“Do what?”
“Survive.”
“What other choice was there?” He handed her a mug. “It’s coffee. The caffeine will help the headache. I cooled it with a couple of ice cubes, so go ahead and take the medicine.”
She did as he suggested, swallowing the pills down with a gulp of sweet lukewarm coffee. Her stomach lurched, then settled back into place.
“Good girl.” He patted her arm, and heat zipped through her at the contact.
“I’m not a girl,” she said, frowning into the coffee cup, more annoyed by her reaction to him than by his words.
“A figure of speech, Tessa, and a bad habit from dealing with my younger sister.” He touched a strand of hair that had slipped from her ponytail. “I apologize. You are obviously a very capable, strong woman who just happened to need a cup of coffee and some pain reliever.”
“And you’re the buff hero who came to my rescue?”
He looked into her eyes for a long moment, studying her face. “No, I’m just the guy who happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
“Thanks. For being here.”
“Anytime.” He stood and stretched, muscles rippling beneath his button-down shirt. “I’d better get home. It’s late, and we both need to get some rest.”
“I’ll walk you out.” She started to rise, but he put a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re still pale. Stay here. Let the medicine kick in. I can find my own way out.”
Seconds later, he was gone, the front door clicking softly, the freezing rain still falling against the roof.
She almost turned to look out the window, but she didn’t want him to see her watching him leave. She didn’t want him to think that she needed him to return because she didn’t. After five years without Daniel, she’d gotten used to being alone.
Sometimes, though, being alone felt hollow and empty. Especially on nights when the wind was howling in the eaves and the blackness of the night pressed against the windows.
She shivered and dragged the old throw off the back of the couch, pulling it around her shoulders.
Sure, the storm was raging but storms didn’t last forever.
Neither did troubles.
Not even the kind that seemed to be following her. Maybe she’d have to leave town. Maybe she’d have to start again somewhere else. If she did, she’d survive. Just the way she always had. It was what she did, what she’d always done.
Without help from anyone.
As long as she kept that in mind, she’d be just fine.
SIX
No more black roses or mysterious packages. Not a hint of danger, but five days after the attack, Tessa still felt hunted. Another day and Bentley would be home. With him around, she’d know danger was coming before it arrived. Until then, she’d continue to be hypervigilant—not that she had a choice. She didn’t know how to throw the switch and turn off her nerves.
After a while, hyperawareness became...exhausting.
More than exhausting.
Tessa was bone-deep weary, her muscles aching from ten-hour days at Sam’s office and countless hours pacing her house or running on her treadmill.
Trying to forget.
She hadn’t been successful.
She pulled into her driveway, relieved to see lights shining from every window. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but she hated the way memories seemed to grow into sinister shadows when the lights were out and the house quiet.
She shrugged out of her coat as she stepped into the foyer and made her way to the kitchen where she tossed her purse onto the table and started the kettle. Not her normal routine. After work, she changed into her running gear and took Bentley out onto the trail. She’d done the same thing every night since she’d moved to town. Sun, rain, snow—the weather didn’t matter. All that mattered was losing herself in the rhythm of the run.
She shoved her hands into the back pocket of her jeans, the fingers of her left hand brushing the business card Seth had given her.
She didn’t know why she’d been carrying it.
Okay. She did know why. If she needed help, she knew she could ask him.
She just wasn’t sure she should ask him.
She frowned and tossed the card into her junk drawer, poured boiling water over a tea bag and lifted the warm mug.
The phone rang, the sound so startling she sloshed hot tea onto her jeans.
“Ouch!” She muttered, swiping at the wet spot as she answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Tessa? It’s Darius.”
Tessa smiled at the sound of her friend’s voice. “What’s up?”
“I just thought I’d check in. Everything okay?”
“Yes, just like it has been every evening when you’ve checked in.”
“I didn’t call last night.”
“Catherine did. We had a nice conversation about how overprotective you are,” Tessa joked, but she didn’t mind that Darius and his wife had been calling to make sure she was okay. As a matter of fact, it was nice to know that someone cared. She’d be giving that up if she left Pine Bluff. If she changed her name, went into hiding and started completely new, she’d be totally alone. No friends. No one to check in on her.
“If I were overprotective, I’d have someone staking out your house,” Darius said wryly.
“No need for that. I’m tucked in snug as a bug in a rug. All the windows and doors locked and bolted.”
“I’d be happier if you were tucked in with your behemoth of a dog.”
“He’ll be home tomorrow.” And, hopefully, when he was, she’d finally get a little sleep.
“Glad to hear it. I’m actually calling because it’s Wednesday-night potluck at church. Catherine and I were hoping you’d come.”
“You’ve asked me to potluck every Wednesday since I moved to town, Darius. If I come, will you quit?” she asked with a sigh. It had been years since she’d attended church. She’d gone a few times after Daniel’s death, but she’d always left feeling further from God than she’d ever thought she could be.
