by V. R. Marks
* * *
Ross recognized the stupidity of giving in to this crazy attraction, but damned if he could resist her and all her delightful, sensual appeal. Besides, she started it and he wasn't ready to let it end.
Might never be ready, he thought, as her tongue boldly stroked his. Her trim body went soft and molten under his touch and he let his hands wander, learning what had changed in the long years since they'd last held each other.
She'd always been athletic and graceful, but she felt stronger now. There was a certain mettle to her that only came from experiencing life. He wanted to know all about it. More, he wanted to know all about her right now in this moment at the most basic level.
She rolled her hips to his and he groaned. He felt her lips curve in a smile against his skin as her mouth roved down his throat, then back up to nip his earlobe.
"Sweetheart, that's a one way ticket," he warned.
"I remember." A sultry chuckle followed. She was temptation personified and clearly enjoying the moment. Why should he put a stop to the fun?
Because he was an adult with an obligation. Cupping her chin, he brought her mouth back to his and tried to leash his desire. However much he wanted - they wanted - to do this, he needed to stay sharp until she was out of danger. He needed to explain that to her. And he would. Any second now.
The landline rang and she jerked and scrambled away from him as if her father had turned on the porch light.
He smiled at the memory. "Relax. It's just the phone."
She blinked a few times, but the longing remained clear enough in her eyes. Her kiss-swollen lips beckoned him to rearrange his concerns and priorities. On a muttered oath, he moved away, leaving her alone on the window seat. Only Rick and Eva had this number and they only called when they had news.
"Yeah?"
He tried to listen to Eva, but it was tough to focus with the taste of Allie fresh on his lips.
She looked jittery, in a good way, as she straightened her top and pushed at the hairstyle that wasn't out of place. He understood the feeling. He turned around to give her a sense of privacy and boost his concentration.
Eva was rattling off names, three letter acronyms, and details so fast, he had to ask her to start over.
"Come on, boss. You remember the chick with the Taser?"
"Yes."
"While I was in there playing nice with the sheriff like you asked, an FBI Special Agent In Charge from Columbia arrived to pick her up. They are seriously unhappy people. Does someone dock their pay if they smile?"
He ignored that. "Where are you?"
"I'm parked at the courthouse."
Where she'd have a perfect view of anyone coming or going from the sheriff's office.
"What did you hear?"
"Pretty much everything."
Her ability to eavesdrop unnoticed was one of the many reasons he'd hired her. Being multi-lingual, a computer geek genius, and loyal to him beyond reason were a few more.
"Are you planning to share the details any time soon?"
"Gang connection. Her prints popped for armed robbery and –"
"Which gang?" He felt Allie's attention land on him and he turned to meet her worried gaze.
"Same one we discussed earlier."
"What did Cochran do?"
"Released her to them. Apparently she got probation for the armed robbery and she was supposed to help them bust up a forgery racket, but she detoured down here instead."
"With her buddy, the dead guy."
"That's my take on it."
He listened as Eva related the sheriff's reaction to the news and denied her request to follow the FBI. "They're going back to the city. Following them will only annoy them. There's not enough traffic on these roads to effectively hide a tail and they know that."
"Fine." Her disappointment was clear. "And if I'm not following them, it will be easier for them to spot the 'dork and dorkier' team who is."
It had to be the same team who'd fallen for the tossed cell phone earlier, and he gave her a description of the car to verify.
"That's them."
"Crap."
"You want me to follow them?"
"No." Eva was good, but Rick was better when it came to going unnoticed by the target. Too bad Rick was half way to Virginia to check out bank cameras and coroner reports. "I'll call in a favor and see what I can shake loose."
More disappointment from Eva, but he knew how to cheer her up. "Hey, in case my favor doesn't pay up, see what you can find online about the agents and their new prisoner."
"Can I hack the –"
"Do not say things like that on an open line."
"Yes, boss." She made obnoxious kissing noises and disconnected.
"Thanks for letting me hear your end of that." Allie was at his side before he'd returned the handset to the charger. Her fingers were laced and she was flexing and extending them in a nervous pattern he recognized from grade school. "Eva's okay?"
"Always. She took what we found on the shooter to Sheriff Cochran. He probably already had it, but it shows him we're cooperative."
He didn't tell Allie that Eva had also handed over a copy of the report giving Allie the solid alibi she needed for the Roberts murder. Hopefully Allie would never know exactly how his profession had intersected with hers.
He wasn't ashamed, he took great pride in his work, but he didn't think she'd appreciate how his work had infringed on her privacy.
"You don't have to call in a favor for me. I don't want you to do that," she said.
"If not for you, then who?" He took her hands in his because he simply had to touch her. He'd felt that way for as long as he could remember. Something about her drew him in, made him feel better no matter the situation.
"You've done enough already."
He caught the way her eyes darted around the kitchen, skipping over the breakfast nook where she'd feasted on him moments ago. He resisted the urge to get back to that pleasurable activity. "Allie, we may need more help to get this resolved the right way."
