Cam Briggs felt like his gut had been kicked straight out of his body.
Engaged? How the hell could she be engaged? He tried to wrap his brain around those words. He’d spent the last five years of his life thinking of nothing but Laura, and she had been getting engaged to some dickwad military guy.
He had to be military. Ex-military, Cam would bet. And that dude wasn’t afraid of a little PDA.
“Sorry, I had no idea why you were looking for her,” said the asshole who seemed to be trying to inhale Laura’s hand. He’d brought it to his lips, and his other arm had snaked around her waist, drawing her close to his body. “When you have something this gorgeous, you have to take care of it.”
“She’s not an ‘it,’” Cam snarled.
Rafe put a hand out, a silent request that he stay calm. It was a familiar gesture, one he’d seen a lot over the years. Rafe took over, all smooth professionalism.
“We understand,” Rafe said, gesturing to the table behind Laura. “If I had a fiancée as beautiful as yours, I would protect her at all costs, too. Please, if you would sit with us, we do need to talk to Laura.”
Cam tried to get to that calm place that seemed to come so easily to Rafe.
As Laura and her affianced asshole sat down, Rafe leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Watch them. There’s something wrong with this scenario. Look at her body language.”
Cam settled down. Rafe had always been good at getting him to think. It had been that way ever since the first day they’d been partnered up. Somehow Rafe had known how to deal with him. Rafe had made him comfortable.
He hadn’t been comfortable for five years. Maybe he’d missed more than Laura.
“Laura, it’s good to see you.” Rafe’s voice had taken on that soft, soothing tone he used on reluctant witnesses.
Cam looked at her. Really looked at her. When he’d seen her before, all he’d been able to see was the woman he loved, her golden-blonde hair, her sky-blue eyes. She was curvier than she had been before. It looked damn good on her. She was wearing a form-fitting pinkish dress that hugged her new curves. And her breasts. Damn, they were bigger, too. Plump and round, they looked like they were about to pop out of her dress. They would fill his hands now.
She’d looked like a model before. She looked like a woman now, a delicious, luscious woman.
And she belonged to someone else.
She smiled, but it was her fake smile, the one she used on people who annoyed her but she had to put up with. It didn’t reach her eyes. “You, too, Special Agent Kincaid. Apparently you’ve already met my fiancé, Wolf Meyer.”
Wolf’s lips curled up in a smirk. “He’s had the pleasure. Though neither of you seemed interested in giving me your names.”
Laura’s manners seemed to take over. “This is Special Agent Rafael Kincaid and Special Agent Cameron Briggs. I knew them when I was in the FBI. We worked a couple of very important cases together. I take it that’s why you’re here.”
Cam felt a foot nudge against his. It was a long-used cue for the bad cop to come out. In this case, the bad cop was the honest one. Damn, he’d missed working with Rafe. “I’m not an agent anymore.”
Laura’s eyes flared, and her mouth opened slightly.
“You’re sure dressed like one, buddy.” There was no way to mistake the mocking tone of Wolf’s voice.
Laura didn’t seem amused. She shifted slightly, as though uncomfortable. She didn’t look like a woman who was used to the man beside her. Rafe was right. Something was wrong. Though he knew it made him a bastard, a fierce joy lit inside him. If something was wrong between Laura and her fiancé, then there was still a chance.
“What do you mean you aren’t with the Bureau anymore?” Laura asked.
“I left,” he replied. “I resigned about a year after you disappeared. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t do it at the Bureau.”
Rafe settled back in his chair. “We decided that one of us should look for you full time. Cam became a private investigator, and I stayed on at the FBI to watch the case.”
Laura shook her head as though she was having a hard time understanding. “You’ve been looking for me?”
A small, older lady walked up, a pleated white apron wrapped around her slender form. “Hello, welcome to the Tea Room. Can I get you anything?”
Cam softened. The older woman reminded him of his mom. She looked a bit tired, but there was a smile on her face anyway. He hated tea, but he couldn’t refuse her. “I’ll take whatever she’s having.”
“And I would love a cup of chai, if you have it,” Rafe added.
Laura introduced them, her Southern manners taking over. The woman in the apron was named Teeny Green. Cam shook her hand and assured her he was pleased to meet her.
