The amusement gave way to reality. “He never told me about the house in Coronado.”
“That part is weird even for Mr. My Life Is Oh So
Secret. No matter how I twist the facts, I can’t make that part fit.” Meredith shrugged. “I can’t imagine how tough it is for you.”
That was the problem. Sara worried that her reaction to the lie made her a doormat. The house didn’t bother her as much as the pitying looks everyone was throwing her way suggested it should. Her fury came when she put all the facts together into one long, never-ending lie topped off with an I-need-my-space excuse.
She tried to explain what she still didn’t understand in her own head. “It’s typical of Garrett. He was keeping the different parts of his life separate.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“I was over here in the apartment, the place he went when business was over.” She slapped her hand down at one end of the table. “Once he proposed, he had our relationship all wrapped up and settled in his mind.” She put her other hand at the opposite end. “His work was over here, along with the house and the motel and the warehouse downtown.”
“And he inherited me when he bought the place. I always wondered why I didn’t get kicked out when he moved in.”
“A woman living alone and working as a teacher? Yeah, he would have had a soft spot for you. Can’t imagine him making you leave.” In the pros and cons list that made up Garrett, that one sat firmly in the pro column. He couldn’t resist a person in need.
Meredith snorted. “I know you’re blinded by love and all, but he’s not exactly a soft guy.”
“It’s buried deep, but there.” Sara knew that much. Knew it down to her soul. “His mom was a teacher. She worked two jobs to put herself through college so she could eventually support them and see them every day in the school halls.”
“Impressive lady.”
“I doubt Garrett even realizes that in his head he was saving you.” The reason seemed obvious to Sara, but that was because she watched and listened. She made him her priority and learned every scrap he dropped for her to find.
Maybe she really was pathetic.
“He never even told me he was the owner. I started sending my rent check to a corporation with a post office box address.”
“I’m sure it made sense in his head. I’ve spent most of our relationship being baffled by the things he shares and the things he chooses to hide.” And the surprises chipped away at her but were livable...until the one where he walked out.
Meredith took a long drink. “Men are idiots.”
“Some, yeah. Even those who generally aren’t seem to dabble in idiocy from time to time.”
Meredith eyed Sara over the rim of her mug. “You still love him.”
She didn’t bother to deny it. Loving Garrett had never been the issue. Never would be the problem. “So, what does that make me?”
“Human.”
If Sara hadn’t liked Meredith before that moment, she would have started right then.
The bond was tenuous, but she decided to share anyway. “We broke up because he wanted to elope.”
“Since I’m not seeing his idiocy in that piece, I’m thinking there’s more to this story.”
“Less, actually. He was looking for a quickie marriage with no friends or family present. No flowers or dress. He didn’t even see the point of buying rings.”
“Now I’m getting it.” Meredith shook her head. “Dear, deluded Garrett.”
“That was his pitch. Just us and a sterile room with some random guy in a suit officiating. It would take a few minutes—he actually said that as if it were a selling point—and then we’d go back home so he could ship out on his next assignment and I could go back to work.”
Meredith whistled. “The wedding no little girl has ever dreamed of.”
“Exactly.”
The memory of his pitch still left Sara reeling. She’d chuckled while he laid it all out, thinking it had to be a bad joke. But no.
“And you sell wedding dresses for a living, right? Did he not take that as a hint?”
Funny how Meredith got it, but after almost two years together Garrett didn’t. “I’m the assistant manager. I hope to own the shop one day.”
Meredith rolled her eyes. “Like I said, idiots.”
“Yep.”
They fell into a comfortable silence. The low rumble of male voices seeped through the wall beside them.
Sara tapped her fingernail against the ceramic mug. When she couldn’t stand it anymore, she piped up. “So, back to you and Jeremy...”
Meredith shook her head hard enough to lose her balance and have to adjust her feet where they were tucked under her. “It’s a heat-of-the-moment thing.”
“Interesting.”
“Nothing serious or even worth talking about.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You sound like you don’t believe me.”
Not one bit. “Do you believe the nonsense you’re spouting?”
“Hey, what happened to the quiet woman in the corner?”
“She almost died in a fireball.” The near-death thing had Sara thinking she needed to yell more. “I have eyes, Meredith. He looks at you like he wants to throw his body over yours and you look like you’d happily let him.”
“That about sums it up.”
“At least it’s mutual.” Sara tried to sell the point Meredith seemed comfortable with, but figured she’d failed when Meredith shot her a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding
expression.
“It’s so complicated.” The tabletop tapping started again. She lowered her head as if she wanted to bang that against the wood, as well.
Sara stopped any chance of that by putting her hand over Meredith’s. “It doesn’t have to be.”
“You’re saying that, with the state of your relationship with Garrett?”
That little truth stung. She rubbed her chest to make it go away. “Call me an optimist.”
“I shouldn’t have—”
“Ask me whatever you want to ask me.”
