by Debbie Mason
“Hey, no way. You can’t pin the break-ins on me.” He jerked the chair into an upright position and vaulted to his feet. “I was with Nat all night. Ask her.”
“Is that true?” he asked his sister-in-law as she returned to the living room. Vivi didn’t take her eyes off Callahan. No doubt trying to get a read on him.
Looking from Chance to her boyfriend, Nat nodded.
“Come on, Nat. We don’t need this bullshit,” the kid said.
“What time did you guys get here?” Vivi asked in a nonconfrontational tone.
Nat opened her mouth, closing it when Callahan said, “ ’Bout two hours ago.”
Vivi’s eyes were on the TV. She winced when Willis took a hit, then returned her attention to Callahan. “Sorry, can’t get enough of that guy. I can understand how time got away from you. You probably got into the movie, right?”
Callahan relaxed. Stupid kid, he didn’t know that in some ways Vivi was more dangerous than Chance. “Yeah,” Callahan said with an easy nod.
She gave the kid a flat smile. “Zach, you’re only twenty minutes into the movie. Why did you lie?”
At the flash of temper in Callahan’s eyes, Chance moved toward him. “Don’t even think about it.”
The kid backed into the chair. “This is bullshit, man. You’ve always had it in for my family. You’re… Screw it. I was protecting Nat. I knew after what I said to Vivi earlier, she’d try to pin the break-in on her. But it wasn’t either of us.”
Nat paled, turning panicked eyes on Chance. “I didn’t do anything. I wouldn’t do something like that, Chance. You know me. I was at home with Mom. You can call her. She’ll tell you.”
“You just lied to me, Nat. Not sure how well I know you anymore.”
Her face crumpled. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and rocked, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t want—”
Callahan interrupted her. “You don’t need to worry about me hurting her, McBride. You’re real good at doing that all by yourself.” The kid moved to Nat’s side, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“You know, Zach, for a smart kid, you can be pretty stupid.” Vivi got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, opening the cabinet under the sink. She came back with a paper towel and handed it to Nat. “Natalee knows Chance loves her, so stop trying to drive a wedge between them. Because when push comes to shove, she’ll pick him over you. Family always wins. So maybe you should stop trying to push his buttons. All he asked for was the truth, from both of you.”
“He pushes mine every time he sees me. He doesn’t want Nat with me. And he makes me nervous. Anything goes wrong, I know he’s going to come looking for me. That’s why we lied. Why Nat lied. She’s trying to protect me, too. Right, Nat?”
Vivi’s “family always wins” comment bothered Chance. He wondered if she was thinking of him or her deadbeat mother. He didn’t like to think he’d made her feel that she didn’t matter enough, that she wasn’t good enough. But he couldn’t deal with that right now. He’d been watching Nat the entire time Vivi talked and had seen the fear in her eyes. It’s possible he’d put the emotion there, made them nervous enough to lie, but his gut said there was more going on. And it wasn’t something good. He needed to get Nat on her own. And he had to talk to his mother-in-law. He’d been putting it off.
Nat swiped at her eyes and nodded.
Chance walked to Vivi’s side, briefly skimmed his fingers over hers to convey how much he appreciated what she’d done. And he supposed to let Nat know that he did. “For now, I’ll buy your scared excuse. But this is the last time. Either of you lies again, and you’ll be talking to me at the station. Now get out of here.”
“It wasn’t an excuse. We…” Vivi crossed her arms. Callahan shot her a nervous glance. “Um, yeah, thanks for believing us, man…” Vivi sighed. “Mr. McBride, sir. We’ll be going now.” He took Nat by the hand.
Nat glanced at Callahan from under her lashes, then looked up at Chance. “I’m really sorry. I… I keep disappointing you.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
He brought his hand to her face, wiping the moisture away with his thumb. “No more lies, kiddo.” He kissed the top of her head. “Go straight home. It’s late.” He walked them to the door, watching until the lights from the four-by-four faded from view.
“You’re worried about her,” Vivi said, coming to stand beside him.