"I'm an adult, I should be able to handle this myself."
Yes she was definitely an adult. On his lap, pressed against him, his body had catalogued every change as a sexy improvement over the younger Allie he remembered with such affection despite the way they'd parted.
"Everyone needs help occasionally," he said. "Especially adults. As for the FBI, I've made some friends along the way. Calling on them won't be a big deal."
"If you say so." She trembled and he gave her arms a quick rub to ward off the chill he knew was coming from the uncertainty inside her. "What now?"
He had some ideas, starting with a few more hot kisses like the one she'd planted on him. But he kept that fantasy to himself. "We wait." He didn't like it, but it was the only real option. "Eva needs time, Rick is still en route."
"Rick?"
"Another member of my team. I sent him to Virginia. He'll talk to the coroner and check on your friend as well."
"Thank you."
He heard the smidge of guilt mixed in with the gratitude and when she stepped away, he let her go. He could hardly fault her for not telling him everything when he was holding back some pertinent details himself.
Once more he went through the pros and cons of letting her know she had an alibi for the murder. It would relieve one stress, and but it would add another.
Her reaction to him in the car, when she'd thought he was there to take her out... it tore him apart. He didn't want her looking at him like that ever again. There had to be a way to tell her, without adding to her fear or risking her wrath and poor opinion. What would it take to earn enough of her trust that she'd believe him when he explained he was hired to follow her, to recover the data, but he'd never agreed to hurt her?
He supposed it didn't matter, since he didn't have the words for explaining any of it yet.
"Did you and Nicole work together?"
"Only once in a while. We met in college and were so excited when we
both found work at with the same company. Nicole works in packaging and design, but since she moonlights as a photographer she usually joins me on the charity events. She takes the publicity shots and candids to go with the articles I send - sent - to our company newsletter and other industry journals."
"And you think someone has her computer?"
"Or hacked her IM looking for me."
He didn't like either scenario. Whenever he prodded, whenever he thought he was making progress, this case kept folding in on itself rather than opening up.
"What are you thinking?"
He was thinking there were details he needed to know. Important details Allie might not even realize she knew about her trouble. "I think we'll have to wait for more intel." He wanted to push the issue, to push at the barriers she'd put up to protect herself. He'd been hired to recover specific data, but that client was dead and the data needed to find its way to someone with the authority to stop the launch of the faulty product. "I need to make that call." He turned toward his office.
"Ross..."
He glanced at her, hoping his expression looked trustworthy. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for believing me."
"Least I can do," he muttered, wanting to get away. Anything he said about Roberts hiring him would make things worse. He sent up a prayer that Rick was speeding up Interstate 95 and that he'd find out something to tie Roberts to these gangbangers who were gunning for Allie.
She cleared her throat and he watched her hands do that nervous thing again. "What are you thinking?"
"Too much. My mind is racing." Her gaze slid back toward the window seat. When her cheeks turned pink again he had to wonder why her innocent blush after a not-so-innocent exchange still affected him after all this time. "Should I, umm, apologize?"
He leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest, and couldn't help teasing her a little. "Are you asking for a chance to do better?"
She took his teasing in stride, with an eye roll and a little shake of her head. He was about to toss out a new challenge when she shot him a smirk charged with enough blatant desire he was aching for her all over again.
"Seriously, Ross." The smirk disappeared. "I don't expect you to stick around or keep track of me, no matter what the sheriff said. It's my fight –"
"Not anymore." He would not let her deal with this alone. She may not yet recognize she was a small piece in a larger puzzle, but his instincts were telling him this was far from the whole story. "Allie, based on what you've told me, there's a lot more going on here. I'm not going to leave a friend like you alone on something like this."
"A friend like me."
Damned if he knew what else to call her. He nodded, not trusting himself to put his feelings into words at this point. He'd managed to put one foot in his mouth already, no sense shoving the other in right after it.
"Just because we haven't seen each other in a while doesn't mean -"
"You're right," she interrupted with a bright smile that wobbled a bit. "Of course you're right. Thank you for not taking that the wrong way."
"What?" He had no idea what to think of that statement.
"That, ah, kiss wasn't meant as payment or anything."
He resisted the urge to fight over that term. "Understood," he said through gritted teeth, turning for the safety of the office. Coward. It was the only term that applied when a man retreated - repeatedly - from the same woman. He might be a coward, but this sort of conversation was beyond his ability right now.
He didn't know how he felt about that kiss, other than blown away and ready to take her against any flat surface. No way he could phrase that and make it sound friendly or romantic, or whatever else a woman wanted to hear.
Because Allie wasn't 'a' woman. A critical part of him knew she was 'the' woman. At least she had been before she'd simply out faded of his life. It was the kindest way to look at it. Some days he even convinced himself her abandonment had been for the best. He'd become a soldier with singular focus. With nothing and no one to go home to, he'd never hauled emotional distractions along with him on his missions.
