by Leah Brooke
Blowing out a breath, Rachel rose, unable to sit still any longer. “You’re right. I just feel like I have to be good at everything.”
Erin sat back. “Or they won’t love you? Is that why you were so eager to please Daddy?”
Pressing a hand to her stomach, Rachel swallowed another lump in her throat. “I didn’t want him to leave.” She still couldn’t believe that her beloved father had ruined everything because they hadn’t been enough to hold him.
Erin sighed. “You didn’t even have a clue that he had girlfriends, did you?”
Pouring herself another cup of coffee, Rachel shook her head. “No. I knew he was miserable when he was home. He always used to talk about how boring Mom was.” After fixing her coffee, she turned, leaning back against the small counter. “When I saw Mona, I started to wonder how long it would be before Boone and Chase said the same thing about me.”
“Well then, make sure you don’t get boring. Tonight, Theresa’s staying with us. Jared’s panties got in a bunch because Duncan hogged her when she was over the other night. By the time Duncan finished playing with her, she was so worn out, she fell asleep.”
Rachel grinned, thrilled to see her sister so happy. “They’re good husbands and they’re going to be good dads.”
Erin inclined her head and finished her tea. “Yes, they are. We chose better than Mom did. Take a new nightgown home and seduce them.”
“I already took the new one with the snaps. Boone found it and loves it, and evidently, Chase knows about it, too. He’s been experimenting with the snaps and figured out how they work.”
Her pussy clenched in anticipation of the evening ahead. She loved her daughter more than her own life, but she couldn’t wait to have the chance to have time alone with Boone and Chase.
Erin laughed and got to her feet again. “Did you? I can’t wait to fit into one of those again. Jared, Duncan, and Reese love when I come home with a new nightie.”
“Well, when the time comes, I’ll babysit for you.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” She looked toward the other room, smiling at Duncan’s laughter. “He’s talking to Hoyt again. Why don’t you go get us one of Gracie’s apple pies? I’m dying for a slice. I’ve been craving it ever since I got up this morning.”
Happy to do anything for her sister, and remembering all the times Erin had fussed over her during her pregnancy, Rachel hugged her and smiled. “You got it. I just hope one pie is enough when Duncan and Chase see it.”
She went back through the store, smiling at the sight of Duncan using his devilishly handsome looks to sell a pricey robe to a clearly flustered older woman.
Chase lifted his head, smiling as he approached, his eyes full of concern. “Did you and Erin have a nice talk?”
Suspicious, she narrowed her eyes. “Were you listening?”
“No.” Wrapping an arm around her, Chase led her aside, stopping beside a rack of lingerie that would hide them from the others. “I just know you, and I figured that you came in to talk to Erin. Do you feel better now?”
“Yeah.” Dropping her forehead to his chest, she sighed. “She made me realize how stupid I was. I’m just not comfortable letting you pay for things for me. I don’t want you to think I’m like Mona. But, I can’t keep going on this way either. It’s not fair to you to have a wife who’s too tired when she comes home from work to give you the attention you need.”
Lifting her head, she smiled up at him. “My sister reminded me that since you’re loaded, and don’t need my money, I should let you pay the bills while I play with you.”
Chase’s slow smile sent a rush of heat through her. “That sounds like one hell of a plan.” He slid his hand over her ass, backing her into a corner and brushing her lips with his. “You know I like to play with you. Christ, I’m hard again.” Cupping her breast, he stared down at her as he toyed with her nipple through her shirt and bra. “I can’t wait to play with you tonight. Are you going home now?”
“No, not yet.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned into him, sucking in a breath as the heat from his chest penetrated her clothes to warm her nipples. “Hmm.” She rubbed against him, smiling when he chuckled and squeezed her ass. “Erin wants some of Gracie’s apple pie so I’m going to go get one. When I get back, why don’t you and Duncan go home? Erin and I can handle it.”
Sliding his hands up her sides, he ran his thumbs over her nipples, his narrowed eyes both amused and searching. “You tryin’ to get rid of me, darlin’?”
