“You gonna be okay if I go do what I have to do?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll be fine.”
Had he noticed my fascination with his chest? Or his mouth, for that matter? Gah. I was seriously swooning like a teen. The guy had me all mixed up in my head. Like I didn’t know the day or time of year. Seriously, the sooner he went on his mission and I got back to work, the better.
And then a thought hit. I hadn’t freaked out since yesterday. I hadn’t dwelled on my assault. Viper had taken my mind off it. He’d given me the reprieve I’d needed. He’d been the bandage on my wound. I wasn’t sure what would happen when he left, but for the time being, I felt…okay. More than okay.
***
We arrived at the mall at three p.m. I hadn’t seen much of him at home, as I’d gone to my room and he’d been busy preparing for his departure tomorrow. As I’d sat in silence, the fears I’d been experiencing surfaced a little. Each time my mind tried to return to the darkness, I pictured Viper’s complete surrender to me the night before. I hated that I’d loved it. Something else swam through my blood, something separate from my attack. I felt uneasy about his leaving, and I couldn’t be sure if it was that I was going to miss him, or something more. Whatever it was, it sat haphazardly on my chest.
We’d agreed for me to be dropped over to Mac’s apartment tonight because Viper had to be out of his house before the sun rose in the morning. Not a word more had been spoken about our tryst other than his mention of sex at breakfast, so I figured maybe it had just been a one-off thing between two people who had chemistry, and who needed the reprieve it brought.
Still, disappointment at that thought weighed me down. Viper must have noticed as we walked through the mall.
“You’re quiet,” he offered.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
You. I couldn’t say that. If he did only want something casual, I didn’t want to put pressure on him. He needed his head in the game for what he had ahead of him.
“Wondering if I need to buy anything to take to Mac’s.” Lie.
He eyed me a moment too long, probably seeing right through me with his military instincts, then he simply nodded and we kept going.
He purchased personal items while I browsed, not really into the whole shopping thing, but it was nice to get out. While he paid for his purchases, I stood outside, people watching. I liked to do it sometimes, wondering what others’ lives were like. What jobs they did. I tried to figure it all out by their appearance. Silly, I know, but fun.
“We need to get you a new cell.”
I jumped at his closeness. I hadn’t heard him approach.
“There’s a store not too far from here. I should be able to transfer my old number, hopefully.”
We ambled along the mall to the cell phone store and browsed at the handsets until we were served. I’d opted for another iPhone for its simplicity. Explaining that I’d had my other stolen they set about transferring my old number and getting me set up.
Viper sat patiently, watching the front of the shop as if on guard while I took care of business. After half an hour we were back out in the mall.
“You hungry? Viper asked.
“No. I’m fine. I’ll grab something later.”
As we approached a drug store, he paused. “I’ve just gotta grab a couple of things in here and then we’ll head home.”
“Okay. I’ll wait out here.”
Eying me as if he wasn’t sure whether to leave me or not, he gave a sullen nod and showed me his back.
Odd man. One minute he could be ‘almost’ sweet and the next he turned back into his snarky self. My emotions tumbled everywhere.
I began people watching again for a while, when suddenly from out of nowhere, I got thrust forward as a guy plowed into me from behind. He was running through the mall with a friend. I felt my balance falter, then I began falling. Slowly, but yet too fast for me to stop it. I tried to correct my balance, but it proved too late. I hit the shiny mall floor with a thud, jarring my already sore arm. Pain seared from my fingers to my shoulder. For a moment I remained still, sore and in shock. My purse strap remained around my shoulder, but the pouch was an uncomfortable lump under me. My spare, tiny purse I’d packed to take to Viper’s proved a blessing after my other had been stolen but right now, I cursed it.
A large hand gripped me and pulled me up. “Shit, Red? You okay?”
Viper.
Was I okay? Apart from being startled and in a fair amount of discomfort, I guess so. Bracing myself against him, I turned when the guy who hit me yelled from several yards away. “Sorry, Ma’am.”
