Hot Alphas

by Lora Leigh

  “It matters.” Nate reached across the countertop and took her hands in his. “It matters a lot, Cassie. I imagine your father always figured his ashes would be scattered beside your mom’s, didn’t he?”

  She nodded.

  “I’ll talk to Marc. He’s not an unfeeling jerk.” He laughed. “I was really surprised to find out he’s a year younger than me. The guy’s a gazillionaire and he’s only thirty-four. Honestly? He’s really a very nice and thoughtful guy. The more I get to know him, the better I like him. I think you will, too. I can’t imagine he’d want to pull those vines, knowing the emotional attachment. Where, exactly? If we can’t save all of it, at least the area that’s important.”

  “I’ll show you tomorrow.”

  “Good.” Nate stood, gathered up the empty containers, and stuck the leftovers in the refrigerator. Cassie felt absolutely wasted. Her anger at Nate and even Marcus Reed had kept her going all week. His offer to intercede, to try to save the old section of vineyard wasn’t at all what she’d expected. She stood and gathered up their dishes and silverware.

  Nate took everything out of her hands. “Go to bed, Cassie. You look exhausted. I’ll finish putting this stuff away and lock up when I go.”

  “You don’t have to…”

  “Yes. I do.” He leaned over and kissed her and it was so sweet, so perfect, she leaned into him, silently begging for more. Breaking the kiss, he swatted her lightly on the butt. “Now go.”

  She went.

  She was almost asleep when she heard the front door open and then close, and then the sound of Nate’s truck as he drove the short distance to his own place.

  * * *

  Mac closed the door behind him and gazed about the small apartment. It wasn’t a bad place. He’d certainly lived in worse. He’d met some good people here. A lot of them were older than he was, but all of them were pretty sharp. That came from using your mind, staying active. He was doing that. Melinda would be proud of him. She’d loved his sense of humor, the little word games they’d played.

  He missed that. Missed the challenge of a smart, young wife. Missed holding her, snuggled in close against him. Damn, he missed everything about her. She’d left him much too soon, but at least tonight had been good. Dinner with Benny and his son, only this time Hector went along, too. Hector hadn’t heard any of Mac’s stories from when he was in the service. That was all so long ago, and it was fun telling those tales of famous people he’d known, of some of the clandestine things he’d been involved in.

  Old news, and that kid of Benny’s ate it up. Mac had kept quiet for so long, but what was the point? All of those rich and powerful people were probably gone. They should have died in jail, and a few of them had. Just not the important one.

  Not the one that mattered, and didn’t that still stick in his craw!

  He got ready for bed, but something kept nagging him. Something they’d been talking about tonight. There were some things he’d be better to keep quiet. Some things that were better off never mentioned again. At all.

  Damned if he could remember what they were.

  * * *

  Cassie lay in bed for a moment, enjoying the fact that she’d slept until six, and the only pressing thing she had to deal with today was paperwork for the accountant. If she could get everything together early enough, maybe she could stop by, pick up her dad, and take him to lunch. They’d hardly seen each other for the past couple of weeks.

  As quickly as his cognitive abilities seemed to be failing him, she was afraid there wouldn’t be all that many more good visits. She’d stopped by briefly last week and mentioned they were ready to start bottling. He’d asked her why she was bottling now, when they should be gearing up for harvest.

  Harvest was almost six months away.

  Cassie put the coffee on and headed down the driveway to pick up her paper. Nate was walking back after unlocking the gate. He had her newspaper and his in his hands.

  “Delivery?” He held it out for her.

  “Thank you. Such service.” She took the paper from him, and smiled. “Thanks for last night. I was so tired I probably would have gone to bed without eating. You saved me from being horribly grumpy this morning.”

  “My good deed, eh?”

  “Definitely.” They stood there, smiling at each other. She loved his smile, and it was so much easier to give in than fight the fact that she really just flat out liked the guy. “I’ve got coffee on, if you’d like a cup.”

  “Not instant?”

