by Hagen, Casey
Well, most of the edge.
And created a whole different dilemma.
Nothing stood out with the men in Chief Sullivan’s department. Average guys with families. No record beyond a traffic ticket here and there. Their financials checked out as well.
Luke’s wife had mounting medical bills which explained why he’d been missing so many shifts.
And why the chief hadn’t fired him.
Still, they’d check it out, just in case.
Blair asked a ton of questions about why they collected the info they did, how they knew what to look for, and how it all helped them figure out the next step.
“It’s nothing like what you see on TV,” she said with a laugh.
He let out a chuckle and opened up the vast list of arsons outside of the chief’s jurisdiction. “TV cuts out the majority of the busy work.”
“Is every case like this? I mean, you even have to go through bank statements looking for anything out of the ordinary.”
Sixty-three suspected arson cases. Jesus. He needed a map to mark all of the sites. He shot off a text to Dylan asking him to bring one along. “Most cases, yes, when we’re trying to find the bad buy. Sometimes that’s all out of our hands and we just provide security. And there are those times where there is no bad guy, but our client is high profile and needs protection getting from one location to another.” Her pretty, pink toes brushed against his shoulder, and he closed his eyes.
“Do you ever get sick of it and wish you were back in the military?” she asked.
He spotted a tiny, silver toe ring on her middle toe, and his gut clenched with the sexiness of it. He’d never seen her wear anything other than tiny diamond earrings on her delicate ears. But a toe ring, Jesus. He shifted away from her. “No.”
“That’s it? Nothing else to say about it?” she said in that soft voice that made him want to purge all of the shit swirling in his head despite his need to protect her.
“I spent more than fifty percent of my time wet and cold. Meals could be few and far between depending on the mission. That about sums it up,” he said, tapping his pen against his legal pad.
There had been a time that he did, but then, the military had been what he’d known for over a decade. Being a solider twenty-four seven wiped out the small-town, star quarterback from Minnesota. Piece by piece the man he’d become pushed out the boy he’d been, until his past became like trying on a wool sweater two sizes too small.
“Did you lose friends?”
He drew a box, then connected another, and another. His muscles knotted as building agitation coursed through him. “A few.”
“I don’t want to pry, but—”
“Then don’t,” he snapped, pushing his laptop away and launching to his feet. He had to get away from her, away from her gentle nudges designed to crack him open until all the haunts he buried in the pit of his stomach spilled out.
“I—I’m sorry. I just thought if I knew more about you maybe—”
He sought safety on the other side of the coffee table. “You don’t want to know about me.”
She tossed the pillow aside, and her feet hit the floor. “Actually, I do.”
“You think you do.”
The concerned look on her face, the one filled with sympathy, vanished with his words and turned into a scowl he didn’t even know she was capable of. “Don’t patronize me. I know my own mind.”
Her words took on a hard edge that scared him even more than her soft side. The only side he’d thought she had.
The way she confronted him, her spine straight, shoulders back, as though she’d do battle if that’s what it took, meant that he pegged her all wrong.
He yanked his glasses off and shoved a hand through his hair. “If you think you’re going to get some heroic tale out of me, you’re not.”
“I wasn’t looking to be entertained.”
“Good, because there are no fairy tales here. No riding to the fair maiden’s rescue. I was a number for our government. I had to follow orders. Sometimes orders I hated that went against everything I ever thought I was as a human being.”
She ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear before hugging herself.
Yeah, she started out all big and brave, but the minute he pulled out the ugly, she proved just how innocent she was.
How much she stood to lose if she got too close to the darkness lingering in him.
“I get it. Let’s—”
“No, you don’t get it. That life…it pushes you to the edge. It leaves blood on your hands that you can never wash away. And eventually you look in the mirror and can’t tell if it’s the good guy or the bad guy staring back at you.” His lungs heaved as he spat out the words at her.
Fuck matters of the heart.
Fuck caring.
That shit hurt. It peeled back the layers of your heart, leaving you bleeding and empty. He wanted no part in it. Not ever again.
She took tentative steps toward him, soft, green eyes roaming over him like a caress. “Evan,” she said, cupping his cheeks, “It’s okay.”
He curled his hands over hers and pulled them away. “It may never be okay again.”
She kissed the center of his palm. “What happened to you?” she whispered.
“I put the hunt before the safety of innocent people. And they paid with their lives,” he said, backing away from her.
Chapter 6
Blair watched him pace the living room from the kitchen, wishing there was something she could do to help him.
After his admission, he’d jumped headlong into the evidence he’d received and made numerous phone calls seeking out information on arson cases outside of her father’s jurisdiction, but close enough to be of concern.
The light in his eyes had died, and he’d avoided her gaze.
So much for his claim that no hero would be riding to the rescue in this one. He’d been riding to the rescue from almost the first moment they’d met.
He’d cast himself as the villain even as he tried to be her savior.
He held her up on a pedestal, likely hoping he couldn’t reach her there.