Viper pivoted, and before I knew what happened, he’d strode toward the guy, pushing people out of the way.
I called out to him, “Viper. It’s okay. I’m all right.” He either didn’t hear me or chose to ignore my plea.
I watched on, helpless, as the guy who rammed me focused on the giant, scary dude who looked like he could blow a gasket at any second. His eyes widened as he turned to flee, but Viper reached him first, gripping the guy’s arms to spin him around.
The whole of the mall must have heard the roar. “You! Watch where you’re going! You’re not supposed to be running inside.”
“I’m sorry.” The dude looked genuinely remorseful and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him for being accosted by Viper. At the same time, it appeared as if Viper was protecting me. Again.
“You need to apologize. Properly.” He pulled on the guy, whose friend stood on watching, dumbfounded.
People had stopped to stare. They made their way back to me and stood motionless. Viper still had the guy in a firm hold. “Say it to her face.”
He looked livid, and I was glad I wasn’t the poor guy, who only looked to be in his early twenties…if that.
The guy’s cheeks had reddened in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough!” thundered Viper.
Okay. Now I was getting embarrassed. “It’s all right. Really. I’m fine,” I offered, hoping to get the guy off the hook.
Viper jerked on the guy’s arm to hurry him into his apology.
“Uh, I shouldn’t have been running and should have been watching where I was going. I apologize.”
“Thank you.” I smiled in an attempt to put the poor guy at ease a little.
Viper let go of the guy’s arm, which I was sure would be bruised. “Think next time. There’s women, children, and elderly in here.”
Nodding furiously, the guy waited. Viper ignored him, turned, and came closer to me. “You sure you’re not hurt?”
Not wanting to anger him more, I simply said, “Yeah.”
Giving the young guy one more heated stare, Viper put his hand in between my shoulder blades and gave me a little shove to move us along, leaving the poor sap standing there, intimidation written all over his face.
When we were exiting the mall, I asked, “Did you really have to embarrass the kid like that? He said sorry.”
Stopping, his hand fell from my upper back. “You’re seriously questioning why I did that? He pushed you over. You could have cracked your head on the floor. And don’t tell me he didn’t hurt you. I know you fell on the shoulder you injured during your attack.”
His voice had risen. I didn’t want to get into an argument but I had to make him see. “Look, I appreciate you defending me like that. I do. It’s just that you can’t always react with such anger. The guy didn’t mean to run into me. He shouldn’t have been running inside, no. But I would have just let it go when he said sorry the first time. You caused a scene.”
“I’m gonna cause another scene in a moment, Red. Just get to the car.”
He stormed off. I followed. Did he not see how flying into a rage over something minor was wrong? Obviously not. It was what he trained for. I guess he reacted without thinking.
When we reached his SUV, he unlocked it and climbed straight into the driver’s seat without helping me. Yep. He was pissed.<
br />
Pulling out of the parking lot, I trod carefully, but I had to find out what had prompted him to almost lose it.
“Why did you react the way you did?” Sneaking a peek sideways to garner if he would chew my head off, I watched the way he heavily shifted the gears and gripped the wheel. His jaw was locked.
He breathed in and out through his nose, not looking my way. He didn’t answer right away, and for a moment I thought he would ignore me, so I glanced out the side window.
Then he spoke. “After what you went through with your mugging, when I turned and saw you on the ground, I acted on instinct. I thought someone had purposely set out to hurt you.”
I understood his logic. Being who he was, he didn’t think first.
“Thank you. I mean it. I just feel sorry for the poor guy. Did you see his face when you stormed toward him?”
Sliding a half-smile my way, his eyes crinkled. “He about crapped his pants.”
“Hahaha. Yeah, he did. And so did his friend.”
“Well, they won’t forget it in a hurry. Lesson learned, hopefully.”
Even though I didn’t like the way he went about handling the situation, I had to laugh some more. Now that I knew Viper more intimately, he didn’t come across as such an intimidating ogre but looking at it from a stranger’s point of view—very much so.