“Anything for you, Wolf?” Teeny asked.
“I’m fine. Laura and I were discussing our wedding plans.” Wolf’s hand went to the back of Laura’s neck, sliding over it as though he enjoyed the intimate touch.
Teeny stopped and stared for a moment. She looked from Wolf to Cam and Rafe. Her eyes narrowed. “Did you boys know Laura from her days in the FBI?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rafe said. “We knew her well.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. Well, we’re so happy to have her in Bliss,” Teeny said. “And we’re thrilled to have so many weddings this year.”
“Well, we were thinking of eloping,” Laura said, fidgeting.
Teeny shook her head. “No, no, dear. I think it should be huge. We’ll have to look over flowers and get those ordered.”
“Absolutely,” Wolf said. “Nothing but the best for my bride. We’re going to fill the church with flowers. And we’ll want to release doves at the end of the ceremony, won’t we? To symbolize our love.”
And he was crazy. Who released doves? Birds crapped everywhere. It didn’t seem like a smart thing to unleash on a wedding party. If he was marrying Laura, he would do exactly what she’d suggested. He would take her to Vegas, sign whatever papers he had to, and then get to the good part. He and Rafe would keep her in bed for days.
It was getting easier and easier to think that way. She was theirs. Not just his. Laura belonged to them.
Teeny reached around and pulled two white T-shirts off a rack. “And Laura, you need to get those boys out of the suits. Mel is going to freak when he sees them, and the doc will have to tranq him again. They can have these. Why the mayor thought it was a good idea to let Zane head the Rehab Bliss committee, I have no idea. I knew that boy was up to something when he volunteered to do it. Now I have a hundred T-shirts. What am I going to do with them?”
Teeny held out the shirt.
The Trading Post
We make murder clean up easy
Cam couldn’t help but laugh.
“You should see the shirts he made for Stella’s,” Laura murmured. “I’ll make sure they’re properly dressed before Mel sees them. And if you wouldn’t mind letting Holly and Nell know I’m down here with my fiancé?”
“I intend to tell everyone, dear,” Teeny said as she walked away.
“So why did you come all the way out here?” Laura asked, her voice crisp and tight. She seemed to be done with small talk.
Time for the bad cop again. “De Sade is back.”
There was no way to soften it, and he wouldn’t try. Rafe’s approach worked on witnesses, but Laura was tough. She wouldn’t want to be handled with kid gloves. She was smart and capable, and he wouldn’t treat her any other way.
Her face lost every ounce of color, and it was all he could do not to take her in his arms. She might be capable, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to shelter her, or at least let her know she wasn’t in this alone. Fiancé or no fiancé, he wouldn’t walk away from her. Not until the Marquis de Sade was dead or behind bars.
“We found a body last week in the warehouse district of DC. Same MO. The victim was a prostitute,” Rafe explained in a calm, matter-of-fact manner.
Wolf sat up, his shoulders set in something other than decadent playfulness. “Who are we talking about? Does this have to do with a case Laura worked when she was in the FBI?”
Rafe turned, his brows up slightly. It was his what-the-fuck look.
Cam was sure the same expression was on his face. Laura hadn’t told her fiancé about the biggest case of her career? She hadn’t told the man she loved about the case that had almost gotten her killed? That was hard to believe. “Have you heard of the Marquis de Sade?”
Wolf snorted. “Well, if you knew who my brother was, you would know the answer to that. Sometimes I think my brother works for the bastard.”
Rafe shook his head. “Not the French aristocrat.”
Laura held a hand up. “You’ll have to forgive Wolf. He’s been overseas for years. He recently got out of the Navy. He’s not up on all the latest serial killers.”
“Serial killers?” a feminine voice asked. “Why are we talking about serial killers?”
Cam looked up as two women entered the small dining area. They wore matching dresses, the same as the one Laura wore. One was a voluptuous redhead with a suspicious grin on her face. The other was a sweet-looking brunette.
“No reason at all, Holly,” Laura said, standing up suddenly. “These gentlemen are with the FBI. Well, Special Agent Kincaid is. He’s with a unit called the BAU. The Behavioral Analysis Unit.”
