Stalking the Pharmacist (3 page)

Rosalie’s eyes widened as though she were
shocked by Ash’s reaction, but Ash wasn’t budging. How stupid did they think
she was to fall for the charm of a philanderer? Ash waited for the information
she’d requested, smiling as sweetly as possible at her hostess.

“Head down the hallway there, and it’s the
third door on the left.”

Ash gave Jack a half smile and bobbed her
head.
“Nice to meet you.”

She turned on her heel for the second time
in ten minutes and headed off in the direction Rosalie had sent her.

The house was incredible.
The ceilings were high and the rooms were spacious, yet
had that
cozy
home feel that only special people
managed. She stopped outside the bathroom and stared at the framed picture on
the wall. It was of Tyler and Brandon, about fifteen years earlier. They were
lanky and their noses were too big, yet their smiles were exactly the same.
Cheeky and oh-so-charming.
Her cousin was a lucky woman,
indeed. Assuming, of course, that they didn’t turn into the arrogant pigs most
men could be. Though judging by their mother, they’d be skinned alive if they
did.

“I love that photo.”

Rosalie had snuck up behind
her and poked her nose over Ash’s shoulder.

Ash turned and smiled at the
proud mother. “My cousin seems very happy, Rosalie. I’m so glad she’s found
someone…ah…” Laura was
sorta
married to both of them,
right? Ash had read the invitation wrong and turned up two hours early. She’d
been shocked at first to see two grooms surrounding her cousin, but Laura’s
happiness had been so evident, it was impossible to judge her harshly. “I mean,
men who will look after her, love her.”

Rosalie
swiveled
so she was blocking Ash’s escape into the bathroom, her abundant figure
beautiful in its feminine shapes.

“She is, but so are they.”

Ash nodded. “I don’t know
your sons at all, but I do know Laura. That woman is a gem.”

Rosalie crossed her arms over
her impressive bust and looked at her with intense eyes. Ash cocked her head at
the older woman.

“Is there something you want
to tell me, Rosalie?”

Rosalie’s beautiful eyes were
troubled as she worried her lower lip with her teeth.

“My sons are a perfect pair.
Which means that they are perfect compliments to each other, in
both looks and personality.
Pretty much think of it as your perfect man,
divided into two.”

Ashleigh laughed, the bubbles
spreading up through her belly and out. She had to cover her mouth with her
hand, she was so loud.

“Well, in my experience that
would be the only way to get a halfway decent man.”

Rosalie frowned at her, and
Ash stopped laughing. That was probably too much information for a woman she
barely knew.

“Jack and Scott
are
a perfect pair also, so please don’t dismiss Jack
because you think he isn’t educated enough. He has a college degree, but
chooses to spend his life educating young men about the strength of their
bodies. Scott is a scientist with the government, he chose a different path.”

Heat seared a path up Ash’s
neck and blossomed across her face. The tone Rosalie had just taken with her
could only be called chastising, and she was feeling it right down to her
sickened belly.

Guilty as charged.

“I don’t like football, or
footballers, Rosalie. I have just endured a very nasty divorce, so please
excuse my rude
behavior
. I’m not interested in
anyone, especially two men who…”

She trailed off, her
cross-referencing brain pulling together
fibers
she
wasn’t sure she should.

Two men! Oh my God!

She took a breath and stared
directly into Rosalie’s blue eyes, seeing the truth there before she even asked
the dreaded question.

“Rosalie, do all perfect pairs marry one
woman?”

She placed her hands on her hips and barely
stopped herself from tapping her foot when Rosalie looked down for a moment.

Then the woman looked back up, her mouth
tight as she nodded. “Yes. They are designed to find one perfect woman for
them.”

Oh
God, no.

“Why are Jack and Scott pursuing me? And
does it have something to do with that weird electricity thing?”

Rosalie’s gaze sharpened and she stepped a
little closer.

“Electricity thing?”

Ash frowned and rubbed her hands over each
other, remembering the first contact she’d had with Scott, then Jack’s arm
around her.
Those moments of pure sensation.
Neither
science nor common sense could explain why she’d had such a strong reaction to
two men she’d never met before.

“Yes. When they shook my hand, something
happened. It felt like sparks flying through my skin.”

Rosalie’s eyes grew wide and her breathing
sped up. Why was she getting excited?

“And my nephews?
How did they react?”

Ash shrugged. “Not sure, but they haven’t
stopped staring at me. I feel like I’m being pursued, which is ridiculous, I
know. I sound vain, which isn’t me at all, but—”

A strange sort of giggle burst out of
Rosalie, which she quickly stifled with her hand. “Sorry. Okay, well, thank
you. I’ll leave you alone and well…yeah.”

Rosalie disappeared in a hurry and Ash made
her way into the bathroom, sitting on the toilet with no real need to go.

She’d taken a week of leave to attend her
cousin’s wedding and take some time out to recover from her year of hell.
Now this.
What sort of rabbit hole had she fallen into?

****

Scott swaggered into the kitchen that held
his barely older brother. He was still in shock over the idea that they may
have found their fated mate, but the jury was still out on whether they could
make it work. It felt like too much water had gone under the bridge for him to
ever be happy again.

He stepped up beside Jack and crossed his
arms. How had the golden boy fared with a woman who could supposedly handle
them both?

“Go well, did it?”

A low growl left Jack’s throat as he glared
at Scott, his blue eyes firing like a roiling lightning storm. Scott couldn’t
help the grin that spread across his face.

“What? You’re the more charming of us.
Whatcha
do wrong?”

