“Fair enough. When did you date Ed?”
“Let’s just say that I moved to the US to be with him, but it didn’t work out.”
“No hard feelings?”
“I loved, I lost, I moved on. So, did he, apparently. What’s your story?”
“Sister of a friend.”
“Well, ‘sister of a friend,’ my instructions were to keep you safe and get you to relax. Apparently, whatever is going on might get worse before it gets better. We need to get you in top shape.”
“How can I work out if I can’t go for a run.”
“Oh, my dear girl, we are going to train your mind.”
“I already know how to do yoga and it doesn’t help.”
Breeze laughed and took her into the yoga studio, “You haven’t done yoga with me.”
She didn’t think that four hours a day of yoga could be exhausting, yet it was. The first night, Anastacia crashed into the deepest sleep she’d had in months. Not even the thought of Ed’s body kept her awake.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked Breeze as she helped prepare the green smoothie they’d share for breakfast.
“Ed asked.”
“Just like that?”
“We broke up years ago but stayed friends. Just as a joke one year, I reached out to some of his other exes through social media and we surprised him at a London conference for his birthday. There were eight of us, living all over the world and the only thing we had in common is that once we were loved by the same man.”
“What are you—some sort of harem?”
“Not at all. My father never forgave me for not bringing Ed into the family—so Ed took him fishing and explained that not every woman can put up with the life of a soldier. A weekend of fishing and I’m back to being daddy’s little girl and they still go away fishing every year or so.”
“Oh.” She really didn’t know what to say.
“Look, Staci or whatever your name is.”
“My close friends call me Staci, so I think it fits.”
“You might not have noticed, but there have been a couple of gorgeous guys in a white van parked down the street since you’ve been here.”
“I hadn’t even thought to look—Ed told me to keep away from all windows.”
“Good girl, well they are. They don’t know who they’re protecting, only that no one comes in—and if I press the button around my neck, they come in with orders to shoot anyone that isn’t you or me and get us out.”
“I don’t have a button,” Anastacia hadn’t even noticed the pendant Breeze wore didn’t match the rest of her style.
“He didn’t want to scare you—it’s enough that you are being moved every couple of days. That said, you should probably pack your gear.”
“He’s called?”
“It doesn’t work like that. He’ll call my father and my father will call me.”
“Does your father know I’m here?”
“One thing you should know about Ed, he’s a straight shooter. Before he even called me, he asked my father’s permission.”
“And he agreed?” Anastacia couldn’t imagine her father trusting a stranger. Then again, she was here because her father trusted Ed.
“Ed would do the same for any of us.”
Almost on cue, Breeze’s phone rang.
“Hi daddy … you’re going fishing! That’s great news, I hope you have fun … when are you leaving?”
Breeze motioned her to hurry up, “Straight after this call? Well I hope you’ve packed enough food for the trip … love you too. Say hello to your friends from me.”
Breeze snatched the cup from her hands and pushed her towards the bedroom. “Pack whatever you can, someone will be here in a minute. Grab my thick jacket—the one with the hood. We’re about the same size so any neighbours will think you are me.”
“How do I thank you?”
“An invitation to the wedding would be nice.”
Anastacia hugged Breeze until a motorbike pulled into the driveway. “Looks like I’m leaving in style.”
“Take care and remember my invitation,” Breeze said, finally letting her go.
“Doug Whitehead, I served with Ed in the Reapers, have you ridden?” The man’s features were hidden behind his black helmet, but at least he’d said enough for her to trust him.
“Not really, but now’s as good a time as any to learn.”
Doug weaved through traffic like an expert—if anyone had been following them, they would have been lost in the city congestion. After almost an hour, she finally recognized Ed’s street. The garage door was still opening as they rode down the driveway, with Spider closing it right behind them. They would have only been visible from the road for seconds. A well-drilled machine that told her as much about the risk level as it did about their professionalism.
“Welcome back, Ms Vaughan,” Spider helped her off the bike.
“Thank you—is he here?” She didn’t care how her question sounded, it had been a week and she missed him.
When Ed told her that he was going away for a couple of days, at first she didn’t believe him. How could she possibly believe that he could promise to protect, promise to care and then just abandon her? Inconceivable.
“Come on up and join the party. You coming, mate?” Spider asked Doug.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Sounds like a Reaper reunion.”
Anastacia followed Spider upstairs, eager for this whole nightmare to be over.
“Welcome back, princess,” Ed barely looked at her in his rush to lock the door. To drop her bag in her bedroom, she had to push past almost a dozen bodies, their kit piled up against walls and no limit on the number of computers set up and papers strewn over the tables.
“What did I miss?”
“Introductions first, can we get the Colonel on Skype?” Ed motioned to Spider.
“Daddy!” Anastacia cried, seeing her father for the first time since leaving the hospital.
“Staci, I hope you’re not causing any trouble.”
“I only just got back, give me a little time!” she joked and at least Jax and Spider smiled.
