by Zoe Mullins
“I promise, I won’t.” And Cait meant it. Her gut was beginning to tell her this was something else. Something personal, she just didn’t know who or why. “Besides, with the exception of the studio, I’m not being allowed to go anywhere alone. Jack or Ben or Sophie are always with me.”
“Okay then.” Sam seemed mollified. “And speaking of Sophie, I was wondering if you were doing the girls’ thing again this week and well, if I could take you up on your offer to come along.”
Cait squealed with delight. “Of course you can!”
* * * * *
Cait wasn’t so delighted a few hours later when Jack pulled the truck up to the curb. Jack started to dial 9-1-1, but Cait was already out of the truck and running up the walk. She circled around the house, wishing it not to be true. But it was. Every window in her home was broken. Smashed.
Jack caught her by the waist when she wanted to go inside. “Not until the cops are here, honey. Come on. You don’t want to trample the evidence.”
“It’s not evidence!” she cried out. “It’s my house.” She turned and sobbed into his shoulder, as he guided her back to the truck. He put down the tailgate and sat with her until the police arrived.
By the time the cops pulled up nearly an hour later, Cait wasn’t crying anymore. Ben and Sophie were there, as were Sam and Patrick. The latter couple had packed a basket of sandwiches and sweets. Cait was marching over to the car before they had time to put it into park.
Jack started after her but a hand on his arm stopped him. Sam shook her head.
“Look at this,” she yelled. “Does this look random to you?” She gestured toward her house. “Do you want to ask me again if I have an alibi?”
“Do you?” Scott asked indignantly.
“Do I?” She glared at the constable. “You’re damned right I do. I was in my studio all day while some asshole broke all my windows. Now can you tell me why?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Scott continued. “Why would someone want to do this to you?”
“Now you want me to do your job for you? I don’t know. I don’t have any enemies. I have a yoga studio. I teach breathing and meditation and all that touchy-feely shit that has nothing to do with smashing someone’s windows, or painting Die Whore on their place of business.”
Chet was the calming one, the good guy on this team. “Now, Miss McKenzie, I know you are upset.” She gave him a look that said Ya think? “But we need to look at this piece by piece. Have any of you been inside yet?”
“No,” she grumbled. “They wouldn’t let me go in.”
“Then give me your keys.”
She handed them to him begrudgingly, but she didn’t want them breaking down her goddamn door either.
“Goback to your truck,” he suggested, “and please wait for us to ensure the house is clear.” He nodded to Scott and they began to approach the house with weapons at the ready.
The group watched from the relative safety of the truck as the officers unlocked the door and went inside. A few tense minutes later, they were back out with their weapons holstered.
“All is clear inside,” Scott informed them. “But we are going to need statements from each of you.”
“Chet, we have to get these windows boarded up. Can we start doing that?” Jack asked.
Chet wanted to say no but he finally nodded in agreement.
Ben began making calls. Cait was impressed with their efficiency because they still had the window measurements on file from when Steele Construction had assessed the property. After just a few minutes Ben was able to assure her that some guys back at the shop were already cutting the pieces they’d need to cover the windows.
“Are you going to get your windows replaced for free too?” Scott asked, with sarcasm dripping from each syllable.
“Now you just watch it,” Sophie said, pushing between Cait and Scott. The officer pushed back her shoulders and stood tall, staring Sophie down. Before Sophie could make any threats, an arm snaked around her waist, pulling her away. She grabbed Cait’s hand dragging her along.
“What the hell are you thinking?” Sophie demanded when she saw it was Chet who had kept her from getting in Constable Scott’s face.
Chet looked at Cait, his mouth a grim line. “I’m thinking we’re doing our job, whether you like it or not, and you are getting in our way,” he growled, staring down at her. At nearly six foot, he towered over Sophie.
“Cait needs protection not accusations,” she warned him.
“And you need to remember that I may lick your boots in the bedroom, but this is my world. My job. You don’t get to interfere.”