“If you come, I won’t have to keep asking,” he pointed out.
“Fine. I’ll come. Give me the time and the address and—”
“Seven. We’ll come pick you up.”
“Afraid I’ll change my mind?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t, but I’ll drive myself.” She wanted to make sure she could escape quickly if she felt the need. “There’s a storm blowing in, and I don’t want you to have to drive me back here if it hits before the potluck ends.”
“It’s only a twenty-minute drive.”
“Twenty minutes is a long way when there’s ice on the road. Now, how about you give me the address?”
Darius complied, and Tessa jotted the address on a piece of paper. She actually knew the church—she’d driven to it more than once, gotten as far as the parking lot and turned around.
“Got it,” she said. “What should I bring?”
“Nothing. Catherine made her grandmother’s famous BBQ meatballs, and there’s enough for an army. See you there.”
Tessa glanced at her watch. She had half an hour to kill before she needed to leave, but she didn’t want to sit around waiting. Memories seemed to dwell in her solitude.
She grabbed her coat and walked outside, the cold wind biting through her coat and seeping into her bones. The meteorologists were calling for another ice storm, and thick clouds shrouded the moon and cast the evening in shades of white and gray.
In the distance, a coyote howled, the sound eerie and haunting. Other than that, the neighborhood was silent, Tessa’s elderly neighbors tucked in for the evening.
Maybe she should be, too, but she was relieved to have something to do after five endl
ess days of trying to forget that someone from her past wanted her dead.
She slid behind the wheel of her car and pulled out onto the empty road, following it to Pine Bluff Christian Church. The small white building stood in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Surrounded on all sides by thick pine forest, it seemed to glow in the darkness.
Tessa parked in the lot, positioning the car as close to the building as she could get it. Several people strolled toward the church, their laughter carrying on the cold night air.
Tessa didn’t get out.
Instead, she leaned her head back, classical music drifting from the radio, the soft sounds of the congregation arriving mixing with it. She’d get out of the car eventually, but right at that moment, it felt good to imagine that there, in the parking lot of God’s house, with dozens of people milling around, she was safe.
A sharp rap on the glass pulled her from half sleep and she opened her eyes, her heart tripping as she looked into Seth Sinclair’s face.
“Didn’t mean to startle you, Tessa,” Seth said as Tessa opened her window. The last thing he’d wanted to do was scare her.
“What are you doing here?” she mumbled, her eyes cloudy with sleep. She looked tired, her skin a shade too pale, the bruises on her neck muted shades of blue and green.
“I attend church here.” He reached in the window and flipped the door lock. “And it’s potluck night.” He held up a foil-covered casserole dish that he’d picked up at Catherine and Darius’s place.
“You cook?”
“Does heating up soup from a can count?”
“No!” She laughed, closing the window and getting out of the car. “If you can’t cook, where did you get the casserole?”
“It’s meatballs. Catherine made them, but she can’t make it tonight. Morning sickness in the evening, Darius said. He asked if I’d drop them off.”
“Because he wanted you to check up on me?”
“Something like that.” Seth didn’t bother to deny it. He’d been working through the exercises Tessa had given him when the phone rang. Truth be told, he wasn’t a potluck kind of guy. It just wasn’t the kind of place a single guy hung out.
Unless he was looking for a single gal.
Which he wasn’t.
“You don’t seem like a potluck type of guy.” Tessa echoed his thoughts, and he laughed.
“Truer words were never spoken. Maybe we should ditch this place and go get some real food,” he suggested, surprising himself with the invitation.
Maybe he had come looking for a single gal—a very specific one.
One he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, no matter how many times he told himself he needed to.
Tessa hesitated, then shook her head. “It’s probably best if we just do what we’re supposed to.”
“You sound like you’re heading to the gallows.” He took her arm and led her through the parking lot, automatically scanning the area for any sign of trouble. He didn’t expect there to be any, but Darius had asked him to keep an eye on Tessa, and that’s what he planned to do.
Of course, he would have done it, anyway, even if Darius hadn’t asked him to.
“I don’t mean to sound that way. It’s just that going to church without Daniel seems strange.”
“Daniel? Your husband?”
“Yes.” Her cheeks heated. “That probably sounds silly. It’s been five years—”
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Tessa.” He opened the door and she walked into the large vestibule ahead of him. “It took me nearly four years to feel comfortable going to family functions without my wife. After she died, I avoided them like the plague when I was home on leave.”
“I didn’t realize you’d been married.”
“I was. Julia was killed by a drunk driver while I was in Afghanistan”
“I’m so sorry, Seth.” She touched his wrist, her fingers barely brushing skin. Somehow, that was all it took. Heat raced up his arm, lodging somewhere in the vicinity of his heart, and suddenly all he saw was Tessa. Her deep-green eyes and fair skin, the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks, the burnished red hair that curled against her neck.