“Sir,” Ed took control. “You’d remember Vinn Malone from back in the day? He now runs security firm, Suspect X, and has agreed to manage the logistics from out of his office. If we need more resources, he’s got the contacts to onboard and deploy at a moment’s notice.”
“Thanks Vinn, and welcome.”
“Sir,” Vinn stepped away from the camera.
“Jax you know, and this is former commando, Kram.”
“Kram—your reputation precedes you,” she heard the respect in her father’s voice.
“My reputation is only what was reported, sir. I look forward to having some serious fun, sir.”
“I don’t know what it is with tech genius’ but our two go by Spider and Sphinx. Sphinx is also from Suspect X and Spider has been involved with this operation from the beginning. He was the one who broke down the video.”
“Gentlemen, welcome and thank you.”
“Doug Whitehead and Darby Greenwood you already know, formerly based in Townsville as part of the combat engineering regiment, the Reapers, they’re now based in Sydney and will provide us with the extra grunt if we need it on the ground, but their main job is to remove roadblocks.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with you, sir,” the younger man with the gorgeous green eyes said.
“Also from the Reapers, we have Scout, Reith and Bluey. They are down in Sydney on ‘Spring Break’ and decided to join our party.”
As one by one they all introduced themselves to her father, Anastacia looked across the room. All of similar height and build, chiseled cheekbones and bodies to die for, the only difference was in the hair, or lack of it. Bluey had a deep red crew cut, Darby and Doug had different shades of dirty blonde. Vinn was bald and she couldn’t tell Scout and Reith apart.
Any other woman would feel lucky to be trapped in an apartment with all these men
, but unless Ed looked at her as if she was more than a client, she was nothing.
“Gentlemen let’s get to work,” Ed suggested. “It will be quieter for you in your room,” he finally spoke to her.
“Or I could stay out here and make you guys an endless supply of toasted sandwiches and coffee,” she smirked, knowing that this crew would demolish whatever food she put in front of them.
“Fine, my neighbor will be back shortly with groceries.” Still she followed him while he put her bags on her bed.
“You trust your neighbor?”
“Firstly, I offered to pay her a month’s rent if she does my grocery shopping for a month. Secondly, she wants an introduction to Jax, but I said he’d be too busy to meet anyone for the same amount of time.”
“Are you really pimping Jax out to your neighbor?” Anastacia laughed.
“Actually, it was his idea—the moment he collected the first batch of groceries from next door, he wanted to mix business with pleasure.”
“Well, aren’t you the kill-joy.”
“Babe.” Still, he didn’t resist or move away as she drew her hands up his chest. “We can’t—you know we can’t.”
“I missed you,” she whispered, making sure no one in the other room could either hear or see.
“Sandwiches would be good,” he said, turning and leaving her room before she could react.
Damn him.
Damn how much she loved him.
ED
Fuck.
Ed tried not to storm back through his living room, knowing that Jax was watching for any sign of what happened back there with Anastacia. The last thing this team needed was to for him to treat Anastacia as anything other than a client—or that he was doing this for any reason other than out of respect for Colonel Vaughan.
“You are being a dick,” Jax hissed, handing him a plate of toasted cheese sandwiches, courtesy of Anastacia. Bloody woman now had a wardrobe of clothes to choose from but insisted on wearing the same jumper he’d taken from her body.
Jax didn’t expect or deserve a response, but as the planning came together and the guys found a common groove, he started to relax. Spider and Sphinx had a tech-bromance going and when Sphinx announced to the room that he couldn’t have set it up any better, Spider almost smiled!
“Doug, I don’t want you or Darby in the field and after today, keep away from all of us involved.”
“Why?”
“The bastards kidnapped a girl—you’ve both got wives and kids.”
“You really think they’d go that far?”
“I don’t know, and we’ve got enough good guys involved that I appreciate you having our back.”
“Fuck, man, I saw the video.” Doug insisted on going there.
“Which one?”
“The beating she took and the sex tape.”
“I don’t know which one hits me harder,” he admitted before checking himself.
“It’s hard to watch the woman you love walk away with bruises—remember you helped me get Elisha away from a creep like that.”
“How are things between the two of you?” Ed ignored Doug’s comment about Anastacia—if his feelings were so obvious to Doug who’d only seen them together for the afternoon, who else knew?
“Never better and I appreciate your concern about them. I might pack the fam up and send them north for a few weeks, Elisha’s mother has been wanting to fuss over her pregnant daughter,” Doug snuck in shyly.
“Number three! Congrats, mate.”
“Never would have done it without you, Vinn and Sphinx.”
“Nonsense, you would have crawled over cut glass to save her.”
“That much we have in common—what did the Colonel say about you dating his daughter?”
“We’re not dating,” Ed stated as firmly as he could lie.
“Yet,” Doug was still laughing when the front door closed behind him.
Grateful Anastacia was safely back in his apartment, Ed wanted to step up security, until his team reminded him that extra bodies hanging around would draw more attention if anyone was looking.
Jax and Vinn offered to take turns taking over the war room, “You don’t really need us, but it’ll make her father feel better!” Vinn joked.
Was his secret even a secret anymore?
