Red Velvet Vengeance Read online

  I clear my throat. “So your friend Greer liked the men she dated. No crime in that, right?”

  Fannie’s chest bucks with a laugh. “There was crime, all right. She made sure those men were still sweetening the pot with all the green they were willing to surrender. Word on the street is she used the money from those poor souls and that swinger service she ran to open up a coffee shop. Can you believe it? A coffee shop in Honey Hollow no less.” She rolls her eyes to the ceiling as if both the coffee shop and Honey Hollow were absurd. “It wasn’t her idea, though. According to her, it was the brainchild of one of those other strays she picked up.” She runs a finger over Everett’s lips and moans. “Let’s see the two of you kiss, sweetheart.”

  Gah!

  “Which strays?” I swallow hard as I try to hold off on the aforementioned lip-lock for as long as humanly possible. “I mean, she opened it up with two friends, right?”

  “Nicolette something.” She bats her lashes as if searching for the answer. And if that squeeze Everett just gave me means anything, I should probably avoid assisting her. “Anyway, they just met, and bam, she’s going into business with her.”

  “They just met?” I’m pretty sure she’s mistaken. Didn’t Nikki say they were in the same sorority?

  “I think they knew each other for about a year.” Fannie nods. “And then, just like that, Greer ends up dead? Don’t get me started on the ditzy one. The one with a tin can for a brain.”

  She must mean Tinsley.

  “She’s one of ours, too. And you came this close to having her here tonight instead of me.” Her gaze flits to mine, and I freeze. Thank God Almighty there’s no sign of Tinsley in sight. “Be thankful you avoided that train wreck. She would have rutted with your boy toy and asked questions later. No foresight. No forward thinking. Cici is about five minutes from giving her the boot.”

  “Really?” My fingers attempt to depress into Everett’s back, but it’s like the man is made of sheet metal. “What could she possibly do to get the boot from the Elite Entourage?”

  Fannie tucks Everett and me together until my chest is pressed firmly over his. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  Everett’s hums, “I bet she’s keeping a few clients of her own.”

  Fannie giggles while giving his scruff a quick tickle. “You guessed it, sweetie—two of them to be exact. None of my beeswax, though.” She gives a light clap. “Now, let’s see the two of you in action. A little tweak here, a little polish there, and I’ll have you bucking over the sheets in no time.”

  Bucking over the sheets? I look to Everett, wild-eyed and terrified, with a look that assures him there will be no bucking of the sheets.

  “Come on, you two.” She swats Everett on his arm. “You look as if you’ve never landed a wet one on each other. Let’s have a kiss.”

  Dutch barks as if he too were egging us on.

  My heart slams against poor Everett’s chest like a thousand crazed lunatics trying to pound their way out.

  She scoffs as she leans in. “Come on, one little tiny smooch.”

  “It’s not natural around a stranger,” I blurt the words out, but my gaze never leaves Everett’s deep blue eyes. And if I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure I feel his own heart trying to kickbox its way right into my chest.

  “Please,” Fannie groans. “Don’t go feeding me that stranger danger bull. Go on and tell her she’s beautiful or something. That will get her to melt right in your arms like toffee on a radiator.”

  Everett’s chest expands with his next breath. “You’re easy on the eyes, Lola.”

  A warm laugh bubbles from me. “You’re not so bad yourself, Evan. Have I ever told you how impressed I am with this stack of steel you call a body? I can see why all the girls can’t seem to resist you. You’re both a rock and a hard place.”

  Fannie giggles herself into a candy-coated oblivion. “She’s spot-on with that one. Say, the two of you really do have more chemistry than any other couple I’ve seen in a good long while. I can tell the two of you are lifers.”

  Dutch barks then howls, and I can’t help but look over at him. He’s never howled like that before, and I wonder what it might mean. My gaze drifts right back to Everett’s, and he offers a peaceable smile.

  “Mmm, mmm.” Fannie gives a wistful shake of the head. “I’d pay good money to have a man look at me with that much affection. You really do love her, I can tell.”

  Everett’s mouth falls open. His gaze rides over my features as if he were seeing me for the very first time.

