“Don’t give me any shit over this, Cazzo. I need to stash someone for a while and no one would suspect that you’re her protective detail. No one would think to look for her here.”
“Cap, no offense, but fuck you. There is no goddamn way that someone is coming here and invading my home. Not to mention that if anyone did find out about whoever this is, she would have a better chance protecting me than I would her.”
“Don’t you want to know who it is first?” he grinned.
“No, I don’t. It doesn’t matter who it is. I like my privacy and there’s no way that I’m giving up my space for anyone.”
I wheeled away from him, trying to make my exit dramatic, but it fell short with how slowly I moved.
“It’s Vanessa.”
I stopped wheeling and swore as I stared at the wall. There was no way I was letting that woman into my house. She was a temptation for me that I barely resisted last time. Now she would come here and see me in a fucking wheelchair and feel sorry for me. That wasn’t exactly the way a guy wanted to get attention from a woman he liked.
“No, Cap. I’m not doing it. Please don’t ask me to,” I said sullenly.
“She needs our help. Since when are you not willing to help someone in need?”
I spun my wheels around to face him. “Since I’m in a fucking wheelchair and I couldn’t do anything to protect her if I wanted to,” I yelled.
“I’ve got you covered there,” he said with a wave. “I’ve got Ice’s team coming out here. They’ll stay in your guest house and Vanessa will stay here with you. They’ll be her protective detail and you’ll be her close protection agent, which will be pretty easy when she’s in the same house as you.”
“Why would you need that many people guarding her?” I asked curiously.
“OPS was given her case as a missing person they were assigned to find. Sinner is working out there, as you know and he was the one to bring her in. Cash, the owner of OPS, contacted us and asked that we keep her safe while we work all this out. Sinner just brought her in today.”
“Still, that doesn’t explain why you need so many people. You could stash her at a safe house.”
“They tried to kill Sinner in California. Someone really wants to get their hands on her and as you know, we can’t trust her father to tell us the truth, so we have to dig to get to the bottom of this or she’ll end up dead. Look, all I’m asking is that you let us stash her here because no one will suspect that she’s with you while you’re out of commission. Your house is like a fortress, so we don’t have to do anything to prepare for her to come here. You’re also not that far from Reed Security, so it’ll be easier to get to you if someone does find her.”
I really didn’t want the woman that I craved more than anything to see me in this condition, to be around me as I struggled to do everyday things. On the other hand, Cap was right, I couldn’t just walk away from her either.
“What will I do when I have PT?”
“One of the guys will take you every day and the other two will stay with Vanessa.”
Cap had already done so much for me after I got out of the hospital. I would be in a rehab facility right now if he hadn’t gotten my house all set up for me.
“Fine. She can stay here, but I don’t want the guys in my space. There’s a kitchen in the guest house and I expect them to use it. I’m not going to be cooking for everyone and doing their fucking laundry.”
“They don’t expect it.”
I nodded to him and he walked out of the room and toward the front door. He spoke with someone outside and a few minutes later, Vanessa walked through my front door. She was still the beautiful, petite woman I had met just a couple months ago. The last time I had seen her, her hair was cut just above her shoulders. I wanted to pull her dark brown hair out of the messy bun it was in and see if it had gotten any longer. I could tell that she had been on the run just based on how her clothes looked. She was rumpled and looked like she hadn’t slept well in weeks, which she probably hadn’t if what Cap was saying was true.
And here she was once again, standing in front of me. The woman that I had once protected and wanted to be mine was now in my house and I once again couldn’t have her. For different reasons this time, since I wasn’t technically her protection, I could allow myself to have her. But that wouldn’t happen the way I was and definitely not the way she was looking at me. Anger flared inside me as she held her hand to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. If there was one thing I didn’t want, it was pity. Especially from this woman. The scowl on my face must have clued her in to my anger because she gave me a tentative smile and straightened her shoulders, obviously not wanting to lose her composure in front of me.
“Sam, it’s good to see you.”
“Yeah,” I grunted out in response.
Cap shook his head at my blatant dismissal of Vanessa and Vanessa looked like she had been slapped in the face. Yeah, I was being a dick, but I couldn’t offer anything else at the moment. Maybe if I had been warned about her arrival more than ten minutes ago, I might have a little more hospitality to offer, but I hadn’t, so this was what she was going to get from me.
“The guys are going to walk the perimeter and make sure everything is secure. They won’t be in your hair unless something goes down.”
“Why would they need to walk the perimeter? I already know you connected everything at my house to Reed Security. Including the cameras you had installed while I was in the hospital,” I sneered.
Cap just raised an eyebrow at me, but he didn’t back down. He rarely did. “I won’t apologize for looking out for you. You were so damn determined to do everything on your own and I wanted to be sure that we knew if something was wrong. You have a problem with it? Take it up with the boss.”
“You’re hilarious, Cap.”
“And yet you still love me,” he grinned.
