Chapter Four

As she left for her day job, Marnie noticed all the flowers that had lined the walkway up the house had been destroyed. Walking over, she studied the destroyed plants. She was pretty sure they had been fine yesterday but now the fragile stems had been trampled. Boot prints could be seen in the dark dirt.

Unease slithered down her spine and she looked around, trying to find the truck Mr. Psycho had driven, but she couldn't spot him. Gripping her purse tightly, she hurried to her car and locked herself in, then drove to work.

The entire day her mind kept flashing to the flowers. He must have been able to get through the gate sometime in the night. He had stalked her. What would've happened if she had gone to her apartment inside of Rebecca's house? Would he have been able to break in?

After work she hurried to her car and headed toward the grocery store, passing by her apartment complex. She needed clothes, but she decided she'd just wear some of her sister's things. During the entire ride, she kept glancing in her rearview mirror. Once, she could've sworn she saw his tuck, and adrenaline caused her nerves to go haywire.

At the grocery store, she pushed the cart up and down each aisle, figuring if she was going to stay at her sister's home, she would take advantage by baking up a storm in the kitchen. She loved to cook, but rarely took the time because when she wasn't working, she was sleeping. Now that she had the weekend off, she was going to stay safely ensconced in the huge house with the alarm set.

She placed a variety of items in the cart and had just turned down the pet aisle when a prickling sensation broke over her senses. She jerked her head up and her gaze collided with his. Mr. Psycho. How one man could be so sexy but so threatening was beyond her comprehension.

Swallowing her fright, she pushed the cart closer until she stood only a few feet away.

"Would you stop following me?"

He folded his massive arms over his chest. "I can't do that."

"Why? What has my si … um, myself ever done to you?"

"Not to me."

"Oh, right. Dan. Is he your lover?"

One eyebrow rose. "No. My best friend."

"And you always fight your friend's battles?"

"I've got some time on my hands."

"Ah." She took a deep breath. "You're stalking me. You trampled the flowers. You need to stop."

He took a half-step closer and grabbed her cart, yanking it from between them and leaving a path open to her. It was a move to intimidate her, and it worked. A slither of unease rippled through her body as he stared down at her.

"I'll stop when you promise to leave Dan alone."

"Okay. I'll promise that right now. Consider Dan fired."

He narrowed his gaze. "You're trying to be funny."

"I'm not." He was so damn confusing it was hard to get a lock on what he was thinking. "So, you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

He suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled, snapping her head back. Pain radiated over her scalp. He bent to murmur in her ear. "If I'm a snake, what are you?"

Her eyes watered and it was impossible to look away. A panther stalking his prey. He made sure of that, crowding in close so she felt every ridge of his hard body, including the erection he sported. Was he excited from hurting her? The man was insane.

"T-tell your friend he better keep it in his pants," she managed to say, her voice wobbling a little.

"You're a fucking bitch, you know," he spat, eyes narrowing to cold slits. "No morals. No scruples. Blackmail. Just a depraved, pathetic excuse for a woman."

He meant her sister, but his words still slapped her in the face. "Let me go. You know nothing—"

"I know you're a whore," he said softly. "Trading sex for money."

"Yeah, I know the definition of whore," she muttered.

Why did the whisper of his breath cause a ripple of sensation over her skin? Why did his nearness cause a flood of desire to settle between her thighs? It embarrassed her that he affected her to the point of becoming aroused. Was she so messed up that she found him attractive? What the hell was wrong with her? The man was insane and a bully, so why did he turn her on?

"Then watch out, little slut. I won't hesitate to protect Dan."

Her gaze flickered down to his lips, and for some completely unknown reason, she envisioned kissing them. She shook her head, trying to dislodge that mental picture.

"If he pays his tab then we're square," she said, hardly daring to believe what she said. "Business is business."

"And if he doesn't?"

She cocked an eyebrow without answering. It didn't need to be said. Truthfully, Marnie didn't care if this Dan fellow gave her sister the money or not. Hell, she didn't need it. But she refused to give Mr. Psycho the satisfaction.

He sneered at her and then he licked the side of her face before letting her go. She reached up to wipe his saliva off, and he grinned when he saw what she did. His gaze dropped to her mouth, then lower, going up and down her body in a slow perusal before traveling back up. White-hot lust rolled through her body, causing her breath to hitch. This close, she saw his pupils dilate as they stared at her mouth, and she licked her lips. A harsh breath exited his mouth and she thought for a second he was going to kiss her … and then he pulled back. The spell broken. Without another word, he turned and left her behind.

What. The. Fuck.

****

"Stupid," Reece muttered. "Absolute stupidity."

There was no way he could be attracted to a prostitute. She wrecked marriages for money. She was blackmailing Dan! So why was his dick hard enough to hammer nails? Why did she take his breath away?

As he headed to his truck, his cell rang. He pulled it out and saw Dan was calling him.

"She called me again, Reece, demanding her money. Said I have until Mondy to pay her, or she was sending proof to Anna."

"How much?" Reece demanded, pissed because he just left her in the goddamn grocery store. Did she immediately call Dan as soon as he'd walked away?

A deep sigh came through the phone. "Five thousand."

Shock burned through Reece. "Dollars? Holy fucking shit, Dan."

"I know! I'm dumb."

"Yeah, you sure are. A very dumb motherfucker."

"Please, Reece. You'll never know how much I regret ever meeting Rebecca."

Reece's mind raced. Monday was two days away. It wasn't a lot of time to convince Rebecca Fox to do the right thing. Stalking and scaring certainly wasn't helpful. In fact, he might have just fucked everything up worse. Reece hung up, knowing he was going to have to take matters to the next level.