by Terry Spear
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. “I love you.”
He thought they needed to join the others, but instead, they cuddled and slept.
She finally woke and kissed his chest. “As much as I want to stay here with you forever and ever, let’s join the others.” Then Lexi smiled at him. “After we take a shower. What did my dad tell you before you got on the helicopter?”
“That he approved of me.”
She laughed.
They climbed out of bed and ended up in the bathroom.
She started the water in the shower. “And?” She took Ryder’s hand and led him into the shower.
“That you have a mind of your own, which I love about you. But to be sure and have my way too.”
Lexi smiled up at him, took the body wash, and began soaping him up. “Did you?”
He leaned down to kiss her smiling lips. “I certainly did.”
Chapter 23
Ryder knew the good-natured teasing among his friends and the ugly speculations from strangers would begin, and he would have to face all of it by being affable and professional about it. But he couldn’t be more thrilled. As his dad would say, “Don’t let them get your goat.” That reminded him. He needed to tell his parents what had transpired between him and Lexi. He often didn’t tell them what was going on with his job when he was on a mission, and they thought he still worked for Aidan and was just on vacation in the redwoods.
Lexi and Ryder showered, dressed, then rejoined the others out back. Mike was scooping a net into the pool to pull out a couple of leaves. Kate was still on her laptop and looked expectantly at Lexi and Ryder. Mike was trying to be less obvious about it. Ryder was sure they’d know that this was a done deal as much as Lexi was smiling, unable to hide how she felt. His own smile couldn’t have stretched any further.
They hadn’t even discussed whether to wait to tell the world. But Lexi said, “It’s done. Drinks are on the house.”
“Woo-hoo!” Kate hopped up from her chair. “Can I tell all the other suitors you are unavailable?” She joined them and gave Lexi a hug and then hugged Ryder.
Lexi laughed. “I’ll tell them. Or Ryder can.”
Mike was smiling as he came over and gave Lexi a hug and shook Ryder’s hand, but then pulled him into a hug. “I knew where this was going when you told me you’d met up with a couple of she-wolves in the woods.”
“You didn’t have a clue.” Ryder brought out a chilled bottle of champagne from the outdoor bar.
Mike set up the fluted champagne glasses on the bar. “Yeah I did. You were kind of down in the dumps that I was joining you later. When you told me about the ladies, I knew I wasn’t needed. Not right away anyway. I was glad for you.”
“Hell, if you had been there, that would have been the end of any chance I had.” Ryder poured the champagne into the glasses, the bubbles rising to the top, threatening to spill over, but stopping just at the rim.
They all laughed, knowing that wasn’t the case.
With filled glasses of champagne, Lexi said, “To friends for life.”
They all said, “Hear, hear,” and drank from their glasses.
“To the happy mated couple,” Kate said.
They cheered and toasted to that.
“To long life and happiness,” Mike said, raising his glass.
“To friends and family, may we always remain healthy, happy, and wise,” Ryder said.
They all drank to that.
Kate motioned to her laptop. “More trouble with a competitor.”
“What now?” Lexi asked.
They all went over to see what the issue was.
“That Silky Spring is causing trouble again. What is her problem?” Kate said.
“What’s she up to now?” Lexi sounded irritated as she looked at the monitor.
“People were posting bad comments on the video we did of Ryder and Don. It sounds just like the reviews left on your products pages. Same names used too. They sound like one person wrote all of them,” Kate said.
Frowning, Mike watched the video of Lexi applying skin-care products to Don’s face. “I can’t believe Don Morgan agreed to do the video. Hell, all you have to do is tell him about the ugly comments—if he doesn’t already know—and he’ll be sure to dig up something on her, or make something up, if he learns who she is.”
“We need to do that.” Ryder was irritated the woman was continuing to cause trouble for Lexi, and he felt he needed to do something to stop it. That was the alpha-wolf way. “I mean get something on her that’s true, not made up.”
“All right. Learn what you can about her, but we’re not doing anything until you tell me what you know. We’ll decide then,” Lexi said.
“Will do.” Mike began texting someone.
They might not have a pack that ran a town like in Silver Town, but Rafe had an army of wolf friends who could learn anything about anybody, and no one would be the wiser.
“Okay, one of our guys is looking into her,” Mike said.
“I can’t believe you all have so many specialists who can do this stuff. I mean, that are wolves.” Lexi sounded impressed.
Then Kate smiled. “Oh my, our sales are really hopping.”
“Oh? What were the sales from?” Lexi asked.
“It had to be because of our makeup party. We had an influx of orders from Silver Town. I guess they really liked the products after all,” Kate said. “I’m glad we had it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean for them to feel they had to buy the cosmetics. I just wanted them to have fun.”
“Well, they had fun and they wanted the cosmetics, or they wouldn’t have bought them,” Kate said.
“Hey, news flash. One of the men who worked for Rafe said Silky Spring lives about twenty minutes from here,” Mike said.
“Okay, so then I think it wouldn’t hurt to go speak to her in person,” Lexi said.
“Yeah, with real teeth,” Kate said, disgruntled.
