Fatal Attraction (Dark Desires 4)

“Well, I guess you’re going to have more guests than we expected,” Martha said just as the man opened the office door and stepped inside.

He flashed a wide smile at both of us and took off his shades.

Why he was wearing them in the first place would always be a mystery, I thought to myself. The skies were cloudy, and it was rare to see patches of sunlight large enough to merit sunglasses.

“Morning,” the man greeted.

“Afternoon,” Martha replied, smiling and a little bit amused by the man. He was trying too hard to fit in, his jeans and shirt looking like they had just been bought a few minutes ago, and was clearly uncomfortable.

Big city boy, just like Chance.

Only, this one looked like he deserved to be chased out of Ludwig with a shotgun. I could already tell I was going to hate him, and silently prayed that he and his friends were only here for a night, and I wouldn’t have to deal with them in the future. Thankfully there were no deliveries after today.

“Friends and I looking to book two rooms,” the man said, fishing his credit card from his pocket and sliding it across the counter.

“Sure thing,” Martha said. “You boys been driving long?”

“All the way from Austin.”

My head snapped around, and I caught him ogling me, smiling like an ass.

“Interesting,” Martha said, shooting me a sideway glance. “Seems like we’ve been getting a lot of Austin folk coming by this way. On your way to Houston?”

“Nope,” the man shook his head, every now and then stealing glances at me. “Our company has sent us here to renovate a new office space. We’re overseeing the work over the next few weeks.”

“Weeks?” Martha asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” the man nodded. “Didn’t I say? Oh, sorry, yeah, we’re booking the rooms until a few days after New Year’s Day.”

“That’s two months,” I said despite myself, and the man turned to look at me. He frowned a little, as if he were trying to place me, and that only made me feel worse about him.

“Yup, two months,” he said, turning back to Martha. “Is that a problem?”

Martha looked at me, as if asking me if my offer was still on the table. I shrugged. How much worse could they be?

“Nope, no problem,” Martha said. “Just let me get the paperwork ready.”

* * *

I didn’t know that Polly Wagner had sold her store, which was strange. Information like that would have travelled across Ludwig in less than an hour, but somehow, the sale had remained a secret.

I passed by the place on my way home, slowing down as I looked in the dark windows and padlocked door. Polly had run a pretty successful bakery out of there, until her husband had passed away and she had to pay back gambling debts she did not know he had. She had sold everything except for the store itself, probably in hopes that one day she’d be able to reopen.

Apparently, she had given up on that plan. I made a mental note to pass by her place to see how she was doing. It couldn’t be good if it meant selling the store.

But who the hell would buy it?

I frowned. Who in his right mind would buy and turn a store into office space? And exactly what kind of business was this? There was something off about all this, and I didn’t like it one bit. It was not normal for something as big as this to go unnoticed, or ignored for that matter.

Normally, the sale of a store would be the topic of gossip in town, but things were different here. I hadn’t heard anything about it at the diner, which was known to be Ludwig’s gossip center, and even Martha had seemed surprised when the man had explained why he and his friends were here. And when it came to Martha, she took pride in knowing everything that went on in town. This must have been killing her.

Let it go. You’ll find out soon enough. Taking one last look at the store, I shook my head in wonderment and drove away.

Chapter 17: Ashlyn

I groaned when the knocking on the door woke me up.

I was under the covers, my phone on silent and my alarm turned off, having had fully intended to sleep in as much as possible. It was December 31st, and the fact that the New Year was rolling in just twenty-four hours away had made me feel even more depressed than the cold weather did.