“Yeah, I am. You think I’m overreacting?” He moved her hair over her shoulder, looking down at her gorgeous face illuminated by the moonlight.
“No, I don’t think you are.” She didn’t look at him, staring straight ahead with her brow furrowed. He didn’t know if she was thinking about her response, avoiding his gaze, or searching for an animal. He smiled—probably the latter. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from the wild beasts.”
“I wasn’t… Wait a minute, did you see something out there, too?”
He was about to brush her off, but instead went and got his flashlight from the hall closet. After the break-ins and with the Drugstore Bandits on the loose, better to err on the side of caution. “No, but doesn’t hurt to check it out. I’ll get your suitcase while I’m out there.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going out in the woods in the middle of the night… by yourself?”
“You wanna come with me?”
“Are you out of your ever-loving mind? Take Princess.”
He laughed, drawing his gun from the back of his jeans. “Your concern for my safety is overwhelming, honey. I won’t be long.”
* * *
Vivi had called out to Chance every five minutes. The last time she’d yelled through the half-open door, she’d heard the exasperation in his voice when he said he was fine and decided to track the glow of his flashlight from the guest bedroom instead. She yawned, caught her head bobbing, and opened the window. Since she couldn’t see him, she stretched out on the bed and listened to him moving around out there.
She woke up to a violent crash. The bedroom was black as pitch. Oh, God, she’d fallen asleep. She heard Princess howling in the room beside her and scrambled from the bed. “Chance!” Vivi took off in a panic and ran into a wall.
The wall grunted. “Jesus, Slick, I’m right here. What’s wrong?” His arm went around her.
She sagged against his warm, bare chest. “I fell asleep, and then I heard a crash. I thought… I thought.” She lightly smacked his shoulder. “Why didn’t you wake me up? I was worried about you.”
He leaned back with her in his arms, patted the wall, then the room lit up.
She blinked her eyes. When they finally adjusted to the bright light, he was looking down at her with an amused expression on his beard-stubbled face. “You were so worried, you fell asleep?” He hooked his finger in her T-shirt. “I tried to wake you up.”
She stepped away from him, pulling her T-shirt from her chest to look down. Along with her jeans, her bra and panties were gone, too. “You undressed me?”
“Yeah, and you know those sexy sounds you make when you’re awake? You make them in your sleep, too.”
Her cheeks warmed. He grinned. “Don’t worry, Slick. I didn’t look. We’re friends without benefits, remember?”
Only too well. She wished she’d never made that stupid rule in the first place. And from the heated look in his eyes, she thought he might be thinking the same. No, like the glowing orbs earlier, she was probably imagining things. Which reminded her. “Did you find anything?”
“Yeah, and we’ll talk about it in the morning. You’re beat.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. “Get back in bed.”
“Come on, I won’t go to sleep until I know—”
“It’s three in the morning. And I’m beat.” He lifted the covers. She crawled underneath them with a frustrated sigh. He looked down at her, his lips lifting at the corner. “All right, there were tire tracks to the right of the pro
perty off the main road. Might be nothing, but I took a few pictures.”
She pushed herself up on her elbows. “Could you tell if—”
He placed a palm on her chest, gently pushing her down. “No. Sleep,” he said and walked to the door, flipping off the light.
The room lit up as a thunderous crash shook the cabin. Princess howled and Vivi screamed. The light came on. “It’s just a storm, Slick. Nothing to be—” His gaze roamed her face, and he bowed his head. He flipped off the light. “I’ll be right back.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she was fine, then closed it when lightning once again lit up the room and thunder boomed in the distance. Normally, an electrical storm didn’t make her nervous. But after the break-in and out here in the middle of nowhere, it did. She’d probably lose her “independent woman” card, but she didn’t care. She’d get it back tomorrow.
“Stop whining,” Chance muttered as he walked into the room.
“I’m not whining.”
“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Princess.”
Vivi sat up, trying to make him out. “McBride, do not bring her in this room.”
