by Lori Whyte
She sighed. "I know, but…"
She wiggled against him again.
"You're killing me," he said against her lips. Then he kissed her again. Deeply.
***
When they finally arrived downstairs, his brothers were sprawled across the furniture in the front lobby of the inn. All of them stared at Anna and Mason. They looked ready to rip him apart. At the very least, they appeared prepared to rip off a rather important piece of his anatomy.
Still, he would do everything the same if he had to do it all over again. He wouldn't change a single thing about his night with Anna. And he sincerely hoped it would happen again. Often.
The smell of sex clung to them and his Anna looked deliciously satisfied. Even if they hadn't caught them in bed, there was no mistaking what had happened. From her tousled hair to the reddened rash around her mouth from his whiskers just a few minutes ago... she was a walking advertisement for everything they'd done last night.
His brothers scowled.
Lord only knew what they would do if they saw the hickey he couldn't resist placing on her left breast. He hadn't felt the need to mark a woman since he was a teenager, but there was something about this one… Having her in his arms finally made him want to shout it out to the world and show everyone that she was his.
Besides, she marked him too. His back tingled even now. She'd scraped her fingernails along his back more times than he could count last night. Hell, she might have even drawn blood at one point.
He grinned.
She'd been so exquisite as she'd gripped him tight and urged him to go harder and faster… She was without a doubt the sexiest woman that he'd ever known. No contest.
Aiden cleared his throat and crossed his arms. He glared at Mason, but he wouldn't say anything in front of Anna.
Mason had slipped his hand in hers when they'd left the room upstairs and she hadn't pulled it away yet. That had to be a good sign. He didn't want her to regret this.
He guided them to the sitting area and then allowed her to decide where she wanted to sit. She chose a love seat and she sat to the side, leaving plenty of room for him, so he sank to the seat beside her.
"Thanks for coming, guys." Mason rubbed his neck. Right. Now they had to talk about all the shit that had been going on. Some of his happiness ebbed as he looked at his brothers' somber faces. "I explained some of this last night, but after I left Aiden's I found out a bit more information. And then there's what happened to Anna." He frowned. He still wished he'd been here for that.
Grady leaned forward and put his forearms on his legs. He steepled his hands in front of his mouth and eyed Mason and Anna. He didn't say anything.
"You should start at the beginning," Aiden said.
Drew nodded. He was flipping his phone end over end repeatedly on his leg. It was a nervous gesture that he hadn't done in a long time. Then again, this wasn't exactly a relaxing topic they were about to dive into.
Anna tightened her hand around his as he began to fill them in on everything that had happened since the funeral.
"I still can't believe you didn't say anything to us that night," Aiden muttered.
Mason ignored the comment. When he got up to the events from the previous night, he described the orange truck he'd discovered at Harry's place. Then he looked to Anna.
"Do you want to tell them about what happened here?"
She nodded and fixed her gaze on the center of the coffee table. Her tone was even as she spoke. She was a lot calmer about it today. He wasn't sure if that was just the benefit of time and the arrival of morning, or if maybe… just maybe… he'd given her a little bit of confidence and comfort that everything was going to be okay.
"Yeah," Aiden said, "we saw the message on the door to the apartment. We thought that might be connected."
"Shit," Mason said, "I forgot to tell you about the other one. The bastard had carved something similar on the door to the inn the day after the funeral."
Grady got up and walked to the door. The others followed. He turned the lock and opened the door. Then he and his brothers studied the carved words. They were still crisp and clear: You are mine.
Anna inhaled sharply beside him. He squeezed her hand and glanced at her. Her face was flushed.
"What's the matter?"
"I meant to look at that e-mail."
Drew's head snapped up. "What e-mail?"
Everyone turned to look at her. She waved to the carving. "When we first saw that, I thought I'd remembered something similar in a subject line of some spam that same morning. And then I forgot all about it. I meant to go and check again. It could just be spam, but…"
Mason nodded. "Good. I hope that bastard left us a digital trail."
Anna fidgeted with the hem of her T-shirt. "I'm sorry I didn't remember it earlier. I should have."
"You remembered just in time," Mason said. "Drew will make more sense out of something like that than I ever would." Then he looked at his brothers. "All right. Let's come up with a plan of attack."
They returned to the seating area in silence and sat down.
Mason leaned back and turned his attention to Grady. "So you brought the surveillance equipment?"
His brother nodded.
"Good. If anyone gets wind of what we're doing, it will be all over town in an hour. We don't want Hookah warned. So if you don't have to buy anything, that's good."
"Yeah," Grady said with a nod. "I'll walk the perimeter and figure out the best places to set the cameras. It'll take a bit to get them all hooked up and recording remotely, but I hope to have it done before nightfall. It isn't like we're running permanent wires right now."
No. Although that was certainly a consideration for the future. He hated that Anna wanted to stay out here on her own.
"Hookah?" Anna asked.
"We used to call him Hookah Harriet." Grady shrugged.
Mason turned to Drew. "You're taking care of the e-mail, right?"
