Wild on You

by Tina Wainscott

  She tilted her head. “How’d you sleep?”

  He scratched his jaw, feeling the rough stubble. “Like a baby. You?” He took a sip of the richest coffee he’d ever had. And possibly the best.

  She smiled. “Like I had a bodyguard sleeping outside my window. Safe, I mean.”

  He nodded. “Good. That’s how you should feel.” He pulled his gaze from her to the ranch beyond. “You have a nice place here.”

  When they’d walked up to the house the night before, his first thought had been It’s perfect. It wasn’t, though. The paint was about a year away from needing to be refreshed; a couple of the shutters were askew. The porch that ran along the entire exterior looked a little crooked; his fingers itched to grab hold of some tools and work on it. Yet it was still perfect, in a way he couldn’t pinpoint.

  She followed his gaze, a soft smile on her face. “It’s no Taj Mahal, but it’s perfect for me.”

  He couldn’t help glance over at the use of the very word he’d thought. He shrugged. “The Taj is overrated. This place is livable. Comfortable. Your outbuildings are in good shape; the barn is sturdy and well built.” Beyond the railings and porch lay a stretch of grass and then the barn and various other buildings. A big corral gave one of her volunteers plenty of room to work with a horse he was trying to gentle. Beyond that, pastureland accommodated several other horses, the llama, and one bony cow.

  Addie leaned against the railing, surveying her kingdom with the smile of a benevolent queen. “I took over the property from a guy who couldn’t make his payments. He had dreams of owning a small farm but no clue how to run one. Now he volunteers, so he’s seeing his dream stay alive, in a way. And he’s great at carpentry; he maintains all of the buildings and fences in his spare time.” She released a contented sigh. “I love coming out here in the mornings for a few minutes and just taking it all in. The little hill in the distance, the apple trees over there to the right, with the absolute best winesaps ever. My animals, healing and thriving. It’s so peaceful.” She glanced his way. “At least until I think about all the work that needs to be done. Speaking of, I need to feed you. I’m not the best cook, but I can throw some eggs in a pan. You don’t look like a wholegrain-and-nut-cereal kind of guy.”

  He glanced down at himself, in loose jersey pants and faded T-shirt. “I sure hope not. Don’t suppose you have bacon—scratch that. I forgot you’re vegan.”

  Risk remembered her father saying how she had eyed his steak once. Addie had given up meat because she thought it was the right thing to do. The same way she’d given up romantic relationships. And right now she was eyeing him as if he were a juicy steak.

  “I’m vegetarian, and you’re lucky I am. Otherwise I wouldn’t even have eggs in the house. We get them from our free-range chickens.” She gave him a grin that caused that pit-a-pat thing again. “Happy chickens, happy eggs.”

  Who couldn’t be happy around you? He was damned happy those words hadn’t popped out of his mouth.

  He followed her into the house, with its simple decor and comfortable-looking furniture. Nothing fussy or fancy but definitely homey. The kitchen was open to a small dining area and the living room. She set a pan on the stove and turned on the gas, then got a carton of eggs and butter from the fridge.

  He pulled his thoughts to their morning plan. First they were going to check out the zoo and see if the tiger cub was there. That was the easiest place to start, since it was open to the public. If the cub wasn’t there, they would check out Carrigan’s personal property. Chase had found his address after Risk had filled him in last night.

  He walked up behind her as she expertly cracked eggs into a sizzling pan. “Can I help?”

  She started, spilling half of an egg on the stovetop. “I’ve got it, thanks. Sit and relax at the table.”

  “I’ll pour us some orange juice if you’ve got some. The only time I can sit and watch someone cook for me is when I’m paying them to. You’re going to have to give me something to do.” Sorry, sweetheart, you’re not getting me out of your hair that easily.

  She blew out a breath, ruffling the bangs that fell over her right eyebrow. “Okay, you can get two plates out of that cabinet. Glasses are in the next one.”

  She had a quaint country-style kitchen, with white cabinets and slate-gray countertops. Her refrigerator was covered with magnets of animals, no surprise, and one of those magnetic-word kits. She’d pieced together a few to read: EVERY DAY BRINGS NEW BEGINNINGS.

