by Susan Stoker
Sidney smiled. “So am I.”
“Seriously, if—”
She reached up and put her finger over his lips, stopping him from saying anything else. She shivered at the warmth of his skin on hers. “It’s fine, Decker. Stop worrying. These are your friends. Your teammates. I’m not a delicate flower. I’m a handy-woman, for God’s sake. I’m not going to faint in shock if they swear or something.”
“It’s a good thing,” he muttered. “Okay. But before we go in there…I want to see you again.”
She looked up at him in bemusement. Truth was that she wanted to see him again too. But she had a feeling he wanted to lock her agreement in now because he was worried what his friends were going to say. “Okay,” she agreed.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” he warned.
This insecure side of him was kind of cute. “And I’m gonna hold you to your holding to that.”
He finally smiled. Without a word, he ran his hands from her shoulders down her upper arms to her hands. He squeezed them, then dropped one, but kept hold of her fingers with the other. He took a deep breath and slid open the door and led them both back inside his house to meet his friends.
Chapter Five
Gumby walked toward his friends, feeling nervous in a way he never felt when he was on a mission. He was the flexible one, the guy who went with the flow, but at the moment he was anxious as hell.
He wasn’t concerned that anyone was going to hurt or upset Sidney. No way in hell would the men in front of him ever hurt a woman, especially not one their teammate was interested in. But the feeling of unease was there all the same, and it wasn’t a welcome feeling. It was important to him that the guys like Sidney. They were a team. A unit. And Gumby knew as well as they all did that having a woman around who no one liked could hurt their closeness.
He hadn’t been happy to see them at his door. It was too soon. He liked Sidney, and the last thing he wanted was for her to get freaked out by how close he and his friends were. Especially after learning about her brother.
That was a whole ’nother topic that he wanted to thoroughly research. He wanted to know what her childhood had been like, living with that psycho. He remembered only bits and pieces about Brian James Hale from the news, and now he needed to know everything about him…so he could find a way to make things better for Sidney.
But at the moment, he had to deal with his over-exuberant friends.
“Sidney, I’d like you to meet the men on my team. Rocco, Ace, Bubba, Rex, and Phantom. I advise you to not take anything they say seriously.”
She smiled up at him before turning to the others. “Hey.”
“Fuck that,” Bubba said, before taking a step forward and throwing his arms around Sidney.
Gumby tensed, but when Sidney didn’t seem stressed about having a guy she didn’t know hugging her, he tried to chill. He did keep his hand on the small of her back though, just in case he needed to pull her back and beat the shit out of one of his friends.
“We’re kinda a hands-on group,” Rex told her with a grin, pulling Bubba back with a tug on his shirt and enfolding Sidney in his own hug.
And so it went. Sidney hugged each one of his friends in greeting.
“So…you all have interesting names,” she commented once Rocco had let her go.
“They’re nicknames,” Ace told her.
“And before you ask, we’d tell you what they mean, but then we’d have to kill you,” Phantom said with a completely straight face.
Once again, Gumby tensed. Then was more relieved than he could say when Sidney laughed. Phantom had a deadpan sense of humor. He was also the most standoffish one of the group.
“Right. Guess I’ll have to mark ‘be annoying until they break and tell me the meanings behind their nicknames’ off my list,” Sidney quipped.
Everyone chuckled, and for the first time since their arrival, Gumby completely relaxed.
“You guys had dinner yet?” Rex asked.
Sidney frowned and looked at her watch. “It’s only like three-thirty.”
“And?”
She smirked. “Let me guess. You’re always hungry.”
Rex patted his flat stomach as he said, “I burn a lot of calories. Need to keep myself fueled up.”
Sidney rolled her eyes. Then looked sideways at Gumby before saying, “I should probably get going. You guys can hang out.”
“No!” six male voices said at once.
Sidney blinked in surprise—then her lips twitched.
“Look. We see this asshole all the time,” Rocco said, motioning to Gumby. “We came over to meet you. To get to know you.”
“Oh, but…I’m really not that interesting,” she protested.
“Guys…” Gumby warned.
“It’s cool,” Bubba said. “You’re more than interesting. You’re the first woman Gumby here has been attracted to for what seems like forever. Rocco got himself a chick, and Caite is awesome, so if Gumby likes you, we want to get to know you. So we can like you too.”
Gumby shook his head and sighed. His friends meant well, but they were idiots. Before he could say anything to try to salvage the situation, Ace spoke.
“We heard a lot about you this morning at PT. How smart you are. How you handle all the jobs at the trailer park you live in by yourself. That you’ve got beautiful long black hair and your eyes are the most amazing shade of blue.” He grinned at Gumby at that. “We know you were single-handedly taking on a guy twice your size and didn’t care about anything other than getting that dog help. So, of course we want to know more.”
Gumby felt himself blushing. God, had he really said all that while they’d been working out that morning?
Sidney turned and studied him for a long moment. He refused to look away, even though he was embarrassed. He smiled sheepishly. “It’s true. I might’ve bragged about you a bit to the guys.”
“A bit?” He heard Phantom mutter under his breath.
