PassionsPoison (6 page)

He sat up, his stomach muscles tightening as he threw the
skins aside. “Okay. I’ll start the fire and find you some breakfast. Coffee?”

About to shake her head, instinct kicked in and she nodded.
When she did, he relaxed and turned his back to her to set up a fire in the
cold fireplace.

She hesitated as he bent over, his tight butt, smooth, pale
and perfect, called to her.
No.
If she wanted any more of him, she had
to leave, and the sooner, the less painful. Striding across the room, she raced
up the stairs and found the guestroom. She dropped her clothes on the bed and
strode into the bathroom.

She stopped and took in the enormity of it. A person could
have an orgy in the tub. It was the size of a small pool and sunken into the
pine floor. The skylight above it mirrored its size. Next to it stood a tiled
shower with no curtain. She closed the bathroom door and locked it, which
didn’t make sense considering how much Zach and she had done already. This was
a new experience for her, this “morning after”. Whatever it took for her to
muddle through it, she would do, even if it meant locking out the nicest man
she’d ever met.

* * * * *

Zach strolled into Bear Tracks and took a seat at the bar.
Old George sat at the end as usual and a young couple claimed the corner.

“Hey, Zach. Great game last night. Thanks for the hundred
bucks!”

He looked over to see Randy, Steve and Billy lifting their
glasses to him.

He waved. “Yeah, it’s the least I could do. With that new
baby comin’, I thought you’d need more cash.”

Steve frowned, but Randy and Billy thought the comment
hilarious. They had been here a while, probably since happy hour had begun.
Zach checked his watch. Eight o’clock.

“Hey, Zach, how’s it going?” Tracy plopped a tall draft of
Bud Light in front him. Wisps of her gray-streaked brown hair fell into her
eyes.

He glanced up into her lined faced and gave her a smile.
“It’s going, with or without me.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” She jerked her head toward the main
room. “Heard you lost a little money at your poker game last night.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but don’t worry, I’ve got enough left
over for a few beers.”

She propped her foot on the drying rack behind the counter
and leaned closer. “You better. So, you want munchies to go with that?”

“Yeah, you better make us some moose balls. Josh is coming
and he loves those things.”

She stood back. “You’ve got it. One order of fried testicles
coming up.”

He chuckled. “Better fried than mashed.”

She laughed as she punched the order into the computer and
disappeared into the kitchen.

He took a taste of beer. He should install a tap in the
house. Beer on tap was so much smoother, but if he did, he would never have a
reason to leave his place.

The door to the bar opened, letting in a gust of frigid air
as Dr. Joshua Porter ducked under the doorframe and walked in. “Made it.”

Zach shook his head. “Late again. Guess you have to buy.”

“I’m not late.” He took the barstool next to Zach. “This is
early for me.”

Zach raised a brow. “Hate to tell you this, Josh, but you
said 7:30. It’s 8:12.”

Josh raised his brows. “Damn, I’m good. Less than an hour
late.”

Tracy approached. “Michelob Ultra, Doc?”

Josh put a finger to his lips. “Shhh, it’s just Josh. I’m
off duty.”

“Whatever you say, Josh.”

“That’s my girl. What’s new, Tracy?”

“Not much, grandchild due in a month and the ex is playing
mind games, so basically the same old, same old. How about you?”

Josh bowed his head in an attempt for sympathy. “The usual,
working too hard.”

Tracy smacked his arm with a bar rag. “Yeah, right. Zach,
you got a lying sack of shit for a friend.”

He sighed. “I know.”

Josh took a gulp of beer as Tracy moved away to wash
glasses. “Hmmm, that’s good. Thanks for inviting me. I needed an excuse to get
out of the lab. What’s up?”

Zach took another swallow of beer. “Nothin’.”

“Don’t give me that shit. It’s not hunting season and the
ice fishing derby is over, so it must be personal.”

Zach shifted in his seat. His friend knew him too well.
“Hey, I usually invite you when there’s something to keep you entertained. It’s
not as if my life is that exciting. But I figured, what the hell.”

“Mmm-hmm and I’m a crab apple tree. Zach, we’ve known each
other for more than thirty years now. What’s up?”

