by Alina Jacobs
"And then I bet you freaked out and didn't give her a chance to process it, and now you think she's already found someone better, richer, more handsome than you in the last, oh, five hours and is already planning on running off to southern France with him. Is that right?"
I scowled at my twin.
"Wait, of course it is! I know exactly how you think." Archer leaned over the desk. "Your thoughts devolve into the worst possible scenario. You overreact. It's a good trait for a CEO who makes products that could literally kill people if not designed and manufactured perfectly. However, it makes the rest of life unnecessarily stressful."
My twin poured me another drink.
"Let me reassure you," Archer said. "I am the only person better looking, friendlier, and better in bed than you, and I have not seen or heard from Josie today, so you're safe on that front." He leaned back, a self-satisfied smile on his face.
I stared at him. "You're terrible," I said finally.
"And you're paranoid and crazy," Archer said affectionately. "With you and Remy bouncing around out there in that huge estate house, it's a good thing I'm planning on building that conference center. I'll have more time to make sure you two aren't building matching bunkers."
"What do I do about Josie?" I asked through my teeth. I loathed admitting I didn't have control over a situation, but I was willing to throw all my rules to the wind if it meant I wouldn't drive Josie away.
"Just act like a normal person. You threw down the big L word. Though you're crazy, you have a lot of positives in your favor," Archer said, waving his arms around. "She'll talk to her friends. She'll tell them she's freaked out that some guy she only met six weeks ago says he loves her and wants her to move into his creepy compound out in rural New York. Her friends will of course tell her she's crazy for thinking that's a good idea and tell her to dump you."
"What?" I shouted, jumping up.
Archer held up a hand.
"Then one friend will be like, 'But he's so handsome!' and another will say, 'But he's rich!' and Josie will say, 'You're right. Also he's not a serial killer, and he's good with children!' and then her friends will all be like, 'Yeah, you should totally move to his compound!'"
"I don't have a compound!" I yelled.
"Bro, it's totally a compound," Archer said, finishing off the whiskey in my glass. "But I mean, it's like a high-end, glam compound."
Josie didn't act like she was getting ready to flee when we drove back to Harrogate that night. She kept up a stream of ideas about a general marketing direction for Svensson PharmaTech.
When I pulled the car in front of the house, I cut her off.
"Josie," I said. She looked up at me; she was chewing on her lip. I leaned in to press my mouth to hers. "I didn't mean to put a lot of pressure you," I told her.
"I know," she said. She looked down at her lap. "You're a wonderful man."
"But," I said, more forcefully than I intended. "There's always a but, isn't there?"
"But nothing," she said and shrugged unhappily. "You're amazing and perfect, and I'm not."
"You are," I insisted. She shook her head.
"So this is the, 'It's not you, it's me'?" I said sharply.
"No," she countered. "It's the, 'You have a lot on your plate with your family and your business.'" She looked sad, but maybe it was just the shadows from the moonlight.
"I really like you, and I do want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I'm afraid that you don't actually know me, and when you do really get to know me, you won't like me anymore." Josie pushed the car door open and hurried out.
I let her go and pulled the suitcases out of the trunk. I took them up to my bedroom, but when I looked out through the windows to the backyard, I saw the lights on in her tiny house.
I set my bag down and took hers to the house. I knocked on the door.
"Josie?" I called. She didn't answer. "I have your bag."
I waited a beat, and when the door didn't open, I turned to go back to the main house. But I heard the door creak, and she called out to me.
"Thanks," she said. I could see tears in her eyes. I went to her, ducking under the doorway, picking her up, and pushing her back against the small couch.
"I love you, Josie," I told her. "I already know you, and I know you're perfect for me."
Our hands were all over each other. I ripped at her shirt, and she gasped as several of the buttons popped off and I pulled her breast out of the lace bra. Suckling on a nipple, I rolled it over my tongue. She moaned as I pushed up her skirt, my fingers pressed against her soaking-wet panties.