“I wish,” Lexi said. “That would shut her up if the three of you came with me as wolves. Let’s go over to her house and see if we can meet up with her.”
Kate pointed to her laptop. “She’s on Facebook doing a live video, and it looks like it’s in her living room. She has pictures posted on her page of her house.”
“Okay, good,” Lexi said.
“Sounds good to me,” Ryder said, having wanted a word with her from the beginning. “We need to discover why she has a grudge against you.”
“I agree. Maybe we can settle this. Sometimes people will play games if they feel they’re safely anonymous,” Mike said. “Once they’re confronted in person, it’s too real, and they back off. A mention about taking legal action could help too.”
Kate agreed.
“Okay, let’s go over there.” Lexi headed inside the house.
Ryder was glad Lexi wanted to try to resolve this before it escalated. He hoped they could find a peaceful solution. He recalled the way Lexi had run down Don Morgan as a wolf. That scene popped in his mind as they got into her silver Audi hatchback. Except this time, Lexi would still be human, at least.
* * *
When they finally reached Silky’s small two-story wooden house, they noticed it was on a tiny plot of land very close to each neighbor. Lexi assumed Silky was working on a shoestring budget. She hoped Silky was home and that they could iron out their differences. Issues were bound to come up while managing a business, but Lexi really hoped they could resolve them. She loved her work, but Silky was becoming a thorn in her paw.
A black and white cat was sitting in a window peering out at them. A calico jumped onto the windowsill and joined him. Pretty cats.
Ryder stood nearby while Lexi approached the door. Mike and Kate stayed with the car, trying to look less intimidating, but if Silky caused Lexi any tr
ouble, they were all there to help out.
Lexi knocked on the blue door and heard footsteps. It opened, and Lexi stood face-to-face with Silky Spring. The woman’s face paled, and Lexi assumed Silky recognized her right away.
“You are Silky Spring?” Lexi asked, even though she recognized the long, red hair and blue eyes from the woman’s website photo. She offered her hand in greeting. “I’m Lexi Summerfield.”
Silky didn’t shake her hand, instead folding her arms across her chest and snapping, “I know who you are. Your dad put mine in jail.”
“Joe Tremaine?” Lexi couldn’t believe it. Tremaine didn’t have any children that she knew of, except the two boys who had died in shootouts. Was Silky an illegitimate daughter?
“Yeah, my dad.”
“He killed a district attorney.” Lexi figured Silky knew that, but she couldn’t help but want to remind her of it. Why would Silky want to acknowledge the bastard was her father?
“He was going to come out and tell the world I’m his daughter. Then your dad had to screw it all up.”
“Your dad screwed it up by murdering the district attorney!” Lexi took a deep breath. “Your mother wasn’t married to him,” Lexi guessed.
“Duh. I’m still his daughter.”
True, but Lexi wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know that if she’d been her. “He’s a crime boss.” Lexi was sure Silky wasn’t that naive, but why wasn’t she put off by it?
“Yeah, so?”
So Silky thought being the daughter of a crime boss would make her somebody? If he hadn’t acknowledged she was his daughter all these years, why would he now? She looked to be around twenty-five or so.
“That’s why you’ve been sabotaging my company’s product reviews?”
Silky’s eyes widened again. She must not have realized she’d be so easy to figure out.
Just then Don Morgan’s VW Bug drove up onto the driveway. Lexi smiled at him. He must have read the comments on the video they had made of him and somehow made the connection between Silky Spring and the reviews. “So I see the two of you are becoming fast friends,” he said to Silky and Lexi.
Hardly.
Silky stared at Don and then turned her attention to Ryder, finally taking notice of him. “Your two male models are here?” she asked sarcastically.
Don was tenacious when he was after a story, or if someone tried to put him down. He didn’t get mad about things. He got even. So it was a good thing he had no idea Lexi and Kate had stolen his camera and equipment while they were wolves. Lexi wasn’t surprised when he said, “I know you’re the daughter of a heroin-addicted prostitute who was in prison for killing a man, Silky. In truth, your daddy could be any one of a half-dozen different men your mother was seeing around the same time.”
Don had pulled off the kid gloves for that one. Lexi felt that was a low blow even for him.
“Joe Tremaine is my dad.” Silky wasn’t budging.
“Have you had a DNA test to see if you’re related?” Don asked.
Silky just glowered at him and didn’t say anything. Lexi took that as a no.
“Well, let me inform you, Tremaine’s telling a different story. When you left the bad review on my video, I started looking into who had left the comments, and I discovered what else you’ve been up to. You’ve been leaving bad reviews on Ms. Lexi Summerfield’s products wherever she sells them. On Ryder’s video too. I have resources I can access that you wouldn’t believe. I learned you and your mother were spreading the word that you are Tremaine’s daughter. So I paid Tremaine a visit in prison and learned what he had to say. Why don’t you lay off of Ms. Lexi Summerfield’s company, and I won’t report what you’re doing?”
“You can’t prove I’m doing anything. I mean, even if I left bad reviews, nobody cares.”
