When Love Intrudes (When the Mission Ends)

by Christi Snow

  “I’m fine, but I really can’t afford any more hospital visits so keep your concentration on the road not on the guy behind us, okay?”

  Her face heated as she blushed. Busted.

  Finally, they arrived at the apartment complex. Toni helped Nathan ease out of her car. Brian came up behind her, moved her out of the way, and propped himself under Nathan’s arm to provide support.

  “Go unlock the door,” Brian instructed. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t pass out on the way.”

  “You’re a regular saint, aren’t you?” Nathan harassed him, obviously disgruntled about the fact that he needed anyone’s help. “I’m fine. I think I can make it to the door by myself.”

  As they moved gingerly toward the door, any color Nathan had left in his face, besides the bruises, leeched away. Yeah, he was fine. Not. If Brian hadn’t been holding him, she had no doubt he would have face-planted halfway between the car and the doorway.

  She got the door unlocked, stepped in, and grabbed Sam’s collar. Excited because she hadn’t been home in a couple of days, he made sure she knew she was missed as he twisted around her legs. Her boss, Jake, had been checking and walking him, but Sam was never happy if Toni wasn’t around.

  As Brian anchored Nathan more securely to his side so he wouldn’t be tripped up by the excited dog in case he got away from Toni, he asked her, “Where do you want him?”

  Nathan looked about to drop so she pointed them toward her bedroom.

  Brian half-carried Nathan through the door with Toni and the overjoyed Sam right behind them. Gently, he lowered Nathan to the bed. He straightened and glanced around the tiny apartment. She could see the wheels spinning in his head.

  “This is just a one-bedroom, isn’t it?” He didn’t even wait for her response before he went on. “If he takes the bed, where are you going to sleep?”

  “I’ll be fine on the couch. I fall asleep there half the time anyway.”

  Brian pulled the covers to cover Nathan, taking a moment to examine the boy whose eyes were shut. His face had paled even more. The small move from the hospital to apartment had exhausted him.

  Brian frowned at his prone form and then glanced back at the dog that Toni still held to keep him calm with all the visitors. “How do you manage a dog that big in an apartment this size?”

  “We take lots of walks.” She was starting to feel defensive as Brian asked more questions. No, this wasn’t ideal, but they would manage to make it work.

  “What happens if Nathan needs something or those guys come back while you’re out on a walk?”

  Nathan’s eyes flew open. She thought he’d fallen into an exhausted sleep, but he’d obviously been listening to them.

  “That’s the second time you’ve said something like that. I thought they were in jail.” He gingerly sat up against the pillows. “Why would they come back?”

  Brian exchanged a cautious look with Toni. “We had to release them, but don’t worry, they’ll still go to trial. I just worry about retaliation in the meantime.”

  Nathan’s eyes widened and he looked to Toni for some sort of reassurance.

  She patted his leg, her stomach sinking with how much he counted on her to keep him safe. What if she couldn’t do it? What if those guys came back and tried to go at him again? She tried to smile despite the ice flooding her veins, but it felt brittle.

  Brian took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed. “Listen guys.” He looked around the apartment again. “I’ll be honest. The ring leader of this bunch is bad news. I don’t get the feeling he’s going to leave this alone and his dad isn’t much better. I don’t like having you both here. Nathan, you’re still recovering, the apartment complex security sucks, and this apartment is too small for the both of you plus your mammoth dog.”

  All of a sudden, Toni knew how Alice felt as she fell down the rabbit hole. What was Brian proposing here? It’s not like they had a whole lot of options.

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine. We’ll make it work.” Toni glanced over at Nathan for support, but he still looked a little shell-shocked at the idea that the guys who assaulted him could be coming back for more. She hated the fear in his eyes.

  “Toni,” Brian pulled her attention back from Nathan, “I live in a big old farmhouse out on the edge of town. It’s a four bedroom so there’s plenty of room for all of us plus it’s on a couple of acres so there’s room for Sam to roam, too. It’s not even that far from the airport so your commute to Mad Rob would be shorter.” He looked back over to Nathan. “I have an Xbox360 and there’s a pond out back where you can go fishing, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

  “You think Nathan would be safer there?” Toni bit her lip, really tempted. She’d never forgive herself if Nathan got hurt again.