My new cell pealed out. Digging it out of my purse, I checked the screen. Mac’s number.
“Hey, girl. How’s work?”
“Busy as usual. I’m on my break. Just wondering if you wanted me to pick you up after I’ve finished. That way it will save Viper a trip over.”
It would mean spending less time with him. A pang of sadness filtered through my chest. I’d been hoping to go to Mac’s later in the evening so I could have dinner with Viper. Like the last supper. Silly really, but I wasn’t sure how long he’d be away. Nausea swished heavily in my gut at the idea of him being in a war zone. We weren’t even an item. We weren’t really anything and my nerves were in the red zone. How did wives or girlfriends cope?
“Char?”
Oh. Mac waited for an answer. Not wanting to disappoint her, I said, “Yes. That would be fine. I’ll pack up my stuff this afternoon and be all ready for you.”
“Great. I’ll pick up a bottle of wine on the way home. You up for some Subway for dinner?”
Mac’s go-to meal. “Sure. Grab me a BBQ chicken sub.”
“Awesome! I’ve just been paged so I gotta go, but we’ll catch up later. Can’t wait to see you.”
“Me too.”
After hanging up, I wondered if Mac would notice I’d slept with Viper without me having to say anything. Would it be written on my face? Could I hide it, and more to the point, did I want to? Hell, I needed to tell someone. Maybe after a couple of glasses of wine, I’d confess my sins and be done with it. I wondered what her reaction would be. Would she be happy I’d officially ended my dry spell or would she be worried I’d slept with a man who may not return from war? No. I didn’t think she would be like that. After all, she’d snagged her own soldier.
I could feel Viper’s questions without him having to ask them.
“Mac’s picking me up on her way home from work so you don’t need to worry about taking me over.”
“Oh. Cool. You want to go home and pack?”
It’s not like I had much to throw in my bag. Clothing and toiletries. I really needed to go to my apartment and grab some more. I hadn’t wanted to because of what happened there, but with Viper at my side, perhaps I could do it.
“Would you mind dropping by my apartment so I could grab another bag of stuff?”
He swung his surprise my way. “You okay to do that? I mean the whole reason you’ve been staying with me was that you didn’t want to go there after what went down.”
I didn’t want to, but hell, I’d have to return there eventually. And it would only be for a short time. I’d get in and out as quickly as possible.
“Yeah. If you don’t mind going inside with me.”
He glanced back to the road, his jaw muscles working before he looked at me again, his eyes softer. “Sure. Let’s head there now.”
Switching his indicator on, we turned around at the next intersection and drove to my apartment without speaking.
Images of that fateful night slid across my mind in bursts. I recalled how terrified I’d been, not knowing if the guy would pull the trigger. Each second he didn’t was a blessing.
Pulling up to the curb outside my place, a shiver plated goosebumps all over. I took a deep breath and just sat there, picturing myself with the metal barrel pressed to my temple.
A hand touched my arm. “You sure you want to do this?” His voice held understanding. “You want me to go in and grab a suitcase full of clothes for you?”
Flitting around at his unexpectedly kind offering, my insides warmed. He would do it if I agreed. No questions asked. That’s the type of guy he was. Knowing that, I shook my head.
“No. I’ll do it. Just stay close.”
Getting out of the car, he strode around to my side while I collected myself. Reaching out, I took his hand, the size of it alone bringing about some strength. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
I let him lead me up to the porch. We stopped and he looked at me. I realized he waited for my keys, so I pulled them out of my purse, I handed them over, looking all around as if one of the guys would appear suddenly again.
A slight creak of the door had me pushing up against Viper’s back as he stepped over the threshold. Even inside, I expected an intruder to be lurking, so I gripped his shirt and held on as I stared at the floor where I’d fallen and lain in a heap. I took in a large gulp of air as I stepped over the spot. Pausing, he peered over his shoulder. “You want me to carry you, Red?” I didn’t miss the sarcasm. If I was any closer, he’d be giving me a piggyback ride.
