Chapter 4
Marlie didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this particular day off, in which her best friend held secrets from her then tricked her into rescuing feral cats.
In which she found herself enjoying cocoa with a potential serial killer named Demon.
In which her brother appeared out of nowhere when she’d gone out of her way to avoid him for the past few days.
“Him. You’re him.” Steve blathered like an idiot while he stared at her companion.
“I am a him. Yes.” Demon looked her brother over with a flat stare that should have concerned her.
Something about the guy screamed danger, so at odds with the polite, contained man sitting across the table drinking cocoa and eating gingerbread cookies.
Oddly, she found him kind of…hot.
So strange. Marlie went for nice guys. Men who treated salespeople well and smiled at pets and children.
Guys who had no problem acting like gentlemen, treating her to meals or movies while enjoying her company and sense of humor.
Men who weren’t threatened when she returned the favor of paying for a meal.
Maybe that’s why she’d had such a tough time dating. She wanted what her parents had. For the man to respect his significant other, and for the woman to not be scared to be herself around him.
“How did this happen?” Steve asked, looking from Demon to her.
“This?” Demon growled, his voice deep and gravelly. A lot like the man himself.
As a tall woman, Marlie had spent a lifetime trying to accept her height and not make a big deal about it. Though she did tend to look for men at least as tall as she was.
Demon had a good six inches on her. And he wore them so well.
Not at all slender and sophisticated like Ben, Demon had brawn he couldn’t hide under a Carhartt coat. She’d noticed those jeans that clung to his powerful thighs, the large boots protecting big-ass feet. And she wondered at the truth behind the correlation of boot size to you-know-what size…
She realized she was staring at him when he artfully raised a brow at her. Refusing to blush, she raised her brows back at him, pleased when he grinned.
His smile pulled at her. It turned his grim features into something else. Something not pleasant but captivating all the same.
“Marlie?” Steve prodded.
She sighed. “Well, it’s like this, Steve, I—”
“Wait. Who the hell is Steve?” Demon asked.
Her brother flushed. “I’m Steve Reynolds. Marlie’s twin brother.”
“Ah.” Demon looked between them, and she wondered what he saw.
Both she and her brother had their father’s dark hair, dark eyes, and strong facial features. But she’d been given a hint of her mother’s complexion with a smattering of pale freckles over her nose and cheekbones.
A cross she had to bear, she supposed. Though the freckles on her petite mother made the woman look adorable, Marlie felt like a fraud. The cuteness factor on her barely clung to the surface. Then she opened her mouth and let her true personality rip.
“My brother, Steve,” Marlie said, “is a hockey fan.”
Steve nodded. “I play in a league with our other brothers and friends.”
Demon considered him. “Any good?”
“Yes,” Steve said at the same time Marlie said, “No.”
She and her twin glared at each other.
“We’re a work in progress,” Steve conceded. “But what is Demon Sinclair doing in our town? I heard you were taking time off due to an injury.”
“I’m here to see family.”
Steve blinked. “You have family here?”
Marlie wondered how long it would take her brother to glom onto Demon for some ice time.
Some ex-pro athletes had settled in town a few years ago, two football players and, more recently, a big-name baseball player. After everyone got over having sports celebs in town, they started treating them like everyone else.
Probably because people finally realized the ex-pros wanted the anonymity a small town like Hope’s Turn provided.
She’d met the baseball guy once, and he seemed totally normal if a little too handsome for her tastes.
Not like Demon. Nothing about this guy blended in.
Why did that bother her? Perhaps because though he hadn’t quite charmed her, Jeff already loved him, the pregnant cat hadn’t seemed to mind his mauling, and Steve looked ready to jump across the table and hug him.
Demon explained, “My folks live in town. I grew up between here and Portland, finally moved away, then started my hockey career.”
Steve’s eyes glowed. “Do you visit often? I haven’t seen you around.”
“His folks are like ours,” Marlie said, remembering Demon had needed a drink to deal with his parents.
“Ah, enough said.” Steve grinned.
Marlie and her brothers loved their parents, but they could be a bit much to take. Her mother, Sheriff Law and Order, had been super strict growing up. Their father had been good cop to her bad cop, but the pair acted as if their children could do no wrong.
And the Reynolds kids had been plenty challenging during adolescence.
It made rebelling both a necessity and a guilty-pleasure, the clear love her parents had for their children both stifling and reassuring at the same time.
She noticed Steve still staring at Demon, who turned his gaze to hers, looking for help.
