by Dale Mayer
“An office job would kill me,” she said honestly. “I’m not sure what other secondary role you’d be talking about, unless it’s helping Alfred. As much as I can handle a kitchen, I can’t handle a kitchen full-time. Guys like Alfred and Dave are unbelievably talented at producing all the beautiful food they do.”
Bullard said, “You’re not taking Dave with you. Absolutely no way in hell am I suffering without him.”
She shot him an innocent look and said, “I’m just going to steal him for a little while. Alfred’s lonely.”
Dave looked over at her and asked, “Is he?” There was immediate concern in his voice. “How do you know?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Alfred and I email back and forth,” she said. “I like him. He’s a sweetie.”
Dave crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her actions, and said, “What the hell am I then, chopped liver?”
She stretched up as far as she could to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a sweetheart. You’re another reason I don’t want to leave.” Instantly his arms opened and came around her.
“We’re setting up communications so, any time you want to talk to me, we’ll have a television screen on both sides. I’ll open up the monitors, and we can see into each other’s lives on a regular basis.”
She grinned. “Alfred would love that.”
“And you?” Bullard asked. “How does that appeal to you, Kasha?”
“Maybe we should be asking Levi and Ice and the rest of the crew?”
“We are the ones who asked for it,” Ice said. “The better the communication, the better we can collaborate, and the more cases we can work, so together we all are better off. Our companies aren’t just about money. They’re about doing the work we love to do, and, at the same time, helping countries badly ravaged by wars.”
Kasha settled back, but Dave kept his arm around her shoulders. She really would miss him. Then she laughed out loud. “How can I possibly come if you don’t have a swimming pool?”
Bullard nodded. “This girl is a swimming nut. She’s in two to three times a day, doing her laps.”
“Good,” Levi said. “As most of us are ex-SEALs, you can bet that, as soon as our pool is done, there’ll be an awful lot of water play going on.”
“How close are you to breaking ground?”
Ice broke into a big grin. “The pool is my pet project. We’re breaking ground the minute I get my ass back to Texas.”
After that, their conversation shifted to the type of filtration system she was putting in, the length of the pool and the extras to be added, how many stages the production and actual installation would take. Kasha felt a nudge from Dave. She glanced over to see him nodding toward the door, out to the pool area. She caught sight of Brandon leaning against the outside doorway—close enough to hear the conversation but far enough away that he wasn’t part of it.
Dave leaned forward and said, “He doesn’t want to affect your decision. But he sure is damn interested to see what you do.” He squeezed her shoulder gently and said, “Go on. Put the guy out of his misery.”
She snorted. “You’re making this all up.”
But it was a poor attempt to make light of something that obviously wasn’t. She walked toward Brandon, stepping out into the last hour or so of the sunshine to see him leaning, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed as if either slumbering or deep in thought. She stood beside him for a long moment, wondering if she should say anything.
“Well?” he asked softly.
“Maybe a three-month trial,” she said hesitantly. “I’d really like to be able to come back and forth,” she admitted. “I’m going to miss Bullard and Dave.”
“I think that’s a great idea. When you said you loved weapons, what do you mean by that?”
“I love maintaining them. I love taking them apart or cleaning them up. Keeping them stocked. Staying up on current prototypes. Ordering parts, ammo.” She gave him a lopsided glance. “I look after all of Bullard’s. To me they’re just beautiful toys.”
He studied her intently for a long moment. “Normally we all look after our own weapons. But we are building the armory. That could easily be an area for you to specialize in.”
“An armory?”
He nodded. “It’s a slow process. But it’s going pretty well. When you add in specialized drones and some of the new training equipment we’ve got, they’ve done a hell of a job over there.” He motioned around this old stone building with the big slow plantation fans and the almost dreamland-fantasy backyard. “It’s not fancy like this. It’s not as comfortable in the sense of, you know, the plantation-owner style of living. But what we’ve got is very special.”
“You haven’t been there all that long,” she teased.
“Nope, I haven’t. But I sure hope I get a chance to be there for a long time.”
She stretched up the wall beside him, nudging him to move over a little bit to make room. “I’d been wondering about doing something completely different,” she said. “But I’d miss parts of this.”
“So maybe it’s time to no longer do fieldwork. Or maybe do different kinds. We have work in many areas. Keep talking to Levi and Ice. What they really want is to see what you prefer to do because a happy person will do a much better job. If they put you into something that doesn’t fit, then it’s like sticking a round peg in a square hole, and that doesn’t work so well.”
“Does anybody ever feel like they’re out of sorts? Like they don’t quite fit? Like they’re standing at a precipice in their life, but they don’t know which way to turn?”
“Well, that was me a few months ago. That was Rory who’s not here right now. It was Michael too.” Brandon reached out a hand and picked up hers so he could slide his fingers between hers. “I think it’s everybody at some point in their lives. We get to a stage where we’ve done what we can do, and then we want something more. The trouble is, we don’t know what the options are, so we take a step in one direction and hope it leads to better options.”