Drew gave a short nod.
"Hopefully there is something there."
Drew's eyes twinkled. There was nothing that he liked quite as much as playing on computers and digging into shit like that. "If it's there, I can use it."
"And I'll ask around," Aiden said. "Chris might have heard something about Harry too. It's surprising how much people really do tell bartenders."
Mason nodded. He'd thought about asking Chris about Harry last night when he'd stopped by Hearts for his condom run, but the place had been packed with too many curious locals. "Good. That just leaves Anna and me. We'll go to the police this morning and make a report. I want this down on paper."
Grady leaned forward and eyed them.
"What?"
"Well, I was just thinking… It'd be good to see if we can get a reaction."
"I agree," Drew said. "After I look at that e-mail I will help with the cameras, but those are only going to work if we actually get some action on them."
The bottom of Mason's gut twisted. He knew where this was going. He sliced his hand through the air. "No way."
"It would be simple enough to provoke him." Anna set her hand on his leg. The light warm weight of her touch was sweet torture.
"I said no. I'm not going to put you in harm's way." He clenched his hand. His brothers were ready to haul him out and beat him senseless for taking Anna to bed and here they were suggesting that she go parading around town to attract a psycho's wrath. That was some kind of fucked up.
Her fingers squeezed his leg. "I'm already in the middle of this. If what you say is true…"
"It's not what I say… it's what I suspect. It's what the evidence is pointing to. He didn't come here the other night because of Viv."
At the mention of their sister's name, the men growled. Every single one of them wanted to get this guy. Grady cracked his knuckles.
"You should go away," Mason said. He turned to her and stared into her eyes, willing her to understand the risk she was facing. "Go to the city. Or maybe Halifax. You
've always wanted to go there. I'll buy you the ticket."
She smiled softly. "I'm not leaving town and I'm certainly not going across the country. We're in this together." She looked around the group. "All of us."
"It'll work best if she's around," Grady said.
Mason scowled at him. Didn't he get it? His chest hurt just thinking about all the ways this could go wrong.
"I'll be okay," Anna said as she patted his leg. "We've got this. And we have to do this. For Viv."
The logical part of his head understood that they were right. If Harry wanted Anna, the best way to provoke him was to flaunt their relationship.
But… fuck…
If they were going to do this, he was going to have to stay close to her. Really, really close. Not that that would be a problem. Even now they couldn't seem to keep their hands off one another.
But if anything happened to her, only divine intervention would be able to save the bastard…
FIFTEEN
Anna and Mason emerged from the police station and looked at one another. It hadn't gone quite as well as she'd hoped. Even now, Mason looked like he was about to flip out.
He never flipped out.
That was what made him such a great businessman. He was calm. Cool. Knew how to make decisions in stressful situations.
Today all of that seemed to have evaporated.
But the sergeant had been very clear. What they had found so far was circumstantial. No one could say who had done what… or even if Viv's death had been anything other than an accident.
At least they hadn't been interviewed by one of the constables who'd dismissed the evidence of the orange paint at Harry's suggestion. And it looked like those two were going to get in deep shit for doing that. Not that the sergeant had said anything specific on that point, but you could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't impressed by his rookies.
"I didn't think there would be much they could do," she said.
She turned her face to the bright sun and beautiful blue sky and inhaled deeply. After the rain and miserable weather, a bit of sunshine was a welcome change. It was just too bad they didn't have good news to go with it.
"I know," Mason said as he clenched and unclenched his fist. "I just hoped it'd be different. And I don't have to like the way they dismissed us and sent us on our way."
"It wasn't quite like that." She felt the need to defend them. She understood how far-fetched their story sounded. It made sense that they had been cautious. "The minute that he does anything—anything that we can provide evidence for—we'll get him. Then the police can do their thing."
"I don't like you being in danger."
His eyes locked on hers as he said those last words. A fluttering sensation tickled through her. If she didn't watch out, she'd be in deep trouble when he left. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed.
"I think it's time to get those rumors started," she said.
She faced the street and straightened her shoulders like an actress facing her audience. Because that's what this felt like. Playacting.
She never would have announced a relationship with anyone, let alone Mason, this early. Hell, she didn't even know if they had a relationship, not in the typical definition. They'd slept together once—one glorious, absolutely magnificent night, but it was still only once.
And yet here she was about to strut through all of Sanctuary Lake pretending that they were madly in love. What a farce. Okay, so she wouldn't be lying about her feelings, but Mason…? God. This was the kind of thing that men ran from. Particularly men like Mason Randall.
And particularly from women like her.
And then, when he left at the end of all this, all the townsfolk would be shaking their heads at her. Pity. That's what she was going to get. Pity for being so stupid that she thought she could catch a Randall. Poor little fat girl.
On the tip of her tongue was the question that had plagued her since they'd woken up that morning: How long did he plan on staying?
But she didn't want to know the answer. She didn't want to know about all the things that were waiting for him back in his real life. It wasn't like Calgary was on the other side of the world, but the bustling oil city was far enough. Not when all she wanted to do was stay in Sanctuary Lake and run the inn.
