His Burning Heart: Real Men of Wildridge Read online

  A world-famous action movie star shouldn’t be this broke. Unless there was some kind of drug or gambling problem he’d managed to hide very well from Wyntir, something very bad had happened to the man’s money. He was simply not the kind of person whose lifestyle could let him fake being wealthy.

  As outraged as he was for his friend’s new love, Dyrk couldn’t help feeling vindicated. This all but proved his theory that the financial advisor was at the bottom of this “mystery.” To be completely sure, he only needed to examine Xavier’s accounts.

  He became so engrossed in his mission that the rest of the world failed to exist until a familiar voice spoke his name in a sweet, gentle tone. Tessa peered at him with a warm smile that made his heart flutter. It almost yanked him out of the real world and back into that quiet, peaceful memory of yoga the night before. Well, before he got a hold of himself, anyway.

  “Oh, hey,” he rubbed his eyes briefly but smiled to show he wasn’t frustrated by her interruption.

  “I was just about to head home and say I’d see you in an hour, but…is everything okay? You look a little frazzled.”

  Shit, he’d forgotten about their meditation appointment!

  “I was just going through Stark’s financial advisor’s accounts, trying to track him down. Turns out, he closed out all of the accounts he was tied to before he went on vacation.”

  “That doesn’t sound normal.”

  “It’s not. He’s a ghost, and he hasn’t made a blip on the radar since he vanished. That doesn’t bode well for Stark.”

  “You don’t think…?” She tilted her head to the side.

  “I do,” he crossed his arms. “In fact, I’m sure of it. I’m sorry, I hate to do this, but I don’t think I can get away from work right now. This is time-sensitive stuff and a man’s entire fortune is at stake.”

  Tessa didn’t look convinced. “Remember last time? I’ve learned over time that if you can’t be productive and happy at the same time, you should fix the second part and the first will come.”

  “Is that your way of asking me to come anyway?” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he had to prioritize.

  “An hour won’t make a difference one way or another,” she said mildly, giving him that vaguely mysterious smile that agitated as well as excited him. “In fact, I believe it will help more than you imagine.”

  She had a point. The yoga stuff had worked last time, so an hour probably wouldn’t kill him. Besides, some time with his eyes on something besides the screen would probably do him some good. And his gaze wouldn’t mind spending some time on Tessa, either.

  He looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments, and before he decided whether the hint of color under the sea of freckles on her cheeks was a blush, he smiled.

  “See you in an hour.”

  * * *

  Dyrk ushered Tessa into his apartment and she felt as if she’d left one reality—the one she was used to—and entered a whole new one. There was a major shift in ambiance, like her whole body was being rubbed with sandpaper. The feng shui of Dyrk’s place was all wrong. Sure, everything looked neat and tidy, and she could tell he probably spent a lot of time working to keep it that way, but it felt so…empty. Almost soulless. Like someone had taken a giant vacuum cleaner to the place and slurped out every ounce of personality and heart.

  It was beautiful in a very cold way. Every detail was perfectly accounted for, but so very few details actually interested the eye. Everything seemed arranged in a manner that made it boring. There was no single defined space or focal point for her gaze to fall on, not even a pop of color anywhere. It was all the same: flat, gray, and minimalist. The whole place made her feel sleepy and on edge at the same time. She was already thinking feverishly about all the changes she would make if given the opportunity.

  No wonder Dyrk was more tightly wound than a rubber band around a football. He was living in a life-sized filing cabinet rather than a home. At Tessa’s apartment, she made sure to pay attention to beauty and softness. She wanted every inch of her place to radiate coziness. She wanted peace and warmth and joy to thrum under every surface. So, she’d filled her apartment with memories, all collected from her various adventures around the world. She hadn’t done half as much traveling as she’d planned, but so far she had seen some pretty amazing places. Her apartment wasn’t cluttered, but it was densely populated with items that genuinely made her feel happy and light inside. Really, what more could one ask for?

