by Melody Anne
“Listen, chicky, I’ve had a crap week, and I need you to fill me in. I’m not above using torture.”
Maycie always had been the bluntest of them all. The three had been best friends for so long that Ella honestly couldn’t remember a time in her life she hadn’t been with the two girls sitting at her table. Why she wanted to keep anything secret from them, she didn’t know.
“Oh, it has to do with sexy wall guy!” Reese said, practically bouncing in her seat.
“Spider-Man? Oooh, I do hope so,” Maycie said, leaning forward.
“What are you two talking about?” Now Ella was lost.
“Oh, we nicknamed your protector Spider-Man. Seemed appropriate considering he was scaling your house like a superhero the first time we met him,” Reese said.
“Ugh, I hate spiders. They’re creepy little creatures.”
“Everyone hates spiders,” Maycie agreed. “Now quit trying to change the subject. What’s going on?”
“Well . . .” She paused, just ’cause she knew it’d irritate them. It served them right for being such snoops. When a slimy pumpkin seed came flying at her face, she decided she’d stalled long enough.
“All right. We’ve gone on a few dates, and each one has been perfect. First was the setup from you and my cousin, though that wasn’t really a date,” she said with a glare before continuing. “Don’t think I didn’t chew Bryson out for that, and don’t think he didn’t throw you under the bus.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maycie said.
“Ha! You certainly do,” Ella told her before she continued. “Axel took me to a nice restaurant where we danced, and boy can he move. And then we spent a day in the park and with the colors changing on the trees it was romantic and fun and . . .” Ella closed her eyes and took herself back over the past week.
She was getting way too attached to a man she’d only known a couple of weeks and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to put the brakes on. “We went ice-skating and then to a hockey game. That was boring actually, but the hot make out session made up for the freezing, noisy rink,” she said, her stomach stirring at the memory.
“Okay, get to the good stuff. Have you had sex?”
“Maycie!” Reese said in a horrified gasp. “Just kidding,” she continued, laughing. “Of course we want to know.”
“Well, um, yeah,” Ella said, her cheeks flushing. She and her girlfriends could be flirts, but they certainly weren’t easy. Heck, she’d only been with two men before Axel—the disaster she’d dated in college, and of course her loser ex-boss, who had not been an inspiring lover.
“Was it amazing? It had to be amazing. That man’s arms, oh my . . .” Reese leaned back and fanned herself.
“When I had sex with Trent in college, I expected it to be awkward. Neither of us knew what we were doing. But then with Felix, I wondered what the fuss was all about. I mean, he certainly didn’t know the right buttons to push, and I didn’t know to ask for those buttons to be pushed. But with Axel, it was just . . . I don’t know how to describe it, but it was like he knew exactly where to touch me and when and how much time to spend in each area . . .” Ella trailed off as her body heated all over again.
“So was it just once, or has it been multiple times?” Reese asked.
“Just once,” Ella said sadly. “Well, not exactly. Just one night, but we did it so many times I lost count.”
“Why only one night? Was it last night?” Maycie asked, her pumpkin neglected as she leaned her elbows on the table to get closer.
“No, it was . . . um, well, we had sex on the first date, well, the first real date.” Ella’s cheeks flushed as she admitted this.
“Look, chicky, you’re not some whore who goes around giving it to everyone who buys you an expensive bottle of wine. Sometimes the lust is just too much to resist. If you really like the guy, quit kicking yourself. Now that being said, why haven’t you gone for round two yet?” Maycie asked.
“To begin with, the morning after we had sex, he got a call and had to rush back to DC for a few days,” Ella said.
“I thought he was supposed to be guarding you,” Reese said.
“Oh, trust me, there was someone in his place, but the guy was a moron. I could spot him a mile away. At first I thought it could be a bad guy, though I haven’t had any threats in a week, but when Axel called to check on me, he admitted his friend was keeping watch. I told him if he wanted to climb in my bed again, his friend had best back the hell off. I didn’t see him after that, but I have a sneaking suspicion he’s been around,” Ella said.
“But you said you had more than one date,” Reese pointed out.
“Yeah, he was only gone three days, but then every time things begin to heat up something happens and either he is called away, or I get paged into the office only to find out it’s nothing, or the freaking house alarm went off last time just as my shirt had come off,” she said, blowing out her breath.
“Do you think that could be on purpose?” Maycie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Your alarm going off, you getting calls that lead to nothing, Axel getting called away. You have people threatening you, and there are strange things happening. Doesn’t it make either of you the least bit suspicious?” Reese said.
Ella was silent as she tried to remember the last incident. They’d been getting ready to make love and the alarm had gone off, and Axel had shot from the room, not even bothering to put his shirt back on. Then he’d come back in, kissed her good night, and left. She’d been frustrated, but hadn’t thought to question him about why he was leaving. Was something going on that he was keeping from her? She was sure as hell going to find out.
“When do you see him next?”
“Tomorrow,” she said with determination. She was getting some answers. “I honestly don’t know if we’re going to last as a couple, but now that you’ve brought this up, I want answers about why so many strange things are happening.”