Jack was the more charming, the more
handsome, and the one that had always believed that their fated mate was still
out there. Even with all the evidence to the contrary. It was hilarious that
he’d struck out so quickly!

“I’m a footballer. That seems to be a
problem.”

Scott’s eyebrows shot up. Since when did
his twin being an amazing sportsman, with all the successes and muscular body
that went with it, cause a problem?

“You’re kidding me? I’ve never met a woman
who didn’t love the fact that you played football.”

Jack
shrugged,
his
posture tight and stiff through his shoulders.

“She’s pretty smart, I think. Probably
thinks I’m a typical jock. We both know most footballers can be a bit thick.”

Scott’s interest piqued like a cat popping
its head up from a sleeping position.

“Smart?
Like how?”

Laura was a vet, so maybe her cousin was
too. Not that Scott had an easy time believing that one woman was made for
them, but if she were, he’d need her to be smart. Not to mention a great
communicator, affectionate, loving and sensual as hell…

Yeah, good fucking luck.
You’ve looked forever and never found a woman who came within a street of that.

“She’s a pharmacist. I think. She owns her
own business.”

Scott could hear the beating of his heart
as he took in that rather important piece of information. She was more than
smart. She was intelligent and probably had a decent amount of common sense,
too, if she ran a business.

“Wow, well she’s got brains, then.”

“Yeah, and the body.”
Jack whistled and pulled a face that was
close to a grimace.

Scott lifted a brow.

“I thought you liked ’em lean?” Scott
didn’t mind lots of curves, but Jack always seemed to go for the women you
could barely see. You’d need two of his last girlfriend to make up Ashleigh’s
voluptuous figure.

His twin shrugged, thrusting his hands into
his pockets. “They’re just the ones around.
The gym, at the
football games.
I don’t pick them on purpose. Besides, Ash’s curves are
a fucking turn-on!”

Aunt Rosalie came bustling toward them like
a steam train, her face set and determined.

“I can’t believe it! She’s your mate, isn’t
she? After all this time, you’ve found her!”

Scott groaned and threw back his head. The
whole family knew how he felt about this! Even if there was such a woman for
them, it was too bloody late!

He growled at the ceiling. “How can you say
that to us, Aunt Rosalie?”

He brought his head back down and glared at
his mother’s younger sister. She just beamed back, her blue eyes bright and
clear.

Fuck!

“Because you two are following her around
like puppies and you had the instant contact fire bolt, didn’t you?” She
slapped her hand against his arm. “And what do you mean? I know you both stupidly
married women who didn’t suit you, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have
the perfect woman out there waiting for you.”

She leaned closer, her gaze flicking
between the two of them. “And it sounds like you’re going to have your work cut
out for you. Ashleigh has just gone through a messy divorce and is pretty cut
up. I think you’re going to have to work a little bit of magic.”

Bloody
stop! No! I don’t want to know anything about her.

Scott groaned again, turned and walked back
through the glass doors onto the patio, his heart galloping inside his chest as
though it were trying to escape.

He didn’t want this. He didn’t!

Sure, he’d wanted to touch her to see what
would happen, but he hadn’t thought he’d actually
feel
anything when he did. He thought to prove the strange feelings
flowing through him wrong, but he’d done the opposite.

His brother’s big hand slapped him on the
back and the breath left his lungs in a fast, painful rush.
Damn caveman.

“You okay, bro?”

Scott shook his head and crossed his arms
over his chest, then dropped them when the move pulled on his shirt too much.
Bloody monkey suits. He loved wearing a t-shirt and a loose lab coat at work.

“Fine.”

His brother chuckled next to him and Scott
sighed, some of the fight going out of him. This was Jack. His best mate, his
brother. Jack had been there for every moment of his life, good and bad, and no
one knew more about how much his ex-wife had damaged him.

“I don’t want to get married again, Jack.”

That chuckle again. “That’s cool, but I’m
going for it. You don’t mind, I assume?”

A heavy growl rose and vibrated through
Scott’s chest like none he’d ever heard or produced himself before. His hands
balled into fists, and the mountain lion within him rose to the surface.

No!
She’s mine too!

“Settle down, Scott,
it’s
okay.” Jack’s placating tone and hand on his arm was enough to make him press
down on his lion, and the beast calmed instantly. He was so used to controlling
him. Twenty years with an abusive, degrading human wife tested his control to
its limit.

“I don’t…” Eloquent words weren’t possible
at the moment. “Oh fuck it. I’m going home. Tell the boys I said bye.”

Scott looked at his brother and gave him a
smile that he knew was closer to a grimace. He couldn’t do any better at the
moment. Jack’s blue eyes dimmed,
crows
feet lining his normally young-looking face.

He slapped his hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“Don’t stress, big brother.
All good.”

Scott stepped through the crowd of his
family and picked up his jacket. Thankfully he’d brought his own car, and his
kids were with his ex for the weekend.

No one stopped to talk to him as he made
his way through Rosalie and John’s house, flinching as he stepped through the
carved front door.
The door that was the talk and pride of
all their family.

Ignoring the wooden carving, he took a few
steps down the path before he couldn’t resist the tug of it. He had to look
once more. He turned and clenched his jaw against the feelings that assailed
him. It was only a door.
A pretty entranceway to a house.

He sighed and let his shoulders sag, the
deep ache and longing flowing over him like a cold shower. Within the door was
the carved shape of a Rocky Mountain lion, which was beautiful but also
deceptive. In the backdrop if you looked closely were four other lions, the
family surrounding and supporting their alpha. Everything he’d ever wanted,
staring at him, mocking him.