Zach wiped the sweat from his beer glass. “I guess it’s a
woman.”

“You guess?”

“Yeah, I guess. I just met her Monday.”

Josh counted on his fingers. “You’ve known her five days and
already you think she’s special? That’s not your usual
modus operandi
.”

Zach took another gulp of beer. “My what? Never mind, I
don’t think I want to know. And I didn’t say she was special. The thing is, we
met on Monday, had mind-blowing sex on Wednesday and I haven’t heard from her
since.”

Josh let out a low whistle. “Sounds like a one-night stand
to me, but your limit is three, so you want your two more, don’t you?”

Zach looked away.

“Ah, that’s it. It’s fine for you to call it quits but not
her. Okay, I get it. So did you call her?”

Zach shook his head.

Josh tipped his beer and swallowed. “Oh man, you’re kidding
me. You have some hottie, she is a hottie right, ’cause you always get hotties,
and you haven’t called her?”

Zach kept silent. His friend, with his elongated face and
thin six-foot-four frame resembled Lurch from
The
Addams Family
and didn’t catch many dates, despite being a doctor and a great scientist.

Josh finished his beer and signaled to Tracy for two more.
“I’m flattered you called me, but there’s a simple solution to this dilemma,
Zach. You know what it is, but for some reason you aren’t acting on it. You
don’t need a biochemical doctorate to know you need to pick up your phone and
call her.”

Zach took the beer Tracy handed him and watched the foam
disintegrate. Great, now he’d insulted Josh’s intelligence and still didn’t
have the guts to call her. “Isn’t she supposed to call me? That’s usually what
happens. You know, women are much more vocal about what they want. If she
hasn’t called me, obviously she doesn’t want to see me again.”

Josh set his beer down with a thud, foam sloshed over the
side and puddled on the bar. “Wake up, man. Even I know every woman is
different. If you want to see her, call her. If you don’t, I guarantee you’ll
never see her again.”

Josh could be right. Bea was confident and insecure at the
same time. Maybe she was old-fashioned and needed him to call her. “You’re
right, I’ll call her now.”

“Good man. While you do that, I’m going to troll for
chicks.”

Zach pointed across the room. “Uh, Josh, if you want to do
that, we’d better go somewhere else.”

Josh looked around the small bar.

Zach chuckled as realization dawned on his friend’s face.
There were maybe fifteen cocktail tables with chairs and the bar. In total
there were eighteen men and one woman—the lady at the bar was part of a couple
if the way she had her leg on her companion’s lap was any indication. The old
“make her come at the bar in public” scenario going on. He’d like to do that
with Bea. The thought caused his cock to pay attention. Hell. Grabbing his
phone, he stalked outside.

The air was sharp and fresh, but cold, so he zipped his
hoody. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and fished out Bea’s card. The
ever present white Christmas lights on the bar’s porch gave him enough light to
read her phone number. He dialed and held his breath.

“Good evening, Lakeside Inn, Beatrice Rappaccini.”

“What are you doing there so late?” Okay, maybe not the best
beginning.

“Huh? Zach, is that you?”

He couldn’t help being concerned. “Yeah, why are you working
so late?”

She didn’t answer him, but he could hear her talking to
someone else. Was that a male voice? She had moved on already?

“Hi, I’m sorry, Jared needed to know what he should do now
that the bridal reception had consumed all their preordered wine, but I guess
you don’t really care about that, do you?”

He relaxed. What an idiot he was for jumping to the
worst-case scenario. “I don’t know. It could be interesting.”

She chuckled. “Trust me, it’s not. But it’s been very busy
here and the Larsens are out of town so I’m handling all three inns. I guess
it’s good experience. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. Still, I’m
looking forward to their return.”

He paced to the end of the porch. “When will that be?”

“Tomorrow morning, thank God. I swear, as soon as I fill
them in on what they missed, I’m crawling into my own bed for a long sleep.”

A sinking feeling grabbed hold of his gut. “Oh, so I guess
getting together tomorrow wouldn’t be good for you.”

“I’m sorry, Zach. Tomorrow evening I promised my mom I’d
come for dinner.”

He nodded to a couple of guys as they passed him to enter
the bar. “Well, you shouldn’t disappoint your mom. I don’t want her to have a
bad impression of me.”

