by Cyndi Raye
It was the first guitar she ever owned and her favorite. Her mother had given it to her on her eleventh birthday. Miraculously, it had survived the fire and now had the scorch marks to make her appreciate it even more. It had hurt her to the core to leave it behind but she thought she was doing the right thing.
After being questioned by the police about the incident in the alley, Cole told her he was taking her to his home. She had no idea when he retrieved it but the guitar sat in the back seat when he drove away from the apartment building.
He placed everything on the floor, careful with the guitar and locked up. Back turned, Callie watched his movements in the glass. Seeing the instrument broke something inside her and she became aware that she was shaking. "Please."
The word echoed in the space. It was soft and hoarse. Callie only realized it came from her when Cole's head jerked toward her. Callie thought for sure he would come to her and take her in his arms. His eyes had softened and said he would.
But then he turned and walked into the kitchen.
She felt her heart break a little. She closed her eyes to fight the onset of tears. The tremors became more violent.
They flew open when she felt a huge, warm body press against her back. Cole was there. He reached around and pressed a glass with brown liquid into her hand. “Drink this. It will help with the shaking.” He helped her raise her trembling hand to her lips and she grimaced at the sharp taste of whisky. It burned her throat on the way down but a pleasant warmth settled in its wake. Cole pulled her into him so that he supported most of her weight as she drank.
He made the glass disappear when she was done. Cole turned her around and wrapped her in his arms. The gesture comforted her but a sniffle still slipped free. She quickly swallowed the sound.
“It’s okay to cry,” he said, his quiet voice wrapping her more soundly in his warmth. “You’ll feel better if you do.”
“I don’t want to cry,” she said, voice thick with tears and the damn broke. She turned her face into his chest. A shudder shook her and harsh sobs pushed passed her throat. She had no idea how long she cried. All she knew was the steady strength of Cole holding her. He smoothed her hair down and touched her back. When at last her tears stilled he wiped away the lingering evidence with his fingers.
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Told you so,” he quipped, lips tipped, and made her laugh.
“I’m scared,” she admitted, the confession breaking past her lips for the first time because here in Cole arms, it felt okay to be vulnerable.
“I know, sweetheart,” he said. “But you’re with me now. I’ll keep you safe.”
For now, she would allow herself to believe it was as easy as that.
“Want to know what will make you feel even better?”
“What’s that?”
“A shower.”
Callie tipped her head to the side, the lightness of the moment making her tease, “Are you saying I smell?”
“Well, I was not going to say anything but-” Cole trailed off, straight-faced.
She gasped and punched his arm lightly. She almost hit the white gauze on his upper left arm and promptly felt guilty. “Oh Cole, I’m sorry.” She had forgotten about the wound he sustained protecting her. A bullet had grazed him. No one could tell by his efficient movements though. He only allowed a paramedic to clean and bandage the wound when she noticed the blood on his shirt and insisted.
She knew he did it more to make her feel better than anything else.
“You did not hurt me, honey. I’ve had worse, believe me.”
Thinking about him hurt made her uneasy.
“Go have that shower, Callie. Take your time and don’t worry about anything.”
He showed her where to find everything after giving her a brief tour of the place and the guest bedroom she would be using. It did feel great to clean up and she took advantage of the warm water to wash her hair.
When she was done, he had dinner waiting, ranch chicken and veggies. He had taken a shower as well and changed out of the all black outfit into a pair of jeans and a plain white tee that looked just as devastatingly good on him. His feet were bare and his hair was damp like hers.
She walked over to him, feeling self-conscious in cotton shorts and blouse. He made her feel right at home though. He did not act like her bodyguard but more as a friend, something she needed then.
Later, they sat on his couch and watched a movie. Cole encouraged her to lean against him and she could not resist. He was so… solid. All wide shoulders and bulging muscles. His presence should have been a big fat reminder of the chaos her life had become. Instead it soothed her in that moment.
Her vision became blurred and she felt herself drifting to sleep.
Alarm slammed into her when she was lifted.
“No,” she cried.
Cole’s voice cut through the panic. “It’s me, Cole. Everything is okay. I’m just bringing you to bed. You’ll be more comfortable there.”
He carried Callie like she weighed nothing. When he placed her on the mattress, she immediately missed his delicious warmth. Walls down, she voiced her need. “Please, sleep with me.”
He had not turned on the light but his eyes sliced through the night.
“Anything you need, sweetheart,” he said.
He got in next to her and pulled the covers up around them.
Her body tingled from the contact but she was too exhausted to focus on the feeling.
“Sleep, Callie.”
She followed his command knowing he would look over her.
Chapter 5
Cole was a man of instinct.
He trusted his head, heart and gut and the three had never steered him wrong. He stared down at the woman sleeping in his arms and all three screamed at him that Callie was special. Cole was a loner. His life had conditioned him that way.