  “Sacrilege. Fresh-ground Colombian this morning. But I want to read my paper.”

  “Works for me.” He took her arm and quickly guided her toward the house.

  After he got his cup of coffee, Nate grabbed a stool at the bar and spread his paper out across the granite counter. Cassie curled up in a comfortable overstuffed chair by a window that caught the morning sunlight, sipping her coffee and catching up on news.

  The house was quiet, the birds outside the only sound beyond the crinkle of newspaper and the sound of the refrigerator compressor occasionally going on. But Cassie was so keyed up, she couldn’t concentrate on the page under her nose.

  She was so terribly aware of Nate, of the fact he was here in her little cottage in a setting that was wonderfully mundane. The paper spread out in front of him, the cup of coffee sending spirals of steam into the air. His hair stuck up in back, as if he’d just crawled out of bed.

  She wondered if his heart raced, if he thought of their night together. If he imagined her naked and sprawled beneath him, entirely sated after he’d taken her over the top so many times she’d lost count.

  Because that’s how she saw him now. His beautiful shoulders and chest filling her vision, his strong body rhythmically thrusting against her, the solid length of him filling her deep inside. Reaching climax, taking her with him one last time, his lips twisting in a grimace of what could have been pain; what she knew was pleasure. Her heart thudded in her chest and the edges of the newspaper crinkled loudly, startling her as she tightened her grasp. She raised her head and caught him looking at her. Their gazes locked—blue on blue—for a brief instant.

  He didn’t say a word. Merely smiled, sipped his coffee, and went back to his paper.

  * * *

  Cassie shifted in her chair in the tiny nook she called her office. She’d lost track of how long she’d been here in the wine cave, but she hadn’t even had a chance to call her dad. The idea of lunch with him had faded within the first hour when she realized how much she had left to do. She’d spent all morning and well into the afternoon gathering information for the accountant. Then, when she was putting things away, she’d come across an old ledger of her dad’s.

  Since then she’d traveled through his memories.

  He’d kept precise notes—temperature, rainfall, dates that deer, pigs, or turkeys had gotten into the grapes. Pickers he’d hired during harvest, how much each one had been paid, the kinds of notes most business people kept.

  Except her mom had added notes. That she’d seen a coyote at dawn, or the day two bald eagles perched on top of the barn. That she thought her beloved Mac really needed to get his nose out of the ledger and meet her in the bedroom. Cassie couldn’t believe she’d never read through this before, but the teasing comments between husband and wife had her laughing and sighing, and a couple of times wiping away tears.

  And then her stomach growled and she glanced at her watch. It was almost six. She stuck the ledger in her backpack along with her tablet and cell phone, pushed the chair back and stood. As she turned toward the door, she sensed more than saw movement. Grabbing her phone, she punched in a quick text to Nate: Cave. Hurry!

  She didn’t want to panic over nothing, but a shiver ran along her spine, an almost visceral sense that she wasn’t alone. She stepped back inside the office area, turned the phone on vibrate, and pushed Send. She stuck it in the back pocket of her jeans and stepped toward the door again.

  The cellar was bathed in shadow
s. The brightest light was here, in her office. Small, low-wattage LED lights kept the cave from total darkness, but the glow of daylight coming through the barred window on the door only lit a very small area.

  She turned off the light in her office and stood in the darkness for a moment to allow her eyes to adjust. Then she walked purposefully toward the door.

  He rushed her from behind a rack loaded with wine barrels, hooked his arm around her neck and brought Cassie to her knees. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe, but she kicked back and up with her right foot and caught him between the legs.

  He cursed and squeezed tighter. Her vision went from sparks of light to darkness. Twisting her body, she fought his hold, but he was bigger, stronger than she was. She turned her head just enough to take some pressure off her throat and gasped for air.

  He shifted for a better hold, and she sunk her teeth into his forearm.

  “Damn! Son of a bitch!”

  He hauled off and hit her, catching her jaw with the side of his hand, breaking her hold on his arm. She tasted blood and gagged. He hit her again and again, harder this time, with a weapon of some kind. She screamed, not in fear but in absolute rage.

