by Tara Rose
“It doesn’t.” It only sounded sad.
“I’ve had a valet since the day I was born, and our household staff made sure I ate and had clothes to wear. I didn’t go to actual schools like you did, and by the time I was ten, I knew how to read the stock market reports. I’ve had my own computer since that age as well, but since I was born in 1977, you can imagine there wasn’t much that I could do on it. But, every time some new technology hit the market, I had it. Games, consoles, and computers.”
“So that wasn’t just something you said yesterday about gaming and being more interested in certain ones.”
“No. That’s entirely true. All those mythical creatures and the people who hunted them were my best friends. I read everything I could on legends and myths about ghosts and shapeshifters, especially. I even had my own amateur team of investigators when I was younger, but one by one they all went off to college and on to real careers. They got married, had kids, and I was still hanging out with freaks and geeks online.”
“Kane, that sounds so lonely.”
“It was. It still is.”
He looked into her eyes with so much intensity, Felicity had to fight not to simply lean in and kiss him. She wanted to. The memory of his mouth on hers yesterday was still there. But he probably needed to get all this out, and she wanted to give him that chance, and let him make the decision on whether this would progress to anything beyond kissing. “Do you have someone you left back home, Kane? A wife? A lover?”
He almost smiled. “No. I’ve never been married. I’ve had girlfriends, but it hasn’t been easy. As I said, my family pretty much owns the town. It’s difficult to find someone who doesn’t give a shit about any of that. When I’ve let anyone get that close to me, they talked about our relationship in terms of mergers and combining assets, as if we were spreadsheets or portfolios instead of people. So, I built walls. High ones. Ones designed to keep everyone guessing, and make them all think I’m mysterious, or even a bit dangerous.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle softly. “Okay. True confession time. I thought you were that when I first met you. I also thought you were kind of a bad boy. The kind I’ve always been attracted to, but who always end up breaking my heart.”
“I don’t want to break your heart, Felicity.”
“I appreciate knowing that. Thank you.”
“But I also don’t want to lead you on and make you believe that I won’t be gone one day. This is what I do. I travel around and hunt things down for fun. It’s better than sitting in that big house by myself, playing games on my computer.”
She sighed to cover up the emotion bubbling up inside. The urge to cry was strong right now, and she didn’t really understand it. “So tell me how you find out about Trace Coleman? You mentioned your grandmother.”
He nodded slowly, and then he settled back against the sofa cushions, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. “She’s got early Alzheimer’s. She lives in a cottage on our estate, but she stills comes and goes as she pleases. We have staff who watch out for her, but she’s a pistol. She throws them out of her house a lot, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Then again, no one is really there most of the time, so she runs roughshod over all the staff.”
“Sounds like she needs a full-time caregiver.”
“Oh, I agree. But I can’t make that decision, and she won’t allow it yet. Her husband passed away ten years ago, and she’s never really accepted that he’s gone. You see, this love of ghosts and things that go bump in the night is inherited from her. Some of my most cherished childhood memories involve sitting in her cozy house, in front of a roaring fire, listening to her spin gothic tales of specters and spooks.”
Felicity smiled. She could actually picture the scene he’d just described. The emotions and convictions in his words were that strong.
“But when my grandfather died, all that changed. She changed. They’d been together since they were kids, and she just drifted away from us, day by day. Trace Coleman came to town, lured by my family’s fortune, of course, and through talking to people in town, found out about my grandmother’s attempts to contact her dead husband.”
“Oh, that rotten SOB. Please tell me he did not try to prey on her grief.”
Kane gave her a look of profound gratitude that melted her heart. “He did exactly that. My parents are never there. They didn’t know this was going on. I was away on an investigation in Georgia when he first arrived. Finally, one of our staff called me and alerted me to what was happening.”
“What did he do to your grandmother?”
“He used dry ice and oil-soaked rags hidden behind furniture and in drawers to make her believe her dead husband was in a spiritual struggle with a demon inside her home. And then he used a bullshit séance that she actually participated in, to uncover the fact that during the Depression, her father hid money and jewelry inside the walls to keep it safe. There was a rumor going around that area at the time that people were breaking into homes of more wealthy residents, looking for anything they could sell, or for money. So her father hid things as a precaution.”
“Oh my God.” Felicity put a hand to her mouth. She didn’t like where this story was going.
“Yeah. I think you’ve already guessed where this ended up. The estate I grew up on is older than the Depression. It’s been in my family since before the Civil War. I have no doubt there are many secrets buried not only in the various homes and structures, but in documents designed to protect future generations of Eastons. My grandmother not only gave him full run of her house so that he could find anything buried in it, but she burned sage, lit candles, and did all kinds of useless things that he told her would exorcise the demons.”
Kane drained his beer and placed the empty bottle back on the coaster.
“Because he had full access, all he had to do was slowly back off on the manufactured phenomena, and hold more bullshit séances that his film crew helped with in the background, and Grandma believed she had not only contacted her dead husband, but had also appeased the gods for him from beyond the grave, by giving Trace Coleman what he found in the walls of the home. He told her he was going to give it to the proper authorities and clear her husband’s name of any wrongdoing.”
