by Barb Han
A knock at the door came two minutes after the call to Dave ended. Maria checked the peephole before letting him in, confirming it was building maintenance. Austin was keeping an eye on the basket in the next room or he would’ve been the first one to the door.
“What happened?” Dave asked, sounding concerned as his voice trailed behind Maria. He was in his late thirties and stood at the same five feet seven inches in height as her. He had sandy-blond hair and light eyes. His distress seemed genuine based on the worry lines creasing his forehead.
It could be an act, though, so Austin planned to keep a close watch.
* * *
“ANIMAL CONTROL IS on its way.” Maria involuntarily shivered just thinking about what had just happened after filling Dave in. The investigator in her had asked him to rush over without giving him a heads-up about what was going on. She’d wanted to gauge his reaction to the news in person. She glanced at the top drawer of her dresser where she kept her service revolver.
“What kind of snake is it?” he asked.
“Viper,” she responded.
“What on earth?” he asked, stopping before the bathroom door. He sounded as freaked as she felt. “It’s in there?”
“Yes,” Maria said.
She appreciated the vigilant watch Austin kept on the basket as he introduced himself to Dave. But why the need for introductions? Austin had said that he spent most of his time on the ranch but wouldn’t he and Dave already know each other? She’d lived here for a year. Wouldn’t they have crossed paths at some point?
Maria made a mental note to ask Austin what that was about later. Right now, she had a deadly snake to get rid of...
“Are you sure it’s still in the basket?” Dave asked, dropping down to one knee in the doorway to get eye level with the basket.
Austin nodded and Maria could tell that her husband was sizing up the maintenance man. Austin was huge by comparison. His features darker and his expression far more serious.
“You have any idea why a saw-scaled viper would be in the building?” Austin asked.
A knock at the door sounded before Dave could respond.
“Hold that thought. I’ll be right back,” Maria said, excusing herself to answer the door. A quick peek through the peephole revealed a man wearing a City of Austin shirt. She let him in.
“Good evening, ma’am.” The guy was barely out of his twenties. His hair was already thinning on top and he was a little shorter than Maria. “Name’s Mark Tailor and I’m from animal services. We got a call about a snake at your residence.”
“Yes,” Maria said, opening the door wider. “It’s in the bathroom.”
She motioned toward the door as another round of heebie-jeebies rocked her. The sooner he got that thing out of her home, the better.
Mark put on a thick set of gloves and made a beeline toward the bathroom. He wore a hunter green shirt with a lighter shade pant. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that room when the snake was disturbed. She had no idea if it could run out of venom and had no plans to be anywhere near it to find out.
Austin stood guard at the bathroom door. Dave joined her in the adjacent room.
Mark walked out less than three minutes later with a captured viper making a lot of noise from the bottom of a very thick bag. “This should take care of it.”
“Thank you,” Maria said as she showed him to the door. She’d breathe easier now that thing was out of her house.
Dave’s hands were on his hips when she returned and Austin was moving around, checking behind pillows and pieces of furniture.
“I think I know who that snake belongs to,” Dave said.
Maria looked at him expectantly.
“Your downstairs neighbor,” he said. “Tyson Greer.”
“There’s one way to find out if it’s his,” Austin said, already tracking toward the exit, Dave at his heels.
“If that’s the case then I need to have a little chat with this Tyson.” Maria wasn’t far behind. “And file a complaint. I didn’t know tenants were allowed to keep dangerous pets in the building.”
Maria knocked on the door a little harder than she’d planned. Her nerves were still heightened so she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Focusing on treating this incident like an investigation calmed her a few notches. She could easily slip into her role at the FBI and shelve her emotions.
There was no answer.
“I’m calling him right now.” Dave’s phone was to his ear. “If that was his pet, he’ll want to know right away.”
Maria knocked again.
Nothing.
The neighbor didn’t answer his phone, either. Didn’t that get the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.
“Guess he’s not around,” Dave said after leaving an urgent message and then ending the call.
“I want to talk to him the minute he responds,” Maria said.
“And I have a few of my own questions,” Austin stated.
Dave nodded. “I’m sorry this happened. That could’ve turned out pretty bad.”
“It’s a good thing I came home when I did.” Austin rubbed the scruff on his chin. “Have you checked your key ring?” he asked Dave.
Dave unclipped the set of masters from his belt loop and fanned the couple dozen keys, stopping to account for each one. “They’re all here.”
Maria’s gaze traveled from the keys to his belt loop. She trusted Dave, especially given that the manager had asked her for help with his background check. He’d been clean. She liked Dave and didn’t want to look at him as a possible suspect. Experience had taught her not to take anything for granted. People could have a solid background and then end up tempted by the right offer.
