He went back to his room and tried to relax. It took him only fifteen minutes to get completely, utterly restless. He called Chase. “I’m going to hit the range. Can your security guy keep an eye on Addie?”
“Sure thing. Sax and Julian are shooting, too. I’m wrapping up a few more pieces of information on your canned-hunt guy, and then we’ll have a meeting. I’ll come get you in the range.”
“Great.” Risk hung up and grabbed his gun; annihilating some targets was just what he needed.
Chase had top-notch security measures in place. Risk felt compelled to wave at the cameras whenever he spotted them. Those cameras also lessened the temptation to grab Addie and get a little crazy in the bushes or the pool.
He pressed his finger in the reading device, got buzzed in, and nodded to the boys when he entered the shooting area. There was something oddly comforting about the sound of gunfire and the shells hitting the floor.
Julian and Sax pulled off their earmuffs, cleared their guns, and wandered over. Risk was instantly alert at their sly smiles.
“How was dinner?” Sax asked. “Nice and romantic?”
Risk had a sudden panicky thought that there was a camera on the boat. But no, he’d checked before even thinking about cutting the engine. “Just nice. Our relationship is strictly business. Platonic.” Except that sounded hollow to his own ears. Apparently to theirs as well, because they both snorted.
“Either you’re full of shit or you’re blind as shit, and I think it’s the first,” Julian said.
Sax was studying him as though he were a specimen. Risk tried like hell to keep a straight face, but he must have failed. Sax said, “Me, too. ’Cause there was nothing platonic about what was going on in the hot tub earlier. Talk, Farm Boy.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The way she was looking at you, and the way you were looking at her …” Sax rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t feeling each other up under the water.”
Julian grimaced. “You weren’t, were you? I don’t even want to think about those implications.”
“Then don’t,” Risk said. Whew, at least they didn’t know for sure. “That would be uncool, spreading my jism in the hot tub.”
“You did race off awfully fast,” Julian said, his eyebrows furrowed.
“I had to take a piss. Don’t make too much of it. And it would be unprofessional to … bang my client.” He couldn’t call it anything else without totally giving it away.
He signed out a box of target ammo, grabbed his gun, and walked to one of the firing stations. Unfortunately, they tagged right along with him.
“It’s all right, buddy,” Sax said. “We won’t say a word about it.”
“Drop it,” Risk said. Denying it wasn’t going to do a lick of good. These knuckleheads would see right through him.
Sax elbowed Julian. “He hesitated before he used the word bang. Which means he was thinking of other words. Making love, maybe?”
Risk shot them a quelling look before opening his box. And damn, he fumbled the flaps.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Julian said. “Fumbling. Looking conflicted. Ignoring us.”
“I’m busy loading my magazine,” Risk said through gritted teeth.
“Which you could do with your eyes closed,” Sax pointed out. Accurately.
Risk thumped the magazine against Sax’s chest. “What part of drop it did you not understand? ’Cause I’m happy to spell it out for you.”
Sax raised his hands in surrender, but he was still grinning. “You like this gal, don’t you? I mean like her. You should have seen your face when she was talking about sneaking onto the hunting property. You looked like you were about to shit yourself.”
Yeah, he’d probably given that away. “All the times I was doing crazy stuff like jumping off the barn roof, and my older brother was so pissed off. Now I understand what I put him through.” The thought of Addie inserting herself into dangerous situations had washed him in cold dread.
“When she was going on about the canned hunts, you got a different look on your face. Face it, dude, you’ve never been good at hiding what’s going on inside your head.” Julian nudged Sax. “That’s why he always loses at poker.”
Sax shook his head. “But he just keeps on trying.”
Risk knew he’d been had. He had never gotten so touchy about any woman. “She’s a good woman,” he said, and slid his earmuffs on. He didn’t want to endure any more questioning. Unfortunately, the earmuffs were the ones that muffled the racket of gunfire but allowed you to hear conversation. Unfortunate because he heard Julian say, “I don’t think he likes her. I think our boy’s in love.”