  “And I love him.” I meant to say it as a means to pull us out of this awkward place we’ve landed ourselves in, but it came out sounding far too genuine for my liking.

  My heart ratchets up, as does his, and a breath catches in my throat.

  “Everett?” I whisper, afraid to ask the rest of the question.

  Fannie stomps up a storm while moaning beside us. “For the love of God, kiss her already. Here’s your chance. Show, don’t tell. Show her exactly how you feel with a heartfelt smooch to the lips!” She’s clapping and cheering, but neither of us is paying her any mind. Dutch is barking as if someone is sawing his soul in half, but not even he seems capable to pull me from the moment.

  “Are you going to kiss me?” My voice grows faint, and I’m right there with it. As much as I hate to admit it, there is something hypnotic about looking into his serious eyes. His lids are hooded dangerously low, the tips of his lips curving with greed.

  “Yes, Lemon, I am.” Everett bows his head, and his lips land over mine, unreasonably soft, the moment far too sober for me to comprehend, and yet not one ounce of me has the power to protest his efforts. Everett lingers a moment before pressing in with dark determination and an involuntary moan rips from my throat.

  The door bursts open, ushering in an icy breeze.

  “Hands up!” a deep voice riots. “This is a raid!”

  Everett and I part with our hands to the ceiling, and a gasp gets locked in my throat when I see the familiar face behind that weapon pointed in our direction.

  “Noah?” His name jumps from me regrettably like a goldfish out of a bowl.

  “Lottie?” He squints as he takes the two of us in. “And you.” Noah’s affect shifts on a dime as if suddenly that weapon in his hand might just serve a far more sinister purpose.

  Fannie screams so loud she penetrates the sound barrier while bolting from the room, and Noah simply tucks his weapon back into its holster.

  He takes an aggressive step toward us, his breathing erratic, and the look of hurt on his face pierces me far more efficiently than any bullet ever could.

  “This time you’ve both gone too far.” Noah takes off and closes the door behind him.

  Dutch whines and whimpers as if to say he tried to warn me, as if he were sorry in a deeper cosmic sense, and as much as I’d like to blame him for every misstep I’ve ever taken, I know full well this is all my fault.

  Dutch doesn’t need to worry about manufacturing bad luck for me. I seem to be doing fine all on my own.

  Chapter 14

  “Noah, wait!” I call as I run out of the sleazy motel and past the bevy of patrol cars with their red and blue flashing lights illuminating the night like a seizure. “It’s not what you think.”

  Noah turns around and glowers at Everett who I’m assuming is somewhere behind me.

  “Lottie”—his dimples depress as he scowls over my shoulder—“it’s exactly what I think. It’s not what you think.”

  “It was acting,” I hiss as I shoot a quick look around at the startling amount of scantily clad men and women being hustled into patrol cars.

  “That kiss looked intimate!” he riots while looking at Everett who now stands bravely by my side.

  My mouth opens and closes like a marionette’s. “We were shooting for believability.”

  Noah’s eyes widen. “I don’t like that you’re shooting for anything with him. I can’t take it, Lottie. I mean it.” His voice b
reaks, and he girds himself as if he regretted the misstep. “You’re a grown woman. I’m not about to become some bossy boyfriend who tells you who you can and can’t spend your time with. Just know it knifed me in the gut to see what I did.” He glances at Everett, and the muscles in his jaw flinch. “I really do think the guy is trying to pull us apart. At first, I thought I was being paranoid, but there he was again, holding you in his arms, his lips on yours. Don’t you see? He’s doing this to us. He wants to ruin things for me just the way I ruined things with him and Mack all those years ago. Nobody holds a grudge like Everett Baxter. Believe me when I say it, Lot. There is a reason he is hanging around you so darn much.”

  Everett stands stoic, stone cold as a statue, but doesn’t say a word.

  I can hardly catch my breath. “Noah, you’re upset. Everett and I are just friends.”

  “Everett doesn’t have any female friends—at least any that he hasn’t slept with a time or twelve. He doesn’t believe in relationships, Lottie. He’s perfectly content on his own. He’s using you, just not in the same way you thought you were using him tonight.”