"Still have a hankering for raw meat?" I joked. Josie laughed then whimpered as my fingers slipped under her panties to tease her clit and stroke down to her opening. "You like that, don't you?" I whispered to her as she ground against my hand.
"I want you to fuck me," she whispered back. The sadness in her face was thankfully gone. I was pleased to see it replaced by wanton desire. I pulled her panties down and threw them to the floor. Not bothering to take off her skirt, I pushed it up around her waist. She spread her legs, begging me to fuck her, as I undid my tie.
"Not yet," I told her. I grabbed her hand, licking her fingers, then I took them and pressed them to the hot, wet flesh between her legs. "I want to see you touch yourself," I growled. "Give me a good show."
Her hand moved slowly as the other stroked her breast, circling and pinching the nipple.
"I want your cock," she said breathlessly as her hand moved in the silky warmth. I slowly undid my shirt, letting it fall to the floor as her fingers dipped into her opening. Her legs spread wider, and she moaned slightly. "I want your big, thick cock thrusting in me, making me scream," she said, her voice throaty. I kicked off my shoes and grabbed Josie's hips, pressing my face to her, licking her clit, sucking on the flesh. I slipped two fingers in her opening. She was already halfway gone, and she bucked against me as I stroked her and sucked her, making her come.
"Shit," she said, panting as she watched me take my pants off. Free of the constraints of the boxer briefs, my cock was erect and stuck straight out. Josie's hands shook as she took off her skirt. She half turned to throw it up on the loft along with her bra. I grabbed her from behind and pushed inside her. She was hot and wet and so tight. She hung onto the ladder as I fucked her.
Her breaths came out in high-pitched whimpers as I slid inside her, one hand on her clit. I felt her come again, and she moaned, her body tightening around me.
Every time I thrust in her, she made a little high-pitched breath that made me wild. I felt her body tighten for another orgasm, and it sent me over the edge. She leaned her head back, and I kissed her, swallowing the scream as she came.
I gathered her to me, and we curled up on the couch.
"I guess this couch has seen some shit," she said. "Should probably flip the cushions."
"Just burn down the tiny house," I told her, nibbling her ear. "I don't want you nomadizing off anywhere. This is your home. Stay here."
"Okay," she said, eyes half closed, her breath slightly cooling my skin. "I'll stay."
Josie didn't seem like she was having second thoughts the next day. She smiled at me when she sat down in the car, turning around in her seat to poke at Henry.
"Now that I'm back, we can go have lunch outside!" Josie told him excitedly.
"You're done with the conference?" Henry asked.
"Almost done," Josie said. "There are still a few things I need to wrap up. There are some changes I want the developers to make on the website." As we drove down Main Street to PharmaTech, I saw Payslee and her lawyer walking down the street.
"I don't like them," Henry said defiantly, glaring out the window and kicking at his car seat.
"I don't think anyone likes your mom and her skeezy lawyer," I told him. Josie was ramrod straight in her seat, staring out the window at them as we passed.
"Don't worry," I assured her. "Payslee didn't make a good impression on the social worker last visi
t. Hunter's pretty confident everything's going to work out."
Josie wiped at her face and said in a faint voice, "Sure."
59
Josie
I couldn't believe it. Anke had been meeting with Payslee's attorney? I knew Payslee wanted Henry back for some reason. I would bet my tiny house that it had something to do with Anke.
"What am I going to do?" I asked Willow over the phone. She was still in New York with Marnie. I was holed up in a conference room with a bag of chocolate chips. Things were crashing down around me. I should have come clean about what a dangerous person Anke was when she first reappeared.
"Talk to the FBI," Marnie said firmly, coming on the line. "This is crazy."
"But Mace said he loved me," I told my friends faintly. "I know Mace is going to hate me when he finds out I let Anke mess with his family." I felt sick. I shoved a handful of chocolate chips in my mouth, hoping it would settle my stomach, but it didn't.
