by Cat Johnson
Paulie nodded. “Deal. Stay safe, Nicki baby. Tony’s not gonna stop looking for you, you know. You really pissed him off.”
“I know. Thanks, guys. You stay safe too.”
After a few minutes of flying mud and spinning tires during which Jack feared they’d all have to go out and give the two idiots a push, the car finally fishtailed its way back onto the path and down the road.
Jack slid down the wall and sank onto the floor next to Nicki. “It’s over, darlin’.”
“No it’s not, Jack. They’re right. He’ll never stop looking for me. I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life. I’ll have to leave here . . .” Her voice broke.
Matt lit the kerosene lamp and the room came into view again. “I don’t think he’s going to have time to bother with you, Nicki. I think he’ll be a little busy soon.”
Jack slid his weapon back into its holster. That left his hand free to grab Nicki’s. “We took care of him, Nick. Rather, Matt did. Either way, he’s likely going to be locked up for a very long time. And there’s no way he can connect it to you.”
“Really?” Nicki’s eyes widened.
He could almost see the weight lift from her shoulders. He squeezed her hand. “Really. Come on. Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 14
The sun hadn’t been up for more than an hour, but Jack was already slumped at the kitchen table, both hands wrapped around a now cold cup of coffee.
“I have to say, this is a pretty pitiful sight.”
He looked up and saw Trey standing in the kitchen doorway, looking far too chipper for Jack’s taste. “Don’t start with me, Trey.”
“You’re really going to let her fly back to New York and never see her again?” Trey asked.
“That’s not how we left it. We agreed we’d stay in touch.” Jack glanced at the clock on the stove.
By now, Nicki’s plane had already taken off. His chest tightened as he pictured her speeding farther away from him with every passing minute.
So much of yesterday had been spent recovering from the events of the night before that he felt like they’d barely had any time together.
Nicki had immediately gotten in touch with her father to tell him she was all right. The man had chronic high blood pressure and she was afraid the stress of the last few weeks had taken a toll on his health. She wanted to see for herself he was okay and let him see she was fine too, so she’d found a direct flight to New York that left at zero-six-hundred this morning.
Jack had offered to get up early and drive her to the airport, but she’d insisted she could take a cab. Eventually he’d given in to her wishes.
It was better this way. They got their goodbyes over with here in private rather than on the curb in front of the airport.
Jack rubbed at the strange pain that had been in his chest since the night before when he’d kissed her cheek and left her alone in her apartment above the barn.
Trey dropped his gaze to the movement of Jack’s hand. “What’s wrong with your chest?”
“Heartburn or indigestion or something.” Jack pushed the mug away. “It’s probably the coffee.”
“Your mother’s coffee is as good as her pie, so I doubt it.” Trey pulled out a chair and straddled it backward, a stupid-looking grin on his face. “What color are Nicki’s eyes?”
Jack frowned. “What the hell kind of question is that?”
“Just answer it.”
“Deep blue, like the color of the ocean when you see it from really high up in a plane. Why?”
“Ha! I knew you’d know.” Trey broke out into a broad smile. “You love her.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Just because I know what color her eyes are doesn’t mean I’m in love with her.”
“Does your heartburn hurt worse every time you think about her leaving?”
Jack rubbed his chest again, wondering why his discomfort was making Trey so happy. “I don’t know. Maybe. I guess. But so what? It’s a coincidence. I hardly know her.”
“In the short time you’ve known her, you’ve been through a whole lot of shit.”
That was true, even if Jack refused to admit it.
Trey shook his head. “You once told me I was either too stupid or too stubborn to realize I was in love with Carly. Which one are you, Jack? Are you too stupid or too stubborn to admit you have feelings for Nicki?”
The truth of his own words being turned back on him hit hard. Jack buried his face in both hands. “Both, I guess.”
“Then do something about it.”
“Do what?” Jack glared at Trey, who seemed full of love advice today but had offered no useful solution as yet.
Trey raised a brow. “Go after her, Jack. Get on a stand-by flight. Or get in that car of yours and start driving. You’ll be there before nightfall.”
“Then what?” Jack asked. “How’s this gonna work, Trey? She’s a New Yorker. She’s not gonna move down here to Pigeon Hollow and continue to shovel manure for my brother now that she’s not in hiding anymore.
Trey shook his head. “I’m betting after all that’s happened to her up there, she’s had enough of New York.”
“Who’s had enough of New York?” Jared wandered in the back door and joined the conversation uninvited. He walked over to the counter to pour a cup of coffee and then glanced back at Jack and Trey, waiting for an answer.
“Nicki. She flew back home to New York this morning to be with her father,” Trey answered.
Jared took a sip from the mug and then shook his head. “No, she didn’t. She’s outside in the yard right now.”
“What?” Jack sat bolt upright at that information.
Had Nicki missed her flight? As horrible as it seemed to be happy about that, he was still glad. All he cared about now was making sure she didn’t leave.
Before Jared or Trey could say another word, Jack was up, out of his chair and heading through the door.
~ * ~
Nicki leaned against the rail of the fence, watching the mare with her colt and feeling totally at ease for the first time in a month.
