Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

  Okay, that wasn’t supposed to come out like that. It sounded harsh, even to her own ears, and she regretted the way she said things as soon as they left her mouth. Especially after his reaction.

  Linc’s mouth tightened to a thin line, and his temples flexed with the gnashing of his jaw. His face turned a bright red shade, and he clenched his fists. She saw the defeat, regret, and anger, all on his face, but the pain in his eyes was what got to her the most.

  “I knew it,” he finally growled. “I knew this would happen.” Raking a hand across the back of his neck, he stalked off the porch and out to his truck, muttering curses along the way.

  “Wait! Linc, I didn’t mean to say it like that,” she yelled at his back, but he was gone, tearing down the driveway at warp speeds, kicking up so much dust she coughed with it.

  Letting out a huff of exasperation, Vanessa took her coffee back inside. Linc could act like a brat all he wanted to, but she would get him to talk to her. They had too much going on to stop now. She really liked him.

  Picking up her phone, she started to call him, telling him to come back, but she had a text already. From Ian. With a sigh, she opened it.

  We need to talk. I seriously can’t live without you.

  Refraining from telling him to just go ahead and die then, she deleted the text and called Linc. Only to get his voicemail.

  “You can’t avoid me forever, Linc. When you get over your temper fit, call me.” Okay, she needed to calm down herself. She had no business talking to him like that or he’d never call her back.

  Vanessa needed something physical, so she decided to go upstairs and try to finish painting so she could start moving stuff up there as soon as Linc got the floors done. But she was stopped short at the landing of the stairs when she saw the doll sitting at the top of them.

  The doll she had watched Linc throw away.

  The doll that hadn’t been there when she’d gotten home last night.

  The doll that someone had put there while she was sleeping.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Samantha!” Linc slammed open the hardware store door with a jarring bang, knocking the bell off its hanger. “Sam!”

  “Quit your yelling. She’s off today.” His dad came out of the back room, talking in his low, even voice.

  Linc had just about rubbed the back of his neck raw, trying to figure out why his sister would do this. Didn’t she want him to be happy? She was the one who’d encouraged him to do this with Vanessa in the first place. He’d been perfectly content with his life the way it had been, right?

  “What’s going on, son?” Robert leaned against the counter with his arms crossed in front of him, always ready to listen. Robert had been Linc’s sounding board for decades, minus the stupid later teen years when Linc swore he knew more than his dad. But the man had been patient with him, and as now, his patience was a soothing balm to Linc’s roughness.

  “Sam told Vanessa about me. She fucked it all up. She was the one who told me to go for it with her, and so I did. I broke it off with Cindy and I let myself in with Vanessa, and Sam ruined it. Now she knows, and I don’t see how I can fix it.” Linc dropped his head into his hands with frustration, desperately wanted to hit something but knowing his dad wouldn’t look kindly on the violence.

  “Okay, first things first, if I may point out the obvious. You didn’t really have anything with Cindy to break off, besides sex, and that was long overdue, so have a little faith in your sister.” The man smiled at Linc, and he relaxed just a little at the sound of his dad’s voice. “Second, how do you know it’s ruined? Did Vanessa say she wouldn’t have anything to do with you? I gave her more credit than that,” he mused.

  “You haven’t met her yet.”

  “No, but I feel like I have. She’s all you’ve talked about for a month, and living in that house must take some grit. Besides, Sam likes her a lot, and she’s a pretty good judge of character.”

  “She was really pissed at me this morning.” And he was going to tell her everything, anyway, right after he kissed the fool out of her.

  His dad’s ever-present calming touch clamped on his shoulder in a vise-like grip. “How do you know it’s all ruined? Did you actually stay and talk it out? Explain anything? Find out what the circumstances of Samantha telling her were? Or did you just get mad and stomp off?”

  He was right. Shuffling his feet, Linc, muttered, “Got mad.”