“Ugh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start anything,” Reese said, clearly upset.
“You didn’t. You just know I hate being lied to. If he’s lying to me, then he’d better fess up.”
“What if it’s nothing, and you’re going to go in there with guns blazing only to find out that there really were emergencies,” Maycie said.
Again, Ella paused. “Something has to be going on,” she said, but not with as much certainty. Then, she was horrified. “What if it’s just that he doesn’t like the sex? I’ve thought it was pretty great, but he has experience and I don’t, so what if it sucks for him?” That had never occurred to her.
“Did he act like he enjoyed it?” Maycie asked.
“I think any man enjoys it during, but what if afterward he compared it to others and realized it really wasn’t that great?”
“Oh, there’s no way that happened. You’re too hot to ever forget,” Reese said.
“But is it just sex, or is there something else about the man putting that gleam in your eyes?” Maycie wanted to know.
“I do like this guy,” Ella admitted.
“How much do you like him?” Reese asked.
“Enough that I can’t go a single hour without him popping into my head. He makes me laugh and feel safe, he infuriates and intrigues me. At first I just passed him off as another guy with too many muscles and not enough brain cells. Now I can’t quit thinking about him.”
“Well then, what’re you doing hanging out with us?” Reese asked with a smile.
“You girls always come first. You know that.”
“But a nice strong pair of arms to hold you. That’s pretty dang good,” Reese admitted.
“Yeah, that’s pretty great . . .” Ella said.
“Ah, you are a bit smitten,” Maycie added.
“I shouldn’t be because really, we haven’t had a lot of time together, and when the job is done, he’ll ride off into the sunset,” Ella reminded them.
“You know him enough to have bu
tterflies,” Reese said, once again picking up her knife.
“I don’t know. I’m confused, and a little scared.”
“If we always live in fear, then what good is it to live? Just enjoy this and stop stressing about it so much. It’s not as if you have to get married tomorrow,” Maycie said.
Hearing the word married sent panic through Ella. She was too young, too focused on her career to even think about falling in love, much less getting married.
Still, she was beginning to think a life without one sexy FBI agent around wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling. She was in trouble. Big trouble.
Before she could voice her next objection, the doorbell rang. “Who in the world could that be? The important people are all here,” Reese said as the three women looked toward the door.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Ella said as she got up. Reese and Maycie were right on her heels.
“It’s a delivery guy,” Maycie said as she looked out the window.
“Oooh, I think Axel sent you flowers,” Reese said with a little jump of excitement.
Ella opened the door, then signed a paper, and accepted the long skinny box. She walked into the kitchen and set it down, looking at it suspiciously.
“I swear if you don’t open that up right now, I’m going to,” Maycie said as she grabbed her knife and brushed off the pumpkin guts.
“Fine,” Ella said as she slit the bindings and opened the box. At the exact same time, all three girls jumped back with a screech.
“Is this somebody’s idea of a joke?” Reese said, a shudder passing through her.
“If it is, it’s not at all funny,” Maycie said.
“I think it’s another message,” Ella said with disgust.
Sitting in the box were a dozen dead roses with maggots crawling all over them, and written on the lid of the box was the message “Everything Dies!”
“Let’s get it the hell out of here,” Maycie said, the first one to recover as she pushed down the lid and lifted the box, holding it away from her body.
Ella and Reese followed her to the back door, where all three girls looked around before opening it, and then they tossed the box next to the garbage can.
“You need to report this,” Reese insisted.
“And say what? I was sent dead roses?” Ella said, feeling foolish.
“Maybe they can lift some prints,” Maycie reasoned.
“I just messaged Axel,” Reese said, holding her phone.
“What? Why in the world would you do that? And how do you have his number?” Ella exclaimed.
“He gave it to me last week, and made me promise to tell him if anything happened,” Reese said, a little sheepishly.
“Great! Now, he’s going to freak out on me again,” Ella said with frustration.
“Or maybe he’ll just keep you alive. We’re staying with you tonight,” Maycie said as the women moved back into the house.
Ella knew it’d be useless to argue. Besides, she needed her friends there. Maybe, just maybe, Axel wouldn’t go off the handle quite as bad.
Yeah, and pigs really could fly.
“What’ve you been doing to keep busy?” Axel asked as he sat back and enjoyed his predinner drink, his eyes glued to Ella. It seemed he couldn’t look at anything other than her when the two of them were together.
He was still furious that she wasn’t taking the threats and harassment seriously, but at the same time, he knew that continuing to harp on it would only push her away. After his initial yelling match with her three nights before, he’d discovered it was much more effective to simply keep her where he could see her at all times—of course, without her knowing he was doing that.
“I’ve been doing a lot of grunt work at the office,” she said with a sigh, sipping her glass of wine.
“Ah, the necessary paperwork. It’s the worst thing about the job,” he said. “I’ve gotten in trouble more than once for turning in my reports late. I just don’t understand why the boss needs it typed out. We’re interviewed after every case with someone else taking notes.”
