Instinctive (5 page)

She’d picked Serene of all places because she thought there’d be little to no sexual temptation in the Podunk town, but it was more than that. She couldn’t deny, nor could she explain why, that there was something about the town that called out to her. That she was drawn to it in some inexplicable way.

On many occasions while out driving on the highway with her granny during one of her childhood visits, she’d glimpsed the long, winding road leading into the secluded community. Her grandma had always refused to stop, insisting the inhabitants of Serene gave her heebie-jeebies. Which made it all that much more fascinating to Jaclyn, she supposed.

The static on her radio began to grate on Jaclyn’s last nerve, and she went to work on finding another station. Was it too much to hope for a decent station? Or even a damn road sign, for that
matter? She had no idea that that long, winding road went off in so many different directions, and if she hadn’t been equipped with BMW Assist, she never would have found her way.

Unlike Silver Springs, with its branching communities, Serene was smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. She glanced to her left, then to her right, only to be greeted by miles of wilderness and mountains off in the distance—as if she needed another reminder that she was a far cry from her beloved clubs in Chicago.

Her stomach churned as her eyes followed the path of the fence until it disappeared into a dense cluster of spruce trees. It occurred to her that the entire town was imprisoned behind that sturdy security fence. No wonder the place gave her grandmother the creeps. Jaclyn too was beginning to feel a bit distressed, almost a little claustrophobic. As shivers of unease slithered down her spine, she diligently tried to shake off the unsettling feeling.

She shifted in her seat and took a moment to consider the quirks of small-town living. Was the barrier to keep outsiders away? To keep the inhabitants in? Or both?

She fiddled with her radio for a moment longer, then gave up, flicked it off, and cast her eyes heavenward. She might have chosen to spend an indeterminate amount of time in Serene, but that didn’t mean she wanted to live here any longer than she needed to accomplish her goals, especially since setting sights on that impenetrable gate. She prayed that she could improve marketing strategies fairly quickly and turn around lagging cosmetics sales in the town’s only department store—yes, she’d done her research—and could then get back to the real world. Otherwise she feared she’d shrivel up and die in the isolated village. Even though she was director
of marketing at the head office, her father had assured her that moving product and increasing sales in a town where sales were practically nonexistent would be a strategic move on her part. Time and energy spent at the retail level would ultimately prove to investors and the board of directors that she had a vested interest in running the empire from the ground floor up upon Benjamin’s retirement. Then again, maybe her parents just wanted to get her out of the city before she brought any more scandal to her family’s name—now that she was out of town, the
Chicago Social
had turned its attention to the next misbehaving debutante. Or a way for her to find a nice respectable God-fearing guy she could bring home to Daddy. But in all seriousness, if restructuring to improve sales of skin-care products, antiaging creams, and makeup to the folks in Serene was the only way to appease her family and the board, then she’d happily do it. Okay, maybe
“
happily” was an overstatement.

When a car pulled up behind her, and she caught the driver’s scowl in her rearview mirror, it set her into motion. She drew a fueling breath and hit the accelerator with much more force than necessary. A second later she pulled up to the security booth before passing through the armored gate.

She lowered her window down and stuck her head out to greet the guard. The warm summer sun beat down on her chilled, air-conditioned flesh and helped melt the tension inside her.

“The purpose of your visit, ma’am?”

She gave the guy a quizzical look.
Purpose of her visit?
Was he serious? Lord, she was entering the town limits, not crossing the border to Canada. Still, she decided to soften the path and use charm to lighten his mood.

She flashed him a genuine smile. “Jaclyn Vasenty,” she said. “From Vasenty Cosmetics.”

His eyes narrowed in displeasure. He gave her a hard look before turning his snarl on her cat. His dark glare let her know that her attempt at altering his hard-ass disposition had failed. That, and he wasn’t a cat lover, apparently.

“How long will you be staying?” he asked.

Within two minutes, she’d come across two men who’d both given her nasty scowls. And here she thought everyone who lived in small towns was friendly and accepting. So much for that theory. She hoped the women were friendlier and more open to purchasing the product once she educated the sales staff how to promote it, since going to backyard barbecues to gain trust with chatty, altruistic PTA members wasn’t really her thing.