She’d probably never been safer than at this very moment. Matt and Trey, the two mysterious black-clad, military-type friends of Jack and Jimmy, were still on the property. And Jared and his barn hands had proven they could also be armed and ready for anything.
Her father had called on the phone extension in the barn late last night. Tony was all over the New York news. He’d been arrested for tax evasion and racketeering. All his files and computers had been seized. They’d denied his request for bail.
Tony had a heap of trouble to deal with now. Hopefully he’d be much too busy to remember her.
Even so, her father had said he’d feel safer with her out of New York for a little longer, so she’d happily agreed to remain where she was. Staying on the farm was no hardship. She’d come to really love it here.
Not to mention it was where Jack was.
What a difference a day made. She sighed, content. Now if only Jack would get out of bed so she could surprise him. He thought she’d flown back to New York.
“Hey, darlin’.”
As usual, she didn’t hear him until he was right behind her. She smiled as he slipped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. She tilted her head to one side and let him kiss from her ear to her collarbone.
Groaning in pleasure, she finally managed to say, “Your family’s going to see us if you’re not careful.”
Not that she really wanted him to stop.
“I don’t care.” Jack spun her around and she saw how serious his expression was. “I’m trying to convince you not to go back to New York. To stay here and be closer to me.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t going back. In fact, her father was talking about selling his farm in New York and retiring down here, but Jack put one finger on her lips to silence her.
“Nicki, I can’t promise you it’ll be perfect. I’m away a lot, but I’ll be with you every second I can if you’ll
let me.”
She waited, and since he seemed to be done, she finally got to tell him what she’d been dying to.
“I’m not going back. I’m moving down here. My father’s coming down next week to see me and we’re going to look at a small horse property Jared told me about that’s for sale in the next town. So it looks like I’ll be around whenever you are.” She smiled at the surprise on his face.
He whooped, picked her up and spun her around until she was dizzy. She was breathless from laughing when he finally stopped spinning.
Jack didn’t put her down. She remained level with his gorgeous gold-flecked eyes.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and became very aware of the alignment of their anatomy. “Jack, I don’t think I can wait until dark for the drive-in to open tonight. What do you say we go upstairs to my apartment right now?”
“Are you sure your papa’s definitely not coming until next week?” Judging by the desire she saw in his eyes, he was tempted by her suggestion, even while trying to be respectful of her father.
She laughed. “I’m sure.”
Jack grinned. “Then I think that’s an excellent idea.”
Leaning down to press a kiss to Jack’s mouth, Nicki couldn’t agree more.
JIMMY
RED BLOODED
Book 3
CHAPTER 1
6 months ago
Jimmy Gordon glanced down the length of the table packed nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with the bulk of the men seated there. All five of his teammates wore a similarly confused expression in reaction to their leader’s vague orders to “suit up”.
“Excuse me, sir.” Jimmy raised his hand and got the attention of the commander. “Could you clarify? What exactly is our assignment?”
In the front of the room stood a rolling rack that held black trousers, white button-down shirts, short black jackets and bow ties. Six of each and all on hangers under clear plastic, the reason the team had the same baffled look on their faces.
They usually wore flak jackets and weapons, not waiters’ jackets and bow ties.
The commander remained unfazed by the doubt-filled question. “You heard me, Gordon. Change into the black-and-whites. Tonight, you’ll all be waiters. Except for Coleman, he’ll be manning the communications equipment, and your brother, he’ll be a bartender.”
“Why do you get to tend bar?” Jimmy frowned at his brother, Jack, seated next to him.
“Because I’m so pretty, I need to be behind something sturdy to keep the women off me?” Jack grinned.
Jimmy scowled at Jack’s high opinion of himself while the commander continued with the instructions for their mission—if you could call it a mission.
“This party is being attended by some big shit VIPs, both domestic and foreign. Government and civilian. The chatter on the lines indicates there could possibly be an attempted attack. I say attempted because our team will be on-site replacing the wait staff. Anything goes down, we’ll be ready for it.”
BB Dalton raised his hand hesitantly. “Um . . . but I don’t know how to be a waiter, sir.”
“Yeah, and like I know how to be a waiter?” Bull snorted.
Bull had earned his nickname through sheer size. Jimmy conjured a mental image of Bull in a china shop and figured that was pretty much what it was going to be like tonight, except Bull would be carrying a silver tray in his big mitt-sized hands and wearing a bow tie.
Matt chimed in from behind his ever-present laptop. “It’s easy. I waited tables at one of the catering halls on Long Island during high school and summers when I was in college. Just don’t spill on anybody and you’ll be fine.”
Bull looked skeptical. “Then why aren’t you playing a waiter, Coleman, if you know so much about it?”
“I’ll tell you what, Bull. You learn how to do what I do by tonight and I will.” Matt looked like he was feeling pretty damn confident when he made the offer. But he had every right to be cocky. Matt’s technical skills had saved all their asses a time or two.
“No way that’s going to happen.” Trey chuckled. “I doubt Bull’s fingers would even fit on the keys.”