  She wasn’t looking, so he added a couple of words to the end: AND CRAZY SURPRISES. Too bad the set didn’t include the word zucchini.

  “Okay, we’re ready.”

  These were no diner eggs, with the yolks messily bleeding across the white plates. The bread, however, was perfectly toasted. If he pretended he was eating a couple of slices of extra-crispy bacon, it was heaven. Or maybe that was the gal sitting across the table from him, poking the corner of her toast into the yolk.

  Her cell phone, sitting on the windowsill, rang. She grabbed it up. “I don’t recognize the number.”

  “Answer it and put it on speaker,” Risk said.

  “Please,” she said, mirroring his earlier request, even raising her eyebrows as he had done.

  He gave her a smile. “Sorry, used to orders, not requests.”

  “Addie Wunder,” she answered, shooting him a smirk.

  “Do you own an old brown utility van?” the man on the other end asked.

  “Yes! You found it?”

  “I’m with Walter’s Towing. It was reported as being in a parking lot in a tow-away zone after-hours. The key’s in it.”

  Risk and Addie both started talking at once, but she pushed out her question first. “This might sound like a crazy question, but is there a tiger cub in the back?”

  “There’s a cage but no animal inside.”

  “Did you start the engine?” Risk asked.

  The guy on the other end paused. “Uh, yeah, to move it on the lot. Why?”

  “As long as it didn’t explode, you’re fine.”

  Now the guy sputtered, but Risk asked for the address, thanked the guy, and hung up.

  “Are you serious about it exploding?” she asked.

  “As your bodyguard, I have to consider every possibility. They obviously didn’t rig it. I also have to make sure the towing company is real and not a setup. I’m going to use your computer to case it via satellite, look for vulnerable areas where the enemy could be waiting, for purposes of following or taking a sniper shot.”

  She simply stared at him for a moment. Swallowed. “I didn’t even think about any of that.”

  “That’s why you have me. Let me deal with the tow company employees. I’ll do a scan of the van to make sure nothing’s been tampered with. And you will wait until I give you the all-clear.”

  She saluted, but she didn’t seem sassy about it. In fact, her blue eyes were filled with anguish. “That poor cub.”

  Risk pushed to his feet. “We’re going to find Tigs, Addie. I promise.” The words were out before he could think better of making a promise like that. But she nodded with such relief and gratitude, he could hardly regret it.

  She called Shirley and arranged to take her and another volunteer to the van so they could bring it back. He washed up in the guest bathroom, brushing his teeth, then setting his clothes and sleeping bag in the bedroom. Of course, he and Addie couldn’t just show up at the zoo as themselves. They had decided on going as a city couple.

  Sneaking around in disguise was obviously nothing new for Addie. That made sense, since these places she investigated would be on the lookout for her. It wasn’t like she was a low-key personality on the activist scene. He remembered the picture of her washing cars on her Facebook page and shook his head as he sat down at Addie’s computer. He checked out the tow yard, all escape routes, and then took note of the closest hospital, firehouse, and police, per his general instructions. He ran every what-if scenario and mentally prepared for all.
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  When she came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, his knees went weak. “I’m ready,” she said, as though she weren’t wearing the tightest jeans he’d ever seen, with a wide gold belt and a white-and-red-striped top that molded an enormous set of boobs he was pretty sure she didn’t actually possess. Her lips were ruby-red, with a mole drawn over one lip, and they were pursed as she searched for something. “Ah, there it is.” She grabbed up her bag and strode to the door in four-inch heels, which made her ass wiggle outrageously. How was he supposed to keep his hands off her? He held back his reaction, pasting a professionally bland expression on his face.

  She took him in, a quick up-and-down. “You’re not ready.”

  “I’m waiting until after we pick up the van, in case they’re watching. Which is why you have to stay out of sight. Otherwise, your cover will be blown.” Another good reason to keep her safely in the car.

  With those heels, she was closer to his height. He came to a stop right in front of her, fluffed her curly-haired wig, then settled his hands over the spaghetti straps on her shoulders. “Impressive. I hardly recognize you. Do you have a name to go with this getup?”