For some reason she didn’t always play well with other females. Sure it was strange, but as far back as she could remember, she had preferred the company of men—or her cat—because most women seemed threatened by her. From kindergarten on through high school she’d always been a loner—aloof some had called her. And because she refused to bend to the will of those “mean girls,” the ones who ruled school hallways and wielded their lipsticks like weapons, she’d found herself in a catfight a time or two.

Speaking of cats. Ruby jumped onto her lap and hissed at the guard, obviously not a fan, either. Offering her kitty an apologetic look, Jaclyn gently stroked her fur to calm her down and answered the guard, “As long as it takes.”

“Excuse me?”

The guard’s abrupt tone sent her eyes flashing back to his, and it was the first time she noticed the color. Such an odd shade of silver. As he continued to glare at her with those artic eyes, frustration caused her to throw her arms up and blurt out, “I don’t know. A month. A year. Forever.”

He turned to write in his little notepad, and she could have sworn he whispered something under his breath that sounded like, “We’ll see about that.”

Once he gave her the go-ahead, she stepped on the gas pedal and glanced at the open notepad on the seat beside her. Twenty-five Mulberry Lane. Since the town seemed to have only one main street, she was pretty certain that finding her house wouldn’t prove too much of a task. She was right. Less than two minutes down the main drag, past the post office, the bank, and the schoolhouse, she spotted Mulberry Lane. She negotiated the turn, pulled into the stone driveway, and killed the ignition. With her window still down, she took a moment to drag the fresh, aromatic country air into her lungs. Suddenly, the floral scent roused happy memories from the recesses of her mind. Was that lilac?

The scent immediately took her back to her grandmother’s old house. God, she had loved those overnight trips, and how she and her granny would get up extra early to feed all the robins and blue jays littering her vast backyard. Honestly, Jaclyn had forgotten how much she enjoyed those mini vacations—she smiled at the memory of how much she loved nature in all its splendor. Maybe she’d pick up her own bird feeder and see what kind of birds she’d find in Serene.

“How would you like that, Ruby?” She gathered her mewling
cat into her arms. “You can bird-watch, but you can’t bird-feed,” she added. Ruby purred her consent and rubbed against Jaclyn’s arm. Then another thought struck her. Mosquitoes. Her skin itched as she recalled the way the flies had peppered her childhood clothes.

Cringing and fully expecting to be bombarded with insects, she climbed from the car and began waving her hand in front of her face like an escaped mental patient. The scarcity of dive-bombers stilled her movements. Okay, that was odd. Not an insect to be found. In fact, she couldn’t even hear one single cricket chirping.

Bugs forgotten, Jaclyn grabbed the luggage from her trunk and glanced up at the house. She shaded her eyes and panned the quiet neighborhood. Apparently it seemed her arrival had garnered quite a bit of attention. Women and small children all stopped to stare, watching her over the rims of their lemonade tumblers.

She plastered on a smile and waved. Time to make nice. A few of the children waved back. The women, on the other hand, not so friendly. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly as visions of backyard barbecues and neighborhood clambakes danced in her head.

Damn.

When she realized Ruby had yet to exit the cool car, she scooped her up. “What’s the matter, girl? You couldn’t wait to escape earlier.” Ruby hissed, bolted from Jaclyn’s arms, and took off to find shelter under the front steps of her rental bungalow.

“Ruby,” she called and crouched down on all fours to peer
under the two stone steps. She really didn’t have time for this. “Come her, girl.” Unfortunately, she only succeeded in staining the knees on her new white capris. For some reason, her cat seemed to have taken up permanent residence under the dark stairs, and despite her efforts, there wasn’t a damn thing Jaclyn could do to lure her out. After a few minutes she decided to deal with her cat’s bizarre behavior later. She climbed to her feet and fished her keys from her purse. Now it was time for a quick exploration of the town she’d forever wanted to visit before she headed over to the department store and set things into motion. The quicker she became productive, the quicker she could accomplish her mission and head home.

