by Molly Harper, Stephanie Haefner, Liora Blake, Gabra Zackman, Andrea Laurence, Colette Auclair
“Where the hell did you find that?” she asked, snatching the phone from his hand.
“TMZ. There’s a couple more, too. I thought you knew about it. I don’t know if I’m more scandalized by the kiss or that lamé dress. Did you and your ex really make out at the dance where everyone could see you?”
Ivy flipped through the photos and cursed. “There wasn’t supposed to be any press there. They were banned.” She scrolled through the page until she found the photo credits at the end.
Nash Russell. Big surprise.
“That man, I swear,” she said through gritted teeth. “Listen to this crap: ‘Local tongues were wagging,’ a source close to the couple said. ‘The sexual tension was off the charts the moment they walked into the dance.’ The couple left early, leaving no doubt in the minds of partygoers that Ivy and Blake Chamberlain were off to do a dance of the more private variety. Are you kidding me? It’s so juvenile.”
Malcolm snatched back the phone. “Easy on the gadgets, my dear. That’s my third phone this year. I keep breaking them.” He glanced at the picture for a moment. “So are you upset that they got a picture or that the whole town knows you and Blake slept together?”
“I doubt anyone has even seen these pictures. Not many folks around here are interested in celebrity blogs. The gossip network in Rosewood is powered by little old ladies.”
Slipping the phone back into his pocket, he asked, “So, do you think Nash bought the pictures off someone at the dance? Or did he sneak in somehow?”
Ivy shook her head. “No, all the doors had guards, and even if he snuck into the school, he couldn’t get into the cafeteria without going past the check-in desk. Unless,” she said with a sigh, “he got a date and bought a ticket like everyone else. If he came with a local, I doubt anyone would question it.”
“Is there anyone desperate enough to date Nash?”
It was hard to believe, but she found there was always someone that Nash could manipulate to get his way. “There has to be. Actually, let’s go ask Pepper. If we leave now, we should get to the salon right as it closes. I promised her I’d take you to meet her, anyway.”
They loaded into her rental car and drove back into town, parking in front of the salon. Pepper was locking the door, on her way home, when they arrived.
Ivy put down the window and shouted. “Hey, Pepper. I’ve got a surprise in my car for you.”
Pepper’s eyes got so big they nearly bugged out of her head as she recognized Ivy’s passenger. She couldn’t say anything at first—a rarity for Pepper.
“Hop in and we’ll drive over to Woody’s for a drink. I need to talk to you about something.”
Pepper climbed in for the short ride, still speechless. It wasn’t until they climbed out of the car outside the bar and Malcolm held out his hand in greeting that she finally spoke. And then, it was like a rush of verbal diarrhea.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m actually getting to meet you. This is so crazy. You know, a part of me didn’t entirely believe Ivy when she said that you were friends and you were coming to visit. I mean, you’re the Sexiest Man Alive, why would you be in Rosewood? And really, it was an excellent choice. You are even more handsome in person and wow . . . you smell good.” Her hands flew to cover her mouth as her face turned redder than her hair. “Did I say that out loud?”
Ivy smirked. “Let’s go inside.”
Malcolm smiled. He was used to women reacting to him this way. Happy to fulfill their fantasies by being the charming, smooth dreamboat they wanted, he said it was the least he could do for a fan. “I’ll buy you a drink, Pepper,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulder to escort her inside and sending her into near hysterics. They gave a wave to Emmett behind the bar before finding a booth in the corner.
Malcolm slid in beside Pepper. “I’m going to sit with you, doll.” His voice was like a soothing lullaby, rhythmic and sultry. Most women were putty in his hands, and Pepper was no exception. “I love redheads and I’m getting a little tired of Ivy here. She’s all wrapped up in some football player instead of me. Can you believe it?”
Pepper slowly shook her head, her entire focus on him. Ivy might as well not even be there.
Emmett came by and took their drink orders, putting a bowl of pretzels on the table. Ivy waited until after he brought the drinks to talk to Pepper about why they were here.
