Page 64 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

Someone tried the knob, found the door locked and started to pound on the bathroom door. That was followed by Emmett calling out, “Hey! I gotta get in there.”

It was the reminder Linc needed that things wouldn’t really be all right again until Emmett—and the specter of that will hanging over them—was out of all their lives. For good.

ChapterThirty-Three

“Did you two get your Secret Santa done yet?” Olivia asked Eva and Poppy, as if everything was normal and the snake hadn’t intruded on their happy Wilder family Christmas.

They were sitting in Olivia’s bedroom in the mansion, which was now the norm and Eva feared might remain so even after baby Wilder made his or her appearance.

God, how she hoped this would remain the norm and Emmett didn’t move into this room as one of the new owners.

She pushed that residual fear aside. That wasn’t gonna happen. She had the means to make sure of it.

Besides, she was here to get Olivia to relax and stop worrying. The doctor was not happy with her blood pressure lately. And there was no doubt in Eva’s mind why that was.

So here they were, pretending life was like it was before the snake reappeared..

At least she had a big screen television and a fireplace. Plus a couple of comfy upholstered chairs had been moved in to accommodate Olivia’s frequent visitors. All in all, there were worst places to hang out and kill a few hours.

Eva looked away from the screen at Olivia’s question while wishing she had a cookie, because today they were watching some holiday baking competition and it was making her mouth water.

Poppy pouted at Olivia’s question. “Yes. But I’m not enjoying it.”

Eva lifted a brow. Emmett was not a part of the Secret Santa so it couldn’t be having to get a gift for him that was making the usually annoyingly happy Poppy so obviously unhappy.

Maybe she had to get a gift for Wyatt? None of them were all that happy with him and his refusal to condemn Emmett for his past behavior and bury that will.

Of course, it could be being separated from Ethan that Poppy was upset about. She had moved back to the Wilder to protest Emmett’s return, so Eva could imagine neither Poppy or Ethan were getting the amount of loving of the physical nature they’d gotten used to. Eva could relate to that…

Or hell, maybe it was just Poppy lamenting the fact that Emmett’s return had put a damper on all of their Christmas merriment.

Eva had been pretty pissed about that herself until she’d dropped off her stuff at the lodge on her way over here today. Just walking in the door of Linc’s place and being surrounded by the decorations they’d worked on together had picked up her spirits. As had the absence of the snake.

The fact Linc had coordinated the roommate swap like a well-planned hostage exchange helped. He’d made sure Emmett was out—along with all evidence of him—before she’d arrived. And he’d made sure to keep Emmett out of sight—probably propping up the bar at the Last Call—until she’d cleared her apartment of all her stuff and had driven away.

She’d be staying in Linc’s guest room again. But that didn’t mean she’d be in his bed—as much as she wanted to scratch that itch again.

Sadly, like all things, her sex life had been altered by the snake. Because until she was completely certain of Linc’s feelings about Emmett, she wasn’t sure she wanted to see him naked again—even with as pleasant as that experience had been.

She was horny, but she was even more stubborn, and pissed off at the snake’s return.

“Eva? You?” Olivia’s question knocked her out of her thoughts.

“Me what?”

“Your Secret Santa gift?” Olivia clarified.

“Oh. Yeah. My gift is mostly done. I’m just putting on the finishing touches,” she answered, keeping it purposefully vague, as per the rules, in addition to her desire to not go to jail for the less than completely legal way she’d gone about setting up his gift.

Then there was the other thing she’d worked on, which she figured could be a gift for them all. The in-depth information packet containing all of Emmett’s dirty deeds. It was as complete and professional as any target package she routinely supplied to the people she usually worked for. Watching Emmett getting hauled away in handcuffs would be the gift that kept on giving.

That was a dark thought, in stark contrast to the sparkly white Christmas confections on the screen in front of her.

Maybe working on the dark web to shine a light on the worst of this world’s evils had made her a cynic with a cold black heart. Like the Grinch. And like the Grinch had eventually helped the Whos, she could help the Wilders by ridding them of the snake. By making sure he was locked in a dark hole for a long time for his crimes.

But would the Wilder family thank her or condemn her for it? She wasn’t so sure her moral compass was the same as theirs. She’d begun to wonder lately, after being around these people, if she was a bit off of true North.

Maybe she wouldn’t have to do anything at all. He had to have found the thumb drive by now. Shouldn’t he be leaving town again since he’d gotten what he wanted?

---