Hot as Hell (11 page)

T
wo hours later, Lexy glanced around Noah’s room and wondered what the space looked like before she claimed it as her own. Another trip to the gift shop had resulted in bags and receipts being strewn about…well, everywhere.

Clutter in the form of blankets, pillows, notepads, and other items she had collected in the last twenty-four hours sat in stacks on top of the desk. Her newly purchased collection of unneeded T-shirts, sweats, and sneakers took up just about every inch of available space on the bed and floor. She even pulled out two of Noah’s polo shirts and added them to her pile of goodies.

If she could find a few years’ worth of old newspapers and magazines, throw in some garbage and a bunch of vintage-store rejects, the place would resemble her parents’ house. And the realization scared the hell out of her.

Her entire life had been a battle against this. She grew up never being able to have friends to the house out of a mix of embarrassment and parental pressure. Living with the constant worry that everything she owned was dirty or lost or at the bottom of some mess somewhere in the house plagued every single day of her life until she went off to college at age seventeen.

Her parents collected and piled, and the compulsion never ended. Not when a neighbor had peeked over the fence between the properties and saw the mountain of rusty furniture blocking the back door, then called the police to report the fire hazard. Not when Child Services paid a visit after a teacher expressed some concern about an essay Gray wrote in grade school about the state of his family’s kitchen. Not when she and Gray got older, moved out, and begged their parents to get help.

While growing up, her parents simply moved to avoid neighborhood questions. Eventually they excelled at keeping their lifestyle private so that no one asked questions. They became secretive about what went on behind the front door, all while presenting an eccentric but otherwise relatively normal front to the world on the other side of the big gate separating them from everyone else.

Lexy never expected to repeat the pattern. Gray did not exhibit any of the same pathological issues, but she did. A few years of therapy taught her to control the excessive behavior. To keep the madness focused. Noah’s support and refusal to judge either her or her parents about this problem helped as well.

Even with the breakup, she had her life somewhat under control and had a purpose. Then a dead guy showed up on her floor and everything unraveled. Now with her life spinning and her relationship with Noah all screwed up, that racing feeling deep down in her chest would not stop.

She managed to evade his questions about the recent search into his background. The one she had her private investigator run. That did not explain the previous, deeper check on him. She could not explain that one. Knowing Noah and how he led his life, she was not surprised to hear that people were digging into his life.

He had gone to the main gate to get Gray almost a half hour ago. With a crime scene on the resort property and a killer on the loose, only registered guests, the police, and resort employees were allowed in and out without an escort. That meant she had about two minutes to—

A key rattled in the lock just before the door opened and Noah filled the open space. “We’re here.”

With a duffel bag in his hand, Noah looked around the floor for a place to step. After a few seconds, he set the bag down on the small porch outside the room.

“Why are you putting my stuff…” The laughter in Gray’s voice died as he stepped from behind Noah and glanced around the chaotic room. “Are my mom and dad here?”

“That’s not funny,” Lexy grumbled.

Noah grabbed an empty plastic bag by his feet and crumpled it into a small ball. “I see you went shopping again.”

“I needed a few things.”

Noah looked poised to crack a joke, but then his lips fell. He chucked the bag into the garbage and kept his mouth closed.

Something about her face convinced him to shut up. Lexy just wished she knew what caused her to have that sort of power over Noah. If she could harness that gift of silence, they might have a shot at putting their relationship back together.

“Good to see you, sis.” Gray dodged a pile of clothes with an exaggerated step and wrapped her in a tight bear hug. “You okay?”

“Except for the part where the police think I killed a guy, yeah.” She hated to give up the security and step out of Gray’s embrace, but she did.

Gray winked at her right before he massaged her shoulder. “I heard.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m a suspect, too. Want to rub my shoulders?” Noah asked in a mocking voice.

“Never.”

“Good choice.”

“So, what’s the supposed motive for you?” Gray asked Noah.

Noah picked up some of the items she discarded earlier and put them on a folded pile on her bed. “Jealousy. The detective thinks your sister was cheating on me.”

