Only His

by Susan Mallery

  “I enjoy meeting folks,” the police chief told him. “I’m a people person.” She handed him a business-size envelope. “This is for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “A summons to appear before the Fool’s Gold City Council. They want Nevada there, too, just so you know.”

  “An official summons? Can they do that?” He wouldn’t have thought a local body of government had that kind of power.

  She smiled. “My being here says they can.”

  “Good point.”

  NEVADA HAD NEVER been called to the principal’s office while in school, but if she had, she would guess it felt like this. She’d never attended a city council meeting before, so she didn’t know how they usually went, but she assumed there was usually more than one agenda item.

  She and Tucker sat at a large conference table with seven women sitting across from them. Mayor Marsha sat in the middle, flanked by her council. No one looked happy.

  Nevada glanced down at the piece of paper that had been put in front of her. There was the date, the time of the meeting, the word “agenda,” followed by a colon and the phrase, “Vagina Issue.”

  With the meeting called to order, the mayor drew in a breath.

  “I’m the longest-serving mayor in California,” she said. “I’ve seen us survive earthquakes, snowstorms, grape blight and the recent catastrophic fire that nearly destroyed one of our schools. We’ve survived busloads of men and a reality show. The town and I will not be taken down by a giant vagina.”

  Nevada swallowed. “You mentioned that when you visited the construction site yesterday, but I’m still not sure what you want us…”

  “Fix it,” Mayor Marsha said sternly, interrupting. “You two knew Ms. Stoicasescu before. You’re the reason she’s here now. I’m holding both of you responsible.”

  Nevada wanted to protest that it wasn’t her fault. That she had nothing to do with Cat or her gift choices. But the seven women staring at her didn’t look like they wanted to have a discussion.

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said quietly, not sure what being responsible was going to mean, but aware that it wasn’t good news.

  Tucker leaned toward them. “If I may, Nevada isn’t the one who had a relationship with Cat. This is my responsibility, not hers.”

  “Nevada and Cat are friends,” the mayor said. “Nevada has shown Cat around town.”

  Nevada winced. So much for doing the right thing, she thought. It had come back to bite her for sure.

  The mayor sighed. “I appreciate you defending Nevada. That speaks very well of you. At this point I don’t care who fixes this, I just want it fixed and I want it on the record that we’ve had this discussion. There will be no giant vagina in my town. Do you understand?”

  Nevada and Tucker both nodded.

  “Good. Now you may go.”

  They stood and quickly left the room. Once in the hallway of city hall, Nevada leaned against the wall.

  “If I weren’t in the middle of this, it would be really funny.”

  “Tell me about it.” He leaned against the wall opposite. “Now what?”

  “We talk to her and explain the town doesn’t want her gift.” She wanted to say Tucker should do it, but Cat hadn’t spent any time with him since arriving in Fool’s Gold. “I’ll do it.”

  “Are you sure? I can try.”

  “No. You’re the ex. There’s too much emotional baggage. She’s my friend.” Sort of.

  “What are you going to say?”

  “I haven’t a clue.”

  NEVADA WENT TO THE GOLD RUSH Ski Lodge and Resort to look for Cat. The tiny, strange man who was her assistant said that Cat was working and gave Nevada the address of an industrial center on the edge of town. Nevada drove there.

  The huge building had been subdivided into a dozen or so smaller light-industrial sites. The one at the end was nearly double in height. Thinking about how much room it would take to build a giant vagina, Nevada chose that one and knocked on the door.

  No one answered. She rang the bell, then finally opened the door. She was met with a blast of music. Black Eyed Peas, she would guess.

  Scaffolding filled the center of the huge room, just as it had back in L.A. when Nevada had first met Cat. It rose up to the nearly twenty-foot ceiling. Massive sheets of metal stood in a rack, and she could see the basic structure of the piece had already been started. Poles were strapped together to form a giant V. A pulley system would raise the metal up to the level of the poles.