It took another minute of shifting in her chair before Meredith got the words out. “Is Jeremy like Garrett? If I go deeper, do I get to relive all the garbage you’ve been through? Because I don’t think it will work. You are much more patient that I am.”
“You mean gullible and pathetic.” Sara fell back in her chair.
“I really didn’t.” Meredith stared at Sara as if willing her to believe.
“Thank you for that. Sometimes I feel like I am, so it’s nice to hear it might not be true.” And she meant it because, for whatever reason, Meredith’s image of her did matter.
“But the question still stands.”
Since Sara knew the question was coming, she didn’t hesitate now that it had arrived. “Yes, but more grounded. They both seek danger and fall into those rescuing patterns. There’s something lighter about Jeremy.”
“I think I missed that part of him.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. He can brood, but the darkness doesn’t swallow him. Not like it does with Garrett. He watched men he worked with and cared about die in a truck bomb during the war in Iraq. He carries the horror of those deaths with him always. He views the moment as his failure, not that even he could have stopped it.”
“That’s a pretty big piece of baggage.”
“Loving them isn’t easy.” Sara stared at Meredith’s tapping hands.
Meredith followed her gaze and flattened her palms against the tabletop. “That’s not relevant since I’ve known him less than two days.”
“Oh, you’re missing my point. Falling for the Hill men is easy.”
“Tell me about it,” she grumbled.
“It’s the sticking around part that will kill you.” Sara thought about the last twenty-four hours. “Possibly
really kill you.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
She had to smile at that. “I was going for honest.”
/> Meredith leaned back in her chair and continued to click her fingernails. “You know, I like you. You’re stronger than you look. Tougher.”
“I’ve learned the hard way to stand up for what I want.” And had paid a huge price so far.
After two sharp knocks, the door opened and Jeremy stuck his head in. “May I come in?”
Sara hid her smile as she got up and dumped her mug in the sink. “I was leaving anyway.”
“You going to harness yourself to the roof?” Meredith asked with more than a little amusement in her voice.
“Something a bit more simple, like go into the bathroom.”
Meredith’s eyebrow lifted. “You don’t have to run on our account.”
“Maybe I’ll take a bath while I’m in there.”
Poor Jeremy stood there looking all masculine and confused. “Uh, you’ll have to do it in the sink because there’s no tub.”
Sara winked at him as she left the room. “You guys sure do know how to show women a good time.”
“You two seem to be getting along okay.” Jeremy stood just inside the door with his arms stiff at his sides.
“Are you surprised?”
“A little, but also relieved. I’m pretty fond of Sara in a she’s-perfect-for-my-brother sort of way.”
“I didn’t think so at first, but that was me being all judgy and dumb.” Meredith shook her head at the embarrassing memory.
“Excuse me?”
“I mistook her love for Garrett as weakness. Now I get it. There’s no pretense. She’s not looking to battle the world. She’s solid and Garrett definitely needs solid because, frankly, he’s a bit out of control, especially over this Joel thing.”
“That must have been some conversation with Sara.”
“We muddled through and figured each other out.”
“I’m always stunned by the resilience of women.” Jeremy glanced at the closed bathroom door. “I’m not as sure at this moment about the men I know.”
Dark circles streaked under his eyes as if exhaustion dragged at him. His shirt had come untucked and his hair fell over his forehead, giving him a less severe look than his brother. But despair shimmered all around him.
Meredith wanted to rush over and rain kisses on his face until he smiled again. But that was crazy. He was in the middle of a tense situation. And then there was the part where they barely knew each other.
She stayed in her seat. “Did you think you’d come in and find us pulling each other’s hair and rolling across the floor?”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he stared at the floor. “Sort of. Stupid male fantasy, I guess.”
“The women wrestling thing? Figures.” He wiggled his eyebrows, so she dropped the subject. “Once she figured out I wasn’t making a play for Garrett, we were fine.”
Jeremy’s blue eyes sparked with life. “Is there anyone you are thinking about making a play for?”
“Subtle.”
“I wasn’t trying to be.” He walked over to her. Stalked, really.
Long and lean, he closed the gap in only two steps. Her head fell back to look up at him. With his palms on the arms of her chair, he blocked her in until his warmth surrounded her.
He crouched down until they were eye-to-eye. His broad shoulders blocked out the room behind her. Everything else fell away. Faded into nothing, until it was only the two of them.
This close, the butterflies in her stomach flapped harder. Her heartbeat hadn’t danced a jig for a man in a long time. It scared her that it danced for this one.
“How are things going in there?” she asked, trying to keep her balance while everything around her spun.
“Not great.” He dropped to his knees with his face just inches from hers.
He tried to hide the wince but she caught it.
Guilt washed over her. She’d forgotten all about his injury. Bandages and over-the-counter meds couldn’t replace good hospital care. But he was so stubborn.
“Your side.” She touched her hand to the space right above the bandage. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better now that I’m right here.”
