The rest of the night, she tried to enjoy her suite and the super comfortable bed she was sleeping in. When she woke in the morning, she resolved to put her attraction to Corey behind her. Maybe it was for the best. Right?
She’d spent the entire night tossing and turning, worried about all the things that were happening in her life. Her book. The stalker. And now her fated mate didn’t want anything to do with her. She just couldn’t relax.
When she pulled herself out of bed late in the morning, she was already dreading the day. She told herself she’d spend the first day of her vacation trying to catch up on work.
She passed her laptop on the way to the bathroom for a shower, knowing that a confusing mess was waiting for her. She groaned and patted the curly mat of hair that had formed on the back of her head.
She took a long shower, soaking under the rainwater showerhead. She stepped out of the shower and drank in the luxury that the lodge had to offer. The granite counters and tile floors added to the ambiance. She pulled on the fluffy bathrobe and wrapped a towel around her damp hair. After combing out the curls, she put on some basic makeup and got dressed.
She’d ordered room service for nine-thirty sharp and was ready for her day by the time it arrived. The server carted the tray into the room and set it up on the dining table.
Willow sat in front of her meal, drank her coffee, and nibbled on her toast. She already had her laptop open to the last place in her manuscript where the hero walked away from the heroine.
“Whatever, bro,” Willow typed. “You do you.”
She groaned and deleted the entire passage, reading over the last lines of dialogue.
“I’m not ready for this, Cleo. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”
Willow stared at the dialogue.
“What the fudge is wrong with you, Felix? Why don’t you grow a pair?” Willow said to her hero.
But Willow knew her hero wouldn’t grow up until he was forced to do it by the heroine, and she wasn’t cooperating either. She loved her characters, and she knew they belonged together. They just wouldn’t cooperate, no matter what she did.
Willow tore apart her toast and shoved it in her mouth. She was beginning to wonder why anyone had ever read any of her books in the first place. She had to finish this manuscript. Her publishers were demanding it. She had to make it work. Too bad her brain was not on board.
She spent the rest of the day scrolling back through the previous chapters, editing typos and changing around sentence clauses. When she got up from her chair, she wasn’t any further along in her story.
She heard the sound of music coming from outside her dark window. She walked out onto the deck and looked out at a bonfire glowing on the large bricked patio below. People were dancing and laughing to the music.
The scent of barbeque wafted up to her. Willow looked down at her sweat suit. She’d have to change if she was going to go to that party. There were a lot of fun, sexy people down there.
Willow went to her closet and looked inside. She’d brought mostly practical clothes for her working holiday, but she’d also brought a second dress. Just in case she and Corey had a second date.
Ha! That’s funny.
They hadn’t even had a first date. She slipped into her summery printed dress. It scooped at the neck and hugged her curves. She applied lip gloss, fixed her hair, and slipped into a pair of sling back sandals.
While she was putting on her earrings, she looked at herself in the mirror, thinking that maybe she might see Corey at the party. Maybe she was getting dolled up just in case she did.
She growled inwardly. Corey didn’t deserve this sexy outfit. Maybe she’d meet someone else at the party. She’d come up here thinking she might find a love connection. Maybe she still could. Unfortunately, the only one she really wanted to connect with was Corey.
He’d already had a profound effect on her. It was something she couldn’t shake. She hesitated at the door, wondering if she should stay inside and try to avoid him altogether. Pursing her lips, she strode out the door. Willow wasn’t going to let Corey Bright ruin her vacation.
Downstairs on the patio, she instantly felt the music begin to vibrate through her body. The feeling resonated deep within her and she started to relax. The line for the barbeque was across the patio, and she went to stand at the end of it. Picking up a thick paper plate, she turned to take in the party.
In the distance, beyond the bonfire, she could see Corey’s face as he stood behind the DJ equipment. Her heart pounded. Now she wouldn’t be able to avoid him. Caught between wanting to run away and wanting to run over to him, she made her way down the line to get her barbeque ribs and glass of wine.
She noticed a lot of young singles at the party, intermixed with the families and retirees on vacation. She knew the lodge had a reputation as being friendly to all crowds. It was a nice party and she felt appropriately dressed for the summer event.
At her picnic table, she slid onto the bench and began to enjoy her meal. She was putting a potato chip in her mouth when she glanced over at Corey behind the DJ stand and saw him looking right at her.
She took a sharp breath and bit down. Looking away, she continued to chew. This whole thing was just too awkward. She was going to have to either leave Fate Mountain early, or find a way to deal with her instinctive feelings for Corey.
As strongly as she felt, Corey didn’t want her. He’d never wanted a mate at all. Who was she to get in the way of how he wanted to live his life? But now she was here, and she had to be able to get through the next week without constantly thinking about him.
She took a big bite of barbeque rib and tore it away from the bone. With sauce all over her lips, she looked up to see Corey walking over to her. She widened her eyes at him and looked down at her plate, hoping he’d just pass by.
