by Debbie Mason
As he’d suspected he would, Gage left out the people who should be at the top of his list. “What about the Callahans?”
His brother bowed his head, gave it a slight shake, then looked at Chance. “Let it go. They’re not—”
“Wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it?” Vivi said, avoiding looking at Chance while speaking directly to his brother. “I got an e-mail from Darwin Callahan earlier this week. Not exactly a threatening one, but he implied if I did or said anything that might negatively impact his parole hearing next month, he had people on the outside who’d take care of me for him.”
“Enlighten me, will you? What part of that did you not perceive to be a threat? And why the hell didn’t you tell me as soon as you received it?” Chance motioned to her messenger bag. “Let me see the e-mail.”
“I don’t have my laptop with me. My battery died. I left it at the apartment.” Once again, she avoided eye contact.
Oh, come on. She couldn’t be holding something else back. But his gut said otherwise. “Who else, who else threatened you today?”
“It was nothing.”
“Vivi, you let me and Chance decide if it was nothing, okay? What happened?”
“Zach stopped by asking for a job. You made him feel like a loser the other night, and for whatever reason, he figured working here would show you he was serious about providing for Natalee.”
He met his brother’s gaze over her head. Good, he wasn’t the only one who thought that sounded like a load of crap. One more person to add to the growing list of suspects. Vivi continued, “Anyway, I’d made a list of colleges for Natalee to check out and asked him to give it to her. He, ah, he implied that Natalee hated me. Basically warned me to watch my back.”
Vivi Westfield never failed to surprise him. But he supposed he shouldn’t be. Taking care of people, looking out for them, was her thing. Even if it was a young woman who didn’t like her. “He’s yanking your chain. Nat’s a sweet kid. She’d never hurt anyone.” He’d have a talk with her though. Make sure she knew she had no reason to be jealous of Vivi. No one would take Kate’s place in his heart.
“We’ll be about an hour here. Why don’t you check out Callahan’s e-mail with Vivi… Hang on a minute.” His brother answered his cell. While he listened to whoever was on the other end, a muscle ticked in his jaw as his gaze moved from Chance to Vivi. “Okay, got it. Thanks, Jill.” He disconnected. “Black Mustang was spotted parked in the lane beside the bakery about forty minutes ago.”
* * *
Chance stood over Vivi. “Pack a bag. You’re staying with me.”
She sat on the couch with her knees pulled to her chest, struggling to hold it together. She bowed her head in order to keep her panic from his all-seeing eyes. The apartment hadn’t been trashed like the Chronicle, but they’d stolen her laptop. They now had access to Chance’s theories about the Drugstore Bandits. And even more devastating, at least to her, they had access to her entire life—to her every thought, every dream, every stupid regret and mistake. Things she didn’t want anyone to know. She felt violated, exposed.
Maddie and Skye sat on either side of her. “Please, Vivi, stay with Chance,” Skye pleaded.
They expected her to argue. She wasn’t going to. She wanted to stay with him. For the first time in a long time, she was scared. The fears she’d battled after Jimmy “the Knife” Moriarty broke into her apartment in New York came back to taunt her. Seeing what Jimmy, a known murderer and rapist, had done to her personal belongings, what he’d threatened to do to her, had left a mark. She’d gotten her revenge, even though it cost her her job and nearly her life. But it hadn’t been enough to keep the nightly panic attacks at bay. Three months, it had taken three months before she’d slept through the night. These guys didn’t scare her as much as Jimmy, but that same sense of helplessness had returned.
Chance crouched in front of her, lifting her chin with his fingers. “If I have to carry you out of here, you’re coming home with me. Now either you pack your bag or I do it for you.”
“I can pack my own bag. I just needed a minute to think.” She doubted he bought the excuse, but she had to say something. She didn’t want him, Maddie, or Skye knowing the break-ins had gotten to her. She hated weakness, especially in herself. “Everything was on my laptop: banking, contact info, everything.”
