by Lea Hart
“What do you mean personal?”
“I’ll let you see in a couple of minutes. I want the techs to finish up first.”
“Did he touch my pink couch?”
Mike gave her a funny glance. “No, your couch seems untouched.”
Chris looked down at her. “Why do you think he would touch your couch?”
“He hated it and made fun of it whenever he came over. I should’ve known then that it was going to be a disaster. A man who doesn’t like your couch clearly doesn’t deserve a place in your life.”
The techs came out, spoke with Mike briefly, then gave them the clear to enter.
Letting out a deep breath, Rachel stepped into her once-beautiful condo and dreaded what she was about to see.
The living room appeared okay. None of the furniture seemed to have been touched. She glanced over to her bookcases and noticed that most of the books were on the floor. Many had been destroyed by a knife. “He hated that I read so much. I think it made him feel insecure.”
She turned toward the kitchen and noticed that all her cloth napkins were cut up and her glasses were in shards on the kitchen floor. “I made him dinner once, and he made fun of the way I set the table. He tried to tell me that no one used cloth napkins and nice dishes.”
Chris studied her as she tonelessly described what she was seeing. It was as if she was removing herself from the situation as a way to handle it. Like a reporter describing the facts. When she turned toward her bedroom, somewhere in his gut he knew it was going to be the worst.
“Son of a biscuit-eater.” She stood in the doorway and stared at the destruction that Dean had created. Her bed was slashed, and her beautiful room had been destroyed. The detective had been right. She stepped into her closet and saw that all of her lingerie was cut up and looked like a collection of ribbons on the floor. Had it not been her life, she might have thought it quite beautiful in its artful arrangement.
Pulling open a drawer, she laughed. “All he left was my period underwear from Target. If that doesn’t send a message, I don’t know what does.”
“Honey, I know this is a stupid question…but what is period underwear?”
“It’s the underwear you put on when you have your period. It’s usually some kind of cotton underwear. If that doesn’t kill every idea you ever had about me, then I don’t know what will.”
He studied her as she closed some drawers. “It doesn’t seem to have that effect on me. My ideas are still in place. ‘Period underwear’ doesn’t scare me.”
Rachel stepped straight into his arms and buried her face in his chest. It seemed to be the only response she was capable of. “This was certainly the low point. I’m standing in the middle of the destruction caused by one poor choice.”
Chris wrapped his arms, his body, and his heart around the woman in his embrace. He would give her the world if he could. He would certainly figure out how to keep her safe. This was going to be the last of it. It ended here. “Pack your suitcase, honey. I want you to stay with me. We’ll solve this, and then you’ll never have to experience this again.”
“Okay, thank you. I’m sorry that I involved you in all of this.”
He pulled away from her so that he could look her in the eyes. “It is my pleasure to take care of this for you. There is no ‘sorry.’” He kissed her head as he stared at her room. He hadn’t felt rage like this in a long time, and it wasn’t welcome.
She pulled away from him and studied him for a moment. “I’ll pack a bag. It won’t take me long, because I don’t have any underwear.”
“I’ll drive you tomorrow to buy whatever you need.” He nodded his head as if that was all it took to solve the problem.
She gave him a faint smile. “I’m going to grab some trash bags from the kitchen. I want to clean this up. I don’t want to have to see it again.”
“I’ll get them for you,” Chris said.
She started to gather the remnants of her clothes and make a pile. Maybe it was better to leave all of this as part of her past and start new. It was going to be the attitude that she adopted; if she didn’t, then she might fall apart. And that wasn’t an option.
Chris went to the kitchen and searched for garbage bags. He was opening the cupboard under the sink as Mike came in. “Do you have any updates?” Chris asked.
“No. They’ve taken everything down to the lab, and we should have some answers in the morning.”
“Okay. Keep me posted when you get something. I have a feeling this is a result of the conversation I had with Dean the other day.”
“You never know what’s going to trigger someone. It could very well be a result of the conversation or something else entirely. This guy has been terrorizing her for a year. She’s kept careful records, and there’s no doubt this train was already in motion long before you came into the picture.”
“Yeah, I know that. It doesn’t make me feel any better, though. The personal nature of the break-in suggests that he was tipped over the edge. I have a distinct feeling that I was the one doing the tipping. I wanted the guy to break so we could catch him and be done with it. I think my personal feelings for Rachel might’ve clouded my perception. I’ve never been in this situation before, and I’m not sure what I’m doing.”
Mike gave him a steady look. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to protect the woman you’ve fallen for.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“I wanted the fight to come to me, because I didn’t want to wait for it. It happened, except it came to Rachel’s front door instead of mine.”
“It sure did. This was as personal as I’ve seen.”
“I have to fix it for her, because I’m responsible.”