The routine conversation actually helped to ease his nerves. Someone was going to a lot of work to keep Ella frightened, and he was trying hard to keep as much of it from her as possible. Felix’s men hadn’t given up yet, but they’d never dealt with someone like him. Axel always caught the bad guy.
“Because when you’re writing it down you may remember something you forgot to mention in the interview.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what the boss says. I still think it’s annoying.”
“We can both agree on that. I did have fun on Sunday with the girls. Well, until that package arrived,” she said, making him tense all over again.
“Had you just invited me in the first place, I could’ve grilled the deliveryman and possibly gotten evidence against Felix,” he said, then wanted to take it back. No use harping on this subject again.
She was silent for a moment as she sent him a stern look. “Rule number one, no men allowed during girl time.” He had to admit he was grateful she had people in her life she could trust without question.
“Your girls like me,” he pointed out.
“Yes, they do. I think it’s because of your muscles, certainly not your charm.”
“Ouch!” Dramatically he held a hand to his heart and leaned back, trying his best to look hurt. And just like that, the tension evaporated.
“Oh, get over yourself,” she told him with another laugh.
“Well, since you so rudely excluded me from pumpkin carving, I think you have to accompany me to another Halloween event this evening,” he said with a wink.
“What event?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him with suspicion.
“Just a place I saw the other day that looked fun,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m going to stop you right there. With the twinkle in your eyes, I’m not trusting you one little bit, so I’m not agreeing to go anywhere until you tell me specifically where it is.”
Axel couldn’t keep the smile from his face. When she wore that expression, the one that told him she was putting her foot down, she looked adorable. She was going for fierce, but she couldn’t pull that off no matter how hard she tried.
“Fine. It’s a really great-looking haunted house,” he said as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation, feeling like a kid. “I haven’t been to one in ages, not since college, and then, we were running it, so that’s not nearly as fun.”
“There is no way no how I’m going into a haunted house. The last time I did wasn’t a pleasant experience,” she said, her wineglass now on the table so she could wrap her arms around herself.
“Come on. It’ll be fun,” he told her with a laugh. “How can a grown woman be so frightened of the make-believe?”
“How could I be so frightened?” she gasped. “Let me tell you! The last time I went through a haunted house I was a sophomore in high school. My boyfriend at the time thought it would enhance ‘the experience,’ since one of his moron friends told him that scaring a woman witless would make her more than eager to have sex, and not only sex, but really great sex. Found that part out later right before I slugged him in the stomach. But I digress. All the way there he was telling me stories about haunted houses where real killers slipped inside and were murdering victims and people just kept on walking by thinking it was all part of the setup. I was so freaked out that by the time we got there I refused to go in,” she said before picking her glass back up and taking a long swallow.
“You didn’t even go in? He was just screwing with you.”
“Oh, he finally managed to talk me into going into the dang thing. I was so scared I ended up bawling halfway through so loudly they had to escort me out. People were laughing at me, and then the jerk-off told me his sex theory, asked if my hormones were on hyperdrive, and tried to kiss me.”
Axel sat back, desperately trying not to crack a smile. If his lips so much as twitched he knew that not only was he not going to get h
er into the haunted house, but that she’d most likely walk out of the restaurant. He didn’t know how he maintained a straight face, but somehow he managed. He wouldn’t mind testing out the sex theory himself. Not that the two of them needed anything to make it any better. It could jump to dangerous levels if it got any hotter.
“He was obviously an idiot. I promise not to scare you, and I promise not to let anyone touch you,” he said, holding up his hand in a scout’s honor salute. “What happened to the boyfriend?”
“When the idiot tried kissing me, I punched him and walked away. I figured I’d cool off enough for the long ride back home. But, no. Since he wasn’t going to get any sex from me, the ass took off and left me there, three miles from town!”
“That’s seriously uncool.”
“After I calmed down and realized I was stuck there, I managed to get a ride home with a group of drunk college kids,” she said, and then her own lips twitched, thankfully.
“That is one hell of a bad night.” He still managed not to smile. Massive restraint.
“Yes, it was, and thank you for not laughing at me,” she said, reaching for his hand.
“Since I’m not that jackass boyfriend, would you be willing to go with me?” he begged, placing just the right amount of pleading in his tone.
“Fine, but if I start sobbing halfway through, it’s all on you,” she warned with a stern look.
“I’ll risk it,” he said, finally smiling.
They finished their dinner, and Axel was eager to get to the haunted house. It was an old Victorian home with rumors of real ghosts roaming its halls. He knew he wouldn’t get scared, but if he could get her blood pumping . . . It could be quite the pleasant night.
Ella was silent as they parked and joined the line of people waiting to get into the house. Costumed characters were peeking out windows and scaring people at the front door. Axel was impressed with their makeup. They’d put some time and money into this event.
He didn’t say a word to Ella, too afraid she’d back out if he gave her half a chance. He didn’t do too many things anymore that were purely about fun. And Halloween used to be his favorite holiday. All the mischief involved with it, and the costumes, and of course the candy. His job sometimes made him too cynical. It was nice to sit back and enjoy life right now, even if he was still protecting Ella.