Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (44 page)

“So you’re just
gonna carry this grudge against me to your grave?” he asked, growing angry.  It
always came back to this with them.  One stupid night where he’d gotten drunk
and acted on impulse was going to shape the entirety of their relationship, no
matter how hard he tried to change things.  He should have let it go a long
time ago, but he wouldn’t.  He should have just made his peace with the fact
that this woman would never forgive him, but he couldn’t.

And he knew exactly
why.

For better or
worse, Patience McKinnon mattered to him in a big way.

Cocking her head,
Patience smiled.  “Yep.  That’s the plan.”

“Jesus fuck,
Patience.  You sure you don’t have a degree in ball busting?  You’re a fuckin’
expert at it.” Abel muttered, bracing both his hands against the sink and
hanging his head. 

“Would you mind
putting a sock in it, Abel?” Patience hopped up on the counter and pulled the
bottle between her legs.  “I’m trying to bask in the warm glow of my happy
place,” she said, closing her eyes and tilting her head toward the ceiling.

Watching her face
get soft, he felt his lips tilt upward.  Sitting there with her shapely legs
swinging back and forth, her blonde and lavender hair styled around her heart-shaped
face, she was gorgeous -- and his body reminded him adamantly of the fact. 
Shifting the material of his slacks, he asked softly, “Where’s your happy
place, Hellion?”

“Mmmmm… it’s this
cozy little spot in the woods that I go to in my mind.  See, it’s got this
lovely fire pit where I imagine roasting your naked body over an open flame.  I
love it there; your screams always make the loveliest sound.  Music to my
ears,” she noted with a sigh and dreamy smile.

His smile quickly
dissolved into a frown at that piece of information.  He only had himself to
blame; he’d asked the question.

“Still have that
vicious little edge to your tongue, I see,” he growled, leaning forward and
plucking the bottle from between her legs.  “Words hurt, you know.”

“You mean that’s
all it takes to hurt you?” Patience asked brightly.  “Awesome!” She pumped a
fist in the air.

“Swear to Christ,
woman, you’re gonna drive me crazy one of these days,” he growled, tipping the
bottle to his own lips and swallowing a shot of the liquor.

“That’ll be a short
trip,” Patience announced dryly, leaning forward to yank her bottle out of his
hand.  “And nobody puts his hands on Jose but
me
,” she added on a low
growl.

“You know, if you’d
just talk to me about that night… let me attempt to explain where my head was
at… instead of clinging to your title of Most Stubborn Pain in the Ass in
Paradise County, then we might have somehow found our way to….

“To what, Abel?”
Patience snapped, her deep blue eyes darkening to almost navy.  “Be friends? 
Fuck buddies?  What do you think we could have been?”

“I don’t know,” he
replied truthfully.  “You never gave me the chance to…”

Lifting her chin,
Patience squared her shoulders as she narrowed her eyes on the infuriating man
that had been a thorn in her side for entirely too long.  “You had your
chance.  I gave you my virginity – which for the record, a girl can only give
once
– to a three-pump chump that couldn’t even bother remembering my
name
.  Your
chance has come and gone…do excuse the pun,” she added acidly.

“I was drunk,
Patience, and I didn’t forget your name.  If you remember correctly, I’d just
come off a six-year relationship that same fucking night.  I wasn’t exactly in
a good place.  I was disoriented when I woke up.  Can’t you just…”

“You mean when you
sobered up.” Patience let out a low growl as she waved her hand in the air. 
“Just face it, you were a lousy lay, Abel.  And coming from a woman that was a
virgin, that says a
lot. 
And calling me Angie the next morning just
sealed the deal that you were a lousy human being, too.  Awful sex plus shitty
human being equals a lesson I will never, ever forget.”

“Patience,” Abel
began heavily, “No woman’s first time is gonna have her singing show tunes,
darlin’.”

“Oh, yeah?  Your
brother did okay.  The way I heard the story, he rocked Faith’s
world
her first time.  Unlike you, he knew how to work what God gave him.  Trust me,
the problem wasn’t me, Abel.  The problem was your less than impressive
equipment and the added bonus that you have the stamina of a jackrabbit,” she
remarked, eyeing his crotch critically.  “All that, compounded by the fact that
you’re the scum of the earth, was the reason I had a less than stellar
initiation to womanhood.”

