Zach paused by the swing. The guy was obviously as high as he’d been the other night.
“Curtis with a C. Is Kim around?”
Curtis tipped his head toward the back door. “She’s inside. What do you want with her anyway?”
Zach showed him the gun. “I came to return this.”
Curtis nodded. “Go on in.”
Zach knocked on the back door. He wasn’t about to burst into Kim’s house unannounced. That would appear too cop-like.
When she didn’t answer after several moments, he knocked again and glanced over at Curtis.
Curtis waved an arm at him. “Just go in, dude. She’s probably on her treadmill and can’t hear you.”
Zach hesitated. She was a runner? Why wasn’t she running outside on this nice spring evening?
Because she was afraid of someone or something out there. And he had her gun, so she had no way to protect herself. Maybe if he offered to run with her, she’d relax a bit.
Zach pushed the door open, calling loudly, “Kim?”
She came around the corner, her eyes widening when she spied him stepping over the threshold. She blushed, a hand flying to her throat, and came to an abrupt halt.
“You scared me. Don’t you knock?”
“I did. I even called your name.” He paused in the doorway, his gaze traveling down her slender figure, then back to her face. She was dressed in a black sports bra and spandex shorts that clung to her like a second skin. Her body was every bit as sexy and curvy as in the picture, beautifully well-toned. Her dyed black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Indeed, she must have been running. Except she wasn’t sweating.
“I didn’t hear you because I was getting ready to go for a run.” She eyed him warily.
He cleared his throat. “Curtis said you liked to run. You need a running partner?”
Her gaze searched his. “You run? I was actually going to run on my treadmill.”
“I usually run early in the mornings,” he admitted, “but it’s a beautiful evening and I haven’t had a chance to run since moving out here. If you give me a few minutes, I can hurry back home and change into running shorts.”
She hesitated. Her cheeks filled with color again. “I…don’t know.”
“Here.” He held the gun out to her. “I came to return this.”
She hesitantly took it with her good hand.
“Are you able to run with that arm?” he asked, motioning to the arm in the cast. He noticed she had removed the sling.
She nodded. “As long as I’m careful.”
He waited a beat. Silence stretched.
“Okay,” she said after a moment. “Meet me out front in ten minutes.”
Surprised, and delighted, that she’d agreed to go for a run with him, Zach turned and headed back outside. He sensed he was that much closer to getting the truth out of her.
Curtis watched him from the porch swing as he sprinted through the trees toward home, but the other man didn’t say anything.
Seven minutes later Zach was back, dressed in black running shorts, a gray tank top and his Nikes. She was waiting for him in the front yard, slowly stretching her legs. Zach tried not to stare at her tight, perfect little body, but his eyes refused to listen. And when she bent over, sticking that gorgeous ass in the air, his lungs seized up and he couldn’t breathe. Damn, she was gorgeous. He swallowed hard, forced his lungs to exhale.
Slowly he approached.
She turned when he reached her.
She eyed him shyly, her gaze raking him from head to toe. She blushed. He took that as a good sign, that she liked what she saw.
“You ready?”
She nodded. “Which way?”
He shrugged, then motioned down the road that led deeper into the forest. “That way?”
“Let’s go.” She took off before he could say any more, and he got the impression she was running away from him. He had no choice but to follow. He came up beside her, matching his stride with hers. Neither spoke as they headed down the gravel road. She kept up a steady pace, and after about twenty minutes, she slowed, then stopped, bending over to catch her breath. Though Zach was far from winded, she obviously needed a break. Zach stopped beside her, then trotted over to the side of the road and sat on a fallen log. She watched him without speaking, then approached. The forest animals went quiet for a moment, then came alive with the fluttering of birds, the chattering of squirrels, a doe with twin fawns that darted into the trees ahead of them.
Zach patted the log next to him. “Wanna sit?”
She stopped in front of him, but didn’t sit. Her chest rose and fell as her breathing gradually slowed. Zach kept his gaze averted from her beautiful body. Though he longed to gaze upon those perfect breasts, instead he forced himself to look into her eyes. He didn’t want to scare her away by staring at her. Besides, a gentleman didn’t stare.
Trying to get her to relax, Zach motioned around him. “It’s beautiful out here, isn’t?”
She nodded, her eyes losing some, but not all, of the wariness. Though she faced him, she turned her head away, glancing into the trees around them.
“What are you looking for?”
Her cheeks reddened. Her gaze darted back to his. “N-nothing. Why?”
“You don’t have anything to be afraid of,” he said quietly. “I’m here.”
He could have sworn her face grew even redder. Then realization dawned. Was he what she was really afraid of?
“I promise not to bite. Come on.” He patted the log again, trying his best to ease her nervousness. “Come sit and talk to me.”
She took a step back. “About what?”
He shrugged. “Whatever you want. I’m not a cop right now. I’m just a guy who wants to get to know you better.”
“Why?” she whispered.
Zach wasn’t sure how to answer that without scaring her away. He decided honesty was the best bet. He chose his words carefully.
