by Taylor Hart
“Okay,” Zane said, standing straighter as adrenaline pumped through his veins. “I will.”
“That a promise?” Sutton asked.
Zane thought about Doug. Thought about writing that horrible letter to tell Sutton his son was dead. How he’d failed to keep his men alive. His heart pounded with guilt. “It’s a promise I make with my life.”
Sutton hesitated. “I know it is, Kent. I know you’ll do us all proud.” His voice was soft. “Get back to it. I’ll be in touch.
Confidence surged inside of Zane. “Okay.”
“Heart of a warrior.” Sutton hung up.
Zane turned back to the house and spotted Tyler standing against the glass of the French doors, wearing pajamas and holding a lightsaber in his hand. He pointed it at Zane and grinned.
The center of Zane’s chest constricted, and he smiled at the boy. “I’ll need a warrior’s heart to survive this,” he muttered.
Chapter 10
Sarah waited in the hallway, just out of view from Tyler’s room. It was silly, but she’d been unable to do anything except spy on them all evening long.
Zane had followed through on his “scary” story for Tyler by telling him a story about animated barnyard animals. He’d made it scary in a very non-scary way. Which Sarah had been surprised at. Clever. Very clever.
He was telling Tyler good night, but Tyler said, “No.” She recognized that whiny, tired voice, and she peered closer in time to see Tyler reaching out to Zane.
Zane paused at the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wait. Are you really homeless?”
The fact her son was worried about it and how much she knew Zane would hate it made Sarah smile.
Zane went back to Tyler’s bed and crouched down, taking his hand. “Well, I’m living here for the time being, so no, I’m not homeless.”
It mystified her to watch the easy way Tyler and Zane had taken to each other. It felt so natural, like they had always been part of each other’s lives.
“Are you homeless most of the time?” Tyler asked.
His voice was so sweet and pure that Sarah felt a pang of guilt at even suggesting the idea. Not one of her finer parent moments.
Zane whispered something in Tyler’s ear that made him giggle, then stood and gently put a hand on his head. “Night, future frogman. Remember, the only easy day was yesterday.”
It made her smile to hear the SEAL motto. Zane had said that to her nearly every day in high school.
Zane came out of the room, gently tugging the door halfway closed.
Their eyes met, and the familiar flutters were back. They were relentless around this man. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling at him. He’d just put her kid to bed and had been truly amazing at it. She wondered if she would ever get used to him being in such close proximity to her.
A thought dawned on her about how he’d called her son future frogman. “Is that tattoo on your back a frog?” The question was out before she could stop it.
A slight smile played at his lips. “Yep.”
All the facts Zane had told her about BUDS training were coming back to her. “And you and your BUDS team all have the tattoos, and the number is your number. 266.”
“Yeah, it is. Got it right after …” He broke off.
And she knew. He got it after they had ended.
“Can we talk for a minute?” he asked quietly.
Wanting to say no, she simply nodded and walked down the hallway. She went back into the living room and stood next to the French doors.
Neither of them sat, and she felt the usual tension between them ratchet up a notch.
“Look,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “I know today has been a long day, but we need to get some things straight. Your security and Tyler’s security are my top priority. So let’s talk about tomorrow’s schedule.”
Feeling a bit put on the spot, her mind flitted to her calendar. “I drop Tyler off at school at eight-thirty. I have three appointments with new clients tomorrow.”
“I’m going to need to follow you to Tyler’s school.” He looked troubled. “I guess no one has bothered him at school at this point, so he can go, but we might have to go in and talk to the administration staff to be sure he’s safe. Also, I’ll need to come with you to your client meetings.”
This was feeling a bit extreme. “No, I’m just going to meet them at the coffee shop and go through what they want in a partner. You don’t need to come.”
He scowled. “Where did you get these clients?”
“What?” This felt invasive.
“I still need your client list, and I need to know where all clients are referred from. Website, other clients, we need to make sure we know who is a possible suspect for breaking in,” Zane said.
