It definitely commanded the best view. Rising on the far side of the property was the granite outcropping of Big Knob, looking craggy and phallic. Maybe the lovers who came out here concentrated on that big old rock instead of the house.
Maggie turned her back to the rain and made a note on her Phone about extra security lights in the rear of the building. The SaveALot execs would have a cow if people continued to use the area behind the store for sex.
The rain started pelting her in earnest, and a cloud descended over Big Knob. Like a condom, Maggie thought with a little giggle. She had to get off this sexual kick. She was in Big Knob to close a deal, not get lucky. In fact, getting lucky was way down on her list of priorities these days.
Rain was running down her glasses, so she took them off and put them in her coat pocket. Time to get back to the shelter of the car before she ended up soaked. As she turned and started along the narrow path, she heard an approaching vehicle. It sounded more like a truck than a car, and sure enough, when she rounded the house again, her fuzzy vision revealed an old blue pickup parked behind her Escort.
She didn’t expect Denise to drive an old rattletrap truck, but Denise was the only person who knew she was coming. The person who stepped down from the truck didn’t move like a woman, though. Maggie grabbed her glasses from her pocket and put them on long enough to make sure that it wasn’t Denise.
Nope, definitely a man dressed in jeans and a brown leather jacket. He wore ugly black-framed glasses and his hair was a wreck, as if he’d tried to cut it himself in a drunken stupor.
Quickly she became aware that she was alone in a deserted location and this guy might have followed her onto the property for some sinister reason. Just because a town was small didn’t mean there were no vicious killers around. Look at In Cold Blood.
And here she was with no weapon and shoes that would be useless for running. He stood between her and the car, so she was trapped. She wondered how much damage a Cell phone would do to an attacker.
“Can I help you with something?” he called out.
“Uh, no, thanks. I’m fine.” She took off her glasses because she could actually see better without them in the rain. He hadn’t done the same, so the rain on his glasses could work to her advantage.
“This is private property, you know.”
“Do you own it?” If he did, she’d forgive him for scaring her to death.
“No.”
She gulped. If he didn’t own it, what reason could he have for being here other than to rape her and then cut her up into little pieces? She tried to think of all the ploys that she’d read on the Internet when faced with a situation like this.
He started toward her. “Not many people come out here.”
Yikes. He was emphasizing how alone they were. “I’m meeting someone,” she said. “I expect them any minute. Any second.”
“Really?” He kept walking. “Somebody local?”
“Yes. Plus lots of people know I’m here. Tons of people.”
He smiled. “This is a very small town. You’d have trouble rounding up a ton of people.”
She noted that he had a nice smile, but then so had Ted Bundy. Other than the smile, he didn’t have much else going for him. He wasn’t very muscular and he had a double chin. Plus he needed a shave. Not what you’d call an appealing character.
Maybe the direct approach would work. “If this is private property,” she said, “then why are you here?”
“I saw you turn in and followed you.” He smiled again. “You have really pretty hair.”
She gasped and backed up a step. Anybody who would compliment her frizzed-out hair was seriously weird and quite possibly dangerous. “Okay, listen, whoever you are. I have an active case of genital herpes, and…and…I have my period right now…and…I’m coming down with stomach flu. If you have sex with me, I’ll hurl all over you. See if I don’t!”
His mouth dropped open. “You think I’m here to rape you?”
Her fear spiked into the stratosphere. “Oh, God, don’t kill me. Please don’t. I have some money in the car. Take it. Here, take my Phone.” She held it out with a shaking hand. “My rings are faux stones, but you can have them if you want.”
“Hey, calm down.” He started to reach for her. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t touch me!” She leaped back. “I just remembered. I know karate!” She crouched and held her arms at right angles the way she’d seen Bruce Lee do it in the movies.
The guy put up his hands as if she had a gun pointed at him. “Look, I have no intention of raping or killing you. I didn’t mean to scare you, and I apologize.”
She wasn’t about to buy his story just like that. “Then why did you follow me?”
“I was on my way home from…anyway, I was driving by. I saw you turn down the lane into this property, and I wanted to know who you are and why you’re walking around it.”
“What are you, some volunteer security guard?” The rain let up and she fished her glasses out of her pocket and put them on.
“I have…an interest in the property.”
As her fear faded, a new suspicion took its place. “MegaMart sent you, didn’t they?” If they had, she was beyond humiliated after spouting all that stuff about herpes and having her period. That story would make the rounds of all the MegaMart water coolers, sure as the world.
“MegaMart?”
He was either not sent by her archrival, or he was very, very good. She’d believe the latter until proven otherwise. “Don’t play dumb. I thought I’d covered my tracks, but obviously someone found out my travel plans and put it all together. They thought if they sent some ordinary local guy out to talk to me, I’d never suspect that he was a plant.”
He stared at her. “I look ordinary to you?”
“Um, well, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. But, yeah. Pretty much.”
“You don’t find me…sexy?”
Her fears returned with a vengeance and she went into her fake karate crouch. “Stay back, bucko. I can break boards like they were matchsticks. I’ll snap you in two before you know what happened.”