Or Dave might’ve left his keys unattended and someone could’ve had a copy made.
“Have you had them with you all day?”
Dave brought his index finger up to his lips. His face was a study in concentration as his forehead crinkled. “I don’t think so. Let’s see. I’m trying to think about where all I’ve been today.”
He ran through a couple of maintenance items that he’d checked off throughout the day, shaking his head as he seemed to mentally check off each one.
“I’ve been in maintenance for fifteen years and have never seen anything like this,” he said.
Maria looked at her husband, studying his reaction. He’d said that he didn’t remember if he’d locked the door properly earlier and the look in his eye said that he didn’t believe the notion that any of this could be accidental. Maria knew because she was starting to be suspicious, too. But then, a healthy dose of suspicion was a job requirement in her career.
Austin looked at her, that one look more powerful than a confession.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he responded.
That look was anything but, she thought.
Dave was going back over his day again. Maria noted that there were several times when he was out in the open and someone could’ve slipped a key off his ring. A good criminal would know how to make an imprint for a copy or slip the key off and have an extra made before Dave realized it was gone.
She held her hand out toward him. “I’m changing my lock and, at least for now, I’m keeping the only key.”
Chapter Five
“Food’s getting cold,” Austin said to Maria. He’d warmed their meals in the microwave fifteen minutes ago and she’d barely touched hers.
She pushed another bite around the plate with her fork. Her composed expression belied the emotions brimming under the surface, like a volcano under the facade of a calm sea.
He scraped the last bits of his food into the trash, thinking that Denali sure would’ve enjoyed a few bites of fish taco. “What’s wrong?”
“What are the chances what happened earlier is coincidence after being ambushed five days ago?” She looked up at him, that look of defiance beginning to show through in her brown eyes. Her penetrating gaze had always been good at stripping his defenses, so he armored up.
“I’d say slim at best.” He set the plate in the sink and then leaned against the counter.
“I need to talk to my downstairs neighbor.” She set her utensil down with a clank, and based on her expression, a little harder than she’d intended.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve been listening for him to come home.”
“Me, too.” She stood and started pacing.
“I doubt we’ll hear anything, but just in case,” he said, studying her. He’d expected her to be different and yet not much had changed. A piece of him wished they could erase the last year altogether and go back to the place where life was good again. Where he woke tangled in the sheets with her. She’d beam up at him with those big brown eyes when they opened. Austin had believed that he was the luckiest man on earth when she’d said yes to his marriage proposal. The wedding had been a simple affair with just his immediate family. Her mother was already gone and she’d never met her father. With no siblings, it had just been her and there had always been a lone wolf–quality to Maria when he really looked back. He hadn’t recognized it at the time and if he had acknowledged it, he would’ve believed that she’d come around in time.
Quick-witted, Maria had challenged him on every level. Seeing her now looking frustrated and defeated sat hard in his gut. And he needed to have a conversation with her about her fiancé. Not until he spoke to the doctor in charge of her recovery first, he decided.
“I guess I should be grateful that I have something to do now besides sit around and,” she glanced around as though searching for the right word, “...heal.”
She flashed her eyes at him and it was the first real hint of the severity of the blowout that was building inside her, begging for release. He’d seen that look right before all the fight fizzled out of her and she’d walk out the door saying that she needed air.
If he was going to be a help, his personal feelings would need to sit on the back burner.
Besides, he understood her stumbling block. She wasn’t the couch potato type. But she needed to slow down and let her wounds get better, not run off half-cocked into a situation that could get her into more trouble. A picture was emerging that he didn’t like. Someone had it out for Maria and he had every intention of figuring out who it was.
“It might be best if you take it easy.” He motioned toward the couch.
Austin would’ve thought that he’d just waved a red blanket in front of a bull for the reaction he got.
“I’m grateful for your help, Austin, so don’t take this the wrong way. Believe it or not, I can take care of myself.” The words came out like a shotgun blast, loud and fragmented.
“Understood.” It was probably just rattled nerves that had Maria needing to lash out. When he really thought about it, a reaction from her now was so much better than what he’d gotten before.
“I’m going downstairs,” she stated as she stalked toward the door.
He stepped in her path.
“Move out of my way,” she said.
“I’ve been thinking, so hear me out.”
He waited for her acknowledgment and continued after she finally nodded. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go over there like this. We should probably call your boss and let him handle the interview.”
Her head was already shaking.
Austin positioned his legs in an athletic stance. She could charge ahead but she was going to meet a wall.
“I have every intention of updating my boss as soon as I figure out if there’s anything to report,” she said, and he could see based on the fire in her eyes that her fuse would be short.
“You have that out of order.” Austin could take whatever she dished out and she probably just needed to blow off steam anyway. He could be her release valve.