  Brian took a deep breath and nodded. “The entire property is fenced and there’s a gate on the drive so it’s secure, too.”

  She turned to get Nathan’s opinion. She knew he had concerns about Brian. Hell, she had her concerns, too, but if it meant keeping him safe, she could resist the pull to the handsome detective. “What do you think? Until your arm heals, you’re not going to be able to work at the coffee shop or ride your motorcycle. No one would think to look for you there, so you’d be safer.”

  “I’ll still need to be able to work on my computer programming. I can’t go very long without making some money.” Nathan cocked his head at Brian. “What’s your Wi-Fi like?”

  “I have the fastest system we can get in this area of the country.”

  “Okay,” Nathan sighed tiredly and then exchanged one more questioning gaze with Toni. “If you think it would be better, I’m okay with it,” he told her.

  “Brian, are you sure?” Oh God, was she making a huge mistake even considering this? “We would definitely be encroaching on your space and I know how you feel about that.”

  His gaze lowered, as did his voice. “That was a totally different set of circumstances.” His eyes pleaded with her when he met her gaze once again. “This time, I’d be taking care of you, not the other way around. Let me help. Please?”

  He’d already paid for Nathan’s hospital bill, which was so far above and beyond what he should be doing. She still needed to talk to him about that, but she didn’t necessarily want to have that discussion with Nathan listening, because she knew there was no way Nathan could afford that bill. Glancing back over at Nathan, she could see the beginnings of hope and excitement shimmering in his eyes. He was a seventeen year old boy who saw this as an adventure. Something he hadn’t had often enough in his short life. She couldn’t take that away from him.

  “Okay,” she said reluctantly and ignored the smiles from the two men. “But on one condition—you let us provide all the meals and food.” Seeing Nathan’s shocked look, she gave him a quick shake of her head. He knew she hated to cook. In fact, she was more likely to poison them all than keep Brian fed, but maybe she could work out some sort of exchange with Julie, or just buy take-out all week. She’d figure something out. That was the only thing she could think of that Brian might let her contribute into this arrangement.

  Brian nodded. “Deal. Wow—roommates, a dog, and home cooking. You’re going to have to kick me out of the house in the mornings to get me to leave for work.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes and mimicked gagging himself behind Brian’s back. Toni ignored him. One measly little case of food-poisoning and he wasn’t going to ever trust her to cook again. She could do this.

  Brian headed toward the door. “Pack up what you need. I’ll go grab us some pizzas for tonight and be back here in thirty minutes to load you all up. This will be fun.”

  * * *

  Toni’s mouth dropped open as they rounded the corner of the dirt driveway leading up to Brian’s house.

  “Who knew Alpha was the white picket fence type?” murmured Nathan.

  She could only nod her head in agreement. In front of her sprawled everything she wanted in a house and was certainly never something
she thought she’d find the uptight detective living in.

  The two-story farmhouse had probably been here for a hundred years if the large oak trees out front were anything to judge by, but sometime in its recent past, the exterior had been updated. Made with painted wood siding that would have originally been white, it was now painted a dark mushroom color. The shutters were slate grey and all the trim work was off white. The fireplace and corners of the foundation had been built up with stone that gave it a rugged, more modern feel.

  A huge covered porch wrapped around the entire house with a couple of rocking chairs waiting in repose for her to come and relax. Already, she could envision herself sitting there in the evenings, reading a book.

  As Nathan and she gaped at the huge house, Sam bounded from window to window in the car, dying to get out and explore. Toni could already tell he was going to be in heaven here. The house was secluded on the outskirts of town and there was even an honest to goodness white picket fence around the grassy part of the yard, as well as the tall iron fence that looked like it went around the entire property. She’d be able to give him free reign and not have to worry about him getting out.

