by L. P. Dover
He kissed me gently, and I opened up to him, begging him to take more. His hands clutched my face tighter, and I moaned when his tongue explored my mouth. He pulled away first and I was glad. It wasn’t the right place or time. Resting his forehead to mine, a deep chuckle escaped his lips.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to do that?”
“Probably just as long as I’ve waited for you to do it. But what were you going to say before we got distracted?”
His thumb brushed over my lips. “I said that I may piss you off at times, but I didn’t spend all my time trying to break down your walls just to hurt you. You trust me with your life, so I’m hoping one day, you can trust me with your heart.”
“Spoken like a true romantic. Who would’ve thought you had it in you?” I teased.
He smirked and it turned me on even more. “You haven’t seen nothing yet. Now let’s get home so I can take a cold shower.”
Rolling my eyes, I chuckled and watched him carry my suitcase out. I was going to need a damn ice bath.
Ian
The funeral was the longest ceremony I’d ever had to suffer through. I didn’t know Charles Beckett personally, but he was obviously loved by many. Hell, Grace still cared for the guy, even after knowing he’d held knowledge of people being murdered.
The rain stopped by the time the graveyard service came around. Everyone piled around his final resting place and listened while the preacher said one last prayer. When he was done, the guests were encouraged to say their goodbyes to the family.
Colton gave his condolences to Jared and the rest of Charles’ family, while I watched everyone who passed by. Charles’ wife, Madeline, sat in a chair, completely despondent as everyone tried to talk to her and hug her. She was no doubt drugged up on medication.
“Are you going to give your respects?” Zoe linked her arm with mine and it took all I had not to shrug her off. Tears fell down her cheeks and she wiped them away.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slow and smiled. “I was waiting for the right time.”
“Great, we can go up together.”
The line thinned out and we made our way toward Jared. I held out my hand and he shook it, his face devoid of any emotion. He looked like complete and utter shit. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I said.
He nodded. “Thank you for coming.”
Lauren shook my hand next and hugged Zoe. “Are you coming to the grill tonight?” she asked her.
Zoe placed her hand on my arm. “Is it all right if I bring my date?”
Lauren glanced at me with a small smile. “Of course. The get together is just for the staff and their guests.”
Zoe hugged her again. “We’ll see you there,” she said softly.
We walked off and I carefully pulled my arm away from hers and stuck my hands in my pockets. “What’s this get together tonight?”
Zoe nodded over at Jared. “Now that Jared’s the owner of the hotel, he wanted to assure everyone that the hotel will be fine and we’ll get through this loss. I think Lauren’s going to come in and help for a few weeks, until we all acclimate.”
“I see. And you want me to come with you?”
She sheepishly bit her lip. “I’d like for you to. If you can’t, it’s fine. It starts at seven at the Wild River Grill; just dinner and a couple of drinks.”
It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but it’d give me a chance to observe Jared. I was about to tell her I’d go, when Brad Sawyer passed my line of sight. He was headed straight for the parking lot, where a familiar blonde waited by a silver SUV. It was Emily, the front desk manager at the resort. She glanced around, then they kissed before he opened the door for her to get in. Brad never said anything to the police about having relations with a fellow co-worker. That changed things.
“Hey, isn’t that Brad Sawyer?” I asked, furrowing my brows.
Zoe glanced over at the car and scoffed. “Yep. How do you know him?”
“I think he dated my sister,” I lied. I didn’t even have a sister. “Looks like he’s found someone else.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “He and Emily have been screwing around for a while now. Not surprising. She’ll sleep with anyone to get what she wants. When I was still working in housekeeping, I caught them having sex in one of the vacant rooms.”
“Interesting,” I said, watching Emily drive away. “I’ll have to let my sister know to stay far away from him.”
She snorted. “That’s for damn sure.”
I turned back to her. “So, for tonight, do you mind if I just meet you at the restaurant?”
Her face brightened. “You’re coming with me?”
I nodded. “If that’s what you want.”
“Of course. You can meet me there. I’ll wait for you in the parking lot.”
“Sounds good. See you then.” I forced a smile and walked to my truck, meeting Colton’s gaze in the process. Once on the main road, I called him.
“What’s going on, Chandler?” he asked.
“You won’t believe what I just found out. Guess who’s fucking each other at the hotel?”
When I walked inside the house, I found it empty. Looking out back, I found Grace on the back porch swing, reading a book, and Reed laying in the hammock with his cowboy hat covering his face. I snuck outside and was about to knock Reed out of the hammock when he lifted his hat, a broad smile stretching across his face.
“You weren’t planning on knocking me out of the hammock, were you?”
Grace jerked around and grabbed her chest. “Oh my God! I didn’t hear you sneak up.”
Chuckling, I slapped Reed’s back as he stood. “Just making sure you’re alert.”
He glanced over at Grace. “I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. We just got done with the horses and it was time for a break.”
Grace nodded. “We’ve been working hard. I was trying to stay busy while you were gone, to keep my mind off things. How’d it go?”
“Long,” I replied. “There’s a dinner at Wild River for the hotel staff. They’re allowed to bring a guest and Zoe asked me to go.”
