All He Feels - Dax & Ginny (Crossroads Book 11)

by Melanie Shawn

  Ginny had never known her father, he was killed when her mom was pregnant with her. The only information that she had was that his name was Donny. When she was old enough she’d found her birth certificate and listed beside father was the name Donald Gregory. He was a musician and he and her mom had met at a festival where his band was playing.

  The one story that her mom did talk about was the night they met. She had pushed her way to the front of the stage where he was playing guitar and the moment their eyes locked she knew that she was in love. He apparently felt the same because he had security pull her from the crowd and bring her backstage. From that night until his untimely death ten weeks later, they were inseparable.

  Her mom went on tour with him and his band and she referred to that summer as a magical time. She didn’t really like to talk about the night that he died. Ginny had tried countless times to find information online about the incident and had not been able to find out much more than what her mom had told her. She’d always known that he’d died in a robbery gone bad, but that was it.

  The few details she’d managed to piece together from newspaper reports were that his tour bus had pulled into a gas station and her dad had gone into the small convenience store to grab some snacks. In a sad twist of fate, the store was being held up by a man with a gun. When the chime sounded above the glass door as her father entered, it spooked the armed robber and he spun and shot his gun, killing her father on the spot.

  Her mom found out she was pregnant two weeks after her father was killed. Mona Valentine was only eighteen at the time she learned she was expecting a baby. Her mom had lived with her grandparents since she was twelve and lost both of her parents tragically. According to her mom her grandparents were conservative and old-fashioned and she knew they wouldn’t approve of her having a baby out of wedlock so she decided to do it on her own. She and her mom moved around a lot, before finally settling in Nashville when Ginny was twelve.

  Ginny had so many questions about her dad, including his family. But her mom never wanted to talk about him and the only thing she’d said about his family was that his father was strict and her dad left home when he was sixteen to become a musician.

  For a few years now Ginny had wanted to hire a private investigator to find out everything she could, but since her mother managed her finances she knew there was no way she’d be able to do that under the radar and the last thing she’d ever want to do was upset her mom who had sacrificed so much for Ginny to follow her dreams. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have questions that she wanted answered, so she started her own amateur investigation.

  She’d scoured all of the old photos that her mom kept in boxes, and that is where she’d found her first clue as to who her grandfather might be. But it wasn’t until about six months later that she’d gotten the first real break in her search. She’d seen a Facebook post that Chase Malone was tagged in. It featured his wife and her siblings and cousins. At first glance all Ginny had noticed was how attractive the group was but then as she read the post itself, keywords jumped out at her. The group was at Whisper Lake and the older man in the photo was tagged Colonel James Hunter but in parenthesis said Grandpa J. Whisper Lake. The Colonel. She’d enlarged the picture and the similarities in the bone structure of the older man’s face and the face in the picture she had were undeniable.

  In just a few clicks of her mouse she’d been able to piece together that the older man lived in Harper’s Crossing. He was connected to Chase through marriage. Chase was married to Krista whose cousin Bobby was married to The Colonel’s granddaughter, Sophie. They seemed like one big happy family. A family that she was fairly certain she was a part of.

  A week after seeing this post, an opportunity came up to work with Chase Malone. She’d figured it was kismet. Fate. The universe was on her side. She’d visited Harper’s Crossing twice since then. The first time was a short visit; she was performing at the opening of a new restaurant, a personal favor to Chase. She’d arrived, performed, and returned to Nashville the same night at her manager’s insistence. The second visit, she’d played the same restaurant for one of the owner’s girlfriend’s birthday. That was the night she’d come home with Dax. The night they’d stayed up all night talking. That night she’d had to sneak out without saying goodbye to make her five a.m. flight.

  “That’s the night I met you, handsome boy.” She rubbed beneath Capone’s chin and behind his ear.

  She’d yet to meet the man in the picture who she believed was her grandfather. It seemed like he had a large happy family and the last thing she would ever want to do is disrupt that. Still, she wanted answers.

  Everything was set for her to finally put the pieces together to finish the puzzle that was her life. She was back and she was staying for an entire month. She was working on her next album and Chase had agreed to produce it. Her mother was in another country on her honeymoon and she’d fired her manager. And she was staying at Dax’s house.

  This really did feel like the first day of the rest of her life and after she brought her things into the guest room and unpacked she knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to go to the grocery store and make dinner. Cooking was the first thing on her resolution list. It was something she’d always wanted to get better at but had never had the time. It was something that people did every day…how hard could it be?

  Chapter 4

  Dax was still trying to come to terms with his new house guest as he drove the streets he now knew like the back of his hand. It was still unbelievable to him that not only had Ginny showed up on his doorstep, she was staying with him. At his house.

  He had no idea how long she would be there. He assumed that it was going to be for at least a few days. She’d had a bag, so he doubted that it would just be overnight. It was killing him that he had to leave her. She’d been all he’d been able to think about for months and now she was at his house and he wasn’t.

  His phone buzzed and his pulse raced thinking that it might be her. It wasn’t. It was his sister.

