by Cara North
She hadn’t planned to dump all of that, but it was out now.
“Your dad knows Steven?” he asked and the way his brows shifted made her blood turn to ice in her veins. A feeling of uncertainty, suspicion, and something else settled into her bones. Of course, he noticed. “What is it?”
“Yeah. He knows him…sort of. I don’t really know how they know each other. Steven isn’t military; he’s a lawyer of some kind, maybe...I’m not actually sure.” She frowned in thought. She didn’t really know what he did for a living because he always turned it around to talk about her, what she did, how her day was and since her life was the last thing any other man had wanted to talk about it was easy to forget about his job. “This…no. I’m not doing this. I’m leaving.”
“You can’t leave.”
“Watch me.” She got up and went to the door a little upset he wasn’t bothering to get up and follow her to stop her. She tried to unlock it and open the door, but the lock was impossible to move and the handle was useless. “Howard?”
“You can’t leave.” He pushed his plate to the center of the table. “I’m under orders, but not from your dad. He sent me to keep you safe, but he didn’t tell me what from or why. He said to keep you here and off the grid by any means necessary and both your father and my employer believe that is the best idea for now.”
“I’m sure that didn’t involve making me your hostage.” She crossed her arms and looked at him.
“You want me to tie you up? Is that what you’re asking for? I have enough rope to do it.” He was still sitting in the chair and whether his calm was an act or real, she couldn’t tell because he was too far away for her to read his face.
It took her much longer than she would like to respond. She had never been tied up before, but all she could think about was him, doing just that, and the images, the thoughts, the desire it evoked shocked her. She stomped to the table, picked up his plate and rolled several potatoes onto hers, put his down, picked hers up. “You…you just…you!”
She stalked off to her bedroom with the sound of his chuckle at her back.
In the bedroom, she ate in silence, but her mind kept replaying the images the threat had invoked. Trust was a major issue in her life. Mostly because her family was nuts and her father unreliable. Holiday had been amazing as a partner when they were together. He cooked, he did chores, he read while she watched television, and while his focus was his work, when they went to the bedroom he placed that same attention to detail on her body. He practically lived with her until he was given orders to work for her father.
She considered her predicament and reasoned that was his hostage in some ways. She had never been free of him. Even when she met Steven, she compared everything about them. The more she thought about it, the more disappointed with herself and Steven she became. Maybe the reason she couldn’t read Steven is because she didn’t really know him. Everything was picture perfect. He was too perfect, like he knew everything she wanted from a man.
Sex with Steven, the one time they had it, was…okay. Nothing spectacular, which surprised her because a man as unselfish as he was outside of the bedroom had turned into a single-minded, self-pleasure seeking male the moment she consented. It was over before she began. She had initiated it because he never tried to and she felt as though five years was long enough, she needed to have sex with someone. He never pressed her for another round and she didn’t offer again. All of this made the man less appealing and more suspicious now. Had he even wanted her to begin with? Who was he?
She considered the man she shared this cabin with. In a lot of ways Holiday had been single minded in his objectives, but he was at his best when his mission was to please her in her bedroom, or the car, or the movie theatre, or…she sighed heavily and got up from the desk. She put on her pajamas before taking the plate back to the kitchen.
He had already cleaned it up and put the leftover pot roast in the refrigerator. She looked at the contents in the ice box and contemplated making some hot chocolate.
Hot chocolate just brought back a fresh wave of memories. They had six months together before he was assigned the new location that landed him in her father’s chain of command. She thought he was going to propose, but within three weeks he broke up with her.
“Are you getting something out of there or just wasting electricity?” Holiday’s voice startled her. She closed the refrigerator door and turned to look at him. He was in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. Bare feet made her think of bare everything and the next thing she knew she was closing the door and the distance between them.
He was stunned, she could tell because he took two steps backward before his arm wrapped around her and his hand settled on the small of her back. She continued her assault on his lips until he relented and began to kiss her back. The relief of his surrender made her body heat up and her hands bolder. She slid her hand up the back of his neck and into his hair. It was still short, but not in the same way he used to keep it.
She pulled back and looked at him with a new sense of realization. “You said current employer.”
“I’m out.” He studied her face, let his grip loosen and stepped back once more without her attached to him this time.
“When?” She was trying to process it all. Her father being in trouble, up to something, into something was not a surprise to her. Holiday, on the other hand, was shocking. “What happened?”
He stepped sideways around her and then went to the living room area and the couch where he took a seat. She followed and sat next to him. He shrugged his left shoulder. “I decided that I wanted more than the military. I didn’t want to turn into your father. I want to be a father. I want a family. I’ve never really had one, you know that.”
“So you get a job doing this?” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine a woman thinking it would be okay for you to spend two weeks in a cabin with me.”
