by Paige Tyler
“No,” Alina insisted. “Trevor got a little nicked up while we were working tonight, and I was applying some first aid.”
“Uh-huh,” Kathy said, giving her a knowing look.
That was when Alina realized her hand was still resting casually—even possessively—against Trevor’s chest. Refusing to let her friend see her squirm, she slowly took her hand away from all that muscle.
“You two have obviously figured this part out, but to make it official, Kathy, this is my new partner, Trevor Maxwell. Trevor, this is my best friend, neighbor, and long-term dog sitter, Kathy McGee.”
“That’s Kathy with a K,” her friend said, not even trying to hide the fact that she was blatantly ogling his naked upper body as she stepped forward to shake his hand. “It’s so nice to meet you finally. I’ve heard a lot about you. Though I must admit, in the stories Alina told me, you were fully clothed.”
“Kathy!” Alina said. “Are you trying to embarrass me to death in front of my partner?”
Her friend held up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m just having a little fun. Sheesh. Remember, I work from home, so I don’t get a chance to see half-dressed men that often.”
Alina wanted to ask if that disappointing fact included Kathy’s boyfriend, Armen, but decided not to go there. Kathy very well might tell them more than they really wanted to know.
Silence descended over the crowded kitchen, and for a moment, Alina was worried Kathy might open her unfiltered mouth and say something else completely inappropriate. Fortunately, Molly chose that moment to point out that no one had bothered to introduce her to the new man in the room, so she walked up and wedged herself firmly in between Alina and Trevor, looking at him with her head tilted sideways in obvious confusion.
“This is Molly,” Alina said. “She’s my fur baby, though she spends most of her time with Kathy.”
As Trevor squatted down to ruffle her dog’s ears, Alina wondered if Molly had somehow picked up on the fact that there was something different about him…that he was a shifter. It definitely seemed like it. Molly sniffed Trevor’s hands like crazy in between regarding him with a clearly baffled expression, as if her nose and eyes were telling her two different things.
Regardless of Molly’s confusion, it was safe to say she was captivated by Trevor. Even after he stopped petting her and stood up to slip back into his suit jacket, Molly sat there in front of him, her tongue hanging out in joy and her tail wagging a hundred miles an hour.
I feel you, Molly. There’s definitely something about him that really gets to you, isn’t there?
Alina caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Kathy wander over to take a look at the first aid kit still on the kitchen table. Fortunately, the last towel she’d tossed in the trash had been relatively blood-free and covered up the worst of the mess in there. Kathy would lose her mind if she saw all that blood.
“I’ve heard rumors about the federal government running on a tight budget these days, but don’t tell me they expect you two to provide your own medical care?” Kathy asked.
Trevor chuckled. “No. I could have gone to the hospital, but the paperwork would have been horrendous. I didn’t want to deal with it, since it was a little scratch. I was going to ignore it, but Alina wanted to bandage it up.”
Kathy laughed. “Well, at least she’s getting some use out of the kitchen. It’s not like she cooks in here.”
“That’s not true!” Alina protested. “I cook.”
“I’m not talking about the kind of cooking I just walked in on,” Kathy said. “I meant the kind with food, pots, and pans. And before you say it, poking the buttons on the microwave doesn’t count.”
Alina’s mouth fell open, not sure if she was more offended by Kathy’s sly sexual innuendo or the fact that her best friend had just outed her complete lack of cooking skills. She was about to blast Kathy with a snappy comeback—as soon as she came up with one—only to be interrupted by her partner.
“So, Kathy, you take care of Alina’s dog every day, even when she’s traveling? How do you pull that off and work too?”
Kathy smiled. “I work from home, so it’s not a big deal.”
When Trevor returned her smile with one of those roguish grins of his, Alina thought her friend might melt right there on the spot.
“Do you telecommute or own your own business?” he asked.
“Kathy owns her own business,” Alina answered quickly. Her friend didn’t like to talk about how she made a living. “She sells socks on the Internet.”
Trevor looked back and forth from her to Kathy and back again, as if he expected one of them to start laughing and say, just kidding. When neither of them did, he turned to Kathy.
“Socks…seriously?”
“Yes. I sell socks on the Internet,” Kathy admitted, slightly indignant, before turning to shoot Alina a vindictive glare. “And I’ll have you know that I sell a lot of them, thank you very much.”
Trevor glanced at Alina, who shrugged. “I have to admit, she’s right about that. As crazy as it sounds, she makes a buttload of money selling socks.”
“So how exactly does one get into the sock business?” he asked Kathy, his face completely serious. Which was a good thing, since Kathy could get rather irate if she thought people were ragging on her chosen line of work.
“Purely by accident,” Kathy explained. “A couple of years ago, I went to this outlet center down near Potomac Mills specifically to buy these thick, warm socks that I loved. They were cozy to wear around the house or in bed but were also perfect with the shoes I wear. I’d go through a dozen pairs a year, I wore them so much.”
Trevor frowned in confusion. “Okay, not seeing the start of a thriving new business yet.”
Kathy held up a finger. “I’m getting there.”