“Don’t think that now that Sinner’s gone you and I are going to have some kind of bromance.”
“And here I thought we were getting so close.” Sebastian turned to Vanessa and shook her hand. “If you need anything and Cazzo’s being a dick, just find Ice. He’ll get you anything you need, within reason.”
“Thank you, Sebastian. I don’t know what I would have done if Mark hadn’t shown up when he did.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this and I’ll keep you updated on what we find out.”
Sebastian walked out the door, leaving me alone with an uncomfortable looking Vanessa.
“You can use the second bedroom on the right, down that hall,” I pointed in the direction of the bedrooms. “There’s an attached bathroom and everything you need should be in there. There are sheets in the dresser.”
I turned and wheeled toward my room, but I was stopped short when Vanessa spoke.
“I don’t suppose you have something I can borrow for bed. I didn’t get a chance to grab anything when I ran.”
“Sure, wait here.”
I wheeled into my bedroom and grabbed her a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. I didn’t have anything girly, so this would have to do. I made my way back, but stopped when I saw her waiting outside my bedroom door, peering in and seeing directly into my bathroom. From the doorway of my bedroom, you could see the grab bars around the toilet and the one by my bed that Sebastian had installed when I first came home. At the time, I wasn’t used to getting in and out of bed without the use of my lower body and I needed the assistance. Now, I had built up the muscles in my upper body so that I rarely needed the grab bars any more.
“I told you to wait in the other room,” I growled at her.
She flushed and stepped back into the hallway. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on your space. I was just curious-”
“Curious about what? You wanted to come gawk? Is that it?”
“No, I just..I was..I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
“You didn’t mean to, but you did.” I shoved the clothes at her and pushed back into my room and sla
mmed the door in her face. God, I was being such an asshole. If I had the use of my legs, I’d kick my own ass.
CHAPTER FOUR
Vanessa
I HAD NEVER felt more unwanted in all my life, aside from my father trying to trade me off. On top of Cazzo obviously not wanting me in his house, I had been an idiot and stood in his bedroom doorway gawking at how his house was set up. It had been insensitive and I was sure he felt like I was wanting to see how the cripple lived, but that wasn’t it at all. I was looking around his room and wishing that I hadn’t gotten him in this mess. He had been shot because of me. I was responsible for him being in that wheelchair and I had to see for myself how things had changed for him on a very basic level.
I stood outside his bedroom for a good five minutes, wishing I could go back in time to when Daniel helped me escape. I would have never gone up to Natalie’s apartment. I would have just run and hoped like hell that I got far enough away from my father. Better yet, I would go back and never have gone to that charity event. Cazzo would still be walking around and I would..I didn’t know what I would be doing and I guessed there was no point speculating about it now.
Going back to the room he said I could use, I quickly made up the bed and took a long, hot shower to wash away the grime from our trip out here. We had showers along the way, but there was something about taking a long trip in the car that made me feel dirty.
I sat in bed and wondered what I would do with my life now. I couldn’t stay in hiding forever and at some point, I would have to make a living, which was something I had no idea how to do. My father had refused to let me get a job, saying it was beneath me. He did allow me to go to college, but he chose my major, which was art history. I hated it. What the hell would I do with an art history degree? I wasn’t even that fond of art. But that was my dad, wanting me to have a useless degree so I would do what he wanted me to, which was marry a rich man and produce an heir to his fortune.
I just had to wait out whatever was happening and then I would find something to do with my life that was for me. It was clear to me that doing what my father said was no longer an option for me. I would have to find out what it was I really wanted out of life and start planning because when I was free from my father, I would never depend on a man to take care of me again. It was time I started living my life for me.
✯✯✯✯✯
Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I got up early and got the coffee going and started breakfast. I had no idea what time Sam got up, but I could at least make myself useful while I was here. The cook at my father’s house had given me cooking lessons during the day, since my father was rarely home. I had become quite a good cook and thought maybe that would be a way to repay Sam for letting me stay with him.
It was just a little after six in the morning and I didn’t expect Sam to be up yet, but when he wheeled out of his bedroom, he was freshly showered and dressed. He scowled at me as he wheeled into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?”
I turned to him with a smile and let my gaze drift over him for a moment. He was going to be hard to resist while I was here. His t-shirt stretched tight over his chest and by the looks of it, his muscles were even larger in his arms than they were before. Most likely because of his reliance on his upper body. I didn’t care about his wheelchair or the fact that his attitude was even more surly now that his life had changed. He was just as good looking and the brooding look he had on his face made him more attractive to me for some reason. I knew that deep down, he was still the same man that I met just two months ago. Even if he did try to hide it.
His hair was longer than before, hanging in a kind of shag around his face and his beard was grown out. He obviously didn’t care about how he looked these days, but I didn’t find him unattractive. If anything, it gave him a more rugged look. His tattoos peeked out from under his sleeves and I could see his nipples pressing against his t-shirt. My eyes were drawn to his left nipple, which protruded further, but looked like something else was there. I snapped myself out of my lust filled haze and got back to my cooking.
