Chapter 40 Avery
AVERY
We ordered pizza for dinner and I kept Beck company in the kitchen while he threw together a chocolate cake.
I’d never met a guy — or anyone actually — who could throw together a from-scratch cake before, but Beck made it look easy, throwing flour, sugar, and eggs into a bowl while he told me about his day at the bakery.
I’d only been in Blackwell Hollow for a week and it was already starting to feel like home. I knew I needed to contact a realtor, get the process moving to list the house and bakery, but the thought of it made me feel a little sick.
If the house already felt like home to me, how would Beck, Noah, and Dane feel when they had to leave? And what about the bakery and Malcolm?
I cared about these things, about these people, and I wasn’t sure what to do about that.
My nervous system slowly returned to normal as we ate our pizza in the media room with a movie.
The man who’d chased me through the streets of Blackwell Hollow had probably taken ten years off my life, but being surrounded by the three men who’d somehow become part of my daily life went a long way toward making me feel normal again.
I realized with surprise that I felt safe with them, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the fact that if I was right about Harold secretly working with Hearthstone, then Beck, Noah, and Dane had no motive for killing Harold.
The food hit my system like a sedative, and by the time I polished off my cake, my eyes were droopy, my system crashing.
I said goodnight to the guys and went to bed. Alone.
I took a bath, then got into pajamas and crawled into bed, expecting to fall asleep hard and fast. Instead all I could think about was how scared I’d been on my way home from Lena’s.
Surrounded by my three hot roommates and plied with pizza and cake, the danger had receded, but alone in the dark, it all came rushing back, and my heart raced as I tossed and turned, my chest constricting with anxiety.
Finally, I sat up in bed, frustrated. I was exhausted, but my racing mind wouldn’t let me sleep.
Maybe another cup of tea would help.
I left my room and headed for the stairs, then stopped in my tracks when I realized the bedroom door across from mine was half-open. In the week I’d been living in the house, I’d never seen one of the other doors open, and I approached it with curiosity, wondering who was awake.
I knocked softly, and a second later Dane’s voice sounded from inside. “Yeah.”
I pushed open the door.
Dane sat on a large bed in nothing but jeans, his back against a tufted leather headboard. The room was painted dark gray, a rug laid over the hardwood floors, and in one corner, a modern gold floor lamp cast a soft glow over the otherwise dark room.
But really, all my attention was on him, the picture of casual perfection, his long muscular legs stretched out in front of him, his feet bare under his jeans. The symbols — brick and stone and columns rendered in minimalist black ink — tattooed on his chest made more sense now.
They were construction symbols. Dane had been building something for himself, and he’d done it here, with Aunt Evelyn’s help.
The rush of warmth in my chest was more uncomfortable than the heat between my thighs.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
I shook my head. “You?”
“Negative.”
“Want a cup of tea?” I asked.
“No, thanks.”
He didn’t seem to want to talk, but for some reason, I didn’t want to leave.
“What are you up to?” I asked.
He turned his laptop around and I moved closer to the bed to get a better look.
“Are those… security cameras?” There were six mini-screens displaying the front, sides, and back of the house, plus an area that looked like the orchard and the walkway leading to the gazebo.
“Had them installed while you were out today,” Dane said.
“Because of Harold?”
He hesitated. “We think someone was on the property a few days ago.”
“After I found Harold?” My heart started to pound.
He nodded. “We can’t be sure, but Noah thinks he saw a footprint. Wanted to be safe so I thought the cameras were a good idea.”
I thought about the day I’d walked around the property, the day Dane had surprised me outside.
“I thought it was you,” I murmured, sitting next to him on the bed.
“Thought what was me?”
“The day you found me out back I had this feeling that I was being watched. It had happened at the cemetery too, but I thought I was just being paranoid.” He shifted and his shoulder brushed against mine.
I tried to ignore the zing that traveled through my body at the contact.
“Then, when it happened in the garden, I thought it was you.”
He scowled. “I wasn’t following you.”
“I’m starting to figure that out.” Fresh worry nagged at my stomach. “Have you ever heard of corporate espionage?”
“The crazy shit businesses do to their competitors?”
“Not just their competitors. To anyone who gets in the way of their plans. Whistleblowers, activists, politicians.” I’d seen it in the city when big developers met with resistance. They employed all kinds of tactics to shut it down: threats to businesses and even families, blacklisting, violence.
“You think that’s what’s happening here?” Dane asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s confusing, because if Harold really was pro-Hearthstone, they wouldn’t have had a reason to kill him, but then…”
“But then who’s following you?” Dane asked.
“Exactly.” I’d just gotten to Blackwell Hollow. I hadn’t had a chance to register my feelings about Hearthstone one way or the other.
Dane scratched at his jaw. “You probably shouldn’t go out after dark anymore.”
I nodded. “You’re probably right.”
I was stubborn, not stupid.
Our gazes locked and I was suddenly aware of how close he was.
Close enough to touch. Close enough to kiss.
I leaned in without thinking, urged on by some primal instinct to be closer to him, and was surprised when he turned away with a groan.
“Wow… okay,” I said, flustered by the rejection.
He stood, pacing the room. “I’m not here to be your occasional mistake, Avery.”
I frowned, watching him move back and forth in the room. “That’s not how I think of you. At all.”
“Then why did you say it?”
“I… When?”
“In the courtroom, after Rosie burst in on us.”
I thought back to the chaotic moment after Rosie caught us with Dane’s face between my thighs: the open door, my panic at being half-naked, Dane’s struggle to zip up his pants.
I had said it was a mistake.
“But… that’s not what I meant,” I said.
His eyes flashed like cold steel, but it was the hurt in their depths that hit me like a sucker punch. “It’s what you said.”
I stood and crossed the room to where he stood. “I just meant… doing what we did in the courtroom, where anyone could walk in on us, where Rosie did…” I took a deep breath. “I don’t think of what happened between us as a mistake, and believe me, I’ve thought about it a lot.”
“You have?”
I nodded. “More than I’d like to admit.”
He took a step toward me. “You’re an infuriating person.”
I took a step toward him. “So are you.”
“I’m not using your stupid swear words,” he said, taking another step toward me.
Now there was only a foot between us, and I knew the distance was mine to close.
“I’m not asking you to.” I stepped forward and came into contact with his bare chest. The contact sent a shiver of need through my body, but I owed him full disclosure before this went any further. “But you should know… I had sex with Noah and Beck. At the same time.”
He slipped a hand into the hair at the back of my head.
“I know.” He tightened his grip on my hair. It stung a little, but I was surprised to feel myself get wet. “And it’ll be the last time you do that without including me. Do you understand?”
This was the Dane I’d come to know: demanding and in charge. Except this time he was making demands I wanted to meet.
I looked up at him, letting my gaze travel over his sharp cheekbones and strong jaw, until I fell into his steely eyes. “Yes.”
He groaned and lowered his mouth to mine, crushing my lips so hard I tasted blood.
I didn’t care.