by Cara North
“How’s it going, Big Dog?” Ethan was teasing and in far too good a mood for Joshua’s taste right now. Ethan was always in a good mood.
“I’m in a living hell. How about you?” Joshua replied with impatience.
“Whoa, shit. What’s going on there?” Ethan was genuinely concerned.
“You haven’t told anyone she’s here, have you?” Joshua was direct, all business.
“No, Grace told me a little about her. Megan and Chase know, but Megan knows her, too. Everything’s on the down low. It’s weird. Are you all right? You need me to come down there?”
“No. Just, I don’t know. I have to figure out some things. You did a portrait for the FBI director last year, right?” Joshua’s mind was already turning with ideas.
“Y-e-a-h.” Ethan drew that out slow and cautious.
“Do you think you could arrange a meeting next weekend? When we come up. An art thing?” Joshua needed to talk to someone big, find Evelyn’s father and figure out his part in this. He had a hunch he had something to do with it. He needed to figure out if her sister was dead or alive. He needed someone on the inside, way on the inside but couldn’t take the chance of tipping anyone off.
“Well, that sounds a little ... Joshua.” Ethan turned it over in his head a second.
“Yeah?”
“What the fuck is going on?” Ethan wasn’t angry just unsure.
“I need to talk to him, but if I make the call and ask for business reasons, it could leak, and right now one leak could sink the whole damn ship. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to. You know that.” Joshua was serious. His voice made no bones about it.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Ethan took a moment. “So how is Evelyn anyways?”
“Eve. We have to call her Eve from now on. Eve...” Joshua drummed his fingers on the counter now.
“Eve Alexander, you can pass her off as a cousin from my mother’s side.” Ethan wanted to help. After all Joshua had saved his life once.
“Good idea. Let me know when you get a solid on that meeting. I have to unload her car now before she kills me.” Joshua knew that was a poor choice of words.
“Josh?”
“I didn’t mean that, like that. She keeps me hopping around here though. I’ll tell you that off the record.” Joshua let a slight laugh escape.
“Ah, I see. Okay, Big Dog, I’ll see what I can do.” Ethan went to hang up. “Joshua.”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful,” Ethan said.
“I’m always careful.” Joshua hung up the phone and headed out to Evelyn’s car. So careful a woman got the drop on me at three in the morning. Ethan knew how much he loved it here. He felt safe. No one knew anything about him other than he was related to Grace and Megan and now he lived here. That was good enough. He was accepted.
With everything unloaded and in the guest bedroom, Joshua saw no point in keeping her weapon anymore. If she wanted to hurt him, she had more than enough tools to do it with now. He played with the crossbow, inspecting it, held it up and aimed with an imaginary arrow. Evelyn stepped in the room.
“Wow.” He let the imaginary arrow go and dropped the bow to his side. She had covered the bruises. Her face was made up. Her lashes were now long and black accenting her big brown eyes, her lips shiny and kissable.
“You like?” Evelyn noticed how much he enjoyed the crossbow.
“Yeah, you look great.” Joshua quickly ran his eyes over her. “I might just take you out for dinner tonight.”
Evelyn blushed. He was talking about her. Damn, he was talking about her. He noticed her not the bow. A sharp pain hit her chest almost knocking her down. She swallowed, gripped at her heart.
“Eve, you okay?” Joshua set the bow down and touched her in two steps. His hand pressed gently on her cheek pulling her face up and her eyes to look at him.
“Yeah, fine, just felt a pain or something.” She rolled back her shoulders and placed her hand on his. Somehow she didn’t want to move. She liked his touch. He was gentle, yet his hands were large and masculine. She could get used to Joshua’s hands on her. Maybe he would be just as gentle in the ... no. They never were. That’s why she tied them up. “You ready?”
* * * *
Evelyn was satisfied to go to the only department store around for her sneakers and some other clothes. The rest of her stuff she could pick up at Wal-Mart. Joshua sat at the front of the store with other men. Patiently, he carried on conversations about the weather and sports.