  A knock on the window pulled them out of their stupor. Brian smiled down at them as Toni opened the door.

  “Think you can manage to live here for the next few days?” Brian asked.

  She nodded as she looked back at the house. “Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

  “Thanks. I told you it was plenty big.”

  She just gaped at him. Nathan and Sam headed toward the front of the house. Nathan still ambled stiffly, but his excitement in the moment seemed to be overriding some of that pain. He laughed as Sam bounded all over as they walked.

  They met Nathan at the bottom of the steps and Brian helped him negotiate them. Toni held back for a moment to watch them. Her heart skipped a beat and then sped up. Things already seemed a bit more happy and relaxed between the two men. She’d always liked Brian, but seeing him like this—casual, helpful, and so damn conciliatory—battered at her already weakened defenses. She steeled her spine. It would be so easy to fall for this version of him. Hell, she’d fallen for the grumpy, serious, wounded version. This one could be deadly to her heart.

  * * *

  Brian settled himself back against his pillows and allowed the quiet of the house to envelope him. He tried to get into his book and not dwell on the fact that Toni was just a room away.

  Because Nathan still wasn’t in the kind of shape to handle the stairs on a regular basis, they’d given him the bedroom downstairs. That meant he and Toni were alone up here. Just the two of them. His cock twitched and swelled as he imagined her lying in bed, her long strawberry blonde hair draped across his pillow.

  Her quiet murmurings to her dog echoed lightly across the expanse of the second story, the wood floors helping the muted sound travel. It brushed across his nerves like a soft, gentle caress.

  He palmed his erection through his sleep pants, trying to convince it to give up. He could already foresee this arrangement would call for a lot of cold showers. He’d always been attracted to her, even when she was dating Pete, but had never been free to pursue her. Now certainly wasn’t the time to change that. Keeping her and Nathan safe had to be the priority. The distraction of the sexual pull between them wouldn’t help that focus. He couldn’t fail her again.

  * * *

  Brian bolted up out of bed at the cacophonous screech of the fire alarm. He flew out of his room to Toni’s. Empty.

  Bounding down the stairs in the morning light, he grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the hall closet as he ran toward the plume of smoke billowing out of the kitchen. There he found mass chaos.

  Sam bounced around below the fire alarm barking at it. Toni stood in front of the sink, fanning the smoke away from some sort of dish smoldering there. Nathan sat on a barstool overlooking the kitchen, rolling with laughter.

  Since there didn’t appear to be any actual flames or danger of the house burning down around them, Brian grabbed the still-barking Sam by the collar and pulled him toward the door to put him out in the yard. That at least gave them one little tiny shred of sanity back in the kitchen.

  Toni still hadn’t noticed him as she dealt with the pan, so he grabbed a chair to stand on to reach up to the alarm. Finally, he popped the battery out of it. Blessed silence. He ran his hand through his hair and looked down from his perch to find both Toni and Nathan openly gaping him. Instantly, he became self-conscious of the fact he had nothing on but a thin pair of knit sleep pants.

  “Damn, Alpha,” Nathan’s eyes widened as he gulped. “You need to go without clothes more often. Who knew what was hiding under those tacky suits?”

  Toni just nodded along with Nathan’s perusal.

  Embarrassed, he’d never been subjected to this kind of blatant ogling. He resisted the urge to cover his chest with his hands as he jumped down from the chair. Yes, he worked out, but he wasn’t cover material. He rolled his eyes at both of them. “You both need to have your eyes checked.”

  Toni cleared her throat. “No, I have to agree with Nathan on this one. You’re hot. Damn, look at your abs and wow,” she swallowed hard before continuing, her eyes roaming over his body, leaving pure heat in her wake. “When did you get the tattoo? I heartily approve.” Smiling at him like a cat with a mouse in its sights, her eyes traced the lines of his sleeve tattoo up his arm and across his chest. “Can we have a no clothes rule in the house?”

  He choked in disbelief. “Who knew I was bringing a couple of deviants home?”