Jaclyn slipped her key into the dead bolt, but noticed that the door was unlocked. Another quirk of small-town living, no doubt. She dropped her luggage inside and took a quick tour to familiarize herself with the furnishings and layout. A pretty blue vase on the coffee table caught her eye. She walked over to it, picked it up, and carried it to the windowsill, which she decided was a much better spot for it. Satisfied with her new rental property, she stepped back outside, and then automatically locked the door behind her, a habitual response compliments of big-city living.

She walked the footpath to the backyard and cringed when she spotted the huge swimming pool. She was not a lover of water, even preferring quick showers over long, luxurious bubble baths. Still, it’d be a great spot for a barbecue should she need to host one.

Leaving her car in the driveway, Jaclyn hitched her handbag high on her shoulder and glanced behind the houses across the
street from hers. She spotted a beautiful, albeit deserted, tree-fringed jogging park. Oddly enough, there wasn’t one dog walker to be found—not that she was a dog person. She shivered at the thought, really. But still, since it was such a familiar sight in Chicago, she expected to see a few people in the small town playing catch, or at least running the track with their pets.

Taking in her surroundings and looking for the department store, she made her way down Main Street and walked past the candy store. The enticing smell of ice cream and chocolate called out to her and slowed her down. Mmm. Chocolate.

The next best thing to sex, she decided. And since she was off sex . . .

A bell above the door jingled as she dashed inside the air-conditioned building. After purchasing a bag of dark chocolate mints, she popped one into her mouth, dropped the rest into her handbag, and made her way out into the early-afternoon sunshine, to take another look around at the small town.

Back out on the sidewalk, a woman and her child sidestepped her, barely sparing her a glance as they made their way inside for some candy. A few other people milled about, no more friendly than the mother and child. Jaclyn gave a heavy sigh and leaned against the hot brick building for a second, fearing this stint was going to be a hell of a lot harder than she had expected.

The warm sun beat down on her as she glanced up and down the streets in search of the department store. Her gaze settled on Vibes, the nightclub adjacent to the firehouse, one that brought back rich, decadent memories of Risqué. Not to mention Brian.

Or Kane.

Her salacious mind conjured up heated memories of her night with the two men, the provocative slide show sending shivers of warm need all the way to the tips of her toes.

Okay, speaking of alphas . . .

She spotted a man with more testosterone than both Brian and Kane combined stepping from the club. Heck, he had more than all the muscle-bound men who frequented Risqué, actually. Her blood began pulsing in hot waves, and her nipples tightened almost painfully beneath her crisp white blouse. Tiny beads of perspiration broke out on her upper lip as she studied him from afar.

Oh yeah, now there was a man who could corrupt her virtues with a blink of an eye. Looking sexy, completely groomed, and not at all uncomfortable in the blazing heat, he turned toward her. The mere sight of him from some twenty feet away had managed to reduce her to a wanton hussy. She could only imagine how she’d react if he was up close and personal. Her entire body shivered with longing, and deep between her thighs, her flamelike birthmark began to warm, tingle even. How odd.

The guy was temptation. Pure and utter temptation.

And
so
not what she needed right now.

As heat flared on her cheeks, she pressed her thighs together in an attempt to rein in her lust. The last thing she expected to find was a badass like him in Serene. A badass who was tall, with broad shoulders, sun-kissed skin, and a delectable body designed to satisfy.

A badass who was coming her way.

He moved like an alley cat with slow, easy, confident strides.
Something about him told her he was a man who knew what he wanted and took what he needed.

Damn, that excited her.

He turned those gorgeous green eyes of his on her, and she considered what he saw. Stepping into her role of the good girl, she’d forgone makeup that morning, and had pinned her long hair up in an artful coiffure. Thanks to her assistant’s help, and her weekend shopping spree, she’d given up her professional yet still sexy work wear and now wore a pair of casual cotton capris that reached midcalf, and a starched blouse that was buttoned up to her neck and practically suffocating her. Damn, she must look like the headmistress from her all-girl prep school, and felt as comfortable as a cat caught in a summer downpour. As though moving of their own accord, her fingers found the top button, where she began to fiddle restlessly. Her tongue flicked out to lick the moisture from her upper lip.