“I’m ready.” Evelyn smiled and Joshua stood. He shook the hand of the man that had sat next to him.
“Good luck.” Joshua waved and the man let out a long sigh.
“Good luck with what?” Evelyn asked as they left.
“His wife’s been in there three hours already.” Joshua realized at that moment Evelyn had taken about forty-five minutes. “Did you get everything you needed? I have money if you need more.”
Incredible, he was offering her his money. My, what a big heart you have. Evelyn smiled. She could get used to being thought of so considerately.
“I have money. I know what I want and I get it. I’m not much for high fashion, so it’s easy.” Evelyn licked her glossy lips. She did know what she wanted, Joshua.
With impending doom looming over her, she couldn’t bare the thought of never kissing him. But aggression wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Apparently Stella was right. If you want a good man, you gotta be a good woman. And Evelyn didn’t scare him. She couldn’t bully him, and he definitely wouldn’t let her tie him up. She wasn’t sure she would want to now anyways.
“I think you’re beautiful, so it wouldn’t matter what you wore.” Joshua opened the door for her, and she slid into his truck with a little help. Evelyn fought back a tear threatening to escape. He said she was beautiful. Blade had told her from the time she could remember that she was an ugly child. Her red hair and freckles made her an ugly little child. She didn’t put much stock in her appearance, and in her job, she didn’t have to.
“Okay, Wal-Mart is a little crazy, but if we split up and meet back at the vegetables, we should be in and out.” Joshua smiled. He liked having someone around. Here in this town they were safe. It didn’t erase the fact she was in danger, but it eased him to know she was safe.
Evelyn’s smile was uncontainable. For the first time ever she understood what her foster mom Stella was talking about. One day the right man would come along and change her life. That day felt like today.
“Okay.” Evelyn chewed on her bottom lip. “I thought we were going out for dinner though?”
“We are, back home though, in Beaufort.” Joshua felt like teasing her a bit. “Unless you want to eat at Hooters. They have great wings.”
“Joshua.” Evelyn feigned offense. Looking over at him, with his black hair, green eyes, and full lips, Evelyn felt the heat building inside her. She knew plenty of women at Hooters. She had tracked down an obsessed fan before he hurt one of the girls back home. She ate there for free now. “They have better grilled cheese sandwiches.”
Joshua cocked a brow and looked at her. He wanted a jealous reaction, but she shrugged it off. Evelyn was one of the guys, too often, and that made her immune to petty jealousy.
Evelyn unloaded her bags in the guest bedroom and checked her answering service. As she listened she heard a few warnings from friends, a few invitations from enemies, and a real creep. They were trying to flush her out. She needed a plan, but it would have to wait. Right now she needed to unload groceries.
* * * *
Joshua realized she was putting things away in the wrong places but didn’t stop her. He brought in the last of the bags and tried to organize the best he could without redoing what she had already done.
“I’m messing up your system, huh?” Evelyn placed her hand on his back and tiptoed on her good foot using him for leverage to place a box of cereal on the top shelf in the pantry.
“No, don’t be silly. It’s a closet.” He rearranged the canne
d vegetables putting liked ones together. The heat of her hand almost took his knees out. The night was growing long, and after dinner they would have to go to bed. He didn’t want her to sleep in the guest bed. He wanted her to sleep next to him, on him, like she had the night before. If he could feel her, he would know she was safe.
“Then why are you rearranging it?” She lowered herself flat on her feet again but didn’t move her hand.
Instead she gently stroked him, from shoulder to waist. Her head cocked, and she studied his body, the texture of the shirt beneath her hand, the heat he omitted beneath the shirt. Every muscle that now clenched and released as she covered it. “That was the last of it.”
Joshua just stood there, his hands holding a can of peas for dear life. He tried to focus, concentrate. It was no use. He turned into her and pulled her into his arms holding her. “If I can’t touch you like that, then you have to stop touching me like that, honey.”
His voice was in a low breathy whisper, and his lips were near her ear. Evelyn’s heart pounded, raced out of control. Instinct kicked in, instincts she didn’t know she had until now. Her arms stretched up his back, and she pulled him closer, tighter. Great, she thought, now she would be the grinding one.
