Before his mind could throw dismal images into his head he started to make out a small body huddled close to the fire. It had to be Elle. He pushed his exhausted body to move faster to get to her. It cursed at him and threw more aches at him, but he just pushed forward, harder than he ever had in his entire life. He cursed at the snow, since with the snow shoes it was difficult to move any faster than he already was. Nothing was immune to his cursing as he trudged through until he could clearly see the beautiful blond haired creature was curled up by the fire.
When he got to her he turned her over, removed his glove from his hand and put it under her nose. He felt her breath come out and he finally let out a sigh of relief. He pulled his walkie talkie and radioed in that he was on his way back with her. He didn't even wait for a response. He looped one arm under her to lift her. She felt like she weighed a ton, but he knew it was because of his injuries that she felt so heavy. Her arm hit one of his wounds and he bit his lower lip.
She stirred a little and opened her eyes. She looked up at him. "I knew you would find me."
As weak and in pain as he was, he plastered on his famous smile. "Nothing could ever stop me from finding you, Angel." He adjusted her in his arms to relieve the pressure on one of his wounds. As much as he hurt, he felt even better to have her in his arms. He moved as quickly as he could. He had to get her back to Evan as soon as possible. With Evan's healing power, he could help a lot more than anyone else could with any first aid pack. That was his main thought as he slowly trudged back towards the group.
Chapter 5
"Aunt Helen, I'm really not hungry," Elle whined when Helen Stevens left a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup on the coffee table.
"It's soup, honey, just sip it. You need to keep warm."
"I'm already sitting by the fireplace. I don't think I can get warmer."
Helen patted her blanket-covered shoulder. "Good. You stay put."
Elle looked at the flames dancing on the log in the hearth. "I won't argue with that."
Helen walked out of the room and Elle sighed. It felt so good to be warm again. She still had no idea how long she was out there. Thankfully, Evan was with the team and he was able to heal her frostbitten body. It really was by a stroke of luck that they found her. She wasn't going to go to sleep anymore without having her cell phone in her pocket. And she'd sleep with shoes on, too. She’d really had no idea how awful it was to have frostbitten feet and hands. When the memory of the ordeal came back to her she pushed it away with a shudder. There was no way she wanted to experience that again.
She stared into the dancing flames. The colors were so warm and inviting, just like Tiny's embrace. She pulled the blanket tighter around her body and smiled. When she’d first opened her eyes she seen Tiny look like he was ready to maul something when he saw the condition she was in. Those blue eyes turned to solid ice as he scooped down and picked her up. Even in her semiconscious state she knew that he was still healing and she tried not to bump into his wounds, which was difficult.
"You're looking better." Elle turned around and saw her knight in shining flannel enter the room. He looked freshly showered and his damp blond hair was slicked back. She licked her lips.
"I never got a chance to say thank you," she said as she pulled the blanket higher around her neck to keep warm. "If you hadn't helped I might not have been found in time." She pushed the dismal thought away.
Tiny's lips curled up in a smile. "I would have found you one way or another, Angel. You can't run and hide from me anymore."
He never quits. Elle smiled back at him, enjoying the banter. "You're a hard guy to get rid of."
Tiny placed his hands over his heart in a gesture of being torn. "Why would you want to get rid of me? I can come in real handy in many ways."
She glanced down at his crotch and felt herself blush. Why was she surprised? This was Tiny. The one kiss they shared could have made him believe there could be something more between them. She knew about his past of one night stands and no commitments. It wasn't what she was looking for. She wanted a long-term relationship with someone, and that someone was not Tiny.
"Tiny, I appreciate what you did for me, but I don't think we really are good fit together."
He slowly walked towards her, his face expressionless. Elle could see he was hiding the pain from his wounds as he walked. "How do you know that? Maybe we really are supposed to be together, but you just haven't given us a chance. Don't tell me you didn't feel anything when we kissed."