“Pepper,” she asked, “did you see a reporter at the dance Saturday night?”
Pepper furrowed her brow and thoughtfully munched on a pretzel. “I didn’t notice a reporter. What does he look like?”
“He’s in his forties, average height, dark blond hair on the longer side. A goatee.” Ivy pulled out her phone and searched for a picture of Nash. “This is him.”
“Yeah, I did see that guy,” Pepper said with a nod. “He was dancing with Cheryl Buckman.”
Ivy was rusty on some of the people in town. That woman’s name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put a face or context to it. “Who’s that?”
“You know Cheryl,” Pepper insisted. “She’s run her father’s ice cream parlor on the square ever since high school.”
A picture of the woman started forming in Ivy’s mind. The woman gave Ivy two cherries on top every time she went in for a sundae. She was sweet, older, exactly the kind that Nash would go after. “Is she single?”
“Chronically,” Pepper said. “She’s in her forties and never married. She spends all her time taking care of her elderly parents and running that shop.”
“So didn’t you think it was weird that you didn’t recognize the man she was dancing with?”
“Yes, which is why I remembered, but there were quite a few people at the dance who came from out of town. Brian said his cousins from Anniston got tickets, so I didn’t expect to know everyone. I didn’t give it a lot of thought. He didn’t seem suspicious, and I was more interested in my date. So, what exactly did this guy do? You said he was a reporter?”
Ivy took a sip of her rum and Diet Coke and nodded. “He snuck into the dance to get pictures of Blake and me together. There’s one of us kissing that’s all over the Internet.”
“Oh no. Poor Cheryl. She may not even know this guy just used her to get close to you. He’d better hope Mr. Buckman doesn’t find out about this.”
“Why’s that?” Ivy asked.
A devious smile crossed Pepper’s face. “Because . . . Mr. Buckman was a decorated sniper in Korea and Vietnam. He still teaches marksmanship at the Scout camp during the summer. I saw him at the fair this weekend playing that shooting game. He might be old, but he’s still a damn fine shot. And a protective daddy,” she added ominously.
Nash waited impatiently in the alley behind Whittaker’s. Paparazzi weren’t exactly welcome anywhere, and the people who were willing to wheel and deal with reporters never wanted to be seen with them. As such, his line of work had led him to a lot of unsavory locations over the years. The alleys in Rosewood were pretty nice, nowhere near his worst rendezvous spot.
He’d done a little digging at the Rosewood Library and found Lydia’s phone number. He’d called her last night, and as expected, she’d agreed to meet him today, cash in hand. She didn’t want those photos leaking to the press, or worse, to Blake Chamberlain.
As usual, the broad was making him wait. She was ten minutes late.
Finally, the back door of the restaurant opened and she slipped outside. Her blond hair was pulled back into a tight bun, her petite curves hidden beneath the buttoned white tunic of an executive chef.
She looked up and down the alley, scanning for anyone nearby, and when she was satisfied finally spoke to him. “So, where are the pictures?”
At that, Nash chuckled. This wasn’t his first rodeo. “Where’s the money?”
Lydia pulled a thick envelope out of her pocket and held it up. Nash nodded and pulled out the manila envelope with the photos.
“Shall we trade?” he asked.
“All the copies of the pho
tos are in the envelope? The negatives? Everything.”
“Yep,” he nodded, although he wasn’t stupid. He still had the digital file. He considered it his insurance policy. He held out the pictures and they exchanged packages.
Quickly thumbing through the cash, he realized she’d shorted him. “Hey!” he snapped. “Where’s the rest?”
Lydia bit at her lip and shook her head. “That’s all I could get on short notice. I’ll get you the rest tomorrow, I swear.”
Dammit. He knew better than to hand over the photos before he was certain he had the full payment. He should’ve just blackmailed her, but he’d wanted to tie all this up and get paid. He would leave Rosewood as soon as that concert was done, and gladly. Sleeping in his car sucked. He had a crick in his neck and the bad attitude to go with it.