Holding his gaze, she said, “I’m not familiar with this area. Are there any good pizza places?”
Whooping in delight, Rex pulled out his phone. “I got this. Anything you don’t like on your pizza, sweetheart?”
Sidney still hadn’t looked away from him. “No. I’m not picky. I’ll eat whatever.”
“Give me a second, guys,” Gumby said, taking hold of Sidney’s elbow and tugging her back out to the deck. He ignored the way his friends immediately started arguing about what kind of pizza to order.
When the sliding door shut behind them, Gumby put his hands on either side of Sidney’s neck. His thumbs rested on her jaw as he leaned down. “Are you really okay with this?”
“Yeah.”
“Because if you’re not, I can kick their asses out, or we can leave them here and head to your place.”
Sidney licked her lips, and Gumby couldn’t help but stare at the way they glistened in the afternoon light. “You’ve known me one day, and you were saying all that stuff to your friends?”
Gumby nodded.
“Why?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“Because even knowing you for only a couple hours, I knew you were different from anyone I’ve met before. And I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“I’m not sure how to feel about that.”
“It’s not a line, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not interested in a fling with you, Sidney.”
“It’s a good thing. I don’t do one-night stands,” she said quietly.
“Me either. I’ve enjoyed today.”
“Me too.”
“So we’ll just go with the flow. Get to know more about each other. And as you might have noticed, my teammates are kinda a package deal.”
She hadn’t pulled out of his intimate embrace. Gumby could feel her hands resting on his chest, but didn’t take his eyes from hers. His thumbs brushed lightly against the sides o
f her face as they talked.
“I think it’s pretty awesome, actually. I wish I had friends like you do.”
“Things between us work out, Sid, and you will. My friends are your friends. I think you’ll like Caite too.”
“She’s with Rocco, right?”
“Yeah. She saved my life not too long ago.”
Sidney frowned. “You mean, like figuratively, right?”
“No. Literally. Rocco, Ace, and I were in a situation overseas that we probably weren’t going to make it out of alive, and in waltzed Caite.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. She’s got a core of steel, which is why I think you guys would get along.”
“I wouldn’t mind meeting her someday.”
“Good. Now, you sure you’re okay with hanging with my friends for a while? Whenever you want to go, don’t be afraid to speak up.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. One more thing.”
“What?”
Gumby leaned down and rubbed his nose gently against Sidney’s. “This,” he whispered, before his lips met hers.
Her fingers flexed on his chest, but she didn’t push him away. He kept the kiss light, didn’t try to deepen it, no matter how badly he wanted to taste her.
After he pulled back, she opened her eyes and grinned. “Marking your territory?” she asked with a small laugh.
He returned the smile. “Absolutely. I know those guys in there. If they think for a second there’s a chance they can steal you away from me, they’ll take it.”
“I’m not interested in them,” Sidney told him.
“But you’re interested in me.”
It came out as more of question than a statement, so Sidney replied, “Yes.”
“Good. Come on. Let’s get back in there before they decide to take on the rewiring of my kitchen themselves.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Would they do that?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Can they do that?” she clarified.
“Not without burning down the place,” Gumby said with a chuckle.
Sidney turned and wrenched open the sliding glass door and stepped inside as she said, “Hands off, boys!”
All five turned guilty looks toward her from the kitchen.
“Step away from the electronics.”
They held up their hands and smirked.
Sidney turned back to Gumby. “I’m assuming since you’re a guy, and you’re in the military, you’ve got some sort of shoot-em-up video game we can play to keep them out of trouble?”
“You assume right,” he told her with a grin.
“You play?” Bubba asked.
“Guess you’ll just have to find out,” Sidney said.
“I want her on my team,” Phantom declared.
“You don’t even know if she’s any good,” Ace protested.
Phantom didn’t take his eyes from her. “She’s good,” he predicted. “But any of you assholes who don’t want to take the chance, you can be on the other team.”
Within seconds, they’d broken up into two teams of three. Gumby didn’t even care that he wasn’t included. He was more than content to sit back and watch Sidney interact with his friends. He had no doubt that they’d like her. There was just something about her…something he knew the guys would pick up on.
A sort of vulnerability hidden beneath a bravado that was undeniably fascinating.
Three hours later, Gumby couldn’t stop smiling. They’d polished off half a dozen large pizzas, and his friends and Sidney had been playing This is War almost the entire time. As Phantom predicted, Sidney was kicking ass. They’d decided not fifteen minutes into the game to play against random people online instead of each other, which was probably a good decision. Sidney was a little bloodthirsty and ultra-competitive.
“Watch your six,” Sidney warned.
“I see him,” Rex told her.
“They’re trying to sneak up on us from the left,” Rocco warned.
“Fuck that,” Sidney muttered.
His house might not be finished, but Gumby’s living room was set up, if not completely done. The huge TV had six controllers attached and ready to go. It wasn’t the first time the team had played the game together. In some respects, it improved their real-life missions. They practiced working together toward a common goal, even if was just a video game. The designer of the game was a genius. There were twists and turns and the scenarios were completely believable. Gumby had a hunch whoever it was, they had a military insider helping him or her.