Well, she had every intention of setting that pedestal on fire.
Or she’d drag him on up there with her.
She hadn’t quite decided.
Her cell buzzed from where she’d left it on the counter next to the sink. “Hello,” she answered.
“Hi, Miss Sullivan. This is Megan, Keegan’s mom.”
“Oh, hi. I’m glad you called,” Blair said, putting aside the mess with Evan.
“You might not be when I tell you why,” Megan said with a smile in her voice.
“Keegan wants to bring Boots in for show and tell,” she said, turning away from the living room.
“So he did tell you. He said he did, but I wasn’t sure. Are you sure it’s okay? I can’t imagine dealing with twenty five-year-olds all day and then adding pets to it.”
“It’s perfectly fine. I used to have a class hamster so it’s nothing I’m not used to. I’ll take good care of him,” she promised. The truth was, she missed having a classroom pet. She’d planned on replacing him, but she had been in the middle of condo renovations and had decided to put it off. She’d have to do something about that, and soon.
If for no other reason than pets just made everything better.
“Thank you so much. I can’t drive Keegan in tomorrow, but I can on Friday. Would that be a good day?”
“Friday would be perfect.”
“I’ll see you then. Thanks again,” Megan said.
“See you then.” She hung up the phone and brought up her calendar to save a reminder for Friday morning. Evan’s voice reached her from the other room.
“On the way over, I need you guys to pick up some stuff. There’s an order waiting at Stan’s barbecue. Slyder lives closest and he owes me a favor so I’m calling it in.”
Blair smiled and moved toward the doorway, careful to stay out of sight.
Yes, she was so
snooping and had no regrets. Evan didn’t offer many windows into his heart; she had to be ready for those rare occasions when he pulled back the curtains.
“Is Josie coming with Cole? Yeah, well, Cole’s a dick so he won’t stop and grab the sushi, but if Josie’s coming, she’ll make him,” he said with a laugh.
Blair smiled and bit her lip. Worry still clawed at her. How could it not with so much pain coursing through him? But she couldn’t help but soften at his attempt to make it up to her.
“And I need you to stop by the grocery store. Beer and cookie dough.”
She covered her mouth to smother the snicker that rose up.
“Yes, you heard that right. Shut up. I don’t know what kind. Just get one of every kind they have. How many can there be?”
So. Damn. Many.
She really should tell him. She’d have to admit to snooping, but it was the nice thing to do.
Nice.
There was that word again.
Nope, some lessons need to be learned the hard way.
Besides, she had a call she needed to make.
“Daddy?” she said when he picked up on the first ring.
“Hi, sweetheart. You’re okay, right? Everything’s good?” His voice had taken on a gravelly edge over the years, likely a result of the years he spent fighting fires before he got into investigating them.
As a kid, she’d been terrified that with his job, with all the smoke he inhaled, that cancer would take him, too. Not that she ever told him. He’d had enough guilt trying to be both mom and dad.
A job he recently confessed to feeling like he fell short of.
“I’m good, Daddy. But you should have told me what was going on. I get why you did it, but I’m a big girl and I can handle it. I should have heard it from you.”
And that right there was the part that bothered her most. If he had gone to her, told her in person, she’d have felt like he respected her input and valued her as an adult.
Plus, she could have hugged him, something she desperately wanted to do at the moment. Because right now, despite someone targeting her for revenge, their anger was with her father; she just happened to be caught in the middle.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I know you’re right. But when I saw that picture, I can’t tell you what that did to me. I can’t lose you, too. I just can’t.”
“I know. Just in the future, when there are decisions to be made about me or for me, they need to include me.”
“I promise. Is it working out? Evan, I mean. He’s there with you, right?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by working out, but yes, he’s here.” She glanced toward the living room to find him standing in the entry to the kitchen, the heat back in his eyes, and his avid gaze on her.
She’d never met someone who ran so hot, then cold, then hot again.
The guy needed a thermostat because he was all over the place, worse than a fifty-year-old woman going through menopause being pummeled with hot flashes.
“I have a good feeling about him for you, maybe you two could work things out,” her dad said hopefully.
“Daddy,” she warned.
“I’m not trying to pry. I’m just saying.”
She locked eyes with Evan. “No promises. Only I will decide what or who is best for me. Not you. Not him,” she warned them both.
She made her own decisions, and it was about time they both fully accepted it.
* * *
Blair warned him. She might be talking to her dad, but she aimed every syllable at him with her chin jutting out in stubborn defiance, her green eyes flashing.
Her determination matched his resistance, and at some point, some point very soon, they would go head to head with one another.
For the first time in what seemed like forever, he questioned his ability to fight the battle and wind up on top.
Exhaustion clawed at his soul, making him want to give up the fight. He longed to give in and take the solace she offered.
To bury himself in those soft, creamy curves.
To hear her cry out followed by moans and sighs of sweet relief.
To have her curled in his arms in sleep, her warmth seeping into the cold, dark places buried inside, freezing his heart.