He stormed away from her, and Sophie was ready to chase after him but Cait stopped her. “It’s okay. I know you want to help me, but don’t mess things up with him for my sake. He has a job to do.”
Sophie didn’t look happy but she didn’t disagree either. When they finally followed Chet, it was to ask that he let Cait in to pick up a few things. He escorted Cait inside as Sophie returned to the truck to wait with Patrick and Sam.
Cait didn’t need to grab a lot, and she wasn’t careful about packing. She shoved some clothes and cosmetics into a cotton shopping bag. Jackson was waiting when she came back out and he drew her to his side. His arm wrapped protectively around her waist.
Scott was asking more questions about the house, its insurance and mortgage state. She seemed to like implying this could be another insurance scam.
“Beginning your interrogation already?” Jack asked.
“There is no interrogation,” Chet told them with a sigh.
“Adams,” Scott complained. He shook his head, effectively cutting her off with a look.
“Guys, get the windows boarded up. Just don’t touch the doors. I won’t know if the whackadoo tried to get into the house or not until I have a team come in tomorrow morning to dust for prints so I don’t want anyone near them.”
Chet turned then to the women who had closed ranks around Cait. “Why don’t you three go out for dinner or, Sophie, take them to your place and order in Chinese from Ho-Ho’s. Then everyone just drop into the station tomorrow to give a statement.”
Scott didn’t look happy with her partner, but she said nothing, turning and walking toward the squad car.
“Do you mind if I go home with Sophie?” she asked Jack.
“We shouldn’t be too long here.” He told her, smoothing her hair back off her face. “You need to unwind a bit with the girls. Have a glass of wine or three.”
She laughed. “I just may do that.”
“I wish I could surround you in bubble wrap to know you are safe,” he told her. “Don’t think for a moment that my instincts aren’t telling me to do just that. To drag you back to my place and not let you leave until this psycho is caught.”
On some level Cait could admit she’d like that Jack was overprotective, but she appreciated that he also wasn’t using it as an excuse to smother her. Not yet anyway. If any more shit went down, she knew Jack would probably try to get Chet to put her on house arrest. At Jack’s house where he could keep an eye on her. The thought made her grin.
She hated that someone had violated the safety of her house. But it also made her angry. She needed some time to calm down, and wine and Chinese food at Sophie’s sounded like a great idea.
Chapter Sixteen
The bell on the door caught Cait still in the change rooms.
“Cait, hun,” Rebecca called. “You in?”
“Oh hey,” she said, smiling as she held up the broom and dustpan. “Just taking care of the some sand. One hazard of being on the beach.” She reattached the dustpan to the broom handle and propped it up in a corner.
“We heard about what happened.” Rebecca looked concerned and tired. Suzanne stood quietly behind her.
Cait shrugged. She didn’t like to bother people with what she thought of as her problems. She and Jack had already been in to the station this morning to give their statements to Chet. After
a short conversation with him, she at least felt confident now that he didn’t think she was vandalizing her own home and business.
“I am just so happy that you weren’t there or hurt,” Rebeccasaid, patting her hand.
“Me too,” Suzie said grudgingly. “I am sorry about my behavior at dinner. I was worried that you are going to hurt Jack again. I thought you would be here for a while and then leave again, but Mom explained how you are building a new life here. I guess we are both back in St. Augustin to start over.”
Cait nodded. “It’s not easy, is it?”
“Not really,” Suziesaid, rolling her eyes. “But at least I have family to lean on.”
“Cait has family now too,” Rebecca insisted. “Honey, do you need a place to stay?”
Cait bit her lip. “It shouldn’t be much longer than a week to get the windows replaced and I have a place to stay in the meantime.”
One of Rebecca’s perfectly arched eyebrows lifted in question.
Suzie nudged her mom with an elbow. “She’s staying with Jack.”
Rebecca flushed. “Well of course. What was I thinking?”
Cait smiled. “Thank you for the offer though. I do appreciate it.”