“Did his name need clearing?”
“Of course not. But Trace made fake newspaper clippings that he showed her, convincing her that her husband had been involved in some shady business dealings, and the reason she hadn’t been able to contact him was because this demon was working to avenge the people he had wronged. My grandmother knew nothing of my grandfather’s business dealings when he was alive. She left all that to him, as most women of her generation did.”
“Please tell me Trace was caught.”
“He wasn’t caught in time for me to recover whatever he took from the house. I still don’t know what it was. But I do have the fake newspaper clippings and details about the séances and fake phenomena that he manufactured from Grandma. I took all of it to our local FBI office. If your detective Tommy could use that information, along with the other things he’s found, someone in this country, surely, should be able to put Trace Coleman away for a very long time.”
“Did you hear everything that happened on the Stonecraft estate Monday night?”
He nodded. “Enough to know it was Trace behind it, whether or not his crew members want to admit that.”
“Does Tommy know that you know all this?”
“Not yet.”
“Kane, it’s none of my business, and I understand that you’re here to avenge what he did to your grandmother, but why haven’t you told Tommy any of this?”
“I told you the truth about that. I don’t want her name dragged into it.”
“I understand. And I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through. But why then did you come here to find him?”
He ran a hand across his face. “I don’t know. I thought maybe I could take care of him on my own and leave my family out of it, you know?”
“And now I realize that I can’t have both.”
“I think you’re right. And I also think that if Tommy or someone was able to gather all this information together, like you said, Trace Coleman would be gone for good. I know we’re just one little town, but we could really use your help on this.”
“Because Maverick’s uncle is now involved as well?”
“What? No, that’s not why. It wasn’t only Nash’s estate that Trace targeted. Three years ago he was here and tried to get behind the walls in Van and Rowena’s house, right down the street. It was probably him who set it on fire. Rowena and her cat, Snowball almost died in that fire. Van saved them both.”
Felicity watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “I didn’t realize that. I didn’t know someone had set her house on fire.”
“Well, no one told you. But now you know. She and Van couldn’t prove at the time that Trace was behind it, but he left town shortly afterward. And it was arson. They did prove that much. Now that Trace is back again, he’s tried to get into the main house at Mystic Ridge Enterprises, the ranch that Mateo Alvarado owns, and he’s been sneaking onto Nash’s property to try and plant cameras. Did you know about that?”
Kane shook his head.
“There was a thunderstorm and an old tree was struck by lightning. A branch fell on Trace, but unfortunately he wasn’t hurt. He actually tried to get Nash to pay his medical bills. And now this incident with the mine shaft has happened. He’s out of control, Kane. He goes anywhere he wants, and does whatever he wants, and no one can seem to pin him down.”
“And you think I’m the answer to that.”
“I think you have a hell of a lot more concrete evidence than anyone in this town does right now, yes. I think you should do the right thing. I think you should tell Tommy what you just told me.” She dug her cell phone out of her pocket and placed it on the coffee table.
Kane stared at it. “That is what I came here to do. To out Trace Coleman.”
Felicity pointed to her cell phone. “Tommy’s number is in there.”
When he finally glanced into her eyes again, she nearly gasped at the pain on his face. He leaned forward and took her hands, and she had to fight not to flinch. His skin was so cold. “Once I do, I’ll be done here. I’ll have no real reason to stay. I’ll have to leave and go home eventually, but I don’t want to do that. Because you’ll still be here, Felicity.”
Chapter Eighteen
Felicity gazed into his eyes, with no clue how to respond or what to say. She didn’t think pointing out that he could still try and figure out whether the Ruiz family were shapeshifters would keep him here a while longer. She understood what he was saying. This wasn’t home to him. It never would be. But it had never occurred to her until he’d said the words that the reason he’d hesitated to reveal what he knew about Trace Coleman was because he didn’t want to leave her. They’d only just met. How could he feel so much for her?
And yet, as she searched his face, she knew he hadn’t fed her a line. She knew that he’d meant what he’d said. She didn’t try to analyze what she was feeling, and she silenced the voices that kept trying to play Maverick’s words over in her mind. She simply went with her gut as she leaned over and kissed Kane, right on his full lips.
He didn’t pull away, but he also didn’t touch her or pull her close, and that was such an unexpected reaction that she broke the kiss and moved away, totally embarrassed that she’d done it. “I’m sorry, Kane. I—”
“Don’t be. You surprised me, that’s all. I haven’t been able to think of anything but kissing you since I first saw you at the parade downtown on Saturday. But I don’t want to hurt you, Felicity.”
“I know you don’t.”
“I want to stay tonight. I want to make love to you. But I don’t want you to think less of me for doing so, knowing that this town isn’t my home. It’s not permanent.”
“I know all that.”
“And you still want to do this?”
“Yes.” Every inch of her skin was on fire. The air in her house was heavy as if it were about to storm. It smelled that way, and she swore that she could actually feel the electricity in the air. Kane’s eyes were blazing, as though he, too, were ready to explode like a lightning strike. If he so much as touched her, she’d have an orgasm. It was difficult to take a full breath, and her pussy was soaking wet.
