“Oh, no, no, of course not.” He broke out in another over-exaggerated smile, all white teeth and lying tongue. “She’s just a bit out of sorts there’s no motel here.”
Zack turned and gaped at his host. “No motel? But there’s a B&B, right?”
The guy cackled. “Nope, nope, ‘fraid not. Things are a bit skimpy round these parts. But, you’ll be glad to know there’s a lake just out of town, some Indian name. Campground’s right on it.”
“Campground?” At his rising voice and alarmed tone, Crandall’s head shot up. Zack grabbed Brooks around the shoulders and jerked him away from her view. “You mean to say,” he said, trying with great difficulty to keep his voice low and calm, “that we have to camp out?”
Brooks nodded. “Yep, yep. That’s pretty much the situation.”
“But they do have campers, you know, small vehicles we can rent?”
“Nope, nope, ‘fraid not.”
“I haven’t camped out since I was ten.”
Brooks cleared his throat. “Yep, pretty much what Crandall said, but…”
“I was eight,” Crandall said.
He jumped as he heard her voice right behind him. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were there.”
Brooks wrenched himself from Zack’s iron grip and slapped Zack on the back. “Look, you don’t have to stay in tents. You two can stay in the party house up there. We rented it for you when I found out about the motel.”
“We don’t care to share a room again,” Zack said.
“Come on fella, it didn’t look like you made out all that bad in Tinytown.” Brooks gave him an irritating wink.
He stared back at Brooks. “How about if we don’t stay unless you make other arrangements?”
Brooks grinned again. Zack wanted to take his fist and shove all the man’s teeth back in his mouth. However, considering he was after a contract, that might be a bad business move.
“Well, the little missy here has already agreed to suffer through, Zack. Guess you want to forfeit.”
Twirling around, Zack stared at her. “Are you insane? This is torture.”
She shrugged. “Mr. Brooks assured me there were two rooms in the party house.” Her eyes narrowed, signifying her challenge. “I want that contract. How bad do you want it?”
In his mind, he carried on a tirade in which he called Brooks every name in the book. Only in his mind. Overreacting never got you game advantage. Zack’s fists balled at his sides, he clenched his jaw and looked up, straight into Brook’ eyes. “Are there air mattresses?”
“Hmm, don’t know,” Brooks said, tapping his chin. “I only asked about sleeping bags.”
“What’s the matter?” Crandall asked, her arms crossed. “Can’t rough it?”
He crossed his arms to match hers. “When the going gets tough, they call on Zack for lessons.”
****
“It isn’t the Ritz is it?”
He glared over at Crandall. “It’s not even the Bates Motel.”
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. “You can always back out now.”
“Not on your life.” He mumbled curse words under his breath. Damn the woman. Scrumbles or no Scrumbles, he doubted seriously he would have gone this far if it hadn’t been for the fact he couldn’t stay away from her. She was like a positive charge to his negative one.
“Let’s see what it looks like inside.” Unlocking the door with the key the campground had provided, Crandall walked in.
Zack followed, and then stepped back. “Something has rotted in here. Shit, it smells like a dead body.”
“Food rotting in the refrigerator?” she suggested.
“Where is it? We’ll look.” He turned on a light and stared in shock around the room.
Only a large table, six dining chairs and a small sofa were in the room. No rugs, just bare linoleum floor. In the corner stood three large garbage cans.
“How much do you want to bet there’s old garbage in those cans?” he asked.
She nodded. “Good bet.” She strode over toward them, and then stopped as she peered into one. “Good Lord. Fish parts.” She waved her hand in front of her nose.
“Great, just great,” Zack said. “They’ve probably been here since last weekend. No wonder they stink.” He walked over and, finding the lid behind the can, pushed in down on top. As he did, a mouse ran out from behind it.
As a high-pitched screech stabbed his inner ear, Zack slapped his hands over his ears. “Crandall, please don’t do that again. That scream could break a mirror.” Still struggling to gain his composure, Zack grabbed a broom against the wall, and knocking the mouse, now in full scurry, toward the back door, he quickly opened it and made a goal, using the critter as a puck.
“And he scores, right between the goalie’s legs.” He closed the door and twirled, facing Crandall’s legs at eye level. “Unless you think we’re about to the invaded by a battalion of monster mice, I think you can get down now.”
She jumped down off the chair, her chest flushed. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I’m so scared of them. Daddy said Mama was too. Maybe I learned it from her, though I don’t know how I could have at such an early age.”
He saw her eyes redden. “You didn’t know your mother?”
Her lips drew into a thin line. “Mama died a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry, Crandall. I shouldn’t have asked.”
She nodded. “It’s okay.” She stared out the window. “I think I’ll go for a walk.”
“I’ll join you, after I get these cans out back and open some windows.”
She nodded. “Fair enough, but whatever you do, don’t bring up the challenge. I need to unwind.”
“I can do that.” He gazed over at her and once again reveled in how beautiful Crandall Drake really was. The woman, even in a rollback sleeve shirt and jeans, looked like she could be the star model on a runway. He decided it was her long black hair and those to-die-for blue eyes. Of course, the chassis wasn’t bad either. He hurried so he could join her.
