Chapter Three
Allison rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. Not only had she not gotten enough sleep last night, but now she had a throbbing foot to match her pain thanks to her floor. And of course, there seemed to be a never-ending stream of people who wanted meetings with her today. For such a small town, there seemed to be a lot of people who had issues.
There was no question that it was going to be a very long day.
She looked at the paper in front of her. A few names were circled, but she knew that several of the people weren’t going to work for the job no matter how desperate she was to get that damn hole in her floor patched. Her top choices were all booked solid for weeks.
That left the second-string choices. Old Man Jenkins was about 80 million years old, give or take 25 million, and nearly blind.
There was no way in hell she was going to have him repairing the hole, despite how much she liked him. She was certain this was going to require using a saw, and the idea of watching him nearly cut off a finger gave her chills.
Then there was Sam, who liked to get drunk and yell at the cars that passed by his house. Again, the idea of watching him work with power tools just made her more than a little uneasy.
She supposed she could look up some video online, but fixing a hole like that seemed well beyond her abilities. After all, she’d just mastered getting into her bedroom when she accidently locked herself out.
She jumped when her secretary, Celine, knocked on the door. The woman looked as if she had something to say, but instead looked at Allison with concern.
“You okay?” Celine asked.
Allison groaned. “You mean besides the fact that I have a gaping hole in my living room? God knows what could crawl in through it.”
Celine snorted but choked it back when Allison looked up from her desk.
“You know my rule,” Allison said. She resisted rolling her eyes.
“Spiders that come inside have declared war and are fair game,” Celine recited.
Allison nodded. She may have grown up in a mountain town, but she was city all the way when it came to bugs and other creepy and crawly things.
“Your ten o’clock is here,” Celine said after a moment.
Allison pushed the paper out of her way and nodded. "Send them in.”
She was slightly surprised when a huge man stepped into her office followed by the researcher she’d heard about who was looking into the animal killings. The pair was followed by a large, handsome black man. Allison found she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.
There was no question, these men were beyond good looking. She’d heard from some of the women in town that the men up the hill were something else, and they hadn’t been lying. There was something about the quiet dark man in particular that held her eye, and it wasn’t just his huge muscles.
Maybe it was the mindful way he seemed to move or the grace his large body seemed to command. Whatever it was, she found herself hard pressed to ignore him.
When their eyes met, she felt a zing of tension race down her spine. As if there were some invisible cord pulling her to him. It took all her self control not to lick her lips. She shook herself hard to pull herself from the sort of trance that came over her.
Not that Allison was against meeting men, but this was not the time or the place.
Veronica stepped up to the desk as the two men took seats on the side couch. Taking the lead, she stretched out her hand, which Allison shook.
"Thanks for agreeing to see us,” Veronica said. She motioned to the men. “This is Nero and Quintus.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Allison said.
The men both offered her a polite nod.
Nero and Quintus? Unusual names for unusual men. She dared a glance at the man who had caught her attention before. She knew nothing about him, but somehow the name Quintus seemed to fit.
“They are very enthusiastic about my research,” Veronica said. “I think you'll find that my experiments have been very successful. And my equipment has many useful and immediate applications in the Eagle Ridge area.”
Allison took the papers handed to her. “Give me a moment.”
She skimmed over the material. She was no expert, but from what she could tell the woman had taken amazing data and seemed to know what she was talking about.
According to Allison’s background research, Veronica came highly recommended by people much more well versed in this area than herself and was known to be an up and coming mind in the field.
After looking over the papers, she sat back up and looked around the room. Her eyes lingered on Quintus. His gaze met her own.
Brown. Something about his eyes felt wrong. Like they weren’t right for his face. It was strange really. Plenty of people had brown eyes, especially black men, but somehow his just didn’t feel right.
"I… I," she stammered. Feeling his hot gaze still on her, she felt a bead of sweat trickle down her back. "From what I understand we just need to place your devices around the town, and that will get rid of the animals responsible for the attacks?"
Veronica nodded. "Essentially, yes. It should keep the animals causing this from going near town. Obviously people who are farther out are still at risk, but just the presence of the equipment might encourage the predators to move on.”
The mayor nodded. It sounded like a good plan, and it was her duty to do whatever needed to protect the people of Eagle Ridge.
Her eyes slid over to Quintus, and her heart thumped harder as he watched her. A flush ran over her body, and she picked up the papers from the desk to fan herself.
“Is it hot in here?” Allison said.
Veronica shook her head, and the men continued to sit in silence.
Not that she needed an answer. It was more rhetorical than anything, given the weather had remained cool in recent weeks, even if it wasn’t as cold as it had been.
Allison felt silly getting so bothered over a man. It had been years since she felt like this. The last time she could remember had been when she was getting ready for the summer bonfire junior year of high school.
It had been the one that Tom Picket had asked her to go with him. It had also been the one when he’d tried to steal third and ended up with a hand print on the side of his face.
She’d never seen a boy cry so much over such a little slap.
The memory forced her mind to a darker path. Everything about the devices seemed too good to be true. Just add a little technology and all their predator problems would go away?
Just like Tom, she had a feeling that these men had ulterior motives for their concern. Whatever it was, Allison was determined to find out.