  Slipping one hand free, she grabbed his throat beneath the dark ski mask covering his face. Digging in with her fingers, for the first time in her life Cassie wished she had fingernails. Long, sharp fingernails so she could rip into the bastard.

  Suddenly she was free and her assailant was scrambling out of her grasp, standing over her holding an ugly black handgun with both hands. Pointing it at her.

  “Cassie? Are you okay?”

  She raised her head, but she couldn’t see very well. There was something in her eyes, but she knew Nate’s voice. “I’ve been better.” Her voice sounded raspy and her throat hurt. A lot. “He’s got a gun, Nate. Be careful.”

  “I see that. He’s got a problem, though. The sheriff’s coming. There’s only one way out of this wine cave, and a real narrow road if he wants to escape.”

  Nate sounded so calm, so matter-of-fact.

  “Stop talking. Keep your hands up.” The guy waved the gun at Nate. “Over there. Move it! By the racks. Down on your knees, hands behind your head.”

  “Whatever you say.” Cassie heard Nate walk across the floor, but once he was in the shadows, she couldn’t see well enough to find him.

  “Don’t move. Understand?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Nate still sounded amazingly calm, as if he were the one in control.

  There was a quick scramble of footsteps and the door to the cellar opened and then slammed shut. Before Cassie even tried to get up, Nate was pulling her into his arms.

  It was a good five minutes before the first sheriff’s deputy arrived. Nate was still holding her, pressing a clean handkerchief against her forehead, whispering meaningless words to her, just being strong and exactly what she needed.

  Two hours later Cassie had answered all the deputy’s questions, and it was obvious her assailant had gotten away. She’d turned down the offer of an ambulance, but Nate insisted she go to the ER for a quick checkup. She went, too sore and tired to argue, too angry and frightened to feel confident of her own decisions. And so full of questions.

  Who was he? She was certain it was the same guy who’d pretended to be with the FDA. She’d called. There was no inspection scheduled.

  Whoever it was, he wanted inside that wine cave badly enough to commit a serious crime. But why? None of this made sense. But tonight?

  Tonight she was just too damned tired to care.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Don’t even think of trying to get out of the truck by yourself. Let me help you.” Nate pocketed his keys and went around to the passenger side. The fact she hadn’t argued concerned him, but he opened the door and caught hold of Cassie just above her waist, lifted her out, and then carefully helped her stand. When she had her balance, he looped her tote bag over his shoulder, lifted Cass in his arms, and carried her to the cottage.

  “Are you okay?”

  She sighed. “Other than pissed off, sore, confused, and totally frustrated? Sure. I’m great. Good to go.”

  He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.” He set her carefully on her feet, steadied her, and then held the tote bag so she could find her keys. When she merely handed them to him, he knew she must be feeling like hell.

  Nate opened the door and went to pick her up again. She shook her head and groaned.

  “I should have just answered. Shaking head? Not good.” She touched his hand and gazed at him. At least her eyes were clear. “Let me walk. I need to make sure I can.”

  She held his hand like a lifeline and walked slowly into the cottage. Nate flipped on lights and led her to the overstuffed chair by the window.

  “Can I get something for you to drink?”

  “Ice water, please?” She eased herself into the chair and closed her eyes.

  A minute later, Nate was back with her glass of water. Sitting forward, she held it in both hands and stared at the surface as if it held answers to some of the questions they’d been trying to answer. A moment later, she raised her head, and it broke his heart to see tears so close to falling.

  Squatting in front of her, he used both thumbs to wipe the moisture from just beneath her lids. She sniffed, raised her head. Closed her eyes. Nate took the glass from her, set it on the table beside the chair, carefully wrapped his arms around her, and held her close. It was no surprise when her shoulders shook and he heard a catch in her breath.

  “Let it go, sweetheart. Just let it go and get it out.”