He leaned back against the kitchen counter, a move that only served to tighten his abs and make him look more delicious than ever. And yeah, Kathy noticed. She almost lost her place in the story as her gaze was drawn to that rippling display of muscles just above Trevor’s belt.
What was it about tight abs that did it for almost every woman on the planet?
“So,” Kathy continued, “I go to this outlet store I’d been going to three or four times a year only to find out they no longer sold my favorite socks. I completely freaked! And I wasn’t the only one. There were three other women there who were as upset as I was. But the manager of the store said the company discontinued the entire line and told me there was nothing she could do about it.”
“That must have been traumatic,” Trevor said, still somehow managing to keep a straight face.
“It was,” Kathy agreed, apparently not noticing how hard Trevor was fighting to keep from grinning.
“So I came home and ended up finding the socks I liked online being made overseas. The only problem was that I had to buy in bulk—a hundred pairs. I was desperate, so I bought them, figuring I could sell some of the extras to other people I knew who loved the socks as much as I did. Those friends and acquaintances ended up buying every single pair I’d ordered before they even arrived. So I ordered more, and people bought those, too. The next thing I know, I’m quitting my day job so I can stay home and sell socks on the Internet.” She smiled. “Honestly, I couldn’t do any of it without my boyfriend, Armen. He’s the one who makes most of the deliveries to UPS.”
“He drives a minivan,” Alina pointed out, not because she thought Trevor would be interested in that fact, but because she liked to tease her friend about it.
“What’s wrong with minivans?” Kathy demanded.
“Nothing at all,” Alina said before turning to Trevor with a mock whisper behind her hand. “She won’t admit it, but I think Kathy has a thing for guys who drive minivans.”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah. Minivans really get me going. And guys who drive min
ivans? You just can’t get any hotter than that.”
They all laughed at that, then talked a little more about minivans, socks, and working from home before Kathy announced she needed to head back to her place and get some work done before she went to bed.
“Besides,” she added with a smile, “I’m sure you two would probably rather get back to what you were doing before I interrupted.”
Alina laughed, but now that she thought about it, having Trevor all to herself again might be fun.
“See you in the morning,” Alina said to her friend as she held the door open for her. “I’ll drop Molly off at the normal time.”
“Really?” Kathy whispered as she stood in there in the doorway, glancing at Trevor, who was still in the living room playing with Molly. “Any chance you two might, you know, sleep in a little late tomorrow?”
Alina wasn’t sure how to answer, especially considering the fact that Trevor had probably heard every word of it. Finally, she shook her head and went with the safe response, just in case.
“Like I said. Trevor’s my partner. It’s not like that.”
Kathy nodded but didn’t seem convinced. “We’ll see.”
Alina closed the door and turned to find that Molly had hopped up on the couch and assumed her normal comfy position to one side of the cozy sectional. But this time, instead of staring at the TV waiting for Alina to turn it on, her fur baby was staring intently at both of them, apparently waiting to see what was going to happen next. Alina had to admit, she was curious about that, too.
Trevor walked over to meet her as she crossed the living room, and for a second, she thought her partner was going to sweep her into his arms. But instead, he stopped a few paces short and nodded toward the door.
“I should be going, too. I have to get up early to make it up here in time to pick you up and get us to work on time.”
She was confused for a moment, not sure what he meant by that. Then she remembered her car was still down at the DCO training complex in Quantico, nearly an hour away. Crap, she’d completely forgotten that.
“You sure you don’t might driving up here to pick me up in the morning?” she asked. “The traffic coming north will suck if you’re not here early.”
He grinned and took a step closer, and suddenly, the possibility of a kiss coming her way was back on the menu.
“I don’t mind,” he said softly. “Something tells me I’m not going to get a lot of sleep tonight anyway.”
Her breath caught at the implication in his words. She guessed he’d been having more than a few unprofessional thoughts of his own this evening. For some insane reason, that made her happy.
She licked her lips, ready for what she was sure was coming next, when Trevor’s damn cell phone rang.
Crap, if they were interrupted one more time, she was going to scream.
Trevor growled as he pulled out his phone. He glanced at the number, frowning as he answered it.
“Hold on a second,” Trevor said. “Alina’s with me. Let me put you on the speaker.”
A moment later, Seth Larson’s voice came over the phone. “You gave me your number and said I should call if I needed to. Well…I needed to.”
“What’s wrong?” Alina asked. “Is Cody okay?”
“Yeah, he’s okay, just a little freaked out. Earlier tonight, some thugs from the DCO came to visit. They were real assholes, asking me all kinds of questions regarding what you and I talked about, what I’d seen that morning, who else I might have talked to.”
“What’d you tell them?” Trevor asked.
“As little as possible. I mentioned you guys thought I might have seen something the morning of the bombing, but I told them I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t even bring up the employee photos you sent to me. I kind of got the feeling you wouldn’t want me to say anything about it.”
“That’s good,” Trevor said. “Did Cody have a problem with them being there?”
On the other end of the line, Seth sighed. “Yeah. They got a little physical with me, and Cody didn’t handle it well. It took two hours to calm him down.”