“Customers care. Ms. Summerfield cares. Her friends and family care. Okay, how about this. We tell the man you’re calling your dad that you’re telling the world he and a hooker named Sunflower made you. And you want to cash in on some of your dad’s wealth. How about that?”
Silky glowered at Don.
“You know he doesn’t like it when he’s not in control of a situation. He’s bound to put out a hit on you next. Why don’t you take down all those negative reviews you put up, and we’ll call it even?”
“My dad wouldn’t kill me.”
“You want to bet? He had your mother killed because she was telling other inmates you were his daughter. He doesn’t want you for a daughter, whether you’re his offspring or not.”
“I don’t believe you! She got into a fight with another inmate and got stabbed. My dad had nothing to do with it. Besides, I can’t take down the reviews if I had nothing to do with writing them in the first place.”
“Didn’t you hear the part about me having the resources to learn the truth? The woman who stabbed your mother was just offered a plea bargain if she testifies against who paid her to kill your mother. Tremaine. Not only that, but the reviews are yours. Believe me, I can have this all in print before you know it. Tremaine will hear about it, and he’ll end you.”
“What about him ending you for putting it in print?”
“All anonymous.”
“I’ll tell him who did it.”
“You’ll be dead.”
Silky’s shoulders slumped and she looked defeated. “What do I get out of this, if I did write the reviews and I can take them down?”
“You get to live and do something with your business. Make it a success with a little work through legitimate efforts,” Don said.
“She’s got a doctor daddy who helped with her business,” Silky said.
“And a mother. Maybe this isn’t the business for you. Maybe it is, but you need to do a lot of work to reach your goals,” Lexi said.
“If my dad acknowledged me, he could back my business with the kind of money I need,” Silky said.
“And do what? Strong-arm women to buy from you?” Lexi asked.
“Do you want me to take you to the prison to meet Tremaine, and you can see for yourself how he’ll react?” Don asked Silky.
“You’re just mad because I wrote the truth in a review about you in that stupid video.”
“You did it for spite against Lexi, hoping it would hurt her sales. And you’re afraid I’m telling you the truth about Tremaine,” Don said. “Do we have a deal?”
“I want more of a deal.”
Don shrugged. “You write good reviews about Ms. Summerfield’s products and Ryder and my videos.”
Silky gave Lexi a dirty look and opened her mouth to speak to Don, but he beat her to it. “And I’ll write an article about your small startup company.”
Silky’s jaw dropped, and then she frowned.
“I’m good for my word.” Don shoved his hands in his pockets.
Silky gave him an evil smile. “Fine.” She turned to Lexi. “If I do this, what will you do for me?”
“I won’t give your business the trouble you’ve been giving mine. And that’s a promise.”
Silky frowned.
Hell, she was lucky Lexi wasn’t interested in exposing Silky’s underhanded game to the public.
Silky threw her hands up in resignation. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“I’ll watch you do it, and afterward I’ll interview you,” Don said. “I’ll talk to you later,” he said to Lexi, then followed Silky into her house.
“Let’s go.” Lexi was glad that was resolved. She couldn’t believe Silky thought she owed her anything for doing what was right, and she was glad Don was offering to handle it.
“I can’t believe Don showed up to take her to task.” Ryder took over the driver’s seat. He figured part of his duties as assigned was being a chauffeur. Besides, he liked to drive.
“I can,” Lexi said. “He’s like a pit bull when he wants
to get something done. And nobody messes with him. Or his wife and two daughters. One time he did a story on a celebrity’s extramarital affairs, and the star didn’t like it. He hired a man to threaten Don’s wife and kids. You don’t ever mess with his family. He’s just like one of us wolves. And you don’t mess with him.”
“Well, good. For us, this time,” Ryder said.
“I’ll say,” Kate agreed.
When they arrived at the house, they did the same routine, Ryder and Mike checking the place out and Lexi and Kate waiting outside.
Ryder finally came out and told them it was all clear. “Now what?”
“We can do some guarding and let Mike and Kate have some time in the pool,” Lexi said.
“I’m all for it. I’ll fix drinks,” Ryder said.
“Is there anything you can’t do?” Lexi asked as she and Ryder headed out to the pool while Kate and Mike went to change.
“Singing, sewing, and ironing,” Ryder said.
She laughed. “Well, I don’t do any of those things well either.” The doorbell rang, and she headed inside to answer it.
Ryder went with her, and suddenly Mike and Kate were joining them dressed in swimsuits and carrying guns. Lexi looked through the peephole. “Flower delivery.”
Even though she didn’t think it was trouble, Ryder still answered the door.
“Delivery for Ms. Summerfield,” the man said.
“I’ll take it.”
“You need to sign here.”
Ryder signed Summerfield. Not that he was Mr. Summerfield. Which made him wonder, would Lexi even be interested in taking his name? He suspected because of her business, she might not. It was fine either way with him.
Lexi smiled when he signed as Summerfield. Ryder carried the flowers into the house while Mike watched the florist leave. “Does…that mean you’re going to be Ryder Summerfield?”
Chapter 24
Wishing Lexi had already told her other suitors to take a hike, Ryder set the vase of roses on the bar.
