by Michelle Kee
"Well, when the letters started becoming darker, we started sorting the fan mail by his letters. Any other fan mail that arrived with his letters were kept together and marked by the date. Any fan mail that arrived in-between his letters is put in another group, again based on the date Jerry received them." Krista explained.
Krista turned and grabbed her phone off the counter as Ethan and her dad talked quietly. As she texted the two agents about the letters, she tried to catch her breath. 'Christ Ethan is still hot as hell. He's bigger than I remember. God I feel like I'm a kid again with a crush.' She thought. She snuck a quick peak at him while waiting for a reply. ‘And the way he gave that order about the letters. Hot damn!’
"Krista,"
"Yeah Dad?" Krista asked looking up from her phone and blanking her face as her dad stood.
"I need to get back to the office. Ethan's going to stay here so you two can discuss what you need to do." Nicholas said approaching her. He gently laid his hands on her shoulders. "Please honey, listen to him and cooperate."
Krista covered his hands with her and smirked. "I will dad. I trust Ethan and Blackout a hell of a lot more than I do the Feds. At least with Blackout I know what I'm getting."
Nicholas chuckled and kissed her forehead, he then moved over to Ethan. She watched as the men hugged before her dad left. Now she was alone with Ethan Blackstone. She licked her lips as she stood a mere three feet away. His body language hard to read, but his eyes were another matter. They were filled with worry. For her? Determination, what looked like sadness, and something else she couldn't quite place. She jumped when her phone chirped.
"Um, the Feds say they'll share." Krista stuttered reading the text on her phone.
"Alright, once I’m done here I’ll have one of my guys meet me at the Federal building. Say, about an hour." Ethan ordered as he started moving toward her noticing her looking down at the phone sending the text.
She quickly sent the text to Jimmy and Cain before looking up again. Krista fought the urge to step back. She wasn't scared of Ethan, but at the moment her emotions were running crazy and THAT scared her just a bit. "Thanks. I gather Blackout will be doing a background check on Jerry."
Ethan smirked again. "You seem to know a lot about Blackout."
She chuckled. "Not personally. I have a PI friend who I consult with for my writing. He told me a bit about what you guys do. Plus, you forget our parents are friends. Your dad has been bragging about ityour operation to dad ever since you opened it."
Ethan laughed then. Oh his laugh shot right through Krista to her core. She felt heat pulse between her legs and her nipples tingle in the confines of her bra. Taking a slow breath, she spoke again. "I can tell you right now, since I know you’ll look into him anyway, Jerry isn't the guy, nor would he help him."
"People can surprise you Kris." Ethan stated, his laugh dying and his eyes and facing growing deadly serious.
"Oh I know that, but Jerry...well, let's just say you are more his type than mine." Krista giggled as Ethan raised one brow in understanding. "Jerry is the sweetest guy. He would gain nothing by doing this. He's been with me since the beginning. Before I ever published my first book. We were housemates in college and up until we moved here last year."
"We'll still check him out. I'll need to look around and see about your home security. I'll also need a list of names of people who know you and Kris James are the same person. Publishers, stylists, all of it." Ethan instructed.
"Alright, but it will be a short list." She nodded with a shrug.
As Ethan left the kitchen, Krista sagged into her chair. If she had thought he was trouble when they were teenagers, the man he was now was lethal. What the hell was she going to do now that he was protecting her? On unsteady legs, she moved to a drawer and pulled out a pen and pad of paper to get started on the list Ethan asked for.
***
Ethan silently moved through Krista's home. His eyes missing nothing as he took in each room. Her living room impressed him with the sixty-inch plasma screen mounted over the stone fireplace. The room was welcoming. Smiling a little as he headed upstairs. The first room he came to housed what looked like the hub for her security system. It was top of the line, but Blackout's was even more top of the line.
He sat at the main computer and pulled up the systems specs. Though his men constantly teased him about his strong dislike of computers, Ethan was no slouch at them. He just didn't particularly like them. There was a difference dammit. He was impressed with the system, but knew his system would better protect the woman downstairs in the kitchen.
Sighing, he stood and left the room. As he moved down the hall his thoughts ran circles in his head. Seeing Krista again brought back feelings he thought he no longer had. She had always held a special place in his life and at one time his heart. The last time he had seen her was nine years ago. She had been twenty-one. He recalled the last time he saw her.
He had come home on leave for Christmas that year. That had been right before he was recruited by MARSOC and been accepted into the special unit. She had brought her boyfriend at the time home with her. Ethan recalled how during Nick and Debbie's annual Christmas party, he and her three brothers had delightfully discussed the different ways to hurt the guy.
His smiled disappeared and he let out a low whistle as he entered one of the guest rooms. The room was nothing like he had ever seen. The wall to his left faced the backyard and was nothing but windows. Across from the door, right in front of the bank of windows sat a massive antique oak desk. If his memory was correct, it had belonged to Krista's grandfather when he had been a Texas Senator back in the day.
