by Leslie North
She knew that they’d have to talk at some point. Colin knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t a short-term fling. Over the past months, Lily had been working out what she wanted, finding what she liked in the art world, learning to live for herself. Maybe that’s why she’d engaged in the affair with Colin. That, and she was ridiculously attracted to him. He came into the room and her hormones practically leaped with excitement.
It was fun, too, knowing she could sneak a kiss when she wanted one. They were cautious around Sofia, but there were still lots of opportunities for touches or kisses that the toddler didn’t notice. Lily had lived in a sexually sated bubble all week.
Today, she was alone. And there was something she had to do. She got in her car and headed for her former apartment building. If John Stout had left those footprints in Colin’s backyard, she wanted to know how he’d gotten her new address.
In the complex’s rental office, she asked to speak with the manager. The office was busy, but he was able to give her a few minutes.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Rhodes?” the manager asked as she took a seat across from him. “Looking to move back in? We have a nice place that just opened up. A little bigger than the unit you had before.”
“Not at this time,” she said. “I’d like some information, though. I think someone in this office gave out my new address.”
The manager’s eyebrows rose in genuine surprise. “We never divulge personal information. That’s against company policy. But I can check your file and see if anyone requested it.” He tapped at his keyboard, then turned the screen so Lily could see her information displayed. Her new address was listed, but under a category titled “Inquiry” nothing showed. “That’s where we would document it if anyone did request your address. Sometimes creditors do, but we notify you when that happens.”
“So you’re sure about this?” she asked. The manager seemed confident in his system and his employees.
“Yes. We’ve never had a problem like that since I’ve worked here. I can reasonably assure you that it wasn’t us.”
Lily thanked the manager for his time, believing he was telling the truth… which didn’t help her understand how John had located her. If he had. Maybe she was being paranoid. She cut across the complex’s courtyard and was just about to exit through the gate when a voice caught her attention. It came from behind a wall that separated the courtyard from a maintenance building.
“Your obsession with this girl is going to ruin everything.” The stranger’s voice was low but emphatic. “What if you’d hit her that day in the rain? What if she saw us? Focus on your job, you moron. Besides, have you seen the guy she’s living with? He’d snap you like a twig.”
“Yeah, but she’s his nanny, not his wife.” John’s nasal voice reached her. “I’m going to get her eventually.”
Lily didn’t wait to hear more but ran to her car, hopped in, and left the lot. Her heart raced. Fortunately, the men hadn’t noticed her. If they had… she shivered, not wanting to think about it.
When she reached Colin’s house, she stepped from her car and took a worried look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she was frightened nevertheless. Colin would help relieve some of her fear if she could tell him about the conversation she’d overheard.
It might have to wait until late, since Colin had his brothers and friends coming over that night to play poker. The game wasn’t always at his house, but that week he’d insisted, not wanting to leave Sofia and Lily alone if he didn’t have to. Considering what she’d just heard, she was grateful for his concern.
When she let herself into the house, she heard Colin’s deep voice and Sofia’s giggles coming from the living room. Despite her worry, she smiled. She loved the way Colin cared for his little girl. He was such an awesome father, even if he’d come to the role unexpectedly.
“Teaching her pretty young, aren’t you?” Lily teased as she entered the room. Colin sat on the couch with Sofia on his lap. On the coffee table, he dealt out cards. “I don’t think she’s ready to master poker.”
“But this isn’t poker, it’s bridge. I’m guessing you don’t know either game.” He shot her a grin.
“Bridge, no, but poker… I’ll let you believe what you want to there.” She gave him her best sultry look. “It’ll be easier for me to win that way.”
“Sweetheart, if we play the kind of poker I’m thinking of, you’ll definitely win.” He shuffled the cards in his hands. A blush rose on her cheeks when she got his meaning. “Guess that makes you a naughty teacher,” he added.
“Colin,” she protested with a meaningful glance toward Sofia. “Not in front of little ears.” Both the flirty conversation they were having and her need to tell him about her day would have to wait.
“She doesn’t understand,” he said, distracting Sofia with a showy shuffle.
“That doesn’t matter. She has ears and can repeat things.” Which, with kids, usually happened at inopportune moments. Lily could imagine Sofia telling someone about the naughty teacher in her house. That would raise some eyebrows.
“I see your point,” Colin conceded.
“I do need to tell you something I heard today,” she said, becoming more serious. “It can wait until later, though.”
His blue eyes went to her face, scrutinizing it. “Something not good, I take it.”
She nodded. He wasn’t going to like it. He’d get all protective, as he had in the park—which, secretly, she liked. It made her feel… she didn’t know exactly, but it was good.
“How worried should I be?” By his tone, he was ready to take instant action.
“Not at all tonight,” she assured him. “Are all your friends former military?”
“Most of them,” he confirmed. “The rest are cops.”
“I’m sure we’ll all be very safe.”
“It’ll be late when they leave,” he said, and she understood his meaning. He wasn’t going to sleep tonight without them talking.
“You’ll know where to find me.” Asleep in your bed, she added in her head, because there was nowhere else she wanted to be.
