He was having trouble keeping his shit together. He wanted to show her how good it could be to be with a man, a loving man. He wanted to take her home with him to keep her safe in a perfect world.
“I’ve got an idea.”
She pulled her chin back away from his touch.
“What idea?”
“Let’s start dating.”
“Now you’re making fun of me.” She turned and started to walk away.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her back against him. He got a whiff of her shampoo and the scent of Hollie. He whispered close to her ear, “You’ve got to stop running from me ’cause it just makes me want to chase you.” He lifted her hair to one side to get better access to her pale, slender neck. He rained soft kisses, nuzzling her neck. “I wasn’t joking. Movies, dinners, baseball games. I’ll go to artsy stuff if you want, but please, no opera.”
She giggled. A girlish sound that was light and joyful.
“And I’m going to spend a great time and effort teaching you how to kiss.” He didn’t add the other ways he planned to educate her on the mating dance.
In a little, quiet voice, she answered, “Okay.”
His body had tightened in readiness. Every muscle was clenched as heat spread through him. What else could he ask for?
Chapter Fourteen
Brandon Billow huddled next to Maddy on his sleeping bag. She smiled at him, and her shiny blue eyes gleamed. They were in the jungle on the west side of Beacon Hill above the freeway—a greenbelt of trees that the homeless and people on the run with nowhere else to go, had claimed as their own. Their group of eco-activists, really a group of misfits and losers, hid among the homeless to prevent being tracked. Three days before the big bang. He had started calling his mission the big bang because it was going to be the beginning of a new and better world in which nature had equal rights with human beings, but he had to be careful not to slip.
“Brandon, what do you think?” The tight, clipped, and miffed voice came from their leader, Jason, the dude with the golden, fleecy hair, and it rattled him back to the present.
He hadn’t been listening to Jason’s endless drone of look how smart I am; look how handsome I am with my blond hair, blue eyes, and seductive smile. Maddy wasn’t here for the cause; she was here to sleep with Jason—as were half the women in their group. And didn’t Jason know it.
Always alert to his flock, did Jason recognize Brandon’s distraction? Their leader was getting increasingly suspicious. Or was Brandon only getting paranoid as the big day approached? Jason’s light eyes examined his face, searching. It was important that he not let Jason see his anxiety. Did anyone else notice his nervousness? He needed to keep his shit together.
Jason was no fool.
“Sorry, Jason. I spaced out.”
Maddy poked him. “Hey, this is important.”
Too bad Maddy had been attracted only to Jason, or he might have spared her.
He smiled at Maddy. “Sorry, Mad. You’re right.”
“Okay, D-day is almost here. Let’s review everyone’s job. Fred, you’re in charge of buying the balloons. Remember, they’ve got to be heavy latex,” Jason said.
“Like my condoms, heavy latex for a heavy workout.” Fred, who had terrible acne and greasy hair, and was probably still a virgin. At least there was one guy in the group who was getting less than him. Maddy and Teresa laughed, but Erika, a hard-core feminist, rolled her eyes in disgust.
“I’ll get the vegetable oil,” Jason said in his usual commander-in-chief voice. He reminded Brandon of his CO in military school—always in charge, always the alpha male, and always beating the shit out of less-than-perfect cadets. Military school was just like home, the almighty male forcing his will on the powerless.
“I still think it’s going to be tricky getting the balloons into the meeting.” Erika continued to fight Jason’s position as the leader. Obviously, she wasn’t sleeping with him. “Only four of us are carrying the balloons in our backpacks.”
“Are you having trouble with my plan?” Jason challenged.
Shit, he really wasn’t up for rehashing the whole discussion of who was willing to be arrested for the cause. He had a record from his DUI and his shoplifting. He used his criminal past as an excuse for not wanting an arrest now. Maddy didn’t want to be arrested because of her juvie record. He and Maddy were assigned to protest in front of Pier 69 to provide a distraction when the others entered the building. What great irony. He wished he could laugh out loud right now and tell them he had a distraction for them.