  But Dyrk’s place didn’t even meet the bare minimum, as far as Tessa was concerned. She had insisted they meet at Dyrk’s so he would feel at home, but now that she was here, she wondered how the hell anyone could possibly relax in a place like this. If his apartment was a reflection of his inner world, she could definitely see why he was always so uptight.

  Sure enough, as they walked into the living room and sat on the couch, she sensed Dyrk was as tense as a steel girder. The negative energy sloughed off him like dead skin.

  The balanced sense of deeply ingrained peace and calm inside her was difficult to shake, but this depressing apartment pushed her boundaries. Tessa wondered if Dyrk knew how bad it was, or if he was oblivious. It had to be the latter. Nobody would willingly choose to live in such boring grayness. Right? Clearly, he was so out of touch with his own feelings he didn’t even realize what he was doing to himself with this apartment.

  That made Tessa even more determined to help him. He obviously needed her, and she was not going to let him down, regardless of whether he was into her.

  “Okay,” she began softly, “I’m going to guide you to get you started. Are you willing to embark on this journey with me?”

  Dyrk stared at her blankly for a moment, like he was trying to figure out if she was making a joke. But when he saw the perfectly placid look on her face, he realized she was serious. One hundred percent.

  “Uh, yeah, I guess so.” He didn’t sound very convincing, but she’d take what she could get.

  “Good. Now, close your eyes. Both of them,” she added, just in case.

  He looked reluctant to let his guard down, but he shut his eyes. Tessa smiled. God, he was a mess, but he looked so damn cute.

  “Very good. Now, take a long, slow, deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Good. Count to eight as you breathe in—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And out—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.”

  To his credit, he tried, but she could sense frustration building inside him. Actively trying to relax went against his every instinct, made obvious by every single straining muscle in his body. He was too tense to even properly take in her words, much less access the kind of inner calm necessary for meditation. He was running in circles inside his head, and Tessa could see it from a mile away. Even the deep breathing seemed to stress him out, like he was focusing too hard on doing it exactly right instead of on how much better it would make him feel.

  Recalling how he seemed to melt and loosen up when she’d massaged his shoulders earlier in the office, she decided to give that another try. Besides, it was an excellent excuse for her to touch him, and she couldn’t get enough of having her hands on him.

  He startled a little when she crouched behind him on the sofa, her hands kneading the kinks out of his shoulder and neck muscles. An audible sigh of relief drifted from his lips and Tessa’s heart surged with affection for him. Poor guy just needed someone to help him loosen up, and Tessa was the girl for the job. But every time she stopped touching him for even a moment, he tensed up again. Her hands were like medicine and he couldn’t miss a dose.

  Finally, she sat down next to him, her body pressed against his side. That seemed to work just fine, and she didn’t mind being so close. Dyrk’s breathing slowed and became more rhythmic. But just as she thought they were starting to get somewhere, Dyrk threw his hands up and groaned with irritation.

  “I can’t do it! I just can’t. I’m sorry, Tessa, but this just isn’t working for me. How
the hell am I supposed to clear my mind? I can’t not think, especially when I keep hitting roadblocks.”

  “Cut yourself some slack,” she said, meeting his frantic gaze with a calm one of her own. “You can overcome every roadblock you meet, just as you’ve been doing all along. You’re doing a great job, Dyrk. But if you’re worried…I brought my crystals.”

  This time, Dyrk didn’t protest. “Fine. Might as well.” He flopped back with a sigh.

  Tessa could barely contain her excitement as she rushed to retrieve the little drawstring bag. She found him lying on the couch, already prepared for her. With her heart pounding like crazy, she arranged the crystals just as she had before. Tessa felt herself warming to him, melding her soul with his as his aura started to swim into her mind’s eye.

  “Your aura, it’s flashing different colors,” she mumbled. “I’ve never seen this before, Dyrk. Seems to me that your primary aura is orange.”