“You used to work there,” Holly said.
Cam studied the redhead. She had spoken of Laura’s work with friendly curiosity. There was no horror or fear in the redhead’s words. Laura hadn’t told Holly what had happened to her, either. Had she told a single soul in this town what she’d been through? Had she held it in all these years?
“Yes, where I used to work. Special Agent Kincaid, Cameron Briggs, and I were friends,” Laura said. “They thought I should know about what’s been going on in the Bureau since I left.”
Friends? Friends? He had a sudden urge to get up out of the chair, haul her into his arms, and remind her of how friendly they’d been. He could still feel her pussy clench around his cock, and he hadn’t slept with her in five years.
“Our relationship was closer than that,” Rafe said.
“This isn’t some reunion, Laura. This is serious.” He hadn’t expected their first meeting in five years to go this way. Cam didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t sitting in a tea room meeting all of Laura’s new small-town friends. It sure as fuck hadn’t included meeting her fiancé. Now she was treating them like they’d breezed into town for a chat and they would breeze right out. She was going to be terribly disappointed.
“How serious?” Holly asked.
The dark-haired woman next to her was gesturing wildly. Both Holly and Laura watched her.
“No, Nell, a serial killer isn’t coming to Bliss,” Laura said with a long sigh.
Holly shrugged. “Sorry, she’s taken a vow of silence, and I think you know why, future Mrs. Wolf Meyer.”
“You two are totally invited to our wedding,” Wolf offered.
“What’s this about a serial killer coming to town?” Teeny asked as she set down the tea. “Did they hear about the T-shirts? I don’t care how big that Zane Hollister is, if we attract serial killers because of his smart mouth, I can put him over my knee. Has anyone told the sheriff yet?”
“No one needs to tell the sheriff,” Laura said.
Rafe held a hand up. “Actually, we probably do need to liaise with the sheriff. Does anyone know where he is? There’s a sign on the door that claims he’s out fishing.”
The brunette brought her foot down. Despite the elegant dress she wore, there was a pair of hippie-dippy sandals on her feet. She gestured around the room, her arms flying about and a wild look in her eyes.
“Sorry, she wants you to understand that she believes that the Rio Grande is overfished in this part of the world,” Holly explained.
The brunette’s arms went wide.
“In every part of the world,” Holly corrected. She shrugged as though in apology. “Well, every part that the Rio Grande is in. Nell doesn’t appreciate the sheriff’s frequent fishing trips. Even though most of the time he catches and releases.”
That didn’t seem to satisfy Nell. She put her forefinger in her mouth like a hook and flapped her body around.
“No, Nell,” Laura said. “I wouldn’t like it either. It would definitely cause some psychological damage. You should talk to Nate about it, when you’re back to talking.”
“Okay.” He knew it was a bad idea to ask the question, but he was so damn curious. Everything about this small town was starting to intrigue him. It was nothing like the tiny town he’d been born in. “Why won’t Nell talk? Have we offended her in some way?”
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d offended someone, though usually the offended party yelled at him rather than refusing to speak.
Laura’s eyes lit up. It was so different from the tight expression that had owned her face since the moment he’d laid eyes on her again. Laura smiled, a light creasing of her lips that softened her whole face. Her shoulders relaxed, and she watched Nell with great affection. She turned her head slightly as she spoke with a wry tongue. “She’s taken a vow of silence, but she can communicate through interpretive dance.”
“Seriously?” Cam asked.
“Oh, Nell is always serious about interpretive dance,” Holly explained.
“She says she can’t talk in a world filled with lies,” Laura said as Nell twirled around the room. “So many lies when only the truth should be spoken. She says that lies never work and only get people in trouble. She’s very judgmental.”
Nell stopped and stared.
Laura shrugged. “It’s called interpretive dance for a reason. I’m interpreting judgment.”
“She’s got you there, Nell.” Holly nodded along with her friend.
Nell stuck her tongue out, turned, and danced away.
“And that’s my cue to change,” Holly said with a wave.
“I’ll come with you,” Laura said, moving forward.
“Hey, bella, we aren’t done here.” Rafe had his hands on his hips, a sure sign that he didn’t like the way things were going.