The walls were painted in a soft blue that reminded him of the waters out in Cancun. On the walls were framed pictures of what looked like book covers. As he examined the first one he realized he was looking at the covers of Krista's books. He studied the couple that graced the book cover.
The woman was beautiful. She had long straight blonde hair that, he would bet his eye-teeth, fell to the middle of her back, just like Krista’s. She wore a tight fighting tank top with a wicked looking shoulder harness studded in silver. The woman was holding two SIG P239 Scorpions, her arms crossed over her chest. Behind her was a man that he thought looked a bit like himself. The same blue-grey eyes, his dark blonde almost brown hair in a slight spike, with the sides in a fade. The man had his arms extended over the woman's holding matching Colt 1911's.
The image was striking and Ethan had to admit hot as hell. It was like he was looking at an image of himself and Krista. Shaking his head, he moved around the rest of the room. With one last look at the picture on the wall with the title, "Dress Blues" scrawled in an elegant script, he exited the room. The door across the hall revealed a guest bathroom. Down a few feet, yet another guest room lay that housed Krista's work-out equipment.
The room held a treadmill, an elliptical and something that made Ethan smile. He grinned at the sight of the hanging punching bag. He and Jax, as well as Hayden and Krista's little brother, Daniel, had taught her to fight. Ethan himself had taught her some boxing. He remembered her having a mean left hook. He turned and almost ran smack into Krista.
***
Krista giggled as he jumped. "Sorry."
"Dammit woman. Wear a bell or something." Ethan grumbled.
Krista laughed then. "Hey, you're the one invading my house jarhead."
Ethan glared at her. Her laughter faded, but her lower belly did a flip flop. Damn if the man wasn't hot. She held up the slip of paper for him. She studied him as he took the paper and began reading the ten names. He looked up with a quirked eyebrow.
"Told you it would be a short list." She shrugged. "Look, dad has made enough enemies over his career that I knew if I wanted to pursue writing as a profession I would have to be careful. I talked to him and Danny. Hell, they and Jerry helped me come up with my appearance as Kris James."
"How is Danny these days?" Ethan nodded as the two headed back downstairs.
"You guess? Don't you two talk? I mean you and Danny were always close."
Krista sighed. She walked into the living room and dropped onto the plush couch, clutching a throw pillow. "We do, when it's safe. After I left, hell after we all left, Danny was alone. Jax was out at Yale, Hayden went off to Stanford and I was up in New York. You remember Parker Thornton?"
Ethan nodded. "Yeah, he was Danny's best friend. Hell of a first baseman as I recall."
"He was also a coke head." She said sadly, clutching one of the throw pillows.
"What?'
"Yeah. No one knew, not even Danny knew. About six months before Danny's graduation, Dad called me. Danny had gone over to Parker's to hang out, but when he got there, the house was full of cops, DEA and paramedics. Parker had OD'd on coke. Danny watched as they rolled him out of the house in a body bag."
"Christ. Was Danny...did he..."
"No! No, Danny didn't do drugs, not even weed. After Parker died, Danny made it his mission to help get drugs off the streets. He joined the DEA. He's now in a deep cover unit. At the moment he's in deep and can only call maybe once every few weeks. We haven't told him what's going on with this guy. He just needs to focus on staying alive." Krista explained.
"Wow. Never would have expected that. Danny always said he wanted to stay away from anything related to law or law enforcement." Ethan stated in surprise.
"Yeah. In fact, the two Feds on my case are old friends of Danny's. Well, mine too. Jimmy Fortner and Cain Harker. I knew I could trust them to not lie to me and to keep me in the loop." Krista nodded.
She watched as Ethan's face grew serious. "Krista, I will be honest with you too. This situation is serious, otherwise Nick wouldn't have come to me and my guys."
"I get that. I really do. This whole situation has me paranoid Ethan and I hate it." She stated, hating the almost pouty sound of her voice.
"Okay then. I know you are independent but I will need you to cooperate with me and my team."
"That depends on what you're asking Ethan. I have a career that means the world to me. Fans that adore me and I them, this psycho withstanding obviously. I will not hide like a craven coward." She hissed.
"I'm not asking you too. Yet." Before she could retort, he continued, merely lifting a hand to silence her. "If this asshole escalates we will adapt accordingly. For now, all I'm asking for is for me and the guys of my team, to be made aware of your schedule. Public appearances, interviews, book signings, that kind of thing. We don't need to know everything you do, but if it involves you going out as Kris James we need to know. Just the major things really."
Krista took a slow deep breath to calm down her temper. "What constitutes as major exactly?"
Ethan scooted closer. She could feel his heat and her heart fluttered. She lifted her gaze and met his blue-gray orbs. "Well, anything that could put you in a vulnerable position. Doctor’s appointments, salon visits, long trips out shopping. We will need to know when and time frame. Just in case this guy gets ballsy and tries something."
"Fine. I will have Jerry send you my schedule as Kris. I can tell you the next month are busy for me. Hell, I have a four-day trip to New York scheduled in about a few weeks."
