He sensed her alertness, his brown eyes popping open in alarm and focusing on her. They stared at each other in silence, but he never ceased the gentle rubbing of his thumb against her skin.
“There was something more though. She was frantic,” Heath added in the other room, but Cliff never tore his gaze from her though he had been the one to demand a debrief. “Our team has been ambushed before and she was always the strongest and most reserved. She saw something there that scared her. And we all know Alexis, nothing fazes her.”
“But this did,” Dylan confirmed.
“We can learn more once she wakes up. Without anything but the over-the-counter meds, she won’t be out long.”
Cliff’s eyes never strayed; his stare penetrated the depths of her soul with every passing second.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, his other hand moved to stroke the top of her head as if he needed to verify himself that she was across from him.
She tried to answer, but a muffled noise crawled from her lips.
“You don’t have to answer. Just shake your head.”
Alexis nods, more or less just happy to be alive.
“Good. I’ll get some water and let everyone knew that you’re awake.”
Her terror spiked and she instinctively squeezed his hand. “Don’t. Leave. Me.” The words come out scratchy and nothing more than a whisper.
“Okay. I’ll stay.” Cliff never removed his hand from hers, but he used the rolling seat he’d taken residence on and leaned out toward the hallway. That’s when she realized that she was in his tattoo shop.
“Guys. Can I get a cup of water? She’s waking up.”
A thundering of feet stomped across the floor as the men made their way toward her. She tried not to flinch as the group approached, but Cliff caught her motion and rested his other hand back on her head.
“Small sips,” Logan told her as he handed her a cup of water with a straw, his usually slicked back hair in disarray. Of course, Alexis was confident that she had better looking days as well. That was the moment when she remembered the men having to cut her clothing free from her body. Alexis glanced down to find herself draped in a heavy blanket, thankful for the covering.
“Better?” Logan asked as he pulled the straw free from her mouth.
“Thanks,” she replied, her voice no louder than before, but the dryness tolerable.
They gazed at her in silence and Alexis wondered if they were preparing for her to fight or take flight. Fortunately for them, with her hand securely wrapped in Cliff’s, she had no desire to go anywhere.
It only took Dylan and Heath a few short minutes before they begin probing her for more information and she relayed to them everything she remembered during the time that she was inside the bunker.
“What had you startled toward the end?” Heath queried. “When you went to get the chair from the first room, I heard your gasp. What did you see?”
Licking her lips, Alexis could feel Cliff’s body tremble in her hold. It was something that she’d have to delve into later. “A group of men brought in a woman. Most likely one that they planned to break and use for trafficking. But then a last man entered.”
“Did you recognize him?” Cliff asked from beside her.
“Yes, he was. . .well, he was my father.”
The silence was deafening. Alexis never understood that expression until that moment. She wanted someone to say something, to say anything before the quiet threatened to suffocate her.
“This makes so much sense,” Dylan replied as he examined something on his phone, Heath leaning over his shoulder to get a better look.
“What does?” Cliff and Logan ask at the same time.
“She’s been pulled from the FBI records. They know she’s now a target for the cartel,” Heath pointed out. “We didn’t understand why until just now.”
Dylan quickly added, “And it means if they can get information, they’ll offer her up on a platter to these men.”
A growl filled the room and Alexis cocked her head toward the noise and found that Cliff’s face turned a deep shade of red.
“I won’t let that happen,” he snarled and the men in the room nodded in agreement.
“Absolutely not. We’re going to get this all figured out. But first, Alexis needs to rest in a safe place.”
“She’ll stay with me,” her savior commanded, but Heath shook his head. “I’m not sure living above a tattoo shop is very conspicuous. I’m certain that they’ll trace her to this location at some point.”
“You’re right. I’m taking her to my cabin.”
While Logan busied himself tugging the IV free from her arm, his head jerked up at Cliff’s announcement. “I didn’t know that you had a cabin.”
“Exactly. And there should be no doubt that I have the skills to protect her as well.”
Not a single one disagreed.
Alexis breathed a sigh of relief at the arrangement and while Logan finished dressing her wounds, they scheduled a time for everyone to meet at the banquet room at Angie’s Diner the next day. Collectively they would need to come up with a plan, not only to protect Alexis but to keep the cartel from infiltrating their town in their haste to find her.
“I need to run upstairs real quick to grab a few things. I’ll be right back,” Cliff explained before he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Watch her,” he added to the men before releasing her hand. She immediately felt his absence.
Heath settled in his vacated seat and examined her closely. “You know, for two people that have been together only a handful of times, you both seem very close to each other.”
“I know. . .I can’t explain it.” How could she? Since the moment he shook her hand almost three years ago she knew that Cliff was someone important.
“Just be careful, Alexis. I can protect you physically, but I can’t protect you from a broken heart.”
Heath was being the older brother figure she never had, but he didn’t need to worry about her feelings, she never stayed in a place long enough to grow attachments.
A few minutes later, Cliff came barreling down a stairwell and back into the room carrying multiple black duffle bags. She could only guess what contents reside inside. He approached her with a smaller bag and unzipped it before resting it on the table, revealing gray cotton.