“Never.” Lifting her face, she stood on her toes, warmed when the hands at her waist tightened and he bent without hesitation to kiss her.
Fisting her hands in his hair, she pressed herself against him, the surge of love and desire overwhelming.
Chase must have sensed it because his kiss gentled, his arms tightening around her. Running his hand up and down her back, he lifted his head slowly, his gaze holding hers. “You know that getting rid of us isn’t possible. We love you too damned much.”
“Oh, Chase.” Tears blurred her vision as she reached for him again.
Running his hand over her hair, he grinned. “Don’t get all mushy on me again. I’ll go get your pie before Erin suffers from withdrawal.”
Duncan finished ringing up the woman’s purchase, folding it haphazardly and wrapping the lavender tissue paper they used around it like a bandage before shoving it into the bag. Giving the clearly flustered woman one of his best smiles, he winked at her. “I’m sure your husband’s gonna love it. Have a nice night.”
Rachel couldn’t hold back a giggle when the woman sighed and left with a spring in her step that she hadn’t had when she walked in. “If you’re going to be helping customers, we’re going to have to work on your folding and wrapping skills.”
Duncan straightened, his smile falling. “What the hell’s wrong with the way I wrapped it?”
Erin spoke from the doorway. “It looked like you were wrapping a fish.”
Duncan turned at the sound of his wife’s voice, his smile filled with loving indulgence as he went to her. “Wrapping a fish, huh? Well, I haven’t heard any complaints and with that last sale, we’re in the lead again.” Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her hair when she slumped against him. Over her head, he frowned, his eyes filled with concern. “Why don’t you go back in the backroom and lie down?”
Erin sent a glare in Rachel’s direction, including Chase in her dark look. “I’m waiting for my pie.”
Chuckling, Chase threw his hands up in surrender. “It’s my fault. I sidetracked Rachel. I’m going.” Sliding a hand over Rachel’s hair, he gave her an intimate smile, his voice lowering to a deep drawl. “I remember your cravings. You were so adorable.”
“What do you mean were?” Rachel poked his stomach. “I’m still adorable.”
“Adorable and sexy.” Chase slapped her bottom. “Something we’ll discuss at greater length tonight. I’ll be right back with pie.”
Duncan held Erin’s face between his hands, bending to touch his lips to hers. “I’ll go with him. That’ll give you and Rachel a chance to talk some more. I won’t be more than ten minutes.”
After watching them leave, Rachel sighed and turned to her sister. “Have you ever noticed what nice asses our husbands have?”
Erin snorted. “I’m pregnant. Not blind. Oh, hell. Mona just got out of her car and is headed this way. Looks like she waited for the men to leave. I wonder what that bitch has to say.”
Rachel watched Mona approach, the other woman’s hard, angry features sending a surge of panic through her. “Go in the back. I don’t want her to see you.” She also didn’t want Erin to get upset and risk having her blood pressure go up.
When Erin hesitated, Rachel pulled out her phone. “Do it, or I’ll call Jared and tell him you’re feeling dizzy.”
Erin gaped at her. “That’s a lie!”
“Yeah, but he’ll believe me. Go in the back. She won’t talk in front of you and I want to hea
r what she has to say.” Her last three conversations with the other woman had caught her off guard, and all but the last one left her feeling as if Mona had gotten the upper hand. She didn’t want any distractions when it came to dealing with her again.
“I’ll be listening.”
Rachel waved in Erin’s direction, never taking her eyes from Mona. “Of course, you will. Just stay out of it. I need to do this myself.” Determined that this time she’d be the one to come out on top, Rachel smiled and flung the door open. “Hello, Mona. What kind of evil lies are you going to try to spread now?” Uneasy at the smug look on Mona’s face, Rachel took a step back.
She saw the reason for her unease almost immediately.
Mona stuck her hand in her purse and pulled out a small pistol. “I thought they’d never leave. Come on, bitch. You and I are going for a ride.”
Chapter Eight
The sight of the gun shocked Rachel into immobility, her heart in her throat as she struggled to process the deadly threat.