“Because I like you. I find you…intriguing. I want to know more about you.” He paused. “I want you to trust me. I won’t push you to talk but I’m here if you need someone who will listen. I’m a good listener.”
Her eyes widened with a hint of wariness and surprise. And perhaps a teeny, tiny bit of longing.
“You want the truth?” he asked softly, growing bolder by the longing he’d witnessed in her eyes. “I think you’re beautiful and I want to get to know the real you.”
“What?” Her cheeks stained a bright red. Her gaze swept away from his, darting down to stare at his chest. Zach found her reaction curious. You’d think by the way she was acting that no man had ever told her that before. She’d been married, hadn’t she? Or at least in a common law marriage. What the hell? Hadn’t her husband ever told her she was beautiful?
Kim had a fresh, wholesome, natural beauty that he’d noticed from the start. Even when he’d been in cop mode, thinking she’d committed a crime, he’d been unable to deny his attraction to her.
He cleared his throat. “Didn’t your husband ever tell you that before?”
Her gaze jerked back to his. “I…he…we weren’t married like that. We were best friends.”
What did that mean? What the hell kind of marriage had she had? What kind of man never told his wife she was beautiful?
But at least she was telling him something. Finally.
Me and My Bestie. That’s what the photo on Ambrose’s Facebook page had been titled. What kind of man called his wife his bestie? Something seemed off about that.
Zach wanted her to keep talking, to tell him more about herself.
“What happened to Evan?” he asked.
She made a soft, distressed sound and sank down onto the log next to him, careful to keep her distance. “I wish I knew the answer to that question,” she whispered. “When I woke up that morning, he was gone. Vanished without a trace.”
“Do you think he’s dead?” Zach hedged.
“I hope not, but what else could have happened
? Why would he just disappear?”
She seemed sincere. Zach found himself believing her. Why indeed would the guy just disappear? Had he been abducted off their boat? If so, there’d been no signs of a struggle. Had he taken off and left Kim alone, abandoning her? If so, why? Or had he tripped and fallen in the water, drowning? Would his body ever be recovered? Would he ever show up? Evan Ambrose had simply vanished without a trace.
“So you were friends first before you were married?” He glanced sideways at her, trying not to appear too interested.
She nodded. “We were best friends ever since we were sixteen.”
When she went silent, offering no more, he decided it was time to reveal something about himself, something that would make her relax and learn to trust him.
“When I was sixteen, I had a big crush on this girl named Susie Thompson. She had these huge boobs…” He motioned in front of him with his hands, curling his fingers and making it look like he cupped large breasts.
Kim giggled, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. “Why do men always like big boobs?”
Zach shrugged. “I was sixteen. Boys that age fantasize about big boobs. Anyway, she wasn’t the head cheerleader or anything. She wasn’t even that pretty to be honest, but she had a nice figure, curvy and voluptuous, and like all the other boys, I wanted to know what those giant boobs felt like.”
Kim raised a brow, turning her head to face him. “One thing I’ve never wanted was big boobs.” She paused a moment, then asked shyly, “And did you ever get to touch them?” She blushed, lowered her gaze.
Zach snorted. “Hell no. She wouldn’t let anyone touch them. She teased and tormented us all. I was never brave enough to ask her out, but some of my friends did, and they swore she never let them touch those big breasts.” He paused, lost in memories.
“Then my senior year she was in my English class and she sat to my left that first day of school. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common. She was going to enroll in the military, and so was I. Her dad was in the Army, mine was in the Marines. Neither one of us was that good at English, so we started helping each other with our homework. We became the best of friends and I stopped thinking about her boobs. After a while, I hardly noticed them. Instead, I noticed her as a person, a friend, a confidante.” He paused again, staring across the road into the trees. “She was killed in Iraq in 2002.” He cleared his throat. “I still miss her. She was a good friend. A good person. She left behind a husband and two small children.”
He felt Kim’s gaze assessing him for a long moment. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She reached over and gently covered his hand with hers, the gesture taking him by surprise.
He glanced down at her small, pale hand over his, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I never told anyone that story before.” He wanted her to know she was the first, that he trusted her with information about himself and she should trust him.
She blushed again. But she didn’t look away. “I think I would have liked Susie.”
He nodded. “I think she would have liked you too.”
She pulled her hand away and lowered her gaze. “So were you a Marine like your father? I kind of figured as much when you wore that black Marine shirt today.”
Zach smiled. “Yeah.” He stared off into the trees again. “I enrolled right out of high school. I signed up for the initial four years and got a B.A. in History. My dad was career military and convinced me to re-enroll for another four years. The second time around I got a B.A. in Linguistics.”
“Wow,” she said, admiration filling her eyes. “That’s impressive. How many languages do you speak?”
Zach’s chest swelled with pride. “Four fluently, three just enough to communicate a few major phrases.”
She quirked a brow. “Four?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. English, French, Russian, and Arabic. I also know a little Pashto, Dari and Persian.”
“Why so many different languages?” she asked.
Zach shrugged. “I wanted to challenge myself and I wanted to do something different.”
She lowered her gaze. “So did you interpret while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan?”