Brought up in foster care, he was adopted by the last family that fostered him, the Browns. They were the first taste he had of family life. They took a boy found in a trash can at three days old and gave him their last name. They owned a sprawling property in Montana and the family business, cattle ranching, flourished. Life was good and everyone was happy.
When he turned eighteen, he decided to listen to the voice inside him that urged him to spread his wings. All that happiness turned to anger when he informed his family of his decision to join the Military. He owed them, his adopted parents said. They took him in and it was time to pay up by working the land with the rest that carried the last name Brown.
Cole despaired when they gave him the ultimatum, stay and join the family business or leave, never to return.
He left.
He reached out to them afterwards but they truly shunned him.
“You are dead to us.” Those were the last words the man he had thought of as a father spoke to him. Something in him went numb that day.
He had found a surrogate family in the BKH Bad Boys. They were the closest thing he had to brothers, a family. His make-shift family on Boot Key Harbor and his job had become his whole life. He never had a vision beyond that existence until he saw Callie.
That coldness he did not realize he still carried around thawed that night at Lenny’s bar. Now, he was plagued by visions of weddings and babies. And the weirdest part was he was not scared that he played the staring male role in those visions and Callie, the female. What scared him was that she might be taken away from him before they had a chance to explore a romantic relationship.
He wished he could woo her the right way, dinner and dancing and all the traditional dating rituals he heard about but had little experience in. But there was a killer on her tail and their movements were limited.
How was he to bind her to him? To make her feel the same ache of longing he felt in his chest at the thought of a future for them?
He wondered if this intense longing was love.
He had never been in love before. They just met, it wa
s nonsense, wasn’t it?
It was still night, around 3 in the early morning hours. He could tell by the position of the moon in the sky. His night vision was excellent. The full moon streamed light into the room and helped him gaze upon Callie’s lovely features.
He had yet to close his eyes. So when her face tightened and a whimper escaped her he noticed immediately. He touched her shoulder and tried to gently pull her away from the nightmare when she began to thrash in the sheets. There was a sheen of tears in her eyes when she opened them.
“Cole,” she breathed when they focused on his. His name sounded like a sigh of relief on her lips. She was shaking again and he gathered her close to his chest.
After a moment of silence, he asked, “Are you okay?”
She lifted her head and those eyes caught him in the darkness. In an unexpected move, she pushed her lips against his.
He froze for a second. Technically, she was his client even though there was no signed contract and he had not accepted payment from Lenny. Kissing her was completely unprofessional. His feelings for her were unprofessional. His reaction to her had nothing to do with a bodyguard-client relationship and everything to do with a man wanting a woman.
He deepened the contact. She let him in and their tongues tangled. She was sweet and heady, intoxicating him like strong Caribbean rum. Everything else fell away. There were no bad guys with guns, only a man and a woman turning to each other in need. Their passion exploded under the light of the moon. Their kisses were hungry and fevered. Clothes became a nuisance, a barrier to the skin on skin contact they both craved.
Her feminine scent surrounded him, cocooning him in a cloud of euphoria. Her curves felt absolutely right in his hands. Every caress solidified his conviction that this woman belonged at his side.
His body dominated hers yet she controlled him. He was a slave to giving her pleasure. When he breached her softness, her flesh resisted and revealed a secret.
Shocked, he looked at her. The caveman in him roared with triumph. She truly was his. “Be sure,” he said, needing her not to regret this in the morning despite every instinct telling him to push forward and claim her.
“Love me,” she answered, her hands going around his neck to pull his head down to seal their lips. Knowing that he did, he gently broke through the barrier of her innocence.
They rocked together, reaching for satisfaction. It consumed them and connected them.
Afterwards, she drifted back to sleep in his arms. He watched her breathe until the sky turned pink and gold, his head, heart and gut content in the fact that she was the one.
Now he just had to get rid of the killer on her tail and convince her to take a chance on him.
****
Callie could not contain her smile at she listened to Cole humming in the shower. He had moved her into the master bedroom after the first night they spent together. She was hugging his pillow, inhaling the lingering scent of his spicy cologne.
It had been three days since she came to stay at Cole’s house. The digital clock beside the bed read 8:27 in the morning. She was tired after the long night of loving they had but even with only one hour of rest last night, she was energized. A new song was forming in her mind and she was itching to get it down on paper.
She reached into the bedside table for the legal pad and pen Cole had placed there for her for moments like this and the words flowed.
Unexpected Love was the title, a tribute to what she was feeling.
She and Cole had spent the last few days in a glorious repeated pattern of hot sex and pillow talk when he was not working on obtaining information on her attempted murder’s location and she was not fiddling with her guitar or writing songs.
After Tony set her house on fire, he had gone into hiding. The car he used to follow her in Boot Key Harbor had been found the next day, abandoned in one of the upper Keys. It had been stolen but his fingerprints and blood had been all over it.