“Sweetheart,” Abel
breathed as he realized just how badly he’d fucked up.  “Let me…”

“And what was with
the jewelry?   I mean, it made for a great conversation piece when I shared the
story with my girlfriends.  Maggie particularly loved it. But I’m still not
sure why a man would feel the need to put an ornament on top of his Christmas
tree.  Although, any tree in the forest would have had more wood than…..”

“You know,” a deep,
amused voice drawled from behind them, “I don’t know who this jackass was,
darlin’, but you’ve been hangin’ around entirely the wrong sort of man if he
couldn’t keep it up for you.  I told you when I visited last time that you
should have blown this town with me.”

Abel stumbled as
Patience hopped off the counter and ran across the room.  Turning, his jaw
clenched as he watched her vault into Zachariah ‘Ice’ Monroe’s strong arms,
wrapping her arms and legs around him like a boa constrictor.

“Ice!  We weren’t
expecting you until this evening!”  Hugging the ruggedly good-looking man
tightly, she drew back to plop a wet kiss on his cheek.  “How long have you
been here?”

“’Bout thirty
seconds, honey,” Ice murmured, returning her hug and meeting Abel’s fierce
stare with one of his own.  “I just rolled into town and saw your car outside. 
Had a little holdup just outside of town.  Some crazy bitch threw her brakes on
around Dead Man’s Curve just north of town, but I managed to get around the
whack job pretty fast. She was a fine piece of tail,” he acknowledged with a
grin, “But, I’d forgotten how mouthy they make you girls up here in this neck
of the woods.  Anyway, I figured I’d stop here first before I drove out to the
McKinnon house.”

“I’m so glad you
did.” Patience squeezed his neck once more before releasing him.  Dressed in a
pair of faded Levi’s that had seen better days, a clean white tee shirt that
molded to his strong body, and a pair of sturdy work boots, a woman would be
dead not to find him drool worthy.  Between the strands of grey threaded
through his coal black hair and the deep lines around his eyes, Ice looked like
what he was – a man that had played hard and lived harder.

“Zeke called, told
me to grab my sniper rifle and haul my ass down here ASAP.  Not gonna lie, I’m
not used to hearing Ezekiel sound rattled.  Last time I heard him sound like
that…” he trailed off, shaking his head.  “Anyway I think I was gassed up and
in the truck thirty minutes later.  Since my younger brother doesn’t make it a
habit of calling me for help, I did my best to make good time up here from Knoxville. 
The only thing my brother shared was that a whole passel of trouble has landed
in Paradise and my favorite gals’ doorstep,” Ice noted with a hard look at
Abel.  Settling Patience back on her feet, he leaned his lean, rangy body
against the doorframe and pulled the beaten and worn grey Stetson off his
head.  His shaggy black hair fell over his forehead and he pushed it back with
an impatient hand as he looked between Patience and Abel.  “Slade had to wrap
some shit up on the construction site, but he was gonna be right behind me.  I
think he got a phone call thirty seconds after I did.  Since we were both on
the same job, we decided I’d come ahead of him.  Either one of you wanna fill
me in on what’s going on?”

“Still can’t get
over the fact that you’ve gone from Green Beret to construction worker,”
Patience mumbled, shaking her head.  “Isn’t that like culture shock or
something?”

“It’s kinda a nice
reprieve from shootin’ people and gettin’ shot at, Baby Girl.  And you’re
avoiding my question,” he remarked pointedly, his grey eyes pinning hers. 
“What the hell is happening here?” 

Patience remained silent,
and she was rarely without something to say.

Turning his
attention to Abel, Ice raised an eyebrow.  “Abel?  You wanna share? Honest to
Christ, you’re all starting to freak me out here.”

Abel exchanged a
long look with Patience before replying, “Tanner Suarez is back, Zachariah. 
He’s back and he’s brought trouble with him.”

“What kind of
trouble?” Ice asked, crossing his arms over his chest.  He didn’t need to ask
who Tanner was; all of Paradise County knew the story behind the son of a bitch
that had wrecked Harmony’s life.