She looked back at him and shrugged. You’re on your own, bucko.
He rolled his eyes and turned to her brother. “Fine. Steve, let’s cut to it. I’m trying to woo your sister, who doesn’t seem to like me much. I need some space to up my game.”
Steve’s eyes widened as they shifted back to Marlie.
When he didn’t say anything, Marlie clarified, “He means you’re cock-blocking him. Shit or get off the pot, bro.”
Demon burst into laughter, which drew many gazes to their table.
Steve turned bright red before glaring daggers at her. “I’m telling Mom you said that.”
Though she felt a frisson of fear, she refused to kowtow to her mother over a lack of manners. “I’m twenty-nine, Steve. I’m not afraid of her.”
He just looked at her. They both knew the truth.
“Oh, screw you.”
Steve grinned then turned to Demon. “You up for a game? No, wait. You’re probably still recovering. How about giving my team some advice? We have practice and games coming up.”
Demon gave a slow nod. “Yeah, I could do that. When and where?”
Steve gave him the details, which Demon plugged into his phone. Her brother glared again at Marlie and warned her to be nice to his new friend then took off.
She looked back at Demon to see him studying her. But at least this time he wasn’t leering at her breasts. Which should have bothered her when he had before, but for some reason, she’d been oddly flattered.
I need to have my head examined.
He cleared his throat. “So, I’m helping out your beloved twin brother.”
“And?” Beloved?
He gave her his rendition of a charming smile. The more times she saw it, the more she wanted to laugh, because he seemed to be trying so hard not to be scary.
“Look, one date. That’s all I’m asking. I promise not to make a move or be obnoxious. Not more than I am already,” he added before she could.
“Why me?”
He gave her a real smile that dazzled. “You don’t seem to like me much. With you, I get the real deal, not someone impressed by my pro-hockey status. Plus, you’re hot. And mean. I like that.”
Figured she’d attract a weirdo. But he had been nice to Jeff and Steve. And he’d been the one to call in, asking for a rescue for those stray cats.
And the real truth—she kind of liked him.
Ignoring the fact she’d recently broken up with a guy who’d seemed perfect for her, only to turn around and say yes to someone obviously not right for her at all, she shrugged. “Fine. One date. I get to pick the place, and you’re paying.”
“Perfect.” He held his phone to her. “Gimme your number.”
“Okay, but no abusing phone privileges.”
“As if I want you mad at me.” His eyes gleamed, saying the exact opposite. “Is it okay to text you? Or is that against the rules too?”
“Max of five texts daily. And keep it clean. I’m not a fan of dick pics.”
He chuckled. “I don’t know why, but I really like you.”
She couldn’t help a smile.
“Tonight?”
“I can’t. I’m having movie night with Jeff. Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. How about Friday?”
“Perfect. I’ll keep it to five texts or less per day until we meet.”
She gave him the side-eye, read his sincerity, and nodded, reluctantly charmed.
The ringing of his phone interrupted whatever he meant to say. He grimaced as he glanced at the caller ID and answered, “Yo, Dad, what’s up?”
Silence, followed by a loud sigh, then a, “I’ll be home soon.
Yeah, yeah.” In a growl he added, “I heard you the first time.” He turned to Marlie with an apology.
“Sorry. I need to go. My mom’s having an existential crisis, and that’s a quote from my father.
I’d better get back before she enrolls them both in more self-help classes. ”
“I thought self-help classes were good. You know, helping your mental health.”
“I agree. But my mother’s addicted. You have no idea how many books, classes, and seminars she’s signed up for in the last year alone.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, she’s hooked on bettering herself and everyone around her.” He stood and loomed over her, a dark cloud blotting out her sunshine.
The thunder of annoyance on his face made her smile.
“You think that’s funny?”
“I do. Because my mom’s the same way, except her way of bettering you is to throw you in jail to rethink your life choices before she officially arrests you.”
He frowned.
“She’s the sheriff.”
He grinned. “No shit?”
“Seriously.”
He laughed. “Well then. Maybe we should get our moms together. They can try to out-better each other, and points if they do it from inside a jail cell.”
She held up her near-empty cocoa, and he grabbed his empty cup for a toast.
Then he shocked her by running a callused finger over her cheek. “Man, you are so cute. It’ll be tough not to send any dick pics, but I made a promise.” He smirked. “See you soon, Miss Mean.”
He left with her staring after him, bemused at how much she was coming to like the guy and imagined their moms in jail together.
She laughed and went to the counter to order another cocoa, heavy on the whipped cream.