How had she known he’d served in Iraq? Had she just guessed? He nodded. “Yeah. The majority of Iraqis speak Arabic, and some speak Persian and other tongues. The major languages in Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari. I learned a little of each while I was there.”
“Zach the interpreter,” she said softly, gazing at him in wonder. “I’ll bet you were quite handy in the Iraqi War.”
Pleasure coursed through him. Heat crept up his neck and settled into his face. He shrugged. “I guess.”
Her lips twitched. “Modesty from Mr. Arrogant. I’m surprised. So when did you get back from Iraq?”
Mr. Arrogant? Is that how she thought of him?
Zach cleared his throat. “In 2007. War changes a person. I wasn’t the careful young man I once was. I had a hard time adjusting at first. PTSD, the doctor said. I had nightmares, anger issues.” Zach’s face grew warmer when he realized he was telling Kim things he’d never told a living soul. But he liked talking to her. “My father suggested I go into law enforcement. I’ve always been a leader, not a follower. And my military training would come in handy as a cop.”
Zach stared out into the trees again. He watched a Pileated Woodpecker land on a tree trunk and pound its beak into the wood. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap.
“I worked at the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office until I heard about the position for sheriff opening up here about three years ago. I wanted out of the city and back to my home town, closer to my parents. So I applied and got the job. I’m hoping to get reelected at the next term.”
He glanced over at her. Why had he told her all that? His natural guardedness slipped away around her and he found he didn’t mind making himself vulnerable.
She smiled. “You like it here.” It was an observation, not a question.
“Yeah, I do.”
A moment of silence stretched between them. “Did you ever marry?” she asked softly.
He hadn’t expected her to be so interested in him, but the fact that she obviously was filled him with pleasure. “No. The last woman I dated said I was emotionally detached.” That still stung. At the time, he’d felt like she’d been attacking his character, even though he knew it was true. He had shut himself off emotionally from the world after Iraq. He hadn’t had a “real” relationship since his return to the U.S., nothing more than casual sex with interested women. Eventually he’d stopped even that, as the women tended to think he wanted more, and a lot of the ladies in town figured he’d be a good catch. For the last few years, he’d done his best to deter women and let them know he wasn’t interested in anything long term. A few were okay with casual sex, but he wasn’t anymore.
Now everything had changed. Now he’d met Kim. She intrigued him like no other woman had before. And he’d just told her things he’d never told anyone else before.
Kim’s gaze probed his. Zach let her look deep, not bothering to try to hide anything from her. He wanted her to trust him, so he made himself vulnerable, open, easy to read.
For the first time in his life.
“That hurt you,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”
He cleared his throat. He’d witnessed more violence and death than any person should ever have to. He shrugged. “She just wasn’t the right girl for me. All we had going for us was sex.”
Kim blushed again and lowered her gaze. “What about Kristen’s mom? What happened with her?”
Zach turned away. “God.” He’d revealed more about himself in the past few minutes than he had with anyone his entire life. He’d never shared with a woman like this before and though it made him a little uncomfortable, it also made him feel good. He liked talking with Kim. He liked being with her.
“I got a call from my parents one night that my little brother had been killed by a drunk driver.” His heart squeezed, the pain surging to t
he surface. God, he missed Donny.
Zach swallowed. “I was twenty-four at the time. It was before the Iraq War, so I was stationed at the Marine Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California. They gave me an emergency seven-day leave to come home for the funeral. I won’t lie. I was a fucking mess. In shock. After the funeral, I found myself down at a local bar, getting wasted, wallowing in misery. This pretty brunette asked if she could join me and I thought, sure, why not, so we got sloshed together.”
He gave a snort of disgust. “You would think that after just learning a drunk had killed my brother I’d never want to touch alcohol ever again. But she was pretty and I was lonely and miserable. I had more to drink that night than I’ve ever had before. She brought me home with her and apparently we had sex, but I don’t remember it. That was probably the most irresponsible thing I’ve done my entire life.” He paused, his face heating when he realized how much he’d revealed. “Anyway, I didn’t even know about Kristen until a few months ago when I got a letter from an attorney telling me I was a father and that I needed to claim my daughter. I don’t know why Kristen’s mother never told me about Kristen. I would have helped her out and been a part of Kristen’s life. I guess I’ll never know the answer to that. Maybe she thought a guy who was irresponsible enough to get sloshed like that wasn’t a good role model for her daughter. Anyway, I immediately went and picked Kristen up. I’ve been trying to be a dad to her, but I suck at it. She hates me.”
Kim squeezed his hand. He glanced into her eyes, witnessed the compassion there. “I doubt that. Give her time. It’s got to be a bit overwhelming for both of you right now. These kinds of things take time.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. Something passed between them, something he’d never experienced with anyone else before. Understanding? Whatever it was, he felt a connection with her that he hadn’t expected to feel. His gaze dropped to her mouth. He swallowed hard. She had perfect, kissable lips. He wanted to lap at her mouth. Get drunk on her.
Deceived (Unlikely Heroes Book 3) Page 12