“No. You’re not. The guy who’s been terrorizing her is responsible. Now you just have to replace all the stuff that the guy destroyed. I’m guessing the trip to the mall tomorrow isn’t going to be painful. Hell, I love taking my girlfriend to Victoria’s Secret.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mike patted his shoulder. “You will, and it will all make sense once you walk in the doors. Just hope that she’s satisfied with Victoria’s Secret and not La Perla.”
Chris studied him for a moment. Nothing was computing. He heard Rachel call him from the bedroom, so he took the garbage bags and headed her way.
He handed the roll of bags to her. “Honey, are we going to Victoria’s Secret or La Perla tomorrow?”
Rachel stood in the middle of her closet with a handful of underwear cut into ribbons. “I was planning on going to Nordstrom. Why are you asking?”
“Just curious.”
“I think it’s more than that. Are you asking me about where I buy my underwear?”
He stared at the ground and couldn’t have been more uncomfortable. Why in the hell did he ask her? It was none of his business where she chose to go. “I was just wondering?”
Rachel studied the man who was standing in the doorway of her closet and felt a stab of sympathy. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this conversation, and she could clearly see how uncomfortable it was for him. He would probably much prefer jumping out of a plane in the middle of the night into enemy territory than have this conversation. “I can go by myself. I’ve put you through more than enough this last week.”
His head popped up. “I want to go. I’m happy take you wherever you want.” He took a step forward and opened a bag so that she could dump the shredded underwear in her hands. “Maybe I could help you.”
Rachel glanced up from the bag, and her heart softened. “That’s nice of you, Chris. Do you have a lot of experience in this area?”
“No. None at all. But I could give you my opinion.”
She took a step in his direction. “Do you have a lot of opinions about women’s underwear?”
“I have a lot of opinions when it comes to you. I’m happy to share them if you’re int
erested.”
She took his big hand in hers and rubbed his scarred knuckles. “I might be interested. I guess we’ll just have to see.”
He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I guess we will.”
CHAPTER NINE
They rode silently in his truck as he drove them home. He watched Rachel look out the window and worried that she was at her breaking point. He didn’t know what to say to her, but he should try to come up with something. “I’ll have your apartment cleaned up over the weekend. I’ll call some of the guys, and we’ll take everything out that was destroyed. I’ll buy all new stuff for our bed, so you’ll feel at home, and I can call Birdie and have her send us some of your favorite flowers, too.”
“Chris, you just took one giant step forward in our relationship, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“That’s what I do. I have big feet, so it’s the only way that I know how to walk. Rach, I’m not a subtle guy. I move through life like a Mack truck. I always have and probably always will.”
“I don’t agree with you. You have a gentle side, and you’ve shown it to me over the last week in a million ways. You treat me carefully, so the Mack truck analogy doesn’t really work.”
“That’s a nice thing for you to say.”
“I mean it, Chris.”
“I feel responsible for what happened to your place tonight. I believe the conversation I had with Dean the other day made him do this. I wanted to push, so I did. I didn’t expect him to destroy your stuff. I have to fix this, and that’s why I want you to feel at home and be comfortable at soon as possible.”
“Chris, you’re not responsible. This was probably inevitable. I’ve been scared for the last year of what he was capable of, and now I know. In some ways, it’s a relief, because now it’s done. I can move forward.”
“We can move forward together. You’ll never be scared again, because I’m protecting you.”
“There go your big feet again, taking huge steps.”
“That’s me, the big guy with the big feet. You should know that my brother is even bigger than me, and he’s younger.”
“Are you two close?”
“We try to be. It’s gotten much better since I retired, because we can talk a lot more often. He lives in Florida and plays football for the Sharks. He’s had a lot of success over the last couple of years, and I’m real proud of him. He’s kind of a big deal, so you’ve probably heard of him.”
“I’m not a football fan, so I don’t know any players. What’s his name?”
“Jack Ellis. He has a bunch of commercials running now. He endorses about a dozen companies.”
“Maybe if I saw his picture I would recognize him. I usually just watch shows that have been recorded, so I don’t see a lot of commercials.”
“I think you’re the first person not to be impressed. Everyone always wants to meet him when they find out.”
“I guess I’d like to meet him because he’s your brother. Not because he plays football. I like baseball more that football. Football players wear the same sort of pants that baseball players wear right?”
“I guess. I never really thought about it.”
“I could get interested in the game if they did. Maybe we should see one tomorrow, and then I can tell you if I’m going to like it.”
“Rachel, are you saying that you want to see men run around in tight pants? Is that your measure of an interesting sport?”
“It’s certainly an important consideration. If I’m going to watch something for two hours, I want to be entertained, and seeing grown men in tight pants is entertaining.”
“I could never get away with saying something like that.”
“No, you couldn’t.
“It’s not fair. You can objectify men and get away with it.”
“Life isn’t fair. Get over it.”
“I like your sympathetic attitude.”