“I’m sorry, Seth,” Trevor said, his jaw tightening in anger. “I didn’t intend for any of this to come back on you.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be okay. The only thing that bothered me is that they showed up at my place. How did those guys know you’d come to see me?”
Trevor looked at Alina. “I’m not sure, Seth. I guess the information must have fallen into the wrong people’s hands.”
Alina winced. It was obvious Trevor had a good idea where those thugs had gotten their information. She’d told Dick, and Dick had sent some goons down there to check out her story. She hadn’t told Dick anything specific, but it had been enough to put Seth Larson on the man’s radar.
She was angry at herself, but more than anything else, she was disappointed. It sucked knowing she was the reason those men had shown up and scared Cody. And it double sucked that Trevor, a partner she’d been getting closer to by the minute, was looking at her like she’d betrayed him.
“Hey, before you get the impression that it’s all dark clouds and spilt milk,” Seth added in a lighter tone, “I also called you to say I talked to that friend of yours. He lined me up some pretty cool IT work. He’s even going to come in and set up a home office with a secure computer network for me. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal, so I just wanted to say thanks. I really appreciate it.”
Trevor’s mouth edged up. “I’m glad to hear that. If anyone has earned the right for something good to happen in their life, it’s you.”
Seth didn’t think that was true, but he said he wasn’t going to turn down the job offer regardless. “I’m too desperate to stand on principle.”
They talked for another minute or two, then Seth hung up after promising to let them know if anyone else from the DCO showed up. Alina expected Trevor to immediately ask her who the hell she’d told about Seth. He had every right to. She’d screwed up.
But he didn’t say a word. Instead, he gave her a nod and headed for the door, his face an expressionless mask. That was ten times worse than anything he could have said to her.
“See you tomorrow morning?” she asked as he turned the knob.
He hesitated for a moment but didn’t look back at her. “Yeah, I’ll be here.”
Then he was out the door and gone, leaving Alina feeling like ten pounds of crap as she wandered over and collapsed on the couch beside Molly. Her fur baby put her head on Alina’s lap with a sigh, as if she completely understood what Alina was going through.
“What the hell am I going to do, girl?” she whispered. “I was hired to figure out if Trevor was a bad guy, but right now, I’m the only one betraying anybody.”
Molly lifted one brow, then the other, apparently as torn as her human happened to be. Clearly, there wouldn’t be any advice coming from her canine companion.
Alina sat there caressing Molly’s fur and trying to figure out what the heck she was going to do. She’d spent the past three years hating Wade for betraying her team, and yet here she was, doing the same thing. No, she hadn’t gotten anybody killed, but she still felt like crap on a stick.
She was still staring restlessly at the wall when she heard her phone ringing from nearby. It took her a moment to remember she’d tossed her little purse on the couch when she and Trevor had come in. She looked around and realized that Molly was lying on it.
After yanking the purse from under her, Alina dug out her phone, hoping it was Trevor. But it wasn’t her partner. It was Dick.
Alina groaned. She’d completely forgotten Dick said he wanted updates from her every night. Her thumb hovered over the green button, but she just couldn’t tap it. Between kissing Trevor, confirming Thorn’s involvement in the bombing, seeing their witness to that fact die right in front of them, then discovering Di
ck had sent men to harass Seth, there was no way in hell she was going to tell her new boss anything.
She let the call go to voice mail, then stood. She was exhausted and needed to get cleaned up before going to bed. She doubted she’d get much sleep, but she might as well try.
“Come on, Molly. Let’s get ready for bed. If nothing else, at least I can watch you sleep.”
* * *
Tanner wasn’t sure if the preseason football game he was watching on the TV in his DCO dorm room was happening in real time or whether it was a replay. Considering it was nearly one in the morning, it had to be the latter. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t like he was paying attention to the game anyway. As usual, he was thinking about Zarina.
He ran his hand through his mane of dark-blond hair and took another long drink from his fourth bottle of Mountain Dew for the night. While there were no bars on the windows or padlocks on the door of his small efficiency apartment, he was as much a prisoner here as Sage was in her cell. The only difference was that his imprisonment was self-imposed. He could walk away at any time, but for reasons he was only now starting to explore, he stayed here surrounded by people who considered him to be little more than a monster.
At first, he’d told himself it was so he could get a handle on the hybrid rages that happened whenever he got angry. To be truthful, he’d succeeded in that. Until this most recent slipup with Sage, he hadn’t lost it in months. But instead of leaving, he’d convinced himself if he stayed a little longer, Zarina might actually find a way to rid him of his animal side. It was a long shot, but it allowed him to justify staying.
Staring at the TV now, his mind a thousand miles away from the football game, he finally admitted it wasn’t his control issues or the cure for them that kept him here. It was Zarina. And the fact that he loved her so much it hurt.
Tanner took another swig of soda and glanced at the big throw pillow Zarina liked to hug when she curled up on the couch and watched TV with him. While their nightly get-togethers were frequent, no one would call them dates. But he enjoyed the time they spent together, even if all they did was talk about football and why anyone would play a game where the men in the prison-stripe uniforms were throwing their hankies on the ground all the time—Zarina’s words, not his. It was fun and casual and made him feel like he was a normal guy.