My chest felt small, my airways narrowing with each step we took deeper into the living room toward the hallway.
“No.” It didn’t sound very convincing, but I had to do this. I couldn’t let a stranger alienate me from my own home. It was a one-off occurrence. Robberies happened all the time.
“Which bedroom is yours?” he asked.
“Last on the right,” I mumbled, the tiny hairs on my arms standing on end.
There were only two bedrooms, so it wouldn’t be hard for him to work out which one was mine. The other room had a single bed, whereas mine had a queen.
It felt weird being home and even weirder with Viper in it.
We made it without being accosted. I quickly moved to my walk-in closet and found my suitcase leaning up against the wall.
Get in and out. That’s what I needed to do. My breathing had calmed but I wasn’t comfortable.
Lifting a handful of clothes, hangers included, off the rack, I didn’t care what I grabbed. I just stuffed them in the case without bothering to neatly fold. Stepping out into my room, I caught Viper looking at a photo of me on the nightstand. It was one of my favorites, taken in California on the beach. I was soaking wet, standing in the knee-deep surf and just happened to glance up when my then boyfriend, Jason Roberts, had clicked the candid shot. We’d dated five years ago for a year and had gone on a long weekend to Cali. I’d been happy at that time. Carefree. Much like I’d been before my attack. It showed in the picture. It was one of the very few long-term relationships I’d had.
He glanced sideways and cleared his throat, aware I’d caught him staring before he sat on my bed while I proceeded to take my lingerie out, carefully bundling it into a ball so he couldn’t check out what I wore. He appeared nervous to be in my space, or maybe it was just the fact that he knew what I held.
Lastly, I got some more makeup out of the bathroom and jammed it all into the overflowing suitcase, barely able to do it up as it bulged at the seams.
“Done. You ready?” I asked, admiring the view of a large tank of a man on my bed. I’d barely had a handful of men in it since I�
�d been single. Not that I hadn’t gone on plenty of dates. I just hadn’t brought many home.
Standing, he took a step toward me and stopped. He opened his mouth and then shut it again.
“What?” I asked.
Shaking his head slightly, he took me in before saying, “You did good. Coming here, I mean. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
What was that in his eyes? Respect? Awe? I couldn’t tell, but hearing his praise steeled my determination.
Seeing my bag at my side, he moved to grab it, his hand grazing mine as he clutched the handle. Our eyes clashed for a long moment, both of us feeling the draw. The pull. He looked away first and turned, dragging my suitcase behind him. “Grab anything else you need and I’ll meet you at the car.”
I followed him out, disappointed he’d dismissed our connection, wondering if there would be anything in the kitchen I needed, but decided against it. I had plenty of money in the bank. I’d buy food for Mac as long as I stayed with her.
Shutting and locking the front door, a sense of sadness weighed my shoulders down that I’d be living away for a bit. Normally I loved my home. My space. Now it felt invaded and I couldn’t help but feel it would never be the same again.
Chapter Fifteen
Viper
She damn well had me at hello. Not that I’d let on how I felt anytime soon. Her continued strength, a quality in a woman I admired, blew me away. Just now, in her home, I’d expected her to crumble. She hadn’t been comfortable, that had been obvious, but it hadn’t got the better of her. Perhaps my presence had helped, but still, I knew how shaken up she’d been.
Red would be okay while I was away. She’d carry on with life and survive. I didn’t know what we were doing after sleeping together, but the thought of not seeing her for the next few weeks, maybe months, left a certain amount of unease behind my ribs.
Could we be more than a casual hook up? Glancing over at her sitting in my passenger seat, I couldn’t deny what a firecracker she was in the bedroom. Hell, it had been using all my restraint not to accost her today. Sleeping next to her had kept my nightmares at bay. Another first. She got under my skin more than just physically, though. She had spunk and fire. I liked that. I liked that a lot.
True Beginnings (The Lost and Found Series Book 3) Page 10