"If you care about him," Willow said firmly, "you'll talk to the FBI. If Mace's brothers want you to come do marketing with them in Manhattan, you definitely can't just leave Anke in Harrogate to run whatever scam she has brewing."
"I know," I said, chewing on another handful of chocolate chips. "I'm so stupid," I said, the tears starting to stream down my face. "This is all my fault."
"Nothing's happened yet," Marnie said. "The last time I talked to the FBI agent in charge of the case, he said they were compiling evidence. Just tell him what you know, the people she's come in contact with, and your speculations. They'll sort it out. They're professionals."
"Okay," I said, voice shaky.
When the call ended, I dialed the number for the FBI agent. He seemed interested in talking to me and said he would drive out to Harrogate and meet me in a few hours.
My phone buzzed with a text.
Mace: Lunch?
It came with a picture of Henry holding a drawing of pizza. I smiled and wiped my face.
On the way upstairs to Mace's office, I heard a familiar laugh. Anke. I looked around wildly then found her in one of the conference rooms. Adrian was with her.
"Darling!" she called and waved. "Have you recovered from the conference? It was something else, wasn't it?"
Adrian leaned back in his chair. "We're just going over some potential accounts," he told me.
"Okay." I looked between them. Nothing seemed amiss. "I'm going to have lunch with your brother. You want to come?" I asked him, still feeling suspicious.
"Nah, we're just going to finish this," he replied.
"Go along to lunch," Anke said. "Adrian and I will order in here."
Something about them felt off. But surely Anke wouldn't be going after Adrian? He was barely out of high school, and he didn't run a company. I didn't think he even had money. He still lived at home.
I chewed on my lip as I walked into Mace's office. Henry ran to greet me, and Mace stood up, smiling warmly at me. My heart ached. Would he still want me when my house of cards, more crappily built than my tiny house, came crashing down?
We ate pizza at a small shop on the second floor of one of the many old historic buildings.
"Is the train coming?" Henry asked excitedly.
"Not until this evening," Mace told him. "Sit down and eat. You like pizza."
"It's good pizza, Henry," I told him.
"Not as good as yours," he said.
The FBI agent texted me as we finished lunch. He was in Harrogate and wanted to meet in ten minutes.
"I'll meet you guys at the office," I told Mace as we walked out of the restaurant. "I need to run by the store."
"I can drop you off," he offered.
"No thanks!" I said brightly. "I'll just walk. It's a nice day."
"I'll see you later," he said, pulling me close and kissing me.
I pretended like I was walking to Ida's General Store then cut to a side street to the café where the agent wanted to meet me. He was standing outside. He was a tall square-jawed dark-haired man who looked like every stereotypical Hollywood FBI agent.
"Detective Donley," he introduced himself when I walked up. "You're Josie?"
I nodded. We sat at a table outside, and he took out a laptop and pulled up a document.
"Can you tell me when you first met Anke?" he asked.
I told Agent Donley everything in great detail, how I had met her at a club, how effortless she seemed, how she always seemed to have all this money, how we took trips, how slowly she stopped paying upfront and started having me front the money.
"She would always pay me back," I said, starting to cry. "Until she didn't."
"I see you filed a police report," he said.
"They said it was a civil matter," I said, hiccupping. "And refused to pursue it."
"This is more than a civil matter," Agent Donley said. "Anke has defrauded various banks in Europe and America out of millions of dollars."
"She has another scheme," I told him.
"Yes, her position at Svensson PharmaTech," he said.
"I don't know what she's up to. I think she's trying to convince one of the Svensson brothers to marry her or be her sugar daddy or something," I told the FBI agent.
Agent Donley snorted. "Well don't tip her off. If she's there thinking she's going to be the next Mrs. Svensson, it will be easier to nab her."