"New York?"
"Yes. I'll be on Good Morning America and The Today Show. Hell, just because Danny is a fan I'm even doing a segment on Howard Stern."
Ethan frowned a little and rose from the couch. As he paced, Krista took that time to watch him. He moved with a lethal elegance. His muscles bunched and released under the confines of the tight green shirt. He was the epitome of male hotness. Danger and pure raw sex rolled off him in waves. She squeezed her thighs together as her clit gave a little throb.
He stopped pacing and faced her. "Alright, we can work with that. You said it was only four days right?" Krista nodded. "Then I will send at least two of my guys with you. Not sure who yet, but my team are the best. I served with them, I trust them with my life."
"If you trust them, that's good enough for me. Of course, I'd like to meet my potential bodyguards at some point before then." She agreed.
"You'll be meeting Tony and Hawkeye later today. They will be coming over after I leave here to install one of our security systems."
She snorted. "Hawkeye? Will he have an extendable bow and exploding arrows?"
"He might actually." Ethan chuckled. "His name is Lance. He got the nickname Hawkeye cause the bastard is deadly accurate. Guy can damn near shoot a flea off a dog's ass from three hundred yards. Plus, he's a big fan of Hawkeye from the Avengers."
"Is there something wrong with my current system? I'm told it's the best." Krista questioned with a slight frown.
"It is, for a civilian model. Blackout's systems are much better and more hi-tech. You can't get ours on the market. After reading the letters Nick got, I'm not taking chances." Ethan stated.
"Fair enough. Just a bit of warning, tell your jarhead buddies not to expect any strip teases or hot shower scenes. I find out they invade my privacy and I'll rip all your balls off and hand feed them to you." Krista growled.
Ethan’s eyes twinkled at the comment. “You’re still the same spitfire Krista I remember.” Shaking his head, he sat beside her once more. “I promise you, my team aren’t like that. Look, I better get going if I’m going to meet Harker and Fortner. I’ll send Lance and Tony over right away. If it will make you feel better, call that agent of your over. Okay?”
Krista snorted. “Fine I’ll call Jerry. But I’m not responsible if her drools or gropes one of your men. Especially if they’re good looking.”
Ethan couldn’t help and laughed at the picture of Tony and Lance being grabbed by another man. After he programed his personal cell into Krista’s phone, he said he and his other guy would swing by after meeting with Harker and Fortney to check-in. Climbing onto his bike, he watched as Krista stood at her door and waved.
He felt his heart skip at the picture. Back when they dated, she used to do the same thing every time he left after a date with her or after he had been over visiting her brothers. Something about the gesture had always made him feel warm all over, but seeing Krista do it now. The warm feelings seemed to shoot not just to his heart, but straight south as well. Pulling on his helmet, he backed out of her drive and headed to meet with Grant.
Chapter 3
Grant and Ethan walked into the Federal building in downtown Austin. After leaving Krista’s, Ethan had met up with Grant back at Blackout and the two had headed straight here. On the drive over Ethan filled his team mate in on Krista’s home layout and her reaction to Blackout being brought in. Grant had been impressed with the precautions that Krista was taking but agreed with Ethan that she could use a little help.
"So, you told me that you know these two Feds we're meeting?" Grant asked.
"I used to. They are friends of Krista's youngest brother Danny. Jimmy Fortner and Cain Harker were both on the football team with me, Hayden and Danny. Cain was also a track star. We used to run in the same circles when we were kids. I'll tell you this, if Danny didn't trust them he wouldn't have told Krista to go to them." Ethan replied as they waited.
"I'm looking forward to meeting her." Grant said absently as they waited at the security desk for Jimmy and Cain to come down. When Ethan's head snapped toward him, Grant lifted his hands in surrender at the dark look in his friend's eyes. "Whoa there Hoss, I just meant she sounds like a cool chick."
"Krista isn't a chick." Ethan growled, literally growled.
Grant lifted a brow. "What the hell's crawled up your ass? You claiming her or something?"
Ethan fell silent. What the hell WAS he doing? He was acting like some barbaric caveman over a woman that he had no right to claim. A woman he hadn’t seen in nine years. He had his chance with Krista Jameson twelve years ago, but chose Uncle Sam over her. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Before he could respond, the elevator opened and Jimmy and Cain stepped off, heading right for him a
nd Grant.
"Well I'll be dammed. If it isn't Ethan Blackstone." Cain grinned, extending his hand to Ethan. "Been a long time hot shot."
"Fuck you Harker." Ethan laughed, clasping the man's hand. "Hey Jimmy. Still putting up with this asshole?"
Jimmy shrugged. "Yeah cause no one else will."
"Kiss my ass." Cain retorted. “Come on up guys. We got everything ready for you.”
Ethan just grinned as he and Grant followed the two into the elevator. "Jimmy, Cain, meet one of my teammates, and my weapons specialist Grant Whitney. Grant, Jimmy Fortner and Cain Harker."