“I figured you’d want something clean to wear. It’s a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. They probably won’t fit. Sorry,” he rambles and Alexis places her hand on his holding the bag, a spark fizzing up her arm at the contact.
“Thank you.” She risked a smile and her heart soared as he bashfully returned it.
Knowing she wanted privacy, the men left the room allowing her to change. But attempting to unhook her bra became too much to handle and Alexis cried out in pain.
Cliff entered the room first, Heath hot on his heels, but her best friend immediately turned around when he saw that she was clad in a blood-stained sports bra and panties.
“Let me help you,” Cliff whispered as he walked toward her. “It may be easiest to cut the bra free so you don’t put pressure on your wound.” At her nod, he lifted a pair of scissors from the counter and made three cuts. One on each strap and the other down the back. The material pooled on the floor and she used her good arm to cover her breasts.
Reaching into the bag for the T-shirt, Cliff held it over her head and tugged it down. “Never imagined that this would be how I’d get you naked the first time.” Her body shuddered at his claim.
“How. . .how did you imagine it happening?” Alexis asked as she slipped her arms through the holes of the shirt, the deep V of the neckline dipping between her breasts.
“Well, you wouldn’t have been on the brink of death. That’s for sure.” Chuckling to himself as he twisted the bottom of the shirt into a knot at her waist, he added, “I’d probably like to kiss you first. But I guess beggars can’t be choosers, huh?”
“Probably not. But you can kiss me now. If you want, that is.”
Alexis had never spoken so boldly before, not when it was in her personal life. She spent her days bossing her teammates around, she liked to spend her off-hours more submissive.
“I can’t,” he told her and Alexis felt herself shrink in size. Of course, this gorgeous man with the mesmerizing tattoos snaking up his arms wouldn’t want her when she looks like this – death warmed over. “If I hurt you at all, it would kill me. I couldn’t risk that.”
At least he gives a good reason.
“I’m assuming you want your underwear gone too?”
At her nod, he slipped the scissors on both sides of her hips, slicing the material apart and landing between her feet. The once white material now a shade of dark red. Alexis didn’t miss Cliff's gasp as he took in the cotton and the residual blood on her legs.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Alexis peered over her shoulder and found Cliff crouched with the sweatpants spread wide for her to step inside, his gaze trained to the floor. Alexis imagined that he was trying to be respectful of her lower body being bare before him. Then again, she probably reeked as well. It had been four days since she showered.
“You don’t have to apologize. I stink.”
His head snapped up toward her in attention. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
“Oh,” she whispered, taking a step back into one of the legs of the sweatpants, then braced herself against the bed to lift her injured leg a few inches, allowing Cliff to slip the material under her foot.
“Thank you,” she told him as he rolled the waistband a few times so they sit at her hips.
“You’re welcome. Let’s get you out of here and I’ll make you something to eat.” Immediately her stomach responded with an angry growl at the notion of food. “On second thought, maybe I should have someone grab something from Angie’s and bring it over.”
“No, worries,” Logan piped in, hollering from around the door jamb. “Mama Connelly is bringing food over to your place.”
“How does she know where I have a cabin?”
She watched Logan’s face transform as if Cliff had asked the dumbest question known to man.
“Dude, she knows everything. Don’t act so surprised.”
“I’m guessing that means everyone will be coming along?” Cliff asked, and the thought of everyone seeing her in this haphazard state sent a shiver down her spine, she found herself seeking out Cliff's hand.
“Naw, they’ll wait until tomorrow. But be prepared for Amy to go all motherly on you, Alexis.”
She did love Mrs. Connelly. It was hard not to. When Alexis first arrived in Carson, Mrs. Connelly went out of her way to make sure that Alexis found a place to stay and that it felt like home. Those first three days she witnessed what a true family could look like.
“I’m sure I can manage.”
Together they all filed out of the building, Cliff took special care with her as she hobbled due to the shoulder and leg restraint Logan affixed to her body. He slid the passenger seat of his truck as far back as it would go and gestured for her to enter. A whimper escaped her lips as she tried to bend at the hips to get comfortable and Cliff had to pluck her off the ground and settle her in the seat himself.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You can rest when we get home.”
Home. Such a novel thought, but Alexis hadn’t called a place home since she was a little girl. Just the prospect of staying in the place that made Cliff feel safest thrilled her. Because if it was good enough for the man that set her blood on fire, then it would be good enough for her.
Chapter Three
It didn’t take long for Alexis’ head to droop as exhaustion claimed her. Cliff tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he failed miserably. His attention was one hundred percent focused on Alexis. It was still early in the evening, Alexis’ surgery lasting through the night, and the brightness of the afternoon drifted behind the mountains surrounding their town, leaving the sky a darkening blue.
As Cliff drove down the road, he noticed people drifted out onto their porches, lights flicked on as he passed, everyone tossed a welcoming wave toward him. This was one of his favorite things about the town, the friendliness everyone provided without question. He wondered how many people knew of Alexis’ return. The lady Busy Bees were infamous for figuring out things in the town that no one else knew. Hell, they knew of his cabin purchase before he had even signed on the dotted line. They were an intel team that Cliff wanted to study and figure out all of their secrets.