He’d thought Sidney was cute before, but after watching her play with his friends for hours, he was even more enamored. And he knew the guys were just as enthralled. They’d come over to meet her, to make sure she was “good enough” for him…and he was pretty sure they’d come to the conclusion that she was too good.
“I’m taking a break,” Rocco told the group. “Don’t get us killed while I’m gone.”
“You were slacking anyway,” Ace mocked.
“Right? He was just standing around with his head up his ass as we took out that last group of terrorists,” Sidney teased.
Everyone laughed so hard, she had to reprimand them and tell them to keep their eyes on the screen.
Gumby followed Rocco to the kitchen. His friend grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge then leaned against the counter. The house was small, but it was easy for them to talk privately since Sidney was barking out orders left and right to the other guys.
“You’re right,” Rocco said softly. “She’s pretty remarkable.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Gumby told his friend.
He lifted an eyebrow in question.
“You heard of Brian James Hale?”
“Who hasn’t?” Rocco commented. “What about him?”
Gumby didn’t feel bad telling his friend about the connection between the serial killer and Sidney. Partly because they shared everything, but also because it was more than obvious his friend liked and respected her.
“He’s her younger brother.”
Rocco’s hand with the water bottle stopped halfway to his mouth, and he stared at Gumby in shock. “The fuck you say!”
Gumby nodded. “I don’t have all the details, but I got the impression it wasn’t good. She’s estranged from her parents after they took his side over hers.”
“He fucking killed over two dozen women,” Rocco said in disgust. “That makes no sense.”
“I know. She came out here to California without much money, no college degree, and has managed to land on her feet. And that’s just the shit I’ve learned over the last day and a half.”
Rocco nodded. “Well, she’s not alone anymore.”
“That’s what I told her. Can I ask you something?” Gumby asked.
“Of course. What’s up?”
Gumby looked into his living room. Sidney was hopping up and down in her seat, frantically fingering the control to the game and yelling at Bubba to kill whoever was shooting at her.
“How did you know that Caite was it for you?” he asked. “I mean, I know you were interested physically when you saw her in that elevator in Bahrain. But how did you know she wasn’t just some chick you wanted to sleep with?”
Rocco put his drink down and faced Gumby. “I’m not sure I can explain it. Yeah, I was sexually attracted to Caite when I first saw her, but it was more than that. Her mannerisms, her shyness, the way she kept side-eyeing me but was too timid to actually talk to me. The way she didn’t pitch a fit when the elevator got stuck, how she was polite to all of us in there, how she didn’t hesitate when she had to climb out the top…it was just all of it. But one of the things that stood out the most was how I felt when I was with her. It’s hard to explain.”
“Hyperaware?” Gumby blurted.
Rocco looked surprised for a second, but then nodded slowly. “Yeah. That’s as good a word as any. I worried about how hot it was outside, when she said she didn’t like the heat.
I worried about her boss, who was an asshole to her. I worried about the people on the base harassing her. The list goes on and on. Everything seemed to be about her. And I’m guessing it’s too soon to have a discussion about sex…” He lifted an eyebrow in question.
Gumby nodded.
“Right, well, first off, it didn’t matter to me when we made love for the first time. I would’ve waited as long as she needed to. In the past, sex was always in the back of my mind. How good would it be, how soon could I get it. But with Caite, that didn’t matter. I just wanted to be near her. I would’ve waited years if that’s what she needed.
“But, the second we got there, it was night-and-day different from any other woman. Hell, even kissing her was different. This is gonna sound lame but…you just know she’s the one. I can’t imagine ever kissing anyone else. And sleeping with them? No way in hell. She’s the most important thing in my life. I’d do anything to keep her safe.”
When Gumby didn’t reply, Rocco asked, “Did that help? At all?”
“Yeah. I keep telling myself that I’m feeling things too soon. Or I’m feeling this way about her because it’s been so long since I’ve been in any kind of relationship. That it’s just the newness about it all. But then—”
His words were cut off by a whoop from the other room. They turned to see Sidney had leaped up from her seat and was doing a weird kind of victory dance. Shimmying her hips and pumping her arms in the air.
“Yeah, yeah,” Bubba bitched. “Now sit down and help us get the hell back to the helicopter.”
She giggled, but obediently sat. “Follow me, boys!” she crowed, then leaned forward to concentrate on the game once more.
“You were saying?” Rocco asked with a grin.
“But then she goes and does something like that, and I know the way I’m feeling about her isn’t because I haven’t dated anyone in a while. It’s just her.”
“Yup,” Rocco agreed.
“What do I do if she doesn’t feel the same way as me?” Gumby asked his friend.
“Don’t give up on her,” Rocco replied. “If she’s meant to be yours, you have to work for it. Nothing good ever comes easy. You know that as well as I do. Obviously, if she doesn’t feel the same way, you can’t force her to, and you wouldn’t want to be with her in that case anyway. But I have a feeling you’re already in there. Move slow, get to know her and let her get to know you. Be honest with her. Communicate. If it’s meant to be, then it’ll work out.”