“Don’t call me that.” The words came out quickly, and Laura’s mouth closed as if she wished she could call them back. She smoothed the peach-colored dress over her curves. “I need to change. Then we can all go back to my place where we can discuss this in a private setting. But you two need to put on those T-shirts or a very nice man is going to get tranquilized by the town doctor.”
She turned on her heels, those superhot fuck-me shoes she’d always worn, and left as though her words made a lick of sense.
“So, gentlemen, what should we talk about while we wait for my bride-to-be?” Wolf grinned as he sat back in his chair.
“You better behave,” Teeny said, shaking her head as she walked off.
Cam was left with a T-shirt and a bunch of questions. What was happening with Laura? Why was this town filled with crazy people? But there was one question that burned through his gut—why wasn’t she wearing an engagement ring?
* * * *
Laura could barely breathe. She stumbled her way into the dressing room after telling Brooke she had an emergency and needed to leave.
“Calm down, sweetie.” Holly’s hands were on her back, tugging the zipper of the tight dress down.
Twenty minutes before, Laura had loved the dress, but now it felt like a cage hemming her in. She pushed the spaghetti straps off her shoulders and started shoving the dress down her body until she was only in her bra and panties. She let her back find the wall behind her and slouched to the floor.
They were here. Rafe and Cam were here in Bliss.
Nell got on her knees while Holly closed the curtains. God, she’d gotten naked in the middle of the Trading Post. Not that anyone would care. Well, Nate might write her a ticket for public nudity. Public nudity tickets had paid for the new park, but otherwise no one would give a crap.
Nell’s big brown eyes stared down at her. “Are they the reason you came to Bliss?”
Holly sat down beside her, leaning her head on Laura’s shoulder while Nell stroked her hair. They were so affectionate. It had taken her a while to get used to how Holly and Nell hugged her and held her hand. Now she couldn’t imagine life without it.
“I thought you weren’t talking to me.” She hadn’t been surprised by Nell’s sudden vow of silence. She’d known the instant Teeny had left the room that she would go straight to Holly and Nell to tell them the news of her sudden “engagement.” And she’d known Nell would disapprove. Nell was a woman who would rather say nothing than allow a lie to pass her lips. But she would dance to show her feelings.
“I thought it best to be silent around the people you’re lying to,” Nell admitted. “I’m not good at lying.”
“I’m with Nell on this one. Unless you actually fell madly in love with Wolf in the twenty minutes we were gone, and then I say congratulations,” Holly added.
Laura sniffled. It was hard to be strong around Holly and Nell. She didn’t have to. They didn’t care if she cried. They didn’t give a crap if she wasn’t professional and tough. They loved her. “Nope. But he did come in handy.”
“So these agents are assholes.” Holly squeezed her hand. “What are we going to do to them? There’s only one reason Laura would announce her engagement to a man she knows she’s not in love with. One of those men broke her heart, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him knowing she hasn’t moved on.”
“It has to be the gorgeous man of South American heritage,” Nell said. “He’s very international.”
“He’s half-Cuban, Nell, and he was born in Miami.”
Holly leaned forward. “And I, personally, think that hot hunk of all-American beef is better looking. He’s huge.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she said without thinking.
Holly grinned at Nell. “Told you it was the linebacker.”
She could be honest with her girlfriends. “The only man who matched him was Rafe.”
Nell’s whole face lit up. “And that was before you came to Bliss. The universe led you here.”
No, a bus had taken her to Alamosa and then a handsy trucker had left her in Bliss when she wouldn’t crawl into his cab to pay for her ride. But if Nell wanted to believe some hand of fate had led her here, she would let it go. “But it was just a fling.”
“Not for you it wasn’t,” Holly said. “You were in love with them.”
She shrugged. There wasn’t anything else to do. Holly knew her way too well for Laura to lie. “It doesn’t matter. They’re here to update me on a case. That’s all.”
If de Sade was back, then they probably wanted to grill her on what had happened during her time with him. God, she wasn’t ready for that. She’d spent five years trying to forget. She’d given them everything she could remember from the hospital bed she’d recovered in. She’d spent hours with Joseph Stone going over the incident, from the time she’d been knocked out to the moment she’d managed to break free and run.
