Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
B ex stretched her arms and legs in Wilder’s bed as she heard the shower turn on. A couple of drinks in last night and she and Pen had decided to dance. Then she might have decided to tease Wilder with her moves. Bex still wasn’t sure if the plan had worked or if the plan had backfired.
She thought it had worked since Wilder had tossed her over his shoulder and raced to his car. In minutes, he had her in his Charleston condo, stripped and screaming his name over and over again as he sent her spiraling out of control in the best way possible.
It didn’t work in getting to dance more with Wilder. Bex smiled at the memory of him dancing with her. He was clearly uncomfortable dancing. She didn’t care so long as it meant she was in his arms and was able to be pressed up against his body.
She might not have gotten another dance with Wilder, but she could have a shower with him. Bex grinned, jumped out of bed, and stripped off Wilder’s T-shirt she’d worn to sleep in.
The glass shower was fogged up, but she could see Wilder’s muscular body blurred behind the glass as she grabbed the handle and opened the door. His head was in the stream of water. Rivulets of water ran down his back, over his sexy ass that she just wanted to grab, and down his legs. She’d grown up with boys. They all had legs and she never thought of them as anything except something to walk and run with. However, Wilder’s legs hit differently. They were powerful and she knew what they looked like when they clenched, along with that perfect ass, as he thrust into her. All she wanted to do this morning was experience that again.
Bex slid into the shower and wrapped her arms around Wilder’s waist. “Good morning, sweetheart,” Wilder said, not surprised to find her naked in the shower with him.
“It’s good, but it could be better.”
Wilder turned in her embrace and smiled down at her as the water ran over his face. “I know how to make it a great morning. Do you want to see?”
“More than anything.” Bex rose up on her toes and kissed him. She’d learned that Wilder kissed with his emotions. She could tell exactly how he was feeling based on how he kissed her. This morning he kissed her with desire. It wasn’t as frantic as last night, but slow and in control as Wilder lifted her up and pressed her against the shower wall. He took his time, showing her how much he desired her, by worshiping her until he made her morning a great freaking morning.
* * *
“Bex? Wilder? Are you here?” A woman’s voice called out from the front side of the house. Wilder and Bex were enjoying their time in the sun on the deck looking over the river.
“Down by the river, Mags!” Wilder shouted.
Bex watched as Maggie strode around the house and headed toward them. She was wearing black athletic leggings and a flowy athletic top. It wasn’t her normal attire, that was for sure.
“What’s going on?” Wilder asked when he saw Maggie’s beaming smile. Good news was always welcome during a time like this.
“Edie and Tristian had their baby early this morning. A boy. Roman John Durand.” Maggie turned her phone and Bex saw a picture of the happy, tired family with their newborn wrapped in a knitted blanket with an American flag and the flag of Millevia, a small European county that Tristian was from.
“Is that a pirate flag on his knitted hat?” Bex asked, leaning in closer.
“Yeah,” Maggie said with a smile. “It’s the unofficial flag of Shadows Landing. Dare, Harper’s husband, knitted it for him.”
Bex chuckled, thinking Maggie was joking. “Dare knits? That big ATF agent I met at the bar?”
“Yeah, so does Stone. We have a very active knitting club. And that brings me to the second reason I’m here.” Maggie tossed a paisley quilted bag at Bex. “Go put that on. We’re going to women’s group at church.”
Bex looked at how Maggie was dressed. “Is it a southern thing to not dress up for church?” Her mother would smack her with a sauce spoon if Bex wore athletic wear to church.
Maggie just chuckled. “You’ll find out. I think you’ll like it.”
“You will. Go. Have fun,” Wilder told her, reaching down to grab his laptop that he’d brought outside. “I have work to do anyway. I have a video call with all my managers in ten minutes.”
“Okay, but if lightning strikes me down or my mother finds out I wore gym clothes to church, it’s all your fault.”
Fifteen minutes later Bex walked into the historic Shadows Landing church and waited for lightning to strike. The church was beautiful and more richly appointed than she’d expected. Gold trim ran along the ceiling. Stained glass more ornate than some of the biggest churches in New York City and an altar that was jaw-dropping. “Does the electricity go out a lot?” Bex asked taking in the staggering amount of candle holders and candelabras.