She stared into his bright sea blue eyes, ironically similar in color to hers, but they held an edge to them. Yes, she’d felt something in their kiss she never felt with anyone before. It was desire mixed with deep longing and craving of his touch on her body in the most intimate of places. It scared her, so she knew she needed to stay away from him. "I've heard things about you."
Tiny sat down in the recliner across from her and crossed his jean clad legs. Elle tried to stop herself from visually tearing off those jeans. "Sometimes what you hear is over exaggerated. My stories are known for being a bit over-the-top. If you want to know the truth ask the source."
Elle reached over to the coffee table and took the bowl of chicken soup, trying to divert her mind. She lifted the spoon to her lips and took a sip of the delicious warmth. She put the spoon back in the soup. "What I heard doesn't sound exaggerated."
"Really? What did you hear?"
She looked into those crystal blue eyes and wished she had Keith's power of persuasion to get the truth out of him. "I have heard you're not the type of guy that wants a long-term relationship."
Tiny leaned back against the recliner and sighed. "I used to not want to be in relationships but now that's pretty much changed."
Elle's eyebrow rose up. "What's changed?"
Tiny leaned forward. The top of his flannel shirt was unbuttoned and Elle could see he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath. "You." He looked directly into her eyes. "You have made me rethink my life."
Elle tore her gaze away from him, shaking her head. "You may think that now, but later you may change your mind after you get bored. I don't want to be the one holding on to the shattered pieces of my heart."
Tiny clasped his hands together, a serious expression formed on his face, something Elle had never seen before. "I'm hurt. I really want to prove to you that I have changed. Why don't you give me a chance?"
His demeanor surprised her, but it didn't change her opinion. "I've been hurt before, and I really don't want to get hurt again. We really are different people, and I don't think that's going to change."
"Haven't you heard that opposites attract?"
She frowned. He wasn't going to let this go. "When the infatuation and lust dies down, what will be left?"
Tiny looked straight into her eyes. "Hopefully something wonderful. My parents have been together for over 35 years. I'd like to think that I can find that same type of relationship with someone."
"Why haven't you?" Elle asked, her fingers mindlessly rubbed the bottom of the soup bowl. "Why have one night stands and flings when you wanted a relationship?"
His head dropped and his hands ran through his hair. He looked back up at her. "Because I didn't think I'd live long enough."
"What?"
He scratched the back of his head. "I knew I wanted to be in the Marines from the time I was a kid. I also knew that sometimes you didn't come back." He glanced around the room, trying to hide his emotions. "I’ve buried too many fellow Marines who left behind spouses and children. It's devastating to lose someone to battle, but it's more devastating to see how hard it is on the family they left behind."
"But when you came back..."
He looked at the flames in the hearth. "When I got back it was shortly after Keith got injured in battle. I was there when it happened and it shook me pretty bad."
A chill went down her spine as an ugly image of battle flashed before her eyes.
"Some guys hit the bottle after experiencing something l
ike that, others turn to drugs. Me..." He sighed. "I took comfort in the arms of women. Everyone deals with it differently."
Elle stared down at her soup, looking for guidance. "I'm so sorry, Tiny. I didn't know... I didn't think..." She felt so bad for assuming he did it for fun.
"Elle?"
She looked up from the soup bowl. The serious expression on Tiny's face remained. "Can you give me a chance?"
Elle rubbed the bottom of the bowl again. The thought of being in a relationship terrified her. She didn't want to turn into her mother, throwing herself onto any willing partner. But there was no avoiding Tiny. Since everyone had to hide from the Agency they pretty much were all stuck together in the resort. And maybe he really did want to change. What he told her made sense. Still, she didn't want to just jump into bed with him and let these feelings take over her.
"Why don't we stay friends for a while? Let's get to know each other a little more before we decide on what the next step is."
The smile on Tiny's face could not get any bigger. "Seems fair to me. So what do you want to know about the great Tiny?"