  Ivy Fairbanks strides up in a fitted hunter green suit and impractical sky-high heels. “Tell me they were caught up in this mess.” Her lips expand with glee. “I’ll do the deed and cuff ’em for you.” She shakes her head with disappointment at Everett, and I’m sure he’s kicking himself plenty.

  “They’re fine,” Noah grunts. “They weren’t involved. They had a room of their own.” He covers for us without thinking twice, and every ounce of me is filled with relief, especially for Everett and the sake of his career.

  Ivy’s ruby red lips round out with surprise as she looks to me. “Him I understand—but I expected more from you, Carlotta.” She takes off, and I shudder as she passes me by.

  It takes everything in me to scream out that I wasn’t really in a room alone with Everett. That I’m not having some torrid affair behind Noah’s back. I would never do that. I love Noah.

  “I’m sorry, Noah.” My voice trembles. “But I promise, nobody is taking me away from you.”

  His lips purse as he looks to his old stepbrother. “I don’t know. This bag of manure is used to getting what he wants and stopping at nothing until it’s his. Isn’t that right? It’s almost as if you’re taking a page right out of my book.” His brows lift at yet another dig at their past.

  “I’m nothing but a friend to him,” I plead. “Everett doesn’t even see me that way. Isn’t that right?” I shove my shoulder into Everett’s, but he remains unmovable, that steely stare still pinned on Noah.

  “Say it.” Noah flicks his fingers. “Let me hear the words straight out of the ass’ mouth. You don’t have feelings for Lottie.”

  Everett glances my way, and a breath escapes him.

  “Say it,” I encourage. “I’m nothing but a friend to you, Everett. Right? You’re not attracted to me in the least.”

  A moment of silence bounces by, and Everett bears those stony eyes into mine as if asking them to say all the words he can’t.

  “See that, Lottie?” Noah’s chest bucks with anger. “I’ll tell you something I discovered about my stepbrother all those years ago. He’s virtually incapable of lying to someone he cares very deeply about. He won’t tell you he’s not attracted to you because it wouldn’t be true.” Noah closes his eyes, and his shoulders sag as if he just came to some deep epiphany. He looks to Everett with both anger and dread written all over his face. “God—you’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

  Everett’s eyes widen a moment as he looks to me. He’s searching my features as if looking for answers, sort of the way he did inside just before he declared he was about to kiss me.

  Dutch comes over, whimpering as he rotates around my legs on a loop.

  “Everett?” I shake my head just barely. God, this can’t be happening. I have this strange feeling as if I’m losing both Noah and Everett all in one night. There honestly isn’t any worse luck than that.

  Ivy whistles, and Noah turns his head that way before looking back at the two of us.

  “Get her home.” Noah steps over and pulls me in for a moment. The thick scent of his familiar cologne makes me bury my face in his neck as I stave off tears. “We’ll figure this out some other time.”

  Before I know it, I’m back in Everett’s car and we’re on the highway headed to Honey Hollow.

  Neither of us says a single word all the way there.

  “And then what happened?” Keelie takes a bite of her butterscotch shortbread cookie with her vacant eyes set to mine as if she were trying to picture it all in her head.

  Both Lainey and Keelie stopped by the Cutie Pie this afternoon, and I couldn’t help but spill every indecent detail that happened last night. And judging by their equally horrified and yet transfixed expressions, it’s apparent they’re dying to know what happens next.

  Dutch sits at rapt attention as if he weren’t party to seeing it firsthand.

  “That’s it. Everett pulled into my driveway to let me out and I tried to say something to him, but I couldn’t seem to push any words past that lump the size of a cheese Danish out of my throat.”

  Lainey gives a husky laugh. “I bet he wants to pull into your driveway.”

  Keelie barks out a laugh of her own, and the two of them exchange high fives.

  “Hey, I’m sitting right here. That’s not helping, by the way. Everett’s not interested in me like that.”

  Lainey lifts a hand. “Oh, he so is. You’d have to be blind not to see it. I knew it the first time you introduced us.”