“Relax, she’s in her cage.”
She heard a thud, then the bed dipped and Chance crawled in beside her. His big body brushed against hers. She fought the urge to wrap herself around all that hard, warm muscle and cleared her throat. “Maybe we should, you know, put some pillows between us.”
“Why? You’d just crawl over them to get to me.” He patted her thigh. “Don’t worry, Slick. I know you can’t help yourself. You’re a cuddler.”
“I am not a cuddler.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Vivi heard the low growl and opened one eye. Not again, she thought, remembering the morning she’d woken up in Chance’s bed only to have her hopes and dreams crushed. But this was different. She wasn’t in his and Kate’s bed, and she and Chance hadn’t made love. And that low growl wasn’t coming from the floor, it was coming from the bed.
She slowly turned her head and came nose to nose with Cujo. “Chance!” Vivi threw the covers over her head, burrowing deep beneath them.
“Calm down, Slick. I’ll take her out.”
If she wasn’t hiding from Cujo, she might have appreciated the amusement she heard in Chance’s rough, sleep-laden voice. An entirely different tone than the one she’d woken up to that morning two weeks before. Whoa baby, he was either really happy to see her or he’d slept with a gun tucked in his pajama pants. She carefully moved her hand in hopes he wouldn’t notice.
He patted her head as he moved from the bed. “Don’t worry, friends don’t get a hard-on for friends. It’s a morning thing.”
She shoved the covers from her head. “I’m not twelve, McBride. I know that that—” she waved her hand at his tented navy sleep pants—“has nothing to do with me.”
“Wouldn’t go that far,” he said, looking much too tempting standing with his hair all messy and Cujo snuggled up to his sun-bronzed chest. “Just didn’t want you to think I’d take advantage of our friendship.” He winked, then walking to the door said, “But honey, it would make it easier to think only friendly thoughts if you wore your panties next time we slept together.”
“You’re the one who took them off me,” she called to his retreating back.
“Careful, you keep talking like that and I’ll have a hard time hanging on to my PG thoughts.” He popped his head back in the room. “I’m getting a visual right now of you throwing your leg over mine and…” He snapped his fingers. “See, just like that, straight to NC-17.”
She covered her burning cheeks and muttered, “You really are a superjerk.” Too bad along with being a superjerk, he was also superhot, which was making her hot.
“Oh, and, honey, don’t worry about that little scratch on your hand.”
She turned her hands over to inspect them, her eyes widening at the long, puffy red line on her left one. She pointed to the scratch. “Little, you call this little? This is not…” Then she realized there was only one way Cujo had been able to attack her. “I don’t believe you! You had her in bed with us the entire night.”
“She was crying, Slick. She’s afraid of thunder, and you were asleep. I knew she wouldn’t bite you. Not when I’m—” She held up her hand as evidence. He rubbed his chin. “Okay, I don’t like blaming the victim, but, honey, you’re a little possessive. You put your arm around my chest and pushed Princess away. She was trying to save herself from falling off the bed.”
“I’m not possessive.”
He made a face and nodded. “You kinda are. You don’t like to share. But don’t worry, there’s enough of me to go around.”
She groaned, turning on her stomach to bury her head under the pillow. “You’re a pain in the ass, McBride, and so is your dog.”
“Don’t take offense, Princess. She’s cranky in the morning. She’ll be fine once she has a cup of coffee,” she heard him say as he walked down the hall.
She lifted the pillow and yelled, “Not if you’re making it, she won’t!” At the sound of his deep, sexy laugh she muttered, “You’re a riot, McBride,” and leaned across the bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand. It wasn’t there. She did a visual search of the room, then got out of bed. Going down on her hands and knees, she lifted the bed skirt, spotting her phone on the other side. Realizing the target she made, she got to her feet and dove across the bed, reaching for her cell. She picked it up and… “McBride, your dog ate my phone!”
No response. He was probably outside while the dog did her business, which meant it was time for Vivi to do hers. She walked to her suitcase, unzipped it, and pulled out her clothes for the day, grabbing her toothbrush as well.