  “Babbette Shankshire.” She gave him a crooked smile. “I bet this is the kind of woman you usually go for.” She gave her boobs a playful squeeze. “Much more than I have. Or want, for that matter.”

  Do not even think about squeezing them, Yarbrough. But he’d rather squeeze the real thing, and the smooth mounds of cleavage were all her.

  He mentally went back to the first part of what she’d said, because he sensed a question lurking there. “I don’t usually go for the flashy type.” And at the moment, he didn’t want to think about any woman but the one in front of him.

  She angled those ridiculously boo-coops of boobs toward him. “Go ahead. You can squeeze them. I know you want to.”

  “Addie, you are too much. Seriously, too much.” But when she pushed them out even farther, he obliged. “Spongy, with a nice spring to them.”

  The door opened, and Shirley stepped inside. She stopped with her mouth open. “Adeline Wunder, I did not offer to do the morning duties so you and your hunky bodyguard could do some booby squeezing.”

  Addie blew out a breath, nonplussed. “You always insist on doing the morning duties, and I was just showing him my fake boobies.” She turned toward the door and gave Shirley the playful smile that made his heart go bump. “Wanna squeeze ’em?”

  Shirley rolled her eyes. “You’re not my type. Anyhoo, Charlie and I are ready to head out, if the two of you can pry yourselves away from each other.”

  “We’ll meet you in fifteen minutes.” After she left, Addie turned to him. “Still fantasizing about Shirley and me?”

  “Doll, my fantasies are much more interesting now that I know you’re straight.”

  * * *

  From inside the car a safe distance away, Addie watched Risk inspect the van, check the engine, then crawl beneath it. She thought of him doing the same in Iraq or Afghanistan, where explosives and ambushes were a part of everyday life. The idea of him being in that kind of danger, surviving horrendous conditions on barely edible food, made her swallow a lump in her throat. And now he was protecting her.

  Cripes, he looked ten kinds of yummy with his five o’clock shadow accenting his wide jawline. He pulled himself from beneath the van, jumped to his feet, and waved them over.

  Shirley regarded her with a frown as they joined him. “This is serious shit, isn’t it?” She pinned Risk with a look. “You keep her safe, you hear?” He was clearly trying not to smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Shirley and Charlie left, and Risk followed them for about fifteen minutes. He really considered every dark possibility. Finally he turned toward the zoo.

  “I need to stop at a restroom and do my change-up,” he said a few minutes later. “But I’m not leaving you in the car alone.”

  “I’m certainly not going into the men’s room with you.”

  He slanted her a grin. “Figured you’d say that.” He pulled into a gas station. “So I’ll go in the women’s room with you.”

  “We’re going into a restroom … together?”

  “If you’re worried about what people will think—”

  “They’ll assume we were getting it on in there.”

  “Only if we come out with big grins.”

  She smacked his rock-hard arm. But the thought of being so engulfed by passion that they’d run into a restroom had her feeling a bit warm. Public restrooms are not romantic, she chanted to herself. Neither were barns, but when Risk had kissed her, everything had fallen away.

  A few minutes later, they were closed in the small room. Risk went right to work, pulling out some kind of disguise kit from his duffel bag and studying the palette of earth tones. “This is definitely not something I learned in SEALs. When we took a disguise, it was more clothing-based, not cosmetic. Other than painting our faces black when we undertook a night op.” He made his cheeks more defined and deemphasized his wide jaw. Next, he filled in his eyebrows so they appeared darker. He left the stubble as it was. Then he rubbed some mousse into his hair, spiking it up. “I doubt the knuckleheads noticed my eye color, so I’m skipping the contacts.”

  He pulled off his shirt and donned a silky button-down with long sleeves. She was so caught up in the contours of his chest, she almost didn’t notice that he was unzipping his khakis. He caught himself just as he was about to shove them down, and she quickly spun around. Having watched the male-stripper movie just recently, she didn’t have to pull from deep in her imagination to picture his body at the swish of clothing.

  “Let’s hit it,” he said a few seconds later.