She knew that this was an extreme situation, but she didn’t like the idea of handing over her client list. And she really didn’t like the idea of him being with her all day tomorrow.
He put up a finger like he’d just thought of something. “Also, who do you leave Tyler with? I’ll need to run a background check on them.”
Now he was really putting her on the spot. “Mrs. Morris, an older widow down the street. She won’t need a background check.” Sarah stomped her foot, feeling like a two-year-old. “She has been watching him for almost two years.”
Zane shook his head, his jaw tightening like he’d already decided it. “Everyone gets a background check.”
She wanted to fight back, but his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, putting up a hand. “Sorry, I need to check something at your door.” He went to the door and flung it open.
She couldn’t see who was there, but she did hear a female voice. They were whispering, and she couldn’t stop herself from wandering over.
“I didn’t realize you would be coming tonight,” Zane said, holding the door with one hand and standing in the middle of the doorway.
“Hey, I need to be kept in the loop,” the female voice said. “You haven’t been communicating, and I’ve been texting you for the last hour.”
He gestured back. “I’ve been putting her kid to bed, okay? I didn’t know you would just come over here. I don’t think that’s cool. I don’t really want Sarah feeling weird about this.”
“About what?” Sarah said, moving into the foyer.
Zane let go of the door and stepped back, giving her a view of the woman. A beautiful woman, if truth be told. She was tall and wore black pants, heels, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket. The kicker truly was the platinum blonde hair and the red lipstick that gave her a Marilyn Monroe vibe.
Sarah couldn’t believe it. She felt just like she had all those years ago on the cross-country team when she’d come upon Zane kissing Megan Sanders after practice. Later, she’d discovered Megan had just grabbed him and gone for it, but still.
Pushing a hand through his hair, Zane let out a light laugh and then pointed at Sarah. “This is not a Megan Sanders situation at all.”
It annoyed her that he knew exactly what she was thinking. Even more so, it annoyed her that she was thinking it at all. She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow, hating how she was feeling possessive of Zane. “Fine, then who is she?” Eyeing the woman, she said, “Mind you, I only care because this is my home and he is a guest in my home.”
Zane laughed again, and this time, it sounded nervous. “Just hold up, Sarah.” He moved to her side and touched her lightly on the forearm.
She yanked her arm back. “Just tell me who is showing up at my house this late at night.” Dang it, she was jealous.
The woman gave her an up-and-down look and scoffed. She turned away, looking bored. “I just work with him, lady. Chill.”
Lady? Lady? Since when was she called lady? The word felt like a slap to the face and made her feel old. And motherly. She didn’t like the tone either.
Zane moved between them. “Sarah, this is Cheryse. She works for my private investigation company.”
The wo
man gave him a doubtful look, then shrugged. “Sure.”
The way she said “sure” made Sarah feel like it was a lie.
Zane rushed on. “I have some other clients she needed to brief me about.”
The blonde shifted her gaze back to Sarah and gave her a challenging look. “Yes.” Her voice had turned to satin. “I need to brief Mr. Kent on a situation. A confidential situation.”
Sarah’s heart raced and she rushed away, feeling like an idiot for acting like that just now. An idiot for kissing him earlier. An idiot for all the crazy attraction she’d felt for the man for her entire life!
Chapter 11
If someone would have told Zane three days ago that he would be a tag-along on his first love’s date—the first love who had broken his heart, no less—he would have laughed his butt off. Yet, here he was.
They went to a nice Italian place. Of course, she was dressed to the nines. After all, it was Sarah. He had showered and worn decent slacks and a button-up shirt.
It hadn’t helped matters that she’d mostly given him the silent treatment all day. He’d tried to explain about Cheryse, how she worked for him, but true to Sarah Sommers form, she hadn’t believed him. Since it hadn’t been true anyway, he quit trying. Cheryse was the FBI contact, and she hadn’t been patient enough to wait for him to meet her elsewhere. She’d traipsed right over to the Sommers home. It was an amateur move, one Zane hadn’t been happy about.