The car hit a divot in the road, jostling their bodies back and forth as it settled back on the surface.
Cliff jerked his head toward his passenger, alarm over hurting her surged through his body.
“Sorry,” he murmured as she groaned as she readjusted her body again.
“That’s okay.” She moved again in the seat, her face tightening with each change until she found a more comfortable position. Her eyes skim across the fields on the sides of the road as they ventured further away from Carson’s center. He could tell the moment fright gripped her. What little strength she had stiffened her spine and Alexis’ hand grabbed the handle on the door. Even in the dimness of the vehicle, Cliff could make out the white of her knuckles. Her lack of trust and faith in him was disheartening.
“Don’t worry, we’re not that far out. Logan and Dylan are right behind us,” he pointed out, trying to ease her fear. She nodded once, but her back stayed ram-rod straight. It had been a long time since Cliff felt the desire to put someone at ease, the thought didn’t come naturally to him in most instances, but with Alexis, he had it in spades.
“I can take you somewhere else, Alexis. You don’t have to stay with me.” Cliff didn’t want her to feel unsafe with him – protection was what he wanted to give her. And not just protection from her father. He wanted to protect her from the world for the rest of her days.
His heart raced at the premonition of losing her before he even had her. Turning his gaze back toward the road, Cliff was determined to do what was best for Alexis, even if that meant handing her to someone else. As expected, thoughts of Alexis wrapped in the arms of another had Cliff gripping the steering wheel with such a fierceness he was afraid he’d bend it.
A feather-light touch on his arm jolted his gaze away from the road and onto his body. Alexis’ hand gently rested on his forearm, her thumb rubbing small circles on the dragon scales of his tattoo. Flutters erupted in his chest. In the spot where he was certain his demolished heart had resided years before. Maybe he had been wrong all these years. Maybe his heart was just waiting for the right moment to come alive.
“I want to stay with you. I feel safe with you.”
Cliff nodded once, turning his attention back to the road, expecting his abrupt reaction to turn her away. But as expected, she surprised him. Her small hand continued to rest on his arm. Her palms weren’t delicate or soft, the calluses and rough patches scraped against his skin. Alexis was no meek or mild woman, she could easily hold her own against any man, that Cliff was certain. Which left him wondering what it was about these men and her father that had her spooked.
The cabin came into view in the distance off in the distance and Alexis’ grip on his arm tightened.
“I know this place.”
He tried to act surprised as he asked, “Really?” Of course, she wouldn’t know that he had seen her here before.
“Yeah, when Dylan’s brother-in-law, Austin, was being blackmailed and they asked for my help, I found this path. I ran it almost every day. I always thought that this cabin was adorable. It just needed some tender loving care, you know?”
For some reason, hearing Alexis say something was adorable didn’t fit her personality. She was a ninja-like badass after all, but maybe that was just the persona she showed the world. Cliff couldn’t wait to learn her more feminine side and he was going to do everything in his power to discover more.
“I used to come here to unwind, especially when I had flashbacks from the war and some of the ter
rible things that I’ve seen. Not many people knew that I bought this cabin. I’ve been spending my free time fixing it up. So, it is far from perfect, but it is livable.”
“I’m sure it is great.” He heard voice her change as she smiled, a bit of excitement tingeing each word.
The truck eased into a spot beside the house, Logan and Dylan pulled their vehicles into the open spots beside them. Cliff jumped out of the vehicle and shook his head toward the men as they climbed free from their cars.
“It is okay, guys. I can take her inside and get her settled,” he explained, but both men shook their heads.
“While I have no doubts that you can, I’m certain Logan wants to check her vitals one last time.”
Crossing his arms against his chest, he cocked an eyebrow at his friend. Cliff stared down at Dylan. “And what’s your excuse?”
“Maybe I don’t trust you.” Dylan shrugged his shoulders as if that was a viable reason, as false as it may be.
“You and I both knew that isn’t the case.”
“Well, maybe I just want to make sure that she trusts you.”
Cliff found that more believable. Especially since Dylan, Logan, and Heath witnessed the connection he and Alexis had when she was brought into his shop. It was something that he couldn’t explain then or now.
Ignoring his friends, Cliff moved around the vehicle and opened the door on the passenger side, easily lifting Alexis into his arms. She tried to argue and squirm against his hold, but one steely glance in her direction ended her fight quickly.
As he maneuvered her across the porch and toward the entry, his mind traveled back to the past where he wanted to carry his wife over the threshold of their apartment after eloping. But she didn’t want any of that, she was determined to be his equal and not show an ounce of relenting toward him treating her like the prized treasure she was.
To Cliff, it felt surreal to create that moment with this particular woman – he had to remember that Alexis was nothing like his ex. Her stare penetrated the side of his face, the skin burned as if singed by fire. Her attention was that potent to him. He took a second to glance down at her, their eyes locking as he crossed the threshold leading to his home.
Behind the Lens (Home in Carson Book 1) Page 5