“Did they know you were in Bliss?” Nell asked.
Laura was surprised they’d found her. She’d been using her granddad’s name. She’d tried to stay hidden. Maybe she’d been fooling herself and they’d known where she was all along. “No, but they’re members of the BAU. They’re smart guys.”
“They track serial killers,” Holly said, obviously impressed. “I guess I always thought you were like a secretary or something.”
She’d always known that was what Holly thought, and she’d encouraged the mistaken impression. She didn’t want Holly to think she’d had a high-powered career. Holly had several insecurities, mostly revolving around her lack of an education. Holly was incredibly well-read, but she felt her lack of a higher degree. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide it anymore. Rafe and Cam had seen to that.
“I was a profiler. I had moved up into the BAU, when I met Rafe and Cam. They were partners before they joined the unit. They flirted with me. A lot. We got to be friends, and then we had a slight disagreement over a case and we weren’t friends anymore. That’s all.”
Holly’s eyebrows had crept up her forehead. “Is that how the serial killer found you? Because you were hunting him?”
She’d only mentioned her career a couple of times before. Nate and Zane knew about it. Rye Harper knew. She’d always offered her experience to law enforcement, but she’d only mentioned it to the general population once during a town hall meeting. Still, it had made the rounds. It was a testament to Holly’s and Nell’s patience that they hadn’t asked her about it until now. “I wrote a profile of a serial killer the newspapers named the Marquis de Sade.”
“He doesn’t sound nice,” Nell said.
This wasn’t a world Nell could even conceive. Laura groped for gentle words. “He wasn’t. He killed a lot of women. I was new to the unit, and I had a radical theory. I thought the killer was a member of law enforcement or maybe in the military. There were things about the killer’s MO that led me to believe he was intensely disciplined and knew forensic procedure quite well. Anyway, everyone in the unit, including Rafe and Cam, thought I was wrong. There was another profiler, a more senior profiler, who bought into the stereotypical ‘highly intelligent, socially awkward, abused child’ profile. No one wanted to believe one of our own could do it.”
They had refused to believe her to such an extent that she’d been ridiculed. She’d felt so horrible about all of it that she’d made the biggest mistake of her life. She’d talked to a reporter friend who had written a story, and the next day she’d been fired for talking to the media. She’d topped off that wonderful day by nearly being murdered. She’d been taken, right outside her own apartment.
He’d worn a mask. When she closed her eyes, she still saw that dark, beaked mask, like doctors wore during the black plague. It had covered his whole face, and he’d placed dark mirrored circles over the eyes so she saw herself when he looked down at her. The nose of the mask had been elongated, making him look foreign and far from human. Of course, he wasn’t really human at all. No human being could have done what he’d done to her. The mask, he’d explained to her, was because she was dirty and diseased. He had to protect himself. He’d talked a lot about how smart he was. He’d talked as he’d tortured her.
“Holly, could you please?” Nell asked.
Holly nodded. “They are sons of bitches. Assholes, motherfuckers, and I hate them.”
Nell nodded solemnly. “What she said.”
Laura had to laugh. Nell didn’t curse, but she didn’t mind when Holly did. “They’ll be gone in a day or two. Don’t worry about it. They want to see if I remember anything else. Please, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. It’s over. Talking about it won’t hurt me.”
She wasn’t sure of that. And she wasn’t sure this would be over in a day or two. Why was Cam here if he wasn’t in the FBI anymore? She had a million questions, but she couldn’t ask them without looking like an idiot.
“All right then, we’ll play along with the whole ‘you’re marrying Wolf’ thing,” Holly said, getting to her feet.
Nell followed. “I’ll stay perfectly silent around them. Henry will want a vow of silence in lieu of lying as well.”
Laura gave Nell a thumbs-up.
Her friends got dressed and promised to help in any way they could, but both seemed to understand she needed a minute. The curtain closed behind Holly as they left, and Laura was alone.
The only two men she’d ever loved had turned up in the only place she’d ever really felt at home.
It was a recipe for disaster. Laura couldn’t help it. She closed her eyes and thought about that night. The best night of her life, that led to the worst day.
The world receded, and she was loved again.