“Are you kidding? My mom would love you. Actually…”

The silence lasted too long. Zach checked his phone. Did he
lose the signal? Wouldn’t be the first time among the hills, but nope, he still
had service. “Bea? Actually what?”

“If you like, you could come with me. That is if you want. I
can’t guarantee it will be comfortable, but it will be interesting.”

His heart skipped a beat. Meet her mom? This girl moved
fast. Was he reading too much into this? “Sure, I’d be happy to. Where does she
live?” Hell, what was he thinking?

“She lives in Wrenborough, that’s right in between us, so
why don’t I meet you? Let’s say the Wrenborough Depot at five?”

Zach leaned against one of the porch posts. “I can do that.
But why do you say the evening will be interesting?” She didn’t answer, but he
could hear someone else speaking to her, this time a female.

She brought her attention back to him. “Trust me, it’s
always interesting because I never know which father will be there. Listen, I
have to run. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

She ended the call.

Zach clipped his phone back on his belt and shook his head.
She didn’t say “which father” did she?

Striding back into the bar, he found Josh chewing contently
on moose balls. Zach picked up the basket with two balls left. “Mind if I have
some?”

Josh shook his head. “Nope, I’m full.”

Zach took a swallow of beer and popped the two balls into
his mouth. The tangy taste of pineapple and seasoned moose meat glided across
his tongue. A few more would have been nice. He gave Josh a disgruntled look.

Josh ignored it. “Did you talk to Mystery Woman?”

“Yeah, I’m going to see her tomorrow night.”

Josh slammed his hand on the bar. “See, what’d I tell ya?
I’m a genius.”

Zach shook his head. “I think your Harvard degree already
made that clear, Josh, but thanks for the nudge. What do you say we hit another
place? It’s the least I can do. We need to find you a mystery woman too.”

Josh polished off his beer. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

* * * * *

Bea plopped onto the office chair and closed her eyes. She
opened one to check the time. Three in the morning. Technically tomorrow, but
she couldn’t rest until the Larsens returned.

The evening had gone perfectly for all the guests and
special occasions, but for the staff, it had been tough. She must be managing
the business incorrectly. That or she’d been lucky to land a crazy night.
Either way, she’d done it.

Sitting up, she opened her eyes and looked at the desk
filled with paper and started to organize. She found the day’s mail under a
band contract for an event next week and sorted through it.

She came to an envelope with “To Bea Rappaccini” typed on
the outside. That was strange. One of her friends must have dropped it off for
her. Curious, she slit it open and unfolded the single page enclosed.

I know your secret.

Huh? What did that mean? She turned the page over. It was
blank. Okay, this was strange. What secret? She didn’t have any secrets. She
had one big secret, but no one could know… She dropped the letter, her breath
catching in her throat as a shiver sped up her spine. No. No one could know
about her poisonous nature. No way. Yet her fear persisted.

Had she been followed? But even then, a person couldn’t
know. The only people who knew her secret were her mother, her six fathers and
Grandma Beatrice. And the only one of that lot who might be upset would be her
father Jim, a headhunter by trade and from what her mom said, quite wealthy.
They had no communication with him, but then why would he write her a letter
like this? He may have been angry about sharing her mom years ago, but that had
nothing to do with her.

Shaking her head, she put the letter back in the envelope
and stuffed it in her purse. It was probably a friend joking around about her
upcoming birthday. She made it a big secret every year. Yes, that’s all it was.

She didn’t buy her own conclusion, but what could she do? If
someone wanted to threaten her by exposing her unique genetic problem, sending
a letter with no instructions didn’t accomplish anything.

Great, just what she needed, another pool of water she had
no idea how to swim in. First, she had her strange attraction and feelings for
Zach and now a mysterious message. The letter left her no recourse but to wait
and see what happened. But Zach she would see again tomorrow night and was sure
to mess that up. Except for Phillip, her high-school boyfriend, she’d never
been on a second date or brought a man to Mom’s house.

What she needed was advice. She scanned the semi-organized
desk and decided it looked good enough. Kayla had the night shift. Though a few
years younger than herself, Kayla had been in many long-term relationships,
including an engagement. She had to know how it all worked.