  “Okay, then. You need to talk to the woman.” Robert walked over to the storefront door and flipped the sign to “closed” before turning the lock and then facing Linc. “Let’s go fishing.”

  Linc knew he needed to get this conversation over with, but he also knew his dad was indomitable when it came to his prescribed fishing trips. If Dad said they were fishing, then they were fishing. With a sigh, he followed his father.

  ***

  His dad’s favorite watering hole was outside of town, on public property bordering the new prison. After they had their poles set up and had cast out, Robert broke the silence.

  “I had hoped not to ever have this conversation, but there are things you missed while you were in prison.” His voice was low, but the soothing tone had a rough edge to it, as if he was having a hard time with his words.

  “Yeah, Dad. I know. Sam graduating, Mom’s death. I missed all that.” He hadn’t been there for his family when they needed him, and it still hurt like hell. He’d probably never get over missing his mama’s funeral, but missing the sickness and helping out during the hard times was worse.

  “No, son, that’s not what I mean. I mean you missed out on a lot of you when you were in prison. You missed a lot of growing up.”

  “I grew up fast in there, Dad.” Linc’s voice was pained. He really didn’t want to talk to his dad about the things he’d seen in the penitentiary.

  “I know, and that’s not what I mean, either. I just mean that you grew up different. Not like most people. The things you saw in there, I’m sure they matured you, but in a different way. You missed out on college and things college kids do. You missed out on student loans and stupid entry-level jobs. You missed out on girls. Not high school girls, but young women. You went from having to deal with high school girls to having to deal with women with nothing in between to act as a buffer or a stepping stone. And you come out and start up with that Cindy woman, who is in a class all by herself.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you missed out on practicing how to talk to young women. You don’t have a clue as to how they work or think. You’re at a huge disadvantage here because men don’t understand women on a good day, and you’ve missed out on nearly a decade of trying to figure out how women work.”

  “Wow, Dad.” He felt like he’d already had this conversation with Nick, only it was about sex with women, and now his dad was pointing out he didn’t know how to talk to them, either.

  “I don’t know how to fix it, but I suspect if you go in and talk to Vanessa and be up front with her about everything, she’ll listen. She seems like an understanding sort.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Let me ask you this. Does she make you happy?”

  God, yes. She made him the happiest man alive, and as big a pussy as that made him, it was how he felt. So he nodded wordlessly to his father.

  “Then go and talk to her.” Turning back to his rod, he flicked his wrist. “But let me catch this fish, first.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Vanessa really, really hated that she needed somebody right now. The whole point behind moving out here to the middle of nowhere was to prove her independence, to herself as much as her father and Ian. But that damn doll showing up again was getting to her. She tried to put it off as a ghost, but what was the ghost trying to tell her? And Linc’s insistence that it wasn’t a ghost was equally disarming. Because that would mean someone had come inside her house while she was sleeping to put that doll there.

  Now Linc wasn’t even talking to he
r, so she couldn’t call him to come over. Not that she wanted to. She wanted to be able to deal with this by herself.

  But it was freaking her the fuck out.

  She couldn’t bring herself to look at it, much less touch it, so she left it where it sat—at the top of the stairs—and tried to ignore it.

  Fat chance.

  After a couple of hours, she broke down and called Tiffany. The silence of her house was no longer her friend.

  “Tiff? Hey, I just wanted to find out if you’d told anyone about that diary I found?”

  When she explained what was happening with the doll, Tiffany, the great friend she was, offered to let her come stay at her house. Vanessa had never been there but couldn’t imagine there was a lot of room with two kids and her mother there as well.

  “No, I just wondered if you’d told someone who could be messing with me.”

  “It doesn’t sound safe, Van. Can you call Linc?”

  “We sort of had a fight this morning, and I haven’t heard from him.” Surely he would call her back when he got her messages. She’d left four. And felt like a fool. But she’d apologized for her tone and asked him to call her so they could talk. The ball was in his court. She wasn’t going to grovel when he was the one at fault here.