Ellie mentally sighed. Maybe as friends Tiny would realize that they were not meant for each other. Then again maybe she would learn they should be together.
Right now she wanted to learn the real stories instead of the fabricated ones that Tiny made up. "I want to know what really happened with Chuck Norris."
Tiny began to laugh. "Why does nobody believe that story?"
"Because it just seems so unbelievable." She wiped her lips with a napkin that was on the side table.
Tiny shook his head. "Okay so here's the Chuck Norris story."
Elle leaned back against the recliner and listened to Tiny tell his big tale. Except this time she hoped she would hear the real story.
Chapter 6
Elle shuffled her way towards the kitchen with her empty bowl. She averted her gaze from the stuffed wildlife hanging on the walls. She only believed in killing an animal and using every part of its body, just like Uncle Kenneth did. Hunting for sporting trophies disgusted her. Still, she couldn't complain about the free lodging.
She turned a corner past the hawk she swore would swoop down one day and peck her head. She shook off the spooky thought and continued down the hallway.
The soup Aunt Helen made was amazing, as usual, and she felt so much better after eating it. She smiled. Tiny's company probably helped, too.
Her mind drifted back to their conversation. There was a small part of her that still couldn't believe Tiny wanted to change and be in a long term relationship, especially with her. And he’d risked his health to go and search for her. He was still recovering from his own injuries, which were healing more slowly than normal. From what Dean and Keith told her Tiny was the strongest out of their whole team and was fiercely proud of what he could do. Now he was weaker than before, and Elle could see that he tried hard to put up a good front.
Was that part of the reason she was attracted to him? There were so many times in her life where she was taunted by guys like Tiny. All they wanted was a one night stand so they could brag about it later. She never gave them that satisfaction. Usually she would go after quiet guys who didn't drink at all. Tiny was the complete opposite. He never stopped talking, especially once he got a beer in his hand. The talking didn't bother her too much, but the drinking did.
After living with her abusive mother who got drunk all the time to make her problems go away, Elle swore she would never drink or marry a man who did. Her Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Helen had a drink on occasion, but they never got abusive towards each other or their children. On the contrary, Uncle Kenneth turned into a laughing hyena and would laugh at anything anyone would say. But not all men were like her uncle Kenneth, and as the years rolled by she started to learn that there weren't any good men, at least not any who would want to take things slowly.
Then came the day Tiny knocked at the door on Christmas Eve and she was the one that opened it. Those clear blue eyes and enchanting smile made her forget how to speak. "Well, hello, Angel. Heaven must be a pretty lonely place without you." It was a cheesy line, but it made her laugh. The instant attraction she felt towards him caught her off guard. It was different from anything she’d ever experienced before. Yes, she’d had a boyfriend in the past, but she’d never felt this way with him. Tiny was that seven layer decadent chocolate cake with chocolate sauce she couldn't have because of the calories, but one taste of him and she would devour him.
That thought brought a rather tempting image of him she needed to shake away. Elle could understand why women flocked to him.
The scent of cinnamon attacked her senses when she walked into the kitchen.
"So, how's Tiny, Elle?" her aunt asked, her lips curled into a mischievous grin.
"He's fine. I thanked him for rescuing me." She opened the dishwasher and placed the bowl inside.
"Really? How did you thank him?" her friend Christina Tensel asked with a smirk while she chewed on a cinnamon roll. Christina was Evan's younger sister who had the gift of invisibility.
"I just said thanks."
"That's it? We see the way he looks at you," Missy Stevens chimed in with a twinkle in her eyes. Missy was Helen's daughter and Elle's close as a sister cousin.
The hot cinnamon rolls called out to her. She grabbed one and bit into the soft goodness. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"Oh, sweetheart. He's completely sweet on you." Helen commented, pulling another tray of baked cinnamon rolls out of the oven. She placed them on the stove and removed her oven mitts.