He nodded, stood up, and took his cell from his pocket. “I’ll call Easton. He should be able to remotely wipe your hard drive.”
“Really? That’d be great. Thanks.” She felt better at the thought they wouldn’t be able to access her personal files. “You’ll need my password.” She caught the uncomfortable look that came over his face and threw up her hands. “I don’t believe you. You already have my password, don’t you?”
“Oh, oh,” Skye murmured, then got up to answer the door. Chance had made everyone but Skye and Maddie wait outside.
“Don’t get worked up. I didn’t use it. I—”
She believed him, but getting worked up would keep her tears at bay. So she went with it. “As if I believe that. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that it’s because of you that Nell steamrolled me into buying the Chronicle.”
“You can’t put the entire blame on Nell, Vivi. Me and Skye did some steamrolling of our own,” Maddie said.
“You’re right, you did.” Vivi stood up. “And I don’t know why I let all of you twist my arm. This was the absolute worst decision of my life.” She glared at Chance, who looked at her with an amused expression on his face, working her into full-out rant mode. It felt good. The tears were gone now. “No, wait, I stand corrected. Getting involved with you was the worst decision of my life.”
He reached for her, lifting her off her feet so they were nose to nose. “You’re full of it. But if that’s what you’ve got to tell yourself to make you feel better, honey, go for it.” And then he kissed her. Right on the mouth. It wasn’t a friend’s kiss. It wasn’t even a friends-with-benefits kiss. It felt like a you-drive-me-crazy-but-I-love-you-anyway kiss.
Which was probably the reason why, when he set her back on her feet, she stared at him with her mouth hanging open. He’d completely burst her rant bubble.
“Finally,” Nell said from behind her. “Took you long enough. Looks like we’re going to have a wedding in Christmas after all.”
Chance took Vivi by the shoulders, steering her past Nell and the group of women now gathered in the living room. “I’ll deal with her. You pack your bag.”
As she walked toward the bedroom, Vivi realized what kind of kiss it was. The same one he’d given her on the plane. He knew—he knew she was scared. Knew what her angry rant had been about. She supposed the knowledge should have her rethinking her plan to stay with him, but it didn’t. The way he’d effortlessly lifted her off her feet, his big hands wrapped around her arms, and his mouth, that amazing mouth, on hers had done more to quiet her fears than her temper tantrum.
“Whoa, that was some kiss. I thought you two were just friends now,” Maddie said, following Vivi into the bedroom.
“Yeah, that was so not a friendly kiss,” Skye said, parking her butt on the end of the bed.
“Yes it was.” She caught Skye and Maddie’s shared grins. “And not the benefits kind.”
Vivi packed up her toiletries in the bathroom then walked to the dresser, pulling a couple pairs of underwear from the drawer and two T-shirts. She turned to put them in her messenger bag only to discover her best friends had her suitcase opened in the middle of the bed. Within minutes, they’d packed everything she’d brought with her to Christmas.
She sat on the bed, crossing her arms. “What do you two think you’re doing?”
Skye shrugged. “Better to be prepared.”
Maddie tugged on the zipper and looked at her. “Okay, can we be honest? Or more to the point, you be honest. I know you, Vivi Westfield, and I know you are still very much in love with Chance McBride. Don’t try and deny it,” she said when Vivi went to do just that.
* * *
Vivi didn’t get an opportunity to argue with her friends. Chance had come to get her, hustling her out of the apartment and into his truck. If she’d been able to convince them there was nothing more than a friendship between her and Chance, maybe she would have been able to squash that small flutter of hope taking flight inside her. For the entire drive, he’d been watching her with the same expression she imagined Skye had seen at the Chronicle. The look that had her best friends convinced that he was in love with her. It had to be because those soft sidelong glances, the way his gaze roamed her face every so often, had resurrected the butterflies in her stomach. Those romantic feelings seemed to be coming back to life, too.
“You’re quiet. You okay?” he asked, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Her stupid heart did a happy dance. “I’m good. Just thinking about everything I have to do tomorrow.”