  “You need to either stay with someone, or someone needs to stay with you. I don’t like this. At all.”

  Suddenly, a loud banging noise erupted from the shed beside the house. The hair on the back of Vanessa’s neck stood on end.

  “Shit. Someone’s here.”

  “Hang on. Don’t hang up, Van. I’m calling someone for you.”

  ***

  Linc was at home, listening to Vanessa’s voicemails again, trying to figure out what exactly to say to her. He had just about decided to wait until morning to go over there, when his sister sent him a text.

  Go to Van’s house. Shit’s happening. She’s scared. Tiffany’s calling cops.

  Two seconds later, he was out the door and in his truck.

  ***

  Vanessa got a flashlight and grabbed the first weapon she could find—her bedside lamp—and pressing her phone to her ear, stalked down the steps.

  “Who’s out there?” she hollered into the darkness, half afraid someone would answer.

  “Vanessa? What are you doing?” Tiffany hissed over the phone into her ear, as if talking in a normal tone of voice from her house across town would get Vanessa killed.

  “Don’t shoot me. It’s Sheriff Hughes,” a low voice drawled from inside her shed. She dropped the phone when she straightened her head, relief flooding her.

  “Oh, thank God. I thought you were a prowler.” Setting the lamp at her feet, she grabbed phone off the ground. “Tiffany, it’s okay. It’s Sheriff Hughes. I gotta go figure out what he wants.”

  “Sure. Call me later?” Relief flooded her friend’s tone.

  “No problem.”

  Tate Hughes came out of her shed, dusting himself off. Vanessa hadn’t really liked the man the first time she’d met him, which was part of the reason she hadn’t told him about the phone calls or the doll. Besides, the phone calls had stopped, and she was half convinced the doll was the work of her ghost, Emily. But the way his lanky form moved with such grace and assuredness struck her with a sense of confidence in the man, and she looked at him for the first time. Really looked.

  He had dark hair under the wide-brimmed cowboy hat he wore, broad shoulders, and dark eyes, probably brown, but she couldn’t see in the dark. A gun holster around lean hips gave the impression of finely-honed skills and power. Chiseled features, ruggedly handsome looks, and tight-fitting jeans were on display as he smiled at her, tensely. He was a good-looking guy. Not her type, because she already had a type—Linc—but eye candy nonetheless. Surely he had a significant other somewhere? “Um, what are you doing?” she asked him as he continued brushing dirt off his jeans.

  They were interrupted by a truck barreling up her driveway, the plume of dust it kicked up choking them. Vanessa recognized the growly rumble of Linc’s diesel, and the pitter patter of her heart that had died down when she realized her prowler was the sheriff started back up again.

  He launched himself out of the truck and before she could stop him, he had Tate Hughes on the ground, fist raised. The man hadn’t even drawn his gun, allowing Linc, the bigger man of the two, to get the best of him.

  “What the fuck are you doing here, Hughes?” This was a scary side of Linc she’d only glimpsed before, but since it was at her expense, she sort of liked it, even if it was unwarranted. She remembered Samantha’s story and realized Linc had been stealing from this man. What was their history before the accident?

  “He was just about to tell me that. Get off him,” she tried to be reassuring, but Tate didn’t help.

  “I can arrest you for assaulting a police officer, asshole,” Tate menaced through gritted teeth. “Second offence. Wouldn’t go over well.”

  “Tell me why you’re trespassing, first.” Linc’s eyes were wild, and with Tate under his powerful body, Vanessa could easily see him killing the sheriff.

  “APB out on a young girl who went missing from the road in front of the house. I was just looking around for her.” Tate struggled to get that much out, with Linc’s forearm across his windpipe.

  Linc got up off Sheriff Hughes and hauled the other man up, none too gently. “A girl’s missing? From here?”

  “No, she’s from a neighboring county, but she was last seen on this road. Why a girl is hitchhiking right by a prison is beyond me…” He continued in an accusing tone, “After I checked out Miss Power’s property, I was headed down to your place. You don’t know anything about this, do you?” His eyes squinted, giving his attractive face a menacing countenance.