  “Hey, squirt.” Heather was two years older than Dax, but he’d called her squirt since the summer he turned twelve and hit his growth spurt, shooting past her by a good four inches in the span of a couple months. She didn’t appreciate it.

  “Hey, twinkle toes.” She used the nickname that she’d given him when he was four and imitated a ballroom dance routine that she’d been watching on TV. He equally did not appreciate it, but he did still consider himself a good dancer. “Did you get mom’s email?”

  “No.”

  With a sigh that made her frustration with his lack of knowledge clear she said, “She sent you our itinerary yesterday.”

  “Itinerary? For what?”

  “That’s not even funny.”

  He wasn’t kidding. He had no idea what his sister was talking about. He remained silent as he tried to recall any information that would give him a clue about what she was referring to.

  After several moments of his silence, she let out a frustrated, “Seriously?!”

  “What?” he asked rhetorically, knowing exactly where her frustration stemmed from. His mom and sister always gave him a hard time about not paying attention to them when they talked. In fairness to him, they liked to talk. A lot. And usually it wasn’t about things that interested him very much.

  “Do you ever listen to me?”

  Always one to opt for honesty, he answered, “Sometimes.”

  “I told you when you were here for Christmas that we were going to be coming to Illinois to visit on our way to California.”

  “Oh, right.” A vague memory of the conversation surfaced. His sister, who worked in marketing, had been promoted and was heading to San Diego to head up the sports division at her firm. They’d mentioned that they’d be staying with him, but he thought it was in the spring.

  “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

  Dax never felt the need to defend himself to anyone. He lived his life una
pologetically. But somehow, his sister always brought out his defensive side and he wanted to prove that he did actually know, even if he didn’t really. “Yes, I do. You got promoted and you’re moving to San Diego and Mom’s going out there to help you get settled. I just thought you said that it wasn’t until spring.”

  “Oh.” She sounded surprised and he felt a small sense of satisfaction. “Well, my start date had been moved up to mid-February so we’re going to be heading out at the beginning of next month.”

  “Okay.” He hoped he sounded indifferent instead of relieved.

  He loved his mom and sister more than life itself, but he did not want them coming to visit now. Not only did he want all the alone time he could get with Ginny, he also didn’t want them to embarrass him. They were huge Virginia Valentine fans. When they’d found out that she’d been in Harper’s Crossing, performing at his bar, they’d flipped out. It was all they’d talked about when he went to see them over the holidays. That, and his sister’s new job. And Gilmore Girls. And Ryan Gosling. It wasn’t a mystery why he tuned them out on a regular basis.

  “What’s wrong?” The concern in Heather’s voice was apparent. “Is everything all right? You seem distracted.”

  He was. Distracted by a country singer that had shown up at his door this morning and turned his world upside down and inside out. He may always lean towards the side of honesty but there was no way he was going to share that nugget of truth with his big sister.

  “I’m fine, just got to the office.”

  “Okay, well answer mom back, you know how she gets.”

  “I will. Love you, squirt.”

  “Love you, twinkle toes.”

  As he pulled into the parking space he made a mental note to respond to his mom as soon as he got out of the meeting. When he opened the car door, the cold January day hit him square in the face. He’d grown up in Florida and was used to humidity and bugs but not cold. The crisp air surrounded him as he stepped out of the truck. He had just reached the door when he felt the vibrating alert of a text. He expected a message from his sister, most likely about something she forgot to bring up in their conversation. But when he looked down he saw that it was a number he didn’t recognize and there was a picture attached to it. He tapped on it and saw Capone on the bed in the guest room next to an empty suitcase. There was text below it that read:

  Made myself at home. Capone helped me unpack.

  Even though he wished that he was at home with her, he had to admit he liked knowing that she would be there when he got back. He was also happy that he had her number now. The night she’d stayed he’d given her his number but the only number he had for her was her manager’s. He’d only met the guy briefly, once, when Ginny had performed at the reopening but he didn’t like the prick. No way would he ever go through him to get to her. Now, he didn’t have to.

  “Morning handsome, what has you smiling from ear to ear?” Darla asked as Dax walked through the front door. The office manager was in her eighties but still going strong and ran Elite Security with military precision.

  “I always smile when I see a beautiful woman.” He winked.

  “Nice try.” She raised her left brow. “Whoever or whatever it is, it looks good on ya.”

  It didn’t surprise Dax that Darla noticed his demeanor. Nothing got past her. Since he knew denial was pointless he went with “Seth in his office?”

  She nodded as the phone rang and she tapped the side of her headset and answered the call. As he headed down the hallway towards his boss’s office he listened to Darla’s raspy voice. He’d never seen her smoke, but she sounded like she had had a pack-a-day habit for decades. She was small in stature but ran this place with an iron fist. Almost all of the men and women that worked at Elite Security had served in the armed forces and Darla was no exception. She had been in the Army in the fifties in what she described as a “pink collar” job. She worked in administration. Dax knew that opportunities were limited for women at the time, but he really felt like the country had missed out on an incredible drill sergeant.