A few minutes later, catching up, he began to walk next to her along the shore of the lake. He glanced down at her. “No other mice to report. He must have been a scout.”
She smiled faintly. “Here’s hoping.”
The silence was deafening and thoughts raced through his head. Finally he decided he had to know. “Is it okay if I ask you a question?”
Her hands in her pocket, she didn’t even look up. “What?”
“Why did you tell Brooks you’d stay?”
She let out her breath in one long swoosh. “Zack, I told you not to bring up the challenge.”
“Okay.” He grinned. “Then answer this one. During the last challenge, why did you agree to fool around to the point where the sun didn’t shine? Especially after I lost your trust the first time we met?”
She stared off in the distance. “I told Brooks I’d stay because I really need to win this. Everything rests on my win.”
He laughed. “Didn’t want to answer the second one, huh?”
She stared up into his eyes, a glimmer of passion sparking just out of reach. “Okay, why did you go along with staying?”
Suddenly, he felt the overwhelming need to come clean, as if her eyes had z-ray vision that could see his truth. “Because I need to keep my mind off how fucked up my life really is.”
At her look of surprise, he glanced away, thinking of the daughter he’d just found and all but abandoned once again and was seized with the paralyzing fear he might cry. Swallowing it down like a lump of unwanted food, he looked down at the ground. “I don’t know why I said that.”
She grabbed his arm and laced hers through it. “It’s okay. You’re the first man who has ever been that honest with me. Let’s just enjoy the sunset.”
****
“It smells better in here now.”
Zack nodded as he closed the last window. “It does, but it’s chilly since the sun’s gone down. Where’s the thermostat?”
Crandall walked around the parameter of the room. “I don’t see one.”
He chuckled. “Come on, how hard can it be to spot?” His shoulders squared, and he walked around the same route she’d taken.
Crandall stood back and smirked. Cocky SOB. He was doing that guy power walk, the one men did when they thought the woman with them had to have blonde roots no matter the color of her hair.
“You’re right. There isn’t one. Maybe it’s in the other room.” Zack walked over to the other door and opened it. Turning on the light, he peered in. “Shit. This is a kitchen, not another real room.”
Crandall raced over and peeked around him. “Damn that Gerald Brooks. He lied to us.”
“No, I’d say he misled us,” Zack said. “There are two rooms, but nobody can sleep in this one unless she wants to sleep on the stovetop.”
“She, huh?”
He turned and grinned at her. “I’m the one who slept on the floor last time. Remember?”
She momentarily closed her eyes, only remembering the feel of his hands on her body and her hand around his… “Let me into the room.” She pushed past him.
“Considering it, are you?”
“Of course not, asshole. I’m simply looking for a thermostat. Men can get diverted so easily.” She turned back to him. “Guess what? No heat.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope.” She turned off the light and closed the door. “What now?”
He shrugged. “There’s a fireplace. Guess we build a fire.”
“With what?”
“There has to be some firewood somewhere. Let’s look out back.”
“Where the mouse is?”
He grinned. “Do you think it’s waiting for revenge?” He walked to the back door, opened it and turned on the outside light. Minutes later, he walked back in, his arms full of small logs. “See? Firewood. Now we’ll just have to get it blazing. How about going back in the kitchen and see what we have available for grub while I set the fire? Brooks said he put some stuff in there for us.”
“Considering Brooks’ current honesty meter, that could mean anything, but I have a better idea,” she told him. “I’ll set the fire and you go check on the grub.” She crossed her arms.
He faced her, is arms also crossed. “Trying to wear the pants?”
“Just trying to avoid being typecast.”
Grinning, he walked to the kitchen. “Fair enough.”
Two hours later they sat on their sleeping bags in front of the fire. “I have to hand it to Brooks,” Crandall said. “He did one thing right. Take out chicken is hard to screw up. And I don’t care if it’s organic or not right now.”
Zack nodded. “At least I’m full. Look, there’s no TV or video player, not even a radio. I have a suggestion about how to pass the time until we turn in.”
A sense of unease crept down Crandall’s spine. “Like what?”
He held up his hands. “Don’t worry about getting your notary stamp out of your purse. I wasn’t talking about that.”
“Good. I still don’t trust you. What were you suggesting?”
He laughed. “A simple game of truth or dare.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Haven’t you ever played it?”
What exactly was he up to? Crandall’s eyes narrowed as she stared at him. Why did the man have to be so damned good looking, and surprisingly unassuming? Few CEOs she’d ever encountered were this affable. She found it way too easy to give in to his suggestions when they were alone. She’s already shown on more than one occasion he was like a huge slice of fudge pie, her favorite. Still, disaster was written in indelible ink over anything she did agree to. She just knew it. And she reminded herself she couldn’t forget the future of Pretzelicious.
“No, I haven’t played it. I assume there are rules?”
He nodded. “Basically, one of us asks if the other wants truth or dare. If the person chooses truth, he or she has to answer a question the other asks in a truthful manner, one hundred percent truth. Then the one who answered the question asks the other one a question. If the first person asks truth or dare and the person chooses dare, he or she has to do whatever that person dares them to do and vice versa.”