"That doesn't mean anything. He's totally wrong for me."
"That's what Anne said about Dean a few months ago and now we're going to be aunts!" Missy smiled as she grabbed one of the hot rolls off the pan.
"Yes, but Dean's perfect for her. He's loyal, honest,..."
"Attractive." Christina bit into her roll.
"That he is." Missy agreed.
"Oh, you girls." Helen shook her head, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. "They are not always going to stay attractive. You have to love the person for who they are." She grabbed a metal bowl with some more dough and placed it on the floured wooden board to knead it. "Kenneth was a very attractive man when I met him."
Missy put down the cinnamon roll. "Mom, I really don't need that image in my head."
"Oh honey, really? Do you think you just grew out of a cabbage patch in our yard?"
"Okay, don't need to hear any more. I'm going to take Evan a cinnamon roll." She grabbed her half eaten roll and put it on a plate. She pulled one from the hot pan and plopped it next to hers. As she turned to escape she ran right into Keith Brinks.
"Whoa! Careful with that, Missy. I don't think that Evan would appreciate a flat roll." He smirked.
She playfully smacked his chest. "There's more over there if the rest of you want some." She twisted around him and left the kitchen.
Keith smiled at everyone. "It does smell good." He walked over to the fridge and pulled out some water bottles. "We should be ready for a break in about an hour, Mrs. Stevens."
She stopped pounding the dough and looked at him. "Wonderful, dinner will be ready by then."
Keith looked over at Elle. "How you feeling?"
"Definitely better." She sighed. "I'm worried about Tiny, though. I think his rescuing me took a lot out of him.
"Did he hit on you again?"
Elle's cheeks turned pink.
"He's always been the strong one of the team, that was what he was proud of. It's gone now and it's hard for him to be the weak one. He's using his charms on you to help keep up his ego. He's a good guy, Elle. He knows not to hurt you, because Dean and I will give him hell." He put one of the bottles on the counter. "And if he gets really obnoxious and gets on your nerves just tell me and I'll smack some sense into him."
Elle nodded. "Thanks."
Keith looked over at Helen. "Thanks for making dinner, Mrs. Stevens."
Helen fl
ipped the dough and gave it a resounding smack. "Oh, it's something I enjoy. I'm better at it than painting. Just make sure everyone is here in an hour."
Keith nodded. "Of course." He grabbed the bottles and headed out of the kitchen.
Elle trotted after him. "Keith."
He stopped halfway down the hall and spun around.
Elle glanced behind her to make sure no one could hear her. "How do you deal with guilt?"
His blond eyebrows raised and he gestured her towards the dining room. He set the water bottles on the walnut dining room table and leaned against the chair.
"Elle, are you talking about what you did to Karen?"
Elle sighed and rubbed her arms as she slowly paced the room. "I can't get this feeling to go away. I know she is evil, I know what she did to all of you was wrong and I had to stop her. So why am I feeling this way?"
He ran this fingers through his short blonde hair. "It's who you are Elle. The more I get to know you the more I see that everyone was right. You are a gentle person, Elle. You don't like to fight and you don't like to hurt people. What you did is against your nature. This feeling is going to stay with you for a long time. You need to learn how to deal with it..."
"I don't think I can."
Keith straightened up and shook his head. "It's not going to go away, Elle. You either learn to live with it or channel it some other way."
"Maybe that's why I'm sleep walking again. It's karma. I did something bad to someone and now I have to deal with this."
Keith shook his head again. "I don't think that's karma. I think that has something to do with your power. Don't worry, we'll lock your bedroom door at night and make sure you have your cell phone in your pocket at all times."
Elle bit her lip and stopped pacing. "I feel like I need to do something good in order for this to stop."
A deep laugh emanated from him. "Trust me, dealing with Tiny every day will be enough." He slowly walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I know you feel bad, but if you hadn't done something to her she would have put your family and friends at risk."
Strength of Love Page 3