  As he turned the corner he remembered telling Ginny about Darla and what a character she was. It hit him then that he’d never told any other woman he’d dated or hooked up with about Darla. He also had never told any of them about his dad passing away or how he’d become the man of the house overnight. In the eight hours that he and Ginny had spent together, he’d told her things he’d never told anyone. The time they’d shared had been so intimate, so personal. In those moments he’d felt closer to her than pretty much anyone else ever and yet he’d never even kissed her. Hell, up until a few minutes ago the only number he’d had for her was her management. And now he had the chance to get to know her better and he’d left her at his house. Alone.

  The entire thing felt so off balance. He’d missed her every second of every day since he’d woken up to find the note that she’d left him. The months had dragged on and felt like an eternity. But then, in the blink of an eye she shows up on his door and is staying at his house. How could things feel like they were standing still and moving at warp speed at the same time?

  When he arrived at Seth’s office, he lifted his hand to knock on the open door and Seth shifted his attention from his computer screen to Dax.

  “Take a seat,” Seth instructed as he handed Dax an iPad.

  As he slid into the seat he did his best to turn off his brain and block out his inner turmoil as he pulled up the risk assessment data for his next assignment. He blinked twice when the name he saw at the top of the file was not the senator’s name they had previously discussed.

  Virginia Valentine.

  He had to be reading this wrong.

  Seth started going through the file and Dax sat, speechless, thinking this must be a joke.

  “Ginny?” He just couldn’t believe that she hadn’t said anything before he’d left. “Why is Ginny’s name on here?”

  “Ginny?” Seth’s left brow rose.

  “Virginia,” Dax corrected. “Why is Virginia Valentine’s name on here?”

  “She’s your new client,” Seth explained. “I pulled you from Riley’s team. This is an executive protection ghost assignment.”

  An EPG (executive protection ghost) was a bodyguard that was undercover. Not drawing attention to yourself. You escort the principal to locations that you have completed site assessments on. Then once they are back at their residence you are off duty.

  None of this made sense to Dax. Why hadn’t Ginny mentioned any of this? “When did she hire us?”

  “She didn’t. Her mother, Mona Valentine did. Ms. Valentine contacted us yesterday. She’s going to be out of the country for the next few weeks and Virginia will be in Harper’s Crossing working with Chase. There’s been a lot of media coverage of Virginia’s personal life lately. Apparently there are several paparazzi that have been particularly aggressive. Ms. Valentine feels like it would be best if her daughter had a security detail while she was in town.”

  “So Ginn…Virginia has no knowledge of her mother contacting us?”

  Seth scanned the documents on his computer, clicking through several screens. “No. It looks like she is due in town today. Her mother is going to call with the final details, her schedule, where she’ll be staying, etcetera by this afternoon to let us know how to contact Virginia once she gets settled.”

  “She’s settled.” Dax knew there was no reason to keep her whereabouts from Seth. If there really was some kind of a threat, he wanted to be totally upfront with Seth.

  “She is?” Seth’s face remained neutral but he could see the question in his boss’s eyes. “You know this, how?”

  “She’s at my house. She showed up about half an hour ago.”

  “Oh.” Again there was no hint of what Seth was feeling from his emotionless expression. Dax was fairly certain he wasn’t happy about this new development. “I wasn’t aware that you had a personal relationship. Ms. Valentine requested that you be put on the detail but I can pull Bo
bby or Ace off of what they’re working on and reassign—”

  “No. That’s not necessary. We don’t have a personal relationship.” The thought of Ace or Bobby on Ginny’s security detail in place of him made his shoulders tense and his stomach knot up. The fact that both were madly in love with their significant others did nothing to lessen his unease. If anyone was going to be protecting Ginny, it was going to be him.

  “She’s at your house and there’s no personal relationship.” Seth’s monotone delivery didn’t conceal his doubt. He might as well have skipped the niceties and just called bullshit.

  “She’s staying in my guest room and we’re friends.” Dax hated that that was actually the truth. He wished there was something more going on between them, but that wasn’t the case.

  Seth was quiet for several beats.

  Dax straightened in his chair. “Let me talk to her. I don’t think she’s going to be too thrilled with this arrangement but if she agrees, there’s no conflict of interest on my part.”

  “Fine.” Seth nodded. “Keep me updated.”

  “Will do.” Dax stood, wanting to get home and get this straightened out.

  Before he’d made it out of the office, Seth stopped him. “Don’t forget, it’s your rotation for the self-defense class.”

  Shit. Dax had completely forgotten.

  Elite Security offered free self-defense classes at the women’s shelter, hospital and high school. It was on a volunteer basis, but they rotated so that no one would get burned out. Dax hadn’t hesitated when signing up. Whenever he had a chance to empower women, to make their lives safer, he was all for it. But, why did it have to be today? Maybe he could get someone to cover for him.

  As if reading his mind, Seth stated, “They’re expecting you at the shelter in thirty minutes. That’s why I moved up this meeting.”