by Desiree Holt
There wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver, what with traffic in all the lanes. Then a space next to him opened up so he moved quickly into it. He checked in the sideview mirror and noticed the SUV had slowed down a little. When the vehicle behind him moved over in front of it, it slid back to where it had been before, a full car length back but holding steady
“What is it? Something wrong?” Zoe twisted in her seat, trying to get a look at the traffic. “Someone following us?”
“Sit back. I’m not sure, so don’t let anyone see you looking around.” He could do it a lot better than she could without giving himself away. “You happen to know anyone with a green SUV?”
“Uh, not that I can think of. Why?”
Sean stole another quick glance. The vehicle was holding its place.
“There’s one that’s been sort of on our tail since we left that crappy place back there. I thought I saw it go by where we were there, but it was hard to tell with so many cars driving by. But it’s sort of been dogging us since we pulled away. No one you know?”
She shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean anything. If it’s the person trying to scare me off, or someone working with them, they could borrow or rent a car to do it.”
“True. Okay, I’m going to see if I can nudge my way over in front of him. Pull your rearview mirror down and get your camera ready. I noticed Montana cars have license plates both front and back. As soon as I move over and you have a view of the front license plate, take a picture.”
It took some maneuvering, but he gave Zoe credit. She was ready without being obvious, and as soon as he was in place for her to do it she snapped a series of pictures. Sean immediately edged his way back into traffic, pissing off the guy he cut in front of then turning down a side street. The lines of traffic kept moving past him, including the SUV. He wound his way around the area until eventually he came out onto another main street.
“If you go two more blocks and turn at the light,” Zoe said, “you can get back on the highway.”
“Okay.”
“I’m texting both Hank and Alex and sending them the pictures. Doesn’t hurt for them both to research.”
“You have Rossi’s number?”
Now, why the hell did that bother him?
“Of course. I’ve interviewed him for stories before. Crimes in this county that would be of interest in the area. Why?”
He shrugged. “Just wondered. “Okay, keep an eye out for the green SV or any other vehicle that looks like it might be interested in us.”
“Just let me get these pictures off and call Hank.”
Once they were on the highway and he didn’t spot either the SUV or another vehicle that looked suspicious, he glanced over at her.
“Don’t shoot me, but I’m wondering if it’s such a good idea for you to get your car after all. Driving alone to Eagle Rock might not be the best idea right now.”
“But I won’t be alone. You’ll be right behind me. True?”
“Yes. But if someone’s determined—”
“I want my car.” She cut off his words, her voice sharp, and he had a feeling she had her teeth clenched. “My life and my home have been invaded. Someone does not want me to write this book. We had a tail on us on our errand today. I need to have control over something, and my car is it.”
He was smart enough to figure arguing with her would do him no good.
“Fine. But we’ll drive back like our vehicles are hooked together.”
It startled him when she burst out laughing.
“I guess I’m glad you take your protection duties so seriously.”
“Damn straight.”
Barely fifteen minutes passed before Zoe’s phone rang.
“It’s Alex,” she told him. “Hey, Alex, go ahead. I’ve got you on speaker.”
“The plate number comes back to a rental car company in Helena. It’s at the airport, which was probably smart on the part of whoever did this. Easy to get lost in the flood of incoming passengers renting cars, if they time it right.”
“But did they have a name?”
“Someone named Jerry McRae. Ring any bells?”
Sean looked over at Zoe, who was shaking her head.
“No. Not familiar at all.”
“Figures. Whoever did this wouldn’t want an instantly recognizable name. I’m on it.”
“Any word on finding Ronnie Destin?”
“If only. He’s in the wind and I’ve got people looking for him but I have my doubts we’ll find him. For all I know he’s served his usefulness and he’s dead, too. Hank called, and he’s doing his own search, so between the two of us we should have an identification before long.”
“Unless whoever this is has created a fake identity,” Zoe pointed out.
“Always possible,” Alex agreed, “but if that’s the case, this is more than your friend pissing someone off and getting killed for it. And it also means they’ve seen you and Sean together, which is how they identified his truck.”
“Whoever left that mess at my apartment could have hung around to see what happened when I found it, seen Sean’s truck, followed him, and taken it from there.”
“Makes unfortunate sense. Be very careful, you guys.”
“We will,” Zoe promised, and disconnected the call.
Sean let the conversation roll around in his brain for a moment.
“Zoe, was Justine involved in any way with high-profile individuals? Someone at the top of the list in Helena society or business or whatever? It would obviously be a person with mega clout who has a lot to lose.”
“But about what?” she wanted to know. “I looked up all the cases in the public records that the prosecutor’s office was working on at the time. I didn’t find anything that struck a chord unless it was buried under something else.”
“Maybe we could go over them together,” he suggested. “You know more about that stuff than I do, but sometimes an outside look can help.”
“You’d do that?”
“Why not? We’ll be spending a lot of time together and I want to help if I can.” He gave a short chuckle, a rusty sound. “After all, I’m more than just a pretty face.”