“Step aside.” She stood toe-to-toe with him now and her jaw was clenched tight.
“Careful,” he warned, running his finger along her cheekbone. “You’re heading down a thorny path.”
When she looked up at him this time, there was a different emotion present in her dark eyes—one they couldn’t afford because it made him want things he shouldn’t.
Her flat palms pressed against his chest and he could feel her trembling. The strength and calm he saw in her expression was nothing more than a mask that her body couldn’t support.
This close, electricity pinged between them. They couldn’t afford that, either.
His mind argued that one kiss was all it would take to get her out of his system. Her rosy lips were close enough to claim. All he had to do was dip his head down a little lower.
Instead, he took in a sharp breath to steady his resolve.
And she didn’t seem ready to accept defeat.
“You haven’t touched me since we came home.” She flexed her fingers, smoothing them along his pecs.
“This isn’t my home,” Austin said. He shouldn’t have admitted that to her but holding up the facade was exhausting for an honest man.
“So I noticed. Fine. We belong on the ranch. You won’t take me there so I have to ask. Is there someone else?” Those brown eyes stared up at him after a flicker of nervousness.
Wasn’t that a stray bullet straight to his heart. “There isn’t for me.”
“Well then, I don’t understand. Don’t you want to be with me anymore?” The innocence in her eyes gave way to the heat between them, and became glittery with desire.
And it would be so easy to slip down that path again with Maria.
Austin knew better than to take her mouth but he didn’t resist when she pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him. At first, she grazed her teeth across his bottom lip before a gentle bite. Then, she gently sucked before he put both his hands around her neck, his fingers curling around the base, and repositioned her so he could claim her mouth. His thumbs rested on her cheekbones as she opened her mouth and he slid his tongue inside.
A firebolt of need scorched through him, the impact cording his muscles.
Her hands wound around his neck, her fingers in his hair and when she pushed up, her breasts were flush against his chest. Her breathing was rapid, like his, and he dropped his arms to circle around her waist. There was so much heat between them as she broke apart first and looked up at him. Her body was rigid, strung tight with the same tension that had had them both climbing to heights he’d never imagined before sex with her, and Austin had always had great sex. With Maria, there were so many more layers to it.
All the emotions mixed up in his head as they slipped into that familiar fire that had consumed them...their hearts pounding in rhythm. Her hands were all over his back now as his dropped to her sweet round bottom. He let out a low growl as her sex ground against him.
Austin lowered his face and kissed her neck. She mewled a sweet, sexy little sound when he hit that spot near the base. Her pulse pounded against his lips and he wanted to pick her up, take her to the bed and claim her one more time as his.
Reality was more effective than a bucket of ice water. Because she wasn’t his. The two of them didn’t belong together anymore and she’d moved on to prove it. As soon as she got her memories back, she’d realize her mistake and push him away again.
He picked her up and took her to the couch, setting her down gently so he didn’t hurt any of her injuries. She was most likely expecting a different response than him standing up straight and walking away.
“Austin,” she said, winded.
“Yeah.”
“What did I do wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing.” The word came out in a grunt as he tu
rned to face her.
“I don’t mean right this minute,” she said. “I’m talking about before.”
“Before what?” he asked, his body strung tight with need...need for Maria.
She made that annoyed sound with her tongue. The one she’d gotten so good at right before she walked away from tension leading up to a fight. “You didn’t play games with me before. Why do you feel the need to tap-dance around everything now?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, trying hard to sell it.
Maria sat up straight. “I’m going to remember sooner or later. I’m pretty sure that I just embarrassed myself by coming on to you but I don’t recall there ever being a problem between us in the bedroom.”
He grumbled out a curse word under his breath.
“So, just tell me what I did. I’d like to apologize,” she said.
“There’s no need to worry about that,” he stated, but she didn’t seem to be buying it. “You’re not embarrassing yourself.”
“You want me, right?” she asked, and there was a vulnerability to her voice that he’d never heard before.
“Yes.” He wouldn’t deny it.
“And we’re married.” She hugged a pillow to her chest.
“You already know that we are.”
“All I can think about is the great sex we used to have. When we’re close, I get the impression you want me, but you pull back.” Her cheeks flushed and Austin’s heart squeezed at her embarrassment. It wasn’t a good idea to let himself get too caught up in the moment. She’d had a near-death experience and wanted proof life was still good. She remembered a few happy times and, lucky her, had blocked out the rest of the hell they’d been through. He could flip an internal switch and have amazing sex with her. It wouldn’t take any more encouragement for that. The problem was that sex was more complicated with Maria. There’d be collateral damage and he had no plans to jab a knife through his own heart again. He thought about whether or not he should say anything to her. Not giving her any information seemed cruel. But how much of their past could she handle?