“That wasn’t a come-on. I honestly am no danger to you.”
“So you say.”
“No, really. It’s just that usually women have a slightly…different reaction to me.”
Slowly she straightened and took a deep breath. Okay, she had it now. He was the local Romeo, and in a small town, he might be the sexiest thing they had to offer, in which case she was in no danger of getting sidetracked on this trip.
Poor guy. She’d probably insulted him, but then again, if he was a paid spy for MegaMart, she shouldn’t care.
He took off his glasses. “Do I still look ordinary?”
Men and their egos. But it wasn’t in her to be deliberately cruel. “You know, have you ever considered contacts? You have very nice eyes, and the glasses sort of cover them up.”
He nodded and put the glasses back on. “Okay.”
Then she had another unsettling thought. “Don’t tell me you were sent here to sweet-talk me out of closing this deal.”
“What deal?” He looked uneasy.
“Of course you wouldn’t admit it. Listen, just because I don’t have a boyfriend right now doesn’t mean that I’m desperate for male attention. But I wouldn’t put it past MegaMart to try something sneaky like that.”
“I have nothing to do with MegaMart.”
“Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t matter, though. I have the inside track on this one. Within the next six months there will be a SaveALot store right where we’re standing. MegaMart can eat my dust.” Or mud, in this case. The rain had turned the path under her feet into a squishy mess.
He looked as if he’d been hit by a cattle prod. “A SaveALot? You mean that big-box store?”
“The best of the big-box stores. And if you’ll excuse me, I have some people to see.” She fixed him with a determined glare, hoping he’d take the hint and move aside on the narrow path. Her
nylons had gathered enough burrs and she’d rather not have to tromp through the thickest part of the weeds to get back to her car.
He didn’t budge. “You want this property so you can put a SaveALot on it?”
So maybe he wasn’t from MegaMart. That level of disbelief would be really hard to fake. “Yes,” she said. “The location is perfect.”
“This can’t be happening.”
“Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself, don’t you? It will be an incredible boon for the area.”
“A SaveALot.” He looked dazed, probably with happiness.
She thought of his battered old truck and his scruffy appearance. He probably needed work. “Unfortunately, I can’t offer you a job. That’s not my department. Once the deal is finalized, I’m sure a SaveALot personnel manager will visit the area and take applications.”
He continued to stare at her as if unable to comprehend his good fortune.
She realized that if he didn’t clean up a little, he’d stand no chance of getting that job, either. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but SaveALot tends to be on the conservative side when it comes to hiring. You might want to get a fresh haircut before you apply.”
“But I just…” He shoved his fingers into his hair, and his eyes widened. “I just got a haircut.”
“No kidding?”
“A week ago.”
“Well, I hate to tell you this, but it looks as if your barber might be ripping you off. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I need to meet someone.”
This time he did step aside, although she had to pass very close to him in order to avoid the weeds. Her shoes made sucking sounds in the mud, sounds that were almost sexual if your mind was drifting that way, which hers certainly wasn’t.
His might be, though, because she could swear he caught his breath as she brushed by him. She hardly considered herself a bombshell, but maybe she would be in a town this size.
“What’s your name?” he called after her.
She could see no harm in telling him. Everyone in town would know her name eventually, anyway. “Maggie Grady.”
“That’s a nice name.”
She turned, feeling sorry for him again. He was showing signs of being attracted to her. Talk about hopeless. “I’ll only be here a few days.”
“We have no hotels in Big Knob.”
“That’s okay. A motel will work.”
“No motels, either.”
“Oh.” She’d been in such a rush to get here that she hadn’t checked that out. “I’ll manage. I’m sure my real estate contact can help me find some place to stay.”
“Denise Woolrich?”
“Yes. Do you know her?” Of course he would. Everyone knew everybody in a small town.
“I know her.” He didn’t look happy about it.
Maggie wondered if Denise was an old girlfriend who’d done him wrong. “I barely know the woman,” she said, “but she deserves a medal for contacting me yesterday afternoon. SaveALot will put Big Knob on the map.”
Chapter Four
The minute Maggie’s little Escort pulled out of the drive, Sean ran over to his truck and peered in the side-view mirror. The mirror was cracked, but he could see himself well enough to notice that his hair had never looked worse. Maybe he’d slept on it wrong.
Pulling a comb out of his back pocket, he tried to make his hair behave, but no matter how he combed it, pieces stuck out in all directions. No wonder she’d said he looked ordinary with hair like this. He climbed in the truck and started the engine. A shower and a shave, and he’d be back to his old self.
He needed his old self right now, for two reasons. First of all, Maggie Grady was a threat to his plan of buying this place. Second of all, and this was an amazing revelation, she was the first woman in the past couple of years who turned him on.
From the minute he’d seen her standing there in the rain, he’d wanted her. And not just slightly, either. His skin had flushed like it was August, spit had pooled in his mouth, and his penis had expanded to the point that walking hurt. He hadn’t had that kind of a reaction to a woman in ages.
If he could get her interested in him, he’d have a chance to talk her out of this SaveALot deal. There had to be other pieces of property in Southern Indiana that would make a good location for her company. He’d be happy to help her find them. He’d be happy to help her do any little thing she wanted, except buy this piece of property.