  Vanessa watched the exchange and wondered, again, why the men were so antagonistic toward each other. Linc’s hackles rose as his fists gripped and his face turned red.

  “Feel free to look around. If you need help, we’ll be glad to help you look for her,” Vanessa offered in an attempt to calm the boys down.

  “Naw, I honestly think she’s a runaway who got a ride somewhere. Y’all go on and do whatever it is you do out here. Don’t mind me.” She watched his back as he stalked toward the woods, flashlight in hand.

  “Next time, let her know you’re prowling around. Don’t just scare the shit out of her, will you?” Linc yelled after the retreating figure.

  Vanessa bent to retrieve her lamp, stuffing her phone in the pocket of her jeans. “Come on inside. You want a beer? Coffee? Soda?”

  “A lamp? You were going to protect yourself with a lamp?”

  She hefted the lamp in her hand. “This is heavy. It would have knocked him out if he was dangerous.”

  Linc took the two steps to get to her and grabbed her face with his massive paws. He was still breathing heavily from the adrenaline of tackling the sheriff to the ground, and he was obviously still pissed. His temple twitched.

  “Do you have any idea how scared I was? And you’re out here confronting him?” His voice was a barely controlled growl.

  “It was the sheriff!” Vanessa protested weakly.

  “Did you know that when you came out here with your lamp?”

  He stared her down, waiting for an answer. She realized then that Linc’s aggression really had been born of fear, and she felt bad for scaring him. A little.

  “You think I can’t protect myself?” Indignation rose, but it was weak. She felt good knowing Linc was worried about her. That meant he wasn’t still mad about this morning.

  She watched his temples twitch some more, and then he inhaled a deep breath, blowing it out across her face. She watched the fear melt from his eyes before it was replaced with a softness that almost hurt to see.

  “I know you can protect yourself. I was just scared, okay? I’m sorry.” He pulled her into a massive, bone-crushing hug.

  “Can’t. Breathe.”

  “Don’t. Care.” Humor tinged his voice
, and relief filled Vanessa, allowing her to relax in his embrace.

  He squished her some more before loosening his grip, but his hold on her was the same. Close.

  “I really am sorry I didn’t tell you. If being with a killer is a deal breaker, I can go. If you don’t want me in your house anymore, I get it. Nobody else really does, either.” His voice was pained, thick with regret.

  His self-deprecating tone was too much. Vanessa understood this was a small town and people probably judged him all the time for his past. People could be mean like that. But she wasn’t that way, and it pissed her off that he would think so.

  With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself out of his arms. “It’s not the killer part, which I think is a misnomer for you, but whatever. That was a mistake, one you paid for, and you have to reconcile yourself. It’s the fact that you didn’t tell me. The entire town knows, all my friends knew, and I didn’t. I felt really stupid when I finally found out.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Stop saying that!”

  “So… Okay. So you don’t want to break up with me?”

  She pulled away from him, motioning to the porch. “Can we talk a little bit before I go firing or breaking up with you?” He followed her to the porch and they sat in the rocking chairs, like every morning. Only now, they had a huge elephant between them. Vanessa could sort of understand him not telling her. Lord knew she had her own issues. Now was the time to change it.

  She took a deep breath and started. “Mom was killed by a drunk driver a year ago.”

  His eyes were wide as he interrupted her. “I wasn’t drunk. I swear it. I’d had a little to drink, but my breathalyzer came back way below the legal limit.” Linc was waving his hands around, gesticulating his innocence.

  “Okay, but I still want to tell you all this so there won’t be more stuff between us. This isn’t a big nasty secret, but I haven’t been able to talk about it much.” She took a breath while Linc looked at her like she was about to bite him in half. “My brother, Victor, had a drinking issue, and had at least one DUI, so when he got trashed at a party across town, he called Mom to come get him.”