“Nell’s got the seniors of Christmas on speed dial. They’re going in to clean up as soon as Gage gives them the okay.”
“It’s almost eleven. I can’t let them do that.” She pulled her cell phone from her jeans pocket.
He closed his hand over hers. “Let her do it. She’s worried they broke in because of her column. It’ll make her feel better. Besides, she says half of them don’t sleep anyway.”
“You and I both know the break-in had nothing to do with Nell’s Around the Town column. If anything, it did exactly what she said it would do. We had a huge uptick in new subscriptions.”
Chance snorted. “Great, there’ll be no stopping her now.”
“Please don’t say that. I’m going to have a hard enough time getting to sleep without worrying about what she’ll get up to next.” Her Christmas Cuties idea came to mind.
“Don’t worry. Once I take care of you, you’ll have no problem going to sleep.”
“Ah, we talked about this, remember? No benefits.” She could really use some benefits right now, but no matter what Skye and Maddie thought—no matter what Vivi thought she saw in his eyes—that would be opening herself up to a boatload of pain.
“You gotta do something about that dirty mind of yours, Slick. We’re going for a swim, and then I’ll finish you off with a rubdown.”
She must have a dirty mind because her brain got stuck on “rubdown” and “finish you off.” She had firsthand experience with a Chance McBride rubdown, and unless she wanted to have a big O in front of him, which she didn’t, his talented fingers were getting nowhere near her. She decided his first suggestion was safer. “I didn’t see a pool. Is it on the other side of the cabin?”
“City girl,” he scoffed. “We’re swimming in the lake.”
“Funny, for a minute there I thought you were serious.”
He laughed. “I am. It’ll be good for you.”
“Are you crazy? It’s probably ten degrees, and dark, real dark. We wouldn’t be able to see the snakes and fish and stuff.” She shuddered, thinking of the weeds wrapping around her legs. “Anyway, I don’t have a bathing suit.”
“Temperature will be a little fresh, but it’ll be good for you. And it’s dark. You don’t need a suit.”
“I’m not skinny-dipping with you, McBride,” she said as they pulled off the main road. She was surprised they were almost at the cabin. Surprised because Chance hadn’t reacted to driving past the scene of Kate’s accident. He hadn’t gotten that tense look on his face. Was it possible he was slowly coming to terms with Kate’s death? She squashed the thought. She wasn’t going to let Maddie and Skye’s crazy ideas take hold in her head.
Chance’s jaw tightened as he pressed the garage door opener. “Looks like you got a reprieve, Slick. No skinny-dipping tonight. We’ve got company.”
She followed his gaze to the white four-by-four parked alongside the front walkway.
Chapter Twenty
Chance strangled the steering wheel as he pulled into the garage. He didn’t need to deal with Nat and Callahan right now. He wanted to take care of Vivi. To wipe away the fear he’d seen in her eyes. As he’d hoped, the kiss he’d given her at the apartment had distracted her, gotten her out of her head at least for a short while. Hadn’t done a whole hell of a lot for him, other than make him want to get her naked and in his bed. Too bad she was holding firm to the friends-without-benefits thing, because they could both do with some benefits tonight. In his experience, there was nothing like hot, sweaty monkey sex to alleviate stress. And he was carrying around a shitload of it tonight. Their one good lead was blown.
Easton hadn’t been able to remotely wipe Vivi’s hard drive. Whoever was behind the Drugstore Bandits knew what they were doing. They’d blocked all of his brother’s attempts to get into the computer—not an easy feat.
So as far as Operation Takedown was concerned, they were back to square one. He didn’t blame Vivi. No reason for her to think the information wasn’t safe on her laptop. And once he’d dealt with whatever had brought Nat and Callahan to his place, he had to break the news to her. She’d feel violated all over again, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. And violated is what he was feeling right now with a Callahan making himself at home in his place, in his and Kate’s home. The thought had him seeing red, and he slammed the door of the truck, heading for the stairs. Only to be stopped cold by a feminine shriek. He whirled around… no sign of Vivi.