“Think nothing of it. Tell Jack I will be over with a pie for the two of you later,” she gave a dismissive wave. “So we have fifteen minutes before class starts, we should go and set ourselves up.”
“I think there’s some paperworkCait needs me to fill in.” Suzie passed her yoga mat to her mom. “Why don’t you set up my mat for me?”
Rebecca disappeared into the studio and Cait got out the new-student paperwork and reviewed the medical information with Suzie.
“I had Hank by C-section, but everything has healed well. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to get back into a workout routine yet.”
“You look fantastic, and this class won’t be too hard. It’s a yin class so it’s slow paced. Its aim is to increase the circulation in the joints and improve flexibility. We actually try for the least amount of muscle exertion.”
“Oh, thank god.” Suzie laughed. “I shouldn’t embarrass myself too much.”
“You won’t embarrass yourself at all, I promise.” Cait tucked away the paperwork.
“I thought you would have had a passel of kids by now too.”
Cait stared at Suzie for a moment, wanting to tell her to mind her own business. But she was likely going to be her sister-in-law, and she had extended the olive branch, so she bit her tongue. “Logan and I tried. I miscarried. A lot.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It happens.” Cait didn’t want to explore that any further and was happy when Suzie didn’t ask anything else. Invariably people asked about in-vitro, or surrogacy or adoption. There was a time when it had all become blah, blah, blah in her head. Today she could say that she would have liked children, but didn’t think her life was any less fulfilling without them.
“Let me show you the change rooms and stuff before class starts.”
* * * * *
It had been a busy day and busy meant that she hadn’t had time to think about her home that she couldn’t go back to tonight. She saw Ben waiting again by his pickup when she closed up the studio.
“Jack said to expect you.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting. “I can’t help but think this chauffeur business must be getting old.”
“I know it chafes a bit but we all want to help look out for you, and if that means we play chauffeur, so be it.”
“I’ll see if Jack won’t just let me borrow one of the trucks,” she told him. She liked driving a pickup.
“Now why would you want to do that?” He laughed. “If you are going to ask him for anything, ask for the Mustang.”
“Oooh, I like how you think.” They stopped for takeout at the Captain Dan’s Beach Hut before heading out to Jack’s. She had already been warned that Ben and Jack had a proposal to work on, so she grabbed her take-away dinner of chicken fingers and fries and disappeared into the living room while they headed to the home office.
It was a couple of hours later that Jack and Ben joined Cait in front of the television. Jack pulled off his reading glasses and stared at the latest printout of their proposal. “I think we did it.” Jack handed her the copy of the proposal and she quickly flipped through it.
“That’s awesome,” she said. If they were successful, this would be a major coup for Steel Construction. The design-build of the new community stage facility on the waterfront would allow Jack to let loose with some really cool design work.
With Jack’s design, and Steele’s reputation for quality construction, they were in a good position to get the contract. “I think we need to relax.” Jack suggested to Ben that he get them some beer. “Let’s head out to the hot tub.”
“Oh, I could so use one.” She unfurled herself from the sofa and turned her book over on the table. “I’ll just go grab my swimsuit.”
Jack stopped her in her tracks, his hand on her wrist. He shook his head. “You can safe word if you want to and I won’t hold it against you. But it’s just Ben. He’s seennaked women before. You can slip out of your clothes out there but I see no point in a swimsuit.”
She had never been overly shy about getting naked but it was the what came next that had her worried. “So I am naked and you will be wearing?”
“You’re right. It’s unfair, but we will have our underwear on. I can guarantee when it’s wet it doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination either.”
She laughed, and with a long sigh, she followed Jack outside. Ben had already shucked off his clothes and was deep beneath the bubbles. Jack pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it and his jeans onto a deck chair. He slid into the tub and picked up the beer waiting on the side for him. He engaged Ben in conversation so Cait wouldn’t feel so conspicuous, but his eyes never left her.