* * *
Addie had a handle on this Risk thing. She did. Really. Goodness, it wasn’t as though she’d become mindless.
MINDLESS CRAVINGS ABOVE AND BEYOND.
She shook her head. That bit of wording was waiting for her at home. Maybe she’d ask Shirley to change it up for her. No, better not. Addie would have to explain why Risk had put those words there. And why she needed them gone.
She opened her laptop and tried to immerse herself in the posts on her Facebook page. Chase had warned her about posting photos, because there were ways to find out where they’d been taken. Some kind of code that smartphone cameras embedded in the picture.
Addie itched to respond to several posts about Carrigan’s accusations. Her fingers literally twitched over the keys, but she held back. People would have to wonder. Speculate. Once this was all over, she could clear everything up. She was having serious social networking withdrawal. Carrigan obviously had not filed any charges yet; the detective would have notified her.
She Googled Trango Towers and found several videos of crazy people jumping off. Falling horrifyingly fast, banging into the rock face, then pulling their canopies to drift to the ground. Risk had done that. She didn’t want him to do it ever again.
But you have no say in his life. Focus on your own life.
She needed to check in with Shirley. Her finger hovered over Risk’s contact in her list. She forced herself to scroll farther down.
“Hey, kiddo,” Shirley answered. “I was just kicking back about to watch one of my DVR’d Big Bang Theory shows. Everything okay on your end?”
Addie was going to update her on their plans. Check in on the animals. But what came out was “I had meat” on a whine.
“Oh, honey, it’s all right. We all give in to temptation once in a while. I had a hamburger a couple of years ago. And yeah, it was so good, with the juice running down my chin. But later my stomach felt weird and unsettled, and that did it for any future temptation. How do you feel now?”
“Like I want more. Like I want it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and maybe a snack and—”
“You’re not talking about meat, are you? ’Cause there’s something a bit too lustful in your voice for a burger.”
Addie bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I had two bites of Risk’s steak. And then I had Risk.”
Shirley chuckled. “Well, honey, that’s not surprising.”
“Not surprising? Not surprising! Do you not know me at all? I’m focused. I’m driven. I don’t have room in my life for a man.”
“And you’re lonely. Believe me, it takes one to know one. A woman needs love, needs the touch of another person. A woman needs to be made love to. You’ve told me for years about how you don’t want a man in your life, don’t need that kind of distraction and yada-yada. What I’ve heard was ‘I keep telling myself I don’t want that, but I do.’ You’re human, honey.”
“But I don’t want to be human. I want to be …” Super animal crusader, complete with a cape? Bah. Risk was right. It does sound ridiculous. “I want to be stronger than my baser needs.”
“Good luck with that. I knew you were in trouble when I saw the way he was looking at you.”
Addie tucked her bent knees to her chest. “How was
he looking at me?”
“Ha. I knew you’d ask. If you’re not interested in pursuing anything with him, I probably shouldn’t tell you.”
“Out with it,” she barked.
At least Shirley didn’t laugh again, treacherous woman. “Like he wanted you. No, more like a longing. The guy’s not good at hiding it, which is kinda refreshing. People are always masking their feelings. Even to themselves.”
Longing. Risk had looked at her with longing. That settled into her chest like a hundred butterflies. “What did you see in my eyes when I looked at him?” Damn, had she really asked that question? Because Shirley would tell her the truth.
“You were a tangle of emotions. You had that longing, too, but I could see you trying to fight it. Look, even I can appreciate the fact that the guy’s gorgeous. Has a great smile. And that protective instinct. If you’d seen his face when he realized you’d given him the slip, man, he was scared for you. One look at him and I knew you were a goner, girlfriend. It was just a matter of time. So, how was it? No details, just an overall impression.”
“Oh my God.” She rubbed her hand over her face.
Shirley chuckled this time. “Better than anyone else?”
“I can’t even remember what anyone else was like. Not only did he totally satisfy me physically, the way he said my name …” Longing. “It was more than sex. And that scared me.”