He backtracked. “Slick, what…” He trailed off as he rounded the truck. She was on her knees with her arms over her head. He went to her, crouching beside her. “Honey, what’s…”
She looked at him, a combination of anger and fear in her pretty eyes. “Bats. You have bats. And do not tell me I’m imagining it and you didn’t see them because they whooshed past my head. This close, McBride”—she pinched her thumb and forefinger together, waving them in his face—“to getting caught in my hair.”
He’d been so deep in his head, he supposed it was possible he hadn’t noticed. It wouldn’t be the first time there were bats in the garage. Wouldn’t be the last. But that wasn’t the answer his little city slicker needed to hear. Her night had been rough enough. He smoothed his hand down her hair. “It was just a mama and daddy bird protecting their nest. Come on.” He stood, helping her to her feet.
With a hand on her head, she cast a nervous glance to the ceiling. “Okay, but I could have sworn they were bats.”
“Nah, just a couple of birds.” He fought back a smile at the look of relief on her face.
Her eyes narrowed. “Liar.” She stabbed a finger in his chest. “Do not humor me. They were bats.”
He wrapped his hand around hers, lifting it to his lips. He kissed her palm. “Maybe. But they’re as afraid of you as you are of them.” He laced his fingers through hers, leading her up the stairs.
“Tell that to the people in Louisiana who were attacked by vampire bats and died, McBride.” She tugged her hand from his. “I need my suitcase.”
“You read too much. I’ll get your suitcase later. Right now I want to find out why the hell Nat brought Callahan to my place.”
She hooked her finger in his belt loop, stopping him from opening the door. “Calm down. I get that you don’t like the kid, but maybe you’d get more out of him if you played nice. Don’t mention him asking me for a—” At the sound of Princess barking from behind the closed door, she groaned. “Bats and now Cujo.” She tugged on his belt loop. “Bend down.”
“Slick, she’s not going to bite you.” He gave his head an amused shake when she ignored him and climbed onto his back.
“Tell that to someone whose butt cheek she hasn’t sunk her teeth into.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and wiggled her army-green flip-flop. “I like my to
es.”
He chuckled. “Sure you don’t want to slide around to the front? You used to like… Hey.” He rubbed his head where she yanked on his hair at the same time Nat opened the door. His sister-in-law’s eyes flitted over the two of them.
He wanted to tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. But it was. And it was time he was honest with himself. He cared about Vivi. Today had shown him how much. He wanted her in his life. He didn’t know exactly what a relationship between them would look like or how it would play out, but he owed it to both of them to give it a try. A nervous tension built in his chest. He might be getting ahead of himself. After how he’d treated her, she might not want a relationship with him.
Obviously catching the unhappy look in Nat’s eyes, Vivi began to slide off him. He moved his hands under her ass, lifting her back in place. “Stay where you are. Down, Princess,” he ordered the dog yapping at his feet. “Nat, put her in her pen.”
She picked up the dog. “I, uh, heard about the break-in and thought you’d be in town most of the night. They’re calling for a storm.” She nuzzled the dog to her chest. Princess ignored her, growling at Vivi instead while Nat continued, “She’s afraid of the thunder. I was going to take her home with me.”
Explained why she was here, but not why she’d brought Callahan along. “That’s fine, Nat, but next time give me a heads-up.” He followed her inside, his muscles tensing as he caught sight of Callahan in his La-Z-Boy with his feet up, watching Live Free or Die Hard.
“Relax,” Vivi whispered in his ear.
The kid lifted his eyes from the screen. “Hope you don’t mind me making myself at home.”
“Forget relaxing,” Vivi murmured as she slid off his back. “Go wipe the smirk off the little bastard’s face.”
He’d been tempted to do just that before she opened her mouth. Now all he could do was smile. “Settle down, Slick.” He nudged her toward the couch before asking Callahan, “Where were you between eight and ten tonight?”