  Cat stood by a long table, cutting pieces of metal with wicked-looking shears. Heavy gloves protected her hands. Up against the wall was a sketch of what the piece would look like when it was done.

  There were swirls and waves, intricate designs covering the feminine curves. If one could ignore the fact that it was a vagina, it was very beautiful.

  Cat glanced up and saw Nevada. She smiled broadly, pulled off her gloves, then hit a button on a small remote. The music went silent.

  “You came!” Cat hurried toward her and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t you love this space? It’s perfect.”

  Nevada hugged her back, then carefully stepped away. “I remember where you worked in Los Angeles. I still have trouble reconciling that everything is industrial here, but beautifully ethereal when you’re finished.”

  Cat’s green eyes glowed with pleasure. “It’s my personal form of magic.” She grabbed Nevada’s hand and pulled her to the sketch on the wall. “I don’t always know what I’m going to be doing. Sometimes I have to let the piece speak to me. But this time, I had a vision. It’s so clear.” She laughed. “I almost feel like I shouldn’t have to make it. I can reach out and touch what it’s going to be.”

  “It’s amazing,” Nevada murmured. “You’re an inspiration, honoring the town in this way.”

  Cat leaned against her. “I have to. You’re from here.”

  Oh, no. Not a place she wanted to go.

  “There’s just one problem.”

  Cat looked at her expectantly.

  “It’s the subject matter,” Nevada said cautiously. “You’re so brilliant and famous. Everyone will want to come see the piece, of course. But there’s some concern that it’s rather risqué for Fool’s Gold.”

  Cat rolled her eyes. “Please. Don’t be so provincial. My work celebrates the power of women.”

  Nevada supposed that a giant breast would be worse, but not by much. “Okay, but this is a family town. Parents don’t want to have to explain what it is to their children.”

  “Why not? We should be proud of our bodies. There is beauty in each one of us.” She drew her eyebrows together. “Are you saying the town doesn’t want my gift?”

  Her voice was low, almost neutral, but Nevada was getting a bad feeling in her gut.

  “They are concerned about the vagina. If it were something else, maybe—”

  “Something else?” Cat’s voice was a roar. “They are daring to tell me what to create? They are interfering in my artistic process? Do they know who I am? Governments pay me millions of dollars for my work. Do you know how much the French are giving me for a piece? Work I have put off to create this, as a way to thank your town.”

  “Maybe if they’re not appropriately grateful you should rethink doing it.”

  “Never.” Cat stalked away, then turned. “How dare they! I am an artist. They have no right to refuse. No right to complain. It’s a gift. You don’t get to say what the gift is going to be. My piece will put this little town on the map. They should beg me to give it to them.”

  Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting. Nevada wasn’t enjoying herself, but she wasn’t actually nervous until Cat picked up the blowtorch and lit it.

  “Okay, then,” she said, hurrying to the door. “You think about it and we’ll talk again later.”

  She scurried outside and hunched over when Cat screamed. The sound was still echoing in Nevada’s ears as she jumped in her truck and sped away.

  “LOOK
AT THE BRIGHT SIDE,” Tucker told Nevada. “At least now you don’t have to worry about her wanting to date you.”

  “Shut up.”

  Nevada wished they were somewhere private so she could punch him really hard in the stomach. She knew how—she had brothers. But on the job site, with their crew around and the blasting team putting the final touches on their work, it didn’t seem like the right time.

  The good news was that watching the explosion and the subsequent crumbling of earth would probably make her feel better.

  “Want me to talk to her?” he offered.

  “Cat will probably attack you with a flamethrower. Which right now doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”

  Tucker grinned at her. “Don’t be afraid. You could take her.”

  “She has tools and a vicious will. You should have heard her. She thought the town was ungrateful. If only that were enough to make her change her mind.”

  Nevada watched her men get into position. “I need to go.”

  “You’ll feel better after the explosion.”

  “I hope so.”