“You’re bigger, faster, and stronger than me. I will never be your physical match. You also have testosterone, which makes your brain work differently and sometimes aggressively.
“As a woman, I’ve lived with unwanted sexual advances from someone who has the physical ability to use force against me. I learned that from the time I was fourteen, and it’s never stopped. Every man walking through the parking garage at the same time as me is either a harmless stranger or a potential rapist. Every time. It’s not always in the forefront of my brain, but it’s there. That’s the truth for all women.
“As a bonus, I’ve had someone I briefly dated and whom I was never intimate with terrorize me for a year. Everything about my life has changed, and it’s never going back to the way it was. So yes, you’re right. Life isn’t fair.”
“You can watch as many men in tight pants as you want. I’ll never complain,” Chris replied.
“Probably a good idea. I hate that I’ve involved you in all of this. I wanted to be able to do it on my own.”
“Rachel, that was probably never going to happen. Dean has used his physical strength against you, and there wasn’t a whole lot you were going to be able to do to combat that. That’s what I’m for. I’m going to make the world safe for you so that you can walk around without fear.”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“Sticking close and watching out. There are advantages to having a big, mean retired SEAL as a boyfriend. One of them is that if anyone looks at you sideways, you know that I’ll take care of it. You have backup now. As strong as each man on the Team is individually, he is stronger because of the group. We work together and rely on one another’s strengths. Each man knows that his success is predicated by how well the Team works. So now you have a Team.”
“You’re my Team?”
“Yes, I’m your Team. I also have a hundred brothers or more who will back me up.”
“I’ve never had a Team. Thank you, Chris.”
He took her hand and squeezed. “My pleasure.” He liked the fact that she didn’t object to the boyfriend designation. He’d slipped it right in as if it were a fact, and she hadn’t said anything about it.
“So you want to be my boyfriend after one date?”
So close and yet so far. “I’ve had a major kindergarten crush on you since I met you a year ago. The last week we’ve spent together has only made it worse. So to answer your question, yes, I would like to be your boyfriend after one date.”
She started to laugh as she looked out the window. He couldn’t figure out what was so funny.
“I’ve been attracted to you since I met you, too.”
He pulled into the driveway and switched off the truck. Turning toward her, he studied her in the dim light. “I never picked up any signals from you that you might be interested.”
“I wasn’t giving you any. I didn’t feel like I could because of what had been going on with Dean.”
“I could’ve taken care of this a long time ago if I’d known.” Her expression closed down, and she turned away from him. Shit, he was still sticking his foot in his mouth. “What I meant to say is that I’m happy to have the opportunity to do it now.”
“No, you didn’t. You meant the first thing.”
He took her hand. “Maybe I did. I like you, Rachel, and I feel like I just missed out on a year with you. I could’ve been kissing you this whole time.”
“Say that then, and don’t make me feel like I made another mistake by not asking for help.”
“I’m sorry.” She slipped her hand out of his and got out of the truck without responding.
He got out quickly, opened the back, and started pulling out the things from her apartment. He’d packed a lot of stuff from her living room, because he wanted her to feel at home and stay for as long as she could. He followed her up the steps to the house and unlocked the door. “I know it’s not as nice as your place, but you can add whatever you want to make it better.”
“I think this is a beautiful home. I love the arches and built-in shelves. This is a r
eal California hacienda. It’s so charming.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever used that word to describe my house.”
“Well, it is.” He dropped her pillows and throw on his couch. “What made you bring those?”
“I want you to feel comfortable, and I figured this might help.” He stood back and liked the effect those small touches had on his couch and smiled. A lot of the guys had referred to it as a ship because it was so big. But once he added the girl stuff, it looked a lot better. “I think it’s nice. It makes it appear less like a hulking ship in the middle of the room.”
Rachel studied it for a moment. “It’s still a ship in the middle of the room. It’s just dressed up now. I’ll bet it’s super comfy, though. Maybe we can watch a football game tomorrow and test it out. You can explain the game to me, and I can see if I like the outfits. Since we seem to want to kiss each other, maybe we can make out during the innings.”
“Honey, I think we can make out during the whole game. In football, it’s quarters and not innings.”
“Okay, whatever you say. It’s all the same to me.” He stalked toward her. “Chris, what are you doing?”
He picked her up, took two short steps to the couch, and fell down on it. “I’m going to kiss the woman I’ve been thinking about for a year. I don’t want to waste any more time.” Gently, he laid his hands on either side of her face and pulled her close. His mouth touched hers, and a warm rush of happiness flowed over his limbs. He tipped her head for a better fit and fell into the desire that hit him like a freight train.
His control started to slip, so he decided to take a breath. “I’d better let you up before I lose my restraint.” He sat up and adjusted himself. “I’ll bring in the rest of your stuff, and then you can take a shower if you want.”