  She slipped her arms around his waist, pressed her face to his shoulder, and cried. Her body trembled as if she still fought it, but it was a losing battle. She’d had too many unwanted, unexpected changes, and the attack tonight would have put anyone—man or woman—over the edge. He held her without speaking. Gently rubbed his hand along her spine, so aware of each knobby bump, the lean strength of her muscles, the warmth and the life of her.

  She was so damned strong. She’d been assaulted and was bleeding, had a gun pointed in her face and she hadn’t panicked. Hadn’t done anything stupid. She’d scared the hell out of him tonight. She’d been fighting for her life when he’d raced into the wine cave. He’d heard her scream, her cursing, but at first he couldn’t see her in the darkness.

  The second his eyes adjusted, he knew what he saw would be forever burned in his mind—that son of a bitch had her down, had been hitting her with the barrel of his handgun and there was blood everywhere. Cassie was fighting back for all she was worth. When the guy spotted him, at least he’d turned her loose. But when he’d scrambled away from her, that gun had been pointed straight at Cassie.

  Bleeding, bruised, and obviously injured, she’d raised her head when her attacker scrambled away, and her first thought had been to warn Nate.

  He’d never been so fucking terrified in his life. Gently he pushed her hair back from her face and kissed her temple. Between the bruises. “I have never been so afraid for or as proud of anyone as I was tonight. Cassie, you were absolutely amazing.”

  She sucked in a harsh breath. “If you hadn’t come, he would have killed me. I’m positive of that, but why, Nate? What’s he want? Why is he after me?” She sat back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Nate grabbed a tissue out of a box beside the chair and handed it to her. He’d tossed his bloodstained handkerchief in the trash at the hospital.

  “Whatever it is that guy wants, it’s got to be in the wine cave. I’m almost positive he’s the fake FDA guy, and probably the same one who tried to break in a few nights ago. But what? Could it be something from before you guys bought it?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The cave was empty. The place had been totally cleaned out before it went up for sale. No hidden doors, nothing but stone floor and walls covered with that sprayed-on concrete. That was all done long before we bought it. The original cave was earth and stone when it was built
back before Prohibition.”

  His legs were cramping, so he picked her up and sat in her chair with Cassie in his lap. It was late and he was glad they’d had a sandwich while waiting in the ER. Once they knew she didn’t have a concussion, it had been a matter of waiting to get her stitched up, but that had taken awhile. She had stitches on the back of her head and one bad cut—also stitched—over her eyebrow, not to mention the bruises on her face and throat. It made him sick, seeing the individual marks of that bastard’s fingers on her throat.

  “Do you think your father might be able to help? Would he remember anything?”

  Slowly she shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s good some days, bad on others. It’s impossible to say.”

  “We’ll go see him in the morning. Mornings are best, you said. Maybe we should just bring him out here, see if he remembers anything at all. We have to figure this out and put a stop to it.”

  “I’m a mess, Nate. I don’t want him to see me like this. It’ll just upset him.”

  “Upsetting your dad is the least of our worries right now. This guy’s too dangerous. He could have killed you.” He sighed, holding back the frustration that was tying him in knots. Couldn’t she see the danger? Instead of cursing, he kissed her. “I know you don’t want to, but we have to find out what’s going on.”

  She blinked back tears. “I look awful.”

  “No.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You couldn’t look awful if you tried. You’re beautiful, Cass. Absolutely beautiful.”

  * * *

  They didn’t discuss whether or not Nate would spend the night. It felt perfectly natural for him to undress her and help her wash up. He stripped off his clothes and stood with her in the shower, helping her keep her hair and stitches dry. He washed her as if she were a little kid, gently cleaning away the blood and dirt and then hosing the soap off with the handheld shower.

  She hurt all over, and she shouldn’t have been aroused. Shouldn’t have leaned into his caring touch, needing more from him, wanting him even as she had to admit there was no way she could handle making love tonight. But she’d never felt as cared for—almost as if Nate loved her. But he couldn’t, could he? It was too soon. Her life was such a mess right now, but somehow, Nate made it better. He gave her hope that everything would turn out okay.