  Blasting earth was a complex proposition. There were dozens of safeguards in place. Now she did a final check on her part of the operation, then settled in to watch the show.

  “Um, boss?”

  She turned and saw Jerry walking toward her, Cat by his side.

  “You have a visitor,” Jerry said, stating the obvious.

  Nevada held in a groan. “What are you doing here?” she asked Cat. “Never mind. We have to move back. We’re doing blasting.”

  She led the other woman back toward the trailer and got her a hard hat. Once it was in place, Nevada put her hands on her hips.

  “Why are you here?” she repeated.

  Cat stared at her, wide-eyed. Her full mouth trembled at the corners. “I knew it. You’re angry with me.”

  “Not exactly.”

  Tears filled Cat’s eyes. “I was so hurt by what you said. It was as if you stabbed me in the heart and then crushed my soul. The very essence of my being. What you asked me to do, how you want me to change… I thought you knew m-me.” Her voice trembled on the last word, as if she were holding in a sob.

  Nevada swore under her breath. She moved away from the trailer, motioning for Cat to keep up with her.

  “I wasn’t trying to crush your soul.”

  “How could you have said those things to me?”

  “Telling you Fool’s Gold doesn’t want a giant vagina in the center of town is the truth.”

  “But it’s my gift. It’s who I am.”

  “Transcendent?”

  The corners of Cat’s mouth turned up. Nevada might not be into the girl thing, but she had to admit that Cat defined beauty.

  “Yes,” Cat whispered. “I want to give this to them because it’s like giving it to you. Every time you see it, you’ll think of me.”

  “You got that right.”

  Crap and double crap, Nevada thought. Someone called out the one-minute warning. She grabbed Cat and moved her farther back.

  “I already have a vagina,” Nevada said, unable to believe they were having this conversation. “Can you do something else?”

  Cat shook her head.

  Nevada sighed. “This isn’t about you. I understand that you’re giving us a gift, but don’t you care that we don’t want it?”

  “You don’t understand. When you see it completely, you’ll be grateful. Everyone will be.”

  “No, we won’t. We’ll be horrified. Can’t it be something else? A circle? The shape of a woman?”

  Cat laughed. “Don’t be silly. Of course it can’t be something else. This is what I have to do. It’s out of my control.”

  “Technically, it’s not. You’re the one building it. You’re the one who—”

  Then she was flying through the air.

  She’d been partially aware of some kind of countdown, but she hadn’t been paying attention. Who could notice anything else with Cat being her usual crazy self? That meant she wasn’t paying as close attention as she should have been and didn’t bother making sure they were back far enough.

  One second she’d been talking, the next she was airborne, although not for long. The ground came up very quickly and turned out to be much harder than it looked. She slammed into it with a force that knocked the wind out of her.

  For that heartbeat there was nothing, then she gasped for air, choking as she inhaled. Every part of her hurt. Her ears rang and her head seemed to be spinning.

  “Someone has a lot of explaining to do,” she muttered, cautiously sitting up.

  She moved her legs, pleased that nothing seemed injured. She drew in more breaths and found her head clearing.

  Cat!

  She saw her friend was also sitting, looking stunned. Thunder shook the earth. They both turned and watched part of the mountain fall away. A huge cloud of dust rose toward the sky.

  “Are you all right?” Nevada asked.

  Cat nodded.

  “I should have been paying more attention,” Nevada said, thinking she should also be standing, but it seemed too difficult.

  “I’m fine.” Cat crawled toward her. “Are you hurt?”

  “No. Just shaken.” She laughed. “Like a James Bond martini.”

  Cat grinned.

  Nevada heard shouts from behind them. Great. Someone had noticed them flying by and was about to make a fuss.

  “I’m not going to the hospital,” she muttered.

  Cat moved closer and put her hands on Nevada’s shoulders. “You’ll be okay,” she said, then lowered her head and kissed her.