“I have to tell you something first.” Evelyn held him. His breath was on her throat, and her senses were leaving her quickly. “I have this thing see. I have issues.”
Joshua made a small laugh on her throat, pulled his head up and smiled down at her. “Really, I hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m being serious.” Evelyn looked at his chest. The pantry was small, and Joshua took up most of it. “I’ve never, you know.”
“Hummm, no, I don’t know.” Joshua pulled her face up gently his finger under her chin. “Tell me.”
“Maybe we should talk in there.” Evelyn was getting nervous and feeling boxed in.
“Okay.” Joshua let her step out of the closet and followed her to the couch. He sat near her but not intrusive, like he wanted to. He wanted to pull her in his lap and kiss her, but that wasn’t going to happen right now. Pushing it from his mind he waited. “Evelyn?”
“I, well, I have never really, you know ... the birds and the bees.” She was quiet and looked at her hands that opened and closed into fists over and over.
“I thought you said you had, but it was years ago.” Joshua wasn’t sure what she was saying. It didn’t make sense. She was a grown woman with a knockout body. She hated men, but the way she touched him set him on fire. She knew how to do this surely.
“I mean I have done it, twice, but I have this thing see.” Evelyn rolled her shoulders back and decided to be firm and stick with her convictions. That’s what other women did, told a lie and stuck to it.
“You’re gonna have to tell me, honey.” Joshua lifted a brow. Actually he was dying to hear this one.
“I usually tie the man up ... so he can’t touch me.” Evelyn took a big gulping swallow and looked at him.
Joshua was silent. Processing the fact that men had let her tie them up, touch them, and leave without touching her. Where did she find these freaks? Unfortunately that’s what stood out the most.
“Where did you find guys that would let you do that?” His eyes were big and peered right at her. He didn’t mean to shame her, but damn, that was weird. And he thought Ethan was kinky.
“I don’t know. I mean it’s only happened a couple times. The first time I just told him the ground rules. He was excited and said it sounded kinky. As long as he got his release he didn’t care. All a man cares about is his needs. They would have let me do anything as long as they got off.” Evelyn dismissed it so easily.
“Where did you get that idea from?” Joshua’s chest was aching. He had thought Blade molested her as a child, but now he realized he tortured her, sexually. Inside he knew that he couldn’t meet the man face to face because he would kill him.
“Loose men are dangerous, like my father. He always tried to touch us; then he would pull back and beat us because he felt bad about it. That’s what this is from.” Evelyn lifted her blouse in the front, pulled at her bra exposing most of her left breast. A thin scar slashed across it. “And I have burns here and here. You’ve seen my back.” She pulled up her sleeves, and small round scars so faint no one would really notice speckled her flesh. Cigarette burns.
“Excuse me.” Joshua stood and tried not to run to the bathroom, but closing in on it he barely reached the commode before he was sick. He had seen a lot of things in his work, but nothing and no one like Evelyn. It was one thing to know you rescued a child from an abusive home. It was another to see the results firsthand.
“Joshua, are you all right all right?” Evelyn stood behind him now, and he felt what was left in his stomach roll up and out his throat. She grabbed a washcloth and ran cold water on it, pressed it to the back of his neck and rubbed his back. “You’re not sick because of me, are you?”
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Chapter 6
Joshua took a deep breath as he flushed the commode. He wasn’t sick because of her; he was sick because of what had happened to her. Thinking of his little sister Stephanie and the way he had beat up her boyfriends just for kissing her or breaking her heart, he wished someone had cared enough for Evelyn to fight for her. And he realized her mother did and died for her efforts.
“No, honey, I’m not sick because of you. I ... It was just hard to hear.” He searched for words, but that was the best he had.
“Why?” Evelyn really didn’t understand why he was sick. He had her information on file somewhere. Didn’t he know? She told him because she wanted him to hear it from her, know it was true, to understand that she trusted him, more than anyone, ever in her life, and she wanted him.