Since Lexy would never be unfaithful, would never even think to be, and would have killed Noah if he had strayed while they were dating, the suggestion grated on her nerves. “Hard to sleep around on you since we’re not together.”

Gray made a hissing noise through his teeth. “Ouch.”

“She’s testing me,” Noah said.

“I wouldn’t joke about that one, sis. Engaged or not, I can’t imagine what Noah would do to the poor sucker who tried to climb into your bed.”

“Listen to your brother. The man talks sense.” Noah wound the T-shirt he was holding into a tight ball.

Lexy considered pointing out how Noah had believed she was sleeping with someone else, namely William, but abandoned the idea when she saw a black haze move behind Noah’s eyes.

Still, for some reason, she felt the need to explain and defend herself. “I’m just saying that we would have to be a couple for me to be unfaithful.”

“We felt pretty coupled last night in that bed.”

Gray stopped in the middle of sitting down on the bed in question and shot back up to a standing position again. “Aw, shit.”

“Noah!”

“What?” Noah held his hands up with her blue dress hanging off his fingertips.

Memories of him stripping the dress off her assailed her. From the fake innocent expression on Noah’s face, she knew he was doing some remembering of his own.

“You’re being rude just to be rude,” she said.

He folded the dress with a reverence that made her internal temperature spike. “Honey, as far as I’m concerned we are back together.”

“Since I get a say about our relationship, we’re not.”

A huge grin lit up his face. “At least you finally admit we have a relationship again.”

The man made her want to hit something.

“This sounds like a familiar argument.” Gray pulled out the desk chair and pointed down at the seat. “Anything I should know before I use this?”

Was nothing private anymore
? “No.”

“Well, not from us,” Noah said at the same time.

Gray’s mouth twisted in distaste. Probably had something to do with his exaggerated fear of germs. “I’m beginning to hate Utah.”

“Join the club.” Noah motioned for Gray to take the chair while Noah sat on the edge of the bed. “At least there aren’t a bunch of reporters at the gate anymore. Tate or the police must have chased them off.”

“If a murder happened here, and reporters are here, tell me again why you two are still here.”

“The police want us to stay in Utah.” Lexy did not move from her position resting against the desk as she stared at Gray.

Instead of his usual dark suit, he wore khakis and a polo. But the only thing casual about him was his wardrobe choice. He joked with Noah as usual, but the deep lines around his mouth spoke of the tension running through him.

“But why this resort? Why not one without a murder rate?” Gray asked.

“Look around the area. There aren’t many hotels here.” Noah’s voice grew rougher. “Besides that, I’m not leaving here until I know why someone chose to kill a guy on Lexy’s floor.”

Yeah, they all wanted to figure out that part. Lexy kept hoping for a logical explanation. One that did not involve Noah or the family company.

“Why are you here?” she asked Gray.

“A guy can’t visit his sister?”

“Miles from home on a workday? No. What’s going on?”

Gray glanced at Noah before answering. When Noah gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, Gray fessed up. “Noah called and told me about Henderson and his connection to the firm. I grabbed some paperwork, what little I could find, which is a topic I intend to discuss with you, and caught the first plane out this morning.”

So this was business. Lexy could not help but smile. That was Gray. Always ready to step in and resolve a work crisis. “Worried about the business PR angle? That’s supposed to be my job.”

Gray frowned at her joke. “More like I’m worried my baby sister walked into something dangerous. I’m not a complete jackass, you know.”

Noah nodded with mock seriousness. “Yeah, not
complete
.”

“If I had known Utah was so dangerous…” Gray let his voice trail off.

The overprotective angle was sweet, but annoying. “What? You’d ground me?”

“The idea has some merit,” Noah said, then tried act innocent when she scowled at him. “What did I say?”

“I’m not sure we can blame the entire state for the death of one guy,” Lexy pointed out.

“And where the hell were you when all of this happened?” Gray leveled the question at Noah. “I thought you were the big, protective fiancé in this scenario. What were you doing?”

“Dancing with Lexy.”

Enough people knew the intimate details of her love life. “That’s not really relevant to anything.”