Surprised, he took a step back. “Thanks,” he managed to say. “Come on. Fellowship hall is this way.”
He led her through the crowded hall and into a large room set up for the potluck. Dozens of tables filled the space, most of them already occupied by families or groups of friends.
He scanned the room, looking for an empty table.
“Seth! Over here!”
A small blond woman with a perky smile and bouncing curls nearly dislocated her arm trying to get Seth’s attention. He wanted to ignore her, but he knew she’d persist. Peggy Sue Tanner was nothing if not determined.
“Peggy Sue.” He offered the brief acknowledgment, hoping that would keep her away.
He should have known better. One of several women who considered Seth prime relationship real estate, she’d spent the past few months trying to convince him that they’d be a perfect pair.
“I thought you said you weren’t coming tonight,” she said as she hurried across the room. “If I’d known you were going to be here, I’d have saved a spot at our table.”
“I had a last-minute change of plans. Right, Tessa?” He smiled at Tessa, hoping Peggy Sue would finally get the hint and decide to pursue someone else.
“Well,” Peggy Sue murmured, a tiny frown line appearing between her brows as she gave Tessa a thorough once-over. “That worked out well, then, didn’t it? Let’s go find a table where we can all sit.”
“We wouldn’t want to tear you away from your friends, Peggy Sue.” Tessa cut into the conversation, her arm sliding around Seth’s waist. “Would we, Seth?”
“It’s no problem. My friends will understand.” Peggy Sue’s frown line deepened.
“I’m sure they would, but we’ll be fine on our own,” Tessa replied, flashing the quick smile that showed off her dimple. “Seth, we’d better put these meatballs with the other food. It was nice meeting you, Peggy Sue.”
She started walking, her arm still hooked around Seth’s waist, her shoulder pressed to his side. She stayed there all the way to the food-laden tables that stretched across the back wall of the fellowship hall.
Seth couldn’t say he minded.
Tessa felt right. It wasn’t something that he could explain, but he didn’t plan to question it, either.
He handed the dish to one of the women setting up the buffet, and did what he’d been thinking about from the moment Tessa’s arm slid around his waist. He returned the gesture, his fingers curving against her warm side.
“I don’t think she’s watching any longer, Seth,” she mumbled, tensing but not pulling away. “So, I guess I don’t need to be glued to your side.”
“Peggy Sue is persistent. It might be a good idea for us to stick together for a while longer,” he responded, only half joking.
“How long is a while?”
“Just long enough to find a seat and get settled. There’s a table in the corner.” He led Tessa across the room, pulling out a chair for her.
She sat quickly, her cheeks tinged with pink, her gaze lowered. She seemed embarrassed, maybe a little uncomfortable. Neither had been his intention.
He took the seat beside her, touching her wrist, ignoring the quick leap of his pulse. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Tessa.”
“You didn’t.” She offered a half smile. “Much.”
“I’d rather not have at all.”
“I’m the one who started the whole thing. Remember?”
He couldn’t forget. Not the feel of her arm around his waist. Not the warmth of her fingers on his side. “I think we were both willing participants.”
“Poor Peg
gy Sue,” Tessa said, glancing over at the table where Peggy Sue sat with her friends. “She seems so...desperate.”
“She’s a nice lady. I’m sure she’ll find someone.”
“Just not you?” Tessa brushed a thick strand of hair from her cheek, her hand smooth, her fingers long and slender.
“No. Not me.”
“You’re not into dating?”
“I haven’t been,” he responded. Though he was beginning to think that the right woman might change his mind. “How about you?”
“No.” She shifted uncomfortably.
“But you do eat, right?”
“Does snow fall in the mountains?” she replied.
He laughed, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. “We’d better get in line, then. People around here know how to pack away food. We wait too long, and it’ll all be gone.”
He didn’t release her hand, and she didn’t pull away. Not when they walked across the room. Not when they were standing in the long line.
It felt...nice to be there with her, to listen to her talk about her day, about the clients she’d worked with and the satisfaction she’d felt when they progressed.
When they finally reached the table, she grabbed a plate and piled it so high she’d have given a hungry trucker a run for his money.
She must have noticed Seth eyeing her plate.
She snagged a dinner roll and tossed it on top of the pile of food. “What?”
“I’m just impressed that a woman your size can put away that much food.”
“Obviously, you’re easily impressed,” she said with a smile.
He wasn’t, but he decided not to tell her that. Why ruin their easy camaraderie?
They carried their plates back to the table, bowing their heads while the pastor blessed the food and the fellowship.
It was the same as any other potluck Seth had ever been to, but it felt different, the air lighter, the atmosphere warmer. Until Darius’s phone call, he’d been planning to spend the evening at home. He was glad he’d let his mind be changed.
He would have told Tessa that, but she was picking at her food, looking about as comfortable as a cat in water.
Defender for Hire Page 6