After he and Sarah had dropped Tyler off at school, she’d allowed him to hang out at the coffee shop all day as she met with clients. She’d given him the client list, but he hadn’t told her he’d gotten it the night before. Blayze had helped him hack her computer. All it took from Zane was inserting a tiny USB dongle into her laptop for about two minutes. He had felt bad about snooping for half a second, but then he thought of how much privacy he’d given her by destroying the bugs, so overall, he was still way ahead. Besides, it wasn’t like he was going to do anything unethical with the client list.
So while she’d had her “client appointments,” he’d spent most of the day in the coffee shop, sitting a nice distance away from her and the morons that had, in fact, been referred to her by Harris. Zane didn’t think they were as shady as Harris. They all checked out as business owners around San Diego, but he still didn’t like them. At all. Maybe it was the fact they all flirted with her. He did his best to glare at them as they walked past, and he jumped into line when one of them had gotten up and gone to the counter to order. He’d accidentally spilled his coffee on the guy. Too bad the guy had already asked her out. He’d felt like a stupid jerk the whole day, all testosterone-ridden and wanting to punch guys in the face for no reason.
Not that he had to have a reason to punch a guy. Where was Corbin when he needed to pick a fight with a hothead? Maybe River was available for a good pounding? Cannon was always fun to wrestle with, but his smile got old after a while and made Zane feel like he wasn’t accomplishing anything.
In reality, the frustration stemmed from his lack of interaction with Sarah. She had stoically ignored him all day and had only given brief answers on the way to pick up Tyler after school.
The soothing balm to his soul had been when Tyler had hugged his mom, then ran into his arms. It’d felt so natural to laugh and put the kid over his head and tickle him under the neck when he put him down. It was strange how quickly he’d bonded with the kid.
Zane hadn’t made a peep as they’d dropped Tyler off at the clearly harmless Mrs. Morris’s house. Of course, he had done a background check.
Sarah hadn’t had to introduce him to the lady. Tyler had rushed ahead and told Mrs. Morris about an old friend of his mama’s that needed a place to stay for a while. Yeah, that stung, but he’d only laughed and shaken hands with Mrs. Morris politely.
Now, as he waited with Sarah in the restaurant, he reminded himself this was still an op. He couldn’t lose sight of the fact that he needed to extract information about the arms dealing. That was his big problem. Not the lemony scent she wore that made him want to lean into her neck and get a good whiff. It annoyed him how distracted he was by her physical presence. He felt like he was sweating on the back of his neck, and he was not a sweater.
“What’s the story?” she asked, after picking up the menu as if it was a shield and looking at it.
He didn’t answer, but opened the menu in front of him. “I don’t know your date. What do you want to tell him about me?”
She let out a light scoff. “Please don’t do that. I told you he’s not my date.”
It did sound a bit jealous, but there wasn’t really anything he could do about that. He sighed. “You can’t tell him the truth. You know that, right?”
Whipping her menu down, she searched his face. “What is the truth, Zane?”
The look on her face almost unraveled him. “I don’t know, Sarah. You tell me what the truth is.” Were they going to do this right now? Go through all the crap between them? Because honestly, he didn’t think it was a smart move. Not after the way she’d clearly been ticked when she’d thought he and Cheryse were together last night. It made him think of the last day he’d seen her. The day they’d broken each other’s hearts. This was not the place or time to go there. Sarah and Tyler’s safety was on the line.
“I’ll let you make something up.” She shrugged, then looked away. “You’re the one that insisted on coming.”
He laughed, thinking about the way she was calling his bluff. She knew he didn’t want to be known and was acting all prissy about it. “Fine,” he said. “He could potentially be the one breaking in, though, remember?” Checkmate.