“What’s so funny, Brandon?” Jason had his eagle eye focused on him. Sweat pooled on his back and under his arms. The urge to break into a sprint seized him. He inhaled slowly, trying to move his frozen lungs. “I was just visualizing the look on the asshole commissioners’ faces when you hit them with the oil.”
“That’s exactly my point.” Erika stood. “I want to make sure the timing is right. Brandon and Maddy have to walk in with the pictures of the animals drenched in oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico when we belt them with the balloons filled with oil from the audience.” Erika continued to give Jason shit about his plan. Same old bullshit as in all his previous groups. Always boiled down to power and sex.
“Brandon and I’ll disrupt whatever they’re saying when we walk into the meeting and chant ‘No spills in our waters,’” Maddy said.
“And when the audience turns back toward Maddy and Brandon, we’ll stand and throw,” Erika said.
“Tom and Susan are going to this Tuesday’s meeting to check out the space,” Jason added.
Tom and Susan were the only non-misfits of the group. From wealthy East Coast families, they’d gone to college together and gotten radicalized in environmental issues at liberal Evergreen College. With North Face jackets and expensive haircuts, they both looked and acted as if they could just as likely be working in corporate America as hatching illegal eco-terrorist plots. Except for Maddy, the entire group had been at Evergreen with Jason.
How Maddy had met Jason remained a mystery.
“Wherever we sit, we’ve got to nail the president and three commissioners,” Jason said.
Teresa stood and addressed the group in a grave voice. “I’ll be in the front row, ready to record the entire proceedings, the surprise attack, and the arrest, then immediately post on the Internet. We want the pictures of the oil-soaked commissioners to be front page on national news.”
“Any questions?” Jason looked at each person.
Was Jason suspicious? Jason seemed to be watching. Shit, he was getting paranoid. Only three more days.
“Everyone stay low. And only communicate on the World of Warfare forum. We’ll meet in two days at Golden Garden’s Bathhouse.”
Chapter Fifteen
Hollie, sitting at her desk, kept her head down and surfed another gamer chat room. She needed all of her self-control to not be distracted by Nick…again. Stationed by the door, with Talley at his feet, he remained on duty guarding the boss for the day. With his new responsibilities, Nick hadn’t changed his casual, sexy look of a tight black T-shirt and worn jeans. He looked like a cross between a surfer dude and super hero.
Since the accident last week, the routine was the same. Davis brought the boss to the office. Depending on his work demands, Davis would stay until she left for the evening. When Davis had to work, Nick was “on duty.” Today, Davis had to attend an all-day meeting on homeland security issues in the region. It was a big deal and he couldn’t miss it.
Hollie checked Earthbro’s posting about the newest patch for the Warfare game. The forums were going bonkers about it, allowing players to meet more characters and play at a more challenging level. Lately, Earthbro hadn’t been talking about blowing things up in the game, but more on delivering justice. He seemed to be ramping things up.
Davis was still in the boss’ office. He’d be late if he didn’t leave soon.
Hollie wondered if the delay was due to Davis kissing t
he boss the way that Nick had kissed her last night. His tongue thrusted into her mouth, as if he would devour her.
Nick must have felt her stare. He looked up and his eyes heated. His intense, possessive look melted her entire insides. Who knew that, with the right man, one sizzling look could make you feel heady and irrational?
Her face heated. No way did she want to look virginal, daydreaming about his kisses. She had her pride and she hated to think about him kissing his cheerleader or any other woman, the same demanding way he had kissed her.
She needed to focus. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be mesmerized by one scorching, sexy look from Nick Welby. It was time to hack Earthbro’s account and find his IP address to track his postings. They had been surfing the damn gamer sites all week with no interesting chatter.
She forgot about Nick and his tantalizing look as she delved into the guild forum. Hollie was shocked at how easily she had hacked the Warfare website. She had thought they’d have several hard-core firewalls. Hacking into the site was child’s play; a piece of red-velvet cake for a gray hat like her. In minutes, she had Earthbro’s IP address.