“I’m making breakfast. The coffee’s ready if you want some.”
He grumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch and then wheeled toward the coffee pot. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to reach it, so I quickly grabbed a mug and started to pour a cup.
“I’m able to pour myself a damn cup of coffee, you know.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t-”
“Yeah, I know. You didn’t think. I can do pretty much anything around here, so don’t start thinking that you’re going to swoop in and take care of me.”
I bristled at his implication. “I guess you don’t want this omelet that I made for you then?”
He scoffed started wheeling away with his coffee.
“About before-” I said before he could leave the room. “When we were in Pittsburgh and you kissed me-”
“It was a fucking mistake and it won’t be happening again.”
It was like a slap in the face. I had wanted to clear the air and let him know that I wasn’t expecting him to pick up where we left off. But the menace in his voice stole the breath from my lungs and had me hanging my head with his rejection. Thankfully, he wheeled off to the other room before he could see the tears in my eyes.
I wasn’t about to let an omelet go to waste, so I called John, or Ice as his teammates called him, and invited him over for breakfast. He was just going off a shift change, but said he would love some breakfast and asked me to make some for Jules and Jack also. I hadn’t met them yet, so this would be a good opportunity for me to get to know them.
I started making more omelets and I even threw some bacon on so the guys could have a good meal. When John arrived with Jules and Jack, I laughed to myself at Sam’s outright anger that they were in his space. They worked together, so I wasn’t sure why he was so upset.
“What the fuck are you doing here? Cap told me that you wouldn’t be stopping by.”
“Vanessa invited us for breakfast, asshole,” John said as he entered the house. John was the spitting image of Val Kilmer in Top Gun. He even had the blonde spiked hair, though it was shorter. His eyes were ice blue and he had sexy stubble along his jawline. Behind him were two other men that I could only assume were Jules and Jack.
John stepped to the side and held out a hand toward his two teammates. “Vanessa, this is Jules and this is Jack.”
“It’s nice to meet you. Do you have nicknames like the others?”
“My name is Julius but that sounds like a pansy-ass name to me, so the guys decided to give me an even worse nickname with Jules. Now I just sound like a girl.”
He had a sharp, angular face with a long, straight nose, but his smile softened the hard lines of his face. If he was a drawing, he would look like a caricature. He was tall like the others and well built. It seemed there wasn’t a single man around here that wasn’t built like a Greek God.
The other man just sneered at me. He had a cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes and he looked like this was the last place he wanted to be, but someone had forced him to come here. “And you’re Jack. Is that a nickname?”
“My name’s Chris.”
“Oh, why do they call you Jack?”
He sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not really here to make friends. I just came for breakfast.”
His attitude went right along with his features. He was hard with a permanent scowl on his face. His almost black eyes were so menacing that I almost took a step back. He had dark hair and scruff on his face to match. When he tilted his head up and I could see beneath his cowboy hat, I almost gasped at the hate that poured off him. Still, I refused to be intimidated by the man.
“Maybe they should have nicknamed you ‘Cazzo’.”
John laughed and slapped Chris on the back. “Damn, you rank up there with Sam now. You really do need to work on your people skills.”
John rubbed his hands togethe
r and walked further into the kitchen. “So, what’s for breakfast?”
“Hey, assholes. This is my house and I didn’t say that you could come eat my food,” Cazzo said, rolling into the kitchen.
“She invited us,” Julius said as he took a bite of bacon. “It’s been too long since I’ve had bacon. Did you make us omelets?”
I plated the omelet and slid it in front of him. He was practically salivating as I put a fork on his plate. Chris walked into the kitchen looking mildly curious and patiently waited for me to finish making his omelet. When I put the plate in front of him, he stared at me for a minute like he really didn’t want to take what I was offering, but when I raised an eyebrow in challenge, he grabbed the plate and shoved a forkful in his mouth. He stopped chewing and narrowed his eyes at me. I thought for a second that I had screwed up his omelet, but then he pointed his fork at me.
“Where did you learn to cook like this?” Chris asked.
“My father’s cook taught me.”
“Damn,” he said as he studied his plate. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I didn’t have time to think about it when Cazzo’s booming voice filled the room.
“Hey, assholes. In case you didn’t hear me the first time, get the hell out of my house. This wasn’t part of the arrangement. You aren’t supposed to be in here eating my food that Vanessa made for me.”
“You said you didn’t want any,” I said.
“That doesn’t mean that you invite these guys over to eat it for me. They have their own damn kitchen.”
“Well, I didn’t want the food to go to waste. Next time, you’ll just have to suck it up and eat the damn food. Besides, they’re here to protect me. The least I can do is make food for them so they don’t starve.”
“Does it look like any of us are starving?” he practically shouted.
I shrugged, not wanting to get into the merits of being kind to other people. It was obvious that there would be no reasoning with him.
Cazzo: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 3) Page 4