“I hadn’t considered that. Honestly, I just wanted to be a part of the Omega Team. I wasn’t planning to do one-on-one security, more along the lines of tech.” He looked away from her and at the fireplace. The cabin had central heat and air, so it was more decorative than functional. “You still working for that same contractor?”
“They just lost the renewal, so as of the end of November, no. Lately, I’ve actually been looking for jobs that have nothing to do with the military. I’ve been doing some consulting on the side, but nothing permanent or stable.” She relaxed against the sofa and stared at the pretty flames of the electric fireplace. “I might start teaching in January. The principle at the high school thought I would make a great math teacher and he said he could give me time to get the tests and certifications through some program the state offers. I was hoping to put together some lesson plans over this break. He has a teacher about to go on maternity leave so it’s just a matter of timing.”
“Sounds like you’re on your way to having everything you want.” He tilted his head, looked at his wrist, and then held up a hand to her while putting a finger up to his lips in a shushing motion.
Phoebe could feel every muscle in her body tighten and fear surged through her as she followed him, wordlessly to her bedroom where he shut the door and left her there alone. She couldn’t hear him.
“It’s okay, Phoebe. Just a family of deer passing through.” He opened the door.
She was a nervous wreck. “A family of deer? Are you kidding me?”
“I knew the sensor was tripped, I couldn’t see what it was on my watch.” Then he realized she was freaking out. He moved in to hug her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. We need to come up with a system here.”
“How about our system is you don’t leave me like that again, ever.” She gripped him tight and fought back the tears threatening to spill over. “I’m never going to get to sleep now.”
“Hey, sure you will. I’ll go make some tea and then I’ll tuck you in, read you a bedtime story. It will be like old times.” He placed a kiss on her forehead.
&
nbsp; “In old times you didn’t sleep in the room next door.” She sniffed. He gulped. He nodded. “So you’ll stay with me?”
He nodded again.
“Okay.”
Chapter 3
Howard waited until she was asleep before he let himself relax enough to close his own eyes. She had a boyfriend. She kissed him like she owned him and yet she had a boyfriend. She was going to be a teacher. Something seemed off about the company she had worked for losing that contract. They had it for a long time. It was one of the reasons she took the job all those years ago. He sent a message to Athena, one of the owners and his main point of contact for this mission, asking if she could check it out. Something didn’t seem right. He also sent info about Steven the lawyer. He didn’t have a last name, but she likely didn’t need one.
Phoebe reached out in her sleep and placed her hand on his chest. He was glad for the t-shirt barrier. She pulled and adjusted until he was settled closer to the center of the bed and her nose was pressed into his side. It was both familiar and infuriating. Did she sleep with every man this way? The thought of her with someone else, cuddled up in bed, made him so angry that he rolled to his side and shifted away from her. He’d stay in the same bed, but he would be damned if he was going to let her use him.
By the time his watch vibrated and his eyes opened, he realized how futile that attempt at showing her he no longer needed to be next to her was. He was on his side, facing her, and she was wrapped up in his arms with her legs tangled with his and her nose pressed to his neck. He shifted abruptly and removed himself from her grasp and her bed.
A sleepy Phoebe asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Fine.” He marched out and didn’t bother to look at her. He couldn’t. He would have been lured back into the siren’s trap.
He checked his messages and groaned. Could it get any worse? The fact that he might have to stay here until New Year was too much to process, so he wouldn’t tell her, and he would just focus on the here and now. The good news was that they were not on anyone’s radar, but he didn’t really believe that. He couldn’t tell if his distrust for this other guy stemmed from the fact that he still had a case of the feels where Phoebe was concerned or if it was because there was something off about a man that wouldn’t split holidays between families, especially if that guy knew her dad was known to flake on her.
He secured his gear and headed to the kitchen area. The cabin was a nice, secluded chalet and they could actually go snowboarding or skiing, or whatever she may want to do if it kept her mind off the fact that she was not going anywhere else or without him.
A cup of hot coffee in his hand, he watched a sleepy Phoebe in soft, pink pajamas wander out to greet him. She stretched causing the hem of the shirt to lift enough for him to catch sight of a sliver of skin and he frowned. He hated that just a glimpse could make him ache, but it did. She let out a breath and said, “Hey.”
He sipped the drink and replied, “Mornin’.”
She looked out the window and gasped. “Oh my God! Are we snowed in?”
“Depends. If you want to leave in a vehicle, yes. On foot, no. We could snowboard or ski, but we aren’t getting back to the town anytime soon, that’s for sure.” He watched her take in the beautiful scene outside the cabin.
“I’m not really interested in breaking my leg if I can’t get to a hospital. Maybe we can do something else. I could actually do some work if you could get the internet working.” It sounded like a plea then looked like one when she turned to face him and added, “Please. I know you can make it work if you want to. You are the tech genius, the patent king, remember? I’m surprised the military let you go without trying to detain you somewhere.”