“Did he call it making love? That’s a big clue about where someone’s head is.”
“No, but he didn’t like when I called it banging. And he was shaking afterward, which I think freaked him out a little.”
“Oh, honey, you are so lucky.”
“Lucky? I’m not lucky. A gorgeous, sexy man and fantastic lover is tempting me into having more sex with him. How is that lucky?”
Shirley was out-and-out laughing. “No, you’re … right. It’s … terrible. Awful.”
“I thought you of all people would understand that what we do requires a huge commitment. And sacrifice.”
“It does. But purpose doesn’t hold you tight when lightning cracks across the sky. Victory doesn’t fill you with sexual pleasure. If I had a woman who looked at me like that and made me feel like you feel, I would grab on with both hands.”
Just the thought of doing that with Risk made Addie shiver. “And you wouldn’t be able to dedicate as much time to the animals.”
“Nope. Because I’d have a life I need and deserve. So do you.”
Addie blew out a breath. “You’re supposed to tell me how important our work is, how we’re those people who give up everything to be the champion of those without voices.”
“Sorry to let you down. Look, I’m not telling you to marry the guy and have a kid or three. I’m just saying you deserve him. For a couple of days or a couple of months, however long it might last. So enjoy him right now.”
Addie walked to the window, seeing the manicured foliage in the dying light. “I don’t know.”
“So don’t know. Just do. I’ve been staring at Sheldon’s open mouth on the frozen TV screen for several minutes. Since I don’t have a beautiful woman wanting to pleasure me, I’m going to watch my show. Stop overthinking and follow your heart. Good night.”
Easy for her to say. Would it have been so hard for Shirley to just say, Don’t do it! No, she’d told Addie to do it!
Do it, do it, do it, some part of her chanted. The part that had woken up at Risk’s touch and was trying to shove crusader Addie into the background.
If she did decide to treat herself to some more Risk, she would have to use her wild card to order him to do it. How humiliating would that be? But she wasn’t going to give in, even if her body was alighting at the thought.
A knock on the door jarred her. Annoyingly, her heart jumped at the prospect of Risk standing on the other side. She could imagine him leaning against the door frame with a provocative smile. So when she opened the door and found Chase there, she could feel her expression fall.
“Sorry, it’s not Risk.”
“Oh, I … It’s fine.”
“You looked a little disappointed.”
And most women would not be disappointed to find Chase Justiss at their door. “I just expected to find him there, that’s all. No big deal,” she felt compelled to add.
“I’ve got some intelligence on Walter Elrod. I thought we should convene with Risk and discuss our plan of action.”
The cub. That was what she needed to be focusing on, not Risk. “Great. I’m so anxious to see the sweet little thing.”
“Risk?” Chase asked, arching his eyebrow.
“No!” God, could she have shoved that word out any faster? “The tiger. I’m so worried about him.” Yeah, so worried that you were losing your mind on a boat just a short time ago. Guilt nipped at her. She’d let her mom down.
She didn’t like Chase’s knowing smile as he backed up. “Of course. What was I thinking?”
She followed him out of the house and down the path. They hadn’t knocked on Risk’s door. She was not going to ask where he was. Still, she searched for him as they walked toward the big metal building.
“Risk and the guys are in the range. You ever handle a gun?”
“Noooo,” she said, the word drawing out. “Never wanted to.”
“With what you said you do—sneaking onto people’s property, for instance—you should consider arming yourself.”
He pressed his thumb into the silver box at the door, and it opened. She glanced at the camera poised over the door. The guy had serious security issues.
The sound of gunfire bounced across the building when they entered, though it was muffled behind the thick Plexiglas wall. Probably bulletproof glass. Risk stood with his legs hip width apart, body straight and strong, shooting the hell out of a paper zombie’s chest. He jerked with each shot but held his position. She was not into guns, but she had to admit, he looked damned sexy. Capable. Good.
Yeah, he was all of those things.