Mona hid the gun by keeping a sweater folded over it and her arm, but the steel barrel was unmistakable.
Swallowing heavily, she looked past Mona to the sidewalk, surprised to see that no one appeared to notice anything amiss.
She didn’t know what Mona had planned, but she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, least of all her pregnant sister. Stepping out to the small landing, Rachel closed the door behind her with hands that shook.
Standing on the top step, she looked around for any sign of help, a lump forming in her throat at the sight of Chase and Duncan on the next block, striding in the opposite direction. Although fear tightened her stomach and chilled her to the bone, Rachel struggled to keep her breathing even as she met Mona’s gaze. “Getting a little desperate, aren’t you?”
Mona’s eyes held a wildness in them that Rachel hadn’t seen before, the hand holding the gun shaking in a way that scared Rachel even more.
“Shut up.”
Mona’s gaze darted back and forth, and even though the weather wasn’t exceptionally warm, the other woman’s face glistened with sweat. “This is all your fault! They would have come back to me if not for you. I’m going to have them again, and you’re in the way. They didn’t talk to me on the phone, but once they saw me, they couldn’t resist me. I knew it would be that way. I knew they still wanted me. We belong together.”
Shaken by Mona’s demeanor, and the other woman’s slurred speech, Rachel bit back a cry when she found herself yanked down the steps to the sidewalk. “You won’t ever have them again. Face it, you blew it.” Weighing her chances of knocking the gun away, Rachel stiffened when she saw Rafe Delgatto, one of Desire’s deputies, pull into a parking spot several feet away.
He’d parked about three or four doors down, but he appeared to be staring straight at her, his watchful gaze hidden behind dark sunglasses.
Her mind raced with possible ways of warning him, but Rachel glanced back down at the gun, jolting when Mona cursed and stepped closer.
“If I hadn’t gotten pregnant, I never would have lost them.” Mona’s words slurred, her voice taking on a desperate tone. Her eyes appeared slightly unfocused as she glanced around. “I can fix it, though. With you out of the way, I can fix it.”
She tugged at Rachel’s arm. “Come on. We have to hurry.”
Since Mona pulled her in Rafe’s direction, Rachel went willingly, sneaking glances at the sharp-eyed deputy as they moved closer.
Mona kept talking, her words so slurred and rambling together that Rachel had trouble understanding her. “They won’t leave the kid, so I’ll get a nanny for the brat, but I have to have them back. I can’t let anything get in my way. I need them. Once I get rid of you, they’ll be mine again. We can move away and start over somewhere new.”
Rachel’s pulse leapt when Rafe’s lips moved, and since he was alone, she knew he had to have called someone on his cell. She met Rafe’s questioning look through the windshield, surreptitiously glancing down at the gun poking in her side.
She knew she had to somehow distract Mona, and hopefully, slow her down, so she purposely antagonized her, hoping like hell it wouldn’t get her shot. “You’re insane. They’re never going to go back to you.”
Rafe slid from the SUV, easing the door closed. He appeared to pay no attention to Mona, but Rachel could feel his sharp scrutiny.
Mona stopped abruptly, spinning Rachel toward her—the position putting Rachel’s back against a brick wall, and Mona’s to the street. “Shut up!”
Rafe moved around the hood of his SUV, his rubber soled shoes not making a sound on the pavement.
Mona kept talking. “They’ll come back to me. They will. They can’t resist me. Once I get them into bed again, they’ll be mine! Do you hear me? Mine!”
“Not a chance.”
Mona shoved the gun so hard into Rachel’s side that Rachel was afraid she’d break a rib. “If you don’t do what I say, I’ll take the kid. I’ll get rid of her. With the brat out of the way, they’d have no use for you, just like without the baby I was carrying, they had no use for me.”
“Boone and Chase would kill you with their bare hands.” Fear made Rachel’s stomach clench. “Stay away from my daughter.”
“That brat caused all this.” Mona smiled, her eyes appearing unfocused. “Yeah. Once I get rid of you, I’ll get rid of that brat. Then things will be the way they should be. They’ll be the way they were before. Boone and Chase will love me again.”