Zoe laughed, a musical sound that touched something deep inside him.
“That you are.” She cleared her throat. “I would be very grateful if you could help me. Thank you for offering.”
Her words gave him a warm feeling. There was more here than an intense physical attraction, although that, too, was on a deeper level than he was used to. Zoe was the first person who had crept under the shell he’d erected. He only hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. All he knew was, for the first time since the IED exploded, a very tiny ray of hope wriggled through him.
“Sean? Do you think we could swing by my apartment and get my car? You can follow right on my bumper all the way to the ranch, but I’d feel a lot better if I had access to it.”
“Yeah. I guess. Hank was going to send someone tomorrow for it anyway.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
They rode in silence for a long time. He was sure Zoe’s brain was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out who might be following them. Or who’d had someone follow them. He was busy keeping an eye on the road, harder now that it was getting darker, so he was startled when Zoe spoke.
“Tell me about yourself, Sean. I don’t know anything about you except—”
“Except I’m a former SEAL, with not too many social graces and a bunch of scars which you’ve politely ignored asking questions about.”
He heard her sharp intake of breath and wanted to kick himself. Yeah, his social graces were definitely under water.
“Sean. I—”
“Stop. My bad. I told you I’m not much good in polite company. I forgot to tell you I also major in self-pity lately.”
When she didn’t say a word, he thought, Well, fucked that up pretty good. We ought to have a wonderful time being joined at the hip.
“Shut up.” She
snapped the words.
He tightened his hands on the wheel. Shut up?
“We don’t have time for your self-pity. Not if you’re supposed to be protecting me.” She paused. “But I would like to know what happened. I mean, if you feel okay about telling me.” She rested her hand on his forearm. “I’m not curious, Sean, I’m interested. Really interested.”
“Interested?’ Damn. He sounded like a goddamn parrot.
“I mean, I want to know…about you.” Her voice now was soft, like a fleece cloth.
“Okay.” He blew out a breath. “There’s not much to tell, but—”
“Oh, I think there’s a lot more than you want people to see. And I really want to know what it is.”
He thought for a moment, figuring out the best way to explain things to her. He shouldn’t have a problem. God knew he’d relived what happened ten million times and then some.
“If you’d rather not,” she said when he didn’t say anything more, “that’s okay. It’s really none of my business, I guess. I—I’m interested, Sean. In you, as a person.”
And how long had it been since that happened? Except, of course, for his cousin Hank who had dragged him out of the pit of despair and self-pity.
“It’s fine,” he said at last. “I was just figuring out where to start. It happened on our last mission together. Our mission was to rescue some hostages being held in a terrorist camp. But our intel was wrong and sent us down the wrong road. Some carefully planted IEDs took out everyone on my team except for me and one other guy.”
“Oh, Sean.” She gave his forearm a gentle squeeze.
“It was bad. My other team member who lived lost one of his legs and an eye. I considered myself lucky I only got cut up the way I did.”
“That’s a lot more than cut up,” she pointed out. “I can’t imagine the pain you went through. And the agony of what had to be months of rehab. But at least you’re alive.”
There was more he could tell her, but he wasn’t sure she could handle it. Nor did he think he was ready for the retelling in all its gory detail.
He grunted. “Sometimes that’s more of a curse than a blessing. You’re damn lucky I didn’t have one of my nightmares last night. You would have run out of the room screaming.”
“I doubt that. It takes a lot to scare me off.” She paused. “I’ve read stories about this, stories that shocked me to the core. And about dealing with PTSD. Nightmares. Flashbacks. All that.”
“All true.” And all still alive in his nightmares. It had occurred to him this morning that while Zoe had spent the entire night, something he never let women do, he hadn’t had a nightmare to scare the shit out of both of them. That must mean something, right?
“Didn’t you get therapy for it?” Zoe wanted to know. Her tone of voice was concerned, not probing as so many others were.
“Oh yeah.” He snorted. “Therapy. It takes more than an hour here and there to get those images and sounds out of your head. After a while, I couldn’t deal with the sessions, either. You might not think you’ve got such a bargain here.”
“I think that’s for me to decide. And you tell me as much or as little as you want.”
He might have said more, but they had come to the Bozeman exit that led to her apartment.
“Maybe later. Let’s get your car and then some dinner. That sound good to you?”
“Sure. I’m not that hungry but I know I need to eat.”
“All of this has to be an appetite killer.” He turned into her apartment complex.
“Sort of. Listen, I want to go into my apartment for a few minutes first, if that’s okay with you. There’s a few things I forgot to pack.”
“Sure.”
He guessed they weren’t on any timetable.