  “I did, too.” Keelie takes another chocolate thumbprint cookie off the plate I’ve set before us.

  Lainey leans in. “Lottie, you need to be far more careful what position you put yourself in with Everett. He’s a man. He’s prone to get the wrong idea. In fact, that’s all they ever get is the wrong idea. You’ve been giving him all the wrong signals. You’ve teased poor Everett into oblivion. No wonder he’s fallen in love with you.”

  “What?” I can hardly catch my breath.

  Had I done those things? Why in the world would someone like Everett be in love with me? He can have his pick of any woman on the planet—so can Noah for that matter. Honestly, none of it makes any sense.

  “That’s exactly why I didn’t pursue him,” Keelie insists. “I saw that swirly look in your eyes the second I even hinted at it, so I happily found myself somebody else. Thank you, by the way. Hook and I are more than excited to start our forever.” She wags that rock on her finger my way and Lainey does the same, and soon enough they’re giggling themselves into hysterics, bouncing their enormous diamonds off of one another as if it were the expensive version of a fist bump.

  “I thought Noah was going to propose.” It comes out lower than a whisper, and both Keelie and Lainey stop dead in their tracks—only they’re not looking at me. They’re looking eerily just above me.

  “Propose?” a deep male voice strums from behind, and every last inch of me freezes.

  It can’t be. Of all the rotten luck in Denmark—and if that’s not a saying, it should be.

  Dutch whimpers and tucks his head between his front paws.

  I take a breath and turn to find Noah Corbin Fox looking as white as one of my snowball cookies.

  He ticks his head toward the door. “Would you mind taking a walk with me?”

  Chapter 15

  It took me exactly ten seconds to whip up a box of my red velvet cupcakes and kindly ask Lily to keep an eye on things as Noah and I head out into the snowy afternoon.

  My heart vibrates right into my throat as we stride down the street at a quickened clip—with Dutch, my forever companion, leading the way.

  “So I was thinking we should pay a quick visit to The Coffee Cake Break and see if Nikki or Tinsley is there. The last time I went in, I brought in a box full of my heart-shaped raspberry Linzer cookies, and she sold them all to the first customers that walked through the door. But honestly,
I didn’t mind because—”

  “Lottie”—Noah wraps an arm around my waist and reels me in—“slow down.” Those hungry green eyes of his bear hard into mine. His lips curve in the right direction, but it’s a sorrowful smile. “Come here.” He pulls us into an alcove that divides the Cutie Pie Bakery and the building next door. “Lottie.” His teeth graze his bottom lip, and he looks downright pained. “I love you.”

  “Please don’t.” I want nothing more at the moment than to burst through his hold on me and go anywhere but here.

  “I love you. I do.” He pecks a kiss over my lips, and it tempers me. “And nothing would make me happier than spending the rest of my life with you.” His smile broadens into an all-out grin. “Would you want that with me?” His expression grows quickly sober.

  “Yes.” My hand cups his cheek, and I savor the feel of his scruff against my palm. “Of course, I want that with you.” I shake my head as if the conversation were about to take a morbid turn. “There is no one for me on this planet but you.”

  His chest expands and deflates just as quickly. “You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that.” Noah is so painfully handsome it’s hard for me to look at him, especially now that I’m brimming with embarrassment. I would have given anything for him not to hear me mention anything about a proposal. Of all my lousy luck.

  I glance out at Dutch who’s happily skipping in the middle of the street as a truck barrels in his direction. I wince as the vehicle pushes right through him, and once it’s gone, Dutch resumes the task of skipping and barking with joy.

  “Lottie, I have to tell you something.” Noah’s finger caresses my cheek, and I turn and give it a playful bite. “Hold that thought.” He moans with approval. “I spoke with Everett this morning.” His affect darkens. “He admitted to having feelings for you.”

  “What?” I blink back with surprise and not in any good way. “That’s absurd. He’s yanking your chain to get you going. Of course, he doesn’t have…” I lose steam before I can complete the thought. “Was he serious?” My chest tightens, and suddenly it’s hard to breathe. Lainey is right. I’ve teased poor Everett into oblivion.