  She smiled to herself over that because an orange aura generally was associated with reproductive organs. That little tidbit was hers to hold onto for the moment because telling him would only be embarrassing.

  “But it’s not just orange,” she continued. “It’s mixed up with a murky brown and a cloudy blue. You’re conflicted, that much is clear.”

  “Great,” he groaned as his eyes fluttered open.

  Instinctively, their gazes locked, and Tessa felt a powerful heat pass through her body. The light in Dyrk’s eyes shifted, flickering to a brighter, supernatural shade of blue. She sensed the beast inside of him stirring and found herself feeling closer to him than ever.

  Without uttering a word, Tessa leaned down to kiss him. Her lips brushed softly against his and he let out a little gasp that made her feel all tingly inside. His lips parted and Tessa accepted his invitation. Their mouths merged, tongues dancing together tentatively at first and then he became bolder. But just as quickly, he thrust her away from him, his face flaming red.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered just a few inches away from his tempting lips.

  “You’d better go,” he said, hastily jumping to his feet to put space between them. “I, um, have an early morning tomorrow.”

  Before she could say anything, he rushed to the door and held it open for her. For a moment, her heart felt as though it might break, but then the storm clouds cleared, and she smiled.

  He might be kicking her out, but she knew without a shred of doubt that it was because he liked her. He really liked her or else he wouldn’t have reacted like that. Auras didn’t lie and his showed exactly how torn he felt, obviously over them. Dyrk could fight their connection all he wanted. It was only a matter of time before they found their way to each other.

  All she needed was a little patience.

  Chapter Five

  Dyrk’s stride carried him out of the elevator so fast the doors weren’t even fully open. It was far too important of a morning to wait. Tessa wasn’t at the reception desk, which was a disappointment and a blessing at the same time. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face her yet after basically kicking her out of his apartment. Last night was an ordeal he had barely let himself ponder.

  At least, that’s what he wished. In reality, he had thought about little else but that kiss, no matter how much he tried to force himself to focus on work. His body simply wasn’t having it.

  Maybe that was why he was so energized as he made his way to Charlie’s office. He was early enough that the man himself was only just coming out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee in hand when Dyrk spotted him.

  “Ah, Dyrk,” he greeted pleasantly, raising an eyebrow and allowing Dyrk to brush past him so he could enter his office first. “Good…morning? Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is…” he started as he took a seat across from Charlie’s desk and waited for the older man to take a seat. “I need to tell you something.”

  Charlie eased into his chair, took a long, thoughtful drink of coffee, and then leaned back and folded his hands across his slightly paunchy stomach. “Let’s hear it then.”

  Adrenaline pumped through Dyrk’s system. Now that the time had come to tell Charlie, he was nervous. What if he didn’t believe him? Dyrk swallowed hard. He’d just have to make his boss understand, whatever it took. Meeting Charlie’s placid gaze, Dyrk finally spoke the words he’d been running through his head all morning.

  “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Stark Bradford’s accounts and the super-shifter investigation are linked.”

  Phew. Now that it was out there, he could relax. At least until he heard Charlie’s response. Which, by the look on the man’s face, was not going to be as positive as Dyrk had hoped.

  Charlie leaned forward and gave him a sympathetic smile. “I know you’d like for them to be connected, Dyrk, but—”

  “I know what you’re thinking, but just hear me out,” Dyrk cut in quickly.

  Charlie hesitated, but he finally assumed a patient face and gestured for him to go on. Dyrk took a deep breath, and one by one, he took out printed documents he’d prepared and stored in a folder for this very purpose.

  “Stark Bradford’s accounts are completely empty,” he explained as he laid printouts of bank statements in front of Charlie, who finally looked wide awake. “He is completely broke. Like, college student broke. Pretty weird for a top-grossing action star. Don’t you think?”

  Charlie didn’t bother answering. He simply studied the statements with a deep frown and waited for Dyrk to continue.