"She does have a tendency to drop off the radar," I warned him. I twisted my tissue. "There is one more thing." I described seeing Anke talking with Payslee's lawyer and the well-off older couple.
"Hmm," he said. "I'll look into that. They may be potential investors of some kind. Or it could be some sort of other scam."
I gave him the name of the restaurant and the time I had seen them.
"Here's my card," he said when we got up to leave.
"What am I going to do?" I asked, trying not to cry.
The FBI agent looked at me sympathetically. "Cheer up," he said. "To be perfectly frank, you probably won't get your money back. But Anke is definitely going to jail. She did an astounding amount of illegal activity for someone so young."
I looked down at my shoes. The FBI agent pulled a piece of saltwater taffy out of his pocket and handed it to me.
"The elderly woman at the general store gave this to me. I'm not a big sweets person, but maybe this will cheer you up. She also wrote her number on it and told me to call her."
I tipped my head back and laughed. "Ida is a character."
"These small towns are great, aren't they?" Agent Donley said with a grin and patted my shoulder. "Just let me know if anything changes or she moves. Also, don't talk about this with anyone. I don't want to tip off Anke. Especially in a small town, word gets around."
I mimed zipping my lips. "I won't say anything," I assured him.
On my way back to Svensson PharmaTech, I felt lighter than I had in weeks. The authorities were taking care of Anke. I had done my part. I knew Agent Donley had said not to talk to anyone, but I felt like I needed to come clean to Mace. It was his company, and he should know. I walked into his office, fully intending to tell him. But he wasn't there.
"He left already," Anke said. She and Adrian were in her office.
"It was really weird," Adrian said. "Usually he doesn't leave that early. But now we have the office to ourselves." He smiled at Anke.
"Oh," I said. "Okay."
"What did you want to talk to him about?" Anke asked, blinking up at me.
"Just about the website," I lied.
She looked at me assessingly. "I see."
I stayed late at the office, working on the pitch presentation for the landowners of the parcels that the Svenssons needed in order to move the factory. I lost track of time and didn't get back to the Svensson estate until after dinner. I was excited about the presentation. It was going to be very convincing, I hoped.
The house was dark when I came back. I wondered what had happened with Mace. Maybe it was a family emergency?
I half expected him to come knock
on the tiny house door, but he didn't.
Where was he? I wondered as I curled up alone in the loft of my tiny house.
60
Mace
Henry wouldn't stop talking about the trains after we left the pizza restaurant.
"You're obsessed with them, aren't you?" I asked him.
"Train! Train!" he chanted, twisting in his car seat.
Remembering what Josie had said about spending time with Henry and letting his energy out, I took him to the train park. I pretended to chase him around the locomotives as he shrieked.
We drove back late to Svensson PharmaTech. As I cut back through town to the road that led up the hill to my company's offices, that was when I saw it—Josie and a tall, handsome man. She was laughing at some joke he told her. He even gave her a piece of candy. She was the flirty, sensual woman who had made me fall in love with her. I gripped the steering wheel, resisting the urge to swing the car around, run over there, and beat the man to a pulp.
Set a good example for Henry, I ordered myself and kept driving.
So that was what it had been about. That was why she didn't say she loved me. That was why she said she wasn't good enough for me. She had been cheating on me this whole time. My whole body was tense when I pulled into the parking lot. I dragged Henry upstairs and sat at my desk, staring at the wall.
What am I going to do? My whole world was crashing down. How could she do this to me?
The whole office reminded me of her. We had made love on that desk. There was the couch that she put all that stuff on. There was the window she broke. I could still smell the smoke from the fire she had started. I opened the drawer of my desk and was confronted with a small container of saltwater taffy.
"I can't be here anymore," I muttered. I grabbed Henry by the arm. "Pack up your crayons," I ordered him.
"I want to stay!" he protested. "When is Josie coming back?"
"Never," I spat. "She is never coming back."
Henry did not like that answer, and he started wailing. Garrett left his office and stalked across the hall.