She startled when she heard Davis’ emphatic order from the boss’ office. “No, you’re not going alone. I won’t allow it.”
Wow. Davis had definitely been in a mood since the brake incident, but this was nuts.
Talley stood up and looked toward the door. Nick raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like a rebellion.”
“It must be about today’s visit to Mrs. Leary’s,” Hollie said.
Nick stood up and stretched while Hollie tried not to look at the way his T-shirt hugged his tight abs and the way his biceps flexed. She had never liked muscular men until Nick. Who’d know that bulging muscles were such a turn on? But it wasn’t Nick’s fantastic body that had her heart throbbing and stomach fluttering. It was his kindness to Talley, and to the clients who came into the office; the tender way he touched her; and most of all, the way he compassionately listened to the painful details of her desperate family background.
Nick walked over and lowered his hip on the corner of her desk. “Davis already filled me in about Dr. Walters’ appointment. She goes to Laurelhurst to treat an older woman’s cat.”
“Mrs. Leary’s a dear. She has trouble getting around, so Dr. Walters goes to her house.”
Hollie tried not to listen to the voices in the next room, but she could hear the boss’ low and insistent voice, then Davis erupted, “Unbelievable. Grayce, you’re driving me nuts.”
Hollie felt prickles of anxiety skirting along her skin set off by the hostility. “No way should he be shouting at the boss. He needs to bring it down a notch. She is very capable of taking care of herself. She’s also trained in aikido.”
Nick shrugged his massive shoulders. “I feel for the guy. There is no way in hell he wants her forced to defend herself.”
Hollie jumped out of the chair. “You’re siding with Davis yelling at the boss?” She moved around the desk and loomed over him. “You don’t believe women can protect themselves, do you?”
He didn’t seem able to stop staring at her Kidrobot shirt. She had worn the tight tank and the long skirt that clung to her shapely, long legs to torment him. She was enjoying her ability to rile the ever-so composed and collected Nick Welby. “I’m not saying its right to yell, but I understand where Davis is coming from. He’s worried about all the ways things can go wrong. Personally, I know women can take care of themselves, because I have a stunning example right in front of me. And honey, you’re killing me in that top.”
His appreciative words and hungry look immediately helped calm her. They were all on edge with the worry about the unknown menace threatening the boss’ safety.
Embarrassed by her emotional outburst, she said, “He might be worried, but he doesn’t need to yell.”
“Come here.” He pulled her to stand between his legs. “You were too far away.” He rubbed her arms up and down. “I’m sorry. I know the shouting upsets you.”
She didn’t know how he did it, but the simplest touch and she felt all squishy inside. She liked watching the way his bright eyes darkened and his voice got smoky when he touched her.
“You know Davis would never hurt her. It’s obvious he’s totally a goner.” He caught her hand and pressed her palm hard to his mouth and then his jaw, greedily savoring the contact.
Shivers of cold chased along her skin with the touch of his hot mouth.
“He’s trying to protect her. He’s playing and replaying all the possible ways the nut job might try to get to her. It takes a toll on a man.” Nick was good at multitasking. He turned her hand over and kissed a path up her arm to her elbow. Who knew the inner arm could be so sensitive?
“Is that what it was like in Afghanistan?”
He paused. She felt the subtle way his breathing changed and his body tensed.
He kept his head down preventing her from seeing his eyes and his face. “Over there, you were always trying to stay ahead, anticipate…but there are times when you can’t avoid…”
“Is that what happened with the men—the stars on your wrist?” She gently touched one of the blue stars that encircled his wrist.
He turned his wrist, hiding the stars from her touch. “Where are all these questions coming from?” To her disappointment, his husky, hungry tone was gone.
She pressed closer and ran her fingers along his bristly golden jaw. “I’m interested in you. I’m not trying to be nosy. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
He took a slow exhale and picked up her other hand. “Thanks.”
Hollie waited. She told herself that she wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t open up. Deeply buried pain took time to share, but she had unburdened herself and didn’t want to be the only one exposed.