It was crap like this that forced him to keep copies of everything he had. It was pretty bad to run into someone shadier than he was, but it happened a lot. That snotty little rich girl thought she could just screw him and get away with it. She must be used to getting everything she wanted.
Well, she’d crossed the wrong guy. Nash always got what he wanted, too. And right now, he was thinking he wanted to see her writhe on a hook more than he wanted the rest of his money. It was a bullshit story anyway. She wouldn’t come up with another dime; he could tell by the dismissive way she wouldn’t even make eye contact with him.
He wasn’t worried, though. He’d find someone else who wanted the pictures and screw her over. With a sigh, he slipped the envelope of cash into his inner coat pocket.
“You’ll regret this.”
There were few things Blake liked more than being out on his boat. He loved skimming along the surface at high speed, the wind in his hair and the spray misting his face. There was a peacefulness about being out on the water. Even the sound of the trolling motor was a soothing hum.
Well into September, the heat and humidity had given way to temperatures in the high seventies with a light breeze. Blake slowed the boat and circled around to his favorite fishing spot. Willow Lake was large, but only maybe fifteen feet deep. The area he preferred was in a shallower section. About twenty years ago, Jasper Daniels had drunk a little too much beer and accidentally driven his 1974 Ford F-150 into the lake. He got out fine, but the truck made the lake its final resting place. Over the years, it had developed into an artificial reef that was a favorite with the bass that swam in these waters.
He killed the outboard motor, moving to the front of the boat to put down the trolling motor that would keep them slowly moving through the area where they wanted to fish.
Ivy was sitting two seats over from where he’d been, a giant red life vest strapped to her like the Titanic was about to go down. She was wearing an Alabama ball cap with her ponytail looped through the back and a large pair of dark sunglasses. A concerned frown pulled down the corners of her lips, disrupted only by the occasional frantic slapping at an imaginary bug.
Blake couldn’t help smiling. It was mean of him to make her do this, but Ivy could use a little time getting back to her roots. California was fine, with its organic wines, raw bars, and vegan cupcakes, but that wasn’t how she grew up. She grew up on fried catfish with hush puppies, banana pudding, and fresh venison stew.
He didn’t know exactly why he had this urge to reexpose her to her past. Fishing probably wasn’t the best way to make her fall in love with her home again, but it was a start. If she could focus more on the nature and enjoy the slower pace of living, she might want to come home more often. Or for good.
Blake swallowed hard. He thought he had come to terms with the idea of giving up Ivy in three days, but apparently not. Spending the last two days without her, knowing she was off with that movie star, certainly hadn’t helped the situation. He wasn’t the jealous type, he had no right to be, and yet his imagination ran wild with the thought of them together.
Blake wasn’t in love—that would be silly after only a few days—but he still felt proprietary about her. He could see the potential building between them again. Ivy just needed to give Rosewood a real chance. To give Blake a real chance. Not just some casual fling with a clock ticking down the time they had left.
“Well,” he said, rubbing his hands together in excitement. “Are you ready?”
Ivy shrugged, standing up on unsteady feet. The water was still, the boat barely moving. Sea legs shouldn’t be a requirement and yet she wobbled in her water shoes.
“You said you haven’t done this since you were eight?”
“Yes. When I was little, my dad would take me here on Sunday afternoons. We’d fish off the end of the dock. He didn’t have a boat until I bought him one last year.”
“Well, you’re an old pro, then. Let me get you a pole.”
“Are you going to make me bait my own hook?” she asked in a soft, tentative voice he wasn’t used to hearing from her. “My daddy would always do it for me.”
Blake smiled, suppressing the laughter bubbling in his throat. The woman had no problem performing in front of thousands of people or on live television, but she was squeamish about handling bait. Admittedly, he had been tempted, just to see her squirm, but he never used live bait and he wasn’t going to start today.
“No,” he said. “The lures are already tied on. I use crank bait.” He opened up a felt-covered panel on the deck of the boat and pulled out a small yellow-and-green plastic fish with two hooks dangling from it.