Gray shook his head as if trying to believe what he was hearing. “A guy got killed and you went dancing?”

Noah nodded. “You’re confused on the timing, but yeah.”

“Unbelievable.”

Lexy understood Gray’s sentiment. The whole situation bordered on impossible. It was as if the world tilted and everything went off center for twenty-four hours.

“Isn’t that why you sent me to find her, Gray? You wanted me to win Lexy back.”

“Later,” Gray muttered under his breath.

“Wasn’t that the point of telling me you didn’t know why Lexy changed the computer access and took my files? Of this entire travel exercise to Utah?” Noah asked the questions in a deceptively quiet voice, but the impact landed like a bomb in the middle of the room.

The words registered in Lexy’s brain a half second before Gray reacted. “
What
?”

Gray’s shoulders collapsed. “Damn it, Noah. I expected you to keep information to yourself.”

Noah shrugged. “I tried. Your sister’s not stupid.”

“Wait a second.” She yelled to get their attention. Once she had it, she unleashed her pent-up anger on her brother. “You sent Noah after me like some lame bodyguard?”

Noah made a face. “Lame?”

Lexy ignored Noah. “One idiot at a time” was her motto of the moment. “Is that what happened, Gray?”

All six feet of her brother squirmed in his chair. “Not exactly.”

“That’s exactly how it was.” Noah leaned back with his palms against the bed.

Gray’s face turned red. “Would you shut up before she kills me?”

Detective Sommerville was right. The two men in her life spent a lot of time trying to protect her from imaginary insults and threats. Shame they didn’t know that most of the time what she needed help with was them.

“Don’t blame Noah for this mess, Gray.”

Noah beamed at her. “Thanks, honey.”

“Don’t you start. I’m dealing with Gray right now. Your turn will come.” She glared the smile right off Noah’s face then went back to mentally planning Gray’s painful death. “I’m still waiting for an explanation from you.”

Gray took a deep breath and visibly calmed down. “Look, Alexa. It isn’t what you think.”

“That you got Noah all fired up?”

Noah scoffed. “Oh, that part’s true.”

“I should kick your ass,” Gray mumbled.

Noah’s shoulders tensed. “You can try.”

She knew the boasts amounted to nothing more than empty talk. Gray and Noah had a near-sibling relationship. Sometimes that included a strange male-bonding ritual where they threatened to beat the crap out of each other. Some days she was tempted to let them. Not today. Not when she had so many questions that needed answering.

“I came here to help with the Henderson situation,” Gray said.

Noah nodded in agreement. “And I figured if we told her that we knew about her office games, then she’d tell us why she’s really here.”

That brought the fighting to a close. The men stopping sniping at each other and stared at her. Confusion knotted Gray’s forehead. Satisfaction pounded off Noah.

The weight of the silence nearly knocked her over.

“Why are you here?” Gray asked.

A double team. She should have seen it coming. Noah rarely did anything without a backup plan. “Don’t change the subject.”

“That is the subject, Lexy.” Something behind Noah’s eyes softened.

The sweet, honest look of interest was enough to reel her in. Almost.

“Gray’s interference is the subject,” she insisted in a stall for time.

“Fine. Let’s get that out of the way.” Noah leaned down with his elbows against his knees. “Gray?”

Gray focused his attention on his friend and partner. “She’s being stubborn about you and cutting off your access to get back at you.”

“That’s not true,” she said but neither of them noticed.

“I thought if I made it sound as if I couldn’t help and that you had to find her and figure it out for yourself, that you’d have an excuse to talk with her and, maybe, she’d stop being so damn stubborn.”

“Excuse me?” Sounded like more heavy-handed male bullshit to her.

Noah saw it differently, since he nodded his head. “I can understand that.”

“That makes one of us.” What she saw was men-gone-nuts.

Gray reached out and took her hand. “Alexa, you love this idiot. I thought if I made you deal with each other, you might stop all of this insane and unnecessary worrying. It was as much for you two as it was for the business. I can’t have you seeking revenge by cutting Noah off without explanation.”