by Vella, Wendy
“It’s complicated.”
She felt his eyes running over her body, even though it was concealed by darkness.
“Why are you out here now, Piper? It’s 2:00 a.m.”
“Grace always wakes about now and has a bottle. I give it to her, then sometimes when I can’t sleep I come out here for a while. Plus, I fell off my horse today and my body is one big ache.”
“Charlie told me about that. Are you okay?”
“Sure.”
“What happened?”
“My horse bucked me off.”
“Ouch.”
“She had a cut under her girth. I must have missed it when I put the saddle on. She then objected to galloping because it rubbed.”
“What?” He bent and his hands gripped her shoulders. “Was it deliberate?”
“The cut?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Piper shook her head.
His exhaled loudly.
“What’s going on, Dylan?”
“Nothing.” His hands soothed her shoulders.
Silence settled between them, a heavy, thick silence that had Piper swallowing.
“Tell me to go, Pip,” he said, lowering his head.
She rose up to meet him, and their lips touched igniting a fire of need inside her. He pulled her up his body.
“Christ, you’re naked,” he rasped.
“Join me.”
He lowered her back into the water, and Piper braced herself for him to walk away. Instead he started pulling off clothes. When he placed one large foot into the tub, she looked at the beautiful body that followed. Tall and lean, he was muscled in all the right places and she wanted her hands on him.
“This is wrong, Pip.”
“I know.” She grabbed his hand and yanked him down. He fell onto the seat and she straddled him.
“Your cousins—”
“Will already be sleeping.”
“You do realize it’s freezing outside this tub right?”
“But not in it.” Piper hit the side of the tub to turn the bubbles on, and then grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged. Their lips met with force, teeth colliding, tongues melding.
“God you feel good wet... hell, you feel good any way,” he gritted out against her mouth.
Piper kissed her way along the ridge of his jaw and sank her teeth gently into his earlobe. His answering groan had her doing it again.
Soon the only noise was sighs and groans.
Dylan had no willpower where this woman was concerned, and was well past caring. He wanted to lift her up his body and sink inside her wet heat. Wanted it with an ache that robbed his breath. She was like some kind of drug he couldn’t get enough of. He drew a warm nipple into his mouth.
“Yessss.”
He tortured the other one, and then lifted her onto the edge of the tub.
“Dylan!”
He spread her thighs and gave her the most intimate kiss of all. He couldn’t keep her up there for long or she’d freeze, but a few seconds, just enough for him to taste and torment her.
“Ohhh.” The sound came as she clenched around his fingers, his mouth on the tight bud between her thighs. When her breathing grew choppy, Dylan lowered her back into the tub, easing her down on his aching length.
“Piper,” he rasped, not sure what the hell else he wanted to say. Her name came out on a long moan.
She rode him. Her lovely, lush body rose and fell, and all Dylan could do was hold her. Hold her and let her take him on a sensual ride.
She threw her head back, long wet hair trailing down her back, her beautiful breasts right where he wanted them. Leaning forward, he took her nipple into his mouth again and sucked. She jerked, seated him deeper inside her, and then buried her face in his neck and let go.
Never had a woman taken so much from him. He felt closer to Piper in that moment than he’d ever felt with anyone before, just as he had the last two times they’d made love. It was almost too much emotion. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her in a brutal grip. It was too tight, Dylan knew that, but he couldn’t make himself let her go.
“I’ll have to drain and refill this tomorrow.”
“Probably best,” Dylan said, looking up at the stars. “I think someone may be targeting my family to get at me, Piper.”
“What?” He had to ease his grip so she could look up at him.
Dylan brushed the damp hair from her forehead because... well, just because he could. He’d never wanted that before. The little touches that people shared. The brush of a hand or lips. The small smiles. It really should scare him that he wanted it now with this woman.
“I told Charlie, and then somehow it came out tonight and we ended up discussing it. There was even a whiteboard that Cubby Hawker, he’s—”
“Know him, and he’s a smart man, that one.”
“He’s bossy.”
“Has to be in his line of work.”
He talked for the second time that night about what he thought may be happening to his family, and she listened. He turned her in his arms, and they sank under the steaming water until they were submerged up to their chins.
She was silent when he finished, that fertile mind of hers running through what he’d said and what questions she wanted to ask him.
Dylan looked at the stars high in the sky and wondered if there was anywhere else in the world that had a sky just like the one before him. The twins were silhouetted, the stars sparkling, and if it wasn’t for the hell going on with his family, he’d have to say this was a near perfect moment. Of course Piper played a hand in that; he knew that, just not how he felt about her.
“So this Mickey was who you were talking to in the street before you came into A.S. and gave us the brush-off.”
“I didn’t give you the brush-off, I—”
“Yes, you did.”
“Okay, maybe I did, but I was pretty rattled at that moment so cut me some slack here. There’s also the small matter of me not being safe to be around. I tried to talk to your cousins, Fin, Ted, and Cubby about that, but they brushed it off and said they’d keep an eye on my family instead.”
