Carly Phillips - Hot Stuff

A sudden sound ripped through the silence around them and Mara's static-ridden voice carried through the walkie-talkie clasped on his right hip. The intrusion couldn't have been more unwelcome.

"Hey boss?" Mara called a second time.

Vaughn groaned and touched his forehead to Annabelle's, their breathing coming in rapid gulps. "I am not answering," he muttered.

Annabelle laughed. "I second that."

"Vaughn, the police are here to see you," Mara said this time, her tone more urgent. "Are you there?"

"You are definitely getting it," Annabelle said, changing her mind and reaching for the gadget on his belt.

"Yeah I guess I am." With more regret than he'd believed possible, he rolled off her, unhooked the walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button. I’m here," he said to Mara. "Tell them I'll be there in five."

"Will do, boss."

"Well that was fun," Annabelle said with a grin.

He shot her an apologetic glance.

"Hey, it's no big deal."

He stood and held a hand out for her to grab and then helped her to her feet. She brushed herself off and he did the same, the remnants of dirt and grass covering them no matter how hard they tried to clean up.

He picked a stray leaf from her hair and a twig from the back of her shirt and she merely chuckled. "You surprise me again," he said.

"Why's that?" she asked as she straightened her clothing.

His gaze roamed appreciatively over her. "I'd never have pegged you as an outdoor girl."

She shrugged. "What can I say? I adapt to any surroundings."

"Another thing to admire," he said out loud before he could stop himself.

She reached out and brushed his rear end with the palm of her hand. Once, twice, then she lingered, her fingertips squeezing his buttocks.

His groin hardened all over again, forcing him to grab her wrist. "If you don't stop now I'll never get back to the office."

She grinned. "Then it's a good thing you know where to find me tonight, isn't it?" she said in a sultry voice.

He swallowed hard. "I'm heading back to the lodge. Why don't you just take my car home? I'll get a ride"

"You sure?"

In reply, he reached into his pocket and handed her his keys.

She smiled. "Thanks."

He nodded. At least he'd have the walk back to the building to get his body back under control. Nothing else that Annabelle was doing to him would be that easily managed until she was gone from his house and his life. Of that, Vaughn was now certain.

ANXIOUS TO HEAR what the police had to say, Vaughn strode into the lodge office. The detective in charge of the investigation waited for him, drinking coffee courtesy of Mara and obviously flirting with her, though by her stiff posture and dismissive expression, she was definitely putting out signals that said don't mess with me. It looked like her interest in Nick was the real thing, Vaughn thought.

He walked up to the detective and extended his hand. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting," Vaughn said.

Detective Ross rose from his seat and grasped Vaughn's hand for a quick shake. "Not a problem. Your lovely assistant was keeping me company."

From behind his back, Mara rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

Vaughn bit back a laugh. "Mara, why don't you take a break?" he suggested.

She shot him a grateful glance. "See you later." Ignoring the detective, she swung her purse over her shoulder and strode out of the room.

Once they were alone, Vaughn turned to the officer. He stood scanning the pictures on the wall, which included some old newspaper clippings of Vaughn's playing days and photographs of him receiving various trophies.

"So what did you find out?" Vaughn asked, not in the mood for idle chitchat.

"We discovered that your parents don't approve of your successful career," Ross said, scratching his head.

Vaughn swallowed hard. "Tell me something I don't know."

"They're not too thrilled with this place, either." He gestured around the lodge office.

"And?" Vaughn asked, annoyance percolating in his veins. Was this cop going to spend all day listing his family problems?

"And we've ruled them out as suspects anyway because there's no motive. They want respectability and clean hands too badly to do anything stupid around here."

Vaughn inclined his head. "Again, tell me something I don't know."

"Your old restaurants are in the red," Ross said. "Did you know about that?"

Vaughn jerked his head up at the suggestion. "You're kidding. Laura would have had to bend over backward to screw those up."

"Well, she managed. Your ex owes most of her landlords, all of her vendors and then some."

Vaughn was amazed.

"Are you in contact with her?" the detective asked.

"I haven't been. But she called me recently out of the blue." Coincidence? he wondered.

"What'd she want?"

"Money. She said she had some huge credit card bills."

Ross pulled out his pad and jotted down notes. "And you believed her?"

"I had no reason not to. I asked about the restaurants and she never mentioned business trouble." Vaughn looked out the window and tried to think, but when it came to Laura he was blank.

"Well, we're looking for motive and I can't imagine her wanting your star to rise again while hers is falling," the detective said.

"Laura's vain but she isn't destructive. Besides if she's behind the vandalism then why would she call me now and put herself back on my radar to begin with?" Vaughn asked.

"Do you play chess?"

Vaughn shook his head.

"It's called a Forked Attack. She calls you saying I want money but behind your back she's sabotaging you so the lodge won't have any success." Ross met his gaze. "In a sense she'd be coming at you from two fronts."

Vaughn shoved his hands into his back pockets and paced the floor. "I won't deny anything's possible but this doesn't feel right in here." He jammed his fist over his chest. "Do you know what I mean?"

The other man took a few steps toward the door. "We'll take those feelings under advisement but we have to follow up on all possibilities, no matter how remote. And this doesn't feel all that remote to me."

"Well, I appreciate you keeping me updated," Vaughn said, walking the detective to the exit.

With Ross gone, Vaughn thought back on their conversation. Laura behind the problems here? He snorted. Not likely. Which brought him back to square one. He headed home, hoping Annabelle would have greater insight than the detective in charge of the case.

UPON RETURNING to Vaughn's, Annabelle walked in on a loud discussion and realized immediately she'd intruded on a private talk between Lola and Uncle Yank. Her uncle sat in the large living room area on the couch while Lola, dressed in her new high heels, flowing skirt and low-cut, sleeveless peasant blouse, paced across the hardwood floor and back again.

Though Annabelle gave a wave to them both and went toward her room, she paused in the hallway now and couldn't help but overhear their conversation. In all honesty she was too riveted to step inside, close the door and shut their voices out.

"We had something once," Lola was saying. "And even if it didn't continue in the same way once the girls arrived, it continued. We continued. For years."

Annabelle inched closer to the wall and leaned against the cool Sheetrock. Lola and Uncle Yank? Well she supposed it made sense even if she hadn't known or wanted to think about it before. It'd be like her as a kid thinking about her parents having sex.

"I told you then and I'm telling you now, you deserve better than me," her uncle said, raising his voice.

"Same story, different reasons. Back then you really were afraid of commitment but now you're just afraid of yourself," Lola said, pushing him.

Annabelle couldn't decipher what Lola meant but she assumed it had something to do with the reasons her uncle had come for this visit now. He was running scared, but of what she couldn't imagine.