  But oh, he was so much better than an image on a screen or in her mind. She drank him in, the gray shirt unbuttoned to his upper chest, charcoal linen pants that fit just tightly enough to show off muscular thighs, and a thick gold necklace.

  “Hm, who should you be?” She tapped her chin as she surveyed him. “Sebastian Arsenault.” Then she ran her finger across his stubble. “I like this. Very bad-boy-ish. I’ve never kissed a man with a five o’clock shadow.” Quickly, she turned and opened the door. “And I won’t now.”

  A mother and daughter were standing outside the door waiting. Addie could hear the little girl say, “Mommy, there was a man and a woman in there. What were they doing?”

  “Never you mind that,” the woman said in a terse voice.

  Addie wanted to die from embarrassment. “Corrupting a child!” she whispered as they walked outside.

  “If we’d gone into the men’s room and there’d been a guy waiting, he’d have just given me a thumbs-up.”

  Addie rolled her eyes.

  Thirty minutes later, they found a spot at the zoo’s makeshift parking area and paid the entrance fee. A smattering of people wandered around the exhibits. A few kids were squealing at a camel that was sticking its nose between the bars. Another girl was giggling on a pony ride. It was hard for Addie to get excited about these kinds of zoos; all she could think about was how stressful it was for the animals. But she had to pretend.

  Risk steered her from exhibit to exhibit, his arm casually looped around her shoulders. She didn’t have to pretend to like that, no siree. When she leaned too close, though, she could feel his gun at his waist, beneath his loose shirt.

  Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

  At least she hadn’t babbled that out loud, like she had with the whole squeeze my boobs thing. Sheesh, Addie, have you lost your mind? She had, but it had felt good at the time. Carefree, flirty. Things she never got to be.

  And you should not be flirty now. You’re on a mission.

  The zoo was crammed into a much smaller space than normal, so the cages and corrals were nearly touching. It sprawled from the parking area of the defunct gas station onto the grassy area. Green clumps of recently mowed weeds and grass dotted the ground.

  On their first trip around the ground
s, they searched for the tiger, for Alan, and for his thug buddy. Tigs wasn’t on display. No sign of the thugs, either, though they could be in the off-limits area where the Rssss and tractor-trailers were set up.

  Risk led her right up to the yellow tape that blocked off further access and gestured toward one of the RVs. Though he was talking about how his brother had taken one just like that out west, she knew he was really searching. Unfortunately they saw no sign of anyone, nor could she spot the traveling cage from which she’d broken Tigs out.

  They wandered back to the zoo. They passed a zebra roaming a small, fenced-in area and paused in front of two chimpanzees sitting listlessly in their cages. A family was making monkey noises, trying to get them to react. Finally the family gave up and moved on.

  Risk continued to watch the chimps. “They look sad. Can’t say I blame them. Being gawked at is no fun, let me tell you.”

  Addie wished she could see his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. “I bet you got a lot of that during the trial.”

  “People either scorned us or feared us, as though we would go psycho at any moment. Even knowing the truth, it was still annoying.”

  It was probably downright hurtful, but Risk wasn’t going to admit that. “It must have been terrible,” she coaxed.

  “I’m just glad it’s over.”

  He moved on to where miniature horses paced the length of their small pen, signaling an end to that particular conversation. She followed with a sigh. It was nothing personal. She knew that men didn’t open up and share all the pain in their heart. Her father had said very little, had shown no grief, after her mother’s death. She’d seen only his stoic acceptance, and Risk wore that same expression.

  As she did with every pen, she assessed the conditions. “At least they all have clean water bowls, fresh food, and shelter from the sun. Maybe Carrigan’s gotten the hint.”

  They passed kids scrambling in and out of a castle bounce house and stopped in front of a covered tent with chickens, goats, ducks, and bunnies in various sections that allowed for petting.

  Next to that sat a photo-op tent; the sign read, GET YOUR PICTURE WITH A PYTHON, $10. A teenage girl grimaced as she kept the huge snake from wrapping completely around her neck. Addie leaned around to look at the back of the sign, which read, GET YOUR PICTURE WITH A TIGER CUB, $50.