“That’s the way they work.” She waved a hand about in the water.
“I guess I know that, but still, it’s weird having people on your side when for so long you were it.”
“It?”
“Alone... by choice,” he added.
“Sure, and I get that, but the thing is you’re not in the city now, surrounded by a sea of faces you don’t know, Dylan. Now you have friends and people who care. Family too.”
He rubbed his chin over the top of her head while he thought about what she’d said. Friends. It felt good inside his head. Family too.
“You’re really worried that if you’re seen with us, me and Grace, someone may target us too, aren’t you?”
“I am.” No point in lying when the truth was needed now, especially if what Mickey and—after the whiteboard session tonight—he believed was true. “That’s why I questioned you about your fall and the cut to your horse.”
“They’re not connected.” Piper refused to acknowledge it could be true. “Rae’s cut was from a fence.”
“Are you sure?”
She couldn’t be, but nodded anyway. Tomorrow she’d check the cut again. “We can take care of ourselves, Dylan.”
“I know you can, but this type of criminal is a step up from someone coming at you with a gun or knife. It’s planned and thorough, as is evidenced by Charlie. Someone could have cut the brakes on Dad’s car and poisoned Mom. We’re dealing with an extremely intelligent, deranged individual here, Piper.”
“And Ava?”
“I need to talk to her about who first introduced her to the cocaine and when. I just can’t rule out that whoever is behind this—if someone is behind it—didn’t get to her first, and has been planning this entire thing for months, maybe years.”
Piper shivered.
“You’re cold. Do you want to go inside?”
“No, I’m not cold, it’s just scary thinking someone could go after you in this way. Have you given any thought as to who it could be?”
He told her about Troy Fielding.
“But he’s locked up, so it can’t be him.”
“But it could be someone connected to him. He was brilliant, and totally insane. If he had access to a computer, he would be able to find out most things. The guy was a genius that way.”
“I don’t want him to get you, Dylan.”
Piper turned in his arms to look up at him. He saw the fear she felt for him.
“It’s okay, Piper, I won’t let him do anything else to the people I care about.”
“I’m not talking about them. If he wanted to kill them he would have. He’s doing this to get to you. Playing with you.”
“My dad could have died in that crash.”
“Yes, but he didn’t. You believe it’s happening now, don’t you, Dylan? You don’t really have doubts anymore?”
“No... maybe. Hell, I don’t know. I need more facts, and I’m hoping when Mickey gets here he and I can find some, and find whoever’s doing this.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly because right at that moment he needed that more than his next breath.
“I think he’s doing these things to keep you here, Dylan. Just as he started this to get you back to Ryker Falls.”
He’d come around to that way of thinking also, and it scared the hell out of him. Here it was small and confined and whoever was targeting him had access to plenty of people that... hell... he now cared about. This was a bad thing. A very bad thing.
“I have to go.”
“You can’t put distance between yourself and everyone, Dylan.”
How did she know what he was thinking?
“Maybe, but I can walk away from you and Grace, and you need to see that this is the right thing to do.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. It took all his willpower to remove them and climb out.
“This has to be over now, Piper. When we meet again, just a nod or a wave, nothing more. I need you to understand that.”
She sank below the surface, watching as he grabbed her towel and dried off. It was freezing out there, but with that came clarity. What he was doing was right.
“Can I ask you something before you go, Dylan?”
“Yes.” He pulled on his jeans, then reached for the shirt and sweater.
“If this hadn’t happened... if someone wasn’t after you, would you want to stay away from me?”
She was gripping the edge of the tub, hair slicked back, watching him. Dylan battled the urge to kiss her again; the need to hold her was so strong he stepped back.
“I’m not a happily-ever-after kind of guy, Piper, I think I made that clear from the start.” Dylan kept his voice deliberately cool.
“So it was just sex for you? The time with Grace and me in Rummer... all of it?”
“No. I was there as your friend, but there will never be anything more, Piper.”
He felt her eyes on him as he pulled on his socks and shoes. He was lying, Dylan knew that now. She was important to him, but he couldn’t deal with that now... maybe not ever.
“I don’t believe you.”
His head shot up, eyes locking on hers.
“In fact, I think you’re nothing like the man who arrived in Ryker Falls anymore.”
“Don’t make me into someone I’m not.”
“The thing is, Dylan, I’ve made sure never to fall for a guy who isn’t honest, loyal, and a general all-round nice guy.”
What did she mean by “fall for”? Dylan definitely did not feel a jolt of pure joy at the thought of this beautiful, amazing woman falling for him.
“We’re not happening, Piper.”
“Sure, you said that, and I’m not dumb, I get it, and the reasons why... well one of them anyway. But here’s the thing, Dylan.”
He stopped lacing up his trainers and looked at her.
“I love you.”
