Freaky by Nature (16 page)

He nodded.

“Dam n it, Steele.” Max reached for the doorknob to the pantry .

“Ev er since y ou found that boa constrictor in the Am azon, y ou’v e

been such a panty waist.”

Brett jum ped up off the floor and m ov ed to the far side of the

kitchen.

Max eased open the door. The rattling m enace bobbed its head

and flicked its forked tongue. Very slowly , he pulled the gun from

his waistband, aim ed it at the coiled nuisance and cocked the

trigger.

“Hell, Sterling!” Brett forced the hoarse words past his fear.

“You can’t just shoot it in the pantry .”

“Do y ou want the sonuv abitch killed or not?”

“Well, y eah, but…” He gulped for air as his throat tightened.

“But?”

“Holly will kill m e if there’s snake all ov er the kitchen.”

Max lowered his gun, a cocky grin on his lips. “There’s a

rattlesnake in the pantry , probably four feet long, and y ou’re

worried about what Holly will think about
snake
all ov er the

kitchen.”

Max’s cell phone sm othered Brett’s response. Keeping a close

ey e on the snake, he shouldered the phone.

“I need peanut butter,” Cam eron said across the line.

“Okay , Baby ,” he soothed. “I’ll go in just a second.”

“You sound distracted. Where are y ou?”

“At Holly ’s, with Steele.”

“What are y ou doing?”

“Snake wrangling.”

“Big, Bad, Max. What are y ou really doing?”

“Snake wrangling,” he repeated calm ly . “There’s a

rattlesnake in the pantry .”

“Don’t shoot it, Ram bo,” she warned. “You’ll splatter snake

guts all ov er the kitchen.”

“So I’v e been told,” he m uttered.

“Why didn’t Brett kill it?”

“Steele’s afraid of snakes,” he drawled, biting his lip.

Brett groaned from across the kitchen.

“Do y ou need m y help?” she offered around a giggle.

He winced at the thought. Although, one of her stilettos m ight

com e in handy .

“No thanks, Tiger. I’ll be hom e with y our peanut butter soon.”

“Crunchy ,” she sang as she disconnected.

Max clipped his phone back to his belt. “Get m e a shov el and a

sack.”

Brett retriev ed the item s and handed them to him . Max

scooped the snake off the shelf and dum ped it into the sack before

he headed out the back door with Maxwell trotting close behind.

The echo of gunshots soon bounced off the quiet afternoon.

Max returned inside. “How the hell did a rattlesnake get in the

pantry ?”

Brett released a heav y sigh. “I don’t know. I just opened the

door for catnip and there it was.”

“It didn’t slither in there by itself. Was the front door locked?”

Brett nodded.

“Back door?”

“Com e to think of it, I think the back door was cracked open.”

“You can’t rem em ber?”

“I was distracted, Sterling,” Brett growled.

Max chuckled. “The gate was unlatched when I took the snake

outside.”

“Som eone’s been here.”

“May be Holly cam e hom e.”

“No,” Brett insisted. “She had classes at the gy m scheduled all

day . She only left once to m eet Rachel and Holly .”

“Oh hell.”

“What?”

“When those three get together, no one’s safe. You better hope

y ou weren’t the topic of today ’s discussion. How did som eone get

past the alarm ?”

“The alarm wasn’t set.”

Max grunted. “Hell, Steele, when were y ou going to rem em ber

that?”

“It doesn’t m atter now. Som eone got in here and left that

snake to scare her.”

“Or y ou.”

“Nobody but y ou and Holly , and now Cam eron, knows I don’t

like snakes.”

Max twisted his lips. “That y ou’re
scared
of them .”

Brett’s ey es blazed a warning. “No one else.”

“How close is Shadow?”

“No clue. Voicem ail answered when I called.”

“He’d better hurry his ass up. We need a bug on Bannister.”

“Want m e to do it?”

“You want to risk leav ing Holly alone?”

Brett shrugged. “Cam eron’s a pretty good body guard.”

“If y ou knew m y wife half as well as I do, y ou’d swallow y our

tongue.”

“Enough said.”

“We’ll wait on Shadow. Bannister’s not going any where as long

as the form ula’s up for grabs.”

Max turned and walked toward the front door. “The big, bad

rattler is dead now. You gonna be okay ?”