“Felicity…” He brushed a finger along her arm and she moaned softly. “I don’t have any condoms with me.”
“I’m on the pill,” she whispered. “And I don’t have any STDs. And neither does Maverick.” There was no point in pretending to him that she and Maverick hadn’t had sex. She was certain he knew they had, even without asking.
“Neither do I. Do you trust me on that?”
“Do you trust me?”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “Touché,” he whispered. When he finally pulled her into an embrace and captured her mouth in a rough kiss, she crawled onto his lap and groaned loudly in the back of her throat. Her pussy contracted in tiny spasms, and the rational part of her brain that still synapsed registered the fact that it was thundering outside.
She wrapped her arms and legs around his body as his hands tangled themselves in her hair, pulling it gently the way Maverick had so often done and eliciting further noises from her. His lips and tongue moved over hers in a dance of perfect, practiced precision, until she was mesmerized by it. She couldn’t have pulled away even if she’d wanted to. He’d claimed her as his own with that kiss.
They moved as one, and Felicity wasn’t at all surprised to realize she was lying underneath him within seconds. His bulge pressed into her, demanding and urgent. She arched her hips up to meet it, wanting nothing more than to be taken by him, roughly and without mercy. She’d wanted this man from the moment she’d spied him in the bakery, trying to pretend he wasn’t listening to her, Maverick, and Faye.
He finally broke the kiss and sat back on his heels just long enough to peel off his shirt and expose a hard, muscled chest and a torso with a fine dusting of blond hair on it. He pulled off her tank top and gazed at her breasts just before he took them in his hands and massaged them as if they were fine china and might break if his touch was too forceful. She cried out in pleasure and frustration, watching his face, wanting him to suck and bite her nipples. Wanting him to tease her until she couldn’t stand it anymore and then take her for hours.
Kane crawled off her to unzip his jeans, and she smiled when she realized he was commando. “I hate underwear,” he muttered, pulling off his jeans and taking his socks and shoes with them.
She couldn’t stop staring at his dick, red, thick and slick with pre-cum. She licked her lips as he pulled off her PJ bottoms, and then he was on her again, kissing her mouth, her neck, and finally her nipples. She muttered incomprehensible words as he nipped at them, just to the point of pain. When he moved between her legs and began to lick her clit, she grabbed fistfuls of his soft hair and bucked her hips into his face.
He slid two long fingers into her pussy, and she exploded in a blinding orgasm just as lightning crackled overhead. He didn’t let up, even though there was no way he’d be able to miss the fact that she was coming. She didn’t want him to stop. The man knew how to use his mouth and his fingers.
When he finally came up for air, he lifted her legs onto his shoulders as more thunder crashed overhead, and then he plunged his dick into her pussy. Felicity screamed as another climax began to build. She clung to his forearms, loving the way his muscles contracted under her hands, as lightning and thunder together shook the house. Or, it might have been his incredible fucking that made it feel as if her sofa was trembling. He thrust in and out of her like a runaway train, and the harder he took her, the more she wanted.
He pulled out and flipped her over as heavy rain beat down like bass drums against the roof. “Get on your hands and knees.” She couldn’t have disobeyed that voice if she’d want
ed to. “Did he spank you, Felicity?”
Her ass cheeks still had fading bruises. “Yes. And he flogged me and paddled me, too.”
He caressed them then gave each one a soft slap. “I didn’t realize you liked that. I’ll have to remember that.” His hand slipped over the crack of her ass and underneath to rub her wet slit, and then he tongued the areas he’d just touched. She wiggled her hips and pushed back against him, wanting more.
His tongue was on her upper thighs now and then back up to her ass cheeks and underneath to tease her clit. Felicity whimpered, and writhed against his mouth. When he finally plunged his dick into her pussy again, the second climax overtook her, intensifying when he reached under to massage her clit while he fucked her.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” His voice was rough and deep. “I could fuck you all night.”
“Please…” she whispered.
His soft, sexy chuckle fueled her arousal until she couldn’t process anything except his skin against hers and his cock sliding in and out of her with inhuman speed. She was tired and sore by the time he finally cried out, and his movements became hard and jerky. When he finished, she lay prone and he collapsed over her, breathing heavily into her ear.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and softly kissed her neck as the rain and thunder continued outside. “Felicity…that was incredible.”
“For me, too, Kane.”
“Let’s go upstairs. Your bed has got to be more comfortable than this sofa.”
“It is.”
He carried their clothes while she took water upstairs for both of them. The thunder and lightning had stopped outside, but it was still raining. She placed the bottles of water on her nightstand and he dumped their clothes onto the floor, then he pulled Felicity into his arms. “Thank you. Thank you so much for this.”
“Thank you, Kane. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you.” She had no idea why she’d said it out loud, but she knew it was true, so why shouldn’t he know that? He’d be gone one day, and she’d rather he have amazing memories of her and this town than ones that included him wishing he’d never set foot in it.