made less than no sense.
Konor had agreed to Alex’s plan anyway. It wasn’t like he had to understand it. All he needed to know was that it did no harm, and it hadn’t. Better yet, since he’d agreed to give Alex’s plan a try first, it was now his turn to steer the ship. He knew exactly where he was heading—to a gourmet, candle-lit dinner straight with flowers and music and every other damn thing that would make Heather swoon.
It would be followed by a massage and a slow, sensual loving that had her ready to confess all. That was the plan, but his plans never went right. Normally that was because of Alex. That Sunday was no different as Alex came stalking through the back door.
He was wearing a grin that had Konor’s stomach knotting instantly. Almost immediately, he knew Alex was up to something. Konor was certain it was something no good, no doubt, but that didn’t mean he had a clue as to what.
With Alex, it could be anything. The only thing for certain was that it had something to do with Heather. It always had something to do with Heather, except that the first words out of Alex’s mouth didn’t have anything to do with her.
“I saw Rachel’s car out in the parking lot, is she here?” Alex asked, bringing up an old subject that had Konor groaning.
Not that he thought Alex was up to anything with Rachel. Neither did he suspect that Heather would believe it, given her close relationship with Rachel. That didn’t mean that Alex wasn’t still tormenting Killian and Adam by showing a little too much attention to their girlfriend.
“You’re not going to start that up again, are you?” Konor asked as he watched Alex peer out into the dining room through the window cut into the kitchen door.
“Yes!” Alex whispered in gleeful victory to himself, a sound that had every one of Konor’s nerves prickling with alarm.
“Alex?”
Glancing over at him as he quickly tried to smother his grin, Alex shot Konor an innocent look that he didn’t buy for a moment. “What?”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Alex answered all too quickly before shoving through the door and escaping into the dining room, but Konor wasn’t going to let him get away that quickly.
Pausing to shoot a quick nod to Howie, who sighed heavily and nodded back, Konor took off after Alex, almost slamming into him as he shoved through the door. Whatever Alex was up to, he was still waiting for something. That became clear as he stood there watching Heather chat with Rachel and some blonde.
Konor barely spared the three women a glance before turning his attention back on Alex. “What did you do?”
“Why do you think I did anything?” Alex shot back without taking his eyes off of Heather.
“Alex.”
“What?”
Konor didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to get caught in that kind of pointless arguing. He made that clear as he glared silently at Alex, refusing to speak until finally Alex glanced over at him and frowned.
“I swear, man, I didn’t do anything.”
“And why don’t I believe you?”
“I don’t know.” Alex snorted as he broke into a wide grin. “Maybe because I’m smiling?”
“Or maybe it’s because I know you too well,” Konor countered. “So why don’t you tell me what Heather thinks you did?”
“All right,” Alex gave in with ill grace. “If it will shut you up, I’ll tell you. You see that blonde sitting with Rachel?
“Yeah.” Konor cast a quick look in the woman’s direction.
She was pretty enough, he guessed, but there was something about her that sent a cold chill down his spine. Shaking off the feeling with a quick glance at Heather, who looked warm, soft, and inviting in her pink and white sundress, Konor finally, begrudgingly turned his attention back toward Alex.
“What about the blonde?”
“That’s Kitty Anne,” Alex announced, as if that made any sense to Konor.
“Kitty who?”
“Kitty Anne,” Alex repeated, the impatience straining again in his tone. “Rachel’s friend who helped set Cole up to get arrested. You know, the one who scared the crap out of Aaron and Jacob.”
&
nbsp; “Okay.”
Actually, Konor hadn’t known that any woman had scared the crap out of those two buttheads, but he would remember that for future entertainment. Right then, he remained focused on getting to the point which Alex seemed to be taking his time with.
“So that’s Kitty Anne. So what?”
“She moved into the Moon Set Suites just the other day.”
“I’m still failing to get the point here Alex. What the hell does any of this have to do with Heather?”
“Well, it just might be that Kitty Anne saw me coming out of another Moon Set Suite with Gwen chasing after me wearing almost next to nothing.”
“Oh God.” Konor blinked, almost unable to comprehend that admission, but there was no denying the eat-shit grin spreading across Alex’s face. “What did you do?”
“Turned a screw.”
Alex snickered before glancing up to catch sight of Heather storming at them, her fist clenched, her cheeks burning, and her gaze as dark as the rage he kind of sensed seething in her. Things were about to explode and Alex’s response? The crazy bastard smiled and all but chortled with glee.
“And look, here it comes.”
Chapter 40
Alex braced himself for what was coming, getting ready to protect his balls if necessary, because Heather look pissed enough to drag him around the dining room by them this time. It just went to prove what kind of sick fuck he was that the very idea of Heather trying to do that had his dick swelling in eager anticipation when it probably should have been wilting in fear.
Fortunately, Heather hadn’t reached the violent stage, yet.
“In the kitchen!”
Heather jammed a finger in the direction of the doors behind him in a gesture so damn cute he couldn’t help but smile. She really was a sight. With her cheeks flaming and her eyes flashing with a passion that fueled his own, she looked like a walking wet dream as she shoved past both him and Konor. She hesitated with a hand on the swinging doors that led into the kitchen to glance back at them and snap.