Just his luck he’d met her while sporting a bad case of bed-head and a day-old beard. Oh, and the glasses. He still couldn’t see shit without them. He’d never had a hangover last this long, but his eyes should be okay in a couple of hours. Then he’d ditch the glasses and make his play.
He had to admit they’d gotten off to a really bad start, with her thinking he was a serial killer. And his one compliment, that she had pretty hair, had been totally lame. He was generally smoother than that. Maybe the wine last night had killed off a few brain cells.
Funny, but he didn’t have a headache. Taking the dirt road leading to his house faster than normal bounced him around some, but it didn’t make his head hurt. The little cottage where he lived belonged to Clem Loudermilk, the richest guy in Big Knob. Clem held the patent on a type of cleavage-enhancing bra that had made him a fortune.
Fortune in hand, Clem had built a brand new house further up the hill. It wouldn’t do to have the access road go past the old cottage, so Clem had paved a new lane down to the main road with security gates at the end of it. Then he’d put in a set of a hundred and six steps that descended the hill from his house down to the cottage, so he could go check on how it was doing.
The cottage was doing great, because in exchange for living in Clem’s old house, Sean was gradually repairing everything and bringing it up to code. Clem had obviously made the trek down the steps this morning, because he was crouched down peering through the latticework covering the crawl space when Sean drove up.
Clem stood with a groan of discomfort as Sean climbed down from his truck. Clem was a round little guy who didn’t dress like a rich man and probably never would. He’d invented the bra as a service to his wife, and he was the first to tell anyone that it had been pure luck that some lingerie company had picked it up.
“We need to do something about those skunks,” Clem said as Sean walked toward him.
“I will. Before I move out they’ll be gone.” And not one day sooner. He didn’t want them hurt, so he planned to trap them and take them out to a part of the woods near the granite outcropping of Big Knob itself.
He’d picked out the perfect spot, in an area the pioneers had named the Whispering Forest. Everyone in town thought the place was haunted. There were tall tales about disembodied eyes, strange noises and the smell of smoke when there were no visible campfires.
Some claimed they’d heard the whispers that had given the forest its name. They swore it was not the sound of wind through the trees, but spooky words breathed into their ear. Although the state allowed hunting in Whispering Forest, hunters looking to bag a rabbit or a deer said their guns jammed whenever they tried to shoot anything.
Sean thought the stories were ridiculous, but the rumors made it the perfect hideaway for the skunks. No one would bother them there. They were a family, and he’d do his best to keep them together.
“I’m worried about them migrating up to the big house,” Clem said. “Clara wouldn’t like that. They might get tangled up with Bud.” Bud was Clara’s Chihuahua, and a tougher little cuss Sean had never met.
“They seem to stay close to home,” Sean said. But if Clara was on a kick, he might have to relocate them sooner than he’d planned. Once Clara started pestering Clem, he was moved to action. That was how he’d ended up inventing the bra.
“Even so.” Clem rubbed his chin and gazed at the roofline of his three-story house, which was barely visible through the trees. Then he took a closer look at Sean. “I hate to say it, but you look like hell, boy.”
�
��I know. I’m headed inside for a shower and a shave.”
“That would be a good idea. What’s with the glasses? Some new fad I ain’t heard about?”
“Oh.” Sean took them off to see if the world still looked blurry without them. It did. Maybe they weren’t clear lenses, after all, and they were screwing up his eyes. He’d leave them off for awhile. “Just a joke. I forgot I had them on.”
Clem nodded. “Must have been some night.”
“Just dinner and drinks with a couple of friends. I ate and drank way too much, so they offered me the sofa and I took it.”
“You gotta watch out for that stuff. You’re at the age when your metabolism slows down and you start putting on weight. Before you know it, you’ll look like me, and then it’s hell to take it off again.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And do something about the skunks. If they get tangled up with Bud, we got us a big problem. See you later.” Clem started back up the steps to his house.
Sean watched him go. He wouldn’t be surprised if Clem kept the cottage as his personal hidey-hole after Sean left. Clara had always been bossy, but once she got cleavage thanks to Clem’s invention, she’d become unstoppable.
Sean called out a greeting to the skunks before he went inside. He had no idea if they understood or paid any attention, but he liked to think they appreciated being left alone. They’d never smelled up the place, not even slightly.
Inside the cottage he took a deep breath of freshly cut wood, thanks to the cedar wainscoting and cabinets he’d put in last month. His furniture was nothing to write home about, but the carpentry was primo, if he did say so himself. Someday he’d build himself some furniture, but for now he was too busy.
Maybe he’d carve himself a chess set, too. As the thought hit him, he stopped in his tracks. He didn’t play chess. But suddenly he had the overwhelming urge to learn.
Weird. Shucking clothes as he went, he headed for the bathroom. He’d set up a mirror in the shower so he could shave and shower at the same time. He didn’t realize until he was standing in the warm spray ready to shave that he couldn’t see well enough to do it.
Over Hexed (The Hex Series Book 1) Page 4