“So you think I should take a step?” she asked with a chuckle.
“No, you should take several steps.” He moved a little farther over and said, “Especially closer to me.”
She turned to look at him. He grabbed her by the waist and tugged her gently so she leaned against him. They were hidden from the others in the kitchen, just tucked around the corner enough that they had some privacy.
“The thing is,” she said, “I’d really like to get to know you better. But that’s not reason enough to move to the US.”
“No, it isn’t,” he said. “I’m sure I could come here and work for Bullard. But I just started with Levi,” he added. “So that’s not the best idea either.”
She reared back slightly and looked at him. “Would you do that?”
He shrugged. “Well, it’s kind of the same thing as what you are doing, isn’t it? We don’t want to let go of this. But, at the same time, there has to be a reason to change jobs. That’s not a lightweight decision. I finally found something that makes me happy.”
She nodded. “I’ve been planning on moving for a while. I told Bullard originally,” she admitted, “that I would give him five years. It’s been five years. But I’m not exactly sure what I want to do now.”
“Then why not try Ice and Levi for three months? Take them up on their offer. Come to the US, and see how you feel about being back home again. If it doesn’t work out, you know you’ve got a job with Bullard if you want it.”
She chuckled. “I know he’d take me back.”
“So then why not give it a try? Maybe work for them both? Just consider giving us a chance.”
She stroked his cheek. “I never expected to meet somebody over here.”
“But it’s not really meeting somebody over here. It’s about meeting,” he corrected.
She thought about that for a long moment and then nodded. “That’s very true. Still, it would be nice to know where this is g
oing.”
He slid his hand up the outside of her arm and slowly grasped her face. He said, “How about here.” He tugged her forward and kissed her.
*
He hadn’t intended to take the kiss that far that fast. But there was something about having her in his arms. He’d worked beside her, watched her, worried about her and looked after her as well for such a short time, but it had been so intense, so real, like they had lived weeks in just a few days.
He didn’t believe in instant attraction, but they’d already experienced so much. He knew he didn’t want to let her go. No, he wasn’t in love with her. At least he didn’t think so. But, if she didn’t come back to the US with him, he wouldn’t get a chance to find out what he really felt. Sure, he could ask Levi to let him go, so he could come here and work for Bullard. Brandon was pretty sure Bullard would take him on. Especially with the new holding. Back to full health with no side effects from the drugs, Bullard was making big plans. If he wanted in, he knew Bullard would be happy to let him in.
But Kasha wanted to come home again, so the most sensible thing would be for her to come to Levi and Ice’s place. Only Brandon didn’t want to influence her decision. Slowly he pulled back, knowing anybody could come around the corner. With one thumb, he gently stroked her cheekbone. Then he threw aside his good intentions and let his heart speak. “Come,” he urged. “Let’s give this a chance. Let’s see what we have.”
She chuckled gently. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
He gave her a slow dawning smile. “I haven’t said that to anybody.”
“Have you ever been in love?” she asked, her gaze searching.
He nodded. “Once or twice—at least I thought I was. Was it real? I don’t know. None of my relationships lasted more than a year, so obviously they weren’t meant to be.”
“I haven’t had any that lasted that long,” she admitted.
“My ex-girlfriends didn’t like me being away as much as I was. They hated not knowing if I was coming home from one day to the next.”
“Aah, I can see that,” she admitted. “That’s not an issue for me.”
“How would you feel if I was gone on missions?” he asked.
“How would you feel if I was gone on missions?” she asked him.
He gave a bark of laughter. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It could be very hard.”
She nodded. “It’s a case of accepting who each other is and going on regardless.”
Just then Levi stepped around the corner and, with a knowing look, said, “I know it’s barely 8:00 p.m., but we’re all crashing for the evening. We’ll meet up again first thing in the morning at 6:00 a.m. to go over anything else that’s needed before we fly home tomorrow.” He looked at the two of them and said, “You guys might want to head to bed yourselves.”
With a wink, he turned and walked away. Brandon could feel the laughter rolling up through his chest. It probably wasn’t a good idea to let it out, but, when she chuckled, he grinned and couldn’t stop.
She turned to look at him. “So, is that a hint of approval?”
“I don’t know, but it was a suggestion. I don’t know about you, but I’m all for it.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, “Come on. If nothing else, we need sleep.”
“If nothing else?” she asked in a dry tone.
He kissed her on the temple. “Sleep is a really good idea.”
She nodded. “And do you mean that literally, or are you suggesting something else?”
He tugged her close and said, “I’m all for that.”
She led him up the back stairs to a room he assumed was hers.
He stepped inside and looked around. Light wood, black trim, lots of light with big windows. “I like this,” he said appreciatively.
“I do too. It’s been my room for five years.”