  Nevada knew she might have some kind of post-explosion trauma thing going on, but she could still recognize a kiss when it happened. Warm, soft lips settled against hers. That’s what she noticed first. Soft, not firm. Gentle. Cat’s perfume surrounded her and those powerful artist’s hands gripped her shoulders.

  Nevada sat frozen, not sure what to do. Pushing away seemed the best option, but she didn’t want to be mean about it. Nor could she figure out exactly where to push without giving Cat the wrong idea.

  Before she’d worked out a plan, she heard someone yell.

  “Gold!” a man’s voice cried. “Can you see the gold?”

  Cat drew back. Nevada shifted away and told herself this would be an excellent time to stand up and run. Before she could, Tucker, Will and several of the guys surrounded them. She could hear someone yelling for the paramedics. Tucker knelt beside her and shook her slightly.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, sounding furious. “You could have been killed.”

  He looked pissed and worried and somehow, in a twisted, girly kind of way, that made her feel ever so much better.

  “I wasn’t,” she pointed out.

  “Damned annoying woman,” he muttered, before leaning in and kissing her as well.

  This time the contact was familiar and arousing. As he straightened and continued to glare at her, she couldn’t help smiling. Funny, after all these years, she’d suddenly become popular.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  TUCKER STOOD OVER NEVADA as if warding off demons.

  “I’m really okay,” she said for the fourth or fifth time.

  He continued to ignore her.

  Just as disturbing as her near-death experience and the realization that she could have been killed by the explosion or subsequent slide was the fact that Cat had made her move. Tucker rarely had to work to keep a woman in his life. Knowing his competition was playing for the other side made him uncomfortable.

  He was aware that he’d told himself he needed to back off where Nevada was concerned. That they were too involved. But right now he didn’t give a damn about that. He wanted to stand over her, beating his chest, although he couldn’t figure out what that would accomplish.

  One of the firefighters raced over, the EMTs right behind.

  “Are they hurt?” the firefighter demanded, dropping to her knees by Nevada and ho
lding a penlight up to her eyes.

  “I’m perfectly fine, Charlie,” Nevada said, starting to stand.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Tucker and the firefighter snapped at the same time. Nevada kept her butt on the ground.

  “I’m all right, too,” Cat called, her expression bemused. “Doesn’t anyone want to fuss over me?”

  “I will.” An EMT dropped to her knees and reached for Cat’s wrist. “How are you feeling, ma’am? Dizzy? Does your head hurt?”

  “Did you just say ma’am?” Cat closed her eyes. “I’m dizzy now.”

  Nevada chuckled.

  Tucker glared at her. “Don’t laugh,” he commanded. “You might be hurt.”

  A second EMT joined Charlie. They examined Nevada while Tucker watched anxiously. He was aware of a group of men climbing up the side of the mountain and shouts about something he couldn’t hear. There was a lot of activity he would have to deal with later. Right now Nevada was his main concern.

  About two minutes later, the EMT removed the blood pressure cuff. “You’re fine.”

  Tucker was less convinced. “What if she hit her head?”

  “I didn’t,” Nevada told him.

  “You might not remember.”

  She rolled her eyes. “My head doesn’t hurt, I don’t have any ringing in my ears. I’m okay.”

  Cat was pronounced all right as well, but she didn’t seem as anxious to get up. Nevada scrambled to her feet. She held out her arms and turned in a slow circle.

  “See? Not broken.”

  Cat’s EMT helped her to stand. The other woman reached for Nevada and clung to her.

  “I can’t believe we went through that today,” Cat murmured. “We could have been killed.” She gazed at Nevada. “We should go back to my hotel and rest.”

  Nevada slowly disentangled herself. “I don’t think so. Tucker, could you find someone to take Cat back to her hotel?”

  “Sure.”

  He waved Jerry over and told him to drive Cat back to her hotel. Cat protested, but eventually allowed herself to be led away. The EMTs went back to their truck.