Chapter 28
“You have to take her to the anniversary party,” Wade declared the next morning while we waited for the women to finish up at church before heading to Louise’s for the afternoon.
“Not happening.” After Phoebe’s past? There was no way I was doing that.
Tracking her with my eyes, I suppressed a growl watching her bend over. The blue dress she wore outlined the curve of the body I hadn’t spent enough time exploring yesterday.
After we’d talked and I’d taken a solid ten minutes of cooling off when I learned all she’d been hiding, I’d put her in a bath. I hadn’t missed the wince she tried to hide when she was cleaning up breakfast.
It’d taken some rather enjoyable convincing to get her to admit she was sore. I wanted to thump my chest when she finally gave in. Still, I didn’t like that she was in pain, so convinced her to have a bath in the new claw-foot tub that had been installed by the plumber the week I was away.
I wasn’t one for baths, but damn if I hadn’t enjoyed having her all naked and covered in bubbles in my arms. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from running my hands over her skin, teasing her nipples, or slipping my hand down to the pussy I promised I was going to leave alone for the rest of the day.
We’d chosen to stay at her place where we could be together without anyone interfering. Lock was in Atlanta with her parents for his court-appointed visit with Jeremy until church this morning, and I had fully taken advantage of the child-free time.
It was so easy being with her. We talked.
We laughed. I fixed the porch light she’d sworn was working before she’d left for the bar, careful to make sure no one saw me.
I’d even endured a conversation with Alex, who felt it necessary to crow how awesome she was one second and then threaten to castrate me in the next.
Phoebe had been horrified at the gruesome description of what Alex would do to me if I hurt her best friend.
I gave her a few pointers and ideas, much to Phoebe’s shock and Alex’s delight.
I’d like to say I was strong enough to keep my dick out of Phoebe, and I was proud I’d made it until noon.
It had been a test of my sanity to keep things light in deference to her tender parts.
But I was only a man, and you couldn’t expect me to last all day when I had her where I could touch her, kiss her, and taste all the parts of the body that had driven me crazy since I’d first seen her.
I’d taken my time with her, ensuring she was writhing beneath me, her body so ready she’d been the one to snap at me to take her. Still, I was gentle, rocking into her slowly and sweetly.
For a man who liked sex hard and dirty, making soft, sweet love to a woman was completely new for me.
I liked it. No, I fucking loved it. There was a whole new level of pleasure for me taking Phoebe like that, feeling her body conform to mine, her pussy milking my cock.
Fuck! My cock was hard just remembering, and I cursed.
“Stop staring at her, asshole.” Wade smacked me on the back of the head.
“Fuck you.” I flipped him off. Okay, so maybe I could agree to stop stalking her with my eyes. But damned if it wasn’t hard.
Wade gave me that patronizing sigh of his. “Look, I know why y’all want to keep this a secret. I’m actually in agreement. For now—”
For now. I planned on making for now as short a time as humanly possible. Once Phoebe felt secure, I knew she’d be…afraid, anxious, and stressed…all things I was going to make sure didn’t overwhelm her, but she’d be willing to revisit the for now part of our relationship.
“—but what reason can you actually give for why you suddenly can’t take Olivia to the Spencers’ party? It will be suspicious. Aunt Cady-Jo was suspicious enough to contrive a reason to stop by Phoebe’s house just to make sure you weren’t there when there was no reason to think you would be.”
The reminder pissed me off. I was getting sick of my mother’s sudden interference in my love life. I respected that she loved me and I was her son. She was entitled to her feelings. Warning Phoebe off, implying she’d screw over her fresh start here, was over the line.
“I also heard from Perry”—a deputy that worked with Wade— “when he stopped by the café yesterday afternoon that Aunt Cady-Jo still thought it was suspicious you’d dropped Olivia off first and not Phoebe. If you hadn’t come by and walked Bones with me, I think she’d have circled back to Phoebe’s.”
I hadn’t been happy when Wade called, demanding I haul ass over to his place.
Phoebe had just fallen asleep in my arms, and I was too content to move.
Still, I’d slipped out of her bed, left her a note and used the back path to Wade’s.
I figured I’d grab a change of clothes from him while I was there.
It was lucky we were practically the same size.
I also wanted to talk to him about the threats to Phoebe.
Unfortunately, no sooner had I had shown up and changed than Delilah showed up and decided to walk with us.
By the time we’d finished walking Bones, Wade had gotten an emergency call. I could have kissed him when he asked me, right where Delilah could hear, if I could hang out with Bones for the night until he got back. Bones was getting old, and Wade claimed he was worried the old dog had been “off.”
Yeah, ’cause age was Bones’s issue and not the large half of a chicken he’d devoured?