She walked into the bathroom and closed the door gently in his face. He heard the toilet flush and then water run as she washed up. He wandered around her room, seeing so much of the other side of her. He had seen the tight black jeans, the tight T-shirts and the matching gun belts as well as the very capable hands handling semiautomatic machine guns. But he had yet to see her in the dresses hanging in the closet and wearing the high heels on the floor. Suddenly he couldn’t wait to see that side of her. To see her out dancing in the moonlight—walking along a beach, holding hands, in nothing but a bikini. There was such a big world out there. He wanted to see it with her. They hadn’t had any time to really get to know each other. But they’d known each other in so many ways that counted. When she didn’t come right back out, he got worried. He knocked on the door and said, “Are you okay?”
She chuckled and said, “The question is, are you?”
She opened the door, and his heart almost fell to his toes. Tall, lean, high firm breasts, narrow waist, beautiful hips and long legs.
All of it nude in front of him.
His breath caught in the back of his throat, and he tried to say something, but it came out as a croak.
She took a step forward and said, “I always sleep in the nude.” She walked over to the bed, pulled back the bedding and got in. “Are you coming to sleep or not?”
He shook his head. But his hands were moving as fast as they could as they unbuttoned and unzipped until he was stripped down the same as she was. “I was kind of thinking of a shower.”
“I was too. But I’m tired. I figured afterward.”
There was such a suggestive tone to her voice, but still, he wasn’t exactly sure. “Afterward? You mean, when we wake up?”
She opened her eyes and gave him a sloe-eyed look that had his body coming awake and fast. He walked around to his side of the bed and crawled in under the covers. He almost groaned at the cool sheets sliding over his skin. He was exhausted and sore.
She rolled over and said, “Sleep first. We will enjoy it so much more when we wake up.”
She shifted backward until they were spooning, and, within seconds, he could hear her long slow breaths as she fell asleep in his arms. He wondered at a woman with the self-confidence to do what she had just done, and the security to just fall asleep in his arms. He tucked her up closer and closed his eyes and fell asleep too.
He woke several hours later to moonlight streaming into the room and an empty bed. He stared at the indent in the pillow beside him and swore softly. He sat up and realized water was running. She’d gotten up and gone into the shower. He checked the clock on her night table. He’d slept for almost five full hours. Not enough to replenish his lack of sleep over the last couple days or to go out on a twelve-mile run but enough that he could make it through the rest of the day if need be. It also meant he had a full five hours before they were supposed to meet up with everybody. He slid out of bed and walked into the bathroom.
Through the glass walls, he could see her standing under the showerhead. Just standing there, her face lifted to the full force of the water, letting the shower sluice down her hair and back. It was a stunningly beautiful picture of complete natural beauty. Completely unselfconscious. She just enjoyed the moment. It took him a longer moment to realize she had her hand out, reaching for him. He stepped forward. The glass door slid open, letting him step inside.
She turned and smiled. “Shower time.”
She made room so he could step in under the huge rain head. He turned his face up against the water, relishing the warmth and the soothing heat as it stroked his head and ran down his back. While he stood there, enjoying the moment, he felt a bar of soap slide over his skin. He opened his eyes and stared at her in surprise.
“Never been washed before?” she asked in a teasing voice.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think I have been. I would have remembered that.”
Not only did she wash him but she scrubbed him with a natural bristle brush. It felt so damn good as she worked over his back and his shoulders and his chest. By the time she was done, his skin felt invigorated and alive.
/> “That’s almost as good as a couple hours’ sleep,” he murmured.
She handed him the shampoo bottle.
He washed his hair and then turned to help her with her long hair. She kept it in a braid most of the day. But now that it was undone, it was partially tangled. After shampooing it, he worked in conditioner, and then, with a large-toothed comb, he gently untangled it. By the time they were done, he was amazed at the naturalness of being with her. He wasn’t used to that. He would have made love the first time he hit the bed with anyone else. He would have made love in the shower with anyone else.
But she was still treating him as a friend. Obviously a close friend and, so far, ignoring his obvious physical reaction to her. But they hadn’t crossed that line. He wasn’t sure if she was holding back or if she was raising his anticipation levels on purpose. When she turned to rinse the last of the conditioner out of her hair, she slid her arms up around his neck and kissed him. He pulled her tight, skin to skin, their hot wet slick bodies still soapy, and held her close. She was a perfect fit. He was tall but not supertall like some of the men. He was big, but he wasn’t a monster like Stone. And she just seemed to fit … everywhere.
He groaned, feeling his body temperature rising. It felt too incredible to move. He wanted to take her to bed, but, at the same time, he didn’t want to leave the warm water. Thoughts of the hot tub came to mind. But obviously not in somebody else’s house and certainly not when full of other people. She pulled back slightly and murmured, “I have been wanting to do that since forever.”
He glanced down at her in surprise. “What? Kiss me?”
“Kiss you in the shower,” she corrected. “I’m a water baby.” This time she pulled him down so she could nibble on his lips, his chin, kiss his cheeks and run white silky fingers over his closed eyes, forehead, and then through his scalp.