  “What’s even weirder,” he said, sliding another printout across the desk, “is that Xavier Manchester has vanished. I don’t mean he just went on vacation and can’t be contacted. The man has disappeared himself, and quite effectively. Shortly after Wyntir, Stark and Blaise boarded their flight to Australia, Xavier closed every single account of his that I could track down. I have no doubt there are more that I never found. He’s a ghost now.”

  Charlie clucked his tongue and shook his head sadly. “That’s truly unfortunate, but how does any of this tie in to the investigation?”

  “Don’t you see?” Dyrk said, leaning forward in his excitement. “Just think about all of the issues we’ve had to deal with on Stark’s behalf recently. Every single one of them has been linked to the super-shifter experiments. It started with the break-in at his Malibu estate, then the kidnapping attempt, and now this? It can’t be a coincidence, Charlie. Even you have to see that.”

  Charlie’s eyes narrowed as he studied Dyrk. Damn, he’d overplayed his hand. He could read it on his boss’s face.

  “Thank you for that vote of confidence,” Charlie said coolly, “but I’m afraid I disagree with your conclusion. I’m happy to explain why I believe you’re wrong unless you have some actual piece of evidence in that folder of yours.”

  Charlie waited patiently, no doubt already knowing damn well Dyrk didn’t have a scrap of proof, other than his gut.

  “That’s what I thought,” Charlie said gently as he leaned back in his chair again. “Dyrk, I know you’re chomping at the bit to rejoin the task force, and I can’t blame you. I know you were rather put out when I moved you to Stark’s case instead, but your theory doesn’t hold up. Let’s look at it logically. Shall we?”

  Dyrk had always been a fan of logic until very recently. His brain could think things through all it wanted, but his instincts were calling the shots these days. He knew the truth, even if no one believed him.

  “The first incident you mentioned, the Bradford break-in… Tell me, was the culprit caught?”

  Dyrk sighed. “Yes.”

  He couldn’t admit it to Charlie, but Dyrk was pretty sure he’d never forget the day they’d discovered their previous receptionist had been behind the burglary because that was also when Tessa had been hired as her replacement.

  “Case closed, as they say,” Charlie continued. “Now can you remind me who was the target of the kidnapping attempt?”

  This time Dyrk let out a big puff of frustrated air. “T
rystin, Blaise’s best friend.”

  “So not Blaise, correct?”

  “No, but if you were so sure Blaise was safe, why did you assign Wyntir to protect them?”

  “Call it an abundance of caution, among other, less relevant reasons.”

  Dyrk remained quiet, his jaw and fists clenched. Charlie was using logic to cut down his theory, and having never been one to argue against the use of logic, Dyrk had no clue how to argue against it. Not for the first time, he wished Tessa was around. She’d know how to explain it to Charlie. Still, he had to try.

  “But all of that going on around one person, and then that person’s entire fortune goes up in smoke? Come on, Charlie, be reasonable”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to be reasonable, Dyrk. Do I really need to explain to you that incredibly famous people have trouble swirling around them all the time? And far too many fall victim to financial fraud because they basically wear great big targets on their backs.”

  Dyrk couldn’t argue. He’d seen it a dozen times since he’d started working at Wildridge. Rich people were lucrative targets. But none of that dampened his belief that somehow all of these cases were connected.

  “Look,” Charlie continued, finally taking another sip from his mug, “I’m not saying your theory is impossible. Only incredibly unlikely and also very convenient since you want to get back on the task force more than anything.”

  Not more than anything, Dyrk thought as he heard the outer door open and wondered if it was Tessa.

  “All I can suggest is for you to be cautious, Dyrk. You’ve always been a fine, analytical investigator, and I trust you more than you might think. But if you bark up the wrong trees all day, Manchester is going to get away while you’re looking in the wrong direction. Keep your wits about you and stay focused. Okay?”

  He’d failed. Between dreaming about Tessa’s toe-curling kiss and trying to catch a few minutes of sleep, Dyrk had tried to figure out how to convince Charlie to look into some kind of link between the case.