“Honey, do you understand what you just told me?” Joshua sat up and took a deep breath. “You were abused and you tie men up. That’s not normal, Evelyn. You should see someone.”
“A shrink? Yeah, I have. Why do you think I can tell you about it? The only thing she said was that eventually I would have to deal with the fear of intimacy or spend my life alone. She saw no problem with me tying them up. It didn’t hurt the guys, and it wasn’t against their will. It gave me control. That’s all.” Evelyn shrugged as if it were no big deal. “You had me checked out, so I assumed you knew. The only nightmare I have from that now is the night my mother died. And well, again, I told you.”
Shit, no wonder Stevens was freaked out. He had that information. But the fact that she had dealt with it so to speak, seemed a little off kilter since she still tied men up. But the more he thought about it, the less strange it seemed. People do freaky shit all the time on HBO. Evelyn was a grown woman, a highly trained bounty hunter. She was a Marine, yet her only fears were of her father and intimacy.
“I didn’t know, and I want to kill him for doing it. That’s why I’m sick. That’s why I’m afraid to touch you.” Joshua was afraid to touch her, especially now that she clung to him like a lifeline. If he broke that barrier, there would be no turning back. He would keep her, and she wanted to go.
“And that’s why I want you to.” Evelyn pulled at his hair gently. It was so soft and silky between her fingers. Yes, he was the one. Her angel, her savior, and the one she had secretly prayed for when Stella died.
Joshua stood and faced her. He touched a lock of her hair and stared into her big brown eyes. “We’ll see.”
Joshua stepped past her and went upstairs. He brushed his teeth and ran over all of his plans and thoughts. The thoughts took longer to sort out than the plans. By morning he would have information on the other two bounty hunters and hopefully information on her father. Ethan was setting up a meeting that would find the truth behind her sister and possibly help get her cleared of murder. Stevens knew it was a set-up because no charges were filed in Kentucky. It was a head hunt. They were coming for her. He had to be ready.
When he came back downstairs, Evelyn was sitting on the couch, hands in her lap with a
sad look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Joshua stretched. He felt better, had sorted things out in his head. He could take it slow, make her realize he wasn’t going to let her use him because he was safe.
Thoughts of his mother crept in and the outrage she would have just knowing Evelyn was here. He made her crazy as a teenager and furious as a young adult. She hated Ethan and Chase and thought they influenced him too much. The woman was a control freak, and she wanted her children to be doctors and lawyers and follow her rigid society rules.
“I don’t know ... I had my hopes up for a nice evening.” Evelyn wiggled her fingers and fisted them.
“Oh, honey, we’ll still have a nice evening. Come on.” Joshua walked over and stood in front of her, held his hand down, and pulled her up when she took it. Throwing up wasn’t a habit, but some things, like child abuse, made him sick.
“Where are we going?” Evelyn followed sluggishly.
“To eat.” Joshua shook his head. “I have a lot of room in here now.”
“That’s gross.” Evelyn was smiling at her own girly statement.
They ate at one of the local restaurants. It was in walking distance as most things were. Over dinner they talked about her time in the military, how she had stayed in Okinawa for three years instead of one. The command didn’t mind since she was good at her job, and they didn’t fear her getting pregnant. She watched lots of young women fall to the mass of available young men. When they were outnumbered thousands to one, even an ugly girl could be a princess. Evelyn didn’t have time for men, even then. When she wasn’t on duty, she was studying martial arts.
Joshua told her about his time on the force, his partner Rick who died on a bust gone bad. He injured his shoulder breaking the door down, but it was too late. Rick didn’t wait for him to get there, and he found him dead. He didn’t tell her about Candace.
After dinner they walked along the waterfront. The April air was crisp, and Evelyn felt chilly. She didn’t want to complain because she didn’t want the night to end. Going back to the house meant going back to bed, and she would no doubt be in bed alone. She had been alone her entire adult life, slept in vehicles and seedy motels, and now, in a cozy guest bedroom she couldn’t sleep at all.