Colin caught Steve as he entered the house that night. The poker game was in the dining room, but he motioned for his friend to follow him into the kitchen for a minute.
“Anything else on that car?” Colin asked as he put the six-pack of beer Steve had brought in the fridge.
“Nope. I could widen the perimeter if you want me to. Pushing it out to a fifty-mile radius, though, might give you more hits than you can manage.”
“I haven’t run down the thirty-four addresses you’ve given me yet, but one’s got me concerned.” He’d studied the list, eliminating some owners due to age and other factors, but one stuck out.
“Yeah?” Steve helped himself to a slice of pizza.
“My nanny used to live in an apartment complex not far from here,” Colin explained. “One of the addresses on the list went back to her building.”
Steve let out a low whistle. “So you think this might be about her, not you?”
“Maybe.” Colin was damn sure of it, except the name of the car owner didn’t match the name Lily had given him for the creep who’d stalked her. Could be lots of reasons for that, none of them good. Colin knew two things: the guy was bad news. And Colin was going to have to neutralize that threat to Lily. The question was, how did that look in the civilian world? He couldn’t use the combat methods he’d been trained in. He had to take a different route.
“Hey.” Alex, his younger brother, poked his head into the kitchen. “Are we playing or talking?”
“Be right there,” Colin said. Steve followed Alex out, but Colin stayed behind to grab a tray of food he’d put together earlier, wanting a minute to think. It was time to rely on resources beyond Steve. Alex, still an active SEAL, was due to ship out on a mission soon, but Colin could ask his older brother’s advice. Zach would help him in a second, since having each other’s backs was how they’d survived their youth until
the admiral adopted them.
Resolving to talk with Zach, Colin joined the men in his dining room so play could start. The evening passed with enough distractions that Colin could almost forget what was on his mind, but not quite. Twice he left the game to check the house. Once, he used the excuse of kissing Sofia good night, but the second time, he felt Zach and Alex’s scrutiny on him when he returned from a trip around the exterior of the property.
“You were distracted tonight, Colin. I haven’t fleeced you like that in a while.” Everyone had gone home except the brothers. Alex wadded up the money he’d won and shoved it in his pocket before turning to Zach. “And you didn’t fare much better. Must be being bona fide family men. You lose your edge.”
Colin regarded his younger brother, who was always cocksure and unafraid to say whatever. As the middle brother, Colin had often been the peacemaker of the three. Fortunately for him, by the time they were teens, he had two inches on each of them. That came in handy. He’d stepped in the middle of their brawls more than once.
“You try having a kid, a woman, and a demanding job. Making time for all of it isn’t easy,” Zach shot back.
“I’m too smart for that,” Alex returned with a grin.
“Don’t you have a woman living at your townhouse?” Zach asked. “I seem to remember seeing one there when I picked you up this evening.”
“Soledad’s not always with me.” Some of the attitude went out of Alex. “She’s got a place of her own, too.”
“Uh-huh,” Zach said, giving Alex a smug smile.
“Hey, you can stop what you’re thinking,” Alex said. “Soledad and I hook up when I’m between missions. I like her, but there are no strings.”
“So if you came home and found her with someone else?” Zach kept at it.
“I’d be cool with that,” Alex insisted.
“Bullshit you would,” Zach said.
Alex shrugged off the comment, showing more restraint than Colin was used to seeing in his younger brother.
“What about you?” Alex turned his attention to Colin. “You’ve gotten almost lighthearted since the last time I was home. The dating thing must be going well.”
Zach laughed, speaking before Colin could. “Nope. He’s got the hots for his nanny with the sexy glasses.” Colin winced when both his brothers turned their focus to him. “Except she doesn’t want him.”
“Is that right?”
“Not quite.” Colin didn’t feel the need to tell them that Lily was at that moment in his bed upstairs. They could probably guess, and that was good enough. “She doesn’t want a long-term relationship.”
“Wasn’t that your goal?” Alex questioned.
“It still is.” Colin grinned. He’d made no secret that he was searching for the right woman, but he’d never expected she’d be living in his house.
“I get it now,” Alex said. “Mission: Nanny Impossible?”
“Something like that.” Colin didn’t think the situation was impossible, but caution and transparency were required. He’d been a little short on transparency, which needed to change. Soon.
“Wish I was going to be around to see that unfold.” Alex’s upcoming deployment was estimated to last at least a few months. His trips home were sporadic, so Colin was glad to spend time with him while he was around.
“Too bad you’ll miss it.” By the time Colin saw Alex again, what was between Colin and Lily would have developed into something lasting… or died out.
“I can’t blame Lily for not falling head over heels for you,” Alex commented wryly. “The only thing you’ve got going for you is my adorable niece.”
“Thanks for that, but we’ll see where things stand next time you’re on leave,” Colin said, feeling confident that he could win Lily by then. They had some problems to work out first. The stalker creep was at the top of his list. After that was taken care of, operation nanny impossible, as Alex called it, would begin in earnest.
11
Colin pulled into the parking lot of the local diner. Before leaving work, he’d placed an order for his and Lily’s dinner. It had been another fourteen-hour day, and he was looking forward to a meal, a beer, and spending the night with Lily.