“Jeremy.” Her thumb slipped over the bandage bringing relief when he didn’t double over. “That’s sweet, but I doubt it’s medically accurate to say seeing someone cures pain.”
“I wanted to get out of there.”
She felt the words against her mouth. Her mind struggled to stay on topic when his hands moved down to her hips and pulled her forward. “Away from Garrett’s fury and Joel’s denials?”
“To be with you.” He traced her chin with a line of small kisses.
“Oh.”
“That’s it?” His mouth found the sensitive patch of skin behind her ear.
She shivered, trembling as his lips traveled down to the side of her neck and stayed there. Hot and wet, the gentle sucking stole her breath and had her head falling farther toward her shoulder.
“I’m not sure what to say.” She was stunned she could form any words at all.
“Then how about letting me take the lead?”
Before she could answer, his mouth closed over hers. The sweet memory of their first kiss vanished under the intensity of the second. Firm lips gave way to the sweep of his tongue. Her hands fell to his shoulders. Her body lifted off the chair as he pulled her to the front and against his chest.
Slanting as she breathed him in. Caressing his mouth with hers. The kiss shut off her mind and opened up a door inside her she’d slammed shut years ago. With the touch of his mouth her world to her abandoned dreams and hopes reopened.
It was a kiss of longing and promise. She didn’t know she craved it until she had it.
He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. “I needed that.”
He sounded as breathless as she felt. “Happy I was here to help.”
He lifted his head, letting his gaze brush over her face as his fingertips outlined her lips. “You’re the only one I needed.”
“Jeremy.”
Turning his head, he kissed the soft inside of her arm. “When this is over...”
He led a violent life. Walked in and out of danger. Led with a gun and didn’t hesitate to put his body in the line of fire.
When this was over they would be, too.
But part of her wanted to believe. “Yes?”
“We’ll figure it out then.” With one last kiss on her forehead, he got up and went back into the garage.
A long time later her heart returned to its regular steady beat. But not before it swelled and thumped and reminded her what it felt like to care for a man.
Turned out Sara was right. Falling for a Hill brother was far too easy.
Chapter Fourteen
Bruce lounged on his bunk with his arm folded under his head. In the other hand he twirled the piece of wadded-up paper the guard had dropped between the bars of his cell on his regular walk down the corridor.
He’d been to the courthouse and back first thing that morning. No bail. The white-haired bitch of a judge with the fake nails and caked-on lipstick called him a flight risk. She talked about previous allegations and the severity of the charges against him.
She had no idea what a danger he could be.
The judge’s finding served as another setback but not a death knell. She’d left the door open for bail review. More importantly, he got out in the fresh air for more than an hour. Breaking free felt good, but passing a note to the guard who escorted him up the elevator from the small court jail had been the real goal. Bruce knew the courier had been successful because his fingers wrapped around the paper that held his answer.
Pass some cash. Make a promise. Have a guy on the outside collect on a debt or deliver a message with his fists to someone who needed the pressure before he could perform. Gathering intel came easy when you knew what people needed and how to get it for them. Gaining loyalty took time, but being a man others could depend on for payment sped the process.
And the supposed
upstanding members of society were even easier to handle than the criminal element. Dig for a nasty secret held by someone in an official capacity—those little bits of information they didn’t want anyone to know. Feed the habit, no matter what it was, then take a few photos and deliver them at the right time.
Bruce’s favorite trick involved sending a messenger to the house while the wife was home. Amazing how a man snapped into line when he hovered on the brink of having his depravity unmasked on his own turf.
And it sure paid to have sources everywhere. Bruce’s prearranged signals consisted of a few words and came as each step in the plan hatched. Stephen could sneak in the important information relative to those points.
But that wasn’t why Bruce used Stephen. Bruce did it to exert control. To remind Stephen he was on the payroll. It was a way of keeping him in line.
The guards picked up the rest of the slack. Even now Bruce twirled the paper ball through his fingers. After torturing himself with the waiting, he took his reward.
Sitting up, he unwrapped the paper from his guy inside Hill’s team and stared at the message typed there.
Close proximity. Will proceed.
There was only one answer: move in and destroy him. Bruce smiled at the thought.
Oh, how he wished he could be there to watch Jeremy Hill, the man Bruce once knew by another name and trusted with the intricate details of his operation, bleed out in a dirty alley on a forgotten street somewhere. Bruce hoped it would take long, hot days to find him. Jeremy deserved a slow, terrifying death.
Closing his eyes, Bruce inhaled, blocking out the smell of stale air and urine that filled every inch of the filthy prison, and imagined an endless supply of free air. Soon Jeremy would be dead. Burned, beaten, shot, and if there was any justice, broken after seeing his woman and brother ripped to pieces.
All Bruce had to do now was wait for the confirmation of the end. Then he’d give the okay for Stephen to try another bail hearing. After that, Bruce would never enter a cell again.
Knowing it was about to happen had to be enough.
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