Ivy sighed in relief. “Thank goodness.”
After that she finally smiled for the first time today. Blake got both of them set up and their lines cast into the water. As he’d hoped, she seemed to relax into the activity of fishing. Without anyone else on the water, they were able to sit quietly and enjoy each other’s company while they sipped bottles of sweet tea.
Blake caught a few fish, but only one was big enough for him to throw into the live well to keep. The rest were released back into the lake. Ivy didn’t have much luck, but it didn’t seem to bother her. After a while, she was content to reel her line in and just sit watching the water as the sun started to set.
“I’ve got the fixin’s for dinner back at my cabin whenever we’re done here,” Ivy said after a long silence.
“You’re cooking?” he asked.
Ivy turned to look at him and rolled her eyes. “Of course not. I had Ruth put a basket together for me this afternoon. Then I stopped at Rosewood Bakery and picked up some dessert from Miss Estelle.”
“That sounds great. I—” His sentence terminated as he felt a sharp tug on his lure. He’d got one and it was a big one. Maybe his biggest catch of the day. “Here we go!” he shouted. “Go grab the net, will you?”
Ivy leaped up to grab the net they’d left on the rear platform of the boat earlier. She’d helped him scoop up the last two fish, so she was a pro by now. He was working on reeling in his catch when he heard the buzz of another boat coming near on the water.
Blake looked up just in time to see Ned Tyler zip by in his boat. He threw up a hand to wave, then quickly returned to fighting for his fish. “Hold on, Ivy, the wake’s coming. It can be a little rough,” he said, his eyes focused on the pole and line in front of him.
“What did you—?”
Ivy’s question was interrupted by the wave of the other boat’s wake, rocking theirs up and down. Blake braced his feet for the movement he was accustomed to. That was when he heard a shriek silenced by a loud splash. Blake looked over his shoulder to find he was alone on the boat.
Forgetting his catch, he quickly cut his line and set his pole aside, rushing to the back of the boat. He wasn’t too worried; they were in only seven feet of water, but if anyone could find a way to drown, it would be Ivy.
Blake found her just off the stern, bobbing like a cork in her life jacket, her hair plastered to her beet-red face. “You should’ve told me you wanted to go swimming,” he said. “I’d have brought my trunks.”
In her hand, Ivy was still clutching the net, al
though he was pretty certain she was about to chuck it at him. He took it from her, tossing it aside, then reached out for her hand. “Put your foot on the side of the motor.”
A second after they made contact, before he could tug, he saw a wicked gleam in her eyes. But it was too late. With his balance off-center, Ivy tugged instead.
Blake tumbled headfirst into the lake. He fought his way back to the surface, then clambered through the water to capture Ivy in one arm and grip the boat with the other. She gave out a loud squeal as he grabbed her and tugged her body against his. Well, as close as he could get it with that giant life preserver around her neck.
“You,” he said, “are a very naughty girl.”
Ivy grinned wide, far more pleased with being in the water now that she wasn’t alone. “I am a naughty girl,” she agreed. “I should be punished.”
“Oh really?” Blake said, his eyebrows shooting up. The cold water did little to prevent the warm surge of desire that started pumping through his veins as she squirmed against him. “What exactly do you have in mi—”
“Eeee!”
Blake jerked back, his eyes wide at Ivy’s sudden declaration of distress. “What’s the matter?”
She looked panicked at the murky water, her feet kicking frantically beneath the surface and inadvertently pummeling his shins. He’d pay for that later. “Something slimy just touched my leg.”
“Relax. It was probably just a freshwater eel.”
“What?” Ivy shrieked, her eyes getting bigger than he’d ever seen them before. “Are you kidding me? There are eels in this lake?”
Blake chuckled. “There are, but they like the deeper waters. I was just messing with you.”
Ivy punched him in the arm and started climbing back into the boat. He followed behind her, whipping his wet shirt over his head. “You just wait until I wash the fish muck off you, girl. You’re going to pay.”