“The only kind
there is.  The bad kind,” Patience muttered.  “He pinned Harmony, Heaven and
Honor in here today, roughed Harmony up and threatened her.”

“Harmony’s with her
man now.  Zeke carried Honor back to the house.  Faith and Cain are already
home with Heaven,” Abel further explained.

Blinking, Ice
raised an eyebrow.  “Wait a second,” he ordered, holding up a work roughened
hand.  “Harmony’s got a man now?  Is this the Jake Stone I’ve been hearing
about?”

Patience nodded.  “Yeah,
although it’s in question whether he’s still her man or not.  I’d dump his ass
like a hot potato if I found out a man was spying on me and my family.”

“Huh?” Ice’s eyes
went back to Abel.

“Long story.  It’ll
get clearer when we get all the family in one room,” Abel informed Ice grimly. 
“But you haven’t told him all of it, Hellion.” He stared hard at Patience,
waiting for her to comment. “What happened to Harmony is bad, but what we
learned from Honor…”

“We don’t know
anything yet, Abel!  None of us has really gotten to talk to Honor yet.  You
can’t draw assumptions based on a few things she muttered.  She’d had a
fright.”

“Cut the shit,
Patience” Abel said softly.  “I was here this afternoon.  Standing right here
in this kitchen, I heard what Honor said.  I saw her face.  You did, too.
Everybody but Zeke witnessed what happened, and somebody is gonna have to tell
that poor bastard about it.  That man,” he remarked, pointing a long finger
toward Zeke’s brother, “is probably gonna be the only guy in a tri-county
radius that can lock Zeke down when he finds out the truth.”  Seeing Patience
open her mouth to reply, he shook his head.  “Argue with me all you want, but
you know – I
know
you know deep down in your heart that Zeke has gotta
be told about this shit
tonight
.  Hell, when he finds out we’ve been
sitting on this shit an afternoon, all hell is probably gonna break loose.” 
Watching a crack form in the hard mask Patience wore, Abel took a step toward
her.  “Hellion,” he said softly, “You
know
I’m not talking out of my ass
here.”

“We’re not
sure
,
Abel,” Patience whispered, staring at the floor as uncharacteristic tears pooled
in her eyes.

“We’re sure, Patience,”
Abel countered softly. 

Straightening,
Ice’s body stiffened.  “What the hell are you two jabbering about?” he asked,
his voice deceptively quiet.  “What the hell does Tanner have to do with Honor? 
Harmony, I get.  I understand that, but Honor?”

Reaching behind
him, Abel grabbed the bottle of Jose Cuervo that Patience had dropped on the
counter.  Holding it out to the other man with one hand, he gestured at one of
the stools around the large metal baking table.  “You’re gonna need to sit down
and take a shot, Zach, because you’re not gonna like what I have to tell you.” 

~~***~~

Honor McKinnon
and Ezekiel Monroe

Zeke’s SUV

5:07 pm

Easily navigating
his vehicle through Paradise’s version of rush hour traffic, Ezekiel Monroe frowned
as he studied Honor McKinnon out of the corner of his eye.  Statue-still, she
sat next to him with her hands folded demurely in her lap, her trim legs
crossed and her pretty face an expressionless, unreadable mask.  Only the fact
that her right thumb kept relentlessly rubbing the top of her left hand gave
away her inner turmoil.  The action was one of her few tells.  Not many would
notice it since it wasn’t as obvious as biting one’s lip or twirling one’s
hair, but it was there and he’d seen it.  Of course, he wasn’t
most
people.  No, he’d was a man that had spent years cataloguing Honor’s every
movement and reaction.

And she was giving
herself away whether she was aware of it or not.

Switching on his
turn signal, he pulled onto the country road that would carry him to the
McKinnon homestead.  “Honor?” he called quietly, turning his head to look at
her.  “Honey, you need to tell me what happened back there at the café.”

“I think you
already know what happened back there, Ezekiel,” she challenged softly.  “In
fact, I think you probably know more about it than myself and Harmony combined
being as you seem to have developed a rather close relationship with Jacob
Stone,” she informed him tonelessly, keeping her eyes glued to the windshield.