The doorbell rang, signaling the little salvation he could hope for. He shot to his feet, but Blair beat him to the door. “Wait!”
“What?” she said, turning to him.
“I’ll get it.”
“I’m quite capable of answering the door.” She pressed her eye to the peephole and smiled. “It’s a bunch of buff guys, three women, and takeout bags. Are they here to exact their revenge with testosterone and carbs?”
“Funny,” he muttered as she opened the door.
“Come on in,” she said, opening the door wide.
“I’m Dylan, this is my wife, Harlow,” a tall wall of muscle said reaching out a hand.
Lord, were they all built like Evan?
Harlow popped in around her husband, nudging her to the side as she did. “Nice to meet you, Blair.”
Blair’s gaze fell to the round belly straining against Harlow’s shirt, the sight sending a barb straight into her longing heart.
Doctor’s weren’t always right.
“Over there carrying the sushi is Cole and his other half, Josie. Slyder and Nebraska have the barbecue, and behind them are Dude and Mozart with a buffet of cookie dough and beer.”
They filled in the small living room and sucked the air right out of the place. The sound of voices, laughter, and plastic bags rustling as they unloaded the food filled the room.
Blair closed the door, turned the deadbolt, and crossed over to him. “You’re all bark and no bite, but don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but her slim hand slid up his chest, her fingernail catching on the button, before sliding around the back of his neck, and pulling his lips to hers.
“Whatever you were about to say,” she whispered over his lips, “shut up.”
She slanted her mouth over his, her eyelids drifting shut, and kissed him.
Those honey-flavored lips sucked him in, tempting his tongue, even as she pressed her body to his, creating an inferno between them.
The world tilted and swayed as desire swelled and consumed them.
Despite the difference in their height, her curves fit in all the right places, leaving no space between them.
She lightened the pressure, but fuck no.
Not so fast.
He’d be damned if he would let her back out of the challenge she had issued with her sensual lips.
Sliding his arms around her, he anchored a hand to the back of her neck while he slid the other along the curve of her waist as he made his way to the swell of her sweet ass.
Power shifted and Evan took over the driver’s seat as he nipped, sucked, and took taste after taste of her sweet mouth.
Flashes of blinding light burst behind his closed eyes as he pressed his hips into her soft belly, seeking relief for his desperate cock.
For the first time, he truly let himself take. A part of him hoped to scare her away. Prayed she’d put the brakes on, saving them both.
But she didn’t.
She raised up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him even tighter, and sunk her teeth into his bottom lip on a groan of pure pleasure.
“Maybe we should come back,” Slyder said.
They both froze; their eyes shot open.
She pulled back and licked her lips. Her cheeks flamed red, and her chest rose with her rasping breath.
“Not at all,” she said before turning to them. “Evan and I just had to get a few things straight. We’re ready to work.” She headed for the kitchen, Josie, Nebraska, and Harlow hot on her heels. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of plates clattering and silverware as they set up the food.
“Should we add dry humping to the list of our services? I’ve got to tel
l you, I’m not sure I can get Josie on board with that,” Cole said.
Evan snapped to attention, his hands curled into fists, and snarled at Cole. The idea that anyone could reduce Blair to a quick fuck made him see red.
He hadn’t been driven to that point in a long time. Since his other life.
Cole threw his hands in the air. “Hey, easy. It was just a joke.”
“Not about her. Never about her. Got it?”
“Loud and clear. Sorry, man. Just trying to lighten the mood,” Cole said, shoving a hand through his hair.
Evan stretched his neck and shook his hands loose. “She’s got me wound tighter than a tourniquet on a man whose leg’s been blown off by a grenade.”
“Yeah, we noticed,” Mozart said, stepping up to shake his hand. “Good to see you.”
Dude stepped up and clapped Evan’s shoulder with a laugh. “Don’t fight it. We all fell, and fell hard. Best thing that happened to us.”
“I wasn’t looking for this,” Evan said, but the words sounded hollow even to his own ears.
“None of us were,” Slyder said with a glance toward the kitchen.
Dylan met Evan’s eyes. “If we’re done with this therapy session, let’s all grab a plate and get started.”
Evan held back and watched his crew and their women as they laughed and joked in the kitchen. Josie, Nebraska, and Harlow bonded right away with Blair as if the four had been a unit for years.
He swallowed the lump in his throat.
This is why he maintained distance, even with his team. He didn’t go to every dinner, barbecue, or party invite. He kept a barrier, just enough of one so no one could get close enough to think they had a right to offer advice or potentially hook him up with lay friends.
Dylan recognized his reluctance and often acted as a buffer.
For now.
But not forever.
While he waited for the kitchen to clear out, he spread out the map Dylan brought and started marking arsons.
Everyone filed in around him with their food, beer, and more laughter, but he blocked it all out as he marked every single arson within a three-hour radius. Those in jurisdiction were marked with a red dot. Outside a blue dot.
He taped the map to the wall next to the love seat and studied it, hoping something would pop up.