Maggie saw where she was looking and laughed. “I’ll let Reverend Winston explain. Come this way. They’ve already started.”
Bex followed Maggie down a side hall. She expected to hear Bible verses, not the grunts of a fight or the scraping sound of . . . was that steel? Maggie walked into the room the noise was coming from and Bex followed only to stop in her tracks and stare. “What the hell?”
Reverend Winston was always calm, cool, and collected the few times Bex had seen him. He was still calm, cool, and collected only this time he held a saber. Like a huge curved one with rubies on the hilt. It looked right out of a pirate movie.
“Ah! Bex, we’re so glad you could join us!”
Bex could only nod at him as she looked around. Two young girls were in a fierce battle with rapiers. Maggie was pulling out a series of guns that looked straight out of history books. Those sweet old ladies, Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie, swung pikes. Natalie and Waverly were working with small daggers. Then a woman with a kitty cat on the front of her sweater was using a crossbow.
“Welcome to the women’s group,” Reverend Winston said, lowering his weapon where he was sparring with one of the waitresses from the diner. “Do you have any experience with a knife or sword? Or maybe you’d be more comfortable with a blunderbuss or a musket like Maggie uses? You can also try a crossbow like Miss Mitzi is using.”
Bex prided herself on having seen everything. She was a New Yorker after all. However, she’d never seen anything like this before. She closed her mouth and opened it again, but no words came out.
“Pussy got your tongue?” the cat lady, Miss Mitzi, asked and that only served to make Bex open and close her mouth again.
“Is your daughter-in-law causing trouble again, Mitzi?” Miss Winnie asked as if a woman old enough to be a senior citizen saying pussy wasn’t any stranger than her firing a crossbow that was three or four hundred years old.
“Oh! I’ve been making sure to say it around my grandson to torment her and I guess I’ve just gotten used to saying pussy when talking about cats. But, that might be a naughty cross-stitch I could do for men. Or, what do you think of me making little pussy cats to go with your Duke of Dicks?”
Miss Ruby leaned on her pike. “I like that. Do you think you could knit that?”
“Easy. I can use the pattern from those pussy hats, but maybe give it some cute legs and a tail.” Miss Mitzi, Miss Ruby, and Miss Winnie began talking about pussies and dicks and Bex was worried she’d had a stroke and was in a coma because this couldn’t be real. Right?
“I’m in a coma, right?” Bex turned to Maggie and Reverend Winston. “Those old ladies aren’t talking about knitting pussies and dicks and those children aren’t sparring with swords that belong in museums. I’m just in a coma and none of this is real.”
“It’s okay, hon,” a woman with her natural black hair in spiral curls held back with a satin scarf said as she patted Bex’s arm. “It takes a little to get used to. I thought I’d seen it all being from Key West, but there’s just something special about Shadows Landing. I’m Melinda. I’m a reverend-in-training and was supposed to go back to Key West, but I can’t bring myself to since I’m learning so much here.”
Maggie snorted. “Yeah, that’s the reason you’re not going back.”
Bex noticed that Melinda blushed and so did the reverend. She would ask about it but then Miss Mitzi yelled something about a princess pussy with a crown and Bex was once again flabbergasted.
“I told you we had a rockin’ knitting club. They supplement their social security retirement with naughty knitting,” Maggie told her. “And this is our women’s group. We study weapons training from the age of ten up.”
“I think it’s better if I explain,” Reverend Winston said calmly. “As I’m sure you’ve been told, the town was founded by pirates. When they went out to sea, the women and the elderly pirates were left behind. The pirates were worried about their families, especially when British soldiers began to show up. So, the older pirates and my ancestors taught the women how to defend themselves, their children, and the town. My family has upheld that tradition generation after generation and now it’s my honor to teach the women of Shadows Landing.”
Suddenly a rapier was at her throat. “Are you the woman who tried to arrest Uncle Wilder?”
“Lacy,” a woman who looked like the mother of the teenager sighed. “How many times have I told you that you don’t interrogate people at the end of a knife? It’s bad manners.”
“But, Mom ,” the blonde teen gritted out. “She tried to put Uncle Wilder in jail. He saved her and now she’s moving in on him after seeing his house. And you always said you protect your friends from bad people.”
“Hold up,” a young woman said, joining them. “I’m Tamara from the Pink Pig. You tried to put Wilder in jail? I’m going to ban you for Sunday lunch.”
