Waking Hearts (43 page)

He heard Allie giggle and turned toward her. “What’s so funny?”

“Do you think there’s a town in the outback with kangaroo shifters?” Her cheeks were pink. “Koalas? I’m sorry. I know this is serious.”

Sean tried to control his smile and failed. “Wombats. The fearsome were-wombat. I thought it was only an urban legend.”

Ollie chuckled, but his eyes never left the snake in the cage.

He was thinking more about crocodiles.

“How secure is this thing?” he asked.

“Henry put screen under it so Ashford can’t burrow. As for smaller forms that could fit through the chicken wire… He hasn’t tried any.”

Just then, the taipan shifted back to human and leaned against a post. “I’d like some water please.”

“Answer our questions,” Ollie said, “and we’ll give you some.”

Ashford was silent.

“Fine. Just so you know, it gets pretty hot out here.”

“You people are animals.”

Sean said, “Well, yes, we are. And so are you.”

“I’ll tell you about Lobo. I’m not answering any questions about myself.”

Sean exchanged a look with Ollie, who shrugged.

“Sure,” Ollie said. “Tell us all about Lobo.”

“His name is Efrén Abano, and he hates you all.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” Ashford smiled. “He isn’t one for chatting.”

“What does he want?”

“Money. Power. Revenge.”

“For what?”

“As I said, he isn’t one for chatting.” Ashford cracked his neck. “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”

Allie stepped forward. “Did you kill my ex-husband?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he had something I wanted,” Ashford said. “And he had information that Efrén wanted about this town. I wanted the money, and I didn’t want Efrén to have the information. It was a simple calculation, really.”

“Simple,” Allie murmured. “Right.”

Ashford started smiling. “I’m going to enjoy knowing he’s out there, waiting for you all. Eager to take your territory and kill your young.” Then his smile dropped. “Or maybe I won’t.”

With a macabre grin, Ashford opened his mouth and hissed, short venomous fangs on either side of his front teeth.

Sean shouted, “No!”

Ashford sank his teeth into the inside of his left bicep, inches from his heart. He held on, pumping venom into his own veins until his body began to twitch. His back arched and sweat bloomed over his body as the poison took hold.

Within minutes, he was unconscious. Within a half an hour, he was dead.

The Quinns hid the body. And Ollie was right.

It would never be found.

HE held her on his chest that night when he fell asleep, ignoring her protests that she was too heavy.

She wasn’t too heavy. She was necessary.

So was making love, even if it meant waking in the dead of night and being extra quiet. He needed to feel her alive against him. Needed to feel her heat when he sank so deep in her that he knew he’d never escape whole. She wasn’t just in his heart, she
was
his heart.

He moved slowly and silently, holding her on his lap so he could touch her face. Her eyes were closed. Her head fell back. Her mouth was soft and open, swollen from his kisses, flushed with desire.

“Ollie,” she whispered.

His mind flashed back to the twisting serpent who’d struck at her. The careful dance of her paws as she dodged. Her patience, waiting for the predator who had threatened her young.

She’d waited for hours.

He wrapped his arms around her, pressing her so close neither one of them could move. He held her, just like that, until his heart stopped racing. Ollie thought he’d known what fear tasted like, but he hadn’t. Not until a small blond woman and four precious kids invaded his house and his heart. He’d thought he loved her before.

He had no idea.

Ollie brought his hands up to cradle her head, kissing her over and over across her face as she began to move again. He would be patient. Love her for hours. Until the hours he’d spent waiting for the serpent to strike were washed away by her touch.

He could never, ever let her go.

One week later

Ollie stood, hands on his hips, watching Alex and Kevin unload more bags. “I really don’t like this.”

“Ollie.” She pressed her hand to his cheek. “You knew we wouldn’t be staying forever.”

Nope. That was actually what he’d been planning on.

“The kids need to be back in their own house,” she said. “They need their rooms, and their routines, and their memories… all of that. At least for a while. They need to be able to remember their dad and grieve.”

He shook his head. “If you’re here, it’s harder to protect you.”

“We don’t have any evidence—other than the threats of a dead man—that anyone is out to get us. And besides, it’s not like I’m banishing you from the house. I want you here for dinner at least three times a week.”

He fought back a smile. “I have a better kitchen.”

“Don’t remind me. I miss your refrigerator already.”

“It’s your fridge. I bought it for you.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You gonna deliver it over here?”

“No.” He kissed her hard and fast. “I’m holding it hostage until you come home.”

Then he went to help the kids unload her old, crappy minivan and move back into their house, cursing his promise to let her take everything at her own pace. As soon as she agreed to marry him, he was buying her a new car. Something with armor plating, maybe. And then he was fixing up that truck for her so she’d have a fun car too. He knew she wanted that thing. Then he was going to buy a boat and a trailer to match the Ford. Because she liked to go to the river, and because he could.

And if she tried to argue with him, he’d just kiss her. That seemed to be the most effective strategy so far.

He caught Mark sulking on the back porch.

“Hey,” Ollie called. “What’s up?”

“Dude, I thought we were staying with you.”

Ollie sighed and sat down next to him. “I know. I was kind of hoping you were too.”

“So why are we moving back? Chris’s and my room at your house is way bigger. And you have a creek. And a dog. And Kevin said he’d help us build a fort down in the tunnels.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna be happening anytime soon.”