Instead, he sat down right next to her at the picnic table. The bonfire light flickered in his eyes as she looked up at him. She gulped, swallowing her food.
“Hi,” she said, wiping barbeque sauce away from her mouth.
“You’ve still got a little sauce, there,” he said, pointing to her cheek.
She wiped at it, but Corey took his finger and ran it across her cheek. He pulled it away and put the finger in his mouth. Willow gasped, blinking. Why was he doing this to her?
“Fate Mountain secret sauce,” Corey said. “Sweet and spicy. I’d know it anywhere.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was filling in for the regular DJ for Levi. I’m the only other person who knows how to run the equipment. He finally showed up,” he said, pointing at the new guy. “I just wanted to apologize again for my crew. I haven’t been myself since you arrived. Having you here is very difficult for me. I’m barely able to resist you at any given moment. My bear, you see, it’s out of control right now.”
“I understand. I know a few things about shifter mating habits from a book I researched and wrote last year. Really fascinating stuff.”
“Then you know it is almost like torture to resist the urge to mate with you. And that is the very reason we must resist that urge. It isn’t logical or rational. It’s pure animal instinct that wants to control us both for the rest of our lives.”
“I totally get it,” Willow said, taking a drink of her rosé and staring into the red flames of the bonfire.
Part of her wanted to give in to her animal instincts and let them control her for the rest of her life. When it came to making love, she didn’t know if there could be anything better than that. She took another sip of wine and set down her glass, looking at Corey.
Willow threaded her fingers together and set her hands on the table in front of her, waiting for him to say something else. Having him close like this was too difficult to manage if he didn’t want to be with her.
“I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help you. I have computer skills that could be useful in a number of different ways. I might be able to assist you in some way
, to make up for what my crew did to you.”
“I’m not angry at your crew. You don’t have to do anything.”
“It would honestly make me feel better,” Corey said, putting his hand to his heart. “It’s the least I can do.”
Willow sighed and then squinted her eyes at him, trying to size him up. Could he really help her? He was supposedly great with computers. You could do a lot of stuff with computers nowadays. Maybe there was a way he could find her stalker’s identity so she could get a restraining order or something.
“I do have something you might be able to help with, but I don’t know if it’s what you had in mind.”
“What is it?”
She let out a long breath. “I have a stalker,” she said. “He somehow knows that I ghostwrite this famous author’s books.”
“What does this stalker do?”
Willow wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to Corey about her problem. But maybe he could help. No one else had been able to.
“He sends me serial killer letters. You know, with all the different letters cut out of magazines? They have quotes from my novels. Sexy, romantic passages. It leads me to believe he’s romantically interested in me, which is scary, as you might imagine. The cops haven’t helped, and it’s just getting worse. I can’t even work.”
“Why haven’t the cops found this stalker of yours?”
“They say they don’t have enough evidence.”
“Typical… If he sent you letters through the US Mail, I could find him in an afternoon.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
A lodge employee walked by and handed Willow a marshmallow stick and a bowl of marshmallows. She’d been wanting to roast marshmallows. It was one of those things she hadn’t done in years. The girl had handed the same set up to Corey, and he was looking down at it like he was lost.
She slid out of her bench and walked around to the bonfire where she held a marshmallow over the coals. Corey walked up beside her and held his marshmallow next to hers. The music played over the speakers and people were dancing.
A toddler was bouncing to the rhythm while his mom roasted a marshmallow nearby. A group of college age girls were dancing and drinking wine with a group of college boys. An old couple were holding hands in fold out chairs near the fire. Moms and dads were laughing with their children at the picnic tables.
Willow pulled her roasted marshmallow out of the fire and pulled it off her stick. Corey did the same and they sampled the hot treat at the same time.
“I can’t remember the last time I did this,” Corey said.
“Me either. I never do this kind of thing anymore.”
“Roast marshmallows?”
“Anything, really.”
“I have the same problem. It’s good to get out, though. Don’t you think?” Corey asked.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“You might be on to something. I hope your work turns around for you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Willow said, watching him walk away.
He set his marshmallow things down on an empty picnic table and stopped by the DJ to bump knuckles before he disappeared in the darkness.
Willow shoved another marshmallow on her stick, frowning. They hadn’t set a time to meet up. What was she supposed to do now? She didn’t even have his contact information. That hadn’t been him on Mate.com. It had been his crew.
She rolled her eyes and shoved her stick into the flames, which set her marshmallow on fire. She pulled it out and swished it around until the flames went out. The treat was now irreparably burned.
Willow threw her stick in the dirty bucket near the barbeque table and grabbed another glass of wine. She wasn’t in the mood to roast marshmallows anymore.
The college kids across the patio were having a great time. Now they were all dancing together in a way that was almost not family appropriate. It just made the rising tide of desire that Corey set off inside of Willow feel even more uncomfortable.