“I did most of that on the side, remember? I’m the author of programs and I use a pseudonym except for the finances.” She had suggested that to prevent the military or anyone else trapping him. His programs were for more personal use except for the big one, the one that took forever to create and it was snatched up by the government quickly at a nice price so he felt better about taking his leave from the military to pursue other ventures in life. He wasn’t going to tell her that. Since he was the reason the internet was broken in the first place, he knew it was true, he could fix it, but he wouldn’t. “Sorry, Bee, I have skills, but I’m no match for Father Winter or the faulty wiring in this place and my gear is run on a satellite, so…”
He made sure not to look at her while he told this partial lie. She fixed her coffee and puffed out a frustrated sigh so audible he knew she was trying to get his attention. He obliged, “Hungry?”
“Yeah, what are you making?” She sounded so hopeful.
“I made dinner last night. I thought you would make breakfast.” He was her guardian not her personal chef. Phoebe was a terrible cook, so he picked up most of that responsibility in their relationship. They were not in a relationship right now.
“I’ll just stick with the coffee.” She lifted her cup to him and went to the living room space. “I guess the television doesn’t work either?”
“There are a ton of movies in the cabinet.” He wasn’t going to survive on coffee alone, so he opened the fridge and surveyed it for breakfast material. He could just eat oatmeal, but he wanted to save that in case they were going to be here longer than just the two weeks planned.
He had the bread in the toaster and two eggs in a skillet when she turned on the television and loaded in Die Hard. He laughed. She looked at him, at the stove, and he knew she had duped him. “What do you want?”
She smiled that smile he swore she only gave to him. “You called me Bee earlier.”
He let out the audible frustrated breath this time. “Slipped.”
“I’m glad you did…Holiday.” She licked her lips. This was going to be a long two weeks and he was not sure he would survive it. “I’ll have what you’re having.”
He could only hope she was having heart wrenching pains that brought up old memories and new desires. He moved the eggs to a plate and briefly stole a look her direction. She was checking him out. He smiled. Maybe she was. Maybe Steven wasn’t a fixture in her life after all.
Chapter 4
Phoebe snuggled up against his back and put her arm around him. Aside from the kiss she practically forced onto him, they hadn’t been sexual with one another. The long days turned into long nights. He checked his watch, he checked his room, he walked the perimeter, and they discussed evacuation plans at least once each day. It was a strange sort of comfort they had settled into, and she was growing wary along with worried. They hadn’t heard anything about her father. While she understood this was because he was likely actually at risk, whereas she was simply stuck in a cabin with the hottest, most tactically trained babysitter on the planet.
This was simply a nap. One she had convinced him she needed. Then she used his protective streak against him by pretending to have bad dreams if he wasn’t there next to her. She wasn’t worried at all about any of this. Whatever her father was into had nothing to do with her. She inhaled the clean, warm male scent of him and let her fingers ghost across the soft fabric of his shirt, sensing the outline of his abs.
He was fully dressed and that was suddenly a problem for her. This was Holiday. Howard Holiday, a man she once loved, still loved, if she was being honest. It was the day before Christmas and she was starting to feel like he was her gift, more than her guardian. Would it hurt to peek under the wrapping, just a little?
Putting a slight bit more pressure on the shirt, she tugged and worked until her fingers felt warm flesh, the coarse hair just below his navel. She was aware this was inappropriate for a client-worker relationship, but the past few days they were back on friendly terms, talking like it was old times, laughing, playing games, by all accounts on her end falling back into love with one another.
The tip of her index finger slid lower, touched the elastic band of his underwear and the hard fabric of the jeans covering them. She pressed her entire body as close to his as
she could, tried not to moan as she bit her lower lip. Her eyes closed tight, she was lost in her own little fantasy when a firm hand covered hers and pulled it away.
He turned, abruptly leaving her to find balance and settle next to him on the bed. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to find his brows drawn down in a scowl. His words were even more tight and angry. “What are doing?”
Her heart punched to her throat. Had she been misreading his emotions all this time? She gulped and admitted, “I was hoping you would like to wake up to me touching you. You used to like to wake up to me…”
“When you were mine. You’re…Steven’s.” He rolled out of the bed and stood with a stretch.
“I am not Steven’s anything.” She was lying to both of them and he scoffed.
“Does he know that? Huh, Bee? I can’t pretend not to care about you or not to feel…when I’m around you, but I’m not the guy to have an affair with and we both know that. I’m here, on this mission, and the sooner it is over the better because this mission is starting to fuck with my resolve, my sense of duty, my personal honor.”
“I’m not with him. We were dating, but we didn’t make any professions of exclusivity much less love or fidelity. I would gladly and easily put your conscience to rest if I could call, e-mail, or text him and tell him to forget about me, but I can’t because we don’t have service here.” She watched him pace back and forth. She was getting through to him a little. She didn’t give a shit about Steven. He had been a nice distraction, but she didn’t care for him, not like she cared for Holiday. “So his exit, while inevitable with or without any progress between us…”