The first morning after Anastacia returned, Ed got up early, making three coffees.
“Anything happen last night?” he asked Vinn.
“A couple of nibbles, but still too early to know for sure.” Vinn nodded to the other coffee. “Going to wake sleeping princess?”
“It’s only coffee.”
“If you say so; don’t hurry back, I’ll call you if anything changes.”
“Thanks,” he made his way to Anastacia’s closed door. Pausing before he knocked, could he really go in and pretend to be professional, especially if she was sleeping in his jumper, one of his t-shirts—or nothing at all?
“Ready for coffee?” he asked, giving her every opportunity to turn him away.
“Thought you’d never offer.” He could hear the sleepy smile in her voice.
Nothing prepared him for her dark messy hair falling across her shoulder, ending just as the peaks from her nipples pointed through the thin t-shirt. No man could possibly be immune to a waking Anastacia.
“Here.” He put down the coffee and looked around for her jumper. “If you put that on, I’ll even stay here and drink mine with you.”
“On one condition,” she smiled, sitting up to pull the jumper over her head—goodbye nipples. “You help me with a crossword.”
“You want to do a crossword together?”
“Why not? It was one of the only apps you let me keep on the burner phone and I’ve been enjoying them.”
A brilliant ploy, the only way he could see the clues was by curling up next to her on the bed, the smell of her hair overpowering his good sense.
“Four down, four letters, choir singer?” she asked.
“It’s either the name of a singer or a singing range?”
“I thought, ‘band,’ but that doesn’t fit with the last letter ‘O’.”
“Who are your favourite bands?” He didn’t mean to start a half hour discussion about the bands they’d seen live, and their preferences between albums and playlists.”
“Alto!” Anastacia broke off mid-conversation to solve the clue.
“Do you want another coffee?” The first cups were finished long ago and he should really check in with Vinn before Jax arrived.
“Give me time to have a shower and I’ll come out to drink it,” she looked as if she wanted to say more.
“I don’t know how to say this without coming off as either an asshole, or trying to scare you.” He interrupted before he changed his mind. “Keep your showers short and a bag packed in case we have to make a quick exit.”
“Fully dressed and shoes ready to grab at all times?” At least she didn’t give him any grief.
“Alert but not alarmed. Okay?” He waited for her to nod. “By the way, this was fun—same time tomorrow?”
“Who else is going to answer all the crazy dog breed questions!” Her laughter followed him out of the room. Damn, this wasn’t gonna stop him falling even harder.
The next morning, Anastacia already had his jumper on by the time he arrived with coffee. Jax had reported another boring night with the only leads fizzing out.
“Morning, gorgeous,” she greeted him as if he was coming back to bed.
“You need to stop that.” He resisted the urge to kiss those moist lips—was she wearing lip balm just for him? “We are not a couple.”
“You’ll need to tell me the rules, after all, we’ve been living together for almost a month without having a single date.”
“How about we concentrate on the impossible crossword. Where are we up to?”
“Three down, five letters, ending in ‘E,’ how well do you know your western movies?”
“Not at all,” he admitted
. “My father and brother loved watching them, but I preferred the old war movies.”
Ignoring the crossword, he sat back watching Anastacia’s face fill with love as she described watching old westerns with her father, “It became our tradition, the first movie in each house had to be a western.”
“Why was that?”
“I don’t know, but I liked to believe in the chivalry of the men and the strength of the women.”
By talking through the crossword clues, Ed got a sense of Anastacia’s values and got to know her more intimately than any other woman. It was almost as if their souls and beliefs and everything about them was laid bare. “Are you going to answer the clue, or leave me guessing?”
“Shane—the old Alan Ladd movie.
With every word, the more he was falling in love.
This couldn’t keep going on.
Before he had a chance to extract himself back into the living room, he heard running towards their door.
“Ed! Lieutenant Colonel! Ed,” Spider voice couldn’t drown out the banging on Anastacia’s bedroom door.
Ed looked to Anastacia—waiting for her to nod before calling out, “Come on in mate, but you better be ready to help us with six across!”
Spider took one look at the crossword and gave an exaggerated shudder. “I’d rather walk into an ambush without a gun than do one of those things.”
“Watsup?”
“We’ve got a lead”
“You found him?”
“Not only that, we reached out last night while you were getting your beauty sleep,” Spider teased Ed. “He’s taken the bait!”
“You found Hudson?” Anastacia asked and Ed tried to read the tone of her voice—was she happy, sad or scared? Was she anything at all? More importantly did her ex-husband still mean anything to her?
“Ma’am, we found the suspect and he has engaged.” Spider spoke more formally to Anastacia before turning back to Ed. “Should I call the boys together?”
This could all be over within twenty-four hours, Ed thought and hoped everything would now go to plan.
“Do it.”
He refused to take his eyes from Anastacia. The moment Spider left them, she’d closed her eyes, dropped back into her pillow and sighed before wincing. “Ahh,” she cried, clutching her side.
Defend Her: A military suspense romance (Aussie Military Romance Book 4) Page 12