Someone was going to get lucky tonight. But it definitely wasn’t going to be her. She sipped her wine and turned on her heel to go back to her room.
When Willow woke up the next day, she had a slight hangover and a real need for a cup of coffee. She trudged to the mini kitchen in her suite and made herself a pot before going to get ready in the bathroom.
Even though she hadn’t gotten any real work done yesterday, she was going to spend the whole day today on the beach near the lake. Screw it. She was on vacation. She’d take the new book she’d been dying to read and just relax.
She put on a flowing multicolored maxi dress over her sexy black swimsuit with the cut-outs in the sides.
Willow pulled her thick curly hair into a sloppy bun and slipped on a headband. She applied fresh summer make-up and appraised herself in the mirror before she left her hotel room. She felt good and looked good. By all estimations, she was ready for her day.
She left her laptop in her hotel room, intending to go an entire day without thinking about work. After a delicious breakfast on the patio, she went out looking for the lake shore.
She’d brought her Kindle and a big floppy hat. Finally, she would unwind a little. She found some folding deck chairs out on a sandy little beach not far from a boat dock, took a seat in the summer morning sunlight, and opened her book. The warm sun shone down on her legs as she pulled her dress back over her knees to drink it in.
Willow took a deep breath, inhaling in the fresh air. Out on the lake, she could see a sailboat gliding by on the glassy water. There was a little island off in the distance that was covered in evergreens.
She smiled and flicked her thumb across the screen of her Kindle. The book was by one of her favorite authors. She’d been waiting for this book to come out for months.
Taking in the first page, her eyes speeding over the opening lines, she didn’t notice the shadow that cast over her shoulder. She flicked her thumb over the screen and continued reading.
“Is it a good book?” Corey said behind her.
She snapped her head around, knocking her hat off as she looked up at him. She balked at the sight of him and spun out of the chair, dropping her Kindle in the sand.
“Crap,” she gasped, dropping down to pick it up.
Corey dropped at exactly the same time. They both grabbed for the device and knocked their heads together.
“Ouch,” Willow said, rubbing her head as she pulled away her sandy Kindle.
“Sorry.”
Willow brushed off her e-reader with her dress, looking down at the sand. She wasn’t ready to see Corey today. She hadn’t convinced herself she wasn’t interested in him yet.
“What’s up?” Willow said, wanting to hide.
They hadn’t set a time to get together to look into her stalker situation. The way they’d left things last night, she hadn’t been sure if it would even happen.
“I live right over there,” Corey said, pointing to a cabin across the lake trail, behind a grove of ponderosa pine trees. “I saw you and figured I’d come say hi.”
“Hi,” she said hesitantly.
Willow bit her lip, not sure what else to say. She looked around, remembering why she’d come out here.
“I’ll just get back to my book.”
“I was wondering if you wanted to come look into that stalker situation now.”
“I was going to read and then go swimming.” At this point, she was more interested in relaxing than thinking about her stalker. Or thinking about the way Corey’s dark eyes drank her in from behind his glasses.
“I know the best swimming hole on the lake. I could take you there after we start the search.”
“I guess that would work.”
Willow wasn’t sure spending time together was a good idea. But she couldn’t resist the idea of going swimming with Corey.
“The system will take time to parse the data, so we can start now and come back later. I can get some food brought over from the
kitchen for out on the lake. You might get hungry.”
“Um, okay.”
This was sounding more and more like a date. She had no idea what to think as she followed him up to his cabin. When they went inside, she saw that his front room was completely dominated by computer monitors.
A desk with two massive screens took up an entire corner of the living room/dining room area. There was a small sitting area on the other side, but no kitchen table.
Still, it looked comfortable enough. The view out the window of his cabin looked right out onto the sun-drenched lake shore and the swaying branches of trees.
Corey pulled a folding chair over beside the computer and offered for her to sit down. He slid into his office chair, and she sat beside him.
“Okay, let’s start at the beginning. You said he’s been sending you letters? Is there anything else you could tell me? Do you have them?”
“I’ve given them to the police. They’re in evidence.”
“Great,” he said, beginning to type on his keyboard.
“How is that great?”
“That means there’s a good chance there is a digital copy I can find and analyze.”
“How are you going to find police files?” she asked, shocked.
He looked at her with a humored expression.
“Watch,” he said.
The images on the screens began to move so fast, she didn’t know what the heck was happening. But it only took a few minutes before Corey was opening digital images of her stalker’s letters.
“You did not just hack into the Seattle PD’s database,” she said, twisting around to look him in the eyes.
“That’s exactly what I did. What? Don’t look so shocked.”
“I’m speechless. This is all kinds of illegal,” she said, sitting back and crossing her arms.
“I only hack for good.”
He said it so frankly that she had to shake her head.
“So, you’re like the Robin Hood of computer hackers?” she asked.
“Something like that,” he said.
He turned to her and smiled then went back to whatever it was he was doing on the computer.
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