Laughing, Jimmy had to agree. They were all safer with Matt on the console, even if it meant Bull spilling things on the rich people tonight.
Watching the exchange with an expression of amused patience, the commander finally held up one hand to silence them. “If we’re done bickering, ladies, grab your uniforms and weapons—leg holsters only—and let’s go. I want you all as familiar with the layout of the venue tonight as you are with your own dicks. Got it?”
Jack smirked. “That will be pretty familiar for you, big brother, considering I haven’t seen any women around lately volunteering to hold yours for you.”
Jimmy frowned. He got laid plenty. He was just discreet. Although he had been experiencing a bit of a dry spell lately. He raised a brow in his brother’s direction. “They’re not exactly lined up for you either, little brother.”
“That’s because I’m holding out for the love of my life. That cute little thing who tends bar down the street.”
He knew the one Jack was talking about. Word was she didn’t date military guys. “If that’s true, then I think you’ll be holding your own for quite some time yet.”
“Twenty bucks says I get a date with her before summer.” Jack stuck out his hand to shake on the bet.
“You’re on.” Jimmy took it with pleasure. Easiest twenty bucks he’d ever make.
With the wager secured, they both rose from their seats as the table began to empty. Jimmy found the hanger marked with his name and grabbed his uniform from the rack.
Wondering what the hell the night would bring, he headed out of the meeting room with the rest of the team.
Two short hours later, Jimmy winced as he ran a finger under the incredibly stiff collar of his white tuxedo shirt. The damn thing felt like a noose around his neck.
There was a reason he’d joined the military instead of taking a corporate job. It was so he wouldn’t have to wear a shirt and tie to work everyday.
Yet here he was, not only in an overly starched shirt, but in a bow tie no less. Figuring the loaded .40 caliber handgun strapped to his leg balanced out the sissy bow tie on the testosterone scale, he still wasn’t happy about the whole situation.
“Don’t all you boys look cute.” Matt’s voice came through the communicator implanted in Jimmy’s ear and interrupted his internal soliloquy about his hatred of the shirt and tie. The mocking only seemed to make the discomfort seem worse since Matt was safely locked away in the surveillance van wearing his own nice comfortable clothes. “I’ve got eyes and ears up and running. Talk to me.”
“Gordon, Jimmy.” In the usual, preset order, Jimmy checked in first and confirmed his receipt of Matt’s communication, such as it was, about having audio and visual surveillance in place.
“Gordon, Jack.”
“BB.”
“Bull.”
“Williams.”
One by one, the rest of the team had verbally checked in, except for the commander.
“Commander?” Matt’s question came through Jimmy’s earpiece.
Jimmy could see the commander across the room in his own penguin suit, looking just as uncomfortable as he felt.
“Yeah, I’m here, Coleman. Let’s get this show on the road. This tie is killing me.”
At least rank didn’t have its privileges on this op.
Enjoying the thought immensely, Jimmy smiled.
“You guys better go into the kitchen and find out what you’ll be passing,” Matt warned.
“You mean besides gas?” Obviously pleased with his own wit, Jack beamed.
Jack looked pretty comfortable in his position behind the bar. If only Jimmy had been lucky enough to be assigned the job of bartender instead of stuck out here trying to play waiter.
Jimmy heard a round of snickers through his earpiece in response to Jack’s juvenile joke.
“Ha, ha, Jack.
Very funny.” Judging by his tone, Matt was not amused. “You’re all lucky. Tonight is butler service, just passed hors d’oeuvres. But I’m serious about this. People are going to ask what’s on your tray. Take it from me, you’ll feel like an idiot if you don’t know.”
Jimmy had a feeling they might actually be better off with Bull on the communications console and Matt out here. He really was the only one who knew what the hell he was doing as a waiter.
All of their training for Task Force Zeta didn’t prepare them one little bit for butler service.
Damn, did people even have butlers nowadays? Jimmy saw the first guest arrive, and judging by the look of him, these people did.
“Guests are arriving.” He turned his head to face the wall as he spoke and kept his voice low as a few more people filtered into the room.
After turning back, Jimmy visually swept the space.
“I’m ready.” Jack’s voice came through the communicator at the same time Jimmy heard the sound of a champagne cork pop.
The commander nodded once. “Let’s roll, boys.”
Their leader looked impatient to get this assignment over and done with. Jimmy couldn’t agree more.
Trey, Bull and BB all headed toward the entrance to the kitchen. Jimmy decided he better follow and see what the hell waited for them with this butler service crap.
When he arrived in the rapidly filling kitchen crowded with cooks and now his teammates, a counter covered in big silver trays containing tiny food greeted him. The team lined up.
Being in the military, they were all skilled at waiting in line. It was the next part Jimmy was concerned about as the chef shoved a tray at BB.
“Herb-encrusted goat cheese.” The chef’s words were spewed with every bit as much disdain and authority as a drill instructor barking orders to a new recruit at boot camp.
Maybe this wasn’t going to be as far out of their realm of familiarity as Jimmy had anticipated.
BB picked up the tray with two slightly unsteady hands Turning in slow motion toward the door, he tenuously balanced the tray as if it held a nuclear bomb.