“You’re going?” she asked.
“Yep, and here’s why. Did you know Emily and Brad are fucking around?”
Grace’s eyes widened. “As in having sex?”
I nodded. “Zoe found them in the act not too long ago. According to her, Emily sleeps around a lot.”
She snorted. “That’s an understatement. I’ve caught her flirting with a lot of the hotel guests. I love her to death, but she doesn’t think twice about spreading her legs.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Reed questioned.
I glanced at them both. “Hopefully, figure this shit out.”
Grace
“I’ll be able to hear everything as it’s going on?” I asked, watching Ian secure the cufflinks to his blue button-down.
Nodding, he pointed to one of the small, silver cufflinks. “This one’s an audio transmitter. You can hear what’s going on, but I can’t hear you. I know these are your people, so if there’s something you feel I need to ask them, just text it to me.”
“I will.” He folded up the sleeves. The action hid the cufflink from view, but showed off his tattoos. “So, your plan is to find Emily and work your charm on her?”
Sighing, he pulled me into his arms. “Does that bother you?”
I shrugged. “There are a lot of things that bother me right now. I always knew Emily was a little jealous of me, but what if she’s the one who wants me dead? I can’t wrap my head around it. We’ve worked together for a long time.”
He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Like I said before, sometimes, those closest to us are the ones who’ll betray us first.”
“I know,” I said, holding his hand to my cheek. “Just don’t flirt with her too much. I don’t know how much I can handle. The thought of it alone pisses me off.”
A mischievous smile spread across his face. “Imagine how I felt
watching Jared do the same thing with you.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
His eyes took on a dangerous glow. “I know. Because if he had anything to do with what happened to you, I’ll kill him.”
A part of me believed him. But then, my father would be right along with him. Hell, I wanted to face the people who kidnapped me. If given the chance, I wondered if I’d be able to kill them.
Lifting on my toes, I kissed him. “When you find the people who wanted me dead, I want to be there.”
He nodded. “I’m a good hunter, cupcake. I’ll find them.”
“Cupcake?” I asked with a laugh.
“What? You taste sweet. I’m hoping to get a little more tonight.” Grinning from ear to ear, he bit his bottom lip. “I shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“Ian,” Reed shouted, “we’ve got a package.” We walked to the living room, where he’d pulled three small boxes out of a larger box and set them on the coffee table. “Pretty sure it’s our watches,” he added. They each grabbed one of the smaller boxes and opened them up to reveal black watches.
“Those look nice,” I said. “Did you get them on the internet?”
Reed’s focus shot over to Ian and they both chuckled. “No,” Ian replied, hooking it around his wrist. “These are special order.”
Reed pressed a button on the side of his. When he did, Ian’s beeped.
“What do they do?” I asked.
Reed handed me his watch and Ian explained. “A woman we know designed these. It took a while to get the tracking software just right.” Ian tapped his finger on the watch face and it came to life. “These three watches are connected. If one of us is in trouble, we can alert the others and find their location. It also has voice to text, so messages can be sent easily.”
Fascinated by the whole idea, I checked out its features. It was some real James Bond-type shit. “This is insane. I didn’t know the government had this kind of stuff.”
“You wouldn’t believe the kind of things we have access to,” Reed said. He opened the last box and strapped the watch to his wrist.
Ian took the watch from me and slipped it around my wrist. “This is Bryce’s, but for the time being, why don’t you wear it? That way, I’ll know you’re okay.”
“Are you sure?” I gasped, looking down at the watch. It had to be worth thousands of dollars.
Ian smiled and my body melted. “I’m sure. If Reed has to leave for some reason, and something happens, I’ll be able to find you.”
Reed shook his head. “I’m taking tonight off. I want to be near my computer in case you find something. Plus, I need some sleep.”
Ian slapped his back. “That you do, brother. You look like dog shit.”
“Thanks, asshole.” Chuckling, he flipped him off. Leaving the room, he soon came back, laptop in hand.
I’d noticed Reed hadn’t had time to sleep, with being gone at nights and being with me during the day. It made me wonder what he was doing. Ian told me they had secrets, and I wasn’t going to lie, I wanted to know them.
Placing his hand on the back of my neck, he pulled me close and kissed me. “I won’t be gone long.”
Reed typed away on his computer. “We’re all set. You’re connected,” he called out.
Ian winked and headed for the door. I could hear his footsteps through Reed’s computer as he walked to his truck.
“Want to order a pizza tonight?” Reed asked, sitting back on the couch.
I sat down beside him. “Sure. I’m not picky. I can eat any kind.”
His smile broadened and he got back up. “That was easy.” He walked away and called it in while I listened to Ian sing along with Bruno Mars on the truck radio. I couldn’t help but laugh. Reed came back and sat down, shaking his head incredulously at his brother. “He was always the life of the party.”
I giggled. “I can see that. What’s Bryce like? I know you said he and Ian were different from each other.”