A sour look crossed her face, the kind where someone eats lemon when they expect sugar. “That’s why you’re here? Because my client, the guy who owns a car dealership, is such a threat? I mean, Zane, this guy is all suave and salesman-like and is clearly horrible with women, but he’s not the kind of person who would break into my house.”
A slow smile played at his lips, and satisfaction rolled through him. It almost felt normal, like it used to be when they would go to the burger joint in town after basketball practice with Jeff. He and Jeff would eat, and she would pick at their fries, and they would talk about everything. The memory stung him. He hadn’t thought about that in a long time.
“What?” she asked. Apparently, he’d made some face.
“Nothing.” He averted his eyes back to the menu and tried to remain calm. He tried to distance himself emotionally from this situation. View it like he would a movie. “It’s fine.” Taking a look at the big picture of her life and needs, all he could think about was how she’d said Jeff’s life insurance had been denied. Obviously, that was part of the reason she was living in her parents’ home, and why she did this business.
It ticked him off to think of her so vulnerable and of her parents languishing in the care home. On top of all that, this jerk was pursuing her. Harris, yeah, Zane knew all about him. She’d given him more meetings than she usually gave clients. He’d seen it in her “confidential” files.
Zane couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Do you need money? Because I can help you out.” The words were barely out, and she was already looking offended. “You don’t have to deal with clients like this.”
Before she could say anything, her eyes turned.
He followed her gaze to the man he’d seen the other day in the coffee shop. The man he knew pretty much everything about. Yeah, they couldn’t pin him for being behind the arms transactions, but Zane had a gut feeling he was involved. If Zane knew anything, it was that most people played to a persona. Most adults were bad at sniffing it out. Not him.
He felt her tense before she put on a fake smile and stood. “Harris,” she said.
First names. Great. He pasted on a smile.
The man took her into a hug, taking a deep, deep sniff of her hair. Zane wanted to ram his fist into something, preferably this guy’s face.
“Hmm.” Harris pulled away and star
ed at her like he wanted to eat her. “Thank you for meeting me.” Noticing Zane, he looked surprised and, for a second, ticked off. To his credit, he masked the discontent quickly. “Oh, you brought the man in the coffee shop the other day.” He gave Zane a fake smile and held out his hand.
“Uh—” She swallowed. “This is my brother, Zane.” She faltered. “He’s, well, he needed a place to stay for a bit.”
Zane didn’t bat an eye, although it bugged him Harris had noticed him the other day. At least his undercover ops had given him the ability to stay calm in hard situations. “Hey,” Zane said.
Harris’s eyebrows went up, and he looked obviously relieved. “A brother. Well, this is good news. I mean, that you could come for a visit.”
Zane took his hand and gave him the same fake smile back. “Yeah.” Disgust oozed through him. A brother? A freaking brother? But he played it perfectly, not squeezing Harris’s hand hard enough to break bones. He pulled back and sat with them.
Sarah shrugged. “Yes, he surprised me by coming into town the other day. I haven’t seen him in a few years. He just rolls in and leaves his dirty socks around.” She gave Zane a smile that made him think she was a good actress. “But Tyler likes him.”
“Ah.” A smile widened across Harris’s lips. “How is my boy?”
Zane’s shoulders tensed. Did Harris know Tyler?
“He loved the new lightsaber, thank you.”
What the—
“I thought he might.” Harris smiled, and Zane commanded himself to calm down. Harris sighed. “I would love to go to do Star Wars things with a son one day. I’ve heard Disney has a great Star Wars exhibition.”
Zane really wanted to punch the guy in the face now. Did he think he would be taking Sarah and Tyler to Disneyland?
“Thanks again.” Sarah smiled at him and looked uncertain.
Harris hesitated, then picked up the menu. His gaze swept over Zane. “Are you … military?”
Zane frowned, thinking of how he looked the military type. The soldier type. He’d been told that, and he didn’t mind it. “Ex-military,” he clarified.