Ben, for his part, hadn’t even sneaked a glance at her as she pulled off her T-shirt and bra, folding them on the chair. Then she pushed down her capris and folded them too. She hadn’t been wearing any panties. She stepped to the edge of the tub and sat down on the ledge, slowly slipping into the hot water. Her squeal drew Ben’s attention.
“It feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked her.
“Oh my god, we should do this every night!” she exclaimed and swam through the water to Jack, grabbing his beer and taking a sip.
“Anytime you want,” he told her, letting her steal his beer as he grabbed the one meant for her. She snuggled into his side as he and Ben continued to talk about the proposal and the jobs they had coming up. Jack had told her that Ben was one of the best construction managers he had ever worked with, and she was happy to hear that he readily included Ben in the design phase. His knowledge of the building process undoubtedly improved their designs.
“Time for another.” Jack held up his empty beer, ready to get them one.
“Sure, one more, but I’ll go. I need to hit the head.”
Cait was deeply relaxed, listening to the sound of their voices and the sound of the surf pounding the nearby shore. She let her eyes flutter open and watched as Ben climbed from the tub. His black short-briefs clung to a very firm ass. He wrapped a towel around his waist as he headed inside.
She closed her eyes again, but was hauled up against Jack’s body, and settled on his lap. “I saw that, you know.”
“Saw what?”
He buried his nose in her hair, whispering in her ear. “You ogling his ass.”
“I was not ogling his ass.” She laughed. “I was appreciating the view.”
“I had forgotten you already compared him to an underwear model.”
“If the underwear fits.” She stuck out her tongue at Jack and squeaked when he nearly caught it in his teeth. Instead he settled for a long, slow kiss, his wet hands tangling in her hair.
They came up for air as Ben stepped back into the hot tub.
Jack spread his legs so Cait could sit between them, resting against his chest. Th
is hot tub seat was a little higher than the one she had been on and her breast floated just below the water’s surface. He let a hand slide casually down her shoulder until it stroked across the side of her breast. He played idly with her pierced nipple as he took another sip of his beer.
Cait sighed and leaned back farther against him as he rubbed circles around her nipple. He and Ben kept up a steady stream of conversation but Jack didn’t miss the little smile tugging at the corner of Ben’s mouth.
Jack put down his beer and slid his other hand beneath the water. He gently cupped her breasts, lifting them so the bubbles swirled just below her nipples, which he now pinched.
She pressed back against him, her ass squirming against his cock. It stood at attention against her backside. “Yes, baby, keep squirming like that. Ben is enjoying watching you flush with arousal.”
Her eyes flared open and locked onto Ben’s. He was staring at her appreciatively, if not also a little hungrily. He licked his lower lip, as he sat forward in his seat. His eyes flicked back from hers to where Jack was still playing with her nipples. Her sex clenched each time he pinched behind the piercing, as if somehow her clit was directly wired to her nipples.
“He likes watching,” Jack whispered. “He can see how excited you are by the change in your breathing. You are breathing rather fast. Is that because it feels good?”
“Yes Sir.” She slipped into sub mode and Jack and Ben both groaned. Jack reached beneath the water and lifted her, settling her onto his lap. Her legs splayed over his thighs. It raised her higher out of the water, her breasts on full display to Ben’s hungry gaze.
She noted that one of Ben’s hands had disappeared beneath the water and she wondered if he was stroking himself.
“Cup your breasts. Show them to Ben,” Jack instructed her as he slid his fingers down to cup her pussy. He felt the hard nub of her clit. It felt swollen and needy and she whined just a little as he rolled her clit between his fingers.
“So fucking beautiful,” Ben said, creeping closer. He looked to Jack who, she noticed, nodded his approval. Ben reached out and wrapped his hands around hers. Clasping her hands more tightly against the soft mounds. Her breasts weren’t overly large but they filled his palms. He dragged his calloused thumbs over the sensitive tips. She closed her eyes and gasped. “Jack.”