Isolated from the rest of the world in Cole’s house, Callie could almost pretend she was not being stalked by a deadly criminal. Cole was warm and funny yet still intense and quiet. When he was not making love to her, he was watching her with heated eyes. He spoke to her tenderly, stating his intentions of them continuing a relationship after Tony was caught and jailed.
Callie never had a home base, somewhere to call her own. With Cole, when she was in his arms, she felt as if she had finally come home. Even his home felt like it belonged to her now. The few things she travelled with were now mixed with his stuff and she could not wait to add more.
It was like she was living a fairy tale outside of the threat following her. She did not want the fantasy to end.
Callie had never been interested in men and sex before she meant Cole. Her life had revolved around her music and then caring for her sick mother. After the example her own father and Tony had shown, she had been convinced relationships were not worth the hassle.
She had never experienced this excitement and yearning for a man’s presence. Her heart sped up at the thought of him and whenever he touched her.
Again, a goofy smile lit her face.
The smile fell when a disconcerting thought intruded.
Were these feelings real or just a product of being in a stressful situation?
Cole came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his hips. The white cloth contrasted against his tanned skin to reveal the V of muscle that led to the object that had given her so much pleasure. It was tented with desire, a condition he seemed to permanently be in around her.
He caught her staring and she blushed, still not used to such amorous attention. When he laughed and came over to kiss her, she decided not to think whether the feelings she had for him were genuine or not. She was going to enjoy whatever time they had together instead.
His kiss led to another and another. A storm of passion took them within its depths once more. Later, he got dressed in front of her and she asked, “Are you going out?” when she noticed it was not the usual casual clothes he wore at home. He added a bullet-proof vest under his shirt.
That tiredness her body had not accepted earlier was now weighing her down. She yawned and settled more comfortably in the covers, snuggling against his pillow.
“Yeah, we’re running low on food and some other stuff. I need to do a quick errand run, as well. Don’t worry, I’ve already called in one of my friends to guard you while I’m gone,” Cole said. “He’ll be here soon.”
She pouted, already missing him, “Come back quick.”
“I’ll be rushing back to you,” he reassured then gave her a swift peck on the lips. “Gotta run. See you soon.”
She admired the clench and release of his buttocks as he walked away and sighed.
That was one fine man!
She heard him open the door then voices. She assumed he was talking to his friend but then a loud boom sounded.
Without thought she was up and running toward the sound.
“Cole,” she screamed.
The sheets tangled around her feet but she just wrapped them around her and kept going.
She screeched to a halt at the horrid sight at the front door.
Cole was lying on the floor, eyes closed, the blood drained from his face.
Tony stood over him with a gun and a menacing smile.
“Hey there, Callie girl. It’s time to end this goose chase.”
Chapter 6
Tony came toward Callie with that awful smile stretching his lips.
Her concern for her safety had disappeared though and all she thought of was getting to Cole’s still body.
She tried to run to him but Tony caught her, his weight slamming into her. “Uh uh uh, not so fast, Callie girl. You’re not getting away from me this time.”
She clawed at his face and arms, uncaring of the gun he held. She just needed to get to Cole. Knowing he wore a bullet-proof vest, she needed to make sure he was alive.
“Let go of me!” she screamed.
“He’s going to die. Let me help him.”
“I would not worry about your little bodyguard. He’s as good as dead.”
“No,” Callie cried, the idea hitting her like a physical assault. Tears began to fall and she fought harder to get to Cole. Would the vest protect him from a bullet so close up? She had to know.
Tony gave her a hard shove and she fell to the floor, banging her head in the process. “Now, I’ve got you all to myself. Who would have thought it would be so hard to get rid of one little woman?”
His weight pressed her into the hardwood. He smelled of stale sweat and alcohol. There was also the metallic smell of blood and she noticed the bandage peeking out of his shirt near his neck for the first time. She gagged as the combination assaulted her nostrils.
Her struggles halted when he put the gun against her neck. He trailed the weapon down and made her aware that the sheet barely covered her body. “How about that? I did not realize you were hiding this hot little body under your clothes. I think I will have a little taste of that sweet body before I off you.”
She pushed at him and he went flying with much more force than she should have been able to push him with.
Callie looked up to see Cole had peeled Tony off her. He went after the smaller man with the rage that showed on his face. “Get your filthy hands off her.”
There was the sickening thud of flesh being pummelled. Tony screamed and grabbed at his face and the blood that spewed from his nose flooded across his fingers.
Cole took advantage of the other man’s unprotected midsection and delivered two sound hits. Cole had the advantage at that moment.
Then Tony played dirty, gaining the top position. The two continued to struggle on the floor.
Callie picked up a glass candy dish and was about to jump into the foray when the sound of two successive shots echoed in the house. Both male figures went still.
“Cole?” Callie called. Fear had more tears sliding down her cheeks.