He narrowed his eyes and studied her… as if he could sense the turmoil roiling through her. But she wasn't about to confide those kinds of thoughts. She'd exposed herself enough last night. Why, oh why, had she admitted that she'd fantasized about him in that room? Now he knew she'd been pining over him for years… freaking decades if the truth were known.
"Let's go over to Betty's for coffee," he said.
She nodded and they walked down the street hand in hand toward the diner, which was as good a place as any to start the rumors. Until Hearts opened later that afternoon, Betty's Diner was the place the locals went.
Everyone would notice her arriving with Mason. Especially if they were holding hands.
As soon as they opened the door and the little bell tinkled to announce their arrival, every head in the room turned to look at them. More than one jaw dropped. He tucked his hand around her waist and pulled her tight to his side.
They walked toward one of the booths along the side wall of the restaurant.
A hoarse shout of outrage broke over the silence. Anna jumped. Then the sound of metal chair legs scraping across the linoleum floor came next.
Harry shot up from a table and rushed toward them.
Oh, God. She hadn't thought this would happen. Not this fast. Mason tightened his grip on her waist. He wouldn't let any harm come to her. She knew that without a doubt.
Deep down, she hadn't really believed Harry would care about her and Mason one way or the other. At least she'd hoped that. She had wished it could be someone else that was responsible for all this.
It looked like she was wrong.
He kept coming, like a rhinoceros charging an unwelcome arrival to his territory. When he didn't slow down, Mason swung her around so that he was between her and Harry. But instead of stopping, Harry stormed right by them. The bell clanked harshly as he thrust the door out of his way.
Anna let out a shaky breath. Mason turned to her and put his hand along her cheek. His touch was calming, way more than it should have been.
"Let's get that coffee," he said.
She nodded, not quite sure if she could manage words yet.
Everyone continued to eye them curiously, even old Alvin, the town drunk. Yep, if she'd expected to be the center of gossip when they'd first arrived at Betty's, her expectations had been fulfilled.
SIXTEEN
Mason clenched his hands. He had wanted to hit Hookah so hard when he'd come charging at them, but then he hadn't stopped. A damned missed opportunity, that. If he'd paused in his race for the exit, even if only for a few words, it would have been showtime.
Instead, they progressed calmly to the booth, while adrenaline rocketed through his veins. He sat with his back to the wall, facing the door. If Harry came back, he'd see him. He tightened his fist. He really hoped he'd come back. Mason wanted to get this done.
As soon as they were seated, Betty came over and beamed at them. Her toothy grin hadn't changed since they were teenagers.
"I always did wonder how long it'd take the two of you to get hooked up."
And so it began. This was the plan, right? Gossip? Provocation? Then why did he want to tell Betty to mind her own business? God, he hated small town rumor mills.
"Anna, do you want to see a menu?"
"No," she said to him with a strained voice. "I'll just have a hot chocolate."
"And a coffee for me," he said.
Betty clicked the end of her pen a couple of times and waited, as if expecting them to say something more interesting. Then she walked away and left them in silence. Most of the patrons had turned their attention back to their own lives… mostly. There were a few that kept looking over their shoulders to steal gl
ances.
This was what they'd wanted. This was the plan. He just had to remember that.
Anna fidgeted with the assortment of sugar packets that sat in a bowl in the center of the table. She rearranged them, grouping them by color. Her fingers were shaking.
"He's gone," Mason said quietly.
She looked at him and licked her lips nervously. "I know."
It was obvious that she was trying to be strong, to pretend that everything was normal. It was a lie, of course. Nothing about this situation was normal.
His cell rang and he ignored it.
"It's okay. Answer it," Anna said. She stared at him, wordlessly encouraging him to do as she said.
His PA's name flashed over the screen. He cursed and dismissed the call before setting the phone on the table. It started ringing immediately. He didn't have to look to know it was Jay again.
She waved her hand in the air, urging him to answer the call. He relented, partly because he knew Jay wouldn't. He'd just keep calling and texting… Hell, he might even start dialing every number in Sanctuary Lake. Jay's tenacity was what he liked about the guy, except when it was directed at him.
"What?"
Jay started rambling. You'd think that after all these years of working together he would know Mason preferred his conversations concise.
"Skip the preamble," Mason said, talking over Jay. "Just ask what you need to ask."
There was a slight pause. He could easily envision his PA's frown.
"I've talked to three realtors in the area. They've each given the quotes you asked for, but they are all over the map. I think we should send someone in… someone we trust."
"All I want is fair market value. There aren't a lot of properties as big… or as run down as Sanctuary Inn, so I can see the problem."
Anna's eyes widened as he spoke. And they just kept getting wider. Then she frowned. Well, not so much a frown as an open look of disgust. What was that all about?
"So does that mean you want me to send someone up? Maybe Chad?"
"Just wait," he said to Jay, then he pulled his phone away and muted the call. He eyed Anna. "What's going on?"