“Definitely different. Bryce is more serious and doesn’t play around, while Ian can look death in the face and laugh. It’s like he’s not afraid of anything. Some might call it reckless, but I think he’s just fearless because he has nothing to lose.” He cleared his throat. “Until now.”
“What do you mean?”
“He has you. When he found out you were missing, it was like something snapped inside of him.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know him that well, but even I could tell he was a different person when I woke up yesterday. I’ve never seen him look so serious.”
He held up his hands. “All I can say is, give him a chance. I don’t know what all he’s told you about us, but what we do is unpredictable. We never know if we’ll be gone for a night or three months. It all depends on the case.”
“Is that where you’ve been the past couple of nights? On a case?” I asked.
Averting his gaze, he turned back to the computer. “Something like that.”
And there it was, a closed door; one of the secrets Ian told me about. I wasn’t about to pry further, so I let it go. “I’ve always liked Ian,” I confessed. “As long as he doesn’t break my heart, we’ll be fine.”
Reed grinned. “He may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but I know he’s not that stupid.”
“All right, I’m here.” Ian’s voice interrupted our conversation, his voice coming from the computer. I hated that we couldn’t see what was going on. All we could do was listen.
Reed pressed one of the side buttons on his watch and said, “We’re listening.”
I watched the words type across his screen, then my watch buzzed and the same words showed up on its screen. “Amazing,” I breathed.
Ian’s truck shut off and I could hear him pulling the keys out of the ignition. “Got your message. It’s show time.”
Zoe shouted his name, all flirtatious and sexy. Groaning, I leaned over on my elbows and stared at the computer. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Reed chuckled. “Don’t worry, she has nothing on you.”
I smiled. “Thanks. It’s been hard to trust people after my ex cheated on me. Seeing women fawn all over Ian isn’t going to be easy.”
The doorbell rang and Reed jumped up. “Pizza’s here. I’ll be right back.”
I got up and grabbed us two plates out of the kitchen, along with two glasses of tea. All I could hear was Zoe, talking about how happy she was he agreed to go out with her. I hadn’t realized until now how irritating and grating her voice could be.
Reed set the pizzas on the coffee table and opened both boxes. “I got one with practically everything on it, and another with just plain cheese.”
I snatched up a piece of each. “Looks good to me.”
As we ate, time slipped away. I listened to Ian and Zoe eat dinner and talk about mundane things. Ian was there to find Emily, but so far, I hadn’t heard her voice anywhere.
“Excuse me for a minute,” I could hear Ian say.
“Sure,” Zoe replied.
Next, he spoke under his breath. “Emily’s here, but she’s nowhere near Brad. I had to get away. Going out the back door to get some air.”
Reed scoffed. “I would’ve gotten away a long time ago.”
“What kind of women do you like?”
He shrugged. “All sorts. But I prefer outdoor girls who don’t mind getting a little dirty. Women like Zoe and Emily hold no interest for me.”
“That’s what shocks me with you and Ian,” I said. “My ex wasn’t like that. He always wanted me to be put together all the time. My makeup had to be on and I had to wear the expensive clothes he bought me.” I shook my head. “That wasn’t me. For a while, I thought I could live like that, but then, reality hit. I’m so glad I made the decision to move back home.”
“It’s a good thing you did.”
“Getting ready to go back to the party,” Ian mumbled. The music got louder as he went inside.
Grabbing mine and Reed’s plates, I
took them to the kitchen. I needed a refill on my tea.
“Want another drink?” the bartender asked. I recognized his voice. His name was Chris and he always made sure to add extra vodka to my drinks.
Ian sighed. “Gin and tonic, please. I need it.”
Another person entered the conversation. “I would too, if I had to deal with your date.”
The second I heard his voice, I dropped the plates in the sink.
“You all right in there?” Reed called out. When I didn’t answer, he stormed into the kitchen, his expression concerned. “Grace, what’s wrong?”
Swallowing hard, I walked past him to the computer. I sat down in his spot and stared at the screen, focusing on the voice. The more I heard the man speak, the more I knew it was him. “That’s him, Reed. The man who abducted me.”
Ian
“And you are?” I put my hand out to the guy who’d taken the stool next to me.
The man shook my hand and smiled. “Daniel Bradfield.” He looked to be around my age with black hair and green eyes. I hadn’t ever seen him around, but the name was familiar. He glanced back at Zoe, who sat at another table with employees from the hotel. She waved and I waved back.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ian Chandler,” I said. “Any relation to Larry Bradfield?”
He smiled. “That was my grandfather. He passed away a few months ago, left his ranch to me.”
“Sorry for your loss.”
His brows furrowed. “Did you know him?”
I shook my head. “Not personally. I just remember hearing his name somewhere. I know he was a former chief of police.”
“That he was,” he said proudly.
Zoe sauntered over, swaying her hips. “Hey, guys.” She put her arm around my shoulders, staring directly at Daniel. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “I was invited.”
Zoe scoffed. “And who would do such a thing?”
He grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Zoe turned her back on him, running a hand up my chest. “After my boss makes his announcement, do you want to come over to my place?”
Sighing, I glanced down at my watch. “I have an early wakeup call tomorrow. Maybe another night?”