Their eyes held for long, terrifying seconds, and then he turned and walked away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Piper woke to the knowledge that in the early hours of the morning she’d told Dylan she loved him. Testing the words inside her head, she found she liked them, even if he hadn’t. Had it been a laughing moment, then she would have, because the terror on his face at her words had been almost comical.
“Then he turned and walked away from me,” she whispered. Flipping on her back, she stared at the ceiling.
Piper always believed in saying what she thought, even it if caused her pain. She’d realized how she felt about Dylan when she’d seen him standing there looking up at the mountains. Shoulders down, he’d looked defeated, and the pain inside her had told Piper what she’d been too scared to acknowledge. Her feelings for Dylan ran deep.
His hold on her after they’d made love had been fierce, almost like he never wanted to let her go.
“And yet he will never acknowledge what is between us,” Piper told the light hanging above her head. This thought had her getting out of bed.
Even after this mess that was his life had settled, Piper couldn’t be sure he would want her and Grace, so she needed to focus on the things she could control.
Pulling on her dressing gown and slippers, she made her way downstairs. Grace was seated in her high chair, and Mr. Goldhirsh, dressed in his running gear, was feeding her.
Piper didn’t like to give too much thought to the fact that he’d probably been here all night, and what he’d been doing while she’d been making love with Dylan. So instead she placed kisses on his head and Grace’s, then made for the coffee.
“Sleep well, baby?”
“I did, and thanks for getting Grace up, Mom.”
“You need a break now and again, and we enjoyed having some time with our grandbaby.”
Piper gave her mom a squeeze, then sat and thought about Dylan even though she’d just told herself she wouldn’t.
He couldn’t face this... whatever it was alone. He needed support and help, surely he had to understand that. One of his colleagues was coming to Ryker, which was good, but Piper hoped he accepted her cousins’ help, and surely he would speak to Chief Blake?
“Morning.” Jack ambled in. Hair all over the place, eyes squinty, he wore sweats and looked like a sleepy bear.
He kissed the women and shook Mr. Goldhirsh’s hand before falling into the seat beside Piper. He then leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder.
“Why are you up if you’re still tired?”
“Work,” he said around a yawn.
“What work?”
Before he could answer they heard the sound of a car pulling up outside.
“What the hell?” Jack got up, moaning, and headed for the door. “We don’t usually have visitors before coffee.”
Piper cradled her mug, hoping that whoever had arrived didn’t want anything from her. She had no energy to go rescue a tramper or tourist lost on the mountains today.
“That’s bullshit, Chief Blake!”
Jack stormed back into the room with the local police chief minutes later. Both men’s faces were grim.
“I have to do this, Jack. Mary Howard was seriously ill.”
“What’s going on?” Piper got out of her chair because she had a feeling something very bad was about to go down.
“Mary Howard was poisoned, Piper. Rat poison, to be precise.”
“And why does this concern us, Chief Blake?”
Jack shook his head slightly, as if to tell her to be quiet, and Piper’s unease climbed. Whoever was going after Dylan could have tried to kill his mother. Rat poison did terrible things to people, and the right dose could cause a heart to stop beating.
“I don’t feel good about this, but the tests have come back implicating Phil’s Place as somewhere that could have poisoned her,” Chief Blake said. “They found rat poison in her blood.”
“What?”
Jack winced at her shriek.
“Mary Howard told me she ate two donuts and they were purchased from Phil’s Place. After that she started to get sick. The poison in each was not enough to kill her, but it made her extremely unwell. Had she eaten the entire dozen maybe we’d have buried her by now. The remainder were still in the cupboard where she hides her treats. Those were the ones tested. Each had a small dose of poison.
“I just came from questioning Rona, who was working with you that day. She said you made those donuts.”
“Now you wait one damn minute there, Chief Blake. There is no way that woman would ever have an invite to sit at our table, but no one in this family, Pip included, would poison her, and I sure as hell hope you know that.” Piper’s mom came to her side, hands braced on her hips.
The chief looked grim
“Hell, Jess, I thought I knew that, but the evidence is there. And Piper has made no secret of the fact she’s not taken with Mary Howard, what with all this bad blood between you all and her. Maybe she just wanted to pay her back a little? Plus, there’s that thing she’s got with Dylan, and there’s no doubting his mother is not happy about it.”
Piper’s stomach rolled, knowing that if Mary Howard had proof it was Piper who poisoned her, she’d go after her with everything she had.
“I didn’t do it, Chief Blake. How could I? Surely if I put it in the batch I was making, there would be more sick people.”
“You made a special batch for her with the poison in it, and Ava took it home with her that day after her shift.”
“You really believe I’d do that to someone?”
“I don’t want to, but until it can be proven otherwise I need you to accompany me to the station for questioning.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this, Chief Blake. Piper would never do that to Mary, no matter how much she deserves it.” Mr. Goldhirsh stepped to Piper’s side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
The chief looked in pain. “You don’t want to go around saying things like that, Mr. Goldhirsh.”
“It’s okay.” She patted his hand, even though it was far from that.
“I need you to come with me now, Piper.”
