Their Unexpected Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

Sitting there, she turned the AC on full blast and fanned herself. “Holy schmoley,” she murmured. “He’s, wow.” They had to have broken the mold when they created him. That much was for sure. Maybe she should have just given him her number. That way it would have made it easier for her to actually get a date with him, but then again did she really want to set herself up for another round of heartache? Nope. She sure didn’t.

* * * *

Scythe waited until he heard her little car escape the lot before he walked back into the chaos of the bar. “Skittles,” he murmured as he looked down at the jukebox. “I want everything on her sent to my phone.”

“Copy that,” came to him from their techie.

“Mine, too,” voiced Sully and Mac both from their vantage points in the bar, back on mission so that they could nail the fucker and then move on to the most important part of life, ensuring that their little bond-mate realized she belonged to them. Oh yeah, Scythe was sure that was going to be one hell of a ride.

With her earbuds on, Katherine listened to her cleaning mix and danced around with her mop, singing into it from time to time as she cleaned. Yes, she very well could have easily hired a cleaning crew to come in and prep the resort for opening, but she chose instead to hold them off until the last four days before opening to do the things that she herself couldn’t do. Katherine was honestly enjoying touching every part of her “baby” in preparation for the sold-out weekend months ahead.

This was her brainchild, the resort that catered to cancer survivors, men or women. Oh yes, Wilder Resort was truly a nod to her father, a way to ensure that his memory lived on forever.

Making another turn with the mop, she did a
Risky Business
move, sliding across the hardwood floors in her socks and laughing happily as she did so, and promptly falling onto her rear when she happened to catch sight of the man standing there in the open front door.

Scythe looked at her and couldn’t help but grin, leaning his bulk against the doorframe with his large arms crossed over his chest. “I tried calling,” he admitted. “When you didn’t answer I got a little worried so I figured that I would come on out here and have a check on you to make sure that you were all right.”

Holding the mop before her, Katherine could only look at him, her mouth working but no sound coming out. Finally, however, she shook her head and said, “You can come in.” She knew that inviting a complete and total stranger into her home was dumb, but there she did it. “I forgot your name,” she admitted.

“Well, ma’am, that would be because you hightailed it out of there before I could tell you my name,” he said with a boyish grin, a dimple showing itself in the bright light of morning and clarity of the high-mountain air.

“And you’re going to make me ask…?” she said with a grin and led him to the kitchen, the high-end, restaurant-grade equipment being passed up for a battered coffeepot all alone on the back counter. “I prefer coffee from this one far more than the hoity-toity brands that I have for the guests next week.” Good old-fashioned Maxwell House coffee was her vice, well, that and mint-pistachio ice cream.

“Well, I could make you work for it, but I won’t,” he said with a grin and accepted the black coffee she passed his way. “Since you are feeding me real coffee and not that watered-down crap that too many people like,” he admitted. “Treasach Campbell, but you can call me Trey.” He didn’t want to give her the true name that his friends and brothers-in-arms called him. “Imagine my surprise when I found out who had bought the old Coleman camp,” he said and took a sip of the coffee, sighing happily as the strong caffeine hit his system.

Katherine grinned and held her mug with both hands, leaning against the counter, “Huh, me?” she asked with a grin. Treasach, what a very old-world type name. The strong Gaelic name suited him a great deal. “It’s truly a wonderful place. The town is spectacular and the people are wonderful.”
Well, most of them anyway.
There was in truth a dark underside to the small, idyllic community that frankly scared the crap out of Katherine.

“Yeah, well, not all of our little town is wonderful,” he said softly. “Starting with The Bar. You should never go there alone, Kat. The men that frequent that place would rather kill a person than look at them, so please, for the sake of my sanity, don’t go there again.”

Katherine knew that she should be worried about this man. She had barely told him her name, at least she was sure she hadn’t told him her name, but he had still found her and now he stood before her sipping coffee with her. “Well, good thing for you that I’m going to let that demand from you slide.” At his look, she said, “I do not take well to being told what to do,” she admitted to him.