Everyone gasped. Someone made the sign of the cross themselves even though this wasn’t a Catholic church.
“I didn’t try to put him in jail. I’m the reason he didn’t go to jail. Because of that, I’m in danger with a warrant out for my arrest,” Bex said, trying to defend herself. “And I really like Wilder.”
The rapier poked a little closer. “Like him?” Lacy asked. “Or like, like him ?”
“Like, like ,” Bex said, feeling a little stupid defending her feelings for Wilder to a teenager. “And I kinda want to try to shoot something called a blunderbuss and can I use that sword?”
Lacy lowered her sword. “Well, if you like, like him, does Uncle Wilder like, like you too? And you can’t go straight for the sword. You have to prove yourself with a dagger first.”
Bex reached over and held out her hand. Melinda looked a little confused, but she handed her the dagger she’d been using. Bex turned to the straw-stuffed dummy and threw the dagger. The dagger sailed through the air and landed straight in the painted heart of the dummy.
“I think we can move up to swords given Detective Moretti’s experience,” Reverend Winston said with a grin.
“Come on,” Maggie said, handing her the antique gun. “Let’s get some rounds off out back and then we can work with the swords.”
“Why do you still do this?” Bex asked as Maggie led her back into the hall and out the back of the church.
“Weapons training?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not like the town is under siege by British soldiers anymore.”
“The British? No. Other people, yes. We’ve had a surprising number of times when the women’s group was called upon to defend our town and the men and women in it. Oh, and all those candle holders and candelabras are hollow and house knives, swords, and pikes in them.”
“Well, that makes sense why there’s so many,” Bex said as Maggie stopped before a target. “Let’s see what this blunderbuss is made of.”
“Oh my gosh!” Bex wiped the sweat from her face. She’d just been schooled by a thirteen-year-old while being interrogated about her feelings for Wilder. “You are really good at this, Lacy.”
Lacy spun the rapier in her hand. “I know.”
“No, I mean the interrogation.”
Lacy shrugged. “Well, duh. My mom was mostly a single mother to eight kids while my dad was serving as a Marine Raider. Now he’s back and I’m trying to get my first boyfriend. You haven’t seen an interrogation until you’ve seen my mom and dad sit down with the boy who wants to ask me out. I’m thinking of going into the CIA. Maybe the Marines. My dad told me they needed people to interrogate terrorists. I’d be good at that. Now, what do you like the most about Uncle Wilder?”
Bex was yet again left speechless by a thirteen-year-old. “Why do you call him uncle?”
“Because all the Townsends came in and took care of us when my mom had Lennie. They would read bedtime stories, babysit us, take us swimming or to sports practices, and more. They look out for us. In return, we look out for them. So, if you hurt him, it won’t just be me you have to worry about, but my entire family and the entire town.”
Bex smiled at that. Wilder had found his place. His home. His family. She had that in Brooklyn, but being here in Shadows Landing felt different. Not bad different, but right different. Maybe it was because this is where Wilder was. “Don’t you think a week is too soon to fall in love?” Why was Bex asking about love life from a teen trying to stab her with a rapier?
Her mother snorted nearby as she sparred with her other daughter who couldn’t be more than ten years old. “After a week of knowing Landry, I was married and pregnant. When you know, you know.”
“If you get the flutters, then you know,” Miss Mitzi said from across the room.
“My heart does flutter,” Bex confirmed.
Miss Mitzi shook her head. “That wasn’t what I was talking about fluttering. Think further south. Does she flutter too?”
Bex knew she turned bright red. “Um, yeah.”
Miss Mitzi hmphed and everyone similarly agreed as if the verdict was in. She was in love with Wilder and everyone knew it but them. Or maybe Wilder and Bex did know it. Wilder had been talking about forever a lot. When he said it, she pictured it, never thinking twice about it. In fact, she caught herself looking up job openings at the FBI office in Charleston. That had always been a dream of hers, but she knew that the selection process was very strict and well, it would most likely take her away from her family. New York was a coveted office and there would be no guarantees. But Charleston? With the head of the office possibly asking for her? It could be a real possibility. However, to make it a real possibility, she needed this warrant dropped and her name cleared. One way or the other, she needed to find a way to end this corruption.