He released the magazine, eyed the barrel, set both pieces on the table, and turned toward the door. His gaze went right to her, and he gave her a wave that seemed intimate somehow. That word again. And they’d been intimate, all right. Chase probably had picked up on it, because he was good, too. Risk’s two SEAL buddies gave her the kind of grin that made her think they knew she and Risk had had the best sex of her life on the boat. Maybe she was imagining it; maybe she was being paranoid.
Or maybe their attraction was just that obvious.
Risk came out the door and asked Chase, “You have intel on Elrod?”
Chase nodded. “I think we may have our guy.”
Chapter 15
Risk purposely sat across the conference table from Addie and not next to her. Then he realized that looking across the table at her was likely to be more hazardous, given his not-so-poker face. He shifted his attention to Chase. “What do we have?”
Chase crossed his ankle over his knee. “Walter Elrod is out of jail. He was released early, about a month ago. I spoke with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to see if we could approach this from a legal standpoint if we found evidence. They can’t step in unless they’re called by the local authorities. As you learned, Addie, the local authorities won’t touch Elrod. Besides his indictment, he had one other complaint lodged against him about five years ago: an assault charge that was dropped because the guy went missing.”
Addie planted her elbows on the table. “Maybe he went into hiding, like Elrod’s wife. She was afraid, so she must know Elrod is a dangerous man.”
“Or Elrod killed the guy,” Risk said. “Have you heard from his wife recently?”
“Not since the trial. She sent me one quick e-mail through Facebook, letting me know she was lying low. Elrod always left her out of his dealings, but someone involved in the operation kept her informed. Maybe she can find out if he’s holding a tiger cub.”
Chase nodded. “Try to touch base with her and find out. According to the detective who’s wo
rking on your near-hit-and-run and the assault at the zoo, if we can find evidence of the tiger in Elrod’s possession, he may be able to finagle a search warrant. It’s trickier when evidence is gathered by a trespassing civilian, but not impossible.” He pulled up a YouTube channel and turned the laptop toward them. “Walter Elrod is very vocal. He’s posted rants on subjects ranging from gun control to a man’s right to do whatever he wants on his own property. He never admits he hosts canned hunting. The man’s not stupid. But he’s volatile.”
They watched two of his rants—yes, the right word for them. Just like Addie had said, he raged about his rights, and wasn’t this “America and not some Commie country?”
Chase closed his laptop. “That’s what we’re dealing with. He feels justified to protect his rights. And he has the means to do it, which ties in to those rights—bearing arms and hunting.”
“And he has cages to hold animals,” Addie said.
Chase stood. “We need to proceed with caution.”
When they all headed back downstairs, Addie paused as she took in the range. Then she turned to Risk. “Could you teach me to shoot?”
The request startled him for more than one reason. “Absolutely. It’d be a good idea to know how to use a gun. To carry one.”
“Yeah, that’s what Chase said, too. And he’s right. You’re both right.”
Oddly, it wasn’t fear that he saw in her eyes. No, determination gleamed in those blue depths, and hell, he’d give her anything she wanted, looking at him like that.
Well, except that. Because he’d promised. He’d told himself that he wouldn’t be alone with her where temptation would beckon. He was sure the boys would join them in the range, because if anyone was shooting, they were in. Practicing for them was probably like grabbing a cigarette for smokers. If one was doing it, the others would, too.
But the bastards headed out with Chase, leaving Addie and Risk alone in the cavernous space. Well, wasn’t that sweet of the boys? Not.
Risk went to the cabinet and perused the selection. Chase’s gun cabinets were a wet dream, containing every type of gun, every caliber, even Tasers and a couple of crossbows. “A good gun for you is the .38 Special.” He pulled it off its hook and showed it to her. “This is an LCR, which stands for lightweight compact revolver. That makes it a good gun for a woman’s smaller hands, as well as a good conceal gun. It’s a double-action, which means that pulling the trigger cocks and shoots it. Tell me how it feels.” He held it out to her. “The gun is unloaded.”
Wild on You Page 19