Mark shrugged. “Still.”

Just then, Loralie’s delighted squeal broke through the air.

“My dinosaurs! Mama, my dinosaurs are still here!”

Ollie looked down at Mark. “You guys need to be here a while longer.”

Mark’s lip pushed out in a pout. “Fine. Is my mom still your girlfriend?”

“Hell, I hope so.”

“Don’t say hell. You’ll get in trouble.”

“Thanks, bud.” He put his arm around the boy. “You know I love you, right?”

Mark’s little body went tense. “Yeah?”

“Like you were my own, Marky.” He bent down and kissed the top of the boy’s head. “And that will never change. Whether you’re living in my house or not.”

Mark let out a long breath. “Okay.”

“You have any more questions?”

“No.”

“Good. Go help your mom.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Six months later

ALLIE PUSHED OPEN THE DOOR and stepped back as if she’d been burned.

“Hey.” Alex walked down the hall. “What’s wrong?”

She put a hand over her mouth. “That’s… um, that’s an office.”

Alex frowned. “Well, yeah.”

“Like, a real office. With a desk and a computer, and… Is that a coffee machine on the table over there?”

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s a little kitchenette in here. I thought since you’d be meeting with clients, especially for catered events, you might—”

“Oh my God!” Allie backed against the opposite wall. “Alex, I can’t do this.”

He smiled. “Of course you can. We’re not even open for another six months. You have time.”

“I don’t even have clothes pretty enough for that office.”

“So go shopping. You have the money now.” He smirked. “Ollie loves it when you go shopping.”

Allie stood up straight. “Alex McCann, what did he tell you?”

“Nothing.”

“You are such a liar.”

“Look!” He pointed at the open door. “You have your own bathroom too.”

“Stop trying to distract me with…” She gasped. “I have my own little garden?”

“Yep. Walled off for privacy. All desert plantings. The fountain goes in next week.” He spread his hands. “Think of this office as a small taste of the resort. When clients come to meet with you, they need to be able to experience the food. The atmosphere.” A speaker crackled to life somewhere, and soft Native American flute music drifted in. “The music.”

Allie started to nod and walk around. “You want them to feel at home.”

“No, I want them to be more relaxed than they are at home. I want them to feel like they’re already on vacation.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”

“I know you can.” He sat in the chair across from her desk. “You can personalize the space a bit, but not too much. Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. It needs to reflect the resort and the amenities. Not my tastes. And besides, it’s beautiful, Alex.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

“Really.” She tentatively sat in the soft brown leather chair behind the desk she didn’t quite believe was hers. “It’s all so beautiful. It’s going to be amazing. I just know it’s going to be a success, and I will help in any way I can.”

“Think you can get your boyfriend to ease up on me a bit?”

“Don’t ask for miracles. Besides, you know he’ll come around.”

There was just one more thing she had to tackle with Alex. Just one more thing she wasn’t sure about.

“Alex, you know Loralie is going into school in the fall, so my hours are pretty easy because the kids are more independent. And of course my dad still helps. But… You’ve invested so much money and time in me taking this job. I guess I need to know that
if
something changes… Well, I mean if—”

“If you and Buster Bear end up having more kids, we’ll figure it out.”

She blushed. “It’s not… I mean, we haven’t even really talked about it. I just don’t want to rule anything out. We’re still young.”

“I get it. Totally. And Allie, there are so many kids popping up around here, I’m thinking of building on a day care center.” He looked out the window, but a furtive smile crept to his lips.

“Why…” Allie gasped and clapped her hands. “She is, isn’t she?”

Alex nodded deliberately and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. My wife would kill me if I spilled any secrets that you should not ask her about regarding things that may or may not be happening in around seven months’ time.”

Allie laughed. “It’s absolutely killing you not to tell everyone, isn’t it?”

He threw his head back and groaned. “She’s going to drive me crazy.”

“Good practice for when the baby comes then.”

ALLIE snuggled into Ollie’s side on the couch in his office. Now that she and Ollie weren’t living together, they had to grab the time they had. It was one of the reasons she’d continued working at the Cave even though her finances had eased considerably.

It was Wednesday night, and most of the regulars were gone. They weren’t technically closed, but she saw his eyes drooping so she dragged him to the office and let Tracey man the bar.

“Ted is pregnant,” she whispered.

His eyes flew open. “No way.”

“Yep. I’m not supposed to know about it. Alex kind of spilled the beans yesterday. So don’t say anything.”

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Well, you know I have so much trouble not gossiping…”

Allie laughed.

She laughed a lot now. She laughed when her kids dog-piled Ollie on the couch. She laughed when they ate dinner at night. She even managed to laugh—and maybe shriek a little—when she was teaching Kevin to drive.

Ollie had taken over by the second lesson.

Even though they weren’t living with him, the big man was so much a part of their lives, separate homes almost felt like a formality. He didn’t sleep over and neither did she, except for the rare nights that the kids were all gone.

But when the oven broke, he was the one to fix it. When the car finally gave out, Ollie was the one who drove her to buy the used SUV he grudgingly approved of, even if he wanted something newer and fancier for her.

He’d been the one to hold Loralie during the small memorial service they’d held for Joe, and he’d helped to scatter his ashes by the river with the kids.

“Hey,” she said, brushing her fingers against his lips as his eyes started to close. “I love you.”

He smiled and kissed her fingertips. “Love you too.”