  The blood drained from Nathan’s face as he stood awkwardly, horror etched on his pale face. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” He waved his arm at Brian’s body. “I didn’t mean anything, but damn. I’m sorry. Don’t kick Toni out. She needs to stay somewhere safe.” He turned to flee from the room.

  Brian rushed to grab his arm and stop him. Nathan’s pupils immediately dilated with fear and Brian released him, suddenly realizing what he’d just done. His gut sank. The kid had just been attacked and the trauma from that was too close to the surface.

  “No, Nathan, hold up. I was just kidding. It’s okay. I was just messing with you. I didn’t mean anything by it, just like I know you didn’t mean anything by what you said. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  The boy was pale and trembling and Brian feared he was about to start hyperventilating.

  Toni scrambled in front of him and immediately grabbed Nathan by the shoulders so he had to listen to her. “Hey, hey, relax. You heard Brian. It was just a joke. Calm down. It’s okay. Just take a deep breath, sit back down.” She flung a desperate glance over her shoulder at Brian, but she was doing a great job so he just nodded in agreement with what she said. Besides, it seemed to be working, as the kid calmed down.

  Her eyes lit on the still smoldering pan and her mouth twisted. “Sit down and I’ll figure out something to feed you.” She pushed Nathan back down on the barstool and they both glanced over worriedly to the still smoking sink.

  “Are you sure about that?” Nathan’s voice was still a bit weak, but he was making an effort to relax the tension in the room.

  Brian cleared his throat. “What were you trying to cook? A soufflé?”

  Nathan snorted, still looking a bit fearful, but he was trying. “As if.”

  Toni scowled at him. “Hush,” she hissed. “It will be okay. I can do this.”

  “Um, Toni, I think the evidence states differently.” Nathan nodded toward the disabled smoke detector, before smirking knowingly at her.

  Brian detected there was more to the story here than he realized, but Toni was effectively distracting Nathan so that worked for him.

  Watching the exchange between the two of them, he’d totally believe they were siblings. He crossed his arms across his chest. “Okay, fess up. What am I missing here?”

  Nathan snorted and shoved Toni, who had begun to leer at his chest again. “A shirt for one,” he snickered.

 
; Brian grabbed a hoodie he’d thrown onto one of the kitchen chairs a couple of days ago and zipped it up. “Better?”

  “Not really. I have to agree with Toni that maybe we should go clothes-optional for you in the house, but we don’t want to make you uncomfortable with our drooling.”

  Toni thumped him on the side of his head.

  Brian chuckled at their shenanigans. He could see why the boy had gotten into trouble. He was a natural flirt. Even knowing the danger of messing with a straight guy, he couldn’t seem to resist. He’d need to figure out how to help him to install a filter soon, so it wouldn’t get him killed.

  “Ow,” Nathan whined as he rubbed the side of his head. “You were the one looking at him like he was a brownie sundae.” Nathan stuck his tongue out at her. “Back to what you’re missing, Brian…” He smirked at Toni. “Unless you really miss seeing your doctor and plan to die of food poisoning this week, you probably should forbid her from stepping foot in your kitchen.”

  “Hey!” Toni set her hands on her hips and frowned as Nathan continued to grin at her. “I sent you to the ER one time and you continue to hold a grudge about it. How is that fair?”

  “Toni, no one should ever have to go to the ER after you feed them. That’s bad,” Nathan responded.

  “ER?” Brian asked weakly. Suddenly the fact that breakfast smoldered in the sink didn’t seem to be such a bad thing. That seemed preferable to his stomach at this point. “Okay, so I take it you don’t actually cook?”

  Toni blushed again. “Um, it’s probably not my strongest skill?”

  Nathan snorted.

  “Okay.” Brian ran his hand across his face. Coffee, he needed coffee. He’d been up half the night fantasizing about Toni and her creamy, toned thighs wrapped around his waist. As he looked through his fingers, those thighs were on full display in her teeny, tiny sleep shorts. Her nipples perked up as if begging for his attention. His mouth went dry. He pulled his hand from his face and tugged the hoodie down so maybe it would camouflage his erection.