She’d just stepped into the shower when she realized she’d forgotten her shampoo. Chance’s hair-and-body wash wasn’t going to cut it. Her hair needed some major conditioning this morning, but she couldn’t resist a quick sniff—lavender and sandalwood. No wonder he smelled so good. She returned the bottle to the side of the shower and grabbed a towel.
Wrapping the length of fluffy white cotton around herself, she peeked out the bathroom door. All clear. No sign of Cujo. She sprinted to the bedroom and dug around the suitcase for her shampoo and conditioner. Her phone jangled on the bed. Huh. She thought Cujo had destroyed it.
She checked caller ID, but small holes perforated the plastic, and she couldn’t read the screen. She pressed a finger to her temple when Nell McBride’s voice came over the line.
“Hey, boss. We’re back in business. Place is all cleaned up. Anything you want me and the girls to work on?”
Thinking of Nell and the girls working on anything made Vivi nervous, but more than that, she was grateful. She sat on the edge of the bed, finding herself a little emotional. She cleared the lump from her throat. “That’s great, Nell. Thank you. I, uh, I really appreciate you doing that for me. I shouldn’t have left you to do the cleanup on your own.”
“Pish, everyone pitched in. Took us no time at all. Christmas isn’t like the big city. We take care of our own in this town, girlie. You’ll get used to it. Oh, and another thing, we can take Gil, his wife, and Lisa Flowers off the suspect list. Me and the girls snooped around a bit, and they’re alibied up the wazoo. Ted and Fred are checking out Earl.”
Her earlier nerves returned. “Umm, Nell, I’m not sure how—”
Chance stuck his head in the room. “Coffee’s ready, Slick. Princess is in her pen.”
She nodded, then realized where he was headed. “Wait, McBride, you can’t—” She bowed her head at the sound of the bathroom door shutting.
“What can’t I do?”
“No, not you, Nell—your nephew.”
A sly chuckle came over the line. “You two having fun?”
“No, no fun. We’re not having fun. We’re just friends.”
“Sure you are. See you in a few, boss. Paul bailed on us, so me and the girls will go over our candidates for Christmas Cuties. But
don’t worry, we can hold down the fort if you and my nephew want to continue having fun. Buh-bye.”
Had she really been thinking there might be something to be said for small-town living? Maybe a small town without Nell McBride.
Vivi disconnected and tossed her phone. Grabbing the shampoo and conditioner, she headed for the bathroom. She knocked on the door. “I need to have my shower first. My hair takes longer to dry than yours.”
“I’ll be out in five.”
“Oh, come on. I was in there first. McBride.” She lifted her hand to bang on the door and nearly nailed Chance’s foam-covered jaw instead.
Standing in front of her wearing the matching towel to hers around his waist, he raised a brow and held up a razor. “Five minutes, Slick. Go get a coffee.” His tone implied she needed one.
“You’re doing this on purpose just to drive me crazy.” The look he gave her said she was already there. She threw up her hands and pivoted, heading for the bedroom. “This isn’t going to work. I’m not staying here. I’m moving back to my place.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Grabbing her arm, he turned her to face him. “Have you forgotten what the Chronicle looked like? Ray’s in the hospital because of these guys. They’re not fooling around.”
A nervous tremor caused goose bumps to break out over her arms at the reminder. But his high-handed manner ticked her off. She lifted her chin. “I can take care of myself.”
His chest expanded on a noisy breath, and his eyes narrowed. “No, you can’t.”
“Excuse me? Who do you—”
Before she knew what he was doing, he spun her around, hooking an arm around her neck and one around her waist. Her arms locked at her sides. “Now’s your chance, Slick. Show me how… Jesus,” he said when she stomped on his foot. He wrapped his leg around hers.
“This doesn’t prove anything. They’re not like you. You’re trained—” The bands of steel tightened so she couldn’t move. But she wasn’t about to let him think she was helpless. She bent her head, then threw it back. He moved his.