That had him grinning, but he was a very smart wolf and hid the grin behind taking another sip of his coffee. He loved a woman with spunk, and surprisingly enough this woman had just that. “I will keep that in mind,” he teased. “But the truth stands. Even though this small town is one that is made up primarily of family and is close knit, there is a darker side to it as well. That is truth, Katherine. On the outskirts of town there is a large strip of land that is owned by the Hell’s Angels and they are the worst of the worst. Just promise me that you will be careful, darlin’.”

“Katherine,” she murmured with a grin. “Not darling, not love, not honey, but Katherine. You don’t know me well enough to call me a sweetheart name.” She thought it was super sweet that he was calling her that, and a part of her, a part she had thought was forever hidden away, reveled in it and wanted more.

Winking at her, he said, “Whatever you say, darlin’.” With a crooked, dimpled grin he saluted her with his coffee mug.

Rolling her eyes, Katherine let out a huff of breath but grinned all the same. “Oh, you are incorrigible.”

“Oh, darlin’, this is nothing yet,” he advised.

Leading him to the porch, she took a seat on one of the wicker rocking chairs there and watched as he settled his large bulk into one, too. Lifting one leg, she curled it under the other and began to rock with the other foot. “So tell me, Trey, how did you find me?” she asked with a grin.

“Well now.” He watched her and was amazed at just how at ease she was and how truly wonderfully she fit in here in this country setting, even if she had the accent of one who had grown up either around Fisher Island or maybe Palm Beach, in other words, around a great deal of money. “That was actually pretty easy,” he admitted. “I overheard you telling Manic, by the way, that was the man you were introduced to as Murphy,” he murmured. “I’m honestly surprised that he…no, don’t need to go there.” He was going to say that he was utterly amazed that the large man hadn’t hit her at least, or worse, but he wasn’t going to upset her like that. “And you said that you wanted mint-pistachio ice cream so I went to the grocer and talked to him for a bit. He’s a family friend, by the way,” he added with a grin. “And he happened to tell me that you bought this place.” He gestured with his hand. “So here I am. Well, here I am when you didn’t answer your phone.”

That actually made a lot more sense than she had thought earlier. “I didn’t answer my phone because I was cleaning.” And dancing, but she didn’t have to say that. He had caught her in the second part of it all, so there it was.

“About that.” He was really curious on this next answer. “Why don’t you have a staff of people getting this place ready? Why are you here alone doing it?” He knew that she was alone because he, Sully, and Mac had all done a little reconnaissance this morning to ensure that no one had followed Katherine home last night.

“This is my way of freeing myself from my past,” she admitted to him simply. Why she was telling him this, she didn’t know, but she felt at ease with him, as if she could tell him anything at all. “I will bring in the full staff three or four days before I open for the biggest things and also for the final touches, but for now I’m having a good time cleaning, ensuring that everything is just how I want it, and in the process, I’m interviewing staff.”

Scythe nodded “Are you doing background checks on them all?” He couldn’t help but ask. “Because if you are, I know someone who could help out with that.” Skittles could find out if a person farted in the fourth grade and blamed it on another if he wanted to. The man was just that good. “Before you even begin to say anything about it,” he said and held up his hand, “It’s because the company that I work for is a security specialist company and they are still building their client base.” Bulldog was going to kill him for bringing her in, but she would be family and that was all that mattered, so he wouldn’t bitch for too long. “I can hook you up with an appointment with our tech guys so that they can check out those that are your final choices to ensure that you can rest assured that their backgrounds are clear and all is kosher.”

“I would like that, thank you. I had actually just thought to send their information off to one of those background-check companies that you can find online. This would be so very much better, however, because it would be lovely to have a singular person to deal with instead of something so impersonal as a computer.”

“Glad I could help, darlin’,” he said with an easy smile and put his cup on the small table between them. “So tell me about yourself,” he said and turned his chair slightly so that he could watch her while she talked, even though he already knew everything there was to know about her, right down to her father’s death.