Delilah stayed with me for a bit, and I tried to get her to talk to me. She’d been morose since her father left town to be with his mistress, but this was different. When she did talk to me, she was snippy, full of sass, and I had a feeling she was saying something I just couldn’t understand.
She’d stayed another thirty minutes and then decided she had somewhere else to be.
I didn’t miss the way she seemed to get more and more agitated each time her phone dinged.
Still, teenage girls were strange creatures, and I chalked a lot of it up to that.
I’d asked her to make plans with me for dinner.
Just her and me. She’d given me the “Whatever” cliché and then left.
“Yeah, and if D hadn’t been there, I’d bet Aunt Cady-Jo would have camped out at my place.
She’s already confronted Phoebe once. You have to at least keep up public appearances…
preferably by not eye-fucking her.” Wade bumped my shoulder with his.
“There’s already enough attention on you two from the last couple of weeks.
Jesus, put ice in your pants or something. ”
My attention had naturally resettled on Phoebe, and I enjoyed the way the sun lit her smiling face.
Turning away from her felt wrong, but I did it anyway. Wade was right. We’d been the subject of far too much gossip.
In fact, Phoebe being busy was perfect. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
At my serious tone, the smirk on Wade’s face was wiped off. “What is it?”
Shit. Looking around, I saw people mingling, some moving closer to us on the church’s immaculate lawn, some chattering, some getting snacks from the post-service community picnic table. There were too many eyes and ears.
“Let’s take a walk,” I suggested, setting off in the direction of the nearby park.
In silence, we walked until we came to the small ridge by the edge of the river. It gave us a good view of anyone coming and going. Or anyone who may decide to be overly curious.
“What’s up?” Wade put his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants, waiting.
“Phoebe’s being threatened.”
Wade stilled, an edge of danger surrounding him. He didn’t like anyone being threatened, but he and Phoebe had grown close over the last couple of months, so this would piss him off personally.
It fucking infuriated me.
“Tell me.”
I gave him a rundown of the notes she’d received and the how and when she’d received them.
I had to physically fight not to punch a tree or to demolish something.
I still couldn’t believe what they said.
I also told him about the porch light. I’d checked with the electrician yesterday, claiming Phoebe had reached out—her hand reaching to pull me into bed was a form of reaching out—about the unfinished work.
I’d found out it had been finished, which meant someone had tampered with it.
“I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to loop you in first. She’s scared enough.” I knew I’d have to tell her today. I couldn’t let her go home with Lock and not know. It pissed me off I couldn’t go with them. But I had an idea about that…
“There have been some vandals in the neighborhood.” Wade considered alternate angles. “A couple other homes have been vandalized in the area.”
I knew that. “How would they know that she’s…her?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say the words aloud, my instinct to protect her making me extra cautious.
“Does she still have the notes?”
“She gave them to her agent and lawyer.”
“I’ll need to get them and take a look. She should have come to the police, but if the notes only said those things, there isn’t much we can do.” Phoebe had said that, too. “Without a direct threat of physical harm or evidence of another crime, our hands are largely tied.”
My stomach sank. It blew my mind that something had to happen to someone before law enforcement was able to act. Well, nothing was happening to Phoebe. I wouldn’t allow it.
“Still, I can do a little off-the-books digging and see if I can’t find who’s behind this. When did they start?”
“About a week after her ex showed up for Lock’s first baseball game.
” I remembered the day so damned clearly.
It had taken everything in me not to smash his face with a two-by-four.
Showing up at her house, acting like he had the right to be there, and bringing his pregnant mistress along? I cracked my knuckles.
“You think he could be behind it?” Wade voiced the question that had been plaguing me since I’d found out.
“Phoebe doesn’t think so.” I explained she’d had his whereabouts and Layla’s confirmed after the first couple of notes.
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t a part of it. They may have someone else working for them.” Wade pondered.
“Phoebe thinks it’s one person, acting alone.
It’s something about the way the notes are written.
” My scribbler had gone into a long lecture about writing styles, their uniqueness, and the way they told people about the writer.
She’d been cute as hell, her face lit up.
I’d had no idea writing was so technical or psychological.
I was better educated now. “Her publisher is working the angle that it’s a fan who made the connection and decided to torment her.
Apparently, they receive dozens of creepy letters and emails almost daily. ” Some people were fucking nuts.
Wade grimaced. “I’ll talk with her about it this afternoon and see what I can do.
Given this new information, though, you two need to be extra careful.
If someone knows Phoebe’s identity, and it’s not someone she’s familiar with, then they may be watching closer than you think.
You don’t want them to expose your relationship, and they might if they think it will hurt her. ”
Great. Another complication.