“I’m going to pull around to the back where your car is. Even if I can’t park right next to it I can keep an eye out while you get into it and back it out.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
Chapter 7
They made it into the complex and the apartment itself without any disruptions. No one was hiding between vehicles, and no cars had trailed them into the complex. He watched carefully as he followed Zoe up the stairs to her front door then inside. She hadn’t left a light on, making it hard to see in the dark. He was right on her heels, so when she stopped to leave her purse on the little table by the door, her body bumped up against his. He felt the firm yet soft mounds of her breasts as they pressed into his chest, her body molding to his. She clutched his upper arms to steady herself and, when she looked up at him, he saw so much swirling in her eyes. Not pity. Thank god for that. He hadn’t known what to expect after he spilled his guts, and he could not have handled pity.
No, what he saw was heat, although sparked with questions. The atmosphere between them was charged, crackling with sexual tension. Last night she’d been a convenient body to have wild sex with. The light had been almost nonexistent, a cheap motel lamp Tonight everything between them had changed. He wanted the light on. Wanted to see her face. Enjoy her pleasure. Pleasure he was eager to give her.
He felt as if this morning, when they had shockingly faced each other here in this apartment, his life had been turned upside down. That’s what had made him open up to her the way he had, something he never did. Made him tell her he wanted to see what this thing between them was, even though it was less than twenty-four hours old. Maybe this was his one chance to try to put his life back together. His phone call with Hank had happened at the right time, and Zoe walking into his life at Red’s had been a signal. He was going to take the chance.
“It’s all up to you.” His voice had a rough edge to it. “I didn’t come upstairs here with you for this, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking about it all day.”
“Me, too,” she whispered. “Damn, Sean. One night that neither of us expected, and look at us.”
He barked an edgy laugh. “I think I expected it less than you. I’m hardly a prize package these days, and I’d bet money you can have your choice of anyone you want.”
Her laugh didn’t hold much humor, either.
“Sometime I’ll tell you why that’s a joke. But I’m not laughing now. And this is anything but funny.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip, and his cock immediately tried to push its way out of his fly. “But it can be fun.”
“Just so you know, I’m trying to be on my best behavior.
“Maybe I don’t want you to.”
She licked her lip again, and his balls developed a sudden ache.
“Zoe.”
“We said last night was good,” she reminded him. “And that we’d see where it was going. Well, here we are alone. A good place to find out.” Then, suddenly, she stiffened and tried to take a step back. “Maybe you’ve changed your mind.”
“Hell, no.”
She pressed up against him again, thrust her fingers in his hair and pressed her mouth to his. Licked his lips. Heat that had been roiling inside him since this morning, surged again.
“Are you asking me if I want this,” he growled in a rough voice, “or asking yourself?”
“Neither. I think we know the answer.”
He looked for signs of hesitation, but he didn’t find any. All he saw was answering need flaring in her eyes.
He cupped her face in his palms and took her mouth in a greedy kiss, his tongue thrusting inside and licking every inch of the surface of tender skin. She was right there with him. Giving back as good as she got, dueling her tongue with his, scraping it gently with her teeth. Every touch sent messages straight to his dick, which was already hard enough to pound stone.
Impatient for more, he swept her up in his arms and carried her into her bedroom, pausing long enough to switch on the bedside lamp.
“Tonight, I want to see every inch of you.”
“Same goes,” she breathed. He stood her on the floor next to the bed and cradled her face in his hands, loving the heat in her eyes and the flush of passion that turned
her cheeks rosy. With hands that trembled slightly, he released her ponytail and sifted the silky hair through his fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined her bent over him, her mouth on his cock, her hair brushing his stomach.
Shit!
He was so hard already, if he didn’t get control of himself the party would be over before he had a chance to enjoy it.
He dragged her T-shirt over her head and tossed it to the side, taking a moment to stare at her rounded breasts nestling the lace-and-satin cups of her bra. He remembered with unbelievable clarity how the weight of them felt in his palms and how he’d loved squeezing them as he tongued her nipples. The fabric was sheer enough to see those rosy nipples that he’d loved rolling around in his mouth., He bent now and took one between his lips, fabric and all, and sucked. Jesus! It was like drawing on the sweetest bits of candy. When he felt it harden he moved to the other one, cupping her breasts and kneading them gently. A soft little moan vibrated up from her throat, making his pleasure that much more intense.
He was going to do his damnedest to take his time with her. Last night their first coupling had been intense and fast, as if they couldn’t wait one second to reach orgasm. After that they had slowed down, but he knew he had still rushed it, afraid she might decide to leave before he had taken as much pleasure as he could. Tonight was going to be her pleasure, if he had to kill himself holding back.
Reaching behind her, he unfastened the bra, drew the straps down her arms so he could toss it to the side, and gave each naked nipple a swipe with his tongue. Next came the snap on her jeans and the zipper. He was aware she’d kicked off her shoes so he could pull the denim down her legs to her ankles. He took a moment to yank her comforter and top sheet back before he sat her on the edge of the bed and disposed of the jeans.
Then he knelt between her thighs. Pressing his face at their juncture. he inhaled her essence. God, she smelled so incredible. For a moment he was afraid he’d come in his jeans. Where the fucking hell was his self-control when he needed it? Apparently, with this woman, it was trying to take a vacation.