It was good, what they had, but his mission to win her was moving slowly—which was his own fault. He and Lily needed to have the conversation they’d both been avoiding. He was unwilling to give up what was so damn good between them, but he wasn’t being fair to either of them—or to Sofia. While his heart could take a beating if Lily chose to leave, he couldn’t be reckless with Sofia’s. She was attached to Lily as if Lily were her mother. He saw that bond growing and deepening each day, and the last thing he wanted was for Sofia to suffer another loss. She’d already lost her real mother and any connections she might have had in her native Colombia. He didn’t want to put her through that again.
So the talk between him and Lily was inevitable. He would try to persuade Lily to stay with them. But ultimately, if she insisted, he would let her go sooner rather than later. That would be better than her walking out on them down the road when she became dissatisfied. His mother had done that, gone to the grocery store when he was in the first grade and never come home. He wouldn’t subject Sofia to that.
Or himself, he admitted. He couldn’t live with the idea that the woman he loved might be with him one day and gone the next. And, he’d come to realize in the past weeks, he did love Lily. He loved everything about her, from her dark-rimmed glasses and the pink polish on her toes to her quick wit and easy laugh. He’d been with women, of course, but he’d never crossed the line between having fun and wanting more. He wanted it all with Lily: a life and family together, more kids, holiday traditions, backyard barbeques. The perfect existence he’d watched his friends have when they were kids.
If he couldn’t have that with Lily, he could at least make her life better by dealing with her stalker problem. His blood pressure had risen steadily when she told him about the conversation she’d overheard between Stout and his companion. Stout wasn’t going to touch Lily while she was with Colin—not ever, if he had anything to do with it. He’d considered filing a police report, but there wasn’t enough to go on. She had no identifying information for the other man and no proof they were speaking about her.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and reached to open the truck door. Through the rain-streaked windshield, he spotted the man he’d seen with John Stout at Lily’s apartment building and again here at the diner weeks ago—the man who’d looked familiar. He was getting out of a late-model American-made sedan.
Colin took a minute to study the man’s profile, and suddenly it clicked. He knew that face from a mission he’d been on in South America. The man was, or had been, a DEA agent who’d been assigned as a liaison to another SEAL team. Colin had crossed paths with him two or three times during the mission. Since Colin had never had a personal conversation with him, for all he knew, the DEA agent was from his hometown.
Colin decided to wait and watch. After a furtive look around, the DEA agent walked to a gray Camry and got in.
“Son of a bitch,” Colin muttered, squinting at the car. Sure enough, John Stout sat behind the wheel. Now, what would a DEA agent be doing with a scumbag like Stout? Was Stout an informant? Was the DEA agent undercover? He was sure acting nervous, his attention constantly darting around the lot.
Was Stout who the agent was waiting for when Colin saw him in the diner? There must be some logical reason for a federal agent to be in contact with a creep. Of course, there was a sinister possibility: the agent might be dirty. What if he was the stranger in the conversation Lily had overheard?
Call it a SEAL’s intuition, but Colin had a bad vibe about this. Moving subtly, he pulled his phone out and took pictures, documenting both men’s faces and their cars. A few minutes later, the DEA agent returned to his vehicle and both men left the area. Only then did Colin step from his truck. He was still processing what he observed, running analytically through the
possibilities.
He didn’t want to blow an agent’s cover or scare off an informant, so he had to tread lightly. But if the guy was dirty, it could jeopardize the lives of those who served honorably. Not acceptable. Colin wasn’t the type of man to tolerate that.
12
Lily rushed to embrace her aunt Maddie in the downtown bistro. The older woman had called Lily a few days before to say she had a few hours between flights and could they have lunch. Lily had been delighted and made arrangements for Sofia to spend the time with her cousin Austin, which made everybody happy.
“It’s so good to see you,” Lily said as they were seated. “It’s been months. I suppose my mother kept you informed on my failed teaching career.”
“Yes, she told me about it. You did the right thing, kiddo. No doubt in my mind.” It didn’t surprise Lily that Aunt Maddie would see the situation as she did, unlike her parents.
“I think so, too.” She hadn’t regretted her actions, and getting away from teaching had been a great move. “And I’ve landed in a good spot for now.”
“The nanny job. Your mother told me about the little girl you care for, and I brought something…” Aunt Maddie dug in her tote bag and pulled out a stack of comic books. “Some for you,” she said, “and some toddler ones for Sofia. I thought she might get a kick out of them.”
“That was sweet of you.” Lily thumbed through the stack, noting they were brand new, some probably not even released yet. What she found fascinating was how the artists’ styles varied. There wasn’t just one way to be a comic book artist. She supposed there wasn’t just one way to do anything.
“So where are you headed?” Lily asked after they placed orders for drinks and salads.
“A comic convention in Chicago. I’m signing my latest edition.” Aunt Maddie tapped the comic on the top of Lily’s stack. “Hot off the presses. And I’m leading a discussion about the place of comic books and graphic novels in our modern world. Some people argue it’s a dying genre, but from what I’ve seen, comics are hotter than ever.”