“Not much to tell, really. I have an older brother.” Estranged. Even though she didn’t voice it, the emotion dripping from her voice and the way her body tensed spoke it clearly. “My father passed from colon cancer just over a year ago and that’s why I’m opening this place,” she said softly. Her hand gestured to the expanse of the property and continued. “This is a resort for cancer survivors, a place where they can come with their loved ones to recover from treatment or even, in the worst cases, where they can prepare for what’s to come next. I truly hope that the townspeople understand the concept and embrace it.” So far those she had spoken with completely understood. The chamber members were very happy to have her and the resort coming to their town and embraced her fully, completely.

“I can understand that. It’s a good thing you’re doin’ here, darlin’. So many people don’t understand the stress and pain that not only the cancer patient goes through but their family as well. The fact that you are thinking of both sides of that, it just truly amazes me,” he admitted to her.

That had her smiling and nodding. “Well, it’s not just the patient who goes through treatment but the ones who take them to treatment, who are there for them when the illness of chemo hits them and so on. It takes more than the doctors and nurses to bring a person through treatment, but the family as well.”

It was clear in the way that the woman spoke, in the way that she held herself, and all that she had said to him that she blamed herself. She blamed herself for the death of her father. Reaching out, he covered her hand with his large, darkly tanned, and heavily callused one and squeezed it as he said, “Baby, you can’t blame yourself for his passing. His passing was something that you couldn’t have stopped even had you tried.” Scythe found himself pulling her out of her chair when she began to sob, the tears breaking his heart and making him want to do nothing but protect her.

Holding her close, Scythe rocked her and whispered, “Let it all out, baby.” He brushed a kiss to the crown of her hair. He looked out over the lawn where he saw Mac as he shifted from his vantage point. He wagered that Sully was close as well, close and protecting their Kat and soon meeting her and explaining to her just what she meant to them, all three.

The pain of the past seemed to hit her hard as she sat there in this strange man’s lap. God help her, she knew she shouldn’t be there pouring her soul out and letting it flow out of her in the form of tears that were soaking his shirt, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Pulling one of her ever-present Kleenex from her pocket, she wiped her nose and eyes and shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to him. “I don’t know why the heck I just broke down, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.” The honesty of her confession was in the shy whisper that she spoke in.

Scythe knew why. He was positive that she had broken down because her soul was trying to open up to her bond-mate. Her soul was trying to ready herself for them. The fact that he was there touching her and her other two bond-mates were close, even if she didn’t know it, meant that the thread between the four of them was strengthening and growing by leaps and bounds. “I’ve been told more than once that I’m easy to talk to.” Well, he seemed to get the truth from people when he was there and interrogating others.

“You really are,” she said softly. “Still, I’m sorry that I have wet your shirt with my tears.”

“Don’t worry about it, darlin’,” he told her with a smile. “It will all dry out, promise you that one.” He continued to rock her in the rocking chair, holding onto her and simply enjoying the feeling of having her there in his arms. She was slowly coming to accept him. Hell, just the fact she hadn’t grumbled at him again for calling her
darlin’
was a serious bonus.

Scythe couldn’t help but grin. He wondered if his little Kat realized just how much she was petting him, how she seemed to be curled up into him, and how much she trusted him. He was well and truly grateful the entire being of were-folk’s bond-mates that weren’t were-folk themselves changed when they met their were-folk bond-mate. Part of him felt a little bad at not telling her right away what was happening, but in truth he was enjoying the feel of her in his arms far too much. He was glad that Sully and Mac agreed that it was best for him to approach her first since he had met her, well, first. Damn, the luck of the draw was actually with him on this.

“I’m sorry.” She scrambled out of his lap and stood before him. Brushing her hands up and down her thighs, she looked at the rather large man and just how right he looked sitting there on her porch. Dear God, help her. She had only met this guy and already she was feeling as if—no, no she would not and could not think like that.
No. Absolutely. Not.