Off to the right, Rachel saw Erin run out of the shop, her cell phone to her ear, and tears rolling down her face.
At the same time, Rafe closed in on Mona from behind.
Mona must have sensed Rafe, or saw him out of the corner of her eye because she started to spin toward him, swinging the gun in Erin’s direction.
“No!” Rachel leapt for the gun at the same time Rafe leapt for Mona. Trusting Rafe’s speed and strength, she managed to grab Mona’s wrist, but the other woman’s strength was more than she’d bargained for.
Rafe cursed and grabbed the gun, but Mona went wild.
Fighting and screaming, she fought both of them, kicking at Rafe, her screams becoming louder as she became more violent.
With a speed and efficiency that stunned her, Rafe yanked the gun from Mona’s hand with one hand and whipped her around with the other. “That’s enough!” Shoving the gun into his belt, he jerked Mona’s arms behind her back and cuffed her. “You have the right to remain silent.” He turned away, leaving Rachel standing on the sidewalk staring after him. Shaking, she turned to look at her sister, stunned to see Erin sobbing as she lowered herself to the top step.
With her stomach in knots, she started toward her, jolting when hard arms came around her and yanked her against an equally hard chest.
“Rachel! Oh, God, baby. Are you okay?”
Duncan raced past them with a curse, dropping to his knees as he reached for Erin.
The feel of Chase’s arms and the concern in his deep voice settled her more than she would have imagined. As the last traces of fear dissipated, anger and disbelief took over.
“Did you see that?” She looked toward Erin again in time to see Duncan lifting her into his arms. “Oh, God. She wanted to kill me and then go for the baby. She was going to kill both of us so she could have you and Boone again.”
“Christ almighty!” Chase spun her around as he looked her over. “I saw enough. Christ, that woman’s crazy. I don’t see any blood. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Duncan’s voice held a hint of fear and panic that made it almost unrecognizable. “Is she okay?”
Chase never took his eyes from her. “Yeah. How’s Erin?”
“Shaken, but okay.”
Chase nodded and glanced at Duncan. “Take care of her. We’ll be right there.”
Gripping Chase’s sleeve, Rachel shook her head, turning at the sound of Mona’s screams.
“Look what you did to me! Look! My face. My face.”
As R
afe strode toward Rachel, he turned back to where Mona sat handcuffed in the back of his SUV. “Shut up! And don’t get blood all over my car.” Closing the distance between them, his gaze raked over her, his eyes harder and colder than she’d ever seen. “Are you okay?”
Nodding, Rachel leaned against Chase, grateful for the security of his embrace. “What happened to her face? I don’t remember hitting her.”
Rafe grinned. “Caught her with your elbow a couple times while you were trying to get the gun away from her. I’m just glad I was here, and you let me know there was a problem. You kept your head, Rachel. Smart girl.”
Chase yanked her close. “Hell, I can’t stop shaking. Rafe, how the hell did you know something was wrong?”
Rafe’s lips twitched, but his expression remained hard. “By the way Rachel looked at me. She also glanced down at her side. She usually smiles when she sees me, but this time, she just stared at me. I saw the look in her eyes. It was enough to tell me that something was very wrong.”
Shaking her head, Rachel winced at the pain in her hands, looking down in surprise to see them scraped and bloody. “Everything happened so fast. I don’t even remember grabbing for her. I don’t remember any pain.”
Pulling out a notebook, Rafe glanced behind him at the sound of Ace’s SUV screeching to a stop several feet away. “Yeah, your hands are going to be sore. Adrenaline kicked in and took over. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Allowing Chase to inspect her hands, Rachel nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Rafe nodded, his gaze sharp. “I need to get a statement from you. Christ. A gun. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I know it’ll hit me later, but right now, I just want to get back to the store. Erin’s probably frantic.”
Ace came up behind Rafe, his expression grim. “Chase, take her back to the store. There’s no sense in standing out here. Rafe can come talk to you there while I take this one to the hospital.”