“I was at mortal enemy level? I only have you at bane of my existence,” he said, his own smile emerging.
“You’re also part of some criminal enterprise, so you can’t expect me to be the worst person you know.”
Before he could volley something back, his doorbell sounded, and Silas found himself irritated at the interruption as he quickly moved to answer the door.
“You okay? I didn’t expect to see your truck out front in the middle of the day,” his brother-in-law said from the front stoop. He held a basket of apricots he’d most likely planned to leave on the step for Silas.
“Yeah, I’m fine. A coworker got skunked, so I brought her here to—”
“Oh, Halo’s here?” Victor asked, moving his head to see inside.
“No, Raven.”
Victor’s eyes widened. “TheRaven?”
“You don’t need to put ‘thee’ before her name. She’s not some legendary figure.”
“Can I meet her?”
“Why?”
“Why not?” Victor countered.
Not interested in shrouding Raven in a mystery that would only serve to pique curiosity further, Silas moved aside to grant his brother-in-law access inside his home.
He introduced the two, and they exchanged pleasantries.
“He’s here dropping off fruit,” Silas explained.
“I have a garden,” Victor said. “Never thought I’d be the type, but it helps with writer’s block.”
“Oh, you’re a writer?” Raven said, which led them to talk about that for a while.
“How’s everything going? Running the business and so on,” Victor asked carefully, the underlying question evident.
“Well, I’m the bane of his existence, and I think he’s an asshole, so better than last week,” Raven said.
And as his brother-in-law’s laughter filled the room, she turned to Silas and winked, sending an unexpected thrum across his chest.
ChapterTen
Raven woke up with a start,the remnants of her dream lingering in unspecific sequences. Sweat-slick limbs, tangled sheets, mouths hanging open on sounds of ecstasy, her and Silas in the titular roles.
“Fuck,” she said as she pushed the covers off her body and sat up in bed.
She was going to blame the skunk situation from yesterday. The hours she’d spent in his home had felt intimate—like the morning after a hookup. She’d been wearing his clothes, her hair wet, her face bare. He’d even prepared her food like they were famished from fucking.
It was no wonder her subconscious had decided to have fun and imagine her in the most illicit positions with him, but now wide awake, she felt strange, not to mention aroused. She stepped into the shower and ran the water as cold as she could stand it, hoping it would excise the images from her mind as she scrubbed her body.
It was somewhat successful, but she was glad she had the weekend to reset before facing Silas.
Once dressed and groomed, she walked to the motel head office to complete her weekend chores. She found Linda behind the lobby desk talking with the florist, Kriti, who ran a flower shop with her father and dropped off an order every few days.
“Hi, ladies,” Raven said as she approached the women. “Sorry I’m late, Linda. I had quite the day yesterday.”
“What happened?” Linda asked, concerned.
“I got skunked on the Mountaintop property.”