“No, no,” she said, waving her hands. “With the two of us, that could get way out of hand too fast. I’m not doing any dares.”
He leaned down on one arm. “Well, we could just play Truth. Each person gets three questions. That wouldn’t be too painful would it? To tell the truth three times?”
Crandall’s mind raced as she tried to think of something she didn’t want to tell him. She decided that she could answer just about anything without really going into gruesome detail and be fairly unscathed. “Okay, you’re on. Who goes first?”
He pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “You want to call heads or tails, or do you prefer to flip it?” He winked.
Her breath caught in her throat. God, he was so adorable. She mentally slapped herself back into a response. “You can flip it as long as I inspect the coin and make sure it doesn’t have two heads.”
“Cynical.”
She cocked her head to one side. “Businesswoman.”
He handed her the coin.
“Okay.” She threw it back to him. “Looks fine, go ahead.” As it flipped it the air, she called, “Tails.” It fell between them. Heads. Rats. She stared down at her hands. “Guess you get to go first.”
Grinning ear-to-ear, Zack eased back down on one arm. “Okay. That guy that was at the door of the motel, what is he to you? I mean, not who he says he is, but who he really is to you.”
Her face burned. “Boy, you go for the gusto right away.”
“You might chicken out later. Better ask what I really want to know up front.”
She took a deep breath. “He’s an irritating little shit who wants to take over my company and nothing else. That’s it in a nutshell.”
His eyes widened. “No kidding?”
She nodded. This was probably going to give him all sorts of ammunition against her, so she better choose her answers and own questions well.
“But how can he do that?” Zack asked.
“Not fair.” She grinned. “I answered the question. My turn.” At his nod, she searched her mind for the most deeply probing question she could think of. “Okay, why is your life interfering with your job?”
He sat up, his face reddening. “Who said it was?”
She shrugged. “I’m psychic. You said your life was fucked up. I’m assuming something about it is affecting your business.”
“Besides you?” As she glared at him, he nodded. “Okay.” He suddenly perked up, a sneaky smile sliding over his lips. “Because I’m a workaholic.”
“But…”
“Awnt, ah, ah.” He waved his forefinger at her. “One question only. My turn.”
“I think I hate this game.” Crandall played with the zipper on her sleeping bag.
“I don’t want to bring you down to weeping stage,” he told her, “but I want to know more about grease ball.”
She chuckled. “You nailed it. That’s exactly what he is. Go ahead.”
“He says you used to have a thing. Is that true?”
“No way in hell.” Crandall shook her head. “It’s all in his warped little mind.”
Zack broke out in a wide grin. “Okay. Two down. One more to go for me.”
She tapped her chin with her forefinger as she shifted her weight onto the back of the sleeping bag. “What in your life is interfering with your business, money issues, family issues or something to do with one individual?” She watched as he took a very deep breath and exhaled.
“I guess I have to say one individual.”
She froze. That wasn’t what she’d expected. “I see.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Okay, last one with gusto. Does grease ball have something on you that makes him dangerous?”
Her heart beat in staccato. She tried to ease the ebb an
d flow of her breathing. “What do you mean, something on me?”
His eyes narrowed, almost sniffing like a dog closing in on a hidden treat. “Is he bribing you?”
She nodded. “In a way, I guess he is.”
His smile faded.
“Time for my last question.” Crandall stared into his eyes. “Is this individual someone you’d risk everything for?”
He nodded and refused to meet her eyes. “Yes, I suppose I would.” He clapped his hands together. “Well, I guess we both know more, but there are a lot more mysteries to uncover.”
She nodded. She couldn’t have said it better herself, and her heart felt like it had fallen into a pit of acid.
Chapter Ten
“Well, you two just look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Brooks stood next to the platform they’d erected for the contest. “This town’s buzzing faster than a bunch of bees gathering honey. They can’t wait to check you two out and taste your sweets.” He grabbed both of them by the backs of their shoulders. “Talking about sweets, was it nice and cozy in the party house?”
Crandall glared at him. How dare the man assume they’d gotten it on? But then, the thought had crossed her mind about twenty times last night. Still, how could he act so cavalier after a night in a touring bus? He knew what they’d walked into. He also knew that despite the fact the temperature had dipped below thirty, they’d still weathered the night.
“What do you think we were going to find the most warm and fuzzy?” Zack asked, jerking out of his grip. “The garbage cans of rotting fish, the mouse or the lack of heat? Oh, wait, I forgot to mention it lacking two unoccupied rooms, as in no appliances or sinks.”
“Well, you’re young kids,” he said bending down close to them and lowering his voice. “Without heat, you do have to stay near each other. Body heat, you know?”
“You…”
“Yes, Crandall?” He raised an eyebrow. “Are you throwing in the towel?”
“Not in this lifetime,” she growled, placing her hands on her hips.
“My, my,” he said, making a tsking noise with his tongue. “Guess you two did get a little cold last night. At least one of you woke up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag.”
Zack grabbed hold of his jacket. “There better be two air mattresses in that house and a portable heater before dusk, or you’re out two contestants.”
Unforgettable Heroes Boxed Set Page 23