He held her hand and looked into her eyes. She tried to hide her hurt and shame, but by the perceptive way he examined her face, he read how she felt.
He laced his fingers through hers and released a long sigh. “Talley and I were doing a sweep of the market in Kabul with a small reconnaissance patrol following. That day it wasn’t crowded, but difficult to secure because of the alleys and twisting side streets. Talley kept sniffing in front of a fruit stall, but she didn’t sit signaling that she had found a bomb. I yelled to the men to wait and during the split second, a woman hidden in a side alley ran toward the patrol with an IED underneath her abaya. All the soldiers and three civilians were killed.” He recounted the gruesome details in a quiet monotone.
She squeezed his hand. It didn’t take a genius to know that the guilt was eating him up.
He turned away with a small pained grimace. “Talley and I survived.”
Unlacing her fingers, she lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed his massive palm as he had done to her. “And I’m glad you did.”
She pressed his palm to her face. Words didn’t come easily at hurting moments like this, and she had no magic to alleviate the poor man’s suffering.
“I could tell you it wasn’t your fault, but I know you wouldn’t believe me. An evil terrorist killed them, not you. I’m glad that you and Talley survived because I…”
The door slammed open against its hinges and a thunderous Davis stormed out. Hollie dropped Nick’s hand and scurried behind her desk. Her mouth went dry and her lungs froze. An enraged Davis was quite a fearsome spectacle and brought back bad memories best forgotten.
She tried to even her breathing and not cower behind her desk. Nick hadn’t stirred from his spot. He watched Davis acting like King Kong as if it was an everyday experience.
Davis blew out a breath and said in an even, calm voice. “Nick, a change in plans. As you might have heard, Grayce will be going alone to see Mrs. Leary in Laurelhurst. She will check in with you on her arrival and departure and maintain phone contact at all times.”
Hollie said, “No way.”
Davis turned abruptly. “What?”
Nick, unaffected by Davis’ f
ierce entrance, stood up and in an aggressive voice she had never heard before, “Do not use that tone of voice with Hollie.”
The shock on Davis’ face was something. His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened as he stepped closer to Nick. Oh, shit. Nick’s laid-back mood had vanished. All the signs of eminent combat were clear. Nick’s spine stiffened as he spread his legs, and stuck out his chest. Shit. Shit. Shit. She didn’t want them to fight over her.
Davis ran his hands through his black thick hair. His lips curled into a twist of a smile as he turned toward her. “Nick is right. I shouldn’t be taking out my frustration on you.”
Transformed from Neolithic to chivalrous in the blink of an eye, Davis looked repentant when he spoke to her. “You do a great job taking care of Grayce.”
Now she was embarrassed. That was the most considerate thing Davis had ever said to her. She didn’t think people got how much she cared for Dr. Walters.
Davis flashed his most endearing smile, the one she knew had charmed the boss when she met the fire investigator. “What were you going to tell me?”
“Only that the boss is terrible about her phone. And when she’s with animals, she doesn’t…she’s focused on her work.”
Davis breathed deeply, his massive chest moving in and out like a charging bull. “She’s promised to communicate. Nick, you’ll escort her back and forth to her car after you’ve inspected it for any tampering. She’s taking Mitzi with her as an added precaution.”
Davis wasn’t taking any chances, but his secret service approach was suffocating the independent doctor.
Davis spoke over his shoulder, his hand on the doorknob. “She expects she’ll be two hours at the most. She has promised not to make any stops and will return immediately. I want to know when she is back safely in the office. You can text me upon her arrival. I won’t be accessible by phone during the meeting.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nick nodded as Davis repeated his instructions. He was damn glad that Davis had pulled it together, because he didn’t want Hollie upset by his punching Davis. No way would he allow Davis to intimidate Hollie. Not that she’d admit to being scared, but the way her eyes widened in fear, hiding behind her desk, were grounds enough for him to do combat.
The Grayce Walters Romantic Suspense Series Page 57