He slumped into the desk chair and picked up the phone, but he didn't dial. What the hell were they playing at here? She'd kissed him senseless, and rather than man up and tell her how he felt, he'd teased her and pushed her away.
Now who was reacting poorly in a stressful situation? He'd called her a friend. Who was he kidding?
He had to shake this touchy-feely mood or his FBI contact would read too much into his request. Ross wasn't in the habit of going into negotiations with that kind of handicap. On military ops, they gathered intel, factored in the realities of obstacles human or otherwise and made a plan to accomplish the goal.
The primary goal here was to clear Allie's name and keep her safe while doing it. He appreciated her independence and her wish to know the particulars, but he wasn't ready to burn the bridge out from under them.
Him! There was no 'them', couldn't be right now and regardless of any long-buried hope, there wasn't likely to be a 'them' when this was over.
He took a slow, measured breath and dialed the phone.
* * *
Allie couldn't stay indoors another moment. Trusting that Ross hadn't been bragging about the privacy of the property, she decided a walk would be safe enough as long as she didn't head toward the road.
She needed fresh air and room to breathe. Room to think. A skill that seemed to be eroding since entering his house. She'd had a plan right up to the near miss with that bullet. When Ross had appeared like some sort of avenging angel, saving her life, she'd lost any sense of control in this hellish situation.
Remembering his protective reaction to her earlier distress in the hallway, she found a pen and wrote him a note on the grocery receipt Eva had left on the counter. He would probably guess her destination, but she didn't see the need to put him through the hassle.
Stepping out into the clean autumn air, she gazed up at the clear blue sky. This time of year was her favorite. South Carolina was always so green and the colorful leaves were a vibrant change, signaling the coming holidays.
She took the narrow path toward the lake, letting the trees surround her and enjoying the privacy and sense of security. Not as cozy as Ross' embrace, but she knew better than to get used to that.
The taste of him lingered on her lips and the silly girlish part of her hoped she could carry that hot longing with her forever. What was it about him that made her go soft inside?
At the edge of the tree line she hesitated, stunned by the slate blue of the lake stretching out before her. The patch of sunlight on the shore beckoned, but it meant standing out in the open. Her rose-colored romantic thoughts were replaced by the very serious worries of her terrible predicament.
Stepping into the sunshine meant leaving the protective cover of the trees. She resisted the idea of exposure and yet, she slowly realized this was the first time in days she didn't feel any eyes on her. Immensely relieved, feeling more confident than she had since this ordeal began, she strolled closer to the lake's edge.
A breeze ruffled the water and she smiled at a pair of ducks cruising around.
She flopped down on the fading grass comparing her last visit to this spot against today. She and Ross had been trespassing then. It was hard to believe he'd bought this parcel of land. She would never have had the courage to tie herself to the place that held such bittersweet memories.
Smiling, she wished for the courage to tell him what she really thought of him. Then and now. He'd overcome such a dreadful home life to get out and create a life that mattered for himself. She wasn't surprised Ross had been a great soldier, or become a successful business owner, but she was baffled that he'd kept ties so close to Haleswood.
He'd told her more than once during their last year of high school that he would've simply walked away from the chaos at home - if not for her. Seeing how he turned out, she was glad she'd been able to steady him then. Even though it broke her heart when
he'd lumped her in with the past and the pain when he left it all behind.
She closed her eyes, indulging a few last tears for the boy she'd missed so desperately, for the best friend who'd gone off to basic training and abandoned their fragile plans for the future.
The letters she'd written, and been unable to send still haunted her sometimes. He'd promised to write, to give her an address and stay in touch. She tried not to think of it as a lie, tried to remember the sincerity in his eyes when he'd made that promise to her in this very spot.
There had been moonlight on the water then, a wool blanket beneath them, and the scent of passion in the humid summer air. She could see it now as clearly as she'd lived it then. Every detail, every sigh, every promise.
This small piece of lakeshore had been their secret getaway where they could be themselves without the pressure from the nosy Haleswood gossips who speculated over their every move.
That last day they'd come to this spot for a picnic and she'd finally agreed to skinny dip after the sun went down. Eyes closed, she remembered the muscles in his shoulders, the light dusting of hair across his chest, and the smug tilt to his mouth when he caught her staring.
She had perfect recall because knowing his plans to enlist in the Army, she'd savored each of their last moments together, determined the memory would carry her through until they could be together.
God, he'd been beautiful, but she hadn't dared phrase it that way at the time.
She opened her eyes and shook her head, chasing away the past with the lovely, quiet view of the present. If she thought about it too long, she was still stunned that more than a decade had passed before she laid eyes on him again. The ache of his continued silence had torn her up at first and yet she'd pushed herself on toward her own goals always hoping for some word from him.
When it never came, she'd even sent a letter to his house, only to have it returned unopened because his dad had been evicted. Allie wondered if scenarios and challenges she couldn't imagine had had any bearing on what happened between her and Ross.
Did any of the past matter here and now? Pondering the answer, she plucked a blade of the soft grass and trailed it across her fingers the way he'd done that day.