Brett frowned. “Screw y ou.” He glanced at his watch. “Holly

should be here soon.”

Max opened the front door. “Call m e when Shadow shows up.”

Brett released a breath of relief as he watched Max cross the

lawn, only to tense again when Holly drov e up the driv eway and

parked next to his truck. She wav ed at Max and then headed

toward the house.

“Holly , wait.” Brett stepped in front of her to block her path

then wav ed at the black and white police car that followed her

hom e.

She grasped his forearm . “Som ething’s happened.”

“Yeah.” Brett scrubbed a hand across his jaw. “Com e inside

and I’ll fill y ou in.”

As soon as they were back in the house, Brett closed the door.

“When I got here, the alarm was off and the back door was

cracked open.”

Holly ’s ey es widened. “I forgot to set the alarm this m orning.

But I know for sure the back door was locked.”

Brett weighed the options of telling her about the snake and

then decided against it. For his sake or hers, he couldn’t be sure.

“I’m positiv e som eone’s been here.”

She turned to look around the room . “I don’t think any thing’s

m issing. May be y ou’re m istaken.”

“No. Believ e m e, I’m not wrong.”

“Do y ou think som eone is still after the form ula?”

Brett nodded, pissed off by the fear he saw in her ey es. “Most

likely . Just be careful to set the alarm from now on.”

She gav e him a sm ile and his anger m elted. “Okay . Do y ou

want to com e next door with m e?”

Brett swallowed. “No thanks.”

“Cam eron needs her sam ple books.” Holly picked up the books

from the coffee table. “I told her I’d run them ov er. I won’t be

long.”

A hard breath left his lungs when Holly closed the door. He

m ight as well hav e been back in the jungle. When Holly found out

about the snake in the pantry , she just m ight squeeze the life out of

him .

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Cam eron m et Holly at the front door and gav e her a quick hug

before she pulled her inside to the liv ing room .

“Thanks for bringing the books. I’v e got a client who needs a

m ajor lesson in
tasteful
.”

Holly giggled and set the books on the coffee table. “No

problem . My liv ing room looks great, by the way .”

“Of course. But, with Brett around y ou m ay need to hire a

m aid serv ice. I’v e learned how to dodge the things they leav e

behind.”

“Actually , he’s the one who keeps the house in order. You know

what odd hours I work.”

Cam eron’s blue ey es twinkled. “What m ore could y ou ask for?

A neat freak who’s a m ajor hottie,
and
kills rattlesnakes in y our

pantry .”

Holly ’s m outh dropped open. “Kills
what
in m y
where?
”

Cam eron bit her lip. “Brett didn’t tell y ou?”

“Tell m e what?” Holly dem anded.

“Nev er m ind.”

“Oh, no!” She grabbed Cam eron’s arm , forced her to sit, and

propped her swollen feet on the table in front of the sofa. “Spill it,

Cam eron.”

“I’m pregnant, Holly , m y horm ones are wacky .”

“Nuh-huh.” Holly shook her head at the dark blue haze

swirling around Cam eron and searched her own brain.
Blue, blue,

blue
. Fear of speaking the truth. She sat down next to Cam eron and

folded her arm s across her chest.

“Fine,” Cam eron confessed. “Brett found a rattlesnake in y our

pantry this afternoon.”

The blue dissipated on the breeze.

“He’s terrified of snakes,” Holly m um bled, halfway between

am azed and angry .

“He called Max. But don’t worry , I wouldn’t let them shoot it in

the kitchen.”

“What happened to it?”

“The Am azing Max, Snake Charm er, took it outside and killed

it.”

“Brett didn’t say any thing to m e.”

“He probably didn’t want y ou to worry . Besides, they liv e for

those Tarzan m om ents.”

Holly giggled at Cam eron’s explanation, m aking a m ental

note to corner Brett later. Com forted by the easy going

conv ersation, she looked at Cam eron thoughtfully for a m om ent

and tossed the thought of letting Cam eron in on her own secret

from one side of her brain to the other.

“What?” Cam eron asked.

Holly took a deep breath and swallowed her insecurity . “I hav e

som ething to tell y ou.”

Cam eron shifted to cross her ankles. “Okay , shoot.”

Holly glanced at Cam eron’s stom ach. Might as well start with

the m ost shocking news. “Hav e y ou had an ultrasound lately ?”

“Not since m y first one, why ?”

Holly looked Cam eron square in the ey es and took one of the

biggest chances she’d ev er taken in her life. Cam eron would either

run from the room scream ing or clock her for being so brutally

honest.

“Why , Holly ?” Cam eron insisted.

“You’re carry ing twins.”

Cam eron’s ey es widened and her m outh fell open. “That’s not

funny , Holly ,” she squealed. “I know I’m a few pounds ov erweight,

but I’m just pleasantly plum p.”

“I’m serious, Cam eron. Two babies.”

Cam eron squinted one ey e. “How do y ou know?”

“I know because I’m psy chic.”

“No way ! How?”

“I don’t hav e a logical explanation. I hit m y head during a car

accident as a child and ev er since, I just know things som etim es.”

“Like reading m inds?”

“Not exactly . Som etim es I get v ibes like that but usually I see

color.”

“Color?”

“Yeah, m y psy chology book say s color represents m ood. I’m

able to read people through color. Your stom ach is cov ered by two

pale pink polka dots.”

“What color am I now?”

Holly drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “Red. I’m sorry I

upset y ou.”

Cam eron dism issed her apology . “I’m not angry with y ou,

Holly , y our skills just m ight com e in handy . Max, howev er, is in

hot water.”

“Max?”

“Yeah. He not only knocked m e up, he knocked m e up twice!”

Holly laughed out loud, expelling all her doubts and fears of

Cam eron’s acceptance.

“You don’t happen to know what sex they are, do y ou?”

Cam eron asked.

Holly nodded. “Are y ou sure y ou want to know? I’m not

alway s right.”

“Take a guess.”

“Girls.”

Cam eron’s ey es sparkled and the red haze around her spiraled

until a peaceful light blue wrapped her body . “That m akes it all

better then,” she said sm ugly . “Serv es him right for being such an

ov erachiev er.”

Holly shook her head and leaned back on the sofa,

reliev ed that Cam eron had accepted the news so easily .

“Does any one else know?”

“No one. You’re the first.”

“Do y ou m ind if we keep this between us for awhile?”

“Not at all. But y ou hav e to behav e.”

“So, back to Brett.” Cam eron folded her arm s across her

protruding belly . “Boxers or briefs?”

“I don’t know,” Holly scoffed. “We hav en’t gotten that far.”

“You know I’m carry ing twins but y ou don’t know Brett’s

underwear preference?”

Holly laughed again, som ewhat com forted by Cam eron’s

skepticism .

“Guess,” Cam eron insisted.

Holly thought for a m om ent. “Briefs.”

Cam eron snorted. “Probably not.”

“No?”

“No.”

“What would y ou guess?”

“Neither.”

“Neither? Oh, no, Cam eron, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t wear a

thong.”

“Not a thong,” Cam eron agreed.

“Then what?”

Cam eron’s ey es twinkled. “Com m ando.”

“You think so?”

Cam eron bobbed her curls in response.

Holly bit her lip. “I’m not sure.”

“I am ,” Cam eron said m atter-of-factly . “In fact, I’m
so
sure, I’ll

bet y ou a pair of Louis Vuitton pum ps.”

“You too?” Oh well, she’d just hav e to pick up two pair. “Don’t

y ou already hav e som e of those?”

Cam eron shrugged. “I can alway s use a spare.”

“Okay ,” Holly relented. “You’re on.”

“Want som e ice cream ?”

“No thanks. I need to get hom e.” She stood and went to the

door. “Stay off y our feet.”

Cam eron patted her stom ach. “Oh don’t worry , Holly , now

that the girls and I hav e a secret,
daddy
will pull double duty .”

Holly stom ped back across the lawn, sorely tem pted to go
boa

constrictor
on a certain Nav y SEAL. She knew his goal was to

protect her, but a snake in the pantry warranted explanation.

She wasted no tim e barging inside the house and headed to the

liv ing room full force, hands on her hips and prim ed for

confrontation.

Holly cam e to an abrupt stop when she saw Brett braced